The Grandes Jorasses (4,208 m; 13,806 ft) is a mountain in the

Mont Blanc massif The Mont Blanc massif (french: Massif du Mont-Blanc; it, Massiccio del Monte Bianco) is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major indepen ...

, on the boundary between

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè d'Amont'' or ''Hiôta-Savouè''; en, Upper Savoy) or '; it, Alta Savoia. is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its prefecture is ...

in France and

Aosta Valley , Valdostan or Valdotainian it, Valdostano (man) it, Valdostana (woman)french: Valdôtain (man)french: Valdôtaine (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = Official languages , population_blank1 = Italian French ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they e ...

of the highest peak of the mountain (''Pointe Walker'') was by Horace Walker with guides Melchior Anderegg, Johann Jaun and Julien Grange on 30 June 1868. The second-highest peak on the mountain (''Pointe Whymper'', 4,184 m; 13,727 ft) was first climbed by Edward Whymper, Christian Almer, Michel Croz and Franz Biner on 24 June 1865, using what has become the

normal route A normal route or normal way (french: voie normale; german: Normalweg) is the most frequently used route for ascending and descending a mountain peak. It is usually the simplest route. Overview In the Alps, routes are classed in the following w ...

of ascent and the one followed by Walker's party in 1868. The summits on the mountain (from east to west) are: * ''Pointe Walker'' (4,208 m; 13,806 ft) – named after Horace Walker, who made the first ascent of the mountain * ''Pointe Whymper'' (4,184 m; 13,727 ft) – named after Edward Whymper, who made the first ascent of this, the second-highest summit * ''Pointe Croz'' (4,110 m; 13,484 ft) – named after Michel Croz, a guide from

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it ha ...

* ''Pointe Elena'' (4,045 m; 13,271 ft) – named after Princess Elena * ''Pointe Margherita'' (4,065 m; 13,337) – named after Queen Margherita * ''Pointe Young'' (3,996 m; 13,110 ft) – named after Geoffrey Winthrop Young grandes jorasses near chamonix arp

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North face

Located on the French side of the mountain, the north face is one of the three

great north faces of the Alps The six great north faces of the Alps are a group of vertical faces in the Swiss, French, and Italian Alps known in mountaineering for their difficulty, danger, and great height. The "Trilogy" is the three hardest of these north faces, being t ...

, along with the north faces of the

Eiger The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that exte ...

and the

Matterhorn The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of th ...

(known as 'the Trilogy'). One of the most famous walls in the Alps, it towers 1200 m (3,900 ft) above the Leschaux Glacier, stretching 1 km from end to end. The classic route on the face is the Walker Spur ( Cassin/Esposito/Tizzoni, 1938, TD+/ED1, IV, 5c/6a, A1, 1200 m) which leads directly to the summit of Pointe Walker. The other major buttress on the mountain is the Croz Spur, which leads to the summit of ''Pointe Croz''. In her solo ascents of the six most difficult north faces of the Alps, Alison Hargreaves chose this route in preference to the Walker Spur. Reinhold Messner has stated, that he made the decision to ascend

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow ...

with Peter Habeler in the Grandes Jorasses, where Peter "descended like a dancer".

South face

On the Italian side of the mountain, the south face can be accessed from the Boccalatte cabin, above the hamlet of Planpincieux in the Italian Val Ferret, part of the Courmayeur municipality.

Summit ridge

From the Col des Hirondelles, the summit ridge connects Pt. Walker to the other summit points and then descends to the Col des Grandes Jorasses where a bivouac shelter is located - the Bivouac E Canzio hut. The ridge forms the French-Italian border, almost all of which is above 4,000 m (13,000 ft).

References

External links

Grandes Jorasses on French IGN mapping portal
* {{Authority control Alpine four-thousanders France–Italy border Great north faces of the Alps International mountains of Europe Mountains of the Alps Mountains of Haute-Savoie Mountains of Italy Mont Blanc massif

North face

South face

Summit ridge

See also

References

External links