Climb Mont Blanc (4805m)

Unfortunately, I have to leave a negative review. This was my 4th trip with MBA and the previous one in May (Everest Base Camp) was absolutely amazing, so I was very much looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, the value of this trip did not match the cost. This was by far the most expensive trip I have done, and naturally I was expecting good service. What made it a negative experience - a few highlights: • We did not summit Mont Blanc due to bad weather, and we were not offered any alternative. • We were driven back to the hotel on summit day and it was expected of us to wait 5+ hours in the lobby in wet clothes and wait for check-in time (4pm). After we complained, the response from the agency was that the hotel was sadly fully booked and there was nothing they could do about it. • Our lead guide spoke very limited English and didn’t even ask us where we come from, which is just very strange to me. One of the guys on our trip severely cut his hand on a rock and the guide didn’t even ask him if he needed help. Strange? I think so. • The whole organization was a bit off from the beginning. Guide not turning up on day 1, no one checked our gear, no proper introduction to the plan of what we were going to do on certain days, etc. • The agency must have known that there wouldn’t be good weather for a summit from the beginning of the trip, but there were no adjustments made to even make it possible. The weather was good the whole week, it was only bad on summit day. This makes me wonder why they couldn’t try to accommodate the trip and “play” with the dates. • They didn’t teach us proper skills as mentioned on the website. We haven’t used the ice axe, not once. I’m very disappointed. This was a very expensive trip and I just can’t help but feel like the value of this trip was very poor.

