Any advice for a beginner hiker ?, for example do I take a big coat,need specific thermal pants,boots,idk other specific accessories ?,also tips on climbing the mountain and any guides yall recommend ?

Especially for very popular Mountains like Mont blanc, to my understanding you have to book huts the year before in advance - a little bit later if you spend the ridiculous amount of at least 2k for a guide. But then you can't climb 50% of the time because of the weather. So if I plan to climb next year, I have 12 weeks to climb, earlier in the season is preferred since Grand Couloire is safer then. So 4 weeks. I have to take vacation at work already then and if I go at that time, I have spend hundreds of euros for a 50% chance that I can actually even try to start climbing. Do you guys just do a via Ferrara instead and live with having spend way to much, having trained for nothing since you can't decide to climb other mountains since weather won't be great there as well and you can't book huts there anymore at that point. How the hell do you do this?? Or do you have enough money to be an ashole and book huts for 2-3 separate times just in case? 90% of the huts won't let you cancel your reservation as well (of course they let but without refund..) why did these huts turn into 3 star restaurants anyway I just want a bed and not a three course meal up there since they made camping illegal almost everywhere nowerdays.

Hey people!

I'm going to spend something like 10 days working in the region around Visp, in Switzerland, and will have some spare time (like half of the day and maybe 2 days free) to explore the region.

I used to rock climb, but can't anymore because of a hand condition. Do you have any recommendations of nice/easy hikes/routes around Visp that can be done in one day? I don't have a lot of experience in Alpine terrain, but I have already climbed a few peaks at around 4000 meters in Morocco. I have climbing gear, but I'm not sure if it is worth bringing. I'm also travelling solo.

Would appreciate any recommendation!

Cheers!

I started rock climbing and mountaineering (on glaciers) this year. During winter, I plan on skiing. My concern is how to maintain fitness in rock and mountaineering over the winter.

Rock climbing: I won't have a climbing gym nearby, but I can travel to grt to one. I'm going to aim to go climbing once a week, and supplement it with hang board and pull up training. I'll also be getting into ice climbing, which should help.

Mountaineering: Do I need to do anything to prepare for next summer? I'm going to be skiing lots. It will largely be my full time focus throughout the season. Some of that strenght should carry over to mountaineering. But should I add something, like hiking, as summer approaches?

If you're wondering how and why the full time focus, I'm training towards becoming a guide.

Hi I’m looking at sleeping bags for creeks to Everest K2 and Aconcagua (I realize it might be overkill for Aconcagua but looking for one bag) I came across the Northface Inferno -40F and wondering if any has used it and liked it for these types of expeditions. My guide group is recommending the Iceline -22F from Mountain Equipment thanks in advance for your advice

I’m new to actual mountaineering, I’m more used to hike multiple days in a row.

In September I’ll do my first 4000m peak and I did a test for my pace at lower altitude.

I did ~1400 m of elevation gain across ~6.8km in 2 hours and 14 minutes including small (1/2 min) breaks.

I know altitude and terrain changes the game, but I would like to understand if this pace is good enough to go?

EDIT:

Average HR 135

Backpack Weight 9kg (same as 4000m peak I’ll do)

I'm considering soloing some higher peaks in the Swiss Alps with a first objective being Weissmies from the valley with ascent via Rotgrat and descent via South ridge to avoid glaciated terrain. I am very experienced in technical hiking in terrain up to 3000m (at least 20 solo T6 tours this summer alone. Biggest one being Niesen ridge in a day with 4000m of elevation gain and climbing up to UIAA III). I also have some experience with ski mountaineering.

I don't think fitness or the climbing would be an issue, however, I am not sure how much the higher elevation will change things... in terms of predictably of the weather, physical effects of elevation...

What do you guys think? Is it stupid or manageable if done with enough care (and stable weather conditions)?

I am interested in starting mountaineering when i move to the PNW this fall. I have a decent amount of hiking experience but nothing super technical. I live in the Midwest now and don’t have many hikes with any kind of incline near me. I want to start learning mountaineering when I get out there with an ultimate goal to climb Rainier but I don’t have a lot of knowledge on where to start.

