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North Faces of the Alps guided 4-day training program

North Faces of the Alps
North Faces of the Alps
North Faces of the Alps
North Faces of the Alps
North Faces of the Alps

Would you like to attempt a big climb on the Alps? Join Enrico, IFMGA-certified mountain guide and expert climber on the great North Faces of the Alps, on this 4-day training program to assess your competence on a variety of terrains prior to your big goal.

Private

Alps

4 Days

Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Oct, Dec

Fit

Intermediate


Description

The North Faces of Eiger, Grandes Jorasses and Matterhorn —known as ‘the Trilogy’— are a series of challenging and mythical ascents in the Alps. If your goal is to climb any of them, this 4-day training clinic is mandatory.

The main objective of this training is to assess your competence in a variety of terrains and decide if you are prepared for a big climb or not. The fact that you take the clinic doesn’t necessarily imply a commitment from my side to go for the North Faces.

For me, a big climb is like a small life trip. Both client and guide form a team and we put our lives in the hands of each other. So it’s very important to know who is attached to the other end of the rope. Climbing is about team work. That’s why having a good relationship and communication with your rope partner is essential to feel safe. Bonding with the team is crucial so that both climbers can work efficiently and safely during the climb, and understand each other with no words.

As a leader, I consider extremely important to know how my client will behave or potentially react to any problems or tough situations that may occur.

The ‘Trilogy’ is a group of very committing faces and you need to be very well prepared. This 4-day training clinic will challenge you on various terrains and improve your technical and physical skills. Besides, it will work as an acclimatization. We will start with specific training and tests, and then eventually tackle a longer route such as Supercouloir, Aiguille Verte, Grand Capoucin or Petites Jorasses W face, depending on the nature of the final goal.

It would be great to engage this trip right before the big climb. However, the conditions of the North faces are not easy to predict in advance.

The best months to join this training are between January to December except for July, August and September, depending on your goal.

Are you interested in this 4-day training program to prepare for climbing one of the big north faces of the Alps? Send me a request so we can talk about your goals and start planning this trip. 

If you successfully complete this training, you can start planning a climb to a great north face like Grandes Jorasses, Matterhorn and Eiger. In case you’d like to know more about these extreme climbs, read this article.

Price includes

- Guiding fee

Price details

The price does NOT include lodging, meals, and/or transportation, lifts tickets for both clients and the guide. We can provide lodging at B&B Maison de la montagne (http://www.maisondelamontagne.net/) when based down the valley (Arvier village halfway between Aosta and Courmayeur).


Details

More info

Skill level: intermediate to advanced. According to the new directives of the Aosta Valley Regional College, insurance for recovery in the event of an accident is in charge of the customer and can be purchased by registering with the ITALIAN ALPINE CLUB (or corresponding local alpine club) or on the UVGAM website (https://pos.larcasrl.it/default.aspx?IDCON=926 ).


About the guide

My biggest satisfaction is to explore new places, and share it with a rope-mate. And to do it as a professional is the realization of a dream. At the age of 15, I knew I wanted to become a mountain guide, I wanted to live in the mountains, teach and share my new passion. In 2006 I realized my dream and I became a professional mountain guide. I like sharing my knowledge and experience with my clients, taking a journey that transforms slowly the guide-client relationship in climbing partner and often in friendship. I am not and never will be a lone climber but "a company" 'explorer. My specialty lies certainly in climbing on ice and mixed in the high mountains. With my clients I climbed the most difficult faces in the Alps, explored mountain ranges, traveled between America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Languages

Italian | French | English

Certificates

IFMGA


What people are saying about this trip

Brad Thurrell

5.00

September, 2023

I really enjoyed the course and would definitely recommend the four day North Face course with Enrico. Thank you for organising this for me.

Tony Brownlee

5.00

December, 2022

Spend 4 days with Enrico - training for a north face attempt next year. Enrico was a superb guide across all aspects - technical skills, coaching skills and all round mountaineering skills. Enrico‘s experience in the Alps is second to none and I thoroughly enjoyed the 4 days - which Enrico planned to cover a range of skills and exposure including ice climbing, dry tooling, multi pitch mixed routes and on day 4 we were ‘blessed’ with a storm high up on ‘Via dai Cristallieri’ - what a great challenge to finish the 4 days. I’m addition.to being a phenomenal climber and teacher - Enrico was a perfect host and nothing was too much trouble. I had the pleasure to stay in Arvier, at Enrico and Ilaria’s fantastic B&B - Maison de la Montagne. Overall I would highly recommend Enrico as a guide and tutor for the mountains and also Explore Share for linking me up.

Wouter Wathiong

5.00

August, 2020

A great experience! The customized program answered my training needs, improved my mountaineering skills and allowed me to climb some nice peaks. Enrico is a very skilled guide, a nice person to spend time with in the mountains and a good teacher. Looking forward to more of these experiences!

Francesca

5.00

April, 2020

Enrico is a fantastic person and a very good guide, very professional. We climbed Auguille d'Entreves.

Travis Gerbatsch

5.00

February, 2020

Climbing with Enrico was awesome. He was super easy to be around and picked awesome climbs that are some of the most memorable I have ever done. I would climb with again in a heartbeat. Always made me feel included and it was a great partnership. We climbed a bunch of ice together in Cogne, mostly day trips. The best climb we did was the North Face of the Tour Ronde and a bunch of routes on the east face of Mont Blanc du tacul.

Marc Delmas

5.00

February, 2020

Enrico is a mountaineering expert. I did many tours, summits and expeditions with him over the past 15 years Not only does he know the environment, but he is also technically very proficient, which is very comforting when the going gets tougher. He is a very safe guide, does not take chances as he wants both of us to get back home safely! And he likes to share and explain every decision he makes. Every outing with Enrico is a 5 star experience.

Erling Fasting

5.00

June, 2019

The traveller did not leave a comment.

Dr Douglas Meakin

5.00

April, 2019

I've had quite a bit of guided climbing experience. What makes Enrico stand out is the amount of effort he puts into improvement in skills and technique. He's also extremely patient with the difficulties that need to be overcome in the learning process. I learned so much and had a great time.

Jostein

5.00

July, 2018

I can absolutely recommend Enrico to any other clients. Very professional, competent, safe and pleasant mountain-guide.

Bruno Jacobs

5.00

April, 2018

Getting in contact through explore-share.com with Enrico Bonino, mountain guide, was really a snap. Some time later I got in contact over phone/mail with Enrico. Finally we found a time window in February to go ice climbing for 2 days in Chamonix. 850 km and a night later I found myself on the Italian side of the Mt Blanc in Courmayeur. Enrico took us to the traverse of the Aiguilles d'Entrèves. Not very difficult but perfect to acquaint myself again with granite and mixed climbing after a lapse of ... +20 years. The weather was brilliant, blue skies, sun all over and the scenery was +++, pure enjoyment ! The next day the weather was grey and some snow was forecasted. So Enrico took me to Cogne where we climbed the 7 lengths of Ghost Goully. Not a pure icefall, it has some mixed, more mountain-like, character. After hiking back to the village Enrico took me to his favourite pub where we had a tasty piece of pizza and pastry. A Short trip but just what I needed to get some feeling climbing with crampons and ice axes again. This is definitely asking for more and I'm looking forward to the next trip ! Thank you Enrico, Bruno


 

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