FALSE ADVERTISEMENT. SAVE YOUR MONEY. This tour would be my third tour with MBA, the most expensive to date and truly the worst. I’ve done numerous other group tours with companies like GAdventures and RMI Expeditions. I am a very active and outdoorsy person but I would have been better off booking a private guide for the same amount of money. I must say this tour was the worst investment that I’ve ever made. I’ll go into the details below. Months prior to the tour, I booked a “Guaranteed to Run” date in early September. A few months later I was contacted and advised I needed to change my dates for this tour because the original booking wasn’t full yet. They offered me two dates and I had to make it work with one. There was no compensation and I had to change my flights. When I would attempt to ask questions to the tour guide directly through the booking, it would take longer than 48 hours to receive an answer (which conflicts with what MBA advertises). Anyways… let’s get into the tour itself: Since I had to fit the days that offered the most financial benefit to the company, my tour ended up being rescheduled to late September (when most things and cable cars close down). As a result, the itinerary had to be changed prior to our arrival. The chance to summit Tete Blanch was no longer possible, as laid out in the itinerary. On Day 1, there’s instructions to be ready to meet the guide for a gear check at 6pm. We were greeted by an employee, who informed us the guide was not in town yet and that a gear check would be done in the morning. On Day 2, everyone checked out of the hotel and paid 10Euros a person to leave their luggage in storage at the hotel. Then we showed up to the shop to meet the guide. The guide did not review anyone’s kit or make sure they had necessary items. This was a shock to me, as proper equipment is actually a safety hazard in mountaineering. So we set off in a car for a modified program. The guide took his own car and they grabbed a few cheap sandwiches for us to eat on the way to a very short and easy hike to the first hut. The guide was not interested in talking to anyone in the group and knew very limited English. The only things that stood out were: 1. Him saying that his vacation begins soon because it is almost October. 2. That he was notified the weather would not be favorable to summit Mont Blanc. This information would later be confirmed by another guide who reported calling him earlier in the week to inform the guide of the conditions. I remembered seeing Luigi on the phone during our very short hike. On Day 3, we should have learned real mountaineering skills. Instead, we maybe hiked 3 miles in total, tried our crampons on for a brief glacier walk and the guide put everyone on a rope together. I found myself explaining things to the group that I had learned on previous mountaineering skills trips. In the limited English that our guide spoke to us, he advised us that no one would help get our crampons fitted right on Mont Blanc if we went up. No true mountaineering skills were taught… no basic safety with an ice axe discussed, no self arrest techniques even mentioned, etc. I found myself prompting the guide about rope spacing so the group could understand the importance of it. On Day 4, we set out across glaciers and descended into Le Tour (still on the alternative itinerary). When we got to the bottom, the guide got in his vehicle and left while another driver picked us up and drove us to a bakery to get a to go lunch sandwich (around 5-6 euros/person) before dropping us back off at a hotel. Once at the hotel, we were dirty and sweaty after 3 days without showers and rooms were not available. We sat in the lobby for about 2 hours before they let us into a room. On this day, we were still advised Mont Blanc summit didn’t look likely but we would “try. ” On Day 5, we got up, had hotel breakfast buffet, paid another 10Euros to store our luggage and loaded up into a van to head to Les Houches to begin the climb to Tete Rousse hut. When we arrived at the train to take us up, we were handed some cheap sandwiches and introduced to the two assisting guides (who spoke better English and maybe more to us in less than 24 hours than our lead guide the entire trip). I asked one about Gouter hut on the way up. He immediately said we would not make it there due to the weather. This shocked me to hear. If he knew we were not going up, why would they even pretend to “try” it? On the FAQs for this tour specifically, MBA states the following: “Sometimes the conditions on Mont Blanc are too dangerous to attempt a summit. If the weather or conditions on the mountain on the day of your summit attempt mean that your guides need to make this call, the group will move to a different mountain range nearby to tackle a substitute ascent. ” They knew it wouldn’t be possible and said so all week… clearly they should have upheld this condition. Later that night when told that we would not attempt a summit, I asked the guide if we would have a hotel room for us. He responded indifferently with very few words that he’d notify the agency in the morning. In fear that we’d be without a room, I used the bit of cell service I had to contact the agency directly and request accommodations/early check in. On Day 6, we got up early to descend down (2 miles) from the Tete Rousse hut that we went to less than 12 hours before. We went down in cold rain and caught the train back down the mountain. Soaked and disappointed from not summitting literally anything on this tour, we followed our guides. They bought us an espresso and then the lead guide just left and one of the assisting guides drove us back to our hotel in Chamonix. We arrived around 10:30AM. After this, we never saw anyone from the company again. We asked if our room was ready and the hotel said we could pay a fee for an early check in. When we contacted the agency, they said the hotel was fully booked (which was not true based on the information we had). So we were expected to sit in cold, wet dirty clothes until 4pm (check in time). I’d like to make mention that lunch and dinner were supposed to have been included on this day. Instead, all we had was the bread and jam at the Tete Rousse hut and an espresso in Les Houches. So we had to spend more money just to be able to make the most of a terrible situation The guides and agency could not have cared less about us on this trip or when they ended it early… We even contacted MBA on this day about what was happening and we were told to consult with the agency directly. The agency directly already did not care. At one point, one of the guys in our group severely cut his hand. The guide saw it and never once asked about it or checked to see how bad the cut was. The distances covered each day were 2-5 miles max. Honestly, this is a joke. I had better hikes and climbs in Chamonix on my own during days prior to this tour. It felt like all we did was sit around. MBA makes tackling a mountain like Mont Blanc look beginner friendly too, which is 100% wrong. They need to do a better job of not making this type of tour accessible or open to just anyone. When everyone is on a line together, everyone is responsible for one another. Naive, uneducated, underprepared and physically unable people become a liability and a safety hazard for everyone. The Reality MBA’s advertising promises expert guides, safety-first decisions, and itineraries adapted to conditions. What I experienced was the opposite: disorganization, indifference, and a complete lack of care for client experience or safety. This was not a mountaineering expedition. It was a series of short hikes strung together by excuses, dismissive treatment, and empty promises. I left Chamonix with nothing close to what was advertised, and with the strong sense that MBA views its clients not as climbers to be guided, but as wallets to be emptied. Final Verdict I regret booking this tour. I regret trusting MBA. And I regret that I already placed a deposit for another trip with them. When raising concerns to MBA, they offered a 10% discount to book a new tour. Unless MBA fundamentally changes how it operates, I cannot warn others strongly enough: this company does not deliver on what it sells. Even if Mont Blanc had been summitable, my review would be the same. The failure here was not the weather—it was MBA. Pros: - Good people in the group. - Mountains Cons: - MBA rescheduled me to later in the season, when I knew a lot of things were shutting down. - Expensive. - We had to buy our own meals when they were promised. - Minimal effort. - The agency and guide spoke VERY limited English - No skills were taught. - The guide was ready for his vacation. - Didn’t follow any sort of itinerary - The guide wasn’t there on day 1, nor the final 2 days. He left and didn’t care. - MBA is trying to tell me this was acceptable based on what the agency told them. I didn’t get 10% of what I paid for and MBA is offering 10% off my next tour to make up for this joke. …I could continue this list but a lot has already been covered above.

