The Grand Pic de Belledonne is the highest mountain in the Belledonne massif in the

Dauphiné Alps The Dauphiné Alps (french: Alpes du Dauphiné) are a group of mountain ranges in Southeastern France, west of the main chain of the Alps. Mountain ranges within the Dauphiné Alps include the Massif des Écrins in Écrins National Park, Belledon ...

at .Grand Pic de Belledonne : Arête N et Traversée
camptocamp.org, checked on 2016-05-01

Geography

Situated in the French department of Isère, the Grand Pic of Belledonne dominates the valley of

Grésivaudan The Grésivaudan (sometimes Graisivaudan) is a valley of the French Alps, situated mostly in the Isère. Etymologically, ''Graisivaudan'' comes from roots meaning "Grenoble" (''Gratianopolis'') and "valley".''Robert des noms propres'' It compri ...

and partners the Pic Central of Belledonne and the

Croix de Belledonne Croix de Belledonne, at , is one of the highest points in the Belledonne range in the French Alps, close to the highest summit in the range, Grand Pic de Belledonne The Grand Pic de Belledonne is the highest mountain in the Belledonne massif i ...

. These three summits dominate the Freydane glacier.

History

Étienne Favier performed the first ascent dates on 16 August 1859, via the valley of

Eau d'Olle Eau or EAU may refer to: * The French word for water * Eau (trigraph), a trigraph of the Latin script * EAU, the IATA code for the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Wisconsin, United States * East Africa University, a private university in Puntl ...

and the Lac De Belledonne. He repeated that ascent on 17 August 1873 with his son, Émile Viallet and Auguste Michel. In 1875, the Société des Touristes du Dauphiné constructed the refuge of Belledonne (now in ruins) above the "lac de Belledonne". The corridor separating the Grand Peak from the Central peak is named after the alpinist Auguste Reynier who, in 1891, made the first climb via the Freydane

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

. In 1944,

Gaston Rébuffat Gaston Rébuffat (; 7 May 1921, Marseille – 31 May 1985, Paris) was a French alpinist, mountain guide, and author. He is well known as a member of the first expedition to summit Annapurna 1 in 1950 and the first man to climb all six of the ...

was the first to climb the mountain from the north, accompanied by Michel Chevalier. File:Sunset on Grand Pic de Belledonne.jpg, Sunset on Grand Pic de Belledonne File:Moonrise on Grand Pic de Belledonne.jpg, Moonrise on Grand Pic de Belledonne File:Grand Pic de Belledonne.jpg, Grand Pic de Belledonne seen from the West

References

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External links

Géologie des Trois Pics de Belledonne
Mountains of Isère Mountains of the Alps