Grand Capucin

Overview

South Side of Grand Capucin - Photo by Antonio Giani

On the glacier	View of Mont Blanc	Bivouac	UFO above Mont Blanc	Grand Capucin

The Grand Capucin (3838 m) is an extraordinary red granite tower in the Mont Blanc MASSIF. It has an E face rising steeply out of the Géant Glacier.
The famous granite tower is an unique monolith in the Mont Blanc Area.

The Grand Capucin is situated at the end of the east side of the Mont Blanc du Tacul.
You can't miss it when you go from the Aiguille du Midi to the Rifugio Torino. It is a wonderful rock obelisk on the Glacier du Géant.

Particularly noticeable are the rows of overhangs which at one time suggested it was unclimbable, but Bonatti found a winding route which goes over some of the overhangs, but in general works its way up between the great roofs; the climbing is quite literally, geometrically vertical, something quite exceptional on granite.
Although its faces are not higher than 490 m and although the mountain can be seen only from the summits around, it has been interesting for rock climbers since 40 years.

Grand Capucin Routes	Grand Capucin (3838 m) - Photos by Antonio Giani

A= Blue Route "Elixir d'Astaroth". Difficulty ED+/6A/A2

B= Red Route "Walter Bonatti". Difficulty TD+/V+/A1/A2

C= Green Route "Eau et gaz à tous les étages". Difficulty ED+/6C/A3/A4/

After the first climbing through the E face, done by Walter Bonatti and L. Ghigo from 20th to 23rd of July 1951 (with the equipment of the 50ies ... respect!!), the Bonatti route
has been the goal of extreme climbers for a long time. 1981 and later, there have been arranged very difficult sport climbing routes, which are the attraction to the climbers today.
Besides the "Triple Directe", it is especially the route "Voyage selon Gulliver", which is interesting. The first ascent of the summit was undertaken by E. Augusto, Adolphe and
Henri Rey and L. Lanier on 24. July 1924.

There are deep crevasses in the area of the Géant Glacier. And falling stones on the fine rock routes to the summit of Grand Capucin are very dangerous. Pay attention to crevasses and stonefall!

Sometimes the weather changes very quickly, a great and serious danger - to be caught on the summit in a heavy storm.

Getting There

You can come from the Refuge Les Cosmiques.

You can come from the Rifugio Torino.

In order to reach the hut, you need about 1/2 h from the Aig. du Midi. If you leave the cable car station via the bridge, you go to the South summit. On the firn ridge, you go down in SE direction of an even ridgeplatform; then turn right to the S and in SW direction below the S face of the Aig. du Midi. Pay attention to crevasses!

You reach the Aig. du Midi with cable car from Chamonix.

You reach the hut directly with the cable car from Entrève/Courmayeur (Italy).

You can reach the hut directly also with the Helbronner cable car from the Aiguille du Midi (to Aiguille du Midi with the cable car from Chamonix).

Or you go on foot from the Aiguille du Midi over the glacier du Géant (3 h): From the foot of the S face of the Aiguille du Midi you go on the almost even glacier to the Pointe Lachenal, turn left (E) to the glacier valley below the rugged E face of the Mont Blanc du Tacul. You go along this E face of the Tacul and the Pointe Adolphe Rey in order to loose only little height. Now you turn to the ESE to the Col des Flambeaux. From here in a few minutes to the Refugio Torino. It is a very beautiful glacier walk with 200 hm ascent. Difficulty: F.

You reach Courmayeur through the Mont Blanc tunnel from Chamonix.

You reach Chamonix with train, bus or car from Geneva or Martigny (Switzerland).

You reach the Cirque Maudit from the Aig. du Midi or the Ref. Cosmiques: From the foot of the S face of the Aig. du Midi you go on the almost even glacier to the Pointe Lachenal, turn left (E) to the glacier valley below the rugged E face of the Mont Blanc du Tacul. You go along this E face of the Tacul and the Pointe Adolphe Rey in order to loose only little height. Then you go either with a big detour to the north face of the Tour Ronde or quite directly up to the Col de Trident and the Cirque Maudit. Attention: Here are more crevasses!

