Hello all, new to the forum and glad to be here. Thanks for reading!

I just moved from the states to Germany and am looking for good training peaks in Germany, Austria, or Italy. I have a team of 4 folks who have all committed to climbing Mont Blanc next summer... We are looking for some good routes peaks that would require the use of crampons & ice axe, as well as somewhere that we can practice rope work and glacier travel techniques without the the danger of a lot of crevasses. 1x in our party has experience, 3x do not... all could use the practice I am looking to find a place where everyone can practice the basic skills and gain experience before they take on a bigger mountain. For those who are familiar, I am looking for something similar to the Mt. Adams climb in Washington (large snow fields, some steap climbing to practice, and relative safety to practice self arrests, rope travels, and belay techniques).

Thanks all so much for reading, I am looking forward to hearing some ideas... we are new to Alps travel and are a bit overwhelmed with the differences in european climbing customs vs. Cascade/American climbings.

Hi Deu3.1

I'm German and have been around in the Alps a bit. Where in Germany are you based exaclty? If you are in Bavaria or Baden-Wurttemberg you can do weekend/day trips. If you are in Hamburg things might get a bit more tricky

In general get in touch with the German Alpine Club (Deutscher Alpenverein, short DAV), they offer very cheap tours with varying difficulties and also climbing/mountaineering courses for your beginners.

If you let me know where you are based I can recommend some tours you might be able to do on your own...

Awesome, thanks! We are located in Hohenfels, near Regensburg. We were planning on doing some day/weekend trips. Would love to hear any suggestions you have. Thanks!

From Regensburg you might look for the eastern part of the alps.
Generally this is the lower part of the alps with peaks up to 3800...4000m maximum.
Here the retreat of the glaciers has progressed in a way, that you shouldn't trust old guidebooks, maps etc. anymore!

Classic easy (grade F) glacier peaks for instance are Similaun (recommended for a start -- crevasses only in homeopathic dose...) or Grossvenediger(more crevassed, but also highly frequented).

I wouldn't say Montblanc is much more difficult than these peaks regarding technical difficulties.
But the challange there of course is altitude & temperature plus the crowd of tourists and their lack of ability...

The main regions with larger glaciers in the eastern alps are Glockner Group, Venediger Group, Stubai Alps, Ötztal Alps, plus Ortler- and Bernina Alps in ascending order of distance from your town.

Flachlandtiroler wrote:From Regensburg you might look for the eastern part of the alps.
Generally this is the lower part of the alps with peaks up to 3800...4000m maximum.
Here the retreat of the glaciers has progressed in a way, that you shouldn't trust old guidebooks, maps etc. anymore!

Classic easy (grade F) glacier peaks for instance are Similaun (recommended for a start -- crevasses only in homeopathic dose...) or Grossvenediger(more crevassed, but also highly frequented).

I wouldn't say Montblanc is much more difficult than these peaks regarding technical difficulties.
But the challange there of course is altitude & temperature plus the crowd of tourists and their lack of ability...

The main regions with larger glaciers in the eastern alps are Glockner Group, Venediger Group, Stubai Alps, Ötztal Alps, plus Ortler- and Bernina Alps in ascending order of distance from your town.

can second Flachlandtiroler's suggestions! I personally really like the Ötztal Alps, they offer everything from super easy tours up to a nice ice climb (Pitztaler Eisexpress)