Alps Winter Adventure – France | Italy | Switzerland

The ultimate winter experience!

From the shores of Lac Leman we embark on a unique adventure, journeying through France, Switzerland and Italy over 8 unforgettable days. Located in the Alps, you will experience snow clad mountains, historic towns, secluded monasteries and incredible restaurants, with each country offering it’s own language, food, architecture and unique identity for you to discover.

Key information

Private group bookings available

Graded: Moderate / Challenging

Fly to  Geneva

This trip is run in March

Includes all breakfasts, lunches and evening meals 

Stay overnight in a monastery in the Swiss  Alps

Snowshoes and equipment provided 

 

At A Glance
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Day 1- 3

A short transfer from Geneva sees you arrive in Bellevaux, and the beautiful Chablais region located south of Lac Leman. A traditional living working valley, in the winter you experience the mountains at their most pure, snowshoeing around beautiful Lac Vallon and below the impressive Roc d’Enfer. We will have the opportunity to undertake dog-sledding with huskies, venture off-piste and spend time with local artisan’s tasting their products.

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Day 4 - 5

Transferring from Bellevaux we pass through the small Alpine village of Chatel where we enjoy a chocolate workshop hosted by local artisan Tom. After lunch we journey to the Valais region of Switzerland, embarking on a journey into the remote mountains, snowshoeing to the Grand Saint Bernard monastery at a height of 2473m / 8114ft. The monastery dates back to the 11th Century, where Saint Bernard of Menthon, ‘Archdeacon of Aosta’, regularly saw weary mountain travellers arriving tired and distressed. Deciding to put an end to mountain brigandage in the area, the Archdeacon founded the hospice, a unique and incredible location only a few hundred metres from the Italian border.

Of equal interest are the Grand Saint Bernard dogs – The iconic St Bernard dog breed which was created at the hospice by cross-breeding dogs, probably those offered by families in Valais in the 1660s and 1670s. Originally raised to provide guard dogs for the hospice, they became world renowned as mountain rescue dogs and were specially bred and trained for the role of mountain rescue because they were sufficiently strong to cross deep snow drifts, and had the capacity to track lost travellers by scent.

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Day 6 - 8

Chamonix valley is the heart of mountaineering. With the incredible Mont Blanc massif dominating the skyline and four major glaciers cascading to the valley floor this makes for a perfect location for the final part of the trip. 

On day 6 we head up the valley to undertake a beautiful half day snowshoe excursion in the shadow of Aiguille Chardonnay and saving the best until last, we journey up and over the Aiguille du Midi to enjoy spectacular views on Mont Blanc at just under 16000ft, before crossing over the Vallee Blanche on a Gondola and descending down to floor of Val Ferret (Italy) on the revolving skyway.  Hiking up to Lavachey and taking lunch in the famous Italian Grivel family restaurant concludes the adventure, before returning through the Mont Blanc tunnel and back to Chamonix where you enjoy a wonderful farewell meal in a Michelin accredited restaurant.

Take a look

Accommodation

3 x nights in family run 2 * hotel

1 x night in Monastery Hospice, with private rooms

3 x nights in 4* central Chamonix Hotel with Spa facilities

Optional 3 night extension at the 5* Camp Zero – an exceptional 5* hotel nestled at the head of the Champoluc Valley. Great access to world class skiing and mountain sports mixed in with excellent facilities allowing you to relax and enjoy a 1st class service. 

What’s included
Guides

Our guides are exceptionally experienced with a passion for sharing their profession. All qualified and licensed International Mountain Leaders they will bring the trip alive. 

We adopt an excellent guiding ratio: 

One Guide – 1 – 7 clients

Two Guides – 8 – 14 clients

Booking and Price

Cost pp: Please enquire – info@livebreathehike.com

A minimum of 4 people is required for a private journey.

We manage every booking independently to ensure attention to detail and provide a personalised service. 

