Field Notes · Climbing
The cheapest guided 4,000 m peaks in the Alps
Six Alpine 4,000ers, ranked by the cheapest way to be guided up them, with every price from the guide company’s own page.
By Louis, PeakSeeker · built from the prices on our guided-trip pagesSix Alpine 4,000 m peaks have a guided-trip page on PeakSeeker. Here is the cheapest published way up each one, taken from the company’s own page, from the lowest price to the highest. The figures update every time we re-check those pages.
| # | Peak | Cheapest price | Program | Companies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Breithorn4,164 m | from €150 | Breithorn Ascent with Mountain GuideJules Pession Guida Alpina · 1 day | 9 |
| 2 | Monte Rosa4,554–4,634 m | €750 (1) / €380 pp (2) / €280 pp (3) / €220 pp (4) / €200 pp (5) | Capanna Regina Margherita 4,554 mSocietà delle Guide Alpine di Gressoney (Guide Gressoney Monte Rosa) · 2 days | 9 |
| 3 | Gran Paradiso4,061 m | €270 | Gran Paradiso 4061 m – group ascentSocietà delle Guide Alpine di Courmayeur · 2 days | 10 |
| 4 | The Mönch / Jungfrau4,107–4,158 m | CHF 770 (1 person) / CHF 495 pp (2) | Mönch (4107 m) with private mountain guideBERIE Swiss Alpine School · 1 day | 10 |
| 5 | Mont Blanc4,806 m | €2,390 | 3-Day Guided Mont Blanc AscentChamonix Experience · 3 days | 6 |
| 6 | The Matterhorn4,478 m | €3,610 | Matterhorn AscentCompagnie des Guides de Chamonix · 5 days | 7 |
What the cheapest price buys
The Breithorn is the cheapest 4,000 m peak to be guided up: from €150 with Jules Pession Guida Alpina. The Matterhorn is the dearest, from €3,610. The gap is mostly days and rope ratio, not the guide’s day rate: an easy glacier peak goes in a day or two with several clients on one rope, while the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc need a guide per client and days of preparation first.
The cheapest prices nearly always come from the local guide office in the valley, and they rarely include the hut night, the lift or the train. A UK or US company charges more for the same summit but usually bundles those in, along with a training day. Compare like with like: open each peak’s page and check what the price includes.
Picking your first
If you have never climbed a glaciated peak, the two cheapest here are also the two most common first 4,000 m summits: the routes are non-technical and short. Save Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc for when you have done one of those and know how your body handles altitude.
More Field Notes: The cheapest guided 4,000 m peaks in the Alps · What a guided day costs, mountain by mountain · All Field Notes