60 Fun Facts About Mont Blanc

Roughly how high is Mont Blanc?

The exact figure changes because the summit is a dome of ice and snow whose thickness varies.

Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Europe outside which range?

Only Mount Elbrus in Russia is more topographically prominent in Europe.

The Mont Blanc massif straddles which three countries?

The three borders meet at a tripoint near the summit of Mont Dolent.

Which two towns face each other across Mont Blanc, one in France and one in Italy?

Saint-Gervais-les-Bains is the third town whose commune surrounds the mountain.

Mont Blanc's summit sits on the watershed between which two great rivers?

It also lies between the climatic zones of the northern-western Alps and the southern Alps.

Mont Blanc and its neighbours are formed mainly from what rock?

The batholith was forced up through gneiss and mica schists during the Variscan mountain-building of the late Palaeozoic.

How many major independent summits over 4,000 metres does the Mont Blanc massif contain?

All of them are shared between France and Italy; Switzerland's highest in the massif is the Aiguille d'Argentière.

Whose 1744 map of the Chamonix valley contains the first printed appearance of the name "Mont Blanc"?

Windham and Pococke had visited the Mer de Glace in 1741 and published their account in 1744.

Who made the first recorded ascent of Mont Blanc on 8 August 1786?

The climb traditionally marks the start of modern mountaineering.

Which Swiss scientist offered a reward in 1760 for the first ascent, and climbed the peak himself in 1787?

He is often called the founder of alpinism and is credited with building the first successful solar oven.

Jacques Balmat was honoured after the first ascent by Victor Amadeus III, ruler of which state?

He collected Saussure's 25-year-old reward and guided the scientist to the top a year later.

What was Michel-Gabriel Paccard's profession?

Born in Chamonix, he studied medicine in Turin and met Saussure through their shared passion for botany and minerals.

Who was the first woman to reach the summit of Mont Blanc, in 1808?

A poor Chamonix maidservant, she was so exhausted at the top she could not speak.

Henriette d'Angeville, who climbed Mont Blanc in 1838, was notable as the first woman to do what?

She went on to scale 21 more peaks, the last at age 65, and founded a mineralogy museum in Lausanne.

How large is the area on Mont Blanc's summit disputed between France and Italy?

Italy says the border follows the watershed over the top; France says it skirts the summit, leaving it wholly French.

In what year does Italy claim a French survey moved the Mont Blanc border onto the summit?

The 1860 Turin act annexing Savoy to France is still considered valid by both governments.

Which famous engineer agreed to build a summit observatory for Pierre Janssen if rock could be found under the ice?

Tunnels dug 12 metres below the ice in 1891 found nothing solid, so his project was dropped.

What eventually happened to the Janssen observatory built on the summit ice in 1893?

Levers attached to the ice kept it upright until it began leaning heavily in 1906.

What is the lowest temperature ever recorded on Mont Blanc, during the January 1893 cold wave?

The summit is a permanent ice cap with typical temperatures around -20 °C.

Since the 2003 remeasurement, how often is Mont Blanc's height officially measured?

The 2003 survey found the peak had shifted 75 cm from where it had been in 2002.

How high is the rock summit hidden beneath Mont Blanc's ice cap?

It was found in 2005 to lie about 40 metres west of the ice-covered summit.

What is the most popular way up Mont Blanc, also called the Voie Royale?

It usually takes two days from Saint-Gervais via the Tramway du Mont-Blanc.

What makes the Grand Couloir on the standard way up from Saint-Gervais so notorious?

Between 1990 and 2011, 74 people died between the Tête Rousse and Goûter huts.

The Three Monts route crosses which two other 4,000-metre peaks before the final push?

Climbers sleep at the Cosmiques Hut after taking the Aiguille du Midi cable car.

How many mountaineers reach the summit of Mont Blanc in a typical year?

On busy August weekends the rescue service averages 12 missions.

A 1994 estimate put total climbing deaths on Mont Blanc at how many, more than any other mountain?

Actual annual figures since the 1990s run between 10 and 20, not the "100 a year" sometimes claimed.

Which is the highest mountain hut on Mont Blanc, at 4,362 m?

It is an emergency shelter passed on the final Bosses ridge.

Which future pope helped discover the normal Italian route on Mont Blanc in 1890?

Then Father Achille Ratti, he was climbing with Giovanni Bonin and Luigi Grasselli.

Pilot Henri Giraud achieved what on Mont Blanc in 1960?

The summit is only about 30 metres long.

Who set the fastest Mont Blanc round trip from Chamonix, 4 hours 57 minutes, in 2013?

Swiss runner Pierre-André Gobet had held the record at 5:10:14 since 1990.

How many paraglider pilots landed on the summit on 19 August 2012, a record?

The previous record of seven was set in 2003 in hot weather that lifted them to 5,200 metres.

