Please read our using alpine huts article for further info on life in huts

Most larger huts in the European Alps now have re-charging points for phones and small electricals such as cameras, but it’s not guaranteed.  Take a power pack on longer trips if you need to be able to recharge your phone. In Scandinavia, many huts don’t have electricity.

Wifi is very uncommon in Alpine huts, so don’t expect it and treat it as a luxury if you find a hut with open wifi. Ski touring is a great way to de digitize your life for a few days!

Phone reception is very variable in Alpine huts, but you can often get a signal outside or nearby – text is most reliable.  If your loved ones might worry if you don’t ‘check in’ each night, then advise them in advance that ‘no news is good news’!

All French, Swiss and Italian Huts provide hut slippers, so you don’t need to bring any on hut tours to these nations. Austrian and Scandinavian huts do not provide hut slippers, so either walk around in your socks/ski inner boots, or bring some Crocs or lightweight slippers for these countries (a pair of hotel slippers are perfect, or buy some down camping slippers for a bit of luxury!)

It depends how civilised you want to be! All alpine climbers try to keep their pack weights as low as possible, so you definitely won’t be alone if you sit down to dinner wearing some of the same clothing that you’ve been climbing in during the day.  Most people however, change into at least a spare T shirt and some also bring a spare pair of socks/underwear.  Whatever you choose to bring, make sure it’s as light as possible!

Huts do not provide towels and personal washing supplies.  It’s worth carrying just a small wash kit, as most huts only have wash basins with cold water. Top tip – take a small packet of wet wipes with you on a multiday ski tour! Some of the Swiss and Austrian huts also have hot showers and fresh towel rental – where available, shower facilities are mentioned in the tour itinerary.

All huts are equipped with duvets and blankets, so you don’t need to bring a sleeping bag. However,  you do need to bring your own personal sleeping bag liner with you – a lightweight silk one is best.

All huts will happily cater for vegetarians, and most can provide gluten free and vegan meals too. For vegan/gluten free and other more specialist diets, meals may not vary much from hut to hut due to the extra difficulties associated with catering in the high mountains. We would therefore recommend that you take a few extra luxury items/sources of protein to supplement hut meals.

You can hire ice axe, crampons, harness and helmet from us at the time of booking, if required for your trip. This will be provided by your guide at your course briefing. If you need to hire mountain boots – this can usually be done in resort at a local rental shop. For most trips this needs to be collected before your briefing, the day before you start climbing, so please arrive in resort with enough time to do this. Please see our Equipment Hire page for more details, including a list of recommended shops in each of our resort bases.

Please consult your trip factsheet, where you will find a full equipment list. The factsheet is contained in your booking notification email as a link – click on the link to download the PDF. Or you can also download the PDF factsheet from the relevant course page on our website.

Please check out the articles on our Knowledge Base for further info and recommendations on: axes, boots and crampons, and alpine clothing systems.

Your valley hotel (trip starting point) will look after your excess luggage during the week whilst you are staying in mountain huts. 

If you have to spend an extra night or two in the valley whilst waiting for bad weather to pass, we will reorganise the teams accommodation and provide extra hotel nights as required. These are provided on the same basis as the other hotel nights on your trip, ie if your start/end point hotels are on a BnB basis, any extra nights will also be BnB.

We won’t cancel a trip in these circumstances, but we sometimes modify our itineraries, or even relocate trips to a different area, to ensure you can continue climbing safely and get the most from your holiday.

For scheduled trips it’s easy to book online, directly from your course page. For hire a guide/bespoke courses please get in touch for a quote. In either case, if you haven’t climbed with us before please get in touch first to say hi, and we will be happy to help you choose a trip and answer any questions before booking.

We climb and ski with a broad range of ages and experience levels, and a large number of our customers come back year after year. You may join a trip with friends as part of a small team, or you can book as a solo traveller and be assured of meeting some likeminded people to share your adventure with.

Yes we climb with guests from the UK, but also from Europe, the USA, Canada and elsewhere in the world.

Under 18’s must be accompanied by a parent/legal guardian, and we usually ski tour with under 18’s only on private trips or our Family Ski Touring Courses. There is no upper age limit, but please get in touch if you are over 65 and wish to join a scheduled trip. This is to ensure we climb with well matched teams regarding overall group dynamics, fitness and pace. 

Yes – this can be done during the online booking process. Please add the single room option to your order, and we will confirm availability asap. A supplement is payable, and this usually applies to the nights which will be spent in valley hotels. It isn’t possible to book a single room in mountain huts. On some trips we stay in apartments and holiday lodges – single rooms are available in some cases – this will be detailed on the trip page.

If you wish to cancel you must notify us in writing, where upon the following charges will be applied from the date we receive your notice of cancellation: More than 8 weeks (56 days) before start date – loss of deposit. Between 4 and 8 weeks (28-56 days) before start date – 50% of course fee or loss of deposit, whichever amount is greater. Less than 4 weeks (28 days) before start date – full course fee.

Once your trip is confirmed to run, you must purchase cancellation insurance to cover any lost trip/travel fees in the event that you need to cancel due to illness/injury or other insurable personal circumstance. If you have to cancel and we are able to find a replacement client to fill your place, we will refund all fees paid to us minus an admin fee. Please find more cancellation info within our booking terms and conditions.