Three days on the Bionnassay Traverse, from the Dômes de Miage to Mont Blanc: a spectacular high-altitude journey along one of the finest ridges in the Alps.
After my three-week “expedition” with Jade in the Écrins and our return to La Meije a few days earlier, I’m feeling pretty good.
Fabrice is also keen to take on an exciting project. After climbing Mont Blanc last year, I’m really eager to go back — but this time by a quieter route, away from the crowds of the normal route.
It didn’t take us long to settle on the “Royal Traverse”. Apparently you’re not supposed to call it that, but it’s still a lot shorter than “Miage–Bionnassay–Mont Blanc, then down via the Trois Monts”!
Two of Fabrice’s friends join us.
Day 1 – Refuge des Conscrits
We make our way up through the gloom to the Refuge des Conscrits — quite the mountain hotel! A few doubts about the weather, though… Carpe diem. At the very least, we’re hoping to get to the Dômes de Miage!
Day 2 – Dômes de Miage and Refuge Durier
A handful of teams set off that morning towards the Aiguille de la Bérangère — without exactly racing out of the blocks. Didn’t see much of Bérangère either.
From there, though, it’s an absolute treat. We spend most of the time right on the crest of the Dômes de Miage, with Mont Blanc as a backdrop and the whole of tomorrow’s route laid out in front of us… Pure class.
Most of the teams we shared breakfast with either stop at the Aiguille de la Bérangère or are “only” doing the Dômes de Miage. So once past the Dômes, things suddenly get a lot quieter.
We stop for a quick break on the rocks, where I have a flash of genius: I put my helmet down on its round side, just to make absolutely sure it isn’t too stable. Delighted to finally be given the chance to fulfil its destiny, the helmet immediately launches itself on a wild descent down the Italian side.
I make a brief attempt to prevent this heartbreaking separation before realising that doing so might have an unfortunate effect on my life expectancy… I think for a second I even tell myself that one day I’ll come back and look for it. Yes. Of course I will…
The mourning period is remarkably short once I’ve got a decent sandwich in my hands, and we set off again towards Refuge Durier.
From a distance, the hut looks tiny. The closer we get, the more we realise that it really is tiny. A little matchbox clinging to the mountain, with mountaineers crammed inside…
Luckily there aren’t too many of us — around fifteen little matchsticks in total. Even so, the guardian has to run several sittings around his tiny table for six.
The forecast for the next day looks perfect, apart from a bit of wind. That evening, over a beer, we run through every possible scenario for tomorrow.
Day 3 – Bionnassay, Mont Blanc and the Trois Monts
We’re in the second breakfast sitting. Actually, having several sittings works pretty well: it naturally spreads everyone out along the traverse. As a result, we won’t be held up all day, either by the teams ahead or those behind us.
A short snowy prelude brings us to the rocky section just as the sun comes up. The rock isn’t brilliant everywhere, but it doesn’t last long. We then regain the ridge and follow it to just below the Aiguille de Bionnassay.
We’re still not completely sure everyone has enough left in the tank to make it all the way to Mont Blanc, so we bypass the Aiguille de Bionnassay. Looking back, that was pretty stupid — there can’t have been more than 50 metres left! Hardly what was going to push us into the red.
But perhaps all our attention was already focused on what lay beyond the Aiguille: that thread of snow stretched between Italy and France, a snow ridge suspended above 800-metre drops, the passage that has made this traverse legendary and one of the most beautiful in the Alps…
A little tension in the air. How could you not feel something walking along a ridge like this? For about 100 metres, you really do have to walk right along the crest and place every step carefully.
Everyone knows the standard safety technique: if your partner falls off one side of the ridge, jump off the other.
Highly effective. Intellectually, somewhat limited.
Displaying a disappointing lack of curiosity when it comes to experimental alpine techniques, none of the teams sharing this snowy razor blade with us today will actually put the theory to the test.
At the Dôme du Goûter, we take stock of the troops. Levels of freshness vary, but everyone is up for carrying on.
As for me, I’ve been practically living in the mountains for the past month. I’m well trained and fully acclimatised — in short, I’m flying. It feels fantastic to be up here with plenty left in the tank, especially when I think back to last year.
The climb up the Bosses Ridge goes well, although a few members of the team are beginning to run out of steam. There’s grumbling, heavy breathing, claims that it’s impossible, headaches… Then somehow, digging deep, we all make it to the summit. Happy!
It’s 10:45 a.m. and we have an almost deserted summit to ourselves. Perfect… Eventually, though, the wind persuades us to leave.
Apart from headaches and nausea for two of the four of us, everything’s fine. It’s still early and we have plenty of time to descend via the Trois Monts to the Aiguille du Midi. And as we lose altitude, the effects should gradually ease.
The “descent” of the Trois Monts does, incidentally, include two rather long uphill sections. When you’re starting to run on empty, they definitely count.
Crossing the bergschrund on Mont Maudit is complete chaos. Everything I hate about high-altitude mountaineering: human stupidity transplanted to high altitude. A traffic jam with no communication, where everyone is trying to get ahead at everyone else’s expense.
After patiently waiting our turn to abseil down properly, only to realise that every new arrival is shamelessly pushing in front of us, we eventually join the herd ourselves and throw our rope into the “pile”.
Not particularly proud of that one in hindsight.
Two members of our team are now seriously running on fumes, and the 200-metre climb back up the Aiguille du Midi ridge turns into a proper ordeal for them — the Stations of the Cross, minus the cross…
The return to the valley is surreal. Welcome to Chamonix, where in the space of a few minutes you go from a world of ice to a world of ice creams.
Quite a shock after three days in the mountains, but God, are we happy!
The Bionnassay Traverse is probably one of the most beautiful ways to climb Mont Blanc without venturing into seriously technical terrain. Taking three days gives you time to acclimatise properly and, along the way, adds the magnificent Dômes de Miage to the adventure.
Client Testimonials (0)
No testimonials yet. Did you join this outing? Leave your review!
Write a review
Share your experience of this adventure. Access restricted to participants.
Want to experience this type of adventure?
Contact me to plan your custom high-mountain project.
Contact me