The variations we currently track are:
- Round trip from Chamonix
Kilian's route
Chamonix - Mont Blanc Tunnel- Grands Mulets- Vallot- Summit - same way down
- Round trip from Courmayeur
Meraldi & de Gaspari's route from Courmayeur in Italy
- Round Trip from Les Houches
- Round trip from St Gervais
St. Gervais is a village also closely tied to the mountain. The track starts at the church of St. Gervais (800m) and first follows the main road to limit the altitude gain (already +4000m height difference). From Le Champel the route follows the Bionnassay valley up to Nid d'Aigle where the normal summit route via Goûter hut is followed. Descent via same way.
Other variations are certainly possible.
Hillary Gerardi's attempt - She used an alternative route (the Arête nord aka North Ridge) on the ascent during the record attempt, for safety reasons and to encourage others to consider not to take the dangerous original route. This route takes athletes through all of the same places as Kilian's route (Chamonix-Mont blanc tunnel-grands mulets-vallot and summit), but will ascend via the North Ridge and descend by the same way as Kilian (on the descent, you are exposed for much less time to the serac fall).
ALL-TIME RECORDS
For older records, please refer to the following links, which provide soma valuable information about atheltes and their attempts.
https://www.skyrunning.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Best-Performance-record-1…
https://web.archive.org/web/20141216210242/http://s296355242.onlinehome.fr/News…
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-13-mn-2073-story.html
https://www.chamonix.net/english/info/mont-blanc-speed-records
https://web.archive.org/web/20141216210242/http://s296355242.onlinehome…
https://iancorless.org/tag/pierre-andre-gobet/
Comments
Kilian ran the Les Houches route in 5:49:15 back in 2019 but did not submit it as an FKT.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2581257624/overview
It appears like Kilian didn't exactly reach the summit that day.
A new variation route called "Round trip from Chamonix ON SKIS" has been added in Sept-24.
We don't plan to add any ski variations, though.
Pre 1988 records on Mont Blanc
https://www.couttetchampion.com/en/couttet-champion-the-guide.php
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