The ''Col du Géant'' (''Giant Pass'') at is the main passage of the Mont Blanc massif between

Courmayeur Courmayeur (; ; Valdôtain: ) is a town and ''comune'' in northern Italy, in the autonomous region of Aosta Valley. History The toponym ''Courmayeur'' has been mentioned as ''Curia majori'' (1233–1381), ''Corte Maggiore'' (1620), ''Cormoyeu'' (1 ...

in the

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

and Chamonix-Mont Blanc in the

Arve Valley The Arve Valley (La vallée de l'Arve) is an alpine valley located in the French Haute-Savoie department. The namesake of the valley is the river at the bottom: the Arve. The valley as a whole makes up the majority of :fr:Faucigny (province), Fau ...

. On the French side, to the north is the Géant Glacier which overlooks the

Mer de Glace The Mer de Glace (, ) is a valley glacier located on the northern slopes of the Mont Blanc massif, in the French Alps. It is 7.5 km long and deep but, when all its tributary glaciers are taken into account, it can be regarded as the longe ...

Geography

The pass is between the peaks of the Tour Ronde and the

Dent du Géant The Dent du Géant ( It.: Dente del Gigante, "giant's tooth") (4,013 m) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in France and Italy. The Dent du Géant remained unclimbed during the golden age of alpinism, and was a much-coveted peak in the 18 ...

. Near the pass are Pointe Helbronner and the Torino Hut. There is a border dispute between France and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, similar to that which concerns the summit of

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...

. Italian maps depict the border line on the pass, while on the French maps it passes a hundred meters to the south, the pass being entirely on French territory. Openstreetmap shows both variants of the border, and similar situations near the peak and the Dôme du Goûter. This dispute was revived in 2015, following a ban on access to the Giant glacier from the Torino refuge, by the municipality of Chamonix.

History

In 1788, 48 year old scientist

Horace Bénédict de Saussure Horace Bénédict de Saussure (; 17 February 1740 – 22 January 1799) was a Genevan geologist, meteorologist, physicist, mountaineer and Alpine explorer, often called the founder of alpinism and modern meteorology, and considered to be the f ...

spent 17 days making meteorological observations and physical measurements on the Col du Géant (3,371 m).

References

Mountain passes of the Alps Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Haute-Savoie Mountains of Aosta Valley {{HauteSavoie-geo-stub