Matterhorn Course

Day 1 is arrival day. If you require pick ups from Geneva airport, please let us know, otherwise we’ll meet you at the Rockypop hotel or Chamonix central train station. Check-in starts at 3:00pm but we can store our bags at the hotel and roam around if we arrive early. We highly recommend arriving early in order to rent gear. The gear stores close at 7:00pm. A team dinner and briefing will take place at 7:30pm with your LHO team leaders and mountain guides at the Little Boxes restaurant in Chamonix Sud.

We’ll start the day at 8 am. After breakfast we’ll be heading to the Emosson lake in Switzerland to perform the traverse of the Perrons Ridge. This is a great first step into the world of ridge climbing and mixed alpinism because it presents a serious challenge but at a manageable altitude considering that this is our first day and we won’t have been acclimatized yet. The crossing usually takes around 8 hours and includes training on scrambling, abseiling, rock climbing and short roping. We expect to be back at the hotel in Chamonix in time for an early dinner and some rest.

This will be our first early start of the trip. We’ll depart from the hotel at 6 am and head to the Aiguille du Midi station to catch the mountain cable to the Vallee Blanche glacier. Training starts literally once we arrive as the access to the glacier requires us to immediately learn and demonstrate mountain skills. Training will center around the use of technical gear on a mix of snow and ice and we’ll be traversing the Vallee Blanche, climbing the Pointe Lachenal ridge, and continuing to the Torino hut on the Italian side. The evening will be spent at the Torino hut for acclimatization.

The following day we’ll attempt our first major summit of the expedition: Depending on our progress and conditions on the mountain this may be either the Tour Ronde, the Dent du Geant or the Aiguilles Marbrees. All are major alpine achievement in their own right and will enable us to put our skills to the test on a ridge that is somewhat similar to the Matterhorn. After summiting the Tour Ronde the team will descend back to the Torino hut and then use the cable to descend the mountain into Italy where a car will be waiting to take us back to Chamonix. The night will be spent at the Rockypop.

Where we go will be determined on day 4. If we choose to go to the Matterhorn then we’ll depart by car to Zermatt and ascend the cable followed by a trek to the Hornlihutte refuge. If we choose to go elsewhere such as the Viso then we’ll also use this day to drive and make our way to the mountain hut for our summit of choice. Remember that the aim of this experience is to maximize your learning and achieve a new limit at your level so don’t be discouraged if we choose to avoid a particular summit that you may feel strongly about. We want you to achieve it safely and intelligently.

Our second day will be a push the summit of the mountain. The aim of this day is to make our way to the top of the mountain and descend to the mountain hut we started from.

After breakfast at the mountain hut, we’ll descend back to valley and enjoy some free time in the village a the foot of the mountain. We’ll make our way back to Chamonix for a final farewell dinner.

Our last day together is dedicated to airport drop offs. Breakfast at the hotel is included.