
Epic doesn't come close! Summit complete
Catherine B. July 2024

Real people, real adventures.
Learn mountaineering skills from expert guides as you cross glaciers and summit Tête Blanche (3429m)
Face off against mighty Mont Blanc (4805m), the highest peak in France and in the Alps, with a guide ratio of 1:2 when going for the summit
Mont Blanc’s legendary mountain huts get booked a long time in advance – so book early to secure your spot!
Looking for an alternative? Check out our trip to Monte Rosa, the Alps’ second-highest peak – an equally epic climb but without the crowds
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In short, no. It is not possible to ever guarantee a successful summit on a high altitude mountain such as Mont Blanc. But it is because the summit is not guaranteed, that it will make it all the more satisfying when you achieve it.
Your highly experienced and qualified guides will strive to get you to the summit, but sometimes the weather or the conditions on the mountain may prevent that. For example, when there is precipitation, high winds or low visibility, or when there are changes to the condition of the snow pack or the risk of rockfall increases due to rising temperatures. Your mountain guides are experts at constantly assessing the conditions and the ability of the climbing party, and will always prioritise safety first. Your guides have the final decision on how far the group will climb up the mountain, and if necessary will adapt the programme to make the most of the conditions during your trip.
For your Mont Blanc summit attempt (on Day 5 to Day 7), the guide-to-climber ratio is 1:2. This means that for groups of six people, there will be three mountain guides.
During the preparation phase of the trip up at Le Tour (on Day 2 to Day 4), the guide:climber ratio is 1:6. The guide who leads this first section of the trip will act as the lead guide for your Mont Blanc summit attempt later in the week. On Day 5, this guide will pair up the climbers in the group for the summit attempt and assign a guide to each pair.
All of the mountain guides are friendly, hand-picked and highly experienced, with many years in the guiding industry. They are of various nationalities but all speak a good level of English and are very attentive. Their primary role is to get you to the summit and back safely, but they also provide a high level of customer service and are very interesting people to spend time with. They like to share their knowledge of the mountains and their experiences, so don’t hesitate to ask questions and pick their brains. Lastly, they know Mont Blanc like the back of their hands and this is the most important thing when it comes to making key decisions in the mountains and providing the safest possible experience.
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.
As the climate heats up and Europe experiences hotter temperatures at the height of summer, the conditions in the Alps are worsening, particularly on Mont Blanc. There have been increased rockfalls during August in recent years, leading to unavoidable accidents. In August 2022, the mayor of Saint-Gervais at the foot of Mont Blanc took the decision to close the mountain refuges at Goûter and Tête Rousse due to dangerous rockfalls. For this reason, we have taken the decision not to offer this trips that go for the summit during August in future years.
Yes, your hotel in Chamonix will have a luggage storage facility for any excess luggage you don't need while up on the mountain. There may be a small daily charge for this payable locally.
Sure can! Over 70% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
Our team of Adventure Hunters co-create exclusive adventures which are run by highly vetted, specialist hosts. The trip is run by our trusted host partner in the destination. We only work with independent, local, in-destination experts who know the very best places to explore and how to stay safe. Read more information about the local teams we partner with. You’ll be introduced to the host straight after making a booking via the Much Better Adventures platform.
Much Better Adventures refer to the UK Government’s official travel advice when designing trips and monitoring trip operations. We recommend that all customers are familiar with the practical information provided on the Government’s FCDO website, where current travel advice can be found by searching for the applicable destination(s).
For customers joining this trip from other international destinations – please also read the official travel advice applicable to your country of residence/origin, as this may differ.
We recommend checking out the country-specific information and also talking to a travel nurse.
We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.
If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.
All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. You must be over 18 to join one of our trips.
You're always in good company on one of our adventures.
Our trips are typically made up of a mixture of solo travellers and small groups of 2 or 3 friends, with most in their 30s-50s.
Our sociable adventures are solo-friendly by design and naturally attract outdoorsy people with a shared mindset; a love for adventure, a desire to push themselves and meet awesome, like-minded people along the way. Check out our Community Values – a shared code to make sure that everyone's experience is safe, inclusive and brilliantly unforgettable.
It’s this camaraderie that has so often turned a great adventure into a life-changing one.
Don't just take our word for it:
See here for more info about the Much Better Adventures tribe.
In short, alpine and prone to change, so you'll need to prepare for all weathers and dress in layers. Put it this way – it’s called the ‘white mountain’ for a good reason. The climbing season runs from mid-June to late September and between those dates there is no better or worse time to attempt the climb. The beginning and end of the season can be snowy/ cold, and the middle months can be busier and the hotter temperatures can cause afternoon storms.
Summit success varies from season to season but remains consistent throughout the months. If the weather shuts you down, your host will endeavour to find the closest mountain in the area with better weather and thanks to their base location they are generally able to find an equally beautiful alternative within driving distance in France, Italy or Switzerland.
We partner with the World Land Trust to ensure this trip achieves Net-Zero emissions. We also support their Buy an Acre programme, helping local communities to buy and protect natural habitats in perpetuity.
What's the number?
It works out on average at 173kg of CO2 emissions per person, including all local transport, accommodation, food, activities, guides, staff and office operations.
The only thing it doesn’t include right now is flights and travel to the destination. We do make an overall estimate across all our customers separately, but as we don’t book flights, have customers from all corners of the world, and no way of reliably knowing their travel plans, we simply can’t include an individual number in the figure on display here. We’ve got a goal to fix that, so that when you book, there is a way to measure and mitigate the carbon emitted by your flight too.
But what does the number mean?
Yep, hard to picture eh? To give you an idea:
What are we doing about it?
Our trips are relatively low-carbon by design, and we're working with all our hosts to develop long term carbon reduction plans. We partner with the World Land Trust to ensure this trip achieves Net-Zero emissions. We also support their Buy an Acre programme, helping local communities to buy and protect natural habitats in perpetuity, ensuring the protection of the reserve and its wildlife.
Want to know more?
Amazingly, no international travel company has ever publicly published their carbon measurements before, as far as we know. We believe that must change, quickly. So we’re openly sharing the method we used in the hope that other companies will be able to more easily follow suit and build on what we've done so far. You'll find it all here.

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