What can I do now before I go out there to get in better shape? What kind of things can I do in the winter (assuming I won’t start my climbs until next summer)? Any other tips that you wish you did before getting started? Any help is appreciated!

Russian climber Natalia Nagovitsyna, who is stuck in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, will no longer be rescued. Due to worsening weather and the approaching winter, no one believes in the success of the expedition.

According to its leader, the chances of finding the athlete alive are minimal, the chances of removing her from the peak are even less, so the rescuers decided not to take risks.

Tomorrow, according to the forecast, the weather will worsen with heavy snowfalls. The slopes will be avalanche-prone. Winter begins here in September. It is already -13C at night in the base camp.

• commented Dmitry Grekov, the leader of the rescue expedition.

The Italian team has not yet abandoned its plans and is ready to evacuate Natalia and the deceased Italian climber in the event of an unpleasant outcome. A helicopter with Italian pilots is scheduled to depart on Monday

Before climbing Mont Blanc, my two friends and I summited the Bishorn. Some mountaineering accounts even stole our videos from social media and reposted them on their own pages because the footage turned out so well

I hate it everytime it happens to me 😡

Please could I ask for some help?

I am 20 years of age living in south London, I have done some hikes in the Tatra mountains in Slovakia and I’m in love with mountains. I don’t know where to get started, I don’t know how to finance myself or if there are jobs out there in the mountains but I just love mountains. I’m an active person currently working in real estate but I’m confident I’m in the wrong job. I also have European citizenship as my mother is Slovakian. My father wants me to stay in England as he’s stubborn that there is no hope for any future for me in Europe- he says it’s incredibly difficult to make a living. Could someone please advise me on what they think I should do? I’d love to summit K2 by my 30s but I’m just so lost.

If so, can you recommend me one, and if you know the price as well ?

I want to climb during 18-20 sep.

EDIT: Going with a 1:1 ratio, it is possible I can find a guide for max 1000 EUR/client?

Prelude [05/07/2025]

Driving from Geneva to Chamonix Aiguille du Bionassay appears tall on the side of Mont Blanc, almost lost on the giants shoulder yet undeniably distinct none-the-less. Despite its prominent location it is invisible from Chamonix and hard to access, requiring a very long day and hard effort to even get near. 

The prelude to my solo of the Aiguille de Bionnassay was an exercise in active rest. It began after summiting Mont Blanc via the Trois Monts. As my partner, Ben,  began the colossal 3,500-metre descent back to the valley floor, I made a different calculation. Knowing the Bionnassay was next on my list for the ‘Climb Against Time’ challenge, my quest to summit forty-one of the Alps’ 4,000-metre peaks this season for a future free from dialysis (we want to build an artificial kidney), I opted to stay at the Goûter hut. The energy saved would be a critical investment.

The following morning, after an easy two-hour descent, I arrived in Chamonix and had a relaxed day with Ben. The first order of business the following day was a logistical headache, retrieving my bivvy gear and surplus rock gear I had stashed at the Refuge des Cosmiques. That meant buying a lift ticket for the Aiguille du Midi, ascending, descending the arête to the hut, grabbing my gear, and reversing the whole process. The day after a major climb, my body protested this frustrating, energy-sapping affair.

By 1 pm, with my pack now laden with gear, the real approach began. I had called the Plan Glacier refuge repeatedly, but with no answer I was heading in blind, so I packed my bivvy gear as a contingency. A solo attempt means carrying the full weight of safety yourself: a 50-metre rope for the abseils, a light rack of cams and wires, and a snow picket for suspect bridges. The load is heavier,  but life, simpler. With no partner call answered, I would be alone. It was a welcome change. Success or failure would be contingent on me, and me alone.

Plan Glacier Refuge 

The hike to the Plan Glacier refuge was idyllic. After leaving the car, I took the lift to Bellevue and began the walk, crossing paths with hikers on the Tour du Mont Blanc. A pang of nostalgia, the simplicity of their journey, a hard day’s walk followed by a warm meal and sleep in a tent or a hut, free from the sharp-edged stress of the high mountains. For me, my mountain, the Aiguille de Bionnassay, loomed ahead, towering, its 4,052-metre summit looking down from behind glaciated curtains. It felt as massive and remote as anything in the Mont Blanc massif.

