The Dent du Géant (
It.: Dente del Gigante, "giant's tooth") (4,013 m) is a
mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
in the
Mont Blanc massif in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
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 ...
.
The Dent du Géant remained unclimbed during the
golden age of alpinism, and was a much-coveted peak in the 1870s, repelling many parties who attempted it mostly from the Rochefort ridge. In 1880 the strong team of
Albert F. Mummery and
Alexander Burgener tried to force a passage via the south-west face but were repelled by a band of slabs, causing Mummery to exclaim, 'Absolutely inaccessible by fair means!'
The mountain has two summits, apart and separated by a small col (an 'extremely awkward notch' according to
W. W. Graham):
:*''Pointe Sella'' (4,009 m), first ascent via the south-west face by Jean Joseph Maquignaz with son Baptiste Maquignaz and nephew, Daniel Maquignaz on 28 July 1882. Over a period of four days they placed iron stanchions and fixed ropes,
[Willy Blaser and Glyn Hughes]
Kabru 1883, a reassessment
, ''Alpine Journal'', 2009, p. 219 enabling the same party to climb ''Pointe Sella'' a second time on the following day with clients Alessandro Sella, Alfonso Sella, Corradino Sella and Gaudenzio Sella.
:*''Pointe Graham'' (4,013 m), first ascent by W. W. Graham with guides Auguste Cupelin and Alphonse Payot on 20 August 1882. They used the fixed ropes of "Sella's staircase" to repeat the ascent of ''Pointe Sella'', where Graham noted that one of the Maquignazes had carved the letter 'M' on a rock step. They then lowered themselves into the col to climb this higher north-east peak.
[
This ascent marked the end of the so-called silver age of alpinism.
On 28 July 1935 the Austrian climbers Herbert Burggasser and Rudi Leitz first ascended the vertical-to-overhanging 160 m-high south face. It was the first climb in the Western Alps systematically aided by the pitons and artificial techniques that were already in use by climbers in the Eastern Alps.
During a heat wave in the summer of 2019, a glaciological rarity in the form of a previously unseen lake emerged at the foot of the Dent du Géant, the Aiguilles Marbrées and the Col de Rochefort at an altitude of about 3400 meters, that was considered as evidence for the effects of ]global warming
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...
on the glaciers in the Alps.''La formation d'un lac dans le massif du Mont-Blanc est-elle liée au réchauffement climatique?''
/ref>
The following facilities serve the mountain:
* Torino Hut (3,375 m, CAI, all year)
* Pointe Helbronner (3,462 m, téléphérique station for Skyway Monte Bianco)
See also
*List of 4000 metre peaks of the Alps
This list tabulates all of the 82 official mountain summits of or more in height in the Alps, as defined by the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA). All are located within France, Italy or Switzerland, and are often refer ...
References
External links
The Dent du Géant on SummitPost
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dent du Geant
Alpine four-thousanders
Mountains of the Alps
Mountains of Haute-Savoie
Mountains of Italy
France–Italy border
International mountains of Europe
Mont Blanc massif