Mont Blanc in a day

Started from the Les Houches church at 5:20PM. Few hours later would have been a low cooler, but the plan, which succeeded, was to reach the Tete Rousse glacier around 10PM, take a short power nap and continue to the summit after midnight.

First part of the trip is quite straight forward in a good path, mostly in shade during the evening, up all the way to the Tramway du Mont Blanc stop at Col Du Mont Lachat at 2077m. From there followed the tramway up to Le Nid d’Aigle. Still following quite good trails headed all the way up to Glacier de Tete Rousse.

There is small locked hut on the edge of the Glacier used by many for resting and gearing up. We ate late “dinner” here and rested for a while. You can hear, even if not see in the dark, the Grand Couloir from here. Few groups turned back from here as the couloir was very active. After midnight, the couloir settled down as temperatures dropped and we continued up together with the first groups from Refuge de Tete Rousse.

After the Couloir there is an endless scramble up to the old resigned Gouter refuge (450 vm). Guided teams used ropes, we estimated the terrain easy enough to go without. Old refugio is another practical rest spot for arranging gear before heading on the snow.

From there we were roped up on the glacier. First, going up to Dome du Gouter was surprisingly steep and felt like forever in the dark. Then there is flat section before climbing to the Refuge vallot (closed) and up the Bosses. Especially going up to the Grand Bosse is steep and you can definitely feel the altitude.

Final stretch after the Bosses is very narrow, steep and crevassed in places. The wind also really picked up around the Bosses making the the final parts interesting. Reached the summit around 12:30 PM.

Very short break in the wind, more clothes and back down the same way.