After four hours, as dusk settled around 9 pm, I finally saw it: the Plan Glacier refuge. Perched on the mountainside, the fourteen-bed timber outpost felt like a Himalayan teahouse plucked from my imagination. To my relief, the hut keeper confirmed he had a bed. So soon, I boiled water for a dehydrated meal and sat outside, gazing at the panorama. The sun had set, casting a deep blue hue over the landscape. The Domes de Miages sat as giants to my side as the moon rose above them. I felt tired but not broken; there was no “pop,” each step deliberate, but I was here, here in this almost sacred side of the Massif, that was scared by no lifts nor pistes. 

My primary concern was not the technical rock climbing, French 4, well within my abilities, but the solo glacier crossing. To cross a crevassed glacier alone is to court oblivion. A fall is final. You simply disappear into the ice, a self-burial with no ceremony. I asked the hut keeper about conditions.

“There is a path, but it is alpine, you know?” he said, gauging whether I was capable or reckless. I told him I was equipped and had been in the valley for weeks, which seemed to satisfy him. The glacier, he explained, was west-facing and held in shadow until late morning, so an extremely early start was unnecessary to avoid soft snow. “But be careful of rockfall if you cross too late,” he warned. I then crawled into my bunk, sleeping a solid eight solid hours.

The next morning, after a meagre but welcome breakfast, I stowed my bivvy gear and made my way to the glacier. A small jump got me over the bergschrund and onto the ice. I moved fast, probing with my axe, senses on high alert, trusting a mix of experience and hope that nothing would break beneath me. The final section, steepening towards the opposing rock wall, was more heavily crevassed, but the snow bridges felt solid. Another jump, and I was across. My heart was racing. This was the psychological crux.

Durier 

From there, it was a 500-metre vertical slog up a rib of loose, unpleasant rock to the Refuge Durier. I moved slowly and steadily, conserving energy, arriving after two and a half hours as the first climber of the day. “Just you?” asked Marion, the hut keeper, appearing at the door with a bowl of dough in her hands. “Yes.” “Your plan?” she asked, kneading rhythmically. “The Bionnassay tomorrow.” “Okay. House rules: crampons outside. Do not shit or piss on the snow, I melt it for water. Use the toilet.” Firm, but fair.

Soon the small fourteen-bed hut filled with other climbers, most planning the full Royal Traverse. A family caught my eye, mother, father, and their teenage son, also heading for Mont Blanc. The boy was fascinated by crystals, and I could not blame him. Marion’s partner, a crystal hunter, brought out his collection. Though I could not communicate in French, we shared a mutual appreciation as the boy gazed at the quartz glittering in the afternoon sun.

Dinner was a delight as Marion served soup with her homemade bread, one of the best I have tasted, salty, dense, and perfect for replenishing the day’s exertion. Sausages and lentils followed, an unexpected luxury at 3,350 metres. Mindful of the others, I ate my fill and crawled into my bunk. As the sun went down, I watched from the window. If the Durier is famous for anything, it should be for its sunsets, a phenomenal dance of colours, the fiery sun bleeding into the blue blanket of cloud below, framed by the stark white of the mountains. A perfect descent into the oblivion of night.

The Climb

I woke at 2 am, ate more of that magnificent bread, and departed at 3 am into the cold darkness. I walked slowly, finding rhythm. Around 5 am, as I neared the start of the technical climbing, I saw it. About fifty kilometres away over Italy a storm cell was raging, a silent, violent tempest contained in a celestial jar. Bolt after bolt of lightning illuminated the clouds from within. The horizon was otherwise clear. It set a dramatic, almost sacred ambience for the crux ahead.

The first move off the snow onto the rock was the hardest at grade IV. A fall here would be unforgiving. I climbed slowly and deliberately thereafter mostly at grade III, crampons scraping granite, feeling for every hold. A French climber ahead of me called out now and then, “Are you okay?” I certainly was, but I appreciated the gesture. At the top of the rock band, I bypassed a small overhang with a short traverse and a scramble, there was however a much easier option just a bit below which I noted for the descent. 

