Mountain·Italy / France

Mont Blanc

4,806m

Mont Blanc massif

Christian David · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation: 4,806m
Prominence: 4,692m
Isolation: 2,812km
Relief: 3,062mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 57°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
Summit: 45.8328°N, 6.8647°E

Highest mountain in the Alps

Mont Blanc is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif (Italy). Its summit stands 4,806 m above sea level. It is the highest point of FR and IT. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 4,692 m, and the nearest higher ground is 2,812 km away.

From the lowest point within 5 km (1,744 m), it rises 3,062 m. The steepest side is the south-west face: 44° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 57° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

The nearest town is Les Houches, 8 km away at 1,038 m: 3,768 m below the summit.

Mont Blanc for skiers and climbers

Two scores out of 10, built only from open data — every part is shown. They describe what the mountain offers, not how safe it is.

Hiking & mountaineering

9.2/10

Difficulty to the top

Alpine climb

Most path sections around the top are T4 on the SAC hiking scale. Glaciers around the top.

Indicative only — never a safety assessment. Conditions change: ask local guides and check the forecast.

2.5/2.544 waymarked routes and 110 path sections nearby
1.5/1.526 huts and shelters
2.0/23,768 m of ascent from the valley
1.5/1.54,692 m of prominence
0.8/1.53 months with summit afternoons above −5 °C
1.0/1via ferratas, climbing and glaciers

Ski score

9.8/10

3.8/4231 km of downhill runs
1.5/1.572 ski lifts
1.5/1.52,477 m between the lowest and highest lift station
3.0/39 months of snow at about 2,538 m

Runs by difficulty

Beginner 9 km
Easy 77 km
Intermediate 68 km
Difficult 24 km
Freeride 53 km

Snow season on the slopes (estimate)

Around 2,538 m, in the middle of the ski area: snow from October to June.

Snow on the ground all month
Snow some of the time
No snow
This month

72 lifts · lift stations from 1,300 to 3,777 m · 47 km cross-country

How these scores are made

Ski (where OpenStreetMap has skiing within 12 km): up to 4 points for the length of downhill runs (300 km or more = 4), 1.5 for the number of lifts (40+), 1.5 for the vertical between lift stations (1,500 m) and 3 for the snow season — a month counts when the estimated mean temperature at the height of the ski area is −1 °C or lower and snow falls or lies there (NASA POWER, 2001–2020). Hiking & mountaineering: up to 2.5 for waymarked routes and paths, 1.5 for huts, 2 for the ascent from the valley (2,000 m), 1.5 for prominence (3,000 m), 1.5 for the season (months with summit afternoons above −5 °C) and 1 for via ferratas, climbing and glaciers. OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: where few things are mapped, a score can be lower than reality.

Plan your visit

Stay, climb and get there

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Snow

When there is snow on Mont Blanc

At the summit, snow all year round. Month by month below, at different heights on the way up.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Summit4,806 msnow all year round	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month
Halfway up2,922 msnow from October to July (some years from September to July)	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	No snow	Snow some of the time	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month
Les Houches1,038 msnow from December to April	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	Snow on the ground all month

Snow on the ground all month
Snow some of the time
No snow
This month

Estimate for a normal year: average temperature and precipitation from NASA POWER, carried to each height, in a simple model of snow building up and melting. In a given year snow can come earlier or stay longer. It does not replace the local snow and avalanche bulletin.

Summit weather

Mont Blanc, month by month

Not a forecast: long-term averages (1991–2020), carried up to the summit. The orange line is where an average afternoon reaches 0 °C; above the dashed blue line it freezes even at dawn.

On an average July afternoon the summit reaches about -2 °C; on January nights it falls to about -31 °C. Even in the warmest month the summit stays below freezing all day: ice and snow all year round. Even at its highest, in July, the 0 °C line reaches only about 4,480 m: 326 m below the summit. Across the region, April is the driest month (74 mm) and May the wettest (117 mm).

0 °C on an average afternoon 0 °C at dawn the summit

Month	Summit high °C	Summit low °C	Les Houches high °C	0 °C line (m)	Rain & snow (mm)	Wet days	Sun h/day
January	-23	-31	2	1,330	107	12	3.3
February	-22	-31	2	1,410	77	11	4.5
March	-19	-27	6	1,900	94	13	5.5
April	-13	-22	12	2,820	74	13	6.3
May	-8	-18	16	3,540	117	18	6.6
June	-4	-14	21	4,210	105	16	8.5
July	-2	-12	22	4,480	103	15	8.8
August	-2	-12	22	4,450	105	14	7.9
September	-6	-16	19	3,900	76	13	6.9
October	-10	-20	14	3,270	86	13	5.0
November	-17	-25	8	2,220	94	14	3.1
December	-21	-29	3	1,560	110	14	2.6

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 1,714 m), adjusted to the summit by −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Rain, wet days and sunshine are those of the region. Mountain weather changes fast — always check a local forecast. ★ = mildest months at the top.

