How well trained, except of being fit, a climber has to be for summitting Mont Blanc, and how long does it take from the last shelter in Gouter hut (3817m) to the top if the weather is stable?
'Guidebook time' is 4-5 hours from Gouter hut. That means you have to be slick, fit and have good conditions to do it in that time.
Acclimitisation, weather and lack of fitness stop most people summiting.
Assuming you don't have a guide, you'd need to be confident in short-roping techniques, glacier crossing, crevasse rescue, moving together, crampon use and well acclimitised. I'd guess you'd need to be pretty fit but nothing ridiculous- if you're a running type then running 10 miles shouldn't sound outlandish, or cycling 50 miles for a cyclist.
Note - I have not climbed Mont Blanc: please someone correct me if they have better info...
I used a pair of Scarpa plastic boots that I already owned.
The boots need to have a rigid sole as you are wearing crampons for a very long time, in my case from around 11pm to probably 11am as we couldn't get into the Gouter Hut and had to start from the one below. It isn't like you are just wearing them for a few minutes or hours as in winter walking in Scotland.
Altitude was my problem as tried to do it within 6 days going when there was a break in the weather. Wasn't ready as weather restricted a couple of high altitude training walks.
My trip report can be seen here if your interested.
We did got to the summit in around four hours. We made it back to Les Houches in unbelievably quick time on the way down!!!
My boots are La Sportiva Nepals, which are leather and have a slight flex, which I consider a must for a lot of routes in the Alps where you have big walk in's. Its all personal preference, but I wouldn't want to do a long route like that in 100% rigid plastic boots.
PS if you can't get into the Gouter Hut (as in our case- too busy) you can just bivi down in the snow- we took doss mats and lightweight sleeping bags that we left at the Gouter Hut. Or, alternatively, if you get there and its full, just hang around in the canteen and bag a space under/on a table when the guardians go to bed- they won't chuck you out....
PS IIf you're not going up with a guide (we didn't) I'd recommend going on an alpine crevace rescue course (such as the BMC's Conville course) to learn basic short-roping and rescue techniques. On the Blanc you do cross over a number of crevaces, and not all of them are apparant.
PPS we did the Cosmiques Arete and the Petite Auguille Verte to aid acclimation- we deliberately missed the last cable car home from the Midi when we did the Arete, and bivvied down in the nice warm cable car station (around 3800m). The wardens even left the loos open with hot running water for us!
