Mont Blanc

A Zach and Guido Adventure.

I made a new friend this year. His name is Guido and he is an Italian who lives near the Aosta Valley. Aosta is just over the border from where we live in France. We met as we both were looking for a partner for the Transvanoise skimo race. It's a glacier race, so you need a partner to and are often tied to a rope together for safety. We were connected by the race organizers, and we've been going on adventures ever since. Actually, we started doing other races together even before that race.

To conclude the ski season, Guido had the idea to summit Mount Blanc. He had done it before and felt confident in the conditions and that we could ski it from Chamonix without a guide. It had been snowing for a few days, and the forecast indicated a favorable weather window on Friday and Saturday. We reserved the last two beds in the Grand Mulets refuge and then just hoped for the promised weather window.

Friday, we met in Chamonix. We parked at Le Cerro (near the Mt Blanc Tunnel), did a quick gear check and hit the trail. It's a solid hike up to snow, maybe 3km and 800m of vertical. Once we reached enough snow, we stashed our shoes, put on our ski boots, and got to skining. At first in shorts, then we continued to add clothing as we went higher. We crossed the glacier junction with ease, as there was so much snow. I can only imagine how scary the crevasses can be as the snow melts out. Glad we went early in the season. The clouds rolled in at the end, and we kept hoping the weather would hold, and the glacier was a complete whiteout.

We reached Refuge Des Grand Mulets at 6pm and quickly got some food and got settled for the night. We had a 2:30am wake-up, 3am breakfast, and 4am start. Early, but with the excitement, it was a bit hard to sleep anyway. I don't think Guido slept at all... We had a plan to be one of the last to leave the hut. We'd let the guided groups go first (some started at 2am) and then we'd follow. That way, the guides would set the correct route, and we wouldn't need to break trail in the new powder.

We woke up to beautiful weather. Clear skies and no wind. Amazing! There was a foot of fresh snow, and things were looking good. The "let others lead" plan worked for the first few hours, but with the two of us on small race skis and coming off a good race season, we quickly passed many groups. We arrived at the junction, where you can choose between the classic route and the corridor route. We planned to do the classic route but no other groups had gone that way yet, so we went with the Corridor route. After another hour, we found ourselves passing the lead group and taking the lead towards the summit. We bundled up before the saddle as the wind was picking up and the temps were dropping. From there, it was a cold push up the final 2000ft to the summit.

We were first to the summit and the only tracks were from two others that went the day before. What a great feeling! Beautiful views as far as we could see. But it was cold, so we couldn't dally too long. We waited just long enough for the second group to take a few photos of the two of us, then we headed down.

Skiing down the north side of Mt Blanc is for real. Hanging cornices, seracs, bergschrunds and crevasses. Yet, once you know the route, it is quite straightforward and relatively safe. We had an amazing ski down. A foot of fresh powder, nobody else around and fresh tracks the whole way down. And two pairs of tracks to follow to know exactly where to stay safe. I couldn't ask for better. The conditions were so good in fact that later in the day a frenchman set a new FKT for the fastest time up and down the mountain. Yes, he did it in under 5 hours total... It was impressive to watch him fly up as we transitioned down low. And you're welcome for setting a good skin track.

We skied past the hut, recrossed La Junction, skied down to our shoes, and hiked back up. What a great 24 hours. Thank you, Guido, for the idea and for playing the guide on the mountain. It was a great adventure.

Strava link of the summit day route

Some photos of the epic journey: