The caveat to the review is my wife and I only hiked with the MBT group for 4 of the 10 days. Simply by our own choice, on our own accord. Completing the Haute route is a remarkable accomplishment given the challenges of the terrain covered and the cumulative long days of 8 - 11 hours hiking. Our choice was to explore Switzerland in a broader scope by experiencing the food, culture, people, history, rather than the singular accomplishment of completing the lengthy Haute route. Our a-la-carte version entailed staying for 2 - 3 days at a time in some fabulous Swiss villages, scenic 4 - 6 hour day - hikes, and enjoying lovely lunches at various scenic cabanes. MBT was very accommodative and supportive to let us broaden our sought explorations. We should have undertaken more due diligence and self reflection as to the type of trip we sought when we signed-up for the Haute, but in the end it was a fabulous trip. A key part of the remarkable experience was hiking with Gary, our MBT guide. Gary is a professional guide with decades of experience. He is soulful, gentle, humorous, modest, reflective, and accommodative to the very diverse trekkers that comprised our group. It was a pleasure to be in his company.

Highly recommend!

I can highly recommend the self-guided trip put together for our family by Mont Blanc Treks. The routes, hotels and luggage transfer services were fantastic. Questions were answered promptly which was much appreciated.

Trip of a lifetime

The email exchanges were always fast and accurate. Very helpful in getting our group of 6 mostly together. Hotels were great. Refuge/Auberge not as good. Overall a great experience!

Very communicative and prompt responses! Very personable as well. All the info was straight forward and we thoroughly enjoyed our trek in huge thanks to MBT!

Extremely disappointing experience with our guide, Gary Hodgson.

Extremely disappointing experience with our guide, Gary Hodgson, despite a very good experience with Mont Blanc Treks overall. I’ve taken many guided trips and have never experienced behavior like this from a guide. Gary was consistently rude, impatient, and unnecessarily aggressive. We were repeatedly left standing in the cold waiting to start hiking, sometimes while he continued lengthy conversations. After several days of this, I finally said, “Hey, can we start hiking?” He aggressively waved his hand directly in front of my face as if to slap it and said, “Stay out of it!” On another occasion, when I asked if everyone was ready, he kicked the air directly in front of me in frustration. When I asked him a question while he was eating, he threw down his food and yelled, “I can’t answer your questions while I’m eating!” He also repeatedly yelled things directly in my face when I didn’t understand him, kicked down a large rock cairn immediately after another traveler photographed it, and made frequent negative comments about the huts, the food, self-guided hikers, and the hike. By the final days, I avoided interacting with him because almost anything I said resulted in a snide or hostile response. Communication was also a major problem. Before the trek, I specifically discussed with Sara, the owner, that if the group was walking too slowly, it was fine for people to go ahead of the guide. During the trek, a few others and I hiked much more quickly than the other half of the group. We always asked Gary before going ahead and always waited wherever he instructed us to wait. He would sometimes tell us to go ahead, only to later complain that we had gone ahead. The contradictory instructions and subsequent criticism were extremely frustrating. I was not alone in feeling this way. Other people in the group privately complained about him, and other travelers outside the group described similar uncomfortable interactions with him. I do want to distinguish Gary from Mont Blanc Treks as a company. The luggage transfer was excellent, the company answered all of my questions promptly before the trek, all the lodging arrangements were wonderful and I had a great conversation with Sara when I was deciding whether to book. The Walker’s Haute Route itself was an incredible experience, and the group was filled with lovely people, some of whom I will be going on more trips with in the future. Unfortunately, Gary’s behavior significantly diminished the trip and at times made me feel genuinely uncomfortable and unsafe around him. The biggest issue was not that he was demanding or had a particular guiding style—it was the repeated hostility, aggressive gestures, poor communication, and contradictory instructions. Based on my experience, I would not book a trip with Gary Hodgson. If booking with Mont Blanc Treks, I would specifically ask who your guide will be.

All details were accounted for. We had an excellent trip on the TMB thanks to Mont Blanc Treks.

If you are trekking, Mont Blanc Treks is there for you!

We just completed trekking Norway’s Jotunheimen NP - our 10th trek with Mont Blanc Treks. Each trek has been perfect, from pre-trek messaging, planning, and arrangements; to on-trek support (6 of our 10 have been self-guided); and the exceptional guides on our four guided treks. MBT promises, and delivers, trekking adventures you will treasure for a lifetime. Each of our trips has been filled with Wonder and Awe, and the Thanks go to the team at MBT.

The staff are very responsive to questions, and the prep materials were comprehensive. We loved the refugios they selected for us and had a fantastic time.

Thanks Mont Blanc Treks!.

This is my second time walking with Mont Blanc Trek's. The bookings were excellent; the information packages informative; and they were responsive to email inquiries.

Great experience!

The tour was very well organized, the accommodations were good, and our guide was very knowledgeable about the route and took good care of the group.

Would definitely recommend MBT

Fiest and foremost, we enjoyed every single moment of our hike 5 days easterly walkser’s haute route. MBT Quick reactions and clear email communication during the booking. Follow up and reminders were sent on time. The description of The routes could be a bit more detailed. I would have expected the fox files also to be sent after the booking. One booklet per booking of four is a bit poor.

Highly recommended

Toni and Tom were great, responsive and really great to work with. The trek was well organized, the transport, the trails, the meals. I would highly recommend MBT.

Great communications in advance. Flawless execution of baggage delivery. Guide was very competent and helped us avoid issues and helped us experience things others might have missed.

Great company

Love this company, always taking me to such rugged and beautiful places. Everything is taken care of. And I just do the hiking

I thought our guide Tom was great. He knew everything, and kept us well informed about the itinerary and kept us safe. The hotels and food, overall, were very good. Great trip!

1.Having one guide is problematic And the hiking through town was unnecessa

Our group at 7 people of different skills. With only one guide was forced to hike at a much slower rate. Every trek I’ve ever been on had 2 guides. , a lead and a sweep. Without a sweep it put undue stress on the stronger hikers. On day one a member of our group was struggling, I slowed down and took the role of the sweep. On the hike the guide was with the group out of site of us in the rear. The hiker fell three times hard, I ended up taking his backpack and carrying it for the finish of the hike On day 4 a second guide joined and the hike was way more enjoyable as the different levels could go at their speed My other complaint is I have always had a van when the hike was over. The extra 1-1.5 miles each hike along a road is neither scenic or necessary The extra hike got us to our hotel after 5 unable to really have time to enjoy the towns Mornings we would leave hotel at 8, hike to town for 30 min, get our lunch and then hike to the trailhead. We normally did not get on the trail until after 9. I’m a get up early and go person Wake up get coffee and let’s hike. Day 3 in the refuge was actually the best start The good The hotels were nice Our guide was knowledgable Transport of luggage flawless

Great Experience

The application, registration and payment process easy. Toni's help in navigating the process and her periodic updates and suggestions were very helpful. Tom was the best guide that I have ever had. Nice, knowledgeable and very protective of his group. Very challenging event. My wife said that she would only do something like this again if she could have Tom as her guide. Thank you to both of them for a 5 star experience.

Great experience! Tom looked after everyone really well. He paced our days perfectly and made adjustments for weather and safety. Excellent trail banter.

Great experience. Slightly custom itinerary was easily adjusted for and they got what we asked for or we are on first waitlist. Alex and Jude are awesome, and appreciate their patient due to a couple More cautious members of our group.

MBT -highly recommend

Jude was very patient with my questions. TMB booked with no issues.