Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the
Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
, rising
above sea level, located right at the
Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
outside the
Caucasus Mountains, the
second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after
Mount Elbrus in Russia), and the
11th most prominent mountain in the world.
The mountain gives its name to its range, the
Mont Blanc massif, which straddles parts of France, Italy, and Switzerland. Mont Blanc's
summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...
lies on the
watershed line between the valleys of
Ferret and
Veny in
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, and the valleys of Montjoie, and
Arve in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Ownership of the summit area has long been disputed between France and Italy.
The Mont Blanc massif is popular for outdoor activities such as
hiking,
climbing, and
trail running
Trail running is a type of running that takes place on outdoor trails, often in mountainous terrain, and often includes significant ascents and descents.
It is similar to both mountain running, mountain and fell running (also known as hill r ...
and
winter sports such as
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...
and
snowboarding
Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralym ...
. The most popular climbing route to the summit of Mont Blanc is the
Goûter Route, which typically takes two days.
The three towns and their communes which surround Mont Blanc are
Courmayeur in
Aosta Valley
The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...
, Italy; and
Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and
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 ...
in
Haute-Savoie
Haute-Savoie () is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its Prefectures in France, prefecture is Annecy. To the north is Lake Gene ...
, France. The latter town was the site of the
first Winter Olympics. A
cable car ascends and crosses the mountain range from Courmayeur to Chamonix through the
Col du Géant. The
Mont Blanc Tunnel, constructed between 1957 and 1965, runs beneath the mountain and is a major transalpine transport route.
Geology
Mont Blanc and adjacent mountains in the massif are predominately formed from a large intrusion of
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
(termed a
batholith) which was forced up through a basement layer of
gneiss and
mica schists during the
Variscan mountain-forming event of the late
Palaeozoic period. The summit of Mont Blanc is located at the point of contact of these two rock types. To the southwest, the granite contact is of a more
intrusive nature, whereas to the northeast it changes to being more
tectonic
Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons.
These processes ...
. The granites are mostly very-coarse grained, ranging in type from microgranites to
porphyroid granites. The massif is tilted in a north-westerly direction and was cut by near-vertical recurrent faults lying in a north–south direction during the Variscan orogeny. Further faulting with shear zones subsequently occurred during the later
Alpine orogeny. Repeated tectonic phases have caused breakup of the rock in multiple directions and in overlapping planes. Finally, past and current glaciation caused significant sculpting of the
landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...
into its present-day form.
The first systematic account of the minerals of the Mont Blanc area was published in 1873 by
Venance Payot. His list, entitled "Statistique minéralogique des environs du Mt-Blanc", catalogued 90 mineral types although it also included those present only as very small components of rocks. If these are excluded, it is known today that at least 68 separate mineral species occur across the wider range of the Mont Blanc massif.
Climate
Located on the watershed between the
Rhône
The Rhône ( , ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Ròse''; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Rôno'') is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before dischargi ...
and the
Po, the massif of Mont Blanc is also situated between the two different climatic regions of the northern and western Alps and that of the southern Alps. Climatic conditions on the Mer de Glace are similar to those found on the northern side of the
Swiss Alps
The Alps, Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main Physica ...
.
[
The climate is cold and temperate (]Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
''Cfb''), and is greatly influenced by altitude. Being the highest part of the Alps, Mont Blanc and surrounding mountains can create their own weather patterns. Temperatures drop as the mountains gain in height, and the summit of Mont Blanc is a permanent ice cap, with temperatures around . The summit is also prone to strong winds and sudden weather changes. Because of its great overall height, a considerable proportion is permanently glaciated or snow-covered and is exposed to extremely cold conditions.
There is, however, significant variation in precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...
with altitude. For example, the village of Chamonix below Mont Blanc is at an elevation of approximately . It receives around of annual precipitation, whilst the Col du Midi, which is at above sea level, receives significantly more, totalling . However, at an even higher altitude (near the summit of Mont Blanc), precipitation is considerably less, with only around recorded, despite the latter measurements being taken at the height of .
History
The Mont Blanc was the highest mountain of the Frankish Empire under Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
and the highest mountain of the Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
until 1792.
In 1760, Swiss naturalist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure began to go to 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 ...
to observe Mont Blanc. He tried to summit it with the Courmayeur mountain guide Jean-Laurent Jordaney, a native of Pré-Saint-Didier, who accompanied De Saussure since 1774 on the Miage Glacier and Mont Crammont.
