Mont Blanc massif

Mont Blanc massif
Aiguille d'Argentière from Saleina
Highest point
Peak	Mont Blanc (Italian: Monte Bianco)
Elevation
Coordinates
Geography
Countries	France, Italy and Switzerland
Parent range	Alps

The Mont Blanc massif; Italian: Massiccio del Monte Biancocode: it is deprecated ; French: Massif du Mont-Blanc) is a mountain range in the Graian Alps. It is named after Mont Blanc, at 4,810 m the highest summit of the Alps. It is located in France (Haute-Savoie and Savoie), Italy (Aosta Valley), and Switzerland (western Valais).

The Col Ferret separates it from the Pennine Alps; the Little St Bernard Pass separates it from the Graian Alps; the Arve valley separates it from the Aiguilles Rouges and the French Prealps.

The French side of the Mont Blanc massif is drained by the rivers Arve and Isère. The Italian side is drained by the river Dora Baltea. The Swiss side is drained by left tributaries of the river Rhône. The three borders converge near the summit of Mont Dolent.

The Mont Blanc massif can be undergone via the 11.6 km tunnel linking the villages of Courmayeur and Chamonix. The tunnel is infamous for an accident on March 24, 1999, when a truck ignited in the tunnel. The resulting fire lasted 53 hours and killed 39 people.

Peaks

The main peaks of the Mont Blanc massif are:

Name	Height (metres)	Height (feet)
Mont Blanc	4,810	15,782
Mont Blanc de Courmayeur	4,748	15,577
Mont Maudit	4,465	14,648
Picco Luigi Amedeo	4,460	14,633
Dôme du Goûter	4,304	14,121
Mont Blanc du Tacul	4,248	13,937
Grand Pilier d'Angle	4,243	13,921
Grandes Jorasses	4,208	13,806
Aiguille Verte	4,122	13,523
Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey	4,112	13,491
Mont Brouillard	4,069	13,350
Aiguille de Bionnassay	4,066	13,341
Pic Eccles	4,041	13,258
Dôme de Rochefort	4,015	13,173
Dent du Géant	4,013	13,166
Aiguille de Rochefort	4,001	13,127
Les Droites	4,000	13,123
Aiguille de Tré la Tête	3,930	12,894
Aiguille d'Argentière	3,901	12,802
Aiguille de Triolet	3,870	12,697
Aiguille du Midi	3,843	12,609
Tour Noir	3,836	12,586
Aiguille des Glaciers	3,834	12,579
Mont Dolent	3,823	12,543
Aiguille du Chardonnet	3,822	12,540
Tour Ronde	3,792	12,441
Aiguille Noire de Peuterey	3,773	12,379
Aiguille du Dru	3,754	12,316
Dômes de Miage	3,688	12,100
Aiguille du Plan	3,673	12,051
Aiguille du Tour	3,540	11,615

Name	Height (metres)	Height (feet)
Aiguilles Dorées	3,519	11,545
Grand Darray	3,514	11,529
Grande Lui	3,509	11,512
Aiguille du Grépon	3,502	11,489
Aiguille des Grands Charmoz	3,445	11,302
Le Portalet	3,344	10,971
Pointe d'Orny	3,274	10,742
Grande Pointe des Planereuses	3,151	10,338
Pointe des Plines	3,052	10,030
Le Génépi	2,884	9,462
Pointe Ronde	2,655	8,711
Catogne	2,599	8,527
Aiguille de Varan	2,488	8,163
Mont Chetif	2,343	7,687
La Breya	2,194	7,198

Glaciers

Largest glaciers :

• Mer de Glace 9km (fed by other large glaciers)
• Argentière Glacier 9km
• Saleina Glacier 6km
• Trient Glacier 4km
• Glacier des Bossons c.4km

Passes

The main passes of the Mont Blanc massif are shown in the table below.

name	location	type	elevation (m/ft)
Col de la Brenva	Courmayeur to Chamonix	snow	4,333	14,217
Col de Triolet	Chamonix to Courmayeur	snow	3,691	12,110
Col d'Argentière	Chamonix to Orsières	snow	3,516	11,536
Col de Talefre	Chamonix to Courmayeur	snow	3,484	11,430
Col de Miage	Les Contamines to Courmayeur	snow	3,376	11,077
Col du Géant	Chamonix to Courmayeur	snow	3,371	11,060
Col du Chardonnet	Chamonix to Orsières	snow	3,325	10,909
Col du Tour	Chamonix to Orsières	snow	3,280	10,762
Fenêtre de Saleina	Saleina Glacier to Trient Glacier	snow	3,264	10,709
Col de Breuil	Bourg-Saint-Maurice to La Thuile	snow	2,879	9,446
Col du Mont Tondu	Les Contamines to Courmayeur	snow	2,590	8,498
Col Ferret	Courmayeur to Orsières	bridle path	2,533	8,311
Col de la Seigne	Les Chapieux to Courmayeur	bridle path	2,512	8,242
Col de Susanfe	Champéry to Salvan	foot path	2,500	8,202
Col du Bonhomme	Contamines to Les Chapieux	bridle path	2,483	8,147
Col de Sageroux	Sixt to Champéry	foot path	2,413	7,917
Col d'Anterne	Sixt to Servoz	bridle path	2,263	7,425
Col de Balme	Chamonix to the Trient Valley	bridle path	2,201	7,221
Little St Bernard Pass	Aosta to Moûtiers	road	2188	7179
Colle Checrouit	Courmayeur to the Lac de Combal	bridle path	1,960	6,431
Col de Voza	Chamonix to Les Contamines	bridle path	1,675	5,496
Col de la Forclaz (F)	Chamonix to Saint-Gervais	bridle path	1,556	5,105
Col de la Forclaz (CH)	Argentière to Martigny	road	1,520	4,987

See also

• Swiss Alps

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 

External Links

• Mont Blanc massif on OpenStreetMap.org
• Mont Blanc massif on French IGN mapping portal
• Mont Blanc massif on Bing aerial view