There are some alpinists who consider summer to be the only ‘off-season’ period for alpine mountaineering. It is indeed often in winter, spring and autumn that the combination of snow, ice, low temperatures and quiet mountains can give the mountaineer a spark of a big adventure, always tempered by the tougher mountain conditions and greater commitment.
In short, the going is generally tough, but the rewards can be great!
Autumn, Winter & Spring Mountain Reports & Conditions Updates
Whilst we mainly run private guiding trips for alpine mountaineering in autumn, winter and spring, we do also have a few group courses which are listed here:
Thanks for an amazing few days. You pushed me to achieve things I didn’t think I was capable of and taught me patiently. I have learnt loads and enjoyed myself enormously. Today fully type 1 fun. Escarra definitely a bit of 1 a lot of 2 and a tiny bit of 3! But overall the best day in the hills I’ve ever had.
Simon Everett, Chamonix North Faces & Multi Pitch rock, Nov 21
The easier mixed and rocky ridges of high summer are transformed in to bigger challenges in their winter garb and often just being out on the hill is both a privilege and challenge in itself. Some of the classic 4000m peaks including Gran Paradiso and Mont Blanc can be almost at their best in the autumn months.
Simon topping out on the North Face of the Aiguille du Chardonnet, November 2021
For those of suitable experience, fitness and determination who are seeking a bigger challenge there are a fine series of North Faces ranging in size and difficulty to cater for most Winter Alpinists. From the Tete Blanche and Tour Ronde to the Chardonnet, Aiguille du Midi, Les Droites and many more. These North Faces give tough mountaineering experiences that are only suited to those prepared to embrace the concept that winter alpine mountaineering is hard work and not always ‘type 1 fun’ at the time!
High on the Breithorn Summit Ridge in autumn 2020. A very accessible 4000m peak rapidly approached from the lifts of Zermatt, which are open in autumn.
Route Approaches, Lift Access & Winter Room Huts
Fresh snow in winter takes a long time to consolidate and where a glacial approach in summer is typically associated with crampons crunching on a frozen glacier, in winter it is more likely to be wading through thigh deep soft snow! This means that the mountaineer who can ski is likely to profit most from their time in the winter alpine environment, although snow shoes can be a reasonable alternative and often neither are necessary in the earlier autumn season.
By using the big 3 lifts of the Mont Blanc massif (Aiguille du Midi from Chamonix, Grands Montets fromn Argentiere and Hellbroner from Courmayeur) rapid access to 3300m+ is gained and, in good conditions and travelling on skis, some of the classic high Chamonix Goulottes can be climbed and the ski descent to the valley completed on the same day.
Late autumn dawn departure from Albert Premier to traverse the Tour Glacier and climb the North Face of the Tête Blanche, an excellent training climb.
For those wanting to attempt the bigger faces or to spend more time up high in the magical winter alpine environment an overnight stay can be made in one of the various ‘winter rooms’ of the high mountain huts. For those who can’t ski or don’t want to carry skis over a climb, snow shoes provide the next best option and the greater times involved meant that an overnight in a mountain hut winter room is likely to be involved. This can be a fine experience in itself and give an insight in to the winter mountains outwith the times of the skiers and day visitors using the lifts.
Dinner at the Chabod Hut winter room on our autumn Gran Paradiso course…boil in the bag! A different experience to summer but equally rewarding, if not more so!
See Our Article On Seasonal Alpine Mountaineering Conditions
Training & Guiding
As with all our courses there is a balance to be struck between ‘just’ going climbing and enjoying some brilliant routes and adding a more structured training element to develop your skills as a winter alpinist. This balance is directed by your aspirations and we provide a bespoke course accordingly. Please check out some of the suggested suitable winter / spring / autumn climbs below and the various options for training topics to be covered. Remember that the best training for going climbing….is going climbing!
“We had such a lovely time mountaineering with Rob off the Skyway Monte Bianco. Rob is an amazing guide in all respects— knowledgeable, fun to be with, and a great teacher. Couldn’t recommend him enough”
Emily & Ben coming up to the Col de Toule on our winter mountaineering intro and snow shoe glacier journey from Skyway Monte Bianco.
