Skiing Mont Blanc had been on my list since first visiting Chamonix about a decade earlier. The classic route departs from the Plan d'Aiguille cable car station, traverses beneath the Midi, crosses the glacier to Grand Mulets hut, then ascends the ridge to the summit before skiing the north face back down. A proper day out.
We departed Chamonix around 8:30 AM to get across the glacier before the afternoon sun started heating things up. Neither of us was particularly well acclimatised, so we expected things to get harder above 4,000 metres. The traverse beneath the Midi proved sketchy — avalanche debris everywhere and steep drops on either side. The kind of terrain where you move quickly and try not to think about what would happen if something came down.
We reached Grand Mulets hut at midday. The hut staff were friendly, the other visitors less so. An unexpected helicopter landing at some point created chaos, with rotor wash scattering people's kit down the glacier. Spent the afternoon relaxing, playing chess and drinking beer with incredible mountain views. A good way to acclimatise.
Dinner, limited sleep, then a 1:30 AM breakfast. We departed the hut around 2:30 AM with a few other climbing parties. The first hours were warm enough but temperatures plummeted as we gained altitude, dropping to about -10C near the summit with the wind picking up. The snow underfoot was icy and wind-scoured — not ideal for skiing confidence.
We moved efficiently, overtaking some of the other parties, and reached the summit around 8:30 AM. Sunrise views across the entire Mont Blanc massif. This ascent actually felt easier than my previous climb via the Gouter route two years earlier, which involved about 400 metres more elevation gain. Being on skis for most of the ascent probably helped.
The descent was the real prize. We clipped into bindings on the summit ridge and dropped in. The first 100 metres were icy and wind-scoured — careful turns, edges biting on hard pack. Then suddenly it transitioned to powder. Proper, light, untracked powder that just kept going all the way down to about 3,400 metres. The slope started at around 40 degrees and gradually eased as we descended, weaving between seracs on the north face. Turn after turn of quality snow with the whole of the Mont Blanc range spread out around us.
We skied from the summit nearly to the end of the glacier, a massive vertical descent through some of the most spectacular terrain in the Alps. The only difficulty was the return traverse back to Plan d'Aiguille in the midday sun — the snow had turned to mush by that point and pushing along the flat traverse with heavy legs was a slog.
Made it back to the buvette for well-earned refreshments. A classic outing on the biggest peak in the Alps.