From there, a final snow arête led to the summit. One of the most stunning summits of my life. The knife-edge ridge stretched ahead, plunging towards the Col de Bionnassay. Peering over the edge, I could see through the clouds to the valley and the very hiking trails I had walked two days before. I teared up at this summit. It had taken me considerable effort to get here, another peak was down, the beautiful peak of Bionassay.

But the celebration was premature. The summit is only halfway. I descended quickly, making three abseils down the rock section. On the rocky bastion of the Bionassay I found an alpine cleft with large quartz crystals which I pocketed, then regrettably, left at the Durier. Making my way down the rock rib I again had the glacier crossing, I heard rocks already tumbling on the glacier. I crossed fast and after collecting my bivvy gear and refuelling with a Coke and some energy bars at Plan Glacier Refuge, I started the final leg. At the Col de Tricot, hikers told me the last Bellevue lift down was at 5:30 pm. I looked at my watch and it was 3 pm.

I started sprinting downhill. By 4:30 pm I was at the lift station, exhausted but relieved. A successful tour on a magnificent mountain. Everything had come together.

4 down, 37 to go

Hello, I am looking to see if there's any recommended training courses in the UK for winter conditions where I can get some experience with crampons and just general winter conditions.
I have just turned 19 and growing up I've spent a lot of time in Snowdonia and just recently summited Mt Toubkal in fairly icy conditions due to poor weather. My goal is to complete Mont Blanc in 2-3 years time, with other Alps on the way.
If anyone has any tips or recommendations it would be greatly appreciated!

Hey everyone

I'm looking on your input on doing the three peaks Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in winter or spring.

For you to get an image of my skill level, I'm comfortable leading something like Arete des Cosmique, so basically exposure and scrambling/easy climbing is fine for me. The thing is my mom has asked me to take her up the three peaks. She's experienced in hiking but not so much mountaineering. She only has very little experience with crampons and ice axe. I could have her roped up for safety, but not sure if that's actually needed.

So my question is one how are the conditions in lets say february or easter (we'd be doing it then), and would you take an experienced hiker, but not mountaineerer up those mountains?

I’ve tagged some peaks in Washington and would love to learn some more technical stuff for future trips on North Ridge and the Kautz glacier.

I’ve done some quick searching and found a few courses by companies like Alpine Ascents and Kaf adventures but haven’t found many reviews around the internet. Does anyone have a recommendation for a course or alternative for learning to ice climb?

Not sure if relevant but I have little experience with traditional climbing.

I’ve been fascinated with mountaineering for years, and I want to really try it out, but I have mild asthma. It’s extremely mild, I haven’t had any asthma attacks since I was a young child, and I don’t use an inhaler. But still, I know how much altitudes affect people. Is it possible for me to one day take on high altitude climbing. I’m so incredibly infatuated by mountaineering, but of course there’s the chance it won’t be for me, asthma or not. But the point is I just want to know if I can tackle high altitudes?

Edit: I also ofc know you don’t just start mountaineering and tackling mountains, I would obviously need to work my way up to it, but I’m just wondering if I have the ability to do it if I were to reach that point.

Climbed my first 4000m mountains this week, we climbed the gran paradiso and then 2days later we climbed 4 peaks in one day in the Monte Rosa massif ( Balmenhorn, Signalkuppe, Zumsteinspitze, Piramide Vincent), I think I’m addicted now xd, my prior experience was the Grosglockner and Triglav, the later we climbed in winter. We climbed every mountain without a guide with my family, I’m 16

Although cloudy, the hike that took us upto 3262m elevation on Mt. Kazbegi was hard but worth it.

“For nine days, the 47-year-old Moscow climber [Natalia Nagovitsyna] has endured subzero temperatures. She is running or has run out of food, water, and fuel, and is lying in a torn tent in a sleeping bag in one of the world’s deadliest high-altitude environments. She has no communication device.”

