Live Q&A About the Mont Blanc Summit Expedition (2023)

Introduction

Yes, it’s gorgeous. Yes, it’s the highest summit in the Alps and yes, the Mont Blanc is commonly a first step for many of us seeking to experience the vast world of high-altitude alpinism. Actually, it has become a rite of passage for trekkers readying themselves for the more technical aspects of mountains. The combination of challenging terrain, comfortable mountain huts and an exposure to a diversity of skills and environments make this experience a great overview of the many possibilities and trajectories that we can choose to explore from here. The cherry on the cake is the town of Chamonix, where we stay during this adventure. It’s epic!

For more information on this or any of our trips, reach out to us on info@lifehappensoutdoors.com

Video

Hi everyone and welcome to our uh mobile summit uh q, a session uh before I get started just a really quick one uh, just some some housekeeping stuff uh.

Please keep your mics and your uh and your videos uh off for a mute for uh for the duration of the session uh.

Please feel free to use the chat box um to just pop in all your questions.

Uh as they come to you uh the way we're gonna run.

This is we're going to start with a with just an overview.

So I'm going to walk you guys through the trip I'm going to show you some pictures, some maps just to have an idea of the trip as we're going through.

It just feel free to whatever question pops into your mind, just feel free to drop that into the chat box and then at the end of that presentation, I'll start to go through your questions, uh one by one.

I also have uh.

You know a small list as well that I'll go through of frequently asked questions that people don't generally that people do generally think about um at some point.

Maybe you're not thinking about it right now, but uh, it's just good to get those out there as well, so um yeah there we go so welcome everybody uh to our uh momento summit trip uh q, a this is actually probably for me personally.

This is like my favorite because uh I don't know for those of you who who don't know me um, I'm I'm a mountaineer as a as my passion, that's something that I've always loved to do ever since I was a little kid and uh taking people up to the montblanc and being a part of that experience is one of the most satisfying things for me, because it's it's a great kind of crossover from the world of trekking and and and and and high altitude walking into uh alpinism and the mobile just kind of has.

Has it all um.

I also grew up in in parts of this region, so I really feel like I'm taking you all to my backyard and showing you around.

So really.

It really feels close to home right.

So I'm going to start by just kind of walking us through the itinerary um bit by bit and uh and yeah.

So here we go.

I will share my screen for a second, and hopefully the technology will not fail me uh great, so you should be able to see the slides right now on your screen right so with uh climb with training.

So the first point uh to talk about here is that our trip includes the training for the trip so uh, although it's of course always recommended for people who want to learn to get out there and to take.

You know, mountaineering uh courses and that's something that we also do.

But the montblanc itinerary also includes the training that you need, assuming that you're an absolute novice, so you're somebody who's, putting crampons on for the very first time and uh, and so we include that at that element of the training, as we uh you know throughout the week that we spend together, the montblanc is actually, of course, it's the summit.

It's the high summit that you see all the way in the back.

That's kind of domed um, but you can also see uh.

The montblanc is also the massif.

The massif means the collection of mountains that are collected together and unobstructed by a value valley, so everything that you're seeing in front of you is actually the the mont blanc.

So it's the it's the montblanc area and uh and of course the montblanc itself is the is the the dome that you see tucked all the way at the back over there and chamonix, which is our base camp, where we spend our time together, uh when we're not on the mountains, actually tucked right down the valley just below us oops.

Something has gone wrong here, I'm just going to quickly reshare that, okay, just a moment, sorry guys uh, the presentation has decided that it doesn't wanna do what it's supposed to and I'm just gonna give that one more shot.

Okay, that should be fine.

Let's give that a shot again: okay, great okay.

So here we are um.

This is uh.

This is uh just to conceptualize, where everything is uh.

So our the meeting point for our trip is geneva.

That's where we pick you up, we take over from there and we drive up to shamuni, which is you can see at the very bottom of the map over there and chamonix sits just north of the massif, although the pictures kind of turned around so that you could so that we can show everything um.

The montblanc itself is to the right side of the massif and I'm showing you a lot of what's happening on the left side of the massif, because it's also where we're going to be doing our training, as well as our uh as our uh acclimatization summit.

So the summits that we use to kind of get put our training to the test and get our bodies used to the higher altitude environment.

Before moving over to the montmorillon, which is 4810, it's a pretty big amount um over here you can actually see we're on the opposite side of the montblanc, and you can actually see the trail.

The summit trail of the montblanc and it's actually just behind ziad over there, who's standing posing for us just exactly where he is you'll see.

There is a there's, a big black pyramid, uh, that's the gute hut, and then you just follow the ridge up the domes until you get to the summit of the mont blanc.

So it's something that's quite spectacular.

As you can see, it's really just one of the most incredible places, uh in probably in the world uh.

Definitely in any alpine environment, so uh day one we we we meet up in chamonix.

Oh actually, we meet up in the airport.

It's a it's a shuttle day, so you guys can arrive at any time.

