when in Chamonix I advise you go through La maison de la Montagne ( or similar name ) which is in the same building than the Guides Office

they have an office open to public where they advise about the current conditions in Mont Blanc Massif from the feed-back of other people, of guides, of PGHM / CRS ( the rescue teams ), etc ...

it is free of charge and you can also have access to many topo's and see some nice 3D scaled models of Mont Blanc area

also, the latest weather forecasts are punched on the wall by the door

it is in the center of Chamonix, not far from tourism office and from the church

papyours wrote:when in Chamonix I advise you go through La maison de la Montagne ( or similar name ) which is in the same building than the Guides Office

they have an office open to public where they advise about the current conditions in Mont Blanc Massif from the feed-back of other people, of guides, of PGHM / CRS ( the rescue teams ), etc ...

it is free of charge and you can also have access to many topo's and see some nice 3D scaled models of Mont Blanc area

also, the latest weather forecasts are punched on the wall by the door

it is in the center of Chamonix, not far from tourism office and from the church

Sounds nice! I think I know where it is, from what you've written, I see I was quite close to it when I was in Chamonix last year.
I've read about crappy weather conditions in French Alps these days. Some experimental long term forecasts say it is going to be stormy in July. Hope it turns better soon...

Mt. Blanc is not a technically difficult mountain to climb, but it can become very dangerous if you are not know how to behave in the mountains, because of eventually extreme weather conditions, avalanches, serac collapses and crevasses. If you do not know any of this I think the best way to start your mountaineering career is to go with a guide to Mt Blanc. I can recommend http://www.mountainspirit.info/index.asp that offers 5 or 6 day Mt. Blanc courses where you first do some nice and challenging peaks for acclimatization and then go to the summit when the chances for success are greatest. Their mountain guides are very educational and after such a week you'll be better prepared to go on your own and safely take you friends along.
Take care!

The section betwen Grand Plateau and Grands Mulets hut is one of the most dangerous in all Mont Blanc range ( seracs can fall at any time, night and day ). The best way to come down from mont Blanc is aiguille du Goûter north face, then you reach Grands Mulets hut. This route is followed in spring when the top was climbed with AT skis.

A (much) longer way is to cross mont Maudit and mont Blanc du Tacul to reach aiguille du Midi cable car down to Chamonix.

Mihai Tanase wrote:A (much) longer way is to cross mont Maudit and mont Blanc du Tacul to reach aiguille du Midi cable car down to Chamonix.

This thread got off topic a long time ago so I might as well just mention that there was a fair bit of activity on this slope in the past week or so ranging from wet slab avalanches earlier on to avalanching seracs on Friday when we were stormed off the Chere Couloir. Sounds like the storms continued through the weekend so there's probably a lot of fresh precip up there now.

mountain girl have you or did you get to climb the matterhorn this year?

I'm back. Puff! Next time I'll put on my running shoes and run up there. The ascent from Les Houches accomplished in 18 hours with full equipment, tents and so on. We started in a heavy rain, but the same day before the sunset sky was getting clearer as we stepped above the lower clouds. For the next two days the weather was brilliant.
To sum up: I was looking for a bit of extreme, but it turned out to be just another boring walk up. Well..., the all around views were spectacular, but sadly, I quickly ran into troubles with my eyes, despite quite good sunglasses I was wearing. Think I need them in two. What was quite enjoyable, was the descent from the Gouter hut by night, after the rock falls and a heavy avalanche that occured in the Grand Coulouir, leaving a plain rock and a stream of water in the middle of it. I'll also never forget the view of little lights moving along the ridge, which are best to observe from Tete Rouse.
For those who still are opting for guides: in any case of being asked for opinions on Mt Blanc normal route, I will advise to do it on ones own...
Now,... looking forward for Matterhorn in September and the Pamir peaks next year.

Greetings!
Cezary

CezaryK wrote:I'm back. Puff! Next time I'll put on my running shoes and run up there. The ascent from Les Houches accomplished in 18 hours with full equipment, tents and so on. We started in a heavy rain, but the same day before the sunset sky was getting clearer as we stepped above the lower clouds. For the next two days the weather was brilliant.
To sum up: I was looking for a bit of extreme, but it turned out to be just another boring walk up. Well..., the all around views were spectacular, but sadly, I quickly ran into troubles with my eyes, despite quite good sunglasses I was wearing. Think I need them in two. What was quite enjoyable, was the descent from the Gouter hut by night, after the rock falls and a heavy avalanche that occured in the Grand Coulouir, leaving a plain rock and a stream of water in the middle of it. I'll also never forget the view of little lights moving along the ridge, which are best to observe from Tete Rouse.
For those who still are opting for guides: in any case of being asked for opinions on Mt Blanc normal route, I will advise to do it on ones own...
Now,... looking forward for Matterhorn in September and the Pamir peaks next year.

Greetings!
Cezary

u alpinists are soooo cool (no sarcasm intended here)

Joe White wrote:u alpinists are soooo cool (no sarcasm intended here)

Wouldn't say that doing Mont Blanc made me an alpinist. But I'm so damn hungry for hardcore...
Like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v_kisaaM8w

As for running on Mont Blanc, there's a record of a complete ascent and descent set by Pierre-André Gobet in 1990: 5 hours, 10 minutes and 14 seconds