Mont Blanc Treks คำวิจารณ์

Hi Tanja, many thanks for taking the time to feedback to us, its good to read your comments. This trek was most definitely problematic because there were two clients who were unable to hike within the expected time scales, this isn't common and perhaps happens once a season. As I mentioned in my previous reply to comments from Panela, who trekked with the same group, we have spend such a lot of time over the years developing a system that is fully informative. We provide a wealth of information on trek grading, fitness & preparation, daily photos & videos of the route. New for this season we now provide a detailed 200+ page guidebook about the trek, trail conditions, daily itinerary, distances, height gains & descents. We hope that when folks decide to take on this challenge that they will also arrive fully prepared however for your trek this was not the case & I cant apologise enough for how this affected your experience. This is not what we want for our clients. Despite this development its seems we still have problems from time to time and I think will always be the case. I think the key is to have a better system in place to minimise the affects to the group when this happens & after discussions with our guides last week we have made some changes for the betterment. With regard to allocating a second guide this is something that is not usual practice in the European Alps unless the group is very large. If we made this our policy for all treks then the trek cost would be significantly more and make us uncompetitive with other companies. A trial hike would be a great idea, however I am not sure about the feasibility implementing this. We would like to hope that clients are the best judge of their own level of experience & fitness and if they have concerns we would be only to glad to discuss suitability and give advise on preparation before they make the commitment. Route choice is important and involving the group is a good idea, when I am guiding I also involve clients in route options. The only time this wouldn't be appropriate is when route choice could compromise group safety. Kind regards as always,

Hi Tracy, thanks you so much for feeding back to us about all aspects of your trek, its great to know we are doing this right for our clients. If we can be of service in the future just get in touch, it would be a pleasure to welcome you back to the Alps. Kind regards as always, Sara

Hi Tom, many thanks for your feedback its good to know that most aspects of your trek when really well and you enjoyed the fabulous trek that is the Tour du Mont Blanc. With regard to your accommodation in Trient, you are correct, we have little choice here and the Grand Ourse is our preferred choice and the best accommodation available. Personally I dont think is too bad at all, its basic but modern, exceptionally clean and the owners are friendly & welcoming. There are only two accommodation providers in Trient and both work hard to service many many clients each day, the turn around from clients leaving and preparing for the next guests and to make sure the auberge is clean and presentable is a full on task. This is why they have a check in time of 3pm, if you are quick enough to arrive earlier than this the lovely bar is always open to welcome guests. Apologies again for the mix up with the route cards, this occurred after the change of itinerary from the Refuge Bonatti to Hotel La Vachey in the Val Ferret. As you know the bag transfer is provided by Taxi Besson, they move hundreds of bags each day hopping from one destination to another along the Tour du Mont Blanc travelling many miles & visiting many hotels each day. As their daily schedule changes, so does their start point therefore it might be that the driver travels 300 kilometres & many hours on mountain roads before your bags are collected & taken to the next destination. The transfer company stipulate that bags need to be left at the pick up point by 8am in the event that your bags are first for collection however it might be that your bags aren’t collected until later in the day. They also stipulate that they will have all bags delivered by 6pm. We give this information in the self guided pack & we also ask that if the bags dont arrive by 5pm then it is worth checking with the taxi company or calling us so we can check on your behalf. In the event when you arrive early in the afternoon because you hike quickly & or have set off very early that day then there is every chance that you will arrive before your bags & in this case we ask folks to be as patient as possible. Yes I agree the service is expensive as the transfer company charge per group, this means that when there are only two people using this service that it seems very pricey as the cost cannot be split between a larger group. Also this is due to the distance travelled each day by the driver, environmental charges for the taxi company & european porter costs are significantly higher than porters in other parts of the world. This service gives great comfort in the mountains, and on the Tour du Mont Blanc you can have your baggage on every night apart from when staying at the Refuge Bonatti. The transfer company provide an excellent service to the majority of our clients, I am sorry that you didn't feel this was the case for your trek. With regard to Jude’s responce to your request, I am sure this seemed a little harsh & on reflection & some of the wording was a little too direct. I think she was just trying to explain what I have explained above & if you had copied in her subsequent emails then this would have illustrated the point further, also this would have shown that no offence was intended at all & that we apologised further. We pride ourselves on the service we provide from receiving the enquiry to supporting clients during their trek & I can't apologise enough if you felt that the initial response to your bag transfer request left you with a bad feeling. Kind regards as always from the Chamonix valley, Sara

Thanks for your feedback Warwick, so glad you and your family enjoyed the Trek, hope we can help again. Kind Regards from the Chamonix Valley.

