IFMGA alpine guiding · Valsorde, Hautes-Cimes

# The mountain sets
the schedule.
We keep it.

Small rope teams, honest forecasts, and seventeen seasons of knowing when to go up and when to make tea instead.

See the expeditions Talk to a guide

46.02° N · 7.41° E EST. 2009 BUREAU: 14 ROUTE DES SÉRACS

01 / Expeditions

## Three ways up, this season

Set departures with two clients to a rope. Private dates on request; the mountain does not mind which calendar you use.

AD

### Aiguille du Verre

North Ridge, integral

3,842 m

Duration
  4 days
Ratio
  2:1
Season
  Jun to Sep

A patient line up clean granite to the most photographed crest in the range. We take the extra half-day most parties skip, and it shows on summit morning.

Hut nights, lift transfers, technical kit check, summit-day rations.

€1,890 Reserve a rope →
PD+

### Mont Ferrand Traverse

West Arête to Col des Autans

4,067 m

Duration
  6 days
Ratio
  2:1
Season
  Jul to Sep

Six days above 3,000 metres, hut to hut, with one night on the moraine at Camp Autans. The classic first 4,000er, walked at a pace your legs will thank you for.

All huts and the moraine camp, glacier kit, rope fees, luggage shuttle.

€2,650 Reserve a rope →
SKI / AD-

### Vallon Blanc

Ski expedition, three cols

3,560 m

Duration
  5 days
Ratio
  2:1
Season
  Mar to May

Cold starts, long descents, and one deliberately slow evening under the clearest sky in the massif. Skinning fitness matters more than turns here.

Winter room fees, avalanche kit, skin wax, one alarmingly early alpine start.

€2,240 Reserve a rope →

02 / Approach

## How we guide

01

### Acclimatize like it matters

Every itinerary carries a spare half-day at altitude. Headaches are data, not weakness, so we build schedules that listen to them.

02

### Small ropes, long margins

Two climbers to a guide, never more on technical ground. The margin we keep in reserve is the part of the trip you never see, and the part we are proudest of.

03

### The turnaround is a decision we share

We set the turn time together the night before, in plain numbers. When it arrives, we turn. The summit is optional; the walk down never is.

> “Nobody remembers a fast ascent. Everybody remembers feeling looked after at 4,000 metres.”

> The line we hire guides by

214 Summits led
17 Seasons in Valsorde
6 IFMGA guides
2:1 Max client ratio

03 / Gear

## What you carry

We check every pack the evening before departure. Twice, if it is your first glacier. The list is short because your shoulders will meet every item on it.

- B2/B3 boots, worn in, not new
- Crampons, fitted to the boot you bring
- Harness with two 120 cm slings
- Headtorch plus spare batteries
- Insulated parka, even in August
- Hard-shell jacket and trousers
- 1 L thermos and 1 L bottle
- Glacier glasses, category 4
- Sunscreen SPF 50, lip balm
- No cotton. We will notice.

The house 38 L pack · €7 / day

Ice axe 58 cm · steel head€9 / day
B3 boots EU 36 to 48 · fitted€14 / day

Everything above can be rented from the bureau, fitted the evening you arrive. Bring your own boots if you love them; bring nothing cotton either way.

04 / Guides

## The people on your rope

### Lena Aubry-Storli

IFMGA · since 2011 · Valsorde, b. Tromsø

Reads a lenticular cloud the way other people read a timetable. Leads the ski programme and most north faces.

### Mateo Quispe

IFMGA · since 2007 · Valsorde, b. Huaraz

Nineteen seasons across the Andes and the Alps. Has never once been late for a sunrise, and will not start now.

Four more guides join the roster in high season, and you will meet the one holding your rope on the phone, long before the trailhead.

05 / Safety

## Credentials, in writing

Competence is quiet. It looks like paperwork, drills in November, and a forecast read out loud every evening whether the news is good or not.

### IFMGA / UIAGM certification

Every Cairn guide holds the full international mountain guide diploma, the highest qualification the profession has.

### Wilderness First Responder

Recertified annually, every guide, no exceptions. Scenario days each November on the Séracs glacier.

### Evening forecast briefing

We publish our own avalanche and weather read for clients every evening at 18:00, in writing, with our reasoning.

### Satellite comms on every rope

Two-way satellite messengers travel with each rope team, checked and charged at the evening kit review.

Full rescue and repatriation insurance is required on every trip; we will help you arrange it, and we read the fine print so you do not have to. Turn-around decisions are final and non-refundable; summits are weather permitting, descents are not.

06 / Enquire

## Plan a season with us

I

### Write to us

Dates, the trip you have in mind, and an honest note on your experience. Honest is the useful kind.

II

### Talk to your guide

A thirty-minute call, not with an office but with the guide who will hold your rope. We match objectives to conditions.

III

### Hold your dates

A 30% deposit reserves the rope. The balance is due six weeks out, after the final conditions review.

Write with your dates and ambitions,
we answer within two working days.

bureau@cairn-expeditions.example

Bureau hours
  Tue to Sat · 09:00 to 17:00
Telephone
  +41 (0)27 555 08 14
In person
  14 Route des Séracs, 1974 Valsorde