The Aiguille Verte (; ), which is French for "Green Needle", is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

in the Mont Blanc massif 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 a ...

. It was first climbed on 29 June 1865 by

Edward Whymper Edward Whymper FRSE (27 April 184016 September 1911) was an English mountaineer, explorer, illustrator, and author best known for the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. Four members of his climbing party were killed during the descent. W ...

Christian Almer 220px, Christian Almer Christian Almer (29 March 1826 – 17 May 1898) was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascensionist of many prominent mountains in the western Alps during the golden and silver ages of alpinism. Almer was born and di ...

and Franz Biner, a fortnight before the fateful first ascent of the

Matterhorn The , ; ; ; or ; ; . is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the Main chain of the Alps, main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, ...

. Whymper was unable to climb with his usual guide,

Michel Croz Michel Auguste Croz (22 April 1830 in Le Tour, Chamonix valley – 14 July 1865, on the Matterhorn) was a Chamoniard mountain guide of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the first ascentionist of many mountains in the western Alps during the golden ag ...

, who had to wait for a client in

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (; ; (no longer in use)), more commonly known simply as Chamonix (), is a communes of France, commune in the departments of France, department in the regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It was the site of the f ...

. As a result, Whymper hired the services of Christian Almer, who had been with

Alfred Wills Sir Alfred Wills (11 December 1828 – 9 August 1912) was a judge of the High Court of England and Wales and a well-known mountaineer. He was the third President of the Alpine Club, from 1863 to 1865. Early life Wills was the second son of W ...

on the

Wetterhorn The Wetterhorn (3,690 m) is a peak in the Swiss Alps towering above the village of Grindelwald. Formerly known as Hasle Jungfrau, it is one of three summits on a mountain named the "Wetterhörner", the highest of which is the Mittelhorn (3,70 ...

in 1854. Whymper describes the push for the summit: The second ascent was by Charles Hudson, T. S. Kennedy and Michel Croz via the Moine ridge. The first woman to climb the Aiguille Verte was Lucy Walker in 1870. The first solo ascent of the Arête Sans Nom was accomplished by

Nicolas Jaeger Nicolas Jaeger (20 October 1946 – 28 April 1980) was a French physician, alpinist, and ski mountaineer. He made more than 100 solo ascents in the Mont Blanc massif, including more than a dozen first ascents. He also made several first asc ...

in 1972.

Descents

Aiguille Verte is nearly as famous for its descents as it is for its ascents. In 1989,

Jean-Marc Boivin Jean-Marc Boivin (6 April 1951 – 17 February 1990) was a French mountaineer, extreme skier, hang glider and paraglider pilot, speleologist, BASE jumper, film maker and author. The holder of several altitude records for hang gliding and paragl ...

made the first descent of Aiguille Vert's Nant Blanc (North Face) on skis. Ten years later, Marco Siffredi made the second-ever descent of Nant Blanc, and the first descent on a snowboard. The North Face would not be descended via this route again until 2018 when Paul Bonhomme and Vivian Bruchez successfully descended on skis.

Incidents

At times the Mont Blanc massif range has estimated 60 deaths per year. As part of this range, there have been a number of incidents where climbers or skiers have been killed or gone missing on Aiguille Verte. 1964 - A freak summer avalanche resulted in the deaths of 14 climbers, who were roped together. 1990 - Snowboarding pioneer Bruno Gouvy died when he lost control after parachuting from a helicopter. 2014 - On July 9, the body of Patrice Hyvert, a French climber who went missing on 1 March 1982, was found. In October, a skier was killed while skiing the Whymper Couloir when he fell several hundred metres to his death. 2018 - In January, a skier was killed while skiing the Whymper Couloir. In August, three members of an Italian climbing exhibition were killed when slipping on rocks. 2023 - In June, four were killed on Aiguille Verte. Two skiers were killed in separate incidents on Couturier Couloir, and two climbers fell to their death while on the Whymper Couloir. 2024 - In May, a skier fell 500 meters while descending the Whymper couloir. File:Aiguille Verte 120 2062.JPG, The Aiguille Verte from Montagne de la Flégère File:MassifduMont-Blanc AigVerte lesDrus depuis AigRouges Juillet2004.jpeg, The Aiguille Verte (centre) and the

Aiguille du Dru The Aiguille du Dru (also the Dru or the Drus; French, Les Drus) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps. It is situated to the east of the village of Les Praz in the Chamonix valley. "Aiguille" means "needle" in French. The ...

(right) from the Aiguilles Rouges File:Aiguille Verte - P1020517.svg, The northern side of the Aiguille Verte, with the Couturier and Cordier couloirs marked

References

External links

Aiguille Verte on SummitPost.org
* {{Portal bar, Alps Alpine four-thousanders Mountains of the Graian Alps Mountains of Haute-Savoie Mont Blanc massif