A climber with an orange pack on a snow crest

Mont Blanc massifSummer

Mont Blanc, Gouter route

GradePD

Days3

Highest point4 808 m

Price2 450 EUR

At a glance

The roof of the Alps by its most travelled line. Long, high and serious, done one climber to one guide.

We never go straight to the top. Day one is a training day on a glacier at 3 500 m, to check crampons, rope work and how you sleep at altitude. Day two climbs to the Gouter hut across the Grand Couloir, early, while the rocks are frozen. Day three starts at two in the morning: the Dome, the Vallot bivouac and the Bosses ridge to 4 808 m, then all the way back down to the valley.

Season
June to September
Rope
1 guide, 1 climber on the summit day
Grade
PD
Price
from 2 450 EUR per person

The line

Altitude along the route, from the first step to the last. The dots are the places we stop.

  1. 1 035 mLes Houches
  2. 2 372 mNid d'Aigle
  3. 3 167 mTete Rousse
  4. 3 835 mGouter hut
  5. 4 362 mVallot
  6. 4 808 mSummit
  7. 3 167 mTete Rousse
  1. Les Houches1 035 m
  2. Nid d'Aigle2 372 m
  3. Tete Rousse3 167 m
  4. Gouter hut3 835 m
  5. Vallot4 362 m
  6. Summit4 808 m
  7. Tete Rousse3 167 m

Day by day

The plan we start from. The weather and your pace decide the rest.

  1. Day 1

    Training on the glacier

    A day on the Mer de Glace or at the Midi: crampons, axe, walking on a short rope and a night high up to get used to the air.

    +600 m

  2. Day 2

    Up to the Gouter hut

    Tramway to the Nid d'Aigle, Tete Rousse, then the Grand Couloir crossed fast and early and the long rock ridge to the hut.

    +1 450 m

  3. Day 3

    Summit and down

    Start at 02:00, the Dome du Gouter at sunrise, the Bosses ridge on a knife edge of snow and the summit. Then the long way back.

    +1 000 m, -3 800 m

A line of climbers with headtorches on a snow slope at night
Snowy summits rising above a sea of clouds

Before you come

  • A four thousander before, or our acclimatisation week
  • Fitness for 1 500 m of climb in a day
  • Patience: we pick the window, not the date

Included

  • Your guide, one to one on the summit day
  • Hut nights with dinner and breakfast
  • Guide's huts, lifts and food
  • Daily forecast call

You bring

  • Mountaineering boots for crampons
  • Down jacket and two pairs of gloves
  • Headtorch with spare batteries
  • Tramway and hut deposits

Ask for this route

Tell us your dates and what you have climbed. A guide answers within two days.

Ask for a date