What did Danish artist Marco Evaristti drape over the summit in June 2007?

He had been arrested two days earlier for trying to paint a pass red to protest environmental degradation.

What did a group of 20 people set up on the summit in September 2007?

That same year Europe's two highest toilets were flown by helicopter to 4,260 metres.

The Mont Blanc Tunnel beneath the mountain is roughly how long?

It was built between 1957 and 1965 and is a major transalpine transport route.

Which two heads of state inaugurated the Mont Blanc Tunnel on 16 July 1965?

Traffic began three days later, and surveillance cameras were only installed in 1978.

How many people died in the Mont Blanc Tunnel fire of 24 March 1999?

A Belgian truck's engine caught fire; the tunnel reopened three years later with a parallel escape shaft.

Two Air India flights crashed into Mont Blanc while descending toward which airport?

The 1950 and 1966 crashes killed 48 and 117 people respectively.

Which "father" of India's nuclear programme died in the 1966 Air India crash on Mont Blanc?

The Boeing 707 was named Kanchenjunga and hit just 200 metres from the 1950 crash site.

What was the name of the Lockheed Constellation that crashed into Mont Blanc in 1950?

It struck the Rocher de la Tournette at 4,677 metres in stormy weather.

Chamonix hosted which landmark sporting event in 1924?

It was originally staged as an "International Winter Sports Week" and only later recognised as the Winter Games.

At Chamonix 1924, Coubertin awarded gold medals in "Alpinism" to members of which party?

American speed skater Charles Jewtraw had won the games' first gold medal.

The Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix, which held a guiding monopoly until 1892, was founded in what year?

French government action broke the monopoly and required guides to hold a state diploma.

The Aiguille du Midi cable car from Chamonix opened in 1955 and still holds what world record?

It climbs from 1,035 to 3,842 metres in about 20 minutes, with no support pillar on the second section.

The Skyway Monte Bianco cable car on the Italian side, opened in 2015, is notable for what?

It cost about 110 million euros, reportedly the world's most expensive cable car installation.

The Mer de Glace on Mont Blanc is the Alps' second longest ice stream after which one?

It is 7.5 km long and 200 metres deep, and has receded until it is barely visible from Chamonix.

The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, first run in 2003, covers what distance around the mountain?

It follows the Tour du Mont Blanc through all three countries of the massif with about 10,000 metres of climbing.

The highest point of the Grandes Jorasses is named after which climber, who made the first ascent in 1868?

The second-highest point, climbed three years earlier, is named after Edward Whymper.

Under Fascist rule, the Italian town of Courmayeur was briefly renamed what?

French place names in the Aosta Valley were restored in 1948.

The Montblanc pen company, founded in 1906, is based in which German city?

Its Meisterstück flagship line reached its centenary in 2024, and the firm has belonged to Richemont since 1993.

The Mont Blanc dessert is made from what, piped into vermicelli strands and topped with whipped cream?

It was created in 19th-century Paris and is a speciality of the tea shop Angelina.

Mont Blanc was the highest mountain of the Holy Roman Empire until what year?

Under Charlemagne it had also been the highest peak of the Frankish Empire.

How tall is the Aiguille du Midi, the needle-like peak reached by cable car from Chamonix?

Its name means 'Needle of the Mid-day', and the 1955 cable car was the world's highest for about two decades.

What is the name of the glass skywalk that opened atop the Aiguille du Midi in December 2013?

The view is 1,035 metres straight down; an enclosed walkway circling the summit called Le Tube followed in 2016.

How long is the famous Vallée Blanche off-piste ski run that starts at the Aiguille du Midi?

It crosses crevassed glacier terrain with no markings, so it is best skied with a mountain guide.

The summer-only Vallée Blanche cable car links the Aiguille du Midi to which point on the Italian side?

From there Skyway Monte Bianco descends to Entrèves near Courmayeur, so you can cross from France to Italy entirely by air.

In which year was the agreement between France and Italy to build the Mont Blanc Tunnel signed?

Drilling only began in 1959; the French and Italian teams met under the mountain on 4 August 1962.

The Mont Blanc passage is the world's second deepest operational bore after which one?

Under the Aiguille du Midi the road lies 2,480 metres beneath the surface.

Which other crossing offers an alternative to the Mont Blanc Tunnel for drivers between France and Italy?

Traffic through the two tunnels combined grew steadily until 1994 and has only slightly declined since.

The St Gervais-Vallorcine line serving Chamonix holds which record?

The metre-gauge SNCF line opened in 1901 and was extended to Vallorcine in 1908, with ten stations inside the commune.

Chamonix is the fourth-largest commune in metropolitan France by area, covering roughly how much?

Despite that footprint its population is only about 8,900, spread across 16 villages and hamlets from Le Tour to Les Houches.