“Thanks again for a Chamonix wonder week Rob. It was a real pleasure having the opportunity to be out in the mountains with you. You did a sterling job mate and were good fun to be with. I hope we get the chance to do it again sometime. All the best, Matt”
Chamonix ice climbing, on the Rive Gauche Argentiere Glacier
Autumn Summit Climbs
For example:
Summit of Mont Blanc and the mixture of emotions are running high. France on one side, Italy on the other. Magnificent view across the Alps, tired legs…must concentrate…must keep going for the descent. Relief? Satisfaction? Elation? Concern about the descent? Mont Blanc is a very personal challenge….
Early autumn ascent of the Gran Paradiso. Shallow fresh snow, cool temperatures, a chilly breeze and stunning views around the Alpine chain…
Good fun scrambling high on the classic South Ridge of the Weissmeis with the Almageller Hut and Dry Hornli Ridge in shade far below…
Selection of Possible Climbs
Whilst any winter alpine trip in to the mountains is likely to be a physically tough experience there are a fine variety of routes offering good quality outings from those of moderate technical ability right through to the seasoned alpinist at home on technical ground on a big face.
Mountain Guide Will Harris enjoying the first pitch of the Escarra Route
Below we offer a selection of route suggestions that form a very rough progression in terms of overall difficulty and commitment. Many of these can be tackled in a day off the high Chamonix lifts whilst the larger routes often need several days to complete the approach, climb and descent. Your course itinerary will be tailor made according to your preferences for the style and difficulty of the routes:
- Traverse of Pointe Lachenal, PD
- Traverse Aiguilles Marbrees, PD
Justine on the summit of the Aiguilles Marbrees. Snowy conditions in mid October 2020
- Petite Verte, PD
- Cosmiques Arete, AD 4a
- Chere Couloir, II 4, 350m
Old photo – not current conditions – Perroux Gully on left, Chere Couloir directly above the climber
- Tour Ronde Ordinary Route, AD
- Traverse Aiguille d’Entreves, AD
- Pellisier Gully, II 4 M5
- Gabarrou-Albinoni, III, 4+, 500m
- North Face Aiguille de Toule, AD
- Left Edge Route, AD, 350m
- Contamine Mazeaud, AD+, 350m
- Perroux Gully, III 4+ 5b, 350m
Old shot of one of the crux icy / mixed grooves on the Perroux next to the Chere couloir
- Gully Variations, III, 4+
- Midi-Plan Ridge, AD
- Modica Noury, III 5+
- North Face Tour Ronde, D 350m
- Claire Chazal
- Rebuffat Gully, II 4, 350m Tour Ronde
- Farraon
- Fil a Plomb
- Aiguille du Chardonnet North Face, Migot Spur or Escarra Route
Mike Brownlow on the fine ice wall of the Escarra Route
- Madness Tres Mince
- Charlet Ghillini
- Pinocchio
Brilliant mid-winter climbing on the East Face of Mont Blanc du Tacul
- Eugster Direct
- Lagarde Couloir
- Supercouloir
- Cecinel Nomine
- Winter ice and mixed climbs in the Aravis
Aravis Mixed Climbing
Training Modules
The following relevant training elements may be covered on a Chamonix winter / spring / autumn mountaineering course according to your existing knowledge and enthusiasm to learn:
- Ice and mixed climbing techniques + good dry tooling options
- Winter climbing protection
- Simple and effective climbing ropework for pitching and moving together
- Glacier travel and crevasse rescue techniques
- Avalanche hazard awareness and decision making
- Route selection according to current conditions
- Navigation including the use of a GPS
- Ski mountaineering techniques for ascent and descent to / from routes
- Transceiver use
Dry Tooling at Servoz on the steep finish to the route Momus, M6
Pre-Requirements
Winter alpine mountaineering is not for the faint hearted and you should be fully aware before booking that every aspect of it is both physically and mentally demanding. Days can be up to 12 hours, or longer on a big North Face, and you must be prepared for this by being both very fit and determined to embrace the high mountain environment. You should also be aware that this winter / spring / autumn alpine environment contains hazards which are sometimes beyond the control of your Guide and be prepared to accept the risks associated with travel in crevassed and avalanche prone terrain and occassionaly threatened by ice / serac fall from above.