You reach the Cirque Maudit from the Rifugio Torino: From the Col du Géant near the Rif. Torino: You traverse the Col des Flambeaux and descend the glacier in direction of the Mont Maudit. Then you go along the Aiguille de Toule and the north face of the Tour Ronde to the Cirque Maudit which is built by the Arête de la Brenva, the Mont Maudit and the Mont Blanc du Tacul.

From Martigny (Switzerland) via Vallorcine.

From Geneva (airport) via Anncey (TGV till here) and St. Gervais.

From/via Annecy, Geneva, Grenoble, Courmayeur, Aoste and Turin

From Geneva (from the NW) on the A40 till St. Gervais and from here on the N205.

From Martigny (from the NE, Switzerland) via Vallorcine and the Col des Montets on the road no. N506.

From Chamonix through the Mont Blanc Tunnel from the NW.

From Torino (from the SE) on the A5 via Villeneuve.

When To Climb

Camping

There are campingplaces in

Chamonix and Courmayeur

Map

Institut Géographique National

1:25000 no. 3630 OT Chamonix - Massif du Mont Blanc

Instituto Geografico Centrale

1:25000 no. 165107 IGC Monte Bianco

Mappa Courmayeur cartina

DAV Shop

cordee.co.uk


hikr.org/map

Hikr.org - Courmayeur, Dent du Géant

UKC - Grand Capucin

Mountain Conditions and General Infos

The mighty Mont Blanc - Mont Maudit - Grand Capucin in the foreground - Mont Blanc du Tacul - Aiguille du Midi (Photo by Rahel Maria Liu, Photo stitch by Rick B)

1. WEATHER INFOS

Meteo.fr


Phone: 0033/836680274

Snowinfo: 0033/836 681 020 (only in France)


Chamonix

Meteo.it

Meteowebcam Italy

Courmayeur

2. GENERAL INFOS

Office de Haute Montagnes (OHM)/


Phone: 0033450 532 208


Bureau des Guides in Chamonix


Phone: 0033/450530088


Chamonix


Guide Alpine Courmayeur




Società Guide Alpine Courmayeur

Courmayeur

3. TRAIN CHAMONIX VALLEY

Phone: 0033/450 53 1298 - 0033/8 36 35 35 35 -
0033/450530702 (Train station Chamonix)

Ticket shop

4. BUS CHAMONIX VALLEY

Phone: 0033/450 53 0555 - 0033/450 53 0115

5. CABLE CARS

Chamonix

Courmayeur

Funivie MONTE BIANCO


Phone: 00390/165.846658, Fax 00390/165.842347

Cable Cars and the Pano Gondola Photos by Hiltrud Liu - om - Rahel Maria Liu

Cable car 2007	Shadow	Cable car 1967	Géant Glacier	Pano Gondola

Red Tape

Accomodation

The refuge Les Cosmiques is situated on a shoulder between the Col du Midi and the SW ridge of the Aiguille du Midi (Cosmiques ridge).

120 beds

guarded from mid-February to mid-October

phone: ++33(0)450544016

The Rifugio Torino has 2 huts, the lower and older one and the upper, new one. Both huts are connected by a tunnel.

180 beds

guarded from mid-February to mid-October

Books

East Side	North Side	West Side of Grand Capucin	South Side	Mont Blanc glowing

• Hartmut Eberlein, Mont-Blanc-Gruppe. Gebietsführer für Bergsteiger und Kletterer, 2000 or 2012, amazon.de (look at the contents Grand Capucin)



• Helmut Dumler/Willi P. Burkhardt, The High Mountains of the Alps. amazon.com (look at the contents Grand Capucin)



• Gaston Rébuffat: The Mont Blanc Massif. The 100 Finest Routes. London 1996. ISBN 1-898573-03-4. amazon.de or amazon.com (Look at the contents)



• Lindsay Griffin, Mont Blanc Massif, Vol. 2 - Published Alpine Club (2002). amazon.com



• Lindsay Griffin, Mont Blanc Massif, Vol. 1 - Published Alpine Club - London (1990). amazon.com



