Mont Blanc Ascent with Mont Blanc Guides - Alone on the Top!

Vlog of one of our guided Mont Blanc ascents 13-15th July 2019. Perfect weather together with a strong team meant we could leave late and have the top half of the mountain to ourselves. A great trip, with a sting in the tail at the end, waking up on the last day to 20cm of new snow!

[@YnseSchaap]

That moment when you reach the Dome de Gouter and you see what you've goten yourself into 😁

[@domagojperculija6682]

You can see Vinnie was enjoying every moment of that trip and I'm so glad for him!!

[@ecycled3d]

Stumbled upon this by accident. Really pleasant to watch. My wife and I did the Tour du Mont Blanc fall of 2018 and I told myself that one day I'd love to summit Mont Blanc. Maybe this will inspire me to do just that. Funny you summited on my birthday, the 14th of July. Great vlog. Thanks!

[@bennevis6843]

Wear trainers until the tete rousse and acclimatize properly and be fit it’s no joke.

[@DaxXx988]

Thanks a lot for this! @MontBlancGuides I had an attempt with you guys 2 years ago - and although we had to cancel our push due to too hot of a weather (rockfall in the couloir too mad so the Mayor also "closed" the mountain right after), our experience with you was nothing but perfect! Really appreciated all the communication around it, your approach to client safety and decision making, and you did everything in your power to "make it up" to us - we did 6-7 4000m peaks around Monte Rosa! Thank you! I am giving it a second go, this time just myself and one of the guides who was with us 2 years ago. Fingers crossed that in 10 days the conditions are perfect! Cheers and thanks once again! You will always have my recommendations!

[@stevekelly7545]

Did this with John in 2006 on a straight push from the Tete Rousse via the old Gouter. Great day. No safety line across the couloir back then. The few days acclimatising beforehand were equally memorable.

[@MontBlancGuides]

Hi Steve, 2006 that's going back a bit! Glad to hear it's still a happy memory for you. Best John

[@MrBrennanMatt]

from one matt to another... 🤙

[@PawPac]

Greetings! Amazing ascent and video. Curious how much rope or sling do you need to attach to the wire on Grand Couloir also what’s the size of the gate opening on carabiner? Thanks!

[@KaireMl]

Saving money to summit this beautiful mountain with you guys next year

[@KaireMl]

@bigol michael couldn't make it :(

[@benvanmassenhove]

How far can you see from the top? Can you see the Matterhorn, Jungfrau, ... others?

[@Armand_Tiegan]

What camera were you using please? I'm going up next month and want to capture as good of a view as this. Regards, Armand

[@paulberryman81]

This looked amazing. Where do I sign up!?

[@MontBlancGuides]

Hey Paul, www.montblancguides.com. Glad you liked the video!

[@Cavaclusaz]

Hey, What happened to the person who didn't summit ? Vertigo on the riges ? ^^

[@mongolmcphee7791]

Great video. Best idea of the path up and the terrain I have ever seen. I’m curious about when you did the final leg. Every company I have seen seem to summit just as the sun rises. I can’t understand this as you have effectively not seen the climb and your going up at the most congested time. Do you normally start your summit attempt after breakfast so to speak or was this a one off? Looking to climb early’ish in 2021 if Cov 19 gets sorted. Thanks.

[@MontBlancGuides]

It depends how you organise the climb, the classic way to do it (hopefully after acclimatisation elsewhere) is over two days with one night in the Gouter hut. Being cheaper and quicker this is the reason most people do it this way, which is also the reason we don't. There is a lot of variation in guiding companies offering Mont Blanc ascents, most are very good but as with anything else you need to look at what's included for the price. Trying to be out of sync with other parties on the mountain has always been a priority of ours and we will take this approach whenever possible as it adds so much to the aesthetics of the ascent.

[@bennevis6843]

You climb at night because the grand corridor (not real spelling) due to rock fall also the snow is harder. I attempted this climb without acclimatizing or much training.. very stupid with the sun on my back and water run out I was struggling the climb up to the gouter hit was extremely difficult for me especially with the guide calling me names in French. I got the the gouter hut and had to wait for over an hour for food they feed you in groups at the table I never ate much and I was dizzy and completely spent. I decided to go down the next morning. One day I’ll return better prepared.

[@MontBlancGuides]

@@bennevis6843 Sorry to here you had a grim time. Don't be too discouraged though, the problem was probably mostly your lack of accclimatisation, if you're interested there's a load of information about that on our site here: www.montblancguides.com/faq/#altitude. If you take a bit longer over your ascent it makes a massive difference and hugely improves your chances of success.

[@dewy29657]

What equipment would I need to bring with me and what do you provide I walk small mountains in Wales in UK none of them are like this I'd love to do this

[@anthonyholroyd5359]

Can't wait. Climbed my first alpine 4000er (Breithorn) just last month . . . And already got Mont Blanc in my sights. Upwards and onwards :)

[@joellelopez8540]

how was breithorn?

[@anthonyholroyd5359]

@@joellelopez8540 excellent. We had gorgeous weather for it. Our guide was warm and deeply knowledgeable. The climb wasn't particularly taxing, I had no issues with the altitude and the terrain, whilst narrowing towards the summit, was pretty straightforward throughout. All round a great introduction to higher mountains.

