The Aiguille du Dru (also the Dru or the Drus; French, Les Drus) is a mountain in the

Mont Blanc massif The Mont Blanc massif (french: Massif du Mont-Blanc; it, Massiccio del Monte Bianco) is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major indepen ...

in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...

. It is situated to the east of the village of

Les Praz Les-Praz-de-Chamonix (more commonly known as Les Praz) is a mountain village in the French Alps, part of the commune of Chamonix. Altitude: 1060 m (3477 ft.). Geography Les Praz is located in the middle of the valley of Chamonix. It i ...

in the

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

valley. "Aiguille" means "needle" in French. The mountain's highest summit is: * ''Grande Aiguille du Dru'' (or the ''Grand Dru'') 3,754 m Another, slightly lower sub-summit is: * ''Petite Aiguille du Dru'' (or the ''Petit Dru'') 3,733 m. The two summits are on the west ridge of the

Aiguille Verte The Aiguille Verte (; ), which is French for "Green Needle", is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps. It was first climbed on 29 June 1865 by Edward Whymper, Christian Almer and Franz Biner, a fortnight before the fateful firs ...

(4,122 m) and are connected to each other by the ''Brèche du Dru'' (3,697 m). The north face of the ''Petit Dru'' is considered one of the six

great north faces of the Alps The six great north faces of the Alps are a group of vertical faces in the Swiss, French, and Italian Alps known in mountaineering for their difficulty, danger, and great height. The "Trilogy" is the three hardest of these north faces, being th ...

. The southwest "Bonatti" pillar and its eponymous climbing route were destroyed in a 2005 rock fall.

Ascents

The

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...

of the ''Grand Dru'' was by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

alpinists Clinton Thomas Dent and James Walker Hartley, with guides

Alexander Burgener Alexander Burgener Alexander Burgener (10 January 1845, Saas Fee – 8 July 1910, near the Berglihütte) was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascentionist of many mountains and new routes in the western Alps during the silver age of alpinis ...

and K. Maurer, who climbed it via the south-east face on 12 September 1878. Dent, in his description of the climb, wrote: The ''Petit Dru'' was climbed in the following year, on 29 August 1879, by J. E. Charlet-Straton, P. Payot and F. Follignet via the south face and the south-west ridge. The first traverse of both summits of the Drus was by E. Fontaine and J. Ravanel on 23 August 1901. The first winter traverse of the Drus was by

Armand Charlet Armand Charlet (9 February 1900, Argentière – December 1975) was a French mountaineer and mountain guide. Alpinism Charlet was amongst the most celebrated mountaineers and guides of his era. Alain de Chatellus regarded him as the "undispute ...

and Camille Devouassoux on 25 February 1938. Les Drus viewed from North West

In 1889 both peaks of the Dru were climbed for the first time from the Petit Dru to the Grand Dru by two parties. One party contained Katharine Richardson and guides

Emile Rey Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil and the Detective ...

and Jean-Baptiste Bich, and the other Mr Nash and Mr Williams with guides François Simond, Frederic Payot and Edouard Cupelin.

The west and south-west faces

These 1000 m-high rock faces have seen serious

rockfall A rockfall or rock-fallWhittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984. . is a quantity/sheets of rock that has fallen freely from a cliff face. The term is also used for collapse of rock from roof or walls of mi ...

s in 1950, 1997,Victor Saunders
"Flight from the Hornli"
alpinejournal.org.uk. Accessed 12 September 2011. 2003, 2005 and 2011,Jack Geldard
"Major Rockfall on Les Dru, Chamonix Valley"
ukclimbing.com. Accessed 13 September 2011. which have considerably affected the structure of the mountain and destroyed a number of routes. Although at the time of the first ascent of the north face (

Pierre Allain Pierre Allain (7 January 1904 – 19 December 2000) was a French alpinist who began climbing in the 1920s. In the 1930s he was joined by several others at Fontainebleau, where his group of "'Bleausards" developed a love of bouldering that went be ...

and R. Leininger on 1 August 1935), Pierre Allain considered the west face to be unclimbable, the team of A. Dagory, Guido Magnone, Lucien Bérardini and Marcel Lainé succeeded on the face in a series of attempts on 5 July and 17–19 July 1952 using considerable artificial aid. From 17–22 August 1955, the Italian climber

Walter Bonatti Walter Bonatti (; 22 June 1930 – 13 September 2011) was an Italian mountain climber, explorer and journalist. He was noted for many climbing achievements, including a solo climb of a new route on the south-west pillar of the Aiguille du Dru ...

climbed a difficult solo route on the south-west pillar of the ''Petit Dru'' (the ''Bonatti Pillar''); this route – like many on the west face – no longer exists in its original state owing to rockfall, the scars of which remain clearly visible from the Chamonix valley. Seven years later, from 24–26 July 1962,

Gary Hemming Gary Hemming (December 13, 1934 – August 6, 1969According to his gravestone (sefindagrave.com.) was a noted American mountaineer. Together with Royal Robbins he made the first ascent of the American Direct route on the Aiguille du Dru in Chamon ...

and

Royal Robbins Royal Robbins (February 3, 1935 – March 14, 2017) was one of the pioneers of American rock climbing. After learning to climb at Tahquitz Rock, he went on to make first ascents of many big wall routes in Yosemite. As an early proponent of bol ...

climbed the 'American Direct', a more direct route up the west face than that taken in 1952. On 10–13 August 1965, Royal Robbins, this time accompanied by

John Harlin John Elvis Harlin II (June 30, 1935 – March 22, 1966) was an American mountaineer and US Air Force pilot who was killed while making an ascent of the north face of the Eiger. Biography Harlin graduated from Sequoia High School and Stanfor ...

, climbed the 'American Direttissima'. This route was destroyed by the 2005 rockfall.

1966 rescue

In 1966 two German climbers became stuck on a climb of the west face. Attempts to rescue them were made by three teams, including climbers such as

who were in the area and had climbed the face themselves. The rescue extended over seven days and received international press and TV coverage. The two climbers were rescued but a companion involved in the rescue died in the attempt.

Summit statue

On 4 September 1913 a party of climbers led by Camille Simond and Roberts Charlet-Straton attempted to carry a hollow metal statue of

Our Lady of Lourdes Our Lady of Lourdes (french: Notre-Dame de Lourdes) is a title of the Virgin Mary. She is venerated under this title by the Roman Catholic church due to her apparitions that occurred in Lourdes, France. The first apparition of 11 February 1858, ...

up the peak. The statue, almost a metre high, weighing 13 kilos and made of

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

, had to be left in a rocky crevice at 3,000 m because of poor weather, and it was only on 18 September 1919 that the statue was finally hoisted to the summit by a party from

Argentière Argentière () is a picturesque skiing, alpine walking and mountaineering village in the French Alps, part of the commune of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, at an altitude of ."In Focus: The Ghost of Bonatti - A Brief History of the Petit Dru Rock Scar"
{{Authority control Alpine three-thousanders Great north faces of the Alps Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Haute-Savoie Mont Blanc massif