The first recorded ascent of Mont Blanc (at the time neither within Italy nor France) was on 8 August 1786 by Jacques Balmat and the doctor Michel Paccard. This climb, initiated by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, who rewarded the successful ascent, traditionally marks the start of modern mountaineering. The first woman to reach the summit was Marie Paradis in 1808.
Ownership of the summit
At the scale of the Mont Blanc massif, the border between Italy and France passes along most of the main Alpine watershed, from the Aiguille des Glaciers to Mont Dolent, where it reaches the border with Switzerland. However, its precise location near the summits of Mont Blanc and nearby Dôme du Goûter is disputed. Italian officials claim the border follows the watershed, splitting both summits between Italy and France. In contrast, French officials claim the border avoids the two summits, placing them entirely with France. The size of these two (distinct) disputed areas is approximately on Mont Blanc and on Dôme du Goûter.
In 1723, the Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II, acquired the Kingdom of Sardinia. The resulting state of Sardinia was to become preeminent in the Italian unification
The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...
.
Citing the Treaty of Paris (1796), France claims that the historical border of Savoy and Piedmont diverged from the watershed line, fully encompassing the summit of Mont Blanc within Savoy and consequently, within French territory.
After the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...
restored the King of Sardinia in Savoy, Nice, and Piedmont, his traditional territories, overruling the 1796 Treaty of Paris. Forty-five years later, after the Second Italian War of Independence
The Second Italian War of Independence, also called the Sardinian War, the Austro-Sardinian War, the Franco-Austrian War, or the Italian War of 1859 (Italian: ''Seconda guerra d'indipendenza italiana''; German: ''Sardinischer Krieg''; French: ...
, it was replaced by a new legal act. This act was signed in Turin
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
on 24 March 1860 by Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
and Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy, and deals with the annexation of Savoy
Savoy (; ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...
(following the French neutrality for the plebiscites held in Tuscany, Modena, Parma and Romagna to join the Kingdom of Sardinia, against the Pope's will). A demarcation agreement, signed on 7 March 1861, defined the new border. With the formation of Italy, for the first time, Mont Blanc was located on the border of France and Italy, along the old border between the department of Savoy and that of Piedmont, formerly belonging to the Savoyard state.
The 1860 act is still legally valid for both the French and Italian governments. Italy claims, that the border was moved by France in 1865, when surveys carried out by a cartographer of the French army, Captain JJ Mieulet, incorporated the summit into French territory, making the state border deviate from the watershed line, and giving rise to the differences with the maps published in Italy in the same period.
Modern Swiss mapping, published by the Federal Office of Topography, plots a region of disputed territory (statut de territoire contesté) around the summits of both Mont Blanc and the Dôme du Goûter. One of its interpretations of the French-Italian border places both summits straddling a line running directly along the geographic ridgeline (watershed) between France and Italy, thus sharing their summits equally between both states. However, a second interpretation places both summits, as well as that of Mont Blanc de Courmayeur (although much less clearly in the latter case), solely within France.
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
maps take data from the Italian national mapping agency, the Istituto Geografico Militare, which is based upon past treaties in force.
Vallot
Janssen observatory
In 1890, Pierre Janssen, an astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
and the director of the Meudon astrophysical observatory, considered the construction of an observatory at the summit of Mont Blanc. Gustave Eiffel
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel ( , ; Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer. A graduate of École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway net ...
agreed to take on the project, provided he could build on a rock foundation if found at a depth of less than below the ice. In 1891, the Swiss surveyor Imfeld dug two horizontal tunnels below the ice summit but found nothing solid. Consequently, the Eiffel project was abandoned.
Despite this, the observatory was built in 1893. During the cold wave of January 1893, a temperature of was recorded on Mont Blanc, being the lowest ever recorded there.
Levers attached to the ice supported the observatory. This worked to some extent until 1906, when the building started leaning heavily. The movement of the levers corrected the lean slightly, but three years later (two years after Janssen's death), a crevasse started opening under the observatory. It was abandoned. Eventually the building fell, and only the tower could be saved ''in extremis''.[Janssen et l'observatoire du sommet du mont Blanc (1893–1909)](_blank)
, JM. Malherbe, Observatoire de Paris, section de Meudon
Air crashes
The mountain was the scene of two fatal air crashes; Air India Flight 245 in 1950 and Air India Flight 101 in 1966. Both planes were approaching Geneva Airport
Geneva Airport – formerly and still unofficially known as Cointrin Airport – is an international airport of Geneva, the second most populous city in Switzerland. It is located northwest of the city centre. It surpassed the 15-million-pas ...
and the pilots miscalculated their descent; 48 and 117 people, respectively, died. The passengers on flight 101 included nuclear scientist Homi J. Bhabha, known as the "father" of India's nuclear programme.
