A COLD moment on the summit. Photo by Eric L.

This is the Sunset for all people doing one of the standard routes for climbing Mont Blanc.

7 am, Sunrise at Lac Blanc, a white lake near the Aiguilles Rouges Climbing spot, in Chamonix. Superb view on the Mont Blanc range

The first rays of morning light appear high on the Brenva Spur route, on the Italian side of Mont Blanc.

Leaving the Trident Hut at 1:30 AM, we descended to Col Moore before climbing the fantastically exposed ridge via headlamp. High on the face, the first rays of dawn illuminate Charles Carr as he crests the terminal serac band, marking the end of major difficulties on the route. The seracs were making terrible creaking noises, making my position under them less than enviable.

We summited at 8:30 AM before descending the French side following the Bosses Ridge via the Grand Mulets for a complete traverse of the mountain.

Photo from the Loran Smith Collection, 1985

A hut dog in one of the French Alp huts. What a playground. Do your climb and come down to the hospitality, warmth and comfort of a hut. Notice the avalanche coming down the couloir behind the dog.

Dan Rampe after the hike up to the Gouter hut. Early to bed, early to rise, and the next day a climb up Mont Blanc. A post midnight start puts you on the summit at sunrise.

Coming back down to the glacier after a climb on one of the aiguilles.

The French resupply various mountain huts such at the Gouter Hut via helicopter. Here, one helicopter is departing the Gouter Hut after dropping off its load of food and yes, wine, to the hut. They know how to style!

Here is a helicopter coming in to drop off supplie at the Gouter Hut on Mont Blanc.

The Pear, Route Major and Red Sentinal from the Col Moore. Recent rockfall has made this a less desirable spot!

view we had one evening with dinner. giving a nice shot of the midi and of the summit of mont blanc. unfortunatly it was the best view we got of it. the weather didnt hold long enough to get to the top.

a hughe stone avalanche coming down aiguille di midi north face during the hot summer of 2003

My poor companion, Doulo, was struggling hard on the last two or three hundred meters before the summit of Mt. Blanc. It was his highest peak yet, after accomplishing Rainier. Just to show that Mt Blanc shouldn't be taken lightly, our faces experienced harsh wind burn and frostbite, Doulo had it the worst. Nonetheless he was a good sport, summitted and had a few beers at the bottom.

This picture was taken by my partner Pikey when we stopped for a quick brake at the emergency refuge below the Mt. Blanc. This was my first attempt and success, and it was a definite battle. I had never been at such altitudes and it played a toll on my performance. Either way, great experience, i was 18 leading the climb and fell in love with the massif.

Top of Mont Blanc in the fog, Darek and I just climbed Brenva Spur, it was cold and very windy.

Arron, a good friend of mine, doing what he does best, smoking and drinking coffee!!!

After an hour of stumbling around on the Mer de Glace, the clouds finally lifted allowing Gio and I a chance to view our objective - the Bonatti route (thru the rooves in the centre of the face) on the perfect golden granite of the Grand Capucin. Shooter: Matt Trudger: Gio

Taken on a very early morning start to our climb fromthe bridge at the Auguille du Midi cable car station. August 2003

Picture taken while skiing in the chamonix area

I took this photo by holding my glacier glasses in front of the lens of the camera. It's taken from the Aiguille Du Midi at 3842m.

Photo: Eric Dacus Picture was taken from the Gite Vagabond at dawn during the 15 minutes of drizzle free sky.

Early evening view towards Mont Blanc from Chamonix

This picture was taken from the summit of Mont Blanc (4807 m), looking northeast into Switzerland.

Beginning in the Vallee Blanche on the French side, we circumnavigated the mountain and spent the night in the Trident Hut in Italy. Waking up at midnight, we left the hut at 1:30 am to ascend the Brenva Spur route, climbing by headlamp and reaching the summit at 8:30 in the morning.

We descended by way of the Bosses Ridge via the Grand Mulet route for a traverse of the mountain back into France. Round trip time from the Trident Hut back to our tent in the Vallee Blanche was 16 hours.

aiguille du midi, 2003 mont blanc, france

this is very beautiful sight on mont blanc, 2003