The Ultimate Alpine Adventure

Our itinerary begins with your arrival day. If you’re flying into Geneva airport, our transfer partners will meet you there and take you to our hotel in the Chamonix valley. Our airport transfer is included between 6:30 am and 7:30 pm, please inform LHO Base Camp of your arrival and departure times. For those meeting us directly at the hotel, your LHO Team Leader will be there to greet you. Hotel check-in typically begins at 3 pm, but if you arrive early, you can store your bags and explore the area. Your Team Leader will send you a list of things to do in Chamonix closer to the time. If you need to rent or purchase additional gear, arriving early is advisable as gear shops usually close at 7 pm. We usually aim for an early start the following day before the shops open. In the evening, we’ll have a team dinner and briefing at 7:30 pm, hosted by your Team Leader and lead mountain guide. This will be your first opportunity to meet your fellow adventurers, ask questions, and get excited about the week ahead. Gear checks will be organized by your LHO Team Leader throughout the day based on your arrival times to ensure you have everything you need for the week.

There is a high degree of flexibility built into the itinerary to account for shifting mountain conditions. This may require us to switch activities normally meant for the morning to the afternoon or switch days around entirely in order to perform as many of the activities and visit as many of the regions described in our trip itinerary as conditions permit.

Our first day together starts after breakfast with a morning briefing on how to paraglide in tandem with a professionally certified instructor. After our briefing, we will make our way up to the Planpras cable station by cable car. Mont Blanc will be directly ahead of us with some of the most stunning views in the region immediately on display. It is quite typical that we may need to wait for the wind to be favorable for take-off. Once we get the green light, your instructor will begin the take-off and aim to fly for as long as possible. Flight length is based on wind and weather conditions but is usually close to 30 minutes. After landing, we’ll make our way to a picnic spot to enjoy our packed lunches. Depending on the flight schedule, we may have some free time to roam around before heading back to our hotel to change clothes for rafting.

Our second incredible experience of the day starts with a briefing at the Chamonix river. We’ll then board our raft for an epic journey down the valley on some of the most incredible rapids in the alpine region. We will literally be rafting on the river formed by the Mont Blanc glaciers and directly in the shadow of the great mountain itself! The river follows a series of rapids, gorges, and wider areas that’ll give us a real sense of how wild the nature of this area truly is. Our endpoint is down in the valley near the Haute Savoie town of Passy. It is some considerable distance away, so we’ll be collected by a private van to take us back to Chamonix for warm showers and a relaxing evening. Your LHO Team Leader will let you know where and when the team dinner will be.

Today, we’ll shift gears, quite literally, as we mount our mountain bikes for a day of downhill trails. After breakfast, we’ll be met by our biking team, who will shuttle us to Les Houches on the western side of the Chamonix Valley. There, we’ll undergo an extensive briefing led by our expert instructors on how to safely use the bike. The cable cars at this station have been fitted for bike access, making it ideal to ascend without effort and spend our time largely enjoying the big descents offered.

We’ll be riding quite literally in the shadow of the normal route to the summit of Mont Blanc, with the entire Chamonix valley beneath our tires. The trails pass through forests, berry fields, and we’ll even see free-roaming cows! Our picnic for the day will be in an open field overlooking the entire valley. Once we’ve fed our need for speed, we’ll descend back down to Chamonix.

The afternoon will be free to roam around the town and do some shopping. Your LHO Team Leader will let you know the time and location of dinner.

Now that we’ve flown, rafted, and biked, it’s time to climb and roll! After breakfast, we’ll head to the Flegere lift to access the via ferrata on the walls of Les Aiguilles Rouge. Our expert mountain guides will conduct an extensive briefing on the use of via ferrata gear before we get started.

The via ferrata of the Aiguilles Rouge is split into three sections and is somewhat demanding but very doable. For those of us who would prefer not to touch the void or would prefer to avoid too much physical effort after two big days already, we can arrange a meeting point that is accessible on the footpath. The entire experience takes about 2 hours to complete and is breathtaking, both in terms of the experience itself and because of the incredible views that surround us on every side.

Once at the end of the via ferrata, we’ll have a picnic at the top, followed by a short hike to Lac Blanc. There are beautiful photo opportunities by the lake, and the chance to have a coffee and dessert at the cabin nearby, so we’ll take our time to enjoy it. The end of our day will include a stroll down to the valley floor through the forest. For those of us who would prefer not to walk, we can use the cable car to descend and enjoy some extra free time in the shopping streets of Chamonix. Your LHO Team Leader will coordinate with you on meeting times for dinner.

We’ll get an early start on our last day of adventure together. After breakfast, we’ll head into town to pick up our rental gear and then head to the Montenvers train station to take the mountain train to the Mer de Glace. We’ll be met by our IFMGA-certified mountain guide, who will escort us throughout the day.

Once at the top station, we will descend using the cable car and continue to follow the stairs built to access the glacier. We will start by visiting the local ice cave inside the glacier, which is incredibly impressive to see. Once we’ve taken loads of pictures and gotten our fill of the freezing ice, we’ll begin to walk onto the glacier.

Our guide will conduct a full briefing before we walk onto the glacier. The aim of the day is to give you a real taste of what it’s like to mountaineer on the ice. The day will be split into three parts. The first part is the basic training on the use of equipment and how to walk efficiently with crampons. The second part is to walk along the Mer de Glace glacier and explore the deeper reaches of the environment. Finally, if time permits, we may have the opportunity to extend some ropes onto the steeper sections and give you a taste of ice climbing.

Once done, we’ll return the same way we came, first accessing the footpath, then ascending via cable car to the Montenvers, and finally descending by train back to Chamonix. After returning our gear, we’ll have some free time to roam around town before our farewell dinner later in the evening.

Our last day together is dedicated to airport transfers and farewells. Breakfast is included. Please ensure you provide accurate departure details when filling out your team details form. If there are any changes to your travel plans, please inform your LHO Team Leader as early as possible so that appropriate arrangements can be made.