Terms & Conditions
Terms and Conditions (updated Jan 2019)All trips are sold subject to these Terms and Conditions (hereinafter T&Cs).  1. Insurance All clients need to be adequately insured for all activities they are taking part in. Insurance must include repatriation and details should be provided at the beginning of each trip. All European clients should obtain a European Health insurance card (EHIC), however, this is not a substitute for travel insurance. 2. Health and fitness Trip members have the responsibility to select a trip appropriate to their abilities and interests. In order to assist with this, all trips are graded and we welcome the opportunity to discuss trip details/answer questions in advance of your reservation. Trip members must be in sufficiently good health to undertake the trip, and if unsure seek medical advice in advance. For your own safety, you need to inform us of any medical conditions in advance or at the start of the trip. Trip members are also required to bring adequate clothing/equipment as advised in the pre-departure information. 3. Dietary Requirements We endeavor to work with clients and accommodate their dietary requirements. However such is the nature of adventure travel we may be limited to specific menus e.g remote Mountain Huts, Tea Houses in the Himalaya’s etc. We fully encourage you to contact us in advance to discuss your requirements then we have every opportunity to explore options thereafter. 4. Cancellations and Fee Schedule Per Person 91 days or more prior to departure – €250 cancellation fee 61 – 90 days before departure – 25% of the trip cost 46 – 60 days before departure – 50% of the trip cost 45 days or less: 100% of trip cost Fees are calculated from the date we receive written cancellation notice which can be via email. If clients are unable to access email and cancel over the phone we will confirm in writing the cancellation. If you cancel 91 days or more prior to departure, it may be possible to transfer to another trip without occurring any fees. Please discuss this with us in the first instance. With specific departures, there may be an increase in cancellation fee if the accommodation provider T & Cs mean we are liable for payment. 5. Complaints If you have a complaint, please contact us as soon as possible, in the first instance your leader is often your obvious point of contact. This ensures we have every opportunity to explores solutions to the problem(s) arising and we will do all we reasonably can to resolve the complaint. You must tell us within 4 weeks after your holiday of any complaints that you feel have not been dealt with properly. 6. Alterations By Us We will tell you as soon as reasonably possible if we must make any alteration to your holiday. Most alterations are minor, but very occasionally we might have to make a major alteration. A major alteration is a change of location or to a lower standard of accommodation for a substantial part of your holiday, a change in start/finish dates or necessary price rise in your holiday caused by rises in costs (e.g. exchange rates, internal transport etc). You may then choose as follows:
  • To accept these alterations
  • To withdraw from the holiday, in which case we will repay all monies paid to us including your deposit and this is the sum of our liability to you
  • To accept an alternative holiday that we may propose to you, in which case if the proposed holiday is a lower price we will pay you the difference and if it is a higher price we may ask for the difference.
You must inform us of your choice as soon as possible after we contact you. 7. Group Leadership On a guided holiday your leader is responsible for the safety and enjoyment of the whole group and has sole discretion, on behalf of Live Breathe Hike, to exclude temporarily a participant from the group. They may also choose to terminate the participants holiday without the possibility of a refund if the leader thinks the participant is likely to endanger the group safety or spoil its enjoyment. 8. Your Responsibility Mountain holidays by their very nature are adventurous, with a certain level of risk is undertaken. Individuals need to conduct themselves in a safe and responsible manner at all times; responding to advice, guidance, and instruction that may be given by the group leader / experienced professional and take all reasonable actions to eliminate accidents or injury. 9. Our Responsibilities We will take all reasonable care to ensure that the information we give to you is accurate, including on our website, in your schedule and information pack. We will do all that we can to provide the service as described in the information we give to you. We are not liable if any failure is:
  • Attributable to anyone other than us
  • Attributable to a third party unconnected to us, and unforeseeable or unavoidable
  • Due to unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control and could not have been avoided even if all due care had been taken
  • Due to an event which even with all due care we could not foresee or forestall
10. Cancellation By Us Live Breathe Hike reserves the right to cancel any trip prior to departure for any reason whatsoever, including insufficient signup or logistics problems that may impede trip operations. The refund of all land payments received shall relate Live Breathe Hike from any further liability. Live Breathe Hike must normally make substantial payments to its suppliers far in advance of the scheduled trip departure date. If a trip is canceled due to force majeure; (acts of God, war, strikes, earthquake, flooding etc), Live Breathe Hike will promptly refund the portion of the trip cost not already advanced to suppliers and use its best efforts to recover and refund the balance as promptly as possible. However, Live Breathe Hike does not guarantee recovery of any or all of the advance payments made. 11. Additional Costs Live Breathe Hike shall not be liable for (a) expenses such as additional nights and meals not specified in the individual trip itineraries, but which may required to get to from a trip start or end; expenses due to the delay of a trip for any reason (e.g. bad weather, trails conditions, land slides, flooding, sickness etc); (c) expenses occurred in recovering lost luggage by airlines, belongings left behind on a trip or in shipping purchases or other goods home from abroad; (d) visa and other incidental costs. Live Breathe Hike reserves the right to take photographic or film records of any trips, and may use any such records for promotional and/or commercial purposes without payment.

instantly welcoming and friendly!

I appreciated the contrast of the village experience, the remote monastery experience, then down to the lovely town of Chamonix. It all really worked well! I loved all of the restaurants and food. The wine was amazing as always. I just cannot thank you enough for capturing exactly what we wanted for our Yay God adventures. Your team worked so well together and they were all so fun and kind. I really enjoyed getting to know Claire and Heather. They are wonderful women and I hope to get to see them again one day! The footage Steve got was breathtaking! I cannot wait to see the finished product and what a bonus!! I would have never thought to have a professional join us…..wow! I’m so glad he did. I’m grateful you are willing to share the product with me.

Thank you so very much for an absolutely wonderful Yay God Alps adventure!

You crafted an amazing itinerary with so many unique and fun activities! I appreciated you taking me to the local shops to get treats for my gift bags. Your attention to detail was incredible. We had such a variety of activities and everything was just so well thought out. I loved the bonus bee demonstration with Nadine and the chocolate workshop with Tom. I also really loved that you invited everyone to Guy’s to share in a drink at sunset. That evening will always be a great memory for me…..all the singing and laughter!