Mont Blanc

The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as the Mont Blanc massif, are shared with Switzerland and Italy. At 4,808 metres (15,774 ft), Mont Blanc (Italian: Monte Bianco), on the France–Italy border, is the highest mountain in the Alps, and the highest Western European mountain.Notable towns in the French Alps include Grenoble, Chamonix, Annecy, Chambéry, Évian-les-Bains and Albertville.

The Western Alps are the western part of the Alpine Range including the southeastern part of France (e.g. Savoie), the whole of Monaco, the northwestern part of Italy (i.e. Piedmont and the Aosta Valley) and the southwestern part of Switzerland (e.g. Valais). In the southeast the range is bounded by the Italian Padan Plain. In the west, the valley of the Rhone river separates it from the Massif Central. The northernmost part of the Western Alps - in the wide meaning of the term - is formed by the Swiss Prealps Sub-Range. The peaks and mountain passes are higher compared to the Eastern Alps, while the range itself is not so broad and more arched.

The Mont Blanc massif (French: Massif du Mont-Blanc; Italian: Massiccio del Monte Bianco) is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major independent summits, each over 4,000 metres (13,123 ft) in height. It is named after Mont Blanc (4,808 metres (15,774 ft)), the highest point in western Europe and the European Union. Because of its considerable overall altitude, a large proportion of the massif is covered by glaciers, which include the Mer de Glace and the Miage Glacier – the longest glaciers in France and Italy, respectively. The massif forms a watershed between the vast catchments of the rivers Rhône and Po, and a tripoint between France, Italy and Switzerland; it also marks the border between two climate regions by separating the northern and western Alps from the southern Alps. The mountains of the massif consist mostly of granite and gneiss rocks and at high altitudes the vegetation is an arctic-alpine flora. The valleys that delimit the massif were used as communication routes by the Romans until they left around the 5th century AD. The region remained of some military importance through to the mid-20th century. A peasant farming economy operated within these valleys for many centuries until the glaciers and mountains were "discovered" by the outside world in the 18th century. Word of these impressive sights began to spread, and Mont Blanc was first climbed in 1786, marking the start of the sport of mountaineering. The region is now a major tourist destination, drawing in over six million visitors per year. It provides a wide range of opportunities for outdoor recreation and activities such as sight-seeing, hiking, rock climbing, mountaineering and skiing. Around one hundred people a year die across its mountains and, occasionally, bodies have been lost and entombed in its glaciers for decades. Access into the mountains is facilitated by cable cars, mountain railways and mountain huts which offer overnight refuge to climbers and skiers. The long-distance Tour du Mont Blanc hiking trail circumnavigates the whole massif in an 11-day trek of 170 kilometres (110 mi). The Mont Blanc Tunnel connects the French town of Chamonix on the northern side with the Italian town of Courmayeur in the south. The high mountains have provided many opportunities for scientific research, including neutrino measurements within the tunnel and impact of climate change on its highest slopes. Recent rises in average temperatures have led to significant glacial retreat across the massif and an awareness of the need for better environmental protection, including a call for World Heritage Site status.

Air India Flight 245 was a scheduled Air India passenger flight from Bombay to London via Cairo and Geneva. On the morning of 3 November 1950, the Lockheed L-749A Constellation serving the flight crashed into Mont Blanc, France, while approaching Geneva. All 48 aboard were killed. The plane operating the flight was a named Malabar Princess, registered VT-CQP. It was piloted by Captain Alan R. Saint, 34, and co-pilot V. Y. Korgaokar and was carrying 40 passengers and 8 crew. While over France, descending towards Geneva Airport, the flight crashed into the French Alps in stormy weather, killing all on board.

The Rocher de la Tournette (or, simply, 'La Tournette') is a prominent rocky point on the icy summit ridge of Mont Blanc between the Petite Bosse and the summit. The highest point lies at 4,677 metres (15,344 ft) above sea level, and can be most easily reached on an ascent of Mont Blanc via the Goûter Route. Whilst not sufficiently isolated from other summits to be regarded by the UIAA as one of the 82 primary 4000 metre summits of the Alps, the organisation does nevertheless include Rocher de la Tournette on its 'Enlarged list of lesser summits'. This list defines a further 46 such points of secondary mountaineering or morphological interest, of which the Rocher de la Tournette is the highest.The shoulder of this rocky subsidiary summit offers a remote mountaineering route from the Quintino Sella Hut. Known as the Tournette Spur (fr: l’éperon de la Tournette), it enables the final 'Bosses Ridge' section of the Goûter Route to be reached from the Italian side of Mont Blanc. This infrequently climbed route is nowadays graded AD on the adjectival climbing scale and was first climbed on 2 July 1872 by T Kennedy, J Carrel and J Fischer. The first winter ascent of the Tournette Spur was made by the three Sella brothers and their guides, including Emile Rey on 5 January 1888.: 58 