You like um and we'll be taking you uh from geneva to shamuni and getting your gear done getting your gear rentals.

If you have to, if you don't, have your own um and then we'll have a team dinner in chamonix and that's where we're going to all get to know each other.

All of you guys will get to meet each other for the first time and we'll also have our mountain guides with us as well, and and they'll introduce themselves um we'll spend the night in the hotel.

The next night we go to mel de glace, mayor de grace is a uh, is a glacier and that's where we're going to do our training so we'll be leaving chamonix, taking the mountain train up to meredith glass and then going down to the uh to the glacier uh floor, and this is a really great place to learn because it's as you see it's quite it's quite low down in terms of altitude, but at the same time it gives us all these different formations that allow us to train in different ways to use the crampons to use uh the ice axes, of course, and also to use the rope.

It's all it's a controlled environment.

So you know there there is very limited room for uh for things going wrong, which is why we like to use this location for training.

It's actually uh.

It's actually uh quite tame, but it's also still real mountain.

So you know, concentration is key and learning the skills we push you to learn the skills in a in an environment that is controlled, but also from a technical perspective will be pushing you beyond what it is that you'll actually be needing for the mobile itself, so that you feel comfortable and uh and so and that of course involves uh all the different skills that are needed for the client so next day uh.

So we go back down to shamuni.

We spend the night over there.

Uh breakfast lunch and dinner is of course, always included um and then the next day we leave chamuni.

We take a car over to an area down the valley called le chol and then from there we get on a cable car, and then we start a trek up to the albert premiere hut.

The alvar premier hut is where we're going to be spending our first night in the high altitude environment, and it's going to be our opportunity to put our skills that we learned on the previous day to the test on an actual mountain and uh and going to the hut is the first step towards going to the summit of that mountain.

The mountain is agreed to tour and I'll talk a little bit about that in a moment getting up to the glacier.

The albert premier hut is right up on the glacier.

It's a trek there.

So there's no use of technical gear, but it's actually quite a big trek.

It takes usually around three to three and a half hours uh to reach the albert premier hut.

This is a view from the hut, so it's as you can see, it sits right up on the glacier.

It's quite spectacular and we're looking here in the direction of shamuni, so chamonix is below us, and that would mean the mobile would be to our left hand side directly from here.

Uh we'll be spending the night in the albert premier hut, and it's not just about you know going to the huts is not just about uh.

You know sleeping there and just for the summer, but it's also for you to get used to what it's like to be in the huts, because when because the albert premier hut it's quite a big hut, it's not as crowded um.

There are lots of roots, especially uh beginner routes that are accessed from this from the space.

So it's it's an easy place to learn how to do things.

It's an easy place to to.

You know: make mistakes to uh to put our gear.

You know, learn how to put our gear, how to be in the mountain huts uh, because later on, when we move over to the monroe side, you know there's less room for that.

There's just a lot more people, a lot more like you just have to know you have to put your gear here, move your stuff there.

You know it's and and and people just kind of expect you to know how to do things.

So when you're in the albert premier hub there's going to be a big learning experience as to how to be in the hut where to put your bag, where to put your gear, how to act, how to you know where you sleep and all of that and then it'll just become kind of a second nature as we move on so we're gonna spend the night in the albert premier hut and then the next morning we're going to wake up super early uh.

Usually we try to move around 3 30 from the hut and we're going to be heading up to iguido, which is a 3 800 meter.

Mountain a gui detour is actually quite a wonderful mountain because it gives us a kind of an overview of everything that we're going to need in terms of skill sets and actually pushes us a little bit harder from a technical perspective.

So, as you can see here, we're going to have the glacier traverse, so that's crossing that's crossing the glacier.

Usually that happens quite early.

This is our team heading up to agree the tour in 2019 um.

So you have.

You have portions of that, but you also have the more rocky more technical parts so where we actually take off our crampons, because crampons are not needed on the rocks and we're going to learn how to go up the steeper sections up to the summit uh- and this is great because on the montblanc we're going to have uh all of it, so we're going to have trekking we're going to have steep ascents uh without the crampons or maybe with the crampons and sleep ascent, depending on the conditions and then uh a glacier like something like a glacier traverse which is which is towards the end and some sharp bridges as we reach get close to the summit.

So this is a great place to train uh and this is actually uh the whole team in 2000, our first team in 2019.

This is our august team.

Uh.

All on the summit of agree, the tour and you can see the montblanc- is tucked all the way at the back.

It's the last summit.

You can see completely covered in snow, the first one that looks a little bit taller, but isn't because it's just closer is the egg, which is also quite a spectacular mountain.

So there's just, but these are all mountains within the mont blanc, so um the following day.

We had that the day that we go up to the summit of aguirre tour.

We go all the way back down to chamonix um, so we stopped by the albert premier hut collect our things.

Whatever we've left over there go all the way back down to shamuni spend the night in the hotel the following day.

We have a day of just rope techniques, so we're gonna stay in the valley, we're going to go through uh the you know: uh uh, how to use the ropes and different search in different circumstances.