I went on the trip in early July 2025. Due to bad weather we were unable to attempt Mont Blanc. This clearly couldn’t have been avoided and instead we summited Gran Paradiso. I am very pleased and grateful to the guides that I achieved my first 4000m+ summit. In doing so, for me this was far more a mental challenge than a physical one. Positives – This a great adventure! The scenery is absolutely stunning, and my favourite part of the trip was the hike up to Tete Blanche on Day 2. Our main guide (Phillippe) had decades of experience and taught us the required mountain skills really well – even if he was a little direct at times! He also encouraged us to try some ice axe climbing which was great fun and really helpful. I felt completely safe throughout. We had an additional guide (Ricardo) for the Gran Paradiso summit. Due to poor weather on Day 5 instead of hiking the two guides gave us a ropes and rock-climbing session (which is not included as part of the standard itinerary). This was really great and I found it so helpful at the top of Gran Paradiso as there are ledges with sheer drops either side and I have acrophobia – I really want to thank P and R for their encouragement in this section! I really conquered my fears by understanding the safety of the rope! The Refuges were well run and provide a very convivial environment for the team and guides. Please note that they provide crocs – so need to carry sandals. Negatives – Phillippe advised us on Sunday evening that Mont Blanc would not be possible. We did not hear from MBA or the local agency at all regarding the options available. Instead, Gran Paradiso was presented to us by Phillipe as the only option. I would have preferred to tackle Monte Rosa – as more comparable with MB – or been advised on whether a partial refund was possible. Gran Paradiso is still 4000m+but IMHO it is a boring hike as you walk up from Pont and then walk back down to Pont – there’s no variation aside from some scrambling – just up and down. The actual summit presented a mental challenge for me – but not really a physical one. Regarding the Refuges – the local agency seemingly just books clients into the cheapest beds available. Days 1 and 2 we were in three berth beds (when there were several rooms with just one bunk of single beds in them), and Days 4 and 5 we were in the worst room in the refuge with a temperature barely above zero degrees. The guides were fantastic but they asked nothing about our fitness or prior training and we were repeatedly told we were ‘low energy’ (i. e. low fitness), yet my average heart rate summitting Gran Paradiso was 107 – hardly high! Expensive - The trip we did was not worth the £3000 + we each paid. Many companies offer a Gran Paradiso summit as a three- day trip alone for c€800. Next time I would book directly with a local organiser or guide. Poor customer services – Comms with MBA and the local agency were non-existent throughout our trip. This was really poor given that we were advised on Day 3 that we couldn’t attempt MB and didn’t know our available options. The only contact we had from the local agency was on our arrival back from Gran Paradiso when they met us in the hire shop. We were told this was a feedback session. However, the real reason they showed up was because they wanted our input on a dispute between a team member who had been helicoptered down on Day 2 and the guide/agency as to the necessity of that. The local agency showed little interest in our experience and didn’t express any sympathy that we had not been able to attempt Mont Blanc. An entirely self-serving approach. Overall I did have a great week – I had a fab team, fantastic and fun guides, I learned loads technically, and the scenery is just spectacular. However, Days 1-3 and the GP summit were for me far more of a mental challenge than a physical one, and the service provided by MBA and the local agency was underwhelming.

