It’s time to reveal the destination my first trip this summer. So what’s the plan? On Friday I will fly to Milan where I will meet my good friend Conrad. From there we’ll drive together to the Aosta valley, close to the border to France, where our tour starts. The trip is a high-altitude mountaineering training arranged by the DAV Summit Club – pretty much like the one at Großglockner last year. The other two participants are Friederike and Philipp who were also part of the group last year.

On our second day we will directly climb a four-thousander: Gran Paradiso (4061 m), the highest mountain in Italy. On day 3 we will proceed to the Torino Hut (Rifugio Torino, 3375 m) where we will have glacier training. On day 4 we will first climb the Tête d’Entrèves at 3551 m, before we continue to Chamonix and prepare for the highlight of this tour: the climb of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain of the Alps at 4810 m.

Our route is called the “Voie Des Cristalliers” or “Voie Royale.” We will first ascend on Tuesday from the tramway stop Nid d’Aigle (Eagle’s nest, 2372 m) to the Goûter cabin (3017 m) where we will spend the night. Then on Wednesday very early in the morning we will break up and try to reach the summit via Dôme du Goûter, the Vallot cabin and L’arrête des Bosses – everything in case the weather is on our side. We don’t have any extra day, so keep your fingers crossed for good weather conditions!