At nearly 16000 feet high, one does not just zip up from Paris, sprint up it and have no problems (some people do, of course, but I also watched people basically puke their way up).

Even though the route is easy for an experienced person, there are many objective dangers that one needs to be able to recognize and deal with appropriately. The summit ridge, while not hard, is very exposed. Good crampon and ice axe technique is necessary. Conditions can change to dangerously bad in a matter of minutes - again experience is needed to deal with that.

Where to start? I might suggest that your plan has a number of flaws. Perhaps the first thing to learn about mountains is that you climb them when they let you, not necessarily when you want to. Giving yourself a 48 hour window to climb MB is not the brightest idea I've ever heard. Weather kills people fairly regularly on that mountain, especially people who try to climb when they should probably wait for a better forecast. Now, you might get lucky and get the right weather and someone with the right experience could certainly sprint up MB in a rush but I'd suggest waiting until you have more time to devote to climbing to visit Chamonix.

Why going to climb without having time to enjoy it You'll need a good weather window long enough to attempt Mont Blanc. You should arrive Chamonix, get informed of the weather at Maison de la Montagne and think what should you do

Like the others have said, why rush it? A visit to Chamonix shuld be savored like a fine wine, not gulped like cheap booze Bring your friends there, ride the tram to Aguile di Midi, hang out, hike back to town. Then think about a rush climb of Blanc.

If you do break down and hire a guide, go the 3M route from Ref. des Cosmiques and traverse down to the Gouter hut. Much more interesting route.

Climbing in the mountains should be fun and we should enjoy it. So why do you want to climb Mont Blanc? When you have less time enjoy one of the other beautiful mountains in the French Alps. Then you have more of it. Mont Blanc will live longer than us - so you can climb it later in your life when you have more time...

ICanMakeIt wrote:

edl wrote:Like the others have said, why rush it? A visit to Chamonix shuld be savored like a fine wine, not gulped like cheap booze Bring your friends there, ride the tram to Aguile di Midi, hang out, hike back to town. Then think about a rush climb of Blanc.

I really would like more time myself, but I think we are only going to be in France for 3 or 4 days, and Im not sure my brother/friends want to spend their entire time in France over in the Alps, when they arent climbers and two of which are not in shape to even flirt with the idea of climbing anything in the area. the way I see it, one or two days in the area is better than none. I will have to wait until closer to July, or maybe even when I am in France, to see if the weather will allow it... right now I am really just pricing it out and looking into whether or not I could even summit in good weather.

thanks for the input so far

Do not attempt Mont Blanc then

I echo what MichaelJ said, mountains can be climbed when they let you. I went to Mt Blanc last year and had to wait for a week and half for good weather. Then, when good weather is expected, it's difficult to get a reservation in the Gouter Hut. I agree with many of the others, wait until you have more time so you can enjoy..which is the whole point.

Hi ICanMakeIt!
Of course I agree with my fellow SP'ers. Allow plenty of time. Stress is not a good thing, especially not in the mountains. And besides if you rush it you might suffer from altitude sickness which could be very serious.
Although I know myself when time is limited and one wants to get as much as possible out of those few vacation days. I did Mont Blanc myself this year over an extended weekend, using three days for climbing. Less than that I do not think is a good idea considering the acclimatisation. Since I live in Sweden, this was my tight schedule:
Day1: Fly from Stockholm, Sweden to Zürich, Switzerland. Take the train to Geneva and a shuttle bus to Les Houches. Arrive in the evening at 0600pm.
Day2: acclimatisation. From Bellevue 1800m up to 3600m in the Grand Couloir. Return to Les Houches.
Day3: From Bellevue to Ref. Goûter. Overnight in the hut.
Day4: Due heavy winds late night/early morning, very late start (0900am!) Summiting 1200am and long decent all the way down to Les Houches. (3800m) arriving at 2100pm.
Day5: Shuttlebus back to Geneva. Train to Zürich and catching flight back to Sweden.

This means I guess you can forget trying to catch the last train back to Paris on summitday!! Anyway, doing above in such a short time I had a big portion of luck. First of all I'm ok with short acclimatisation, I was lucky with the weather and very important; I was lucky enough to get a bed up at the Goûter-hut. (I had booked the Tête Rousse but upon my arrival to Les Houches, the tourist office gave a ring to Goûter hut and booked me the last space!)
However, Mont Blanc is definately not the ideal mountain for beginners. The grand couloir crossing is very dangerous, up in the couloir it is I-II and on the Bosse-ridge you need to
be very confident with your crampons and know how to do a selfarrest. Do not count on
nice tracks. If a sudden change in weather it is over and out.
I suggest you add some more days and this time try a 4'000-er like Allainhorn (Saas Fee) or Breithorn (Zermatt)
I'm quite sure you will enjoy that as well!!
cheers. André

I would echo what other people have already written. Although relatively straight forward, or at least I found it so, the route you want to do has it´s moments, is non the less quite long and is high. You seem to be going to put yourself under a fair stress with the whistle stop plan.

How fit are you? You´ll need to be fit. If you´re fitness plan will comprise walking up and down the train from Paris to Cham, you might be really blowing on the way up.

If you really want to give it a go, have you thought of hiring a guide?

As an academic point, I don't really understand all the doom and discouragement tossed at ICanMakeIt.

Sure he'd like to spend more time there but can't. Big deal.

He's relatively inexperienced, but I'd wager that Rainer is no easier than the easiest route up Mt. Blanc.

Although it's a fast trip, many, many people who live near the coast (myself included) have gone from sea level to the summit of Rainer or Whitney in less than 24 hrs. time without any problems. If you get sick you turn around. It's not like he's going to bivy on the summit.

If he's willing to bet on a trip that might go bust because of weather or other factors, why second guess him.