Tunnel
In 1946, a drilling project was initiated to carve a tunnel through the mountain. The Mont Blanc tunnel would connect 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 ...
, France, and Courmayeur, Italy, and become one of the major transalpine transport routes between the two countries. In 1965, the tunnel opened to vehicle traffic with a length of .
1999 disaster
In 1999, a transport truck caught fire in the tunnel beneath the mountain. In total, 39 people were killed when the fire raged out of control. The tunnel was renovated in the aftermath to increase driver safety. Renovations include computerised detection equipment, extra security bays, a parallel escape shaft, and a fire station in the middle of the tunnel. The escape shafts also have clean air flowing through them via vents. Any people in the security bays now have live video contact to communicate with the control centre. A remote site for cargo safety inspection was created on each side: Aosta in Italy and Passy-Le Fayet in France. Here all trucks are inspected before entering the tunnel. These remote sites are also used as staging area
A staging area (otherwise staging base, staging facility, staging ground, staging point, or staging post) is a location in which organisms, people, vehicles, equipment, or material are assembled before use. It may refer to:
* In aviation, a desi ...
s to control commercial traffic during peak hours. The renovated tunnel reopened three years after the disaster.
Elevation
The summit of Mont Blanc is a thick, perennial ice-and-snow dome whose thickness varies. Therefore, no exact and permanent summit elevation can be determined, though accurate measurements have been made on specific dates.
Its official elevation was for a long time. In 2002, the IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
and expert surveyors, with the aid of GPS technology, measured it to be .
After the 2003 heatwave in Europe, a team of scientists remeasured the height on 6 and 7 September. The team was made up of the glaciologist Luc Moreau, two surveyors from the GPS Company, three people from the IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
, seven expert surveyors, four mountain guides from 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 ...
and Saint-Gervais and four students from various institutes in France. This team noted that the elevation was , and the peak had shifted to a point away from where it had been in 2002.
After these results were published, more than 500 points were measured to assess the effects of climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
and the mountain's height fluctuations at different points. Since then, the mountain's elevation has been measured every two years.
The summit was measured again in 2005, and the results were published on 16 December 2005. The height was found to be , more than the previously recorded height. The rock summit was found to be at , some west of the ice-covered summit.
In 2007, the summit was measured at and in 2009 at .
In 2013, the summit was measured at and in 2015 at .
From the summit of Mont Blanc on a clear day, the Jura, the Vosges, the Black Forest
The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...
, and the Massif Central mountain ranges can be seen, as well as the principal summits of the Alps.
Climbing routes
Several classic climbing routes lead to the summit of Mont Blanc:
*The most popular route is the Goûter Route, also known as the ''Voie Des Cristalliers'' or the ''Voie Royale''. Starting from Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, the Tramway du Mont-Blanc (TMB) is taken to get to the Gare du Nid d'Aigle. The ascent begins in the direction of the Refuge de Tête Rousse, crossing the ''Grand Couloir'' or ''Goûter Corridor'', considered dangerous because of frequent rockfalls, leading to the Goûter Hut for night shelter. The next day the route leads to the Dôme du Goûter, past the emergency Vallot cabin and l'Arête des Bosses.
*''La Voie des 3 Monts'' is also known as ''La Traversée''. Starting from 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 ...
, the Téléphérique de l'Aiguille du Midi is taken towards the Col du Midi. The Cosmiques Hut is used to spend the night. The next day the ascent continues over Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit.
*The historic itinerary via the Grands Mulets Hut, or the old normal route on the French side, which is most frequently traversed in winter by ski, or in summer to descend to Chamonix.
*The normal Italian itinerary is called ''La route des Aiguilles Grises''. After crossing the Miage Glacier, climbers spend the night at the Gonella refuge. The next day, one proceeds through the Col des Aiguilles Grises and the Dôme du Goûter, concluding at L'arête des Bosses (Bosses ridge).