This is really kind of the the educational element that doesn't require any physical exertion and the reason why we do it is twofold one, because you need to walk away with some knowledge beyond just uh.

You know the crampons and the ice acts you have to actually understand the ropes.

This is key to mountaineering and two.

It also serves as a rest day for us so uh.

It gives us a full 24 hours in the valley to recover from the egg.

We do tour uh uh, take our time.

Uh have a proper lunch in the valley, have a proper dinner in the valley, sleep well and then the following day.

We start our ascent of the montblanc going up to the summit.

So once we're done with our rest day and our rope day, uh the following day, we wake up in the morning uh not an early start.

By the way uh, we usually tend to leave, try to catch the the cable, the bellevue cable, from lezouche uh at around uh uh at around maybe 11 11 30.

um.

So the idea is that we want to head to the tetrus hut, so you can see chamonix down there.

You follow the orange line, and that tells you exactly where we're going.

So we take the cable to bellevue, and then we take a train from bellevue to kneebeg and then from knee deck to tetris is actually where we start to actually trek up the mountain um.

This is the team leaving uh from the train station heading in the direction of uh the tetrus hut uh.

As you can see, it's like the glaciers start pretty much right away.

Uh, it's quite dry, so there aren't many trees down in the valley.

There are a lot more trees up here.

It's quite dry because we're already in the in the higher altitude environment, but the trek is spectacular.

So even before we get to anywhere near the summit, we're going to be seeing views like these um and it's it's really something very special.

I don't think that you ever see kind of sunrises and sunsets in the same way as you do from from tetros and and the trek up um just outside the tetrus hut uh there is the the base camp um, depending on the situation in the camp and the hut we may use both.

So we may be staying inside the hut for sure dinner, like dinner and and and and our our social time is inside the hut, but depending on the conditions in the hut and the situation um at that closer to the time we'll determine whether we'll sleep in the hut or we'll sleep in the base camp.

They are immediately adjacent.

The base camp looks pretty cool a little cooler than the hut, I have to say, although it does get a little bit colder at the base camp, and this is one of the shots that we took uh in the tetros hut, uh just before just outside tetris hut, uh after dinner.

Tetros is where we kind of all sit together, and we do the briefing for the summit, because the next morning we're actually going to wake up and go all the way to the summit.

So, depending on the pace of the team, the team is, of course, broken down into two by twos, so, depending on the pace of the rogue party, will determine what time we actually leave.

The tethrus hut we've had teams that leave at midnight.

We've had teams that need that have left at three o'clock in the morning.

It depends uh on the pace of the of the rogue party.

The aim is to reach the top and to enjoy the experience.

It's not just to be the first or to to you know to to go.

Do it in a shorter amount of time? That's that's! That's quite nonsensical, and you can see here.

This is a view.

Looking up the mountain and just at the very top of the dome on the left hand, side away from the crowd, you can actually see a little box there, and that is the gute hut which we'll be stopping over on the way up I'll get to that in a moment.

So, next day, summit day big day, uh we wake up early in the morning uh.

The first section that we have is the ground quarar, which is a rocky section that is quite steep but very manageable.

Depending on conditions, we may do it without crampons.

We may do it with crampons.

It's the the situation.

There can vary dramatically, I've done it with crampons full crampons.

From the moment.

I left the tetris hat and I've also done it fully without crampons until I got to within moments from the guti hut.

So it really depends on that, but here we're talking about uh roughly about 900 of vertical meters.

So it's quite a big ascent, although it's a short space, the aim is to get to the gute hut to have a to have a short break inside the hut, so we'll have we'll have maybe a small breakfast or just have some tea depending on the situation and how we're feeling and then from good hut, we're going to push up to the mumble summit uh past the dom de gute and then back down to the gute hut and we'll be sleeping at the guter, not back it down at the tetrus.

The interesting thing about the summit night is that you will be doing two mountains above 4 000 meters, because the dom du gutier is also a 4 000 meter summit, which is on our route, so we're actually going to summit one mountain and then we're going to summit the next one, which is the montblanc proper.

And here you can see this is just at the base of the gran couloir, it's very dramatic, very beautiful uh.

This is kind of gives you a feel of what it's like to do.

That rocky section, which I was telling you about, which is the grand heading up the ground, couloir uh on in the direction of the gute hut.

So here we're between the two uh sections.

This is arriving to the gute hut.

The gute hut is on the glacier, so it's for sure once we hit the glacier, which is just the bottom, to the left of the picture here.

That's the very bottom of the glacier, so crampons are on technical gear, is on and I'm actually taking a picture of our team.

That's just arriving to the good hut and I'm actually at the gute hut myself.

So you can imagine you get the idea of the proportions slightly and then we start to head up the mountain and it's quite uh it.

Actually, the technical part of the montreal, the most difficult section of the mont blanc, is before the gute hut.

After the gute hut.

