UKH

Anyone know if the quintino sella has got blankets in at the moment?

In reply to dutybooty:

According to my book on Aosta bivis, yes. I have heard the route to this hut is long way, not obvious and glacier dependent...

In reply to dutybooty:
I assume you mean the QS bivouac on the Italian side of Mont Blanc? (There are loads of QS huts, e.g. the guardianed one on the Italian side of Monte Rosa).

Almost certainly yes, but you would be well advised to check the access route of the hut, which varies from time to time and is always serious. Suggest checking with Luca Signoreli or Matteo Giglio, they should know and are both very helpful :

http://matteo-giglio.blogspot.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/luca.signorelli.33/posts/10206238982514013

(2 LLs in Luca's surname, sorry Luca)

In reply to dutybooty:

Don't know if you have seen the QS approach in Camptocamp :

http://www.camptocamp.org/huts/104025/fr/refuge-quintino-sella-mont-blanc

In reply to dutybooty:

Hi all,

Thanks for the quick replies. You've all guessed the right hut and I am aware of the difficulties of accessing the hut.

Because of this, I wouldn't fancy the long trek up with light bags only to discover a distinct lack of blankets

So really asking if anyone's been there recently? (I'm aware this is a relative term)

In reply to dutybooty:

I really do suggest trying Luca or Matteo, or the Coumayeur branch of the CAI or Bureau des Guides. It can be a very problematic hut to get to, very remote indeed. I noticed a blog post from Ben Briggs that said that he and his mate were unable to get to it recently (though that may have had more to do with the timing of their approach).

In reply to dutybooty:

Certainly looks character building, based on a report from last year:
http://www.camptocamp.org/outings/561013/fr/mont-blanc-eperon-de-la-tournet...

In reply to pneame:

I certainly remember the access to the hut (for us, crossing the hideous steep bouldery slopes, we didn't know you were supposed to go along the glacier, though even that sounds pretty problematic), was far more "character building" than the Tournette route itself, which was atmospheric, in a wild part of the massif, but didn't really present any great difficulties.

We met Matteo (and 3 very attractive Italian girls in tow), at the hut, he (and they), made very agreeable bivi hut companions, then we all did the Tournette route the next day.

In reply to Simon4:

It's never a good sign when the approach to the hut takes up 2x the space that the route does on a brief Camp-To-Camp TR!
It's a curious thing though - I find that my sharpest memories tend to be the approach and the doss (whether it's a bivvy or a hut) rather than the actual route. Of course that may just be a statistical aberration - there are more approaches than there are routes in my mind!
Nevertheless, the QS looks to be outstanding, with or without Italian girls!

In reply to dutybooty:


It would be a very rare Italian hut to have no blankets at all, can't guarantee the cleanliness of them! Even the Eccles bivouac hut 2 years ago, which was in a right state, had plenty of blankets to cover us (we were there alone).

So if you can get to it, you will almost certainly have something to sleep in, possibly even some little friends to sleep with you.

As pneame says, it is a great hut to stay in, if you CAN get there, in a fantastic mountain situation. Not sure I would be too happy trying to reverse the approach route to it if the main route was not possible though.