I'm going to apply for Conville.

Does anyone have any definite plans for the Alps this Summer?

Alice and I are probably going to head out around the 1st July and it may be a good idea to share a car with someone, given that Easyjet's weight allowance doesn't even provide room for a toothbrush alongside all the required climbing gear.

I flew easyjet last year - it is possible, you just need to make excellent use of your hand luggage!

My plans for the summer depend on work so until i know what i'm doing workwise i wont be able to plan anything, so have no definite plans at all but hopefully will be there at some point!

I'm free from Mid May to end of July.
I was planning on getting a job for a month first, earning enough money (on minimum wage i'm sure) to attempt to pay my rent, and then going out for about 5/6 weeks depending on when other people go.

You can fly and make it happen with weight limits (you did last year Neil!). Easyjet give you 20kg hold and the usual with hand baggage. It is worth noting that if you pay for an extra bag, you DO NOT get extra weight. If you are really paranoid, pay £15 for a golf bag, and just fill it with heavy climbing gear. When I fly with my surfboard (costs £15, same as golf bag) they never weigh it so you can fill it with what you want. Its cheaper than their excess baggage limit!

Easyjet fly Brum to Geneva now, and appear to in the summer as well. Makes it cheap to get to the airport! I got transfers geneva- cham last year with the public bus which was about €55 return. My flights cost less than £50 and I booked one about 2 weeks before I went, so was more expensive. I fly from london so added about £30 getting return transfers from Brum to the airport.

Sleeping in Geneva airport is not recommended.

Oh, and alpine mountaineering can indeed be a warm experience! It was novel playing with ice axes in snow in just a thermal top.

Neil and i arent planning on spending more than a few days in chamonix, we are going to the warmer, cheaper climate of ailefroide so driving becomes more economical.
i havent looked recently but there were new weight restrictions on many airlines since last summer

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Mountain sec .... once upon a time

Fair enough.

Weight limits haven't changed since last summer as far as I know.

The other public transport option is http://www.eurolines.co.uk - coach. You can go direct from Brum to Cham with plenty of baggage for around £100. It takes a while but you can sleep, and you can also buy an open return for a few pounds extra, so you don't have to decide when to come back when you book.

Alternativly British Airways fly out of London and are not that expensive and can have better timed flights, for getting transfers etc.

git , dont know anyone else who would be your sherpa!!

as for the sunshine, it can be cold during the night(but an amazing experience biving at 3000m) but during the day on a glacier definately take your sun glases and factor 50 (yes really) sun cream if you dont want to end up blind and sore!

flights, bout 60 pounds return if booked early

accomodation, mad bernard camp site bout 6 euro a night, good idea is to take a take ideally bout 10 man tent and get as many people in it, this is a bit cheaper and you can store suff in when you are spending some nights in the hill

transfers 25 euros each way if booked with cham express (would stay away from alpi bus)

usually done communal camp cooking which makes good big meals bout 1.50 euro per person (pasta surprise is a particular farourite of mine and Murrays

the lifts can be expensive to get up into the mountains, but there arent any lifts that go where you cant walk, and it's always more satisfying walking from the bottom of the valley to the top of the mountain unless your name is Tom "i am happy for someone to fly me to the top of Mt Blanc" Murray. you can take food up as well to extend your stay up there. last summer i took enough food up and spent 6 days in the mountains doing some awesome routes, bit tiring but very good fun.

buses are free with a card you get from the camp site

am having a rest day at the mo as have fallen over bout 40 times in the past two days, snowborading is painfully fun

martin

as to the title of the post, I would really love to join any of you guys in summer on a trip to alps. I am free pretty much whole July, so it would be awesome if I could join you somewhere there, because I will travel from CZ... thinking about the mountaineering course too..

im pretty sure easy jet dont have a hand baggage weight restriction anymore, as long as you can easily lift it, or thats what i noticed recently. still means cant be too heavy but might help a bit. obviously not with the heavy stuff that you wouldnt be allowed in the cabin though!

I got 36 KG through easy jet check in, including two knives. Just got to work the officials..

no. there is no weight limit on hand luggage, but hand luggage cannot include any metallic items that could be used to incapacitate someone (a climbing rack, axes, crampons) and cannot include any items that could be used to restrain someone (rope, harness).

I found this out when Geneva airport security got very excited about me having a climbing rope in my hand luggage and banned it for the flight whilst wearing angry expressions and shouting "Corde. Est. Interdit" In very slow French so I would understand.

Martin, I am still growing out my disgusting black toenail from your torturous 'training' walk-ins last year. I disagree with this statement wholeheartidly!

im certain you would be fine with weight on the flight (20kg - easyjet) ive taken a rope on board before no problems, was a bit surprised to be allowed tho (was too geneve too... but a few years back)! and you can definetly take helmets on flights.... you can even just clip them on the outside of your hand luggage which saves space. did it last week when skiing. hand luggage is unrestricted on weight but you cant be silly... should be alrite unless your transporting gold!

tolls last time we drove to the alps wer £45 each way going on motorway the whole way. speedferries.com is good and cheap as is norfolk line for getting to calais which is like 550 miles to chamonix.


dont know about for climbing, but for skiing the busses in cham are really good. and it links to the rail system for the transfer.

personally i wouldt get a coach. it takes 24 hours and costs more than a flight in most cases.

Is anbody thinking of doing Conville in the last week of June, or right at the start of July?

I haven't got any firm dates yet as I'm waiting to see when my graduation is (sometime between 11-18th Jul), hopefully I can apply for the same time Alice is, but I think there's a possibility that those dates could overlap, or I'd be cutting it fine to get home in time.