Our summer season in the Alps is over! We finished this weekend, and photos are still coming in from the last teams. Above is a great photo from Joe of him on the summit of Mont Blanc just over a week ago, flying the flag for the Scottish referendum. It’s been a very busy year for us in the Alps, but we are always asked why we don’t start earlier or finish later. The answer is simple; most of the cable cars and mountain huts close for maintenance and holidays, before the equally busy winter season.

Across the Alps, the inter season is well underway. In Chamonix the only lifts open are the Aiguille du Midi and Montenvers train (cable car openings website), and key Alpine huts such as the Margherita (link) on Monte Rosa and Victor Emmanuel on Gran Paradiso are already closed.

We carefully time our Alpine seasons to fit exactly with when majority of huts and cable cars are open, so that you really maximise your climbing or skiing time, with the best facilities. Now it’s the Alpine inter season, we don’t go into hibernation! It’s a busy time of year on our global trekking trips such as Kilimanjaro and Everest Base Camp, and in the Lake District there’s a wide range of courses to consider too, from wild camping to trail running and navigation. Details and links of all our trips are at; http://www.icicle-mountaineering.ltd.uk/latestavailability.php