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Mont Blanc

This article is about the Alpine mountain. For other uses, see Mont Blanc (disambiguation)



Mont Blanc

Elevation: 4,810 metres (15,780 feet)
Latitude: 45° 55′ N
Longitude: 6° 55′ E
Location: France-Italy
Range: Pennine Alps
First ascent: August 8, 1786 by Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard
Easiest route: basic snow/ice climb


Mont Blanc (Fr., "white mountain") or Monte Bianco (It., same meaning), in the Alps, is the highest mountain in Europe at a height of about 4,810 metres (15,780 feet), which varies from year to year by a few metres, depending on snowfall and climate conditions.

Parts of Mont Blanc clearly lie in each of France and Italy, while the very position of the mountain top relative to the border is a somewhat controversial issue: the summit appears to be on the border on Italian maps, but fully within France on French maps. The two most famous towns near Mont Blanc are Chamonix, Haute-Savoie (France) and Courmayeur , Valle d'Aosta (Italy).

Begun in 1957 and completed in 1965, the 11.6 kilometer (7.25 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 very popular for mountaineering, hiking, and skiing. The first time Mont Blanc was climbed was on August 8, 1786 by Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard ; the first woman to reach the summit, in 1808, was Marie Paradis .

The Mont Blanc Glaciers

Mont Blanc has traditionally been considered to be 4807 m high, but GPS-based measurements made in 2001 and 2003 show differences of a few metres from year to year, which are regarded as resulting from fluctuations, in response to variations in climatic conditions, in the thickness of the glacier that covers the peak to a depth of up to 23 m.

The mountain has a number of glaciers streaming slowly down its flanks; the Mer de Glace is the largest of these.

External links

  • Official paper of the French surveying board http://www.ign.fr/telechargement/Pi/C_PRESSE/CP_Mt_Blanc_2003.pdf (PDF)
  • Mont Blanc on Peakware http://www.peakware.com/encyclopedia/peaks/montblanc.htm
  • Mont Blanc on Summitpost http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/63
  • Mont Blanc Massif http://www.photoglobe.info/db_chamonix/index.html Several photos of the Mont Blanc massif including GPS coordinates of the photo locations
  • Mont Blanc from Space http://www.photoglobe.info/spc_mont_blanc.html


Last updated: 02-07-2005 05:37:10
Last updated: 02-20-2005 07:20:02