It felt like we arrived at the summit completely out of the blue. After realizing we had indeed reached the summit I suddenly felt an enormous relief, soon followed by complete euphoria. This magical moment is probably what hooks mountaineers: it's as if all the hardships of the literally years of preparation and the toil of the ascent itself just melt away in the blink of an eye and are overtaken by the reassuring feeling that it indeed was worth it, without a doubt.

Coincidentally, we reached the summit the exact same day (8th of August) as the first recorded ascent of the mountain 228 years before by Jacques Balmat & Michel-Gabriel Paccard. As conquering Mont Blanc is certainly no picnic even with modern equipment and with the aid of the facilities of the state-of-the-art alpine huts, the stunt that these two men accomplished on the 8th of August in 1786 is nothing short of unbelievable.

Summit (Mont Blanc)

The final push to the summit. The Bosses ridge is very narrow with huge and steep ice slopes on both sides, looking both beautiful and ominous. 


Bosses Ridge

The dreamlike feeling of seeing the cloud cover from above.

Above the Clouds

The unmistakable sensation of cold and thin air, in the dawn of light. We were well above 4000m at this point.

Thin Air

The long-awaited summit attempt commenced at 2am, it was pitch-dark so we had to turn our forehead lights on. The long caravan of fellow mountaineers slowly climbing upwards with their lights on looked like a necklace of pearls on the neck of the beautiful "White Lady", meanwhile Chamonix's night lights shimmering far down in the valley.

Commencing the Summit Attempt

A break at the ultra-modern Goûter hut where we spent the night before heading for the summit.

Refuge du Goûter

Timely, we witnessed a serac fall below the Goûter hut upon arriving. 

Serac Fall

The magical moment of finally reaching the snow line.

Snow Line (Aiguille du Goûter)

The infamous Grand Couloir, notorious for many deadly accidents caused by falling rock and ice. Mountaineers try to pass this corridor as fast as possible and preferably before midday when the ice still holds the rocks together.

Grand Couloir

There were prayer flags hanging at the outskirts of the Tête Rousse hut, a tradition hailing from Tibet. A brief moment for introspection. 

Prayer Flags (Meditation)

The alpine choughs left a huge impression on me when I learned about the poetic legend about them: they say these birds are actually the spirits of dead alpinists. The way the choughs circled around the Tête Rousse hut indeed gave them an uncanny, humanlike character.

Black Birds (Dead Alpinists)

A long and arduous trek in an amazingly ethereal landscape to reach the Tête Rousse hut. Once at the hut, the looming, extremely steep and infamous Grand Couloir looked quite sinister.

Tête Rousse

Seeing the dark and grim looking enormous Bionnassay glacier filled me with complete awe. The icy breeze coming down from the glacier felt like a gentle greeting from the "White Lady" herself.

Glacier de Bionnassