Highest alpine massif of SE France, SW Switzerland, and NW Italy; 25 peaks over 4000 m/13 000 ft; highest peak, Mont Blanc (4807 m/15 771 ft); frontiers of France, Switzerland, and Italy meet at Mt Dolent (3823 m/12 542 ft); road tunnel (12 km/7½ mi long) connects France and Italy; closed by fire which killed over 40 people, March 1999, reopened in 2002; first climbed in 1786 by J Balmat and M G Paccard; chief resort, Chamonix.
For other uses, see Mont Blanc (disambiguation).| Mont Blanc | |
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Mont Blanc and Dôme du Goûter |
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| Elevation | 4,808 metres (15,774 feet) |
| Location | Italy-France |
| Range | Graian Alps |
| Prominence | 4,695 m ranked 11th |
| Coordinates | 45°55′N 6°55′E |
| First ascent | August 8, 1786 by Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard |
| Easiest route | Basic snow/ice climb |
Mont Blanc (French for white mountain) or Monte Bianco (Italian, same meaning) also known as "La Dame Blanche" (French, the white lady), in the Alps, is the highest mountain in Western Europe.
The mountain lies between the regions of Aosta Valley, Italy and Haute-Savoie, France. In a convention between France and Kingdom of Sardinia, in Turin (1861), the border was fixed on the highest point of Mont Blanc and this was the last official definition of this border, but often the French maps do not agree about this solution.
The two most famous towns near Mont Blanc are Chamonix, in Haute-Savoie, France (site of the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924) and Courmayeur, in the Aosta Valley in Italy.
Begun in 1957 and completed in 1965, the 11.6 km (7¼ mile) Mont Blanc Tunnel runs beneath the mountain between these two cities and is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes.
The Mont Blanc massif is popular for mountaineering, hiking, and skiing.
History of Mont Blanc
First ascents
The first recorded ascent of Mont Blanc was on August 8 1786 by Jacques Balmat and the doctor Michel Paccard.
Now the summit is ascended by an average 20,000 mountaineer-tourists each year and could be considered an easy, yet long, ascent for someone who is well trained and used to the altitude. This impression is reinforced by the fact that from l'Aiguille du Midi (where the cable car stops) Mont Blanc seems quite close, being merely 1000 m higher.
However every year the Mont Blanc massif takes many victims, and in peak weekends (normally around August) the local rescue service flies an average of 12 missions, mostly directed towards people in trouble on one of the normal routes of the mountain.
Who owns the summit of Mont Blanc?
The first treaty to define a border in the region is dated 15 May 1796. In this treaty the Sardinian king was forced by Napoleon to cede Savoie and Nice's territories to the French Republic, and in article 4 of this treaty it says: "The border between the Sardinian kingdom and the departements of the French Republic will be established on a line determined by the most advanced points on the Piedmont side, of the summits, peaks of mountains and other locations subsequently mentioned, as well as the intermediary peaks, knowing: starting from the point where the borders of Faucigny, the Duchy of Aoust and the Valais, to the extremity of the glaciers or the Monts-Maudits: first the peaks or plateaus of the Alps, to the rising edge of the Col-Mayor".
One of the prints from the Sarde Atlas, made in 1823 and positions the border exactly on the summital edge of the mountain (and measures it to be 4,804 m high.
The convention of 7 March 1861 recognizes this, through an attached map, but takes into consideration the limits of the massif, and draws the border on the icecap of the Mont Blanc, and therefore makes it both French and Italian. Watershed analysis of modern topographic mapping not only places the main summit on the border, but also suggests that the border should follow a line northwards from the main summit towards Mont Maudit, leaving the south east ridge to Mont Blanc de Courmayeur wholly within Italy.
Despite the fact that the Franco-Italian border was redefined in both 1947 and 1963, the commission, made up of both Italians and French, tactfully ignored the Mont Blanc issue.
The Vallot cabin
The first real scientific investigations on the summit were conducted by the botanist-meteorologist Joseph Vallot at the end of the 19th century.
The Janssen Observatory
In 1891, Pierre Janssen, a scientific academic, envisaged the construction of an observatory at the summit of Mont Blanc.
The altitude of Mont Blanc
The summit of Mont Blanc is a thick, perennial ice and snow dome whose thickness varies, so no exact and permanent summit altitude can be determined.
For a long time its official altitude was 4,807 m.
After the 2003 heatwave in Europe, a team of scientists re-measured the height on the 6 of September.
After these results were published, more than 500 points were measured, to assess the effects of climate change, and the fluctuations in the height of the mountain at different points.
The summit was measured again in 2005, and the results of were published on 16 December 2005.
The actual rock summit is at 4,792 m, and is 40 m away from the ice-covered summit.
Mont Blanc climbing routes
There are a few 'classic' climbing routes of Mont Blanc:
The most popular route to climb Mont Blanc is The Voie des Critalliers, also known as Voie Royale. The next day the ascent continues through Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit. The Miage - Bionnassay - Mont Blanc crossing is usually done in three days.From the summit of Mont Blanc on a clear day, the Jura, the Vosges, the Black Forest and the Massif Central mountain ranges can be seen, as well as the principal summits of the Alps.
Mont Blanc in cultural works
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. In it he talks about the west-east crossing of Mont Blanc. Stürme über dem Mont Blanc (Storm Over Mont Blanc, 1930) with Leni Riefenstahl and directed by Arnold Fanck.Protection of Mont Blanc
The Mont Blanc massif is being put forward as a potential World Heritage Site because of its uniqueness and its cultural importance, considered the birthplace and symbol of modern mountaineering.
Mont Blanc is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world, and for this reason, it is 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.
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