monte rosa vs mont blanc?

[owenel]

Hi just wondering if someone has input about how these itineraries compare in terms of physical and technical demands.

 

1: climb breithorn, overnight d'ayas, climb castor, overnight sella, climb to margherita, overnight, climb to dufour spitze, climb down to train.

 

2: mont blanc three monts traverse.

 

I'm a fairly novice climber and am wondering which of these I should go for (leaning toward monte rosa as none of the days is more than a 3000 ft elevation gain). I'm also wondering if a monch/jungfrau climb would be even more moderate.

 

Thanks.

[AlpineK]

Can't speak for Mt Blanc.

 

From Zermatt you can ride a cog railway to a ridge crest and hotel. From there a teleferique take you far enough out the ridge line to make a broad sweeping traverse across the Gornegrat glacier easy. Some hand lines on the shoulder of Monte Rosa allow you to keep altitude. From there glacier climbing is pretty simple.

 

I did it as a solo ski run in a day. When you descend you can walk to the hut and down the Gornegrat glacier. That could save you another ascent back to the ridge you came from. It's all downhill back to Zermatt.

 

Hotel at the top of the cog railway

 

[img:center]http://www.planetware.com/i/photo/gornergrat-gornergratbahn-zermatt-ch316.jpg[/img]

[Stefan]

Breithorn is very easy. I think it is more climbed than Mt. Fuji due to its accessibility near the Klein Matterhorn. Even though you say you are a novice, give Pollux a try on the same day as Breithorn. If you get the first tram in the morning you can make the Breithorn and Pollux in the same day and back to the tram and Zermatt...but it is more fun to stay at the huts. If you do Pollux and Breithorn in one day, I would definitely try Pollux FIRST. The route does narrow with chains, and the guides FIGHT and do YELL at you like they own the place....the earlier you are there, the more you are out of their way for the unpleasantries. But, on the other hand the fighting is part of the European experience.

 

Most people climb the Dufourspitze/Monte Rosa from the Monte Rosa hut....not from the Margherita hut.....you would probably have to find a way down to the route and then back up the standard route.

 

The Margherita hut is the highest in Europe...and you can see the Dufourspitze/Monte Rosa directly across from it....it would be cool to be in there.

 

You can climb the Dufourspitze/Monte Rosa from the Monte Rosa hut getting an alpine start (3:00a.m.ish) and back to the train and back to Zermatt all in the same day.

[Hugh Conway]

This is unrelated to the climbing advice but I'd check out the CHF/USD exchange rate. It's currently CHF 0.78 = $1 and might stay higher which will make the already very expensive Switzerland uber expensive.