Hello, I'm looking for advice on how to climb Mont Blanc as a total beginner. I do not have the money to pay for a guided trip, nor am I able to spend weeks practicing climbing other peaks in the surrounding mountains. I understand that the summit can be done in about a week, which is what I would be looking for. I do not have any experience of climbing mountains of this height, but I have done a lot of climbing in the UK and lots of hiking in the lake district, Snowdonia and the Alps. I am aware that it is like trying to run before I can walk, but I have wanted for years to climb it and never had the opportunity. This is generally just asking what the best way is to go about trying to do this, are there groups that climb it that I could go with, or other likeminded people looking to summit but don't have a team? Thank you

Climbing Mont Blanc as a total beginner might just earn you a Darwin award. If you want that, go right ahead.

Fortunately, you contradict yourself by saying that you've done a lot of climbing in the UK and lots of hiking in the lake district, Snowdonia and the Alps. That doesn't say how far off you are from climbing Mont Blanc, but it means you already have some experience, albeit not with glaciers.

Without trying to be complete, a few important skills to learn are self arrest, crampon techniques and crevasse rescue (though the latter is rarely needed on the normal route). The first two can easily be practiced in winter in the UK, in Snowdonia, the Lake District or the Scottish Highlands. Crevasse rescue, well, depending on your plans, it's ok if you don't know how to do that as long as some people in your party do. As it happens, the crevasse risk on the normal route for Mont Blanc is almost zero, which is one of the reasons why experienced mountaineers tend to climb it unroped. Also, join a group of people that share your interest in mountaineering but that do have experience. Probably the BMC has a mountaineering club in your area, and that would be a good place to start.

Oh, and if you happen to come across like-minded people that, like you, don't have sufficient experience, I strongly advise not to join them. Climbing Mont Blanc as a group of only inexperienced people is even more dangerous than climbing solo. To give a few examples: If you're roped up, then if one of the group falls, more than likely the rest gets pulled down as soon as the rope gets taut. If it's not steep, that doesn't matter, but as it gets steeper (and depending on the terrain) sometimes one person can still perform a self arrest, but stopping a whole falling group is much harder, often impossible. So, being roped up can provide a false sense of security. That doesn't mean you shouldn't rope up, it means you must know when to rope up and when not, and when you do rope up, some members of your group must know about where and how to belay. Furthermore, when not roped up, inexperienced climbers tend to dislodge more rock and ice, which may fall on the rest of the group and on others that might be climbing somewhere below you. Not good.

Listen to everything rgg said.
Do more research.
Spend some time in Chamonix.
Save up for a class or a guide.

Or get a book, and learn the techniques. Then get a friend and practice, practice, practice.

Then give it a shot on something that won't kill you.

*********

MB is fun. Wait til you're ready so you can enjoy it.

If you decide to give it a go without developing more experience, I would triple check the fine print on your life insurance policy....and add me as a beneficiary

What I meant by joining a group was that, if there were others who had experience climbing Mont Blanc or other similar mountains and wanted someone to join them I would be looking for that. What is the best way to go about finding people and groups like that? Also, I don't have the money to pay for a guide, I checked and they are usually in the range of about £2000. I have read that it is manageable for people with my experiences, if the correct skills are learnt and practiced. But what is the best way to learn these skills so I can join an experienced group going?

OwenMB123 wrote:What I meant by joining a group was that, if there were others who had experience climbing Mont Blanc or other similar mountains and wanted someone to join them I would be looking for that.

That's what I hoped you meant.

OwenMB123 wrote:What is the best way to go about finding people and groups like that?

Given that you don't know the right people yet, check out the BMC, and join one of their clubs near your location that's interested in mountaineering (some are not, focusing on other activities like rock climbing or hill walking).

OwenMB123 wrote:Also, I don't have the money to pay for a guide, I checked and they are usually in the range of about £2000. I have read that it is manageable for people with my experiences, if the correct skills are learnt and practiced. But what is the best way to learn these skills so I can join an experienced group going?

The local clubs in the BMC organize all sorts of activities, some more than others. When looking for a club to join, ask if they regularly organize trips or courses where you can learn and improve your mountaineering skills. If you're lucky, you can go winter mountaineering in Wales or Scotland as soon as next week! And perhaps the best thing about joining a club is that you can easily meet a lot of like-minded people. You might find some people that already have plans to climb something interesting and are willing to let you come along. Being inexperienced, I'd say grab every opportunity to learn. And once you know some people in the club, you can organize a group yourself and climb whatever you want. Guided or unguided. Anywhere in the world. Welcome to mountaineering .

I didn't know prices for Mont Blanc had skyrocketed that much. £2000 sure is a whole lot of money, I don't blame you for trying to avoid that!

