The Dent du Géant
A finger of granite above Courmayeur
From Courmayeur you recognise it at once: a smooth, vertical tooth of granite set on the crest of the Mont Blanc massif. The Dent du Géant marks the border between Italy and France. It rises to 4,013 metres.
“Inaccessible by fair means”
In 1880 the English mountaineer Albert Mummery attempted the Dent du Géant with the Valais guide Alexander Burgener. They were stopped by the great smooth slabs of the summit. Mummery came back down, leaving, so it is said, a card with the words: “absolutely inaccessible by fair means”. To him, hammering in pitons or fixing ropes was cheating.
Two summits, two first ascents
The summit is divided into two points, separated by a small notch. Pointe Sella is 4,009 metres high, Pointe Graham 4,013 metres.
At the end of July 1882, the Valtournenche guides Jean-Joseph, Baptiste and Daniel Maquignaz reached Pointe Sella with four members of the Sella family from Biella. To get past the smooth slabs, the Maquignaz spent several days placing pitons and fixing ropes. A few weeks later the Englishman William Woodman Graham, with two Chamonix guides, reached the higher point, which has borne his name ever since.
The big ropes
The normal route still roughly follows the line of the first climbers. On the final section, thick fixed ropes help you up the slabs. They make the ascent possible for a mountaineer at ease with climbing, but the passage remains very exposed. The rock is often cold and sometimes iced over. On fine summer days it is also crowded, and you have to wait your turn.
The Madonna of the Géant
A statue of the Virgin is fixed to the summit. It appears in most photos taken up there, surrounded by ropes and slings.
Getting there from the Aosta Valley
From Courmayeur, the Skyway Monte Bianco cable car rises to Punta Helbronner, at 3,466 metres. From there you cross the upper part of the Géant glacier to the Col du Géant, then climb the Rochefort ridge to the foot of the tooth. Allow several hours, over ice and rock. The climb is usually done with a guide from the Courmayeur Guides’ Society.
You can get close without climbing: the panoramic terrace at Punta Helbronner is enough. The Dent du Géant stands very near, to the east, above the glacier.