Relief

The mountain in profile

Two cuts through the summit, 16 km long, from the 30 m Copernicus elevation model. True scale: no vertical exaggeration.

West – east

South – north

Steepness by direction

Average slope of the first kilometre from the summit. The orange petal is the steepest side.

Around the mountain

Huts, lifts and trails around Mont Blanc

Counted around the summit in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. The satellite plate shows 14 × 14 km.

A lift reaches Aiguille du Midi 2 at 3,777 m — just 1,029 m below the summit.

26mountain huts and shelters
Rifugio Pavillon (2,174 m), Rifugio Monte Bianco (1,680 m), Rifugio Le Randonneur (1,895 m), Refuge des Conscrits (2,614 m) and 22 more
28cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
TPH Plan de l'Aiguille, Dolonne, Checrouit, Pra Neyron and 24 more
9ski areas
Tremplin du Grepon, Courmayeur, Les Houches (Chamonix), Le Tourchet (Chamonix) and 5 more
44waymarked hiking routes
Pont Combal - Bivacco Rainetto, Tour Du Mont Blanc - Variante du Col de Tricot, Tour du Mont Blanc - Itinéraire principal, Alta Via n. 2 della Valle d'Aosta - Tappa 1 and 40 more
3via ferratas
Sentiero attrezzato da La Villette (Mont Chetif), Via corda
42climbing crags and routes
Aiguille des 2 Aigles - Secteur du Plan, Aiguille du Midi - Versant Nord, Aiguille des Pèlerins - Secteur du Plan, Caïman - Pointe de Lépiney and 38 more
55named glaciers
Glacier de Bionnassay, Glacier de Taconnaz, Ghiacciaio della Lex Blanche, Ghiacciaio del Freney and 51 more
40viewpoints
Mont Blanc / Monte Bianco, Chalet des Pyramides, La Jonction, Col de Tricot and 36 more
13campsites
Hobo Camping, Montebianco La Sorgente, Campeggio Aiguille-Noire, Camping de Tête Rousse and 9 more
104hotels, B&Bs and chalets
La Genzianella, La Vallée Blanche, Le Morgane, Le Refuge des Aiglons and 100 more
111restaurants and cafés

How hard are the paths?

110 path sections within 5 km, by SAC hiking scale (T1 easy walk … T6 difficult alpine).

T1T2T3T4T5T6

T1 hiking
T2 mountain hiking
T3 demanding mountain hiking
T4 alpine hiking
T5 demanding alpine hiking
T6 difficult alpine hiking

Towns at the foot

Les Houches8 km · 1,038 m
Courmayeur9 km · 1,224 m
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc10 km · 1,060 m
Les Contamines-Montjoie11 km · 1,176 m
Prè Saint Didier12 km · 1,021 m
Saint-Gervais-les-Bains13 km · 840 m
La Thuile15 km · 1,441 m
Morgex16 km · 923 m

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OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: a low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. Places © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Photos

Seen by climbers and visitors

Monte Bianco visto dal Rifugio di Punta Helbronner — Sixam · CC BY-SA 3.0

Monte Bianco DSF1243-m — Giannico · CC BY-SA 3.0

Recent years

How each month compared at the summit

Afternoon high at the summit (estimate). The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years show only the difference.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1991–2020 average	-23	-22	-19	-13	-8	-4	-2	-2	-6	-10	-17	-21
2020	+2.0	+2.4	+0.8	+3.6	+1.9	−2.1	+0.7	+1.0	+1.1	−2.8	+3.2	−0.5
2021	−1.7	+1.8	+0.8	−0.9	−3.0	+1.3	−0.8	−1.3	+1.5	+0.2	+0.1	+0.8
2022	+0.8	+1.4	+1.2	+0.8	+2.9	+3.2	+4.4	+3.7	−0.2	+3.5	+0.8	+1.3
2023	+0.5	+4.0	+3.2	−1.1	+0.5	+1.5	+1.4	+1.9	+4.9	+2.9	−1.5	+1.2
2024	+1.7	+3.3	+3.1	−0.1	−0.4	−0.1	+1.6	+3.0	−1.4	+1.4	+1.9	+0.7
2025	+1.9	+2.0	+2.8	+3.2	+0.3	+3.8	−0.7	+2.2	+0.2	−0.9	+0.2	+2.3

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More mountains nearby

3,842 mAiguille du Midi

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4,304 mDôme du Goûter

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4,248 mMont Blanc du Tacul

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4,112 mAiguille Blanche de Peuterey

Italy2 km away

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q583) · CC0
Relief, 3D view, profiles	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Climate	NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · CC BY 4.0
Around the mountain	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

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