We limit the number of participants to maximise the experience and safety of all taking part. For this Challenge, you will be accompanied by two IFMGA qualified guides as well as one or two Shackleton guides.

This number indicates how long the Challenge is from the day you arrive to the day you leave. You will spend five nights at the Héliopic Hotel and one night in a mountain hut prior to summit day.

Expect steady skiing or walking over undulating terrain for several hours with a light backpack or pulk in low temperatures.  May include short duration overnight field camps. Participants should have a basic level of fitness and be able to conduct moderate outdoor activities in a cold weather environment for several consecutive days. Minimal experience required as specialist skills will be taught and practised.

Located at the foot of the north-west face of Gran Paradiso, you will stay at the Federico Chabod mountain hut for one night ahead of your summit push early the next day.

RIFUGIO FEDERICO CHABOD

While Italy's Gran Paradiso is often regarded as one of the easier four-thousanders to summit, this is not completely true. Almost the entire route to the ridge is graded at F+, but the last several dozen metres to the Madonna summit (4058m) comprises of rock climbing with considerable exposure. Access to the true summit of 4061m requires 15 minutes of climbing up to grade II UIAA standard.

GRAN PARADISO

Upon arriving at Geneva airport, Switzerland, you will be met by Shackleton guides and take the one hour transfer to Chamonix, France where you will check into your hotel, the Heliopic Hotel & Spa.

Following breakfast, you’ll be fitted for your boots, crampons and other specialist kit. You will then go to a local via ferrata route, where steel rungs or ladders are permanently affixed to the rock face; here you will learn the basic skills of rock-climbing. This includes mountaineering situations, belay skills, making safe anchors, rope work, abseiling, rapelling, risk management and how to operate in a climbing team. After a full day of rock climbing, you will head back to the hotel for a debrief and enjoy an evening of outstanding savoie cuisine.

Following an early breakfast, you will take the iconic train from Chamonix to Montenvers to spend the day on the Mer de Glace, the largest glacier in France. Here you will learn all the skills needed to operate on ice: the use of crampons, utilising an ice axe for ice climbing, crevasse rescue techniques, and ridge scrambling.

Return to the hotel for dinner, then perhaps take the short stroll into the centre of Chamonix to enjoy the summer evening cafe culture at its best.

Today you will be putting your skills to practice with a traverse across the Vallee Blanche, one of the most spectacular glacier routes in the Alps. Take the Aiguille du Midi cable car all the way up to 3842m and marvel at one of the most incredible views on earth.

From the summit, you will take the iconic route across the Vallee Blanche glacier; this is a relatively easy high altitude trek involving approximately 600m of descent and 200m of ascent, finally arriving at Punta Helbronner in Italy. At the end you will take the Helbronner cable car back across to admire the view from above.

DAY 4

Today, we take things up a level; here's where you will put your hard-won skills into practise on expedition.

In the morning, you will do a thorough kit check with your guides before heading out for some further technique drills. After lunch, you will start your 2-day ascent of Gran Paradiso, starting with a 3 hour hike to 2735m, where you will bed down for the night in Rifugio Federico Chabod, a rustic mountain hut in a spectacular location, designed for climbers to rest before a summit push early the next morning.

'Alpine start'. You will rise before dawn and begin your ascent of the 4,000m peak of Gran Paradiso.

One of the coveted peaks of the Mont Blanc massif, this will be a fantastic mountaineering experience at altitude, using all the skills and techniques learnt throughout the week and preparing you for the first of many more summits.

Having reached the summit, you will then descend back down to the hotel base. In the evening, enjoy a celebratory dinner and a course review - a chance to reflect on the week and an opportunity to receive advice on your next mountaineering adventure.

After a leisurely breakfast you will travel to Geneva airport to return home.