Thanks so much for your review Lisa and kind words, we hope we can tempt you back again at some point for a 3rd adventure with us! So glad to hear you enjoyed the Walkers Haute Route, it really is spectacular! Kind Regards from the Chamonix Valley.

Hi Panela, many thanks for taking the time to feedback to us it is much appreciated & yes the Alps & the Tour du Mont Blanc is simply stunning, I am so glad you appreciated this. Making sure everyone is fit & ready for the trek is a high priority for us, the last thing we want is for clients not to enjoy this wonderful challenge and experience. This is why we give a wealth of information on the level of fitness required for the trek. This is available on the website and in the documentation sent during the booking process. After receiving feedback last year of a similar nature we improved the documentation making the information even more explicit. We also send our copies of the Cicerone trekking guide book to all clients, which gives over 200 pages of information about the route, level of difficulty, distance, height gain & descent that clients can expect each day on the trek. I don't feel that we can make the pre-information any clearer. When clients decide to undertake this group challenge, we hope that they take responsibility for the preparation & fitness training over many months before arrival in the Alps. A trek of this nature is not something that you can just sign up, pay up and turn up without some serious preparation to attain the required level of fitness. This does not mean that this trek is inaccessible to folks that prefer to walk at a slower pace, in this case we would advise that a privately guided trek option would be more suitable. During the trek the guide has a duty of care to all the clients & when we have a vast difference in walking speed it extremely difficult for the guide to manage the situation & keep everyone safe. The parameters we use are determined by the average trekking times expected each day & if this is exceeded by more than 90 mins then this gives us cause for concern. When this happens we have a procedure in place that allows the guide to give options so the client can still participate in the holiday by taking transport, missing certain days and trekking more manageable sections & of course with your trek this is what happened. I have discussed the trek at length with the guide, MBT & Vic are sorry that you felt that the situation was dealt with badly. We know she did her best for all the group under extremely difficult circumstances and we have had additional email feedback from other members of the group reiterating this. With regard to guide/ client ratio we potentially can operate with 1 guide to 14 clients, however we feel this is not appropriate and prefer to operate smaller groups than this. It is not necessary to operate a group below 10/11 people with two guides if the group can trek at the required level. We certainly don't cut financial corners by operating in this way, our guides are highly qualified UIMLA professionals and their pay reflects this. Operating in the Alps is very different than in other mountainous areas of the world where guides are paid very little & as a consequence more than one guide may be used. I am glad you felt that all other aspects of your trek went well & I thank you for trekking with us. Kind regards as always from the Chamonix valley,

Thanks for your feedback, I'll pass your comments on to the Guide. Kind Regards from the Chamonix Valley.

Thanks Ensieh, so lovely to meet you at the trek briefing & by talking to your other trek mates I believe you were a fabulous asset to the group & great fun was had in your company, so THANK YOU for being part of the guided trek. Kind regards as always,

Hi, great to know you had a good trek & thanks for taking the time to feedback to us. I apologise for the confusion at some of the refuges, I am not sure why this happened as we always prepay for all the accommodation, we will enquire to see why this occurred. With regard to trek day 2, the usual itinerary stays at the Refuge Nant Borrant but at the time of booking they had no availability. The route card included in the pack should have reflected this change & this was an error on my behalf which I truly apologise for. I did try and call you and left a voice & text message on the day in question but was unable to make contact. It was fortunate that the Refuge Nant Borrant had a cancellation which saved you back tracking to the other refuge, now we are aware of this we will reimburse you for your additional cost that you had to make personally. Route timings can be a little contentious as this very much depends on personal walking speed & how many breaks you have, however we have had a number of comments during this summer regarding this and I will spend some time checking and making improvements where necessary for the start of next season. Many thanks once again for your comments & for trekking with MBT,

Thanks for your feedback Graham it is very much appreciated. Glad to hear you enjoyed the AV2 - The Traverse of the Gran Paradiso, and we hope we can help with your next Trekking experience. Kind Regards from the Chamonix Valley.