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Hi,

I'm travelling to switzerland in september and wondering which of these itin's is better for a novice climber:

1: clmb breithorn, stay in d'ayas hut, climb castor, stay in sella, climb to margherita, stay there, climb dufourspitze, back to town.

2: mont blanc three monts traverse (+ 2 acc days)

My fitness level is such that I can climb at most 4000 feet per day. And the most technical mtn I've climbed is hood. Either option above will be with a guide. Also wondering about the difficulty of monch/jungfrau...

Thanks for any input.

I suggest you the first choice. Good luck

I also recommend your first option.

Regarding the Monch, it's a short, straightforward climb, but I'd suggest hiring a guide for a novice climber primarily because the summit ridge is a little narrow if you're not used to exposure and depending on conditions. I don't have any personal climbing experience with the Jungfrau. You might e-mail SP user "Sergio" who has tried it (and the Monch) for this thoughts.

I'm headed to Zermatt myself in two weeks for the Zinalrothorn and Matterhorn.

Have a great trip, and good luck.

Woodie

owenel wrote:1: clmb breithorn, stay in d'ayas hut, climb castor, stay in sella, climb to margherita, stay there, climb dufourspitze, back to town.

On Easter we kind of started this way, but after Sella and paso del Nasso we went down to Gnifetti. The next day we climbed Parrotspitze and went down to Monte Rosa Hutte. Then through Rifflehorn to Zermatt. (on skis)

The summit ridge of Castor and passo del Nasso are quite steep and exposed if you don't have experience in that kind of terrain. Also the route doesn't allow for good acclimatization, since after Breithorn you sleep relatively high. You'd better allow for a couple of days of acclimatization nearby before you start.

I just got back from a similiar program - breithorn, pollux, castor, naso de lyskam, corno nero, signalkuppe (margherita), zumsteinspitze and then normally dufourspitze but didn't make it due to weather.

Super tour, only comment is that you dufourspitze from margherita (specifically between zumsteinspitze en dufourspitze) is quite a dangerous route. We opted to go via the monte rosa hut (then again we did have 3-1 client-to-guide ratio).