I'll be spending a week in chamonix with some friends the 2nd week of september this year to do some easy alpine climbs/hikes in the area (unguided) and climb to the summit of mont blanc the final two days (guided).

I've done quite a bit of research so essentially know what to expect, but I have just a few more questions that I hope somebody here could answer:

1. How long in advance should I make reservations for guides? Since it is no longer really high season I was planning on doing this sometime in July.

2. We will be renting the majority of our gear (from what I gather it is no problem to rent gear in chamonix), but I wonder is it also possible to rent a rope for glacier travel? Or am I better off just buying my own rope? If so, what strength (thickness) of rope is adequate for glacier travel?

3. Is the Albert 1e Refuge open in the beginning of September? Couldn't find any good info on this either..

Thanks in advance!

Charles

You can rent your stuff at the big Cham3s shop in the center of Chamonix.
I don´t think you can rent a rope, if you only need a rope for glacier travel ask in the shop.
It will prob be pretty busy with the guides, the sooner the better

http://clubalpin-chamonix.com/eng/refAlbert1er.htm

thanks for the advice!

the rope is indeed just for glacier travel, but i guess i might as well just go ahead and buy one myself - plan on doing more and more climbing in the future anyways!

Your guide will probably have a rope ready for you when he meets you. You might be able to rent other gear from him as well, don't know about the prices though..

Also, the Technique Extreme, close to the Aiguille du Midi cable-car is a good place for cheap rentals and for stocking up on small things. They're very cheap, so you might wanna question the quality a bit, but for hardwear they're very good.. I doubt that I would ever wear a major piece of no-brand clothing bought in that shop when heading for the Mt Blanc-summit though..

I can personally recommend Raphaél from http://www.suivezleguide.fr/. He's very thorough, speaks decent english and has been to the summit around 50 times.

Octavio at http://creativeguides.com/ is also very good. He's argentinean, but fluent in both french and english as well as spanish. Also a +50-times summiteer. His website isn't all that, but you can get in touch with him trough it.

If your sure your gonna go guided, I would get in touch with a guide ASAP and exchange some emails with him. Just remember these guys make their living in the mountains and won't be online and ready to answer 'at all times'.

Have fun!

Alex.