The difficulty is just to keep pushing yourself up the mountain because of course, you're going to be tired from having having woken up so early, and it's it's it's just about keeping one foot in front of the other and to keep going and to keep going and to keep going um there's no more hands on the rock uh.

You don't even need a helmet at this point, you can leave your deposit, your helmet uh at uh at the gute hut, because the there is no there's.

No, nothing can fall on you um on this section anymore uh.

This is one of my favorite pictures that I've taken of our team.

I was so as we're getting up to the montblanc.

Very close.

We approach something called the moguls.

The moguls are a bunch of false summits where you go up and then you have to go down and you go up and then you have to go down.

So people think that this picture was taken uh from a drone, but actually I'm standing on top of a mogul in the direction of the summit, and this other one of our teams is going up.

The second mogul and I managed to get this kind of angle, but it gives you a bit of an idea of the perspective on the mountain, and these are the moguls.

So you can see you've got these.

It's like they're, like a bunch of bumps uh on the way up to the summit and then finally, of course, you have the summit ridge, which is this spectacular, uh scene, where you have a gigantic drop on your right hand, side.

Gigantic drop on your left hand, side, and it's about walking on this ridge, of course, with the crampons roped into your uh, your your mountain guide, who will be instructing you on how to do this safely and uh? It's quite spectacular.

So here, on the right hand, side you've got uh, 3, 000, vertical meters down into france and on the left-hand side, you've got 300, 3, 000, vertical meters, down into italy and you're, just right on the border, which is this ridge that we that we're walking on it's quite special and uh.

This is one of our teams as well uh on the summit of the montblanc and yeah, always great to be at the top, always great to have a good weather.

This is uh.

This is a good weather day and you can see because you know gloves- are off and you know nothing's on our faces and we all look pretty warm.

So it's quite uh, quite a nice thing um.

So then, the the final mountain day is for us to go from the gute hut.

We wake up super early in the morning and we head down uh straight to tetros and then to need.

It usually takes around three to four hours in total, but that can vary depending on conditions.

We've been very lucky with conditions on the grand cru war, so uh that enables us to go a little bit faster, but in some cases it might take longer.

The idea is that we want to catch uh the train before they close um.

They usually close between three and four p.m, depending on the day um, so that we can then get the cable from bellevue back down to chamonix once we're in need it's over there's no more there's no more walking.

We just have to we're just taking transport and then another transport down to shamuni and finally, we'll have our uh our celebratory dinner in shamuni, with everybody pull out the champagne and uh, and just look at pictures from an epic experience that we've had together: uh voila, that's it so uh! So here we are, and that's the that's pretty much the the uh that the kind of the down low of uh of the entire uh trip uh, please feel free to drop your questions into the chat box.

If you uh would like to um uh, send the messages directly to me uh.

You can definitely do that without having to message the entire group, otherwise um.

You can uh just message the entire group as well.

It's it's all good, but I'll.

What I'll do is I'll read out the questions so that everybody knows what I'm talking about uh, although I won't mention who is uh, is sending um the uh the questions so a couple of quick ones uh, as I'm waiting for you guys to drop your questions in um, the the the trip.

So all all meals are included in the trip, the photography on the trip.

So every single picture that you've seen in this uh in this presentation is uh were taken by us on our trips um and that's actually very much part of uh.

What we, what we like to do is um I've got my sony rx10, that's what I've been using and I like to get up there.

I I'm kind of an independent uh photographer on this particular trip, so you you'll be led directly by the guides and what my role when you're climbing is to be your photographer and to and to catch you in different moments and and having that flexibility enables me to get far enough to get some some of those bigger shots that you've seen that you won't be able to do because you're roped up to your uh to your guide and to your climbing partner, uh, of course, in the valley uh, I'm I'm going to be personally taking care of you uh from the moment.

You uh step off the plane in geneva airport until you're dropped back off at geneva airport again.

So that includes checking you into the hotel, making sure that everything is going.

Okay, taking you guys for your rental gear and, of course, coordinating with the guides to make sure that you guys are all as comfortable as uh as possible.

So uh, I'm gonna, get to some of the questions as well um.

So one of the this is a very like.

A recurring question is about altitude, sickness, um.

His altitude is altitude, sickness and issue uh.

A lot of you guys would have been.

You know been looking into this trip, probably after having done something like kilimanjaro, which is a trek.

No, nothing technical, but it's much higher.

Excuse me so um kiliman, you know kilimanjaro is 1 000 meters higher into the air than the montblanc.

Having said that, any mountain this high does present altitude issues, which is why we uh we do an acclimatization.

So we have we're acclimatizing at three points.

Actually, four points on this trip.

The first acclimatization takes place when we do the met when we do the training on the meredith glass uh.

The second thing uh that we do that where we acclimatize is when we are spending the night at the elbert premier hut.

The third is, of course, when we go to egg with the tour and the fourth is the night we spend at tetros uh just to understand what acclimatizing is.

It.

Is your body getting used to the altitude? So what that means is basically, as we go up into altitude, there is less oxygen um, because the pressure is reduced in the atmosphere, so that doesn't mean that I I'm gonna, you don't feel anything.