First off let me be very clear, this is NOT a trek! It is mountaineering. Mont Blanc is to a Trek as the London Marathon is to a gentle jog around the park. Yes there are elements of trekking along the glacier, but they are accompanied by sections of grade 1, 2 and in some cases grade 3 scrambling. Once section requires via ferrata and on occasion a bit of belaying by the guide. This was a truly epic adventure. Mont Blancs challenges isn't so much its height, as its sheer force of nature and the many different types of climbing styles experience it offers. You need to be physically fit, not super human fit, but have a good level of fitness and training is required to build endurance in the legs as well as cardio. Climbing experience isn't necessary as the guides are very experienced and will make sure you get through the more technical elements of the climb. But fitness is key to being able to summit. Mental fitness as well as physical. (there will be moments when you question your life choices!) Solid mountain boots ARE required from the first day. There is no need to start in lighter boots or approach shoes as your start height is pretty close to the tougher areas, so wear your big heavy Herman Munsters from the get go! You will spend an awful lot of time in crampons which change the way you walk and operate (crampons are the destroyers of gaiters!) Good poles are also a must, your knees will thank you on the ascent as well as the descent. You can hire the kit you need, but for the relatively low cost of crampons I'd recommend buying them, if only because the hired ones have been well used and the spikes a little less sharper, and in some sections you'll be very glad of the spikes being at their sharpest! (you can always ebay them afterward) This is a mountain in every sense and she will throw everything at you, including unpredictable weather and high winds. Make sure you have a good outer shell jacket and trousers and where possible cover your face as much as you can if caught in high winds. Wind burns aren't fun and 4 days later, half of my face is still falling off! The refuges are a reasonably good standard and pillows and duvets are provided and the food is plentiful and pretty good when you consider where you are. Some take card, but bring cash. A 1L bottle of water is about 7 euros and while some have running water in their toilets, it isn't drinkable so you will need to buy 2/3 bottles each day. There are toilets in all the refuges for all your business requirements when nature calls, the "step flush" is a particular highlight for your numbers 2's. . . . . A 50L pack is ample for what you'll need and you wont need much. We took spare trousers and base layer, mid and thermal layers, hat, couple of pairs of gloves (over mitts are the key for operating at height) something light and easy to change/sleep in at the refuge, a change of underclothes and socks and a few snacks (although you can buy Snickers/Mars Bars for 5 euro at the refuge). Also bring polarized glasses if possible, if the sun is out the snow is very bright and you'll need them. And of course sun cream and moisturiser to prevent yourself from going full tilt "Goldmember" (Itsh a keeeeper!) All in all, this was a fantastic adventure, everything is taken care of by the local team on the ground, the hotel in Chamoinx was excellent and very comfortable with a great spar and more outdoor gear shops to satisfy even the biggest kit monster and its all priced pretty evenly. We hired a car/mini bus from Geneva airport so we had a bit more independence in planning our arrival nd depature and there is a car park under the hotel where you can leave it. You can also leave your bags with your extra stuff in at the hotel for 5 euro a day so you're only going on the mountain with what you need for the 2 nights and 3 days on both the acclimatisation phase and the Mont Blanc phase. If you want a challenge and to achieve something that will live long in the memory then this is the adventure for you. Its hard, there will be a few dark moments when you're questioning your sanity, but it is absolutely worth every step, pull, push and teeth gritting crawl forward. And when you summit, I challenge you to not have a lump in your throat and small tear in your eye

I went on the trip at the start of September. Due to snow and a hut closure, we were unable to attempt a summit of Mont Blanc. This was clearly out of anyone's control and the guide did a great job ensuring we still had a fun trip and other summits. The trip we got, however, was not worth the amount we paid. Next time I would book directly with a local agency, or a guide. To be clear the trip was good and the guide was fantastic, but there are definitely cheaper options out there if you're looking to summit Mont Blanc.

Sadly, did not get to summit due to weather, but still a great time in the Alps, crossing glaciers and seeing great views.

It's hard to put this trip into words! I knew when I booked it would be tough, and I wasn't wrong... without doubt THE hardest thing I've ever done, the summit day was both physically and mentally exhausting. But hard things are the BEST things right?!! The biggest thanks to our main guide Pierre who got us working together as a team over the week. He taught us how to use our equipment and made sure we were always safe and spurred us on! We couldn't have reached the summit without the addition of 2 more guides, Luca and Alex. Their calm experience and constant encouragement was invaluable. If you are thinking of booking this trip, make sure you do the training (the Internet has all the info you need), and test yourself at altitude first if you can. 2/6 of our group could not summit because of the effects of altitude, and the trip itself doesn't have huge amount of time for acclimatisation.

Massive thanks to our guides Patrick and Fred and my group Jen, Tom, Loui, Graham and Mark for company. My first summit over 4000m. Amazing experience in France, Switzerland and Italian Alps. Hope I'll be ready next year 6476m summit 🙏🫶

Experience of a lifetime! The guides were absolutely outstanding getting us to the top of Mont Blanc in 60 kmph winds. The acclimatisation trip provided a great opportunity to practice walking in crampons and the technical skills of using an ice axe, so no prior experience was required. My top tips: you can rent boots there which are crampon compatible, there are crocs at the huts so don't need to pack sandals and bring a thermos for the summit day as the hut will fill it with hot tea!

It’s a good trip. It’s safe, the guides are competent if maybe a little conservative. It is a tourist operation. They do not teach much they basically rope you up and say follow me. As an example, in my group only three of us had ever held an ice axe before but there was no instruction on how to use it or the best way to carry it and not a word about self arrest. They did give my group some basic crampon instruction on a glacier. I would give the company a C- on communication. I had a couple of unanswered emails/ texts or long delays on responses. Having stated the above I did enjoy the trip. The scenery was magnificent, the huts were comfortable and well stocked. The guides we competent if overly conservative as previously stated. At the end of the day they did deliver on a safe attempt to summit Mt Blanc.