Mont Blanc Policy

We have made major changes to our Mont Blanc courses.

In recent years, common practice for companies offering Mont Blanc courses has been to run an inflexible itinerary, first with training and acclimatisation days on a high guiding ratio then with extra guides hired at the end of the week for the actual ascent of Mont Blanc (by a set route).

While undoubtedly lowering the cost, this approach has major drawbacks for clients. The time slot for the summit day is narrow (usually one day) making success very weather dependent. Committing to a specific route irrespective of conditions can compromise safety as well reduce chances of success. Also, guides hired at the end of the week have no opportunity to build up a relationship with you to prepare as well as possible for the ascent.

ISM is now offering two different course itineraries to climb Mont Blanc, each on a 2:1 guiding ratio throughout. A pair of climbers works with the same guide throughout the course and there is as much flexibility as possible on the summit day and the route of ascent.

The 5-day Mont Blanc Summit course is designed to follow-on from any other ISM course (so that we know you will be acclimatised and will have all necessary skills). If you have no previous alpine/mountaineering experience, Summits & Skills 4000m or Alpine Introduction are the best preceding weeks. Experienced climbers are also welcome to join the course if they properly acclimatise beforehand. There are four possible summit days for Mont Blanc on this course.

If you have just one week for your alpine holiday, with Mont Blanc as the principal objective, the 6-day Mont Blanc Special course is ideal. We begin by climbing another high peak to acclimatise and to teach/refresh all the skills needed for Mt Blanc, and then we take weather and conditions into account to plan the route and the best day for our summit climb. There are three possible summit days for Mont Blanc on this course.

Mont Blanc is a serious mountain with a high number of accidents every year. Safe enjoyment of the mountains is our goal at ISM and we have made these changes in order that this is not compromised.

Back to Mont Blanc Summit page
Back to Mont Blanc Special page