Simon below the Col du Tour en route to the Téte Blanche North Face with the North Face of the Aiguille du Chardonnet beyond.
You will have ideally practised the skills of alpinism on a summer course and be already familiar with climbing, rope and equipment techniques. However if these skills are not already in place we can use valley cascades, lower glaciers, mountains and crags and put together a suitable training package.
“Just to say a big thanks from me and Chris for a brilliant few days ice & mixed climbing over the new year. It was exactly what we were looking for. I think we have both fallen for the world of mixed climbing and will definitely be trying some more soon by ourselves. I would recommend taking a course with Rob to anyone looking to try something new in the mountains. It was a brilliant way to get a head-start into a new area of climbing for us. Thanks again, Andy.”
Will enjoying the moderately technical snowed up rock on the first pitch of the Escarra Route, on the north face Aiguille du Chardonnet.
Further Details & Booking
Equipment List, please refer to our Autumn – Winter – Spring Alpine Mountaineering Equipment List and be aware that out-with the high summer season you will need warmer boots (e.g your ski boots or La Sportiva Spantiks, Scarpa 6000m or similar), warmer gloves; a warmer duvet jacket and good quality face protection e.g. neoprene face mask, buff, goggles, balaclava and good jacket hoods.
Reports From Summits & Routes Climbed in Autumn, Winter & Spring
27 April 2026, ‘The Mallory’ North Face Of The Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix
Spring is traditionally the best time to climb the north face of the Aiguille du Midi via it’s easiest route, the Mallory Porter, and this April gave fine stable snow conditions and with a good track winding it’s way up the inspiring and intricate line. The technical difficulties are short lived but there is a LOT of steady snow climbing in an amazing position on this 1100m north face…
Nearing the Midi! The end in sight and plenty of time before the last lift down!
Check out our news page report for more details and photos and well done Sheffield Dave on a fine north face climb:
17 October 2025, The Autumn Ascent of Mont Blanc
A memorable early autumn ascent of Mont Blanc via a lovely long walk up the Bionassay Valley and night at the Tete Rousse winter room. Great conditions on the upper mountain and stunning autumn light and views…
The last few steps…to the summit of Mont Blanc, in autumn.
Check our dedicated news article below for a full description of the climb, the autumn conditions and staying in the winter room along the way…
13 October 2025, The Chere Couloir, Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix
Conditions were good, but word had got around, of course, it’s Chamonix! So we spent a night at the Abri Simond Hut and had a lovely quiet evening ascent of the Chere finding lovely squeaky ice and some fun mixed sections before abseiling back down in the dark for a starlit walk back across the Col du Midi:
Stunning starlit autumn evening stroll across the Col du Midi
More photos and info on the climb here:
12 October 2025, Alone On The Dent du Geant 4014m
Great to have the ascent of the Dent du Geant to ourselves on a Sunday morning. Cool climbing conditions in the shade in early autumn but perfect snow conditions for the approach and actually pleasant on the climb too as there was very little wind.
Rami on the famous golden slabs of the Dent du Geant
The Torino Hut was closing the following day and the Skyway a few days later so it was good to get a brilliant last climb on the Italian side before the lift closes until December. Full report on the climb here:
24 February 2025, Ice Climbing Park In Gran Paradiso National Park
Great to check out the impressive new ice climbing park in the Valsavarenche in the Gran Paradiso National Park, only an hour or so drive from Chamonix through the Mont Blanc Tunnel, and with an excellent café stop en route!
