TRIP COSTS
The estimated cost* of this excursions is $4,950 per adult for AMC members and $5,050 for non-members. Children 15 and under are $4,700. A deposit of $1,000 per person is due upon application. A family membership to the AMC is $75 and can be purchased one the AMC website. You must also submit the registration form online, the Confidential Medical form, and the signed Acknowledgement and Assumption of Risk and Release form for the AMC. Please make check payable to the Appalachian Mountain Club. The balance of the trip fee is due March 1, 2024. Please see the AMC Adventure Travel Terms and Conditions and AMC Cancellation Policies and Disclaimers.
What's Included?
LODGING
All lodging in 3 and 4- star hotels and mountain huts is included from July 21 until the morning of August 3. There is a full list of likely accommodations on the itinerary for the TMB but these are subject to availability when the trip has enough participants to book. We will likely stay at the Plan B Hotel in Chamonix, a very family-friendly hotel in the heart of the city. In Zermatt we will stay at the Hotel Firefly in shared 3, 4, and 6 room suites with full kitchens and living rooms. There are on-site restaurants in both hotels where we will eat breakfast each morning.
OTHER PERKS
Luggage transportation during the TMB for non-essential hiking items/clothing; emergency medical and evacuation insurance, all ground transportation from Chamonix, including buses, cable cars, and gondolas, a private shuttle from Chamonix to Zermatt, personalized guide books and maps, 3 guides for the French portion of the TMB (required by law), and tips for shuttle drivers.
MEALS
Most dinners and all breakfasts are included from the arrival day in Chamonix to the last morning in Zermatt. All of our lodging during the TMB has half-board except for two dinners in Courmayeur. We will have one group dinner there and one free night to explore on our own with a dinner stipend. Our welcome dinner will be in Chamonix and our goodbye dinner in Zermatt. You will have plenty of options for buying lunches, from grocery stores, bakeries and mountain lodging along our route each day.
NOT INCLUDED
Round trip international air transportation to/from Europe (~$1,200-1,600), ground transportation to Chamonix and from Zermatt, all lunches, three dinners, tips for hotel staff/cleaning staff, and travel insurance for cancellation or interruption. The closest international airport is in Geneva, Switzerland for those flying in and out just for the trip.
Cancellation Policy and Disclaimers*
The AMC Adventure Travel cancellation policy is based on the fact that your cancellation may not raise the cost to the other participants or to the leaders. Once you are notified the trip is declared to run as scheduled, the minimum cancellation fee is $100 per person. If actual costs (expenses already incurred on your behalf and any unavoidable future expenses that will be incurred as a result of your registration and cancellation) are higher, they will be assessed instead, unless they can be applied toward another acceptable participant. Should the leaders be able to replace you, you may be charged a reduced penalty. This will generally not be determined until after the trip. Failure to make trip payment(s) in a timely manner will be considered a cancellation.
On rare occasions AMC Adventure Travel may need to cancel all or a portion of a trip due to force majeure [e.g. terrorism, local health conditions, natural disaster, changes in local regulatory environment, etc.] In the event of such a cancellation, your trip fee will be refunded less any trip expenses already incurred plus any non-cancellable future trip expenditures. AMC Adventure Travel is not responsible for additional expenses incurred by you in preparing for the trip (including non-refundable air tickets, visa fees, gear or medical expenses, etc.
*Disclaimer: The price for this trip is based on quotes or estimates obtained at the time the trip was submitted to the Adventure Travel Committee for approval, 18 months in advance of departure date. Trip participants will share any savings we achieve, as well as bear any cost increases we incur. Our cost estimates are conservative.The final price of the trip will be adjusted in accordance with the best final arrangements we can make. If the trip’s financial position is strong enough at the start, we may make partial refunds during the trip, in the form of payments toward some meals and/or free time activities which would otherwise not be included. Any savings we achieve, as well as any cost increases we incur, will be shared by trip participants. All Adventure Travel trips are run on a non-profit basis and refunds, if any, are issued after the trip’s financial accounting is complete.
Furthermore, please be aware that, in accordance with AMC policy, you are subsidizing the leaders' costs. Beyond this, the leaders are not allowed to realize any profit from this excursion. The trip price also includes an AMC overhead fee to cover the administrative expenses of offering Adventure Travel excursions. The trip fee includes emergency medical and evacuation insurance coverage, which is required by the AMC. It does not include insurance for travel delay, interruption, or cancellation, or for baggage loss. If these possibilities concern you, individual travel insurance is recommended. More information about included emergency medical and evacuation insurance, as well as about optional and recommended travel insurance, will be provided to participants in their formal acceptance letters, which will be sent out when the trip has the required number of accepted applicants.