I Can Do Hard Things
Like climb a few mountains!
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In typical Gabby, impulsive fashion, I reacted to a life event with a drastic new plan. That plan was to summit Mont Blanc. When Rachel said she would be having her wedding in France, I knew I wanted to tack on a very active, adventurous leg of my trip. Without doing much research, and after my 23089019th break up with my ex, I google “mountains to climb in Europe”. Mont Blanc was the first one to come up, and one of the highest I might add, so naturally I updated my search to “climb Mont Blanc”, found an expedition that fit my date needs and put down a $500 deposit with Mont Blanc Guides.
I didn’t think about it again and told people I was going to climb MB! I was genuinely excited.
Then I started to get emails about needing an ice hack. Glacier training needs. Athletic stamina. I started to get nervous, figured I should do something about it and went rock climbing a few times to test out my skills. I was so anxious the first time I sweat through two shirts. Before even starting.
A friend told me another girl I know also did the climb, so I texted her to ask about training and she said she and her husband did zero training and that I could climb Harlem Hill a few times if I really felt the need. That didn’t seem to match up…
I then got some emails about avalanche warnings due to intense snow in the area this winter. I finally decided to do some actual research three months before my trip and learned there is a significant difference between climbing (or summiting) Mont Blanc and doing (what most people we know do) the Tour de Mont Blanc.
Summiting was definitely not for me, especially after my rock climbing experience, and the TMB sounded much more up my alley. I lost my deposit to MBG, spent three days doing research to find another group to join (mind you with flights already booked) determined to make this adventure happen.
AGC was one of the only companies running a trip that fit my criteria of needs:
Hit every country on the TMB (France, Italy and Switzerland)
I wouldn’t have to really rearrange my flights (aka didn’t need to take more time off than I already did)
Had availability to add another person so last minute (most of the huts in the area, and thus group trips, fill up 12+ months in advance)
I gave them a ring deciding to do a bit more due diligence than I did with MBG, asked a couple of questions, and promptly paid for the trip in full. I still probably should’ve done a bit more research, but YOLO (Jackie’s definitely in panic reading this).
Three months later, after four hours of sleep and 36 hours of partying and socializing with my besties for Rachel and Danny’s epic wedding, I was off to Chamonix. I’m actually pretty pleased with my travel experience getting there (which was already different from the flight experience I had while writing this post…). I joined a Facebook group when I found AGC that proved to be very helpful in preparation. Yes, people, I join FB groups and am active in them. I love them. I’m currently in about 5 trying to scalp some Tswift Toronto tickets, but feel free to LMK if you, as my kind, sweet, loyal readers have any to sell.