• Gino Buscaini, MONTE BIANCO, Vol. I, Guida dei Monti d'Italia, 1994. stella-alpina.com

Routes-Overview

VIII-, mostly VII with VII+ (passages), ED+, 6-12 h (Eberlein)

ED, 490 hm, 10-20 h (Rébuffat)

E Face	Bonatti R	back	Gr Cap

VII+, mostly VI and VII. Passages VII-. ED. 280 hm, 6 h (Eberlein)

VII, A 0 (1 passage), mostly V+ and VI. ED-. 280 hm, 6 h (Eberlein)

Swiss Route	Stonefall	Granite Swiss Route	B Sauer	Climbing	S summit

VII, A 2, mostly VI and VI+. ED. 280 hm, 6 h (Eberlein)

VIII-, A 0 (swinging traverse), mostly VI+ and VII. ABO-. 300 hm, 6-8 h (Eberlein)

VI+, A 4, mostly A 2 and A 3, ED+, 400 hm (you should plan a bivouac!) (Eberlein)

VII+, A 3, mostly VI and VI+, ED+, 400 hm (Eberlein)

VII+, mostly VI+ adn VII-, passages A 0 or A 1 at the end, ED+, 400 hm, 10 h (Eberlein)

VIII, mostly VII, ABO, 400 hm, 10 h (Eberlein)

Abseiling down, mostly through the route "O Sole Mio"

A= SSW Pillar - O sole mio route, Michel Piola and Pierre Alain Steiner (Apr 21-22th, 1984). Difficulty VI/A0/ED Lenght: 250m B= South dihedral and wall – route of Swiss, Claude Asper, Marcel Bron, Mario Grossi and Marcel Morel (Jul 24-25-26th, 1956). Difficulty III/IV/V/VI/A1/A2/TD+ Lenght: 300m C= South wall – Sourire de l'été route, Gaetano and Romain Vogler (Aug 24-25th, 1981). Difficulty VI/A2/ED+ Lenght: 300m D= S wall – De fil en aiguille route, Jean Luc Amstutz, Vincent Banderet and Romain Vogler (Jul 31th, 1991). Difficulty VI/VII/A1/EX- Lenght: 300m E= SE wall – Fragrant délire, Jean Marc Boivin and Michel Piola (Aug 13-14th, 1983). Difficulty VI/A3/ED+ Lenght: 400m F= SE wall – Elisir d’Astaroth route, Michel Piola, Pierre Alain Steiner and Romain Vogler (Aug 18-19-20th, 1981). Difficulty VI/A2/ED+ Lenght: 400m G= E wall – Bonatti route, Walter Bonatti and Luciano Ghigo (Jul 20-21-22-23th, 1951). Difficulty IV/V+/VII/A1/A2/A3/TD+ Lenght: 400m H= E wall – Po-eticomania route, Fabio Delisi and Enrico Jovane (Aug 01-02th, 1986). Difficulty VII/A2 Lenght: 400m I= E wall – Directe des Capucins route, Eric Belin, Jean Marc Boivin and Martial Moioli (Jul 09-10th, 1983). Difficulty VI/A0/ED Lenght: 400m L= S wall - Panoramix variant, C. Dalphin, R. Habersaat, T. Grassin C. Reuille and B. Voltolini (estate 1962). Difficulty VII/A2 M= E wall – Eau et gaz à tous les étages route, Jean Marc Boivin, F. Diaferia and Martial Moioli (Jul 28-29th, 1984). Difficulty VI+/A3/ED+ Lenght: 400m N= S wall - Voyage selon Gulliver route, Pierre Alain Steiner and Michel Piola (Jul 18-19th, 1982). Difficulty VI/A0/ED+ Lenght: 300m O= SE wall – Lecco route, Aldo Anghileri and Pino Negri Jun 29-30 Jul 01; Guerrino Cariboni, Casimiro Ferrari and Carlo Mauri (Jun 30-Jul 01th, 1968). Difficulty V+/VI/VII/A1/A2/ED Lenght: 300m

External Links

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