Fun climbing from intro easy to technical and hard at Valsavarenche ice climbing park, Val d’Aosta
There is one ice layby almost right next to the road where you could literally belay from the car, although beware of ice crashing down on to the car! The more extensive and better climbing is just a bit further up the valley…
Enjoyable technical top roped ice climbing. It’s possible to either lead the climbs or come in from above to drop a top rope down from numerous steel chains around the numerous good trees
It’s a lovely area in the Larch forests of Valsavarenche and it was pretty quiet today with lots of space, views to the hills and lots of ice! There is plenty of variety in both difficulty and style of climbing and overall a very enjoyable way to learn, train, climb, enjoy and thanks to the Valsavarenche guides for setting it all up.
Steep and sustained on the left, fun, chunky and easy on the right with big foot holds and bridging.
There is still plenty of fat ice on the crags and some lines should last several weeks yet before it’s too thin to climb as the good weather with warm days but clear cool nights are much less destructive than the rain. Get in touch if you would like to do some intro or more advanced ice climbing here and no problem to do a day of guiding here from Chamonix.
7 February 2025, Arolla, Cogne & Chamonix Ice Climbing Conditions
Enjoyable ice climbing conditions are to be found in many classic ice venues reachable from Chamonix within an hour or so drive. We visited Arolla today and enjoyed the fat ice on the tunnel cascade with teams also on the Pont cascade to the right and other options higher up the Arolla valley.
The tunnel ice fall near Arolla, great fat ice conditions in early Feb 2025
We have had teams enjoying good ice conditions in Cogne also with plenty of routes in condition offering lots of choices from steady intro to techy icy mixed.
Abseiling from an abalakov ice thread anchor on our intro ice climbing day.
In Chamonix there is ice still to be found on the Argentiere Rive gauche area although some of the more delicate cascades on the Rive Droite are probably now finished for the season with the arrival of some spring like sunny afternoons on those west facing icefalls. In the mountains there are some good conditions on the classic goulottes like the Supercouloir and other lines on the East Face of the Tacul as well as on the north face of the Pelerins like the Carrington Rouse.
The fine technical direct start to the Supercouloir from a previous ascent.
12 January 2025, Cogne Ice Climbing Conditions
Ice continues to build with some pretty good climbing conditions in Cogne and Valsavarenche. Antares up near Pont has been popular and good in the latter whilst lots of teams have been out enjoying the good ice in Cogne. Olivia and Gareth climbing E Tuto Relativo and Chandelle Levure.
Olivia descending from a very fun ascent of E Tuto Relativo, Cogne
The former had been well climbed and was pretty friendly with steps and hooks, but more teams whereas the latter was just our team but a bit of fresh snow covering things up and making the going a bit slower and harder!
10 October 2024, Early Autumn Conditions in Chamonix – Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa, Lagginhorn, Rock Climbing…
Read our October 24 Chamonix mountaineering blog, for updates on conditions in the Mont Blanc & Monte Rosa Massifs as well as a stunning early autumn weekend climbing the Lagginhorn and some pretty inspiring early autumn rock climbing too.
4 April 2024, “The Snowiest Mountaineering I’ve done outside Alaska!” Gav The Guide on todays climb from Chamonix
Paddy heading around to the Arete Laurence from the Aiguille du Midi with the East Face Mont Blanc du Tacul beyond and Cosmiques Refuge on the far right.
The sustained barage of foehn storm events coming over from Italy has deposited serious amounts of fresh snow in the mountains of the Mont Blanc Massif. Gav described the amount of snow up the Aiguille du Midi today as ‘the snowiest mountaineering I’ve done outside Alaska!’. There were few other teams about and no track, but by using snow shoes for access, the team were able to access the Arete Laurence and make a challenging but fascinating traverse over and into the Comsiques Hut for a welcome brew!
Access down the Midi snow ridge is facilitated at this time of year by the fixed ropes for skiers doing the Vallee Blanche, so although it’s a lot tougher and snowier than in summer it’s also quieter and a very rewarding experience climbing on the famous Cosmiques Arete, Pt Lachenal, Arete Laurence and Triangle du Tacul.
