Neil Hitchings

IFMGA Mountain Guide

Neil works year round as an IFMGA high mountain guide, since 1995. I am a member of the (A.I.G.M.B.) Association Internationale des Guides du Mont Blanc, based here in Chamonix.

He discovered rock climbing at the age of 16 and it quickly became the passion of my life. From rock climbing I graduated to Alpine summits and frozen waterfalls.

Neil settled in the Chamonix valley in the late 1970s and, among other things, I have worked as a ski-patroller at the Brévent ski area in Chamonix. At that time I was almost certainly the only Englishman to be working as a ski patroller in France. This work involved maintaining security on the marked pistes, evacuating the injured from the pistes and avalanche control. For several years, before deciding to become a guide, I ran my own rope access business.

Testimonials For ISM

Please pass on my very, very sincere thanks to Thomas, Daniel & Christian. They are truly quality people! Patient, understanding, professional, and wonderful ambassadors for your company. I have experienced many guides over my 50 years in climbing and they rank right up there with the very best.

David Hughes
Mont Blanc Ascent

Good mixture of progressive instruction and learning, climbing and guiding. We climbed some very good mountains from good huts and made the best of the mixed weather conditions. The course also used a range of situations and locations to cover a wide range of skills and techniques.

Donald Connolly
Classic AlpinISM (Instructional Course)

The course was excellent, lots of variety and provided me with a good range of skills. Loved reaching the summit of the Weissmeis, for such a nervous and unconfident novice like me, I gained a real sense of achievement from the ascent and the whole week. Huge thanks to Pat.

Jo Clark
Summits & Skills 4000m (Instructional Course)

All Reviews