Your air fills up with your your lungs fill up with air, just as as they would anywhere else, and you know on any on any altitude, but the density of the of the of the gases in your each uh inhalation is less so that means less oxygen.

Your body reacts to that by producing more red blood cells in order to compensate for the less oxygen that each red blood cell is taking to the various parts of your body, so uh, the act of acclimatization is to trigger your body into producing red blood cells early so that you can so that when we go up into altitude, the the your your body is already physiologically ready to deal with the less oxygen in the higher altitude environment.

So that's what it is of course uh.

The team is like fully uh capable of recognizing serious issues of altitude and we handle them as we uh as we go along, but we've we very rarely had issues of acclimatization, because this itinerary is not a rushed itinerary.

We're not you know you, don't it's not that you have three days and we've got to get you off the mountain and down in that limited amount of time.

We have a full week together, so we're going to take full advantage of that to couple our training with acclimatization.

Um got a question here: uh about fitness, preparation, um and recommendations for fitness levels required, okay, so um.

This is a very tricky one, because um uh fitness, like fitness, is a relative thing.

Um I've seen people who are uh extremely fit like even they work as personal trainers who have been like okay.

This is really like at the edge of what I'm physically capable of doing and I've seen.

People who've got a beer belly from their chin to the floor, and you know they crack open a beer on the side.

So it's it really it's.

I would say actually your what the first point uh or the starting point is wanting it.

If you want it, then you will be like you will.

You will understand what you have to do to make it possible for yourself uh and then and that's where all preparation needs to start.

It needs to start from actually wanting it um and then from there we start to move into okay uh.

What how? How will my physical ability buttress my mental strength, because at the end of the day, anybody can put one foot in front of the other, but it's the mind that fails, and this becomes a this becomes a question of fitness, because the the stronger you feel you are between you and yourself, the stronger your mind is going to be to want to push you up that mountain and push you into difficult conditions as well, so um.

I would say that it's, it's very important for you to feel strong, it's important for you to feel strong um.

We we we do give out a uh like a recommendation list of of home exercises that we feel are great for this kind of thing, um that focus on the areas that a lot of people don't necessarily focus on.

So for me, it doesn't matter how many sprints you can do.

Is you know I need I I uh or burpees you can do, but what I, what I would want to see, or what I think would be the most important thing is to be able to kind of create stamina to be able to last for for as long as possible, um and- and here I think, getting out there and doing some local treks helps a lot uh doing some jogging helps a lot getting into some swimming might also uh help a lot, especially with the breathing.

But what I would say focus on mostly is actually your core and your lower body, and the best thing to do for core is actually to uh is: are things like um doing the plank, because muscles are going to ache, no matter what so on the very first day- and this is quite typical- I remember my first day when I first went up to to to climb actually to come to the montblanc and uh after the first day of training.

My legs were so sore because there's there's no training in the world that trains you to strengthen the inner side of your uh of your of your uh of your calf muscle, like on a at an angle that you would never really imagine you you didn't even know you could train that um.

But the way the angle at which you wear the crampons and the way you have to walk, pushes your your body in in places that are that are quite different.

So it's natural that, on the second day and possibly even the third day, you're going to feel sore and that's normal.

But if you, if your back like your lower back, fails, that's something that won't go away with.

No, you know it's not just regular muscle, soreness, that's something that will actually be quite debilitating so and the best way to avoid that is to uh is to work on your core and to work on um on isometric exercises, so things like holding the plank, but we will send you over uh our fitness guide and our nutrition guide as well.

Those two things can be incorporated into your daily life in your daily routine.

I wouldn't say you know, sit there and be like okay.

I've got to be like an athlete, and this is how it's going to happen.

No because I don't know if you notice in the pictures, but nobody nobody over.

There is an olympic athlete they're, all just kind of regular people who have pushed themselves a little bit more uh in their in their routine to prepare themselves, because you have to do something like that.

It's also good for your mental fortitude, but you don't don't think of it.

As you know, there's like a certain number of burpees I have to do before.

I can do this it.

Doesn't it really doesn't work that way.

I hope I answered your question.

I know it's quite a long, long answer, but this is really important.

I feel right so uh question is uh.

How much training does an individual need to be ready to take this trip, regardless of technical training and we'll uh, okay, uh right, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna.

Read it quickly and then read it out to you, okay, so somebody here is asking me about technical training, um, so, okay, so what kind of uh? How much training does somebody need to take a trip um and and like irrespective of technical training? What's a good terrain to to train in, of course, if you have access to high altitude environments, that's wonderful and high altitude environment can be anything.

So it's just just not like think of it.

This way, just not at sea level, right and varied terrain.

So let's say if we were like you know, if you're, if you have access to uh to mountains above 2000 meters, that's spectacular.

Do all your like do whatever you can up there, uh go for treks uh go for walks.

Uh do some trail running uh walk your dog up there, that's the best! That's the best training, it's just to be up there for those of us who don't have access to higher mountains.