Mont Blanc de Courmayeur (French: [mɔ̃ blɑ̃ də kuʁmajœʁ]; Italian: Monte Bianco di Courmayeur) is a point (4,748 m (15,577 ft)) on the south-east ridge of Mont Blanc that forms the peak of the massive south-east face of the mountain. It is connected to the main summit via the Col Major (c. 4,730 m (15,520 ft)). Despite its minimal topographic prominence, it appears as the second-highest peak in the Alps on the official list of Alpine four-thousanders of the Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA) for its impressive appearance and its importance for mountaineering.The peak can be reached from the main summit over the Bosses ridge. The ascents over the south-east / Peuterey and south / Brouillard ridges are very challenging. The summit of Mont Blanc de Courmayeur is marked as lying entirely within Italy on the Italian Istituto Geografico Militare (IGM) map, while on the French Institut Géographique National (IGN) map the summit lies on the border between France and Italy. A demarcation agreement, signed on 7 March 1861, defines the local border between France and Italy. Currently this act and the attached maps (showing the border on the top of Mont Blanc, 4810 m) are legally valid for both the French and Italian governments.

Pic Luigi Amedeo (Italian: Picco Luigi Amedeo, French: Pointe Louis-Amédée) (4,460 metres (14,630 ft)) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the Aosta Valley, Italy. It lies on the Brouillard ridge to the summit of Mont Blanc, and is only reachable via an ascent of that ridge.: 207 The mountain is named after Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, after whom the Abruzzi Spur on K2 is also named. The first ascent of the peak was by G.B. and G.F. Gugliermina with the Aostan guide Joseph Brocherel on 20 July 1901. The first ascent of the entire Brouillard ridge including Pic Luigi Amedeo was by Karl Blodig, Humphrey Owen Jones, Geoffrey Winthrop Young with the guide Josef Knubel of St. Niklaus in the canton Valais on 9 August 1911.

Pic Eccles (4,041 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the Aosta Valley, Italy. It lies at the foot of the Innominata ridge to the summit of Mont Blanc. The mountain is named after the English mountaineer and geologist James Eccles. Although the mountain was probably climbed on 31 August 1874 by J. G. A. Marshal with guides Johann Fisher and Ulrich Almer, the first certain ascent was on 30–31 August 1877 by James Eccles with guides Alphonse and Michel Payot during the first ascent of Mont Blanc de Courmayeur.

The Vallot Hut (French: Refuge Vallot) is a refuge in the Mont Blanc massif on the upper slopes of Mont Blanc in the Alps. It is located below the Bosses Ridge between the Dome du Gouter and Mont Blanc summit, at an altitude of 4,362 metres. Intended only as an emergency shelter, and not as a base for ascending Mont Blanc, this unheated duralumin box was designed to accommodate up to 12 people, but often contains considerably more.

Mont Brouillard (4,069 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the Val d'Aosta, Italy, being a satellite peak on the south ridge of Mont Blanc.

The Grand Pilier d'Angle (4,243 m) is a buttress on the southern side of Mont Blanc in the Mont Blanc massif in the Aosta Valley, Italy. The first ascent from the valley was by James Eccles with guides Michel Payot and Alphonse Payot on 30 July 1877 during an ascent of the Peuterey ridge, although the summit had been visited on 20 August 1822 by F. Clissold with guides J. M. Couttet, M. Bossonney, D. Couttet, P. Favret and J. B. Simond on the descent from their first ascent of Mont Blanc de Courmayeur. The first ascent of the pillar (the north-east face) itself was by Walter Bonatti and Toni Gobbi on 3 August 1957. Bonatti said after the climb that "the mixed terrain of the face was without doubt the most sombre, the most savage and the most dangerous of any that I have ever encountered in the Alps." The first winter ascent of the Bonatti-Gobbi route was by A. Dworak, J. Kurczab, A. Mróz and T. Piotrowski between 5 and 9 March 1971. The first solo ascent of the route was by Nicolas Jaeger on 3 August 1975. Other well-known routes on the face include the Cecchinel-Nominé (Walter Cecchinel and Georges Nominé, 17 September 1971; the Boivin-Vallençant of 1975 adds a direct finish to this route) and Divine Providence (Patrick Gabarrou and François Marsigny, 5–7 June 1984). The first solo ascent of this route was by Jean-Christophe Lafaille in 1990, who said, "This route is the most difficult and involving in the whole of the Mont Blanc massif."

Mont Maudit (4,465 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in France and Italy. The French name literally means "Cursed Mountain". Until the end of the 18th century, Mont Blanc and its satellite peaks were collectively known in French as the Montagne Maudite.