On April 19, 2024, the Master hiker Paul Cyrus guided my family up this majestic beast. It was a challenging climb but Paul guided us with calm and precision (and fun). Paul knows this mountain like the back of his hand. He is patient, calm, funny, passionate and exceptionally knowledgeable. You are in great hands with Paul. Thank you Paul. You have given our family a priceless experience. ✅✅🌋🌋 Paul Cyrus Tours +1 (784) 495-3965

This can be very nice hike if the weather is nice. I´ve read there are clouds 360 days per year. We had very cloudy. You will need aprox. 5 hours for the trip. Come early, if you come late, you do not find a parking place.

First things first, if driving there make sure you put St Claude into your sat nav’s to get to the car park. Due to getting lost on way to car park, we arrived at about 10.00 and the car park was already full, as were most of the parking bays down the hill, so ended up walking a little distance before even starting on the path. You don’t need a guide for this hike it is easy to find the way by yourself. It took us 2.5 hours up and 2 hours down again. I almost found coming down as difficult as going up, scrambling down on my backside in some parts. It is quite a strenuous hike, climbing up over boulders at some points. I’m not sure I would have liked to do it in the rain. We saw some people with kids in backpacks etc, I’m honestly not sure how they got back down! Make sure you take plenty of water as there is nowhere to buy any, I would suggest at least two litres each if you can carry it, and some snacks. We both wore trainers which was fine as it was dry. Boots would probably be better if it is wet. The views on the way up and at the top are pretty spectacular. We didn’t swim in the hot springs as the poster about the ‘micro organisms’ put us off a little! There are no toilets available anywhere. This climb was on my ‘bucket list’ to do, and I’m glad I did. Would I do it again though? Probably not.