[@joellelopez8540]

@@anthonyholroyd5359 amazing! :)

[@maxbalk]

I need your opinion, the opinion of the experienced MB summiters here. I do not have those giant crampons. I have a more decent version of crampons, the Camp Ice Master. They are smaller, but you are much faster with them. I feel more comfortable in them. Do you think I need the proper ones or is this enough?

[@ZAPHODWAT]

IMHO you need proper crampons. The Ice masters don't hav long enough spikes to cope with snow.

[@maxbalk]

@@ZAPHODWAT Thanks a lot, Stephen!

[@granero8195]

When you realise you have to go back down

[@Farmlandsfallfan]

Where does the route up start ?

[@DaxXx988]

What did you use for the cam? :)

[@MontBlancGuides]

Thanks for the kind words and I really hope it works out for you next time, it's an amazing climb I'm sure you'll love it. I used an Osmo Pocket for the filming but I've just recently been up again with the drone and got some really cool stuff which I should have edited and added to the channel soon. Also have a new one coming out about Monte Rosa which no doubt you'll recognise! Best John Taylor.

[@DaxXx988]

@@MontBlancGuides Unfortunately this time the weather went the other way - high winds and snowfall plus very low temperatures, had to cancel the attempt. Ah third time's the charm, next year is going to be it! :)

[@ambertudor]

what does this guide service cost????

[@arnoringibjarkason8020]

About 2000-2500 euro

[@janenecaracaus4811]

where did the music producer go?

[@MontBlancGuides]

Don the music producer made the summit a bit after us. He's a big guy and it's frankly unusual for people with this sort of body shape to make the summit, Mont Blanc being extremely discriminatory in this respect. Don however was the exception as he had unusually high levels or previous experience for one of our clients, having already ascended several major summits previously including Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. That had I think allowed him to develop a very strong "motor", which got him to the top. We don't in any way discriminate on body shape on our courses, if you do reasonably well on our training peak Gran Paradiso you get a shot at Mont Blanc, regardless. The reverse also applies of course, as we have to be sure people are at a high enough fitness level to attempt the mountain at all.

[@sdpy15]

Beautiful summit! The only thing that bothers me is all the huts over the mountain, it spoils the view and remote feeling that mountaineering should give you. I live in Canada, and when we hit a mountain its almost guaranteed that you wont see another person, or any signs of civilization.

[@MontBlancGuides]

Even though I use them all the time I can only agree. It's hard to get excited about composting toilets and solar panels at the new Gouter hut when the whole thing looks like a shiny spaceship stuck on the side of the mountain. If we are going to have huts here they should be as discrete as possible, not modern architectural statements. Fortunately, though its very visible from the valley, for most of the climb you can't see it.

[@iliepoliec7089]

hello ,Ihve 58 year old ,Iam healty and have good andurance .mental prepared from hard efort ,is posibil to enjoi with you in this sumer ?

[@raphaelwellig5066]

Bonjour J'espère que tu vas bien. Merci pour vos merveilleux films et visites. Bon garçon! Toutes nos félicitations! Que diriez-vous du guide de montagne italien sérieusement négligent de Pigne d'Arolla depuis avril 2018 avec 7 morts? Il a tout mal fait: "la météo était très mauvaise" - Le groupe de 10 pour une Haute Route Chamonix après Zermatt était trop grand. - Un groupe de 10 est trop lent et rigide - Il n'avait même pas de sacs de bivouac. Responsable Les randonneurs à ski ont toujours un sac de bivouac avec eux pour de telles randonnées. - Vous devez toujours avoir une boussole mécanique avec vous. - Tu es parti trop tard. Pas avant environ 6h30 - Il est trop tard pour le ski de randonnée au printemps. - Tu n'as même pas creusé un trou de neige. _______________________________________________________ Merci pour votre avis Je vous souhaite de bonnes tournées d'été 2020. Avec salutations alpines Raphael Wellig

[@xiam19]

9:42 potentially deadly situation🫣 When you got crampons are on the boots, ice axe needs to be in the hand😉 How on earth would they be able to make self-arrest if one of you misstep, trip,... with the pole?

[@MontBlancGuides]

Sorry but that isn't right, the ground is so flat here there is zero danger of a slip becoming a fall. We are using the rope for crevasse fall protection only, hence the large separation between us; if someone does fall in with three well spaced people and good rope discipline, holding a fall is not usually too difficult, so it's entirely reasonable to use a pole here. On steep ground where there is fall risk we shorten the rope and get the axes out, as we are doing at 7:45.

[@marcogiovanni8962]

When you realise the base camp of Everest is 2,000ft more higher than the peak of the Mont Blanc 😂😂😂

[@GameTV-lu8uh]

100%

[@olex869]

You cant compare it, something diffrent

[@counterfit5]

Fun fact, due to the weird definition of parent peaks, the parent peak of Mont Blanc is Everest 😆

[@slopolopez7741]

Where's the fat guy? I thought: "If he can make it, I can make it!". Don, did he make it to the top? Didn't see him. : (

[@janenecaracaus4811]

@ShortstackO the music producer I don't see him either

[@mikesperrey]

If you really need to know, there are much less offensive ways to ask - don't be a dick