“The Russian Mountaineering Federation issued stark warnings today about the slim odds that Nagovitsyna can survive. Vice-President Alexander Pyatnitsyn said, “It will be almost impossible to save her,” he said. “There’s a three-kilometer-long ridge, and it takes at least 30 people in such a situation to rescue a person from there. Elena Laletina from RussianClimb echoed the same thoughts to ExplorersWeb: that four or even eight rescuers aren’t enough to carry out such a difficult rescue, where Nagovitsyna is immobilized and can’t assist.”

“Pobeda Peak’s reputation as the deadliest 7,000m peak in the former USSR is well-earned, with at least 70 recorded deaths. No injured climber has ever been evacuated from as high an altitude as Nagovitsyna’s on this mountain.”

“On August 16, a Russian Ministry of Defense Mi-8 helicopter crashed at 4,600m, injuring the pilot and a rescuer, while a second attempt failed due to zero visibility.”

On August 19–20, helicopters evacuated 62 climbers, tourists, and rescuers, including the body of Russian climber Alexey Yermakov, who died near Khan Tengri.

• One rescuer has already perished (RIP Luca Sinigaglia).

• Legendary Russian alpinist Nikolay Totmyanin perished after descending last week.

• The stricken climber husband perished on Khan Tengri four years ago.

Nepal has just shaken up the mountaineering scene with an unprecedented move that’s sending ripples through the climbing community. For the next two years, 97 mountains in Nepal’s far-western Himalayas—specifically the Karnali and Sudurpashchim provinces—are open to climbers without paying any permit fees. This is huge because it targets mountains that are mostly untouched, not the usual Everest or Annapurna crowds.

Where Are These Peaks?

• Karnali Province: Home to 77 of these free peaks.
• Sudurpashchim Province: Has the remaining 20 peaks.

These areas are remote and have seen very little tourist and mountaineer traffic, largely due to difficult access. The hope is that opening these peaks for free will stimulate jobs and economic growth there.

Some Notable Peaks on the Free List

• Api Himal (7,132 m): The highest peak in the far west, known for its dramatic ridges and glaciers.
• Saipal Himal (7,030 m): Famous for its pyramid shape and scenic beauty.
• Api West (7,076 m): A challenging but less crowded neighbor to Api.
• Bobaye (6,808 m) and Jethi Bahurani (6,850 m): Lesser-known gems perfect for adventurers looking for pristine landscapes.

What This Means for Climbers

No more shelling out for permits on these 97 peaks for two years. You get to explore raw Himalayan wilderness, train on high altitude peaks, and avoid the overcrowded Everest. Plus, trekking here offers a more authentic experience with local culture untouched by mass tourism. For those preparing for Everest, these climbs fit the new requirements perfectly.

The List of All 97 Peaks

While the full list is extensive, it’s mostly a mix of peaks between 5,870 and 7,132 meters. I’m including the key ones mentioned in sources, but keep in mind many are less known and remote:

Unfortunately, detailed names for all 97 peaks aren't widely published yet, but as expeditions increase, expect more info to come out.

Why This Matters

Climbing permits in Nepal can be expensive, especially for Everest, which just jumped from $11,000 to $15,000 starting September 2025. By contrast, these 97 peaks ranging from about 5,870 to 7,132 meters high are now FREE to climb. The government’s goal? To spread tourism out to some of the poorest, least-developed areas of Nepal and reduce the congestion and environmental pressure on iconic peaks like Everest.

Also, new Everest regulations now require climbers to have summited at least one peak over 7,000 meters in Nepal before attempting Everest. This makes some of these free mountains ideal training grounds.

TL;DR: Nepal is letting climbers tackle 97 Himalayan peaks for free in Karnali and Sudurpashchim for the next two years to boost adventure tourism in remote areas, while hiking Everest permit fees dramatically. These peaks mostly range from 5,870 to 7,132 meters and serve as ideal training grounds for aspiring Everest climbers.

If you’re serious about Himalayan climbing and looking for your next challenge off the beaten path, this is an unmatched opportunity. Just get ready for some serious wilderness and fewer crowds.

This policy is a game-changer, balancing tourism, economy, and environmental concerns — and opening a new chapter for Nepal’s epic mountain adventures.