*The Miage – Bionnassay – Mont Blanc crossing is usually done in three days. It has been described as ''a truly magical expedition of ice and snow arêtes at great altitude''.[Helmut Dumler and Willi P. Burkhardt, ''The High Mountains of the Alps'', London: Diadem, 1994] The route begins from Contamines-Montjoie, with the night spent in the Conscrits Hut. The following day, the Dômes de Miages is crossed and the night is spent at the Durier cabin. The third day proceeds over l'Aiguille de Bionnassay and the Dôme du Goûter, finally reaching the summit of Mont Blanc via the Bosses ridge.
Nowadays, the summit is ascended by an average of 20,000 mountaineer tourists each year. It could be considered a technically easy yet arduous ascent for someone well-trained and acclimatised to the altitude. From l'Aiguille du Midi
The Aiguille du Midi (, "Needle at midday") is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif within the French Alps. It is a popular tourist destination and can be directly accessed by cable car from Chamonix that takes visitors close to Mont Blanc.
Ca ...
(where the cable car stops), Mont Blanc seems quite close, being higher. But while the peak looks deceptively close, the La Voie des 3 Monts route (known to be more technical and challenging than other more commonly used routes) requires more ascent over two other mountains, Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit, before the final section of the climb is reached. The last push to the summit is undertaken.
Each year climbing deaths occur on Mont Blanc. On the busiest weekends, normally around August, the local rescue service performs an average of 12 missions, mostly directed to aid people in trouble on one of the normal routes of the mountain. Some routes require knowledge of high-altitude mountaineering and a guide (or at least an experienced mountaineer), and all require proper equipment. All routes are long and arduous, involving delicate passages and the hazard of rockfall or avalanche. Climbers may also suffer altitude sickness, occasionally life-threatening, particularly if they are not properly acclimatised.
Fatalities
A 1994 estimate suggests there had been 6,000 to 8,000 alpinist fatalities in total, more than on any other mountain. These numbers exclude the fatalities of Air India Flight 245 and Air India Flight 101, two planes that crashed into Mont Blanc. Despite unsubstantiated claims recurring in media that "some estimates put the fatality rate at an average of 100 hikers a year", actual reported annual numbers at least since the 1990s are between 10 and 20: in 2017, fourteen people died out of 20,000 summit attempts, and two remained missing; with 15 in 2018 as of August.
A French study on the especially risky " Goûter couloir, on the normal route on Mont Blanc" and necessary rescue operations found that, between 1990 and 2011, there were 74 deaths "between the Tête Rousse refuge (3,187 m) and the Goûter refuge (3,830 m)". There were 17 more in 2012–15, none in 2016, and 11 in 2017.
Refuges
*Refuge Vallot, 4362 m
*Bivouac Giuseppe Lampugnani, 3860 m
*Bivouac Marco Crippa, 3840 m
*Refuge Goûter, 3817 m
*Bivouac Corrado Alberico – Luigi Borgna, 3684 m
*Refuge Cosmiques, 3613 m
*Refuge Tête Rousse, 3167 m
*Refuge Francesco Gonella, 3071 m
*Refuge Grands Mulets, 3050 m
Impacts of climate change
The recent temperature rises and heatwaves, such as those of the summers of 2015 and 2018, have significantly impacted many climbing routes across the Alps, including those on Mont Blanc. For example, in 2015, the Grand Mulets route, previously popular in the 20th century, was blocked by virtually impenetrable crevasse fields, and the Gouter Hut was closed by municipal decree for some days because of a very high rockfall danger, with some stranded climbers evacuated by helicopter.
In 2016 a crevasse opened at high altitude, also indicating previously unobserved glacial movements. The new crevasse forms an obstacle to be scaled by climbing parties on the final part of the itinerary to the top shared by the popular Goûter Route and the Grand Mulets Route.
Exploits and incidents
*
*
*
*
*
*1950: Air India Flight 245 crashes into Mont Blanc.
*
*1966: Air India Flight 101 crashes into Mont Blanc.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*11 July 2013: Kilian Jornet beat the fastest overall time for ascent and descent with 4 hours, 57 minutes and 40 seconds.
*21 June 2018: Emelie Forsberg set a women's fastest known time up and down from Chamonix with 7 hours 53 minutes and 12 seconds, improving her previous record of 8 hours 10 minutes from 2013.
*17 June 2023: set a new women's fastest known time with 7 hours, 27 minutes and 39 seconds, taking a longer but safer route via the Arête Nord due to serac fall.
Incidents involving children
In July 2014, an American entrepreneur and traveller Patrick Sweeney attempted to break the record with his nine-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. They were caught in an avalanche, escaped death and decided not to pursue their attempt.[
]
In August 2014, an unknown Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
n climber with his 5-year-old son were intercepted by mountain gendarmes at and forced to turn back.
