Chamonix is dominated by the white majestic dome of
Mont Blanc, at 4,810m the highest mountain in western Europe.
Every
year the summit of Mont Blanc becomes the ultimate objective for
mountaineers the world over, all striving to stand on top of the roof
of Europe and look down on all of the major summits of the Alps.
To
climb Mont Blanc from Chamonix, people normally chose one of the two
most common routes. Slightly more technical, the route from the
Aiguille du Midi, over Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit is generally
quieter, and highly dependent on conditions.
The slightly
easier and more reliable option is via the Tramway du Mont Blanc to the
Nid d'Aigle, then up the Aiguille du Gouter and the Bosse ridge.
While not technically challenging, ascending Mont Blanc requires a high
level of physical fitness and experience using crampons and an
ice axe.
Gouter RouteCosmiques RouteClimb Mt. Blanc in WinterHeader 4Header 5
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This is the classic and most popular route to climb Mont Blanc. But pay attention, you need to book the
Gouter Refuge in advance because this hut is crowded. You take the Bellevue cable car from Les Houches and then
take the Tramway du Mont Blanc to the Nid d'Aigle (2,372m). From here
there is about 5 hours of walking/scrambling to the Gouter refuge
(3,817m).More Info
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To climb Mont Blanc using the Cosmiques route, you must take the cable car to the
Aiguille du Midi (3,842m). From here, you descend the
Aiguille du Midi arête to the glacier du Tacul, where there is
approximately 1h walk on easy terrain to the Cosmique Refuge (3,613m). The day after you start climbing the Mont Blanc du
Tacul. This ascent can be difficult at times. Due to warm temperatures
in recent years more crevasses have opened up and at times this has
required climbing on some steep exposed terrain. More Info
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Hike up a famous route with a snowboard or a pair of skis, such as "The Three Mont Blanc's",
"The Descent of the North Face"
or "The Corridor Route". The most
frequented and most dangerous is the Classic
Route via the Grands Mulets hut at
3051m.
The first ascent
of the Mont Blanc on skis was via the classic route in 1904 by Ugo Mylius
with Oberland guides: Tannler, Maurer and Zurfluh. The first descent
from the summit on skis was by a Swiss guide, Elias Julen in 1930.
Marco Siffredi popped up to the Blanc for a quick surf after returning
from his first descent of Mt. Everest on a snowboard in 2001. More Info
