The main routes of Monte Bianco (4.811m), Only

Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Europe, Elbrus apart. Situated between three countries (Italy, France and Switzerland), of which only the first two reach the Summit (4.811m), determined in a conference in Turin in 1861 and now being well questioned. Its topography is complex and very articulate, place names, in part, still shrouded in mystery and the Mountaineering History has expanded dramatically reaching our days and projected to the future. For these exact reasons the writing of this specific page. We see them in together. Topography: the Mont Blanc Chain stretches from the Southwest to the Northeast with a series of Summit forming numerous satellites and reaching the French-Swiss border, but the real Mont Blanc and right can be outlined between the Aiguille de Bionnassay in West and Mont Maudit North. Large glaciers descend towards the South and East and are called Bionnassay, Miage, Mont Blanc, Brouillard, Frêney and Brenva, separated from each other by large ridges that sometimes reach the valley floor and other important Summit as the rocky Aiguille Jean Joseph Croux and the black and slender Aiguille Noire de Péuterey (to the South above La Lex Blancge Valley) and the Tour Ronde and the Giant Pass (towards the East and above Mer de Glace). While in the North and towards the Savoy expands a great sea of ice traversed by dangerous crevasses and great seracs that go down over the Town of Chamonix-Mont Blanc, just at the feet. The Topononymy: varied, however, is largely formed by Frenchified names like Maudit, Tacul, Miage, Brouillard, Frêney, Péuterey, Taconnay or Taconnaz, Bossons, Bionnassay, Gouter, Mont, Aiguille, Clocher, Pilier, Angle, Couloir, Arête, Dome, Capucin, Trident, Pyramide, Roi, Grands Mulets, Corridor, Angle, Mur de la Cote, Poire, Androsace, Diable, Capucin, Adolphe, Siam, Fourche etc. Others in Italian as Innominata, Via, Sperone, Canalone, Cresta, "Canne d'organo" or in "patois" (local dialect French-Provencal) as the Brenva, the name of a plant at the foot of the glacier with the same name. There are also many place names that bear the name of great mountaineers, devoted time to the same as Baretti, Sella, Gugliermina, Croux, Moore, Anderegg, Rey, Graham Brown, Graven, Aufdenblatten, Chabod, Grivel, Gervasutti, Boccalatte, Gonella, Ghiglione, Bonatti, Zappelli etc. But of all emerges the first to say Maudit or "Cursed Mountain", because with this definition was seen this terrifying "eternal monster" of ice and rock that sowed fear among the people at his feet with large and "smoky" terrible snowslides, avalanches and landslides from the slopes, that often reached even the sources of Dora Baltea.

The Story: it has a beginning of a long time before the mountaineering dated around 1750 with the maximum objective achievement, that is, the Summit, in August 1786. At first they were hunters exploring moraines, ridges and cliffs to hunt, in those days not prohibited, of marmots, chamois and ibex; later came the "christalliers", that is the crystals researchers, in great demand by scholars and collectors. Among these are just two of them, the famous "christallier" Jacques Balmat (after called "Mont-Blanc") and renowned Dr. Gabriel Paccard to reach first the coveted trophy. Even encouraged by the passionete Professor Horace Bénédict De Saussure Geneva that, starting with the observations from South made by the small Mont Crammont (above Pré St. Didier Common), order had also set up a cash prize. Reaching, not long after, he himself the Top. Then the conversation is dilated to almost infinite ...

 

La Storia: ha un inizio che precede di molto tempo quella alpinistica databile intorno al 1750 con il raggiungimento dell'obiettivo massimo, cioè la Cima, nell'Agosto del 1786. Dapprima erano stati i cacciatori ad esplorare morene, creste e dirupi alla caccia, a quei tempi non vietata, di marmotte, camosci e stambecchi; in seguito sono arrivati i "christalliers", ovvero i ricercatori di cristalli, molto ambiti da studiosi e collezionisti. Tra questi saranno proprio due di loro, il famoso "christallier" Jacques Balmat (poi soprannominato "Mont-Blanc", come da lui desiderato ed ottenuto) ed il rinomato Dottor Gabriel Paccard a raggiungere per primi l'obiettivo. Anche incentivati dall'entusiasta Professore ginevrino Horace Bénédict De Saussure che, iniziando da osservazioni effettuate dal piccolo Mont Crammont, allo scopo aveva pur istituito un premio in denaro. Poi il discorso si è dilatato quasi all'infinito …

First Ascent

• From Chamonix: Jacques Balmat and Michel Gabriel Paccard, (Aug 08th, 1786).
• From Courmayeur - Route dei Trois Mont Blanc: Julien Grange, Adolphe Orset, Jean-Marie Perrod and Reginald Head, (Aug 13th, 1863).

Route Description

MAIN IMPORTANTAT CLIMBS

PRINCIPALI IMPORTANTI SALITE