On 5 August 2017, 9-year-old Hungarian twins and their mother were rescued from by helicopter while their father and family friend continued their summit attempt.
Cultural references
Cinema and television
*''La Terre, son visage'', is a documentary by Jean-Luc Prévost and published by Édition Société national de télévision française, released in 1984. It is part of the ''Haroun Tazieff raconte sa terre, vol. 1'' series. In it he talks about the west–east crossing of Mont Blanc.
*The film '' Malabar Princess''.
*The television-film ''Premier de cordée''.
*'' Storm over Mont Blanc'' (''Stürme über dem Mont Blanc'', 1930) with Leni Riefenstahl and directed by Arnold Fanck
*'' La Roue'' (''The Wheel'', 1923) is a 273-minute film by Abel Gance
Abel Gance (; born Abel Eugène Alexandre Péréthon; 25 October 188910 November 1981) was a French film director, producer, writer and actor. A pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, he is best known for three major silent films: ''J'ac ...
depicting rail operations, workers, and families in south-eastern France, including the Mont Blanc area.
*'' The Tripods'' (1985/86) BBC TV adapatation of the first two novels in John Christopher’s Tripods trilogy (''The White Mountains'', ''The City of Gold and Lead''), which ran for 25 episodes over two seasons. The main characters are journeying to Mont Blanc where a group of humans free of the Tripods’ subjugation live.
Literature
*''Premier de cordée'' by Roger Frison-Roche
*''Hugo et le Mont Blanc'' by Colette Cosnie – Édition Guérin
*''Hymn Before Sunrise, in the Vale of Chamouni'' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
*'' Manfred'' by Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
*'' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' by Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ( , ; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of science fiction# ...
*'' Mont Blanc'' by Percy Shelley
*'' Point Blanc'' by Anthony Horowitz
*'' The Prelude Book VI'' by William Wordsworth
*', by Letitia Elizabeth Landon, a poem to accompany an engraving of a painting by J. M. W. Turner.
*''Kordian'' by Juliusz Słowacki
*'' Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains'' by Jon Krakauer
*''Running Water'' by AEW Mason
*''La neige en deuil'' by Henri Troyat
*''The Tripods trilogy'' by John Christopher
Protection
The Mont Blanc massif is being put forward as a potential World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
because of its uniqueness and cultural importance considered the birthplace and symbol of modern mountaineering. It would require the three governments of Italy, France and Switzerland to request UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
for it to be listed.
Mont Blanc is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world. For this reason, some view it as threatened. Pro-Mont Blanc (an international collective of associations for the protection of Mont Blanc) published in 2002 the book ''Le versant noir du mont Blanc'' (The black hillside of Mont Blanc), which exposes current and future problems in conserving the site.
In 2007, Europe's two highest toilets (at 4,260 metres, 13,976 feet) were taken by helicopter to the top of Mont Blanc. They are also serviced by helicopter. They will serve 30,000 skiers and hikers annually, helping to alleviate the discharge of urine and faeces that spreads down the mountain face with the spring thaw.
Global warming
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...
has begun to melt glaciers and cause avalanches on Mont Blanc, creating more dangerous climbing conditions.
Panorama
See also
* Exploration of the High Alps
* Haute Route
* Mont Blanc (Moon)
* Tête Rousse Glacier
* Mont Blanc massif
* Mont Blanc Tramway
* Mont Blanc Tunnel
* Tour du Mont Blanc
* Top of the Mont Blanc
*List of Alpine four-thousanders
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
Notes
References
External links
*Topographic map of Mont Blanc
French IGN map
Swiss National Map (showing disputed areas)
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Places to visit around Mont Blanc
In-depth guide to Mont Blanc
Mont-Blanc summit webcam
Close up of the summit of the Mont Blanc and its glaciers at 4811m.
Mont-Blanc panoramic webcam
See several points of view of the Mont-Blanc range and zoom on the top.
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Descent into the Ice
Companion website to the PBS NOVA program which follows a glaciologist and a climber into the glacier caves of Mont Blanc
The scientific observatories on Mont Blanc.
Why Is Mont Blanc One of the World's Deadliest Mountains?
Mont Blanc on Peakclimber
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Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc
Mountains of Aosta Valley
Alpine four-thousanders
Seven Summits
France–Italy border
International mountains of Europe
Highest points of countries