Editing Mont Blanc (section)

== Climbing routes ==
[[File:Mont Blanc 3D small.gif|thumb|upright=1.2|Mont Blanc 3D]]
Several classic climbing routes lead to the summit of Mont Blanc:<ref name="Topo">{{cite web|url=http://www.camptocamp.org/summits/37355/en/mont-blanc#description|title= Routes description|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725134140/http://www.camptocamp.org/summits/37355/en/mont-blanc#description |archive-date=25 July 2011|url-status=dead|website= camptocamp.org|access-date=27 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Boscoe |first1=Charlie |title=How to Climb Mont Blanc – The Two Easiest Routes |url=http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=5784 |website=www.ukclimbing.com |date=4 October 2013 |access-date=9 November 2015 |archive-date=5 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905063305/http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=5784 |url-status=live }}</ref>

*The most popular route is the [[Goûter Route]], also known as the ''Voie Des Cristalliers'' or the ''Voie Royale''. Starting from [[Saint-Gervais-les-Bains]], the [[Mont Blanc Tramway|Tramway du Mont-Blanc (TMB)]] is taken to get to the [[Gare du Nid d'Aigle]]. The ascent begins in the direction of the [[Refuge de Tête Rousse]], crossing the ''Grand Couloir'' or ''Goûter Corridor'', considered dangerous because of frequent rockfalls, leading to the [[Goûter Hut]] for night shelter. The next day the route leads to the [[Dôme du Goûter]], past the emergency Vallot cabin and l'Arête des Bosses.
*''La Voie des 3 Monts'' is also known as ''La Traversée''. Starting from [[Chamonix]], the [[Aiguille du Midi#Cable car|Téléphérique de l'Aiguille du Midi]] is taken towards the Col du Midi. The [[Cosmiques Hut]] is used to spend the night. The next day the ascent continues over [[Mont Blanc du Tacul]] and [[Mont Maudit]].
*The historic itinerary via the [[Grands Mulets Hut]], or the old normal route on the French side, which is most frequently traversed in winter by ski, or in summer to descend to Chamonix.
*The normal Italian itinerary is called ''La route des Aiguilles Grises''. After crossing the [[Miage Glacier]], climbers spend the night at the [[Gonella Hut|Gonella refuge]]. The next day, one proceeds through the Col des Aiguilles Grises and the Dôme du Goûter, concluding at L'arête des Bosses (Bosses ridge).
*The Miage – Bionnassay – Mont Blanc crossing is usually done in three days. It has been described as ''a truly magical expedition of ice and snow arêtes at great altitude''.<ref name="Dumler">Helmut Dumler and Willi P. Burkhardt, ''The High Mountains of the Alps'', London: Diadem, 1994</ref>{{rp|199}} The route begins from Contamines-Montjoie, with the night spent in the [[Conscrits Hut]]. The following day, the Dômes de Miages is crossed and the night is spent at the Durier cabin. The third day proceeds over [[Aiguille de Bionnassay|l'Aiguille de Bionnassay]] and the Dôme du Goûter, finally reaching the summit of Mont Blanc via the Bosses ridge.
[[File:Photo du mont Blanc depuis 9000 mètres d'altitude.jpg|alt=Aerial view of Mont Blanc from 9,000 meters above sea level, picture taken by Thomas Vautrin.|thumb|Aerial view of Mont Blanc from 9,000 meters above sea level]]
Nowadays, the summit is ascended by an average of 20,000 mountaineer tourists each year. It could be considered a technically easy yet arduous ascent for someone well-trained and acclimatised to the altitude. From l'[[Aiguille du Midi]] (where the cable car stops), Mont Blanc seems quite close, being {{cvt|1000|m}} higher. But while the peak looks deceptively close, the La Voie des 3 Monts route (known to be more technical and challenging than other more commonly used routes) requires more ascent over two other {{cvt|4,000|m}} mountains, [[Mont Blanc du Tacul]] and [[Mont Maudit]], before the final section of the climb is reached. The last {{cvt|1,000|m}} push to the summit is undertaken.

Each year climbing deaths occur on Mont Blanc. On the busiest weekends, normally around August, the local rescue service performs an average of 12 missions, mostly directed to aid people in trouble on one of the normal routes of the mountain. Some routes require knowledge of high-altitude mountaineering and a guide (or at least an experienced mountaineer), and all require proper equipment. All routes are long and arduous, involving delicate passages and the hazard of rockfall or avalanche. Climbers may also suffer [[altitude sickness]], occasionally life-threatening, particularly if they are not properly [[Altitude acclimatization|acclimatised]].<ref name="Acclimatization">{{cite journal |author1=Muza, SR |author2=Fulco, CS |author3=Cymerman, A |year=2004 |title=Altitude Acclimatization Guide. |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/7616 |url-status=usurped |journal=US Army Research Inst. Of Environmental Medicine Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division Technical Report |issue=USARIEM-TN-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423042451/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/7616 |archive-date=23 April 2009 |access-date=5 March 2009}}</ref><ref name="MedicalProblems">{{cite web|author1=Cymerman, A |author2=Rock, PB |title=Medical Problems in High Mountain Environments. A Handbook for Medical Officers |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/7976 |url-status=usurped |publisher=US Army Research Inst. of Environmental Medicine Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division Technical Report |volume=USARIEM-TN94-2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423042510/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/7976 |archive-date=23 April 2009 |access-date=5 March 2009}}</ref>

=== Fatalities ===
A 1994 estimate suggests there had been 6,000 to 8,000 alpinist fatalities in total, more than on any other mountain.<ref name="Dumler" />{{rp|208}} These numbers exclude the fatalities of [[Air India Flight 245]] and [[Air India Flight 101]], two planes that crashed into Mont Blanc. Despite [[circular reporting|unsubstantiated claims recurring in media]] that "some estimates put the fatality rate at an average of 100 hikers a year",<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 July 2012 |title=Why is Mont Blanc One of the World's Deadliest Mountains? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/why-is-mont-blanc-one-of-the-worlds-deadliest-mountains/260143/ |website=[[The Atlantic]] |access-date=10 March 2017 |archive-date=25 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170125140404/http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/why-is-mont-blanc-one-of-the-worlds-deadliest-mountains/260143/ |url-status=live }}</ref> actual reported annual numbers at least since the 1990s are between 10 and 20: in 2017, fourteen people died out of 20,000 summit attempts, and two remained missing; with 15 in 2018 as of August.<ref>{{cite news |date=10 August 2018 |title=Body of one of Italian Mont Blanc climbing trio found |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45150304 |access-date=11 September 2019 |archive-date=15 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715190854/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45150304 |url-status=live }}</ref>

A French study on the especially risky "[[Goûter Route|Goûter couloir]], on the normal route on Mont Blanc" and necessary rescue operations found that, between 1990 and 2011, there were 74 deaths "between the Tête Rousse refuge (3,187 m) and the Goûter refuge (3,830 m)". There were 17 more in 2012–15, none in 2016, and 11 in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fondation Petzl |url=https://www.petzl.com/fondation/projets/accidents-couloir-gouter?language=en |access-date=13 January 2020 |archive-date=12 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212151559/https://www.petzl.com/fondation/projets/accidents-couloir-gouter?language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>