Monte Rosa Mountaineer🇮🇹June 2023

The Monte Rosa chain forms a magnificent high alpine & glacial massif straddling the Italian & Swiss borders and presents the mountaineer with a superb series of snowy peaks just asking to be climbed.  After an initial training and acclimatisation trip, our route approaches from the more accessible glaciers on the southern, Italian flank of the mountain via the beautiful Gressoney Valley.  The high point for this 4 day alpine adventure is Punta Gnifetti (4554m) and its crowning Margherita Hut.  This is the highest building in Western Europe, and, being in Italy, provides a remarkable pit stop for a good coffee and slice of pizza!

Monte Rosa Mountaineer, Featuring…

• 5 days of physical high alpine mountaineering aiming to climb several peaks from up 3500m to 4500m along the way
• Initial mountaineering training given on day 1 and consistently developed throughout the course
• 2 day warm up training & acclimatisation trip with a night in a mountain hut, usually the Albert Premier Hut in the Mont Blanc Massif or Moiry Hut in the Swiss Valais
• 3 day trip deep in to the heart of the Monte Rosa Massif
• 2 nights spent in famous Italian mountain ‘Rifugios’. Superb locations, hospitable staff, great food, cafe & vino. An experience in itself!
• Great progression and acclimatisation towards climbing other big 4000m peaks like Mont Blanc
• Meet other like minded climbers for a sociable week in the mountains

A memorable journey deep in to the heart of one of Europe’s most remarkable mountains landscapes…

Many thanks for a great week! Everything about the trip, from initial booking through to final peak, has been exceptional. Stefano was an excellent guide who kept Carl and I going when we were close to running on empty. Sharing a coffee in margarita hut after that climb was a highlight and I’m already planning my next trip…

Full course programme and details on our Monte Rosa Mountaineer page here.

• A really good level of aerobic fitness is required for the long glacial and high altitude climbs on the Monte Rosa (up to around 8 hours of climbing / descending on the main summit day with altitudes up to 4500m, thus a big effort!) .  Good endurance is required in general to still be climbing the 4000m peak on day 4.  Thus a background in mountain walking or other endurance activities like running or cycling is required.
• Previous hill walking and any general mountain experience will be useful for our Monte Rosa Mountaineer programme although mountaineering training will be given at the start and throughout the week so no technical mountaineering experience is required.  However, for those without experience, we recommend doing either our Mont Blanc training day or Mont Blanc training weekend prior to this course.
• Whilst the technical demands of the climbing are relatively low, this course still involves some rocky / mixed scrambling and with some exposure in ascent & descent. The course also involve steep snow slopes and crevassed glaciers so you need to be able to concentrate & deal with these challenges after the initial mountaineering training.

This is an easier programme than our Climb Mont Blanc course, physically & technically, and would be an excellent stepping stone towards climbing that peak.