Mont Blanc | 4802m
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Route Information
Mont Blanc (4810 m) is the highest mountain in the Alps, and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence. There are four normal routes to the summit, the routes are not difficult but also not without danger. All normal routes end in Bosses ridge, so that part is often crowded. The most popular normal route is Gouter route which is described here. Since 2019, French alpine club has make the hut reservations mandatory (please see the huts section below) on this route to reduce the number of people attempting the summit.
I would divide this route in four parts:
1. Refuge du Nid d'Aigle to Refuge de Tete Rousse [T3/T4, ~2 hours]: Refuge du Nid d'Aigle (2412 m) can be reached from the valley by an easy hike (approx. 3 hours) or by tram from La Fayet. You can find more information about the tram here. From Refuge du Nid d'Aigle the path to Tete Rousse is easy in the beginning on well marked trail which becomes steep before Tete Rousses hut. Sometimes this path can be icy and slippery but there are cables for safety. Before the Glacier de Tete Rosse, there is also a check post where you have to show your hut reservation receipt and your past experience. There is also a basecamp next to Tete Rouses where you can rent the camp for overnight stay, they provide pillow, blanket and tent.
2. Refuge de Tete Rousses to Refuge du Goûter [T4/T5, I+, ~2 hours]: This section is the most technical part of the entire route and also the most dangerous. There is almost continuous rockfall which increases on sunny days. Most people prefer to do this part in the night as there is less rockfall, but you have to be careful, its easy to get lost there. If you loose the track here, you can go into rockfall zone very easily. The rockfall zone has to crossed anyways via Grand Couloir crossing (50 m). Many people have died in this section after getting hit by rocks. My advice is to keep calm and always look for rocks or have someone to look for you while you're crossing. The rockfall is less frequent in the night.
After Grand couloir crossing the path is clear and sometimes there are ropes to help. The scrambling is not difficult (max I+), but it can be icy depending on the season and you might need crampons. The scrambling part finishes at the old Goûter hut, the new Goûter hut is 5 minutes from there. They moved it to minimize the rockfall in Grand Couloir.
3. Refuge du Goûter to Refuge Vallot [2-3 hours]: This section requires glacier traverse, the glacier is easy and there are no crevasses except few. They might be hidden after fresh snow, so glacier equipments are still necessary. Soon you will arrive on very flat plateau, and the Vallot hut comes into sight. The path becomes steep from here. Also other normal routes converge here. Note that Vallot hut is meant to be used for emergency cases, so please don't plan to stay there. The hut used to be very dirty in the past years because of so many people attempting the summit. But when we were there it was clean but very very cold.
4. Refuge Vallot to Mont Blanc [2-3 hours]: This section is steep and narrow and any mistake here can be fatal. At this point you might also start to feel the altitude sickness which makes the last ascent exhausting. However, the views from there are breathtaking and you will remember it for a very long time. After 2-3 hours from Vallot hut, you will arrive at the summit.
Weather: Although the weather is very unpredictable here, this mountain decides it's own weather. So better prepare for any kind of weather. This website provide the weather forecast at the summit.
Webcam: Towards Aiguille de Bionnassay, Towards old Gouter hut
There are a lot of inexperienced people attempting this summit. I would recommend to climb at least one 4000er before trying this summit. An nice example can be Gran Paradiso.
| Technical Difficulty | Difficult | |||||||||||
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| Gear | Hiking Boots , Hiking Poles , Helmet , Gloves , Ropes | |||||||||||
| Popularity | 4 | |||||||||||
Route statistics
| Highest point | 4802m | |||||||||||
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| Total gain | 2434m | |||||||||||
| Total loss | 2446m | |||||||||||
| Duration | 11h44m | |||||||||||
| Distance | 16.7Km | |||||||||||
| Rating | 2474 | |||||||||||
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