3 April 2024, Petit Flambeau, Skyway Monte Bianco, Petite Sortie, Petit Montagne, Grande Neige!
Proper expedition feel to departing the Skyway Monte Bianco today. No other teams around but a LOT of fresh snow. Avalanche risk too high to climb much else but well done to Paddy and Gav for getting out there in the weather and trail breaking there way up the Petit Flambeau and getting a feel for alpine winter climbing…or Alaskan / Himalayan climbing for that matter!
Very snowy conditions on the glacier and Petit Flambeau accessed from Skyway Monte Bianco
28 December 2022, North Face Tour d’Ai, Leysin. Mountain Limestone Sport Mixed Climbing
Despite the recent thawing conditions with rain at low altitudes and mild temperatures, there are some activities that are pretty resilient to most conditions and the relatively new sport mixed / dry limestone mountain mixed routes above Leysin fit in to that category. We really enjoyed the mini north face ambiance with rapid approach on skis via the Leysin lift system. Then there is a rapid transition into steep and technical mixed climbing on the bolted routes of Casa de Papel (M6+) and the Voie de Droite (M7).
Starting up the fine central and bolted line of ‘La Case de Papel’ on the North Face of the Tour d’Ai
There are other routes on the face including the burly and trad Scottish route and the interesting mixed Harlin Route – which is a mix of trad and bolts. More info on that on the blog website of Simon Chatelan who it was good to meet at the base of the crag and thank him for these fine accessible new routes and inspiring topo to mixed climbing in SW Switzerland.
Another team starting up the Voie de Droite first pitch (M7). A good effort with a pack and big ski boots on!
We stashed our skis at the col below the crag which made for a rapid and enjoyable ski descent back to Leysin with decent piste conditions all the way to the bottom which was impressive considering the piste runs through green fields for the lower third!
Ski descent from the north face of Tour d’Ai with the West Face in the background where there are some other fine mixed routes like Leysin Incontournable.
6 December 2022, Intro Winter Mountaineering & Snow Shoe Glacier Journey From Skyway Monte Bianco
Emily & Ben coming up to the Col de Toule on our winter mountaineering intro and snow shoe glacier journey from Skyway Monte Bianco.
Beautiful pristine fresh snow conditions on the glaciers on the Italian side of the upper Vallée Blanche, rapidly accessed from the Skyway lift. The cover is still lean but it’s early season – and great to be in the winter mountains, plus there is plenty more on the way! A great day with team New York doing some snow shoe journeys across the glaciers and some intro mountaineering with an easy ridge scramble and short snow couloir climb. More details and conditions update – including teams on the Marbrees & Grand Flambeau mixed routes here:
16 October 2022, Mont Blanc & Chamonix Mountaineering Conditions
Very close to the summit on this fine autumn attempt on Mont Blanc plus a general update on Chamonix alpine mountaineering conditions so far this autumn here:
Early October 2022, Winter Room At The Cabane de Moiry
Nice trip to the winter room at the Moiry Hut with rapid access to both the glacier and good training ridges and summits behind the hut.
The Moiry Hut, a brilliant base camp for training on both the nearby glacier and rocky alpine ridges.
Early October 2022, Zumsteinspitze – Rifugio Gnifetti – Monte Rosa Massif
A decent track in place through the crevasses on the glacier above the Gnifetti Hut, but no track from the Lysjoch meaning some solid trail breaking for Gavin, Eren & Alex, but a magnificent early autumn 4500m peak ascent here on the summit of the Zumsteinspitze:
Alex & Eren on the 4563m summit of the Zumsteinspitze in the Monte Rosa Massif. A lovely chilly pristine feel to the mountains in early autumn.
The Rifugio Gnifetti is still open but the lifts from Gressoney are closed – but a 4 x 4 taxi option is available to give a good head start on the climb.
15 Feb 2022, Cascade du Dard, Sixt-Fer-Cheval
It was a bit snowy for ice climbing, but the route is a good choice in these conditions and we had a fine adventure culminating in a superbly steep final pillar of ice on the Dard…
30 January 2022, Big Snow Couloir Climbing In Les Contamines…
Brilliant day with Isabella climbing the Nant Blanc couloir in Les Contamines, with an enjoyable ski descent down the easy way off the back! Check out the details here.