Uh.

I don't know, of course, sorry just to continue with the higher mountains.

Also, if you have access to snowy areas, that's also great, as well put on some um some snowshoes and just go and do some walking on the snow.

If you, if you can that's great that'll, just get your body used to the to the motion um for those of us who don't have access uh, it's you know there, it doesn't make or break anything um.

What it does do is that it just you just have to be a bit more creative, so uh.

If we have access to a desert, would be great to walk up and down some dunes.

Sometimes if we have access to uh to uh to some rocky areas or some crags, some of us don't even have access to anything other than an indoor climbing gym, and you know what, if that's, what's going to work for you then just go and do it there are.

There is no one size that fits all um any terrain.

That is a little bit different, something that a bit you know closer to you know gives you gives you some variation.

Ups and downs rocks sand whatever snow.

If you have access to that as well, that's the that's the best place to train and uh and I would say, just get out there do some trekking do some hiking if you have access to a rock climbing gym or a rock climbing group, that's also a good place to go to just get used to you know putting on ropes and doing some little little rock climbing um sections.

That's also quite fun, but I I say that from a perspective of that would be ideal and it's quite fun.

I wouldn't say that this is like it makes or breaks anything with regards to to this trip.

Fitness is just about.

Like I said from the beginning, it's fitness of the mind and whatever you need to do to feel confident and comfortable when you step off the plane in geneva.

That's where you should go um right.

So I've got a question about somebody who's asking me if they could uh about meeting points so uh, yes, uh, oh perfect, yeah! If you can meet in chamonix uh, that's perfect, we'll send you the details of the hotel that we stay in and you can meet us straight there, because that's the media that we, basically what we do is we shuttle people from geneva airport up the shamuni.

We check them into the hotel and uh and then they'll be like you know some free time to wander around the town and things like that.

So we'll make the meeting point the the hotel as well, so, if you're coming in by car, that's that's even better uh, no issues there um got another question here is: can we get a hold of the recording? Yes, of course, at the end of this session, we'll be sending you guys a recording of the session um so you'll have it there uh we'll also be giving out a small little uh uh thing to all of you guys who attended, which is a little a little promo code that you can use when booking this trip.

So hopefully we'll go ahead and use that uh.

I won't tell you what it is yet you'll get in your email.

A little later tonight, uh right.

Another question here is um uh.

Okay.

I think that was a follow-up question uh about uh, okay, so frequency of training uh, like I said just on the pre, you know just to continue from the previous point.

It um you just have to uh uh, like I said it's it's in the mind.

So if you feel like a like a three three times a week, frequency is something that's great for you great.

If you feel like once a week to get up into the altitude and then maybe a couple of days of of training or running in in your neighborhood, that's also great whatever you feel comfortable with that's what's important and on an individual basis.

I'm we're super happy to to to discuss with you.

You know where you are and where you need to go um, because, of course, what I'm talking about is quite generic uh.

If, if, if your personal circumstances are one in which you can you know, you find it difficult to go from the ground floor to the first floor apartment by the stairs.

That's a different conversation that we need to have, but we have time still between now and next summer in order to prepare for that.

So that's the good thing about doing this sort of stuff super early, but we'll work on individual circumstances and feel free to reach out to us about your particular circumstances and how best to train uh.

Given your background right, uh did anything surprise you about the trail.

The first time you went um for me not neces, not particularly because I kind of I I made a very conscious choice.

Uh very early on I I was familiar with the mobile I used to you know I I grew up in the in the region, so uh, I'm very familiar with the environment, and I was kind of I knew what to more or less what to expect I'd seen it before from afar.

Um never actually climbed it before, but up until my first time, of course, um, but I can say that it has people who have been with us on this trip um in the early days when we first started to do, it did get a little bit surprised because most of them would have come from a background of um of trekking, and this was this is usually an opportunity to put on crampons for the very first time- and this is, and so when you're in a technical mountain, it's different from being uh on.

You know with your just with your regular trekking shoes because we're you know on kilimanjaro, we can stop at any time.

Take some pictures at any moment take a break at any moment uh once our technical gear is on that's no longer possible, because the mountain what's basically happening is that we now have other elements that are factored into our equation.

For example, we can't stop on the grand couloir at certain sections, because there is, there is a risk of rockfall in certain places and we're aware of where those sections are so just because you're tired in that moment doesn't mean that we can stop.

In that moment, we have to move to a safe space.

Same thing can be when we're crossing a glacier.

If we know that this is there's, there's a there is a potential for crevasse which are air pockets within the glacier, and you are uh, you know, and we then you see that this is like.

You want to take a picture over there and we, you know the guides feel that this is not a safe space to do that in then we we can't, you know, we can't do that.

So it's a bit more.

I think people tend to get a little bit uh.

You know expectations.

Uh get rocked a little bit in the first couple of days when they realized that okay, this is not, as you know, as as as relaxed in terms of I can do whatever I want.

Whenever I want.

