Mont Blanc

The highest mountain in the Alps, on the border between France and Italy. About 4,807 m high, it is the highest peak in Europe outside the Caucasus and was first climbed in 1786.

Mont Blanc rises on the border between the French department of Haute-Savoie and Italy’s Aosta Valley. At about 4,807 metres, it is the highest summit of the Alps and of Europe outside the Caucasus. Because the thickness of the snow on the summit varies, surveyors climb the mountain every two years to measure it again. Ownership of the summit area has long been disputed between France and Italy.

First climbed in 1786, it has drawn mountaineers ever since; the most popular route to the top, the Goûter Route, usually takes two days. Chamonix, at its foot, was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924, and the 11.6 km Mont Blanc Tunnel, completed in 1965, runs beneath the mountain.