Mont Blanc with a tent

by **hansw** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 4:51 pm

stefschuermans wrote:No way I will ever sleep in a dirty hut like the vallot hut. We will place our tent near the hut so we will be able to be on the summit next day to see the sunrise

We will do this in a very slow and comfortable way. Don't wanne be sick at 4500m in a tent in a snowstorm ... We have time to reach the summit, and we wanne be sure we summit ...

Check out this sunrise on the summit. Early start from the Gouter hut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvzlJiP7YKM

by **Diego Sahagún** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 10:24 am

Nope, you said that you want to sleep near Vallot...

by **visentin** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 1:09 pm

Lucky you, six days of nice weather known in advance. Even in the Spenish Pyrenees I wonder if I have ever seen that.

by **nattfodd** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 3:17 pm

stefschuermans wrote:Going for the fool-proof acclimatisation

Day one: Go up to nid d'aigle
Day two: Go up to tete rousse
Day three: Go up to Gouter hut
Day four: Go up to vallot
Day five: Summit and back to gouter
Day six: go down

We have spare and extra days, we will be laughing with those fast exhausted guided people

I'm sorry, but I have to say it is a quite ridiculous plan. You are planning 2-4h days each time, will be heavily dependent on weather (chances of 6 days of consecutive good weather are pretty low), will be staying long in crowded and littered areas, will have to carry a lot of stuff (food and fuel for 6-8 days, all your camping equipment, probably some material to keep you entertained during the loooooong days spent doing nothing in your tent...). Even the views kind of suck until you get to the Vallot hut!

I just don't understand why you want to do things this way. If you want to take your time and acclimatize properly, then spend some time in the Cosmiques hut and do some of the easy routes over there (even a simple traverse of the Vallee Blanche to the Torino hut would be far more pleasant and interesting), then go down, spend a good night in the valley, take the first TMB up Nid d'Aigle and ascend straight to the Gouter hut, go to bed early and start the route at 10pm to be sure to get the sunrise on the summit (and to beat the crowds). This will be almost as relaxed and fool proof as what you suggest, and hundreds of times more pleasant, will rely less on extended periods of good weather and will actually give you much better chances of reaching the summit.

by **visentin** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 3:23 pm

stefschuermans wrote:We have spare and extra days, we will be laughing with those fast exhausted guided people

I join Gabrielle's advice : do it first before laughing at other people. However I'm tempted to discourage you by the fact that the mountain rescuers are used to deal with people having such plans as yours.
Read also <a href="http://www.summitpost.org/view_object.php?object_id=168785">that</a> (especially the conclusion) and spend few days medidating on it before you go ahead.

by **Gabriele Roth** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 3:34 pm

gabriele wrote:bla, bla, bla ....
my old friends taught me 2 simple things :
- 1 - go, climb and (when back) tell
- 2 - go, climb and (BETTER) don't tell

by **Diego Sahagún** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 4:15 pm

stefschuermans wrote:Going for the fool-proof acclimatisation

Day one: Go up to nid d'aigle
Day two: Go up to tete rousse
Day three: Go up to Gouter hut
Day four: Go up to vallot
Day five: Summit and back to gouter
Day six: go down

We have spare and extra days, we will be laughing with those fast exhausted guided people

I still don't understand why do you want a hole day for ascending from Refuge de Goûter to Refuge-Bivouac Vallot...

by **gert** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:43 pm

Your plan sounds like a mental test to me. Anyway - have fun!

by **nattfodd** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 11:07 pm

stefschuermans wrote:
gert wrote:Your plan sounds like a mental test to me. Anyway - have fun!

And what do you mean by that?

That the biggest danger will be to die of boredom...

I don't quite get why you ask for advice, then disregard the fact that absolutely everyone tells you your plan is not a good idea.

by **JackCarr** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 11:26 pm

I don't really understand your goal, and I'm not sure you do.

Do you want to summit or do you want to see how your body reacts to sleeping/camping at altitude, or both? I would say Mont Blanc probably isn't the place to do both. Europe isn't the place to test yourself at genuine altitude, it simply isn't high enough. Mont Blanc is known for its bad weather and isn't really a place to try and camp for a week. Sleeping high does not guarantee climbing high, in fact if anything it's more likely to hinder it.

It seems that you just want to avoid as much suffering as possible. If this is the case I suggest you may have chosen the wrong sport!

by **Doc_M** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 8:47 am

The full traverse by three monts would be a better route for a slow trip. Much better scenery, better camping (sorry- bivy) spots and you would still get to see the exhausted 'wildlife'. It also more of a moutaineering trip than the 'straight up and down' of the Goutier, less objective danger (like getting tampled on by guided parties) slightly more technical but not as much as the insommata.

Some years back I did the goutier over the normal two days but got delayed helping with a rescue on the decent. The next day I went back up via the 6am nig d agile car and did the three monts traverse, bivying near the tete rouse on the way down.

A far, far superior route. So much so that in my 60th year I'm going back this September with my daughter to do it again.

by **BrunoM** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:03 pm

Wouldn't a fool proof acclimatisation mean:

climb high, sleep low?

Going a little higher every day and sleeping at that new altitude doesn't sound like a good recipe for a proper acclimatisation.

I haven't been in the Mont Blanc area yet, but with the lifts overthere you could climb high, sleep low AND save your knees the descent!

by **BrunoM** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 9:52 pm

Quoting

Going for the fool-proof acclimatisation

Day one: Go up to nid d'aigle
Day two: Go up to tete rousse
Day three: Go up to Gouter hut
Day four: Go up to vallot
Day five: Summit and back to gouter
Day six: go down

We have spare and extra days, we will be laughing with those fast exhausted guided people

by **Cy Kaicener** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:06 pm

Here is a trip report on Mont Blanc with pictures (from pistehors.com)
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/show ... p?t=191145

Mont Blanc with a tent

Mont Blanc wirh a tent

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