This is much more regimented, um and and that's, but that's the nature of alpine mountaineering.

It's once you put on crampons once you're in an environment in which the mountain has more say in what it is that you can and can't do it becomes more regimented and your and your guide, who is super nice and it wants you to have the time of your life, but above all of that, wants you to be safe, and so there are decisions that will be made that at some time, at some points, uh may you may feel like okay, but I you know, I really wanted to do this, and- and the guide may disagree with that and and that can sometimes uh uh- be a little bit uh difficult to understand.

Of course, by that, by the time we get to you know a couple of days in people understand more and more, but this is, I think this is kind of the key.

It's not so much the terrain as much as it is the way in which alpine mountaineering runs as opposed to a trekking adventure.

I hope I answered your question: um.

Okay.

Okay, cool question: all right, so so we've got two questions.

Actually one question uh that has two answers: uh, which is when are we going to actually do this trip? So we have uh two experiences, uh that we have coming up in 2021.

For this we have our 27th to august to 4th of september and our 4th of september to 12th of september.

We don't offer the mont blanc like actually being on the moon bro in the month of august.

We know that it's super popular to do that, but we don't do it because of two reasons: one because europe has been experiencing heat waves in the in the middle of august, which have made the glacier unstable and to and based on my discussions with our guides.

Uh we've determined that it is unsafe, uh to be able to offer this in august anymore.

For for, for you know in the way that we do um, so we decided that september.

There are less people on the mountain uh, there are, the the the chances of a heat wave are far reduced, so the glacier is a bit more stable and that's why we decide we decide to do it uh it mostly in the september month, so uh, even our 27th of august.

It starts on the 27th of august, but we don't actually get onto the mountain until on the mobile itself until the 2nd of september.

So that gives us that window to be able to work with september is a very good month.

We've had most of our success in that month and and so we're very kind of committed to that month.

In terms of in terms of this mountain, we do do other alpine experiences in august and in july um, including our introduction to alpine mountaineering and our shamanity to zermatt and our our matterhorn climbs, but we've so, but what we've done is we've just kind of plugged.

Everything where we feel it's safe is to do it based on the mountains that we're doing and where they are.

So there are things that we can do in august that are safe.

Uh, but we feel that is not one of them.

Um right, oh uh, on on that note, uh just the 27th of august, the 4th of september.

We only have one space left on that trip.

Um the 4th of september to the 12th of september.

We got 4 spaces on that trip, so we're much more flexible.

We only take six people on this trip in total and when we're climbing the mont blanc it's for every guide.

There are two people, so two of you will be with one guide uh for the for the for the mobile section right um.

Another question is what, if the weather is bad on the top, do we have another? Try, that's a very good question.

Um and the answer is, it depends uh.

It depends on a lot of things.

Uh weather is an act of god, it's out of everybody's hands and nobody can plan for it.

Um.

We have two contingencies that we uh that we do in the event of weather uh.

The first one is if the weather is just bad on one particular day, we are flexible with our itinerary because we do have a rest day, so we can move the rest day around in a way so that we can actually try and make the uh make the summit of the montblanc.

Of course, if we feel that it's too risky or the the the window is too short for us to be able to do it, uh in the in the week that we've allotted for this, then we look at doing a comparable summit.

That is where the weather is better good thing about being in the alps is that we can get into our vehicle and drive uh to pretty much as far as we need to go in order to to get a decent to get a good summit that is comparable um.

Typically, we go into the austral valley and do the grand paradiso, which is also a big four thousander and that's usually, the weather in the southern alps in september, can be a little bit better, especially if there's a system in the mobile area tends to drag things away from the southern alps.

So uh, it really depends on the situation, but we do have two contingencies.

The first, our first like our our the plan, a is to stick to the plan plan b is to alternate the days so that the montblanc is still possible, uh within within our itinerary week.

So alternate what we're doing within our week and how we allot the different days and plan c is to then move to a comparable mountain and uh and and climb there instead uh, which is also a great achievement.

Uh grand paradiso is a great achievement, uh by every stretch, right um.

I hope I answered that question as well.

Uh, do you recommend uh continuing the trip to go around the whole mobile ring uh? I could do both trips climb and do the tour de montblanc at the same time right so toward the moment, for those of you guys who don't know I'll just uh just so that people know what I'm.

What I'm talking about is the track.

It's a trek, it's not a climb and it goes around the whole mont blanc.

So remember I got I showed you guys that the montblanc is the highest mountain and then you have it's part of the massif, which is the large collection of mountains, so um, and we offer the tour de montblanc, which is the trek that goes around it uh it's a 170 kilometer trek uh.

We do it in the whole trip that we do is uh, I believe nine days in total um and it is very possible because, as it happens, we we wrap up on our uh uh september montblanc summit and start our tour de montblanc, the exact following day um.

So we've the fourth I'm talking here about the 4th of september to the 12th of september.

So it is super possible for you to do that.

Um- and it depends on your on on on how you're feeling um and if you feel like you're, fit to do something like that.

