Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc is the tallest mountain in the Alps and the tallest in western Europe, standing 4,808 metres above sea level on the border between France and Italy. The name means "White Mountain" in French, after its permanent cap of snow and ice. Mont Blanc was the birthplace of modern mountaineering: the first successful climb in 1786 marked the beginning of climbing as a sport.

• Height4,808 mTallest in the Alps and Western Europe
• CountriesFrance and ItalyOn the border between the two
• First climbed1786Beginning of modern mountaineering
• Climbers/yearapprox. 25,000Plus another 80,000 cable car visitors
• Main townChamonixIn France, the mountaineering capital of Europe
• Deaths/yearapprox. 30Mostly from inexperience and overcrowding

Mont Blanc compared to other famous peaks

Height (metres)

Everest8,849

Aconc.6,961

Denali6,190

Kilim.5,895

M.Blanc4,808

Matter.4,478

Mont Blanc is the tallest peak in Europe outside Russia, and the tallest in the Alps. It is significantly lower than the highest mountains of Asia, Africa and the Americas.

What is Mont Blanc?

Mont Blanc is a massive glaciated mountain in the western Alps. Its broad summit sits exactly on the border between France and Italy, though both countries have at times argued over the precise position of the border across the summit. The mountain rises dramatically above the famous valley town of Chamonix in France, which has become the mountaineering capital of Europe. The Italian side rises above the equally famous resort of Courmayeur.

The birth of mountaineering

For centuries Europeans regarded high mountains with fear and superstition. Climbing them for pleasure was unheard of. In the 18th century, a wealthy Swiss scientist named Horace-Bénédict de Saussure became interested in studying Mont Blanc but could not reach the summit himself. In 1760 he offered a cash prize to the first person who could find a way to the top.

It took 26 years. On 8 August 1786, two Chamonix locals (a doctor named Michel Paccard and a crystal hunter named Jacques Balmat) reached the summit and claimed the prize. The achievement caused a sensation across Europe and launched the sport of mountaineering. Saussure himself climbed the mountain the following year.

Fact The first woman to climb Mont Blanc was Marie Paradis in 1808, just 22 years after the first ascent. She was a Chamonix housekeeper who was almost dragged up the mountain by her male companions. She later said she hated every minute of it, but became a celebrity and used her fame to open a successful tea-house.

How tall is it really?

The official height of Mont Blanc actually changes from year to year. The mountain has a rocky core of approx. 4,792 metres, but the summit is covered by a snow and ice cap of varying thickness. Each year the French National Geographic Institute measures the height of the ice cap using GPS. Recent measurements give heights between 4,805 and 4,810 metres, depending on the snowfall of the previous winter. The most-quoted figure is 4,808 m.

The crowded mountain

Mont Blanc has become so popular that overcrowding is a major problem. About 25,000 people try to climb the summit each year, plus 80,000 more take cable cars up to spectacular high-altitude viewpoints like the Aiguille du Midi (3,842 m). Around 30 climbers die on the mountain every year, often through inexperience or being unprepared for sudden weather changes. The French authorities have introduced new restrictions on climbing permits and bivouac sites to try to manage the crowds.

Did you know? The Mont Blanc Tunnel, opened in 1965, runs for 11.6 km beneath the mountain connecting France and Italy. In 1999 a fire in the tunnel killed 39 people and caused it to close for nearly three years. Better safety systems were installed before it reopened.

Deeper dive: Alpine geology, the Mer de Glace and climate change

The Alps are a relatively young mountain range, only approx. 30 million years old, formed by the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates. The collision is still happening; the Alps are still rising, although erosion is keeping pace with the uplift. Mont Blanc itself is built of granite that solidified deep underground and was later pushed upward and exposed by the erosion of softer rocks above. The classic Alpine geology lecture starts at Mont Blanc and explains the building of the European Alps from there.

The most famous Alpine glacier is the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice), which flows down from Mont Blanc towards Chamonix. It is the second-longest glacier in the Alps at approx. 7 km, although it has been getting steadily shorter for over a century. The Mer de Glace has been a tourist attraction since the 1700s. Today it can be visited by a cog railway from Chamonix to the Montenvers viewing platform, then down a series of steel stairs to ice caves carved each year in the glacier.

Climate change is hitting the Mer de Glace hard. The glacier has retreated by around 2 km since 1870, and the bottom of the glacier is now 100 metres lower than it was. The ice caves at the bottom are excavated freshly each summer because the glacier melts back so fast. The ladders down to the ice have to be extended every year. Scientists estimate the glacier loses around 4 metres of vertical thickness every year. The wider Alps lost roughly half their glacier volume in the 20th century, and could lose most of the rest by 2100 if warming continues at current rates.

The countries are France and Italy. The other famous Alpine peak is the Matterhorn.