Travel to Courmayeur, to arrive in time for the Evening Briefing. Your guide will run through safety routines and kit checks, as well as hand out rental equipment for the week, before we go on to a detailed discussion of everyones ambitions for the week, together with the current weather and mountain conditions and how these affect our planning. We’ll also have maps and guidebooks to show you, so if you’ve any further questions or last minute requests, then this is the ideal time to bring them up before we head on to dinner. PM Overnight in the valley.

Introduction to Rock Climbing. Move to a local valley crag and do some top roped climbing with an introduction to basic climbing and ropework techniques. Practice abseiling. Most likely venues are the famous valley crags of the Courmayeur Valley e.g “Palestra Jordaney”. Overnight in the valley.

Courmayeur – Albert Premier hut 2706m. Drive by Chamonix via  the Mont Blanc Tunnel and ascend to a high mountain glacier for crampon & ice-axe training & glacier travel techniques. You could also try your hand at ice climbing before moving up to the mountain hut for dinner and overnight accommodation. Night in the hut. Overnight in the hut

Ascent of Tête Blanche (3422m) – via the normal route. The first proper ‘alpine start’! Leaving at dawn we head to the glacier’s edge, rope up and set off – the plan is to now put everything in to practice on a good alpine route. Starting with glacier travel , we look at navigation, route finding and alpine hazard awareness along the way. The Tete Blanche itself is a relatively short climb, which gives plenty of time to practice moving to gether in a snow and ice setting. From the summit we head over to the Trient Hut. Overnight in the hut.

Ascent of Aiguille du Tour (3544m) – via the normal route. From the Trient Hut. Another classic alpine summit, with spectacular views across Mont Blanc Range from the top. Areas covered today include route choice, hazard evaluation and moving together on rock and mixed terrain. PM Descend to Chamonix and from here drive by Courmayeur via Mont Blanc Tunnel, planning session for the last two days. Overnight in valley.

Courmayeur – Guide del Cervino hut 3515m. 1 hour by road takes us to the Cervinia town situated at south face of Matterhorn. A cable car is used to take us to 3515m and a spectacular glacial environment, a further 2 minutes on foot takes us to the hut. The day continue with the crevasse rescue session (this is a wide ranging topic – with different skills being appropriate to different levels of experience, so we tailor the training to each particular group). PM Briefing – short talk on alpine rescue, using guidebooks and how to obtain reliable and up to date climbing conditions information. Overnight in the hut

Ascent of Breithorn (4165m) – via the normal route. From Guide del Cervino hut follow up the glacier to the Klein Matterhorn area and from here in 1 hour to the top. The great views from the summit are definitely worth the effort. PM Return to Courmayeur via Cervinia. End of program

After a night of well-deserved rest, departing from Courmayeur for your destination.