I mean I do it right, but this is kind of my job so um I do you know I I and and it's something that I I feel like the tour de montblanc coming off the momentum kind of feels.

Like a nice, you know it's like a nice cool down, uh in terms of uh in terms of physical exertion, because you know there are no more mountain huts.

We kind of sleep in uh in nice, hotels, every night and uh.

The trail is very tame and the you know we're we're having uh dinners in the villages every night.

So it's a different experience to like a technical mountain climb where we eat.

Whatever you know, uh monsieur antoine at the gute hut, decides to feed us that night.

So that's a bit of a different experience, so I hope I answered that question.

It is absolutely possible, but you just need to consider your own physical, uh, uh kind of abilities and, if you're, if you're, if you feel like after a trip like the mobile you'd, be capable of going for it.

I certainly do my fiance.

Does it as well? So it is.

It is within the realm of possibility.

Um got another question here which is um: okay, food intolerances, uh right, so we are able to so.

If you have food intolerances uh when you're booked, you please just reach out to us by email us.

In any case, when you book, we do um, send out an email, an introductory email and it has all the details and it includes dietary restrictions.

So if you have dietary restrictions, it's important for you to.

Let us know gluten is an issue.

If you have the gluten intolerance issue.

This is.

That is an issue because we're in france, you know so it's it's all.

It's all about bread and croissant and all of that um, but we can make, but we can always make it work.

Um! There's there we will we'll have a discussion uh with what is possible uh for you, and we can uh.

We can work around it uh.

You definitely don't need to bring your own food um and we have regular access to things like supermarkets as well.

Even when we're doing the montblanc summit, like as you as you know, from the itinerary, we're only doing we're only we're only actually not spending the night in shamuni they're, actually, three nights in the whole itinerary, where we're up in the mountains every other night is spent in shamani, which means we have access to supermarkets.

We have access to restaurants.

So that's that's not an issue in the mountain huts.

We just need to.

Let them know well ahead ahead of time.

That's for gluten tolerance.

Of course, vegetarian options are usually available.

Vegan options can be a slight issue depending on where we are um.

It is possible, but we need to.

We do need to know well ahead of time and worst case scenario with with vegan options.

Is that we would bring the food with us, but we will handle that.

That's not something that you need to worry about.

You just need to.

Let us know what your restrictions are and we will handle it.

Logistically, um right so uh, okay, uh got one more uh question here: uh this one is about uh, so we're going back to training and um for somebody who already runs uh works out often rock climbs uh.

What is the specific training? So I just said earlier uh with the team that um what you we provide a fitness program that you can do at home uh.

Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all for something like this.

If you're already rock climb and you're already a runner.

These are that's, that's great.

What and I don't think you'd actually need to do more than that.

Um.

Our fitness program is just to help.

You target some things that you don't think about like your core in order to support your lower back um.

So it's more more kind of targeted things that you should.

You should incorporate, but not something to substitute your fitness regime, for if you're already a rock climber, you already do regular workouts, you're already a runner, then I would say you are beyond probably even me in terms of fitness, probably yeah anyway.

So I wouldn't worry too much.

But if you are concerned uh for yourself, please just reach out to me personally um, you can just drop drop me a message or drop us an email, and we can have that discussion one to one but um yeah.

It's just kind of uh in terms of fitness, like I was saying earlier today to everyone else.

It's a it's a mind over matter thing, so I've seen athletes who couldn't make it and I've seen people with beer bellies, like I said from the chin to the floor, who you know who made it just fine, it's uh it's about where you are in terms of your mental strength, to push yourself through the difficult times, because and and physical strength has a lot to do with it, but that's relative, so some people will feel strong for doing less and some people will feel weak for do it after doing more, it really depends on the individual and I'm happy to to discuss that with you uh further uh, guys, I'm uh coming to the end of the questions here so uh.

If anybody has any further questions, uh feel free to drop them in before we uh before we end the session um, but uh just to kind of wrap up on everything.

If you, if you ever, have any questions about this trip or any other trip, please do feel free to reach out to us.

We absolutely love to talk about mountains.

We love to have this discussion.

It's it's really.

It's we we do this because you know out of out of uh out of the sheer joy of of bringing people like you to these places and watching you experience this for the very first time.

It's it that's.

What brings us a lot of pleasure, so please do feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions about gear, if you have any questions about about flights getting in all of that, we are more than happy to support you in any way that we can um.

Just just a quick heads up.

We only have one space left on our 27th of august, the 4th of september mobile summit trip, and we have four spaces left on our 4th of september to 12th of september trips, we'll be sending you guys out an email uh once this is done with your special promo code, uh, so that you can uh.

You can use that when you want a book.

The promo code is valid for a month, so no rush, but we do operate on a first come first serve basis.

So don't wait too long, because this is one of our kind of our most popular trips and we don't have that many spaces for it.

Having said that, have a wonderful evening and I'm super looking forward to sharing uh the montblanc chamonix and the alps with you guys next summer, have a wonderful time, take care.