Meetup provides a lot of groups of all kind of sort. Not sure if it’s popular in Europe though. However, be careful with that.

rgg wrote:Oh, and if you happen to come across like-minded people that, like you, don't have sufficient experience, I strongly advise not to join them. Climbing Mont Blanc as a group of only inexperienced people is even more dangerous than climbing solo. To give a few examples: If you're roped up, then if one of the group falls, more than likely the rest gets pulled down as soon as the rope gets taut. If it's not steep, that doesn't matter, but as it gets steeper (and depending on the terrain) sometimes one person can still perform a self arrest, but stopping a whole falling group is much harder, often impossible. So, being roped up can provide a false sense of security. That doesn't mean you shouldn't rope up, it means you must know when to rope up and when not, and when you do rope up, some members of your group must know about where and how to belay. Furthermore, when not roped up, inexperienced climbers tend to dislodge more rock and ice, which may fall on the rest of the group and on others that might be climbing somewhere below you. Not good.

Amen to that! And this applies to many other popular glaciated mountains.

Also I would do research and find out why and under what circumstances so many people die on Mont Blanc every year (Am I correct about accidents?). You may get a lot of clues what to avoid and what and how to prepare for the climb as well as how to climb properly to lower the probability of unfavorable incidents. I don’t think any of those people thought of being unprepared or wanted to die.

clmbr wrote:Also I would do research and find out why and under what circumstances so many people die on Mont Blanc every year (Am I correct about accidents?). You may get a lot of clues what to avoid and what and how to prepare for the climb as well as how to climb properly to lower the probability of unfavorable incidents. I don’t think any of those people thought of being unprepared or wanted to die.

There is even an article about it on Summitpost: Mont Blanc: Why so many deaths? Of course, lots of people go there, so chances of surviving Mont Blanc are pretty high, but still...

The most dangerous place is the Grand Couloir, on the normal route, which is by far the most popular one. While easy from a climbing perspective, falling rocks make it hazardous. Even the best climbers can die there. To minimize the risk, it is best climbed when it's cold, when solid ice and snow keeps the whole thing together. And best climbed without anyone above you, because they might inadvertently kick something loose. How to deal with this? My own solution is to avoid it completely. In fact, I avoid all busy routes for which I know rockfall hazard is a real issue. I climbed Mont Blanc by two different routes, but have never been to the Grand Couloir. Alternatively, only climb or descend it when it's well below freezing. Climbing without anyone above you is hard to control, but I suppose going out of season might help. But there is a reason why it's called out of season...

But let's end on a positive note, with an early morning summit photo from the top of Mont Blanc. Ridge line after ridge line, as far as the eye can see. The furthest one is the Monte Rosa group, almost 80 km away. With views like this, who doesn't want to climb Mont Blanc?


Mont Blanc summit view of the Monte Rosa group

rgg wrote:The most dangerous place is the Grand Couloir, on the normal route, which is by far the most popular one.

Agreed. But I will say, it's not that bad. What is bad is the short roping... Americans tend to leave too much length on their rope and the Europeans tend to keep it too short. On the standard route, we were constantly adding or taking in rope (i.e. on flat glaciated terrain or conversely on the final knife edge to the summit). The reason I say this is that if you keep your rope length too short in the couloir, then people tend to bunch up (which is risky). If you add a bunch of rope before crossing the couloir and everyone cooperates, you can send one guy through at a time and have the other people be the spotters. It really isn't that bad. Its one of those crowd control things when it gets dicey...

rgg wrote:The most dangerous place is the Grand Couloir, on the normal route, which is by far the most popular one.

Here in California we have Mt Baldy "which is by far the most popular one" among Southern Californians and I always think of it and compare to Mont Blanc, obviously not due to the climbing challenges but with similar number of fatalities and reasons (maybe except rockfalls?). Rescue on Register Ridge - Mt Baldy

Fletch wrote:. . .
Agreed. But I will say, it's not that bad. What is bad is the short roping... Americans tend to leave too much length on their rope and the Europeans tend to keep it too short.
. . .

As of roping up, in the US lengths get shorter and shorter in between climbers; at least that what I observe in guiding groups. I’ve read online some arguments in between guides about proper lengths. Well, the winner is always the one who survives the fall. In mountaineering I have "No Fall" policy but still prefer to have “safe” distance and minimum slack on the rope if climb with others. I just don’t see any sense of short roping on glacier (perhaps it works if you have 6 people on rope?) but again this may be a long discussion.

Hiring a guide for Gouter route is a waste of money. It's easy and pretty straight forward. On the other hand you should have enough experience to get yourself up and down the mountain. Which means you're better of paying for a winter course in Scotland. That will teach you how to proper use crampons, self arrest and ropework. Know how to use a compass and a map. And be useful for the future.

Also you don't need a week. 4 days is plenty of time to get acclimatised and spend another night at either Tet Rouse or Gouter. Summit in the morning and come back down to the valley. You can even catch a flight later that evening.

Trail should be more than obvious as there are way too many people climbing it. But don't rely entirely on that as a strong wind or wideout can get you in trouble. You can use a GPS unit as well.

Pay for a guide to learn rather than be dragged up the mountain!

Hey Owen,

you might be able to find some people up for accompanying you on ukclimbing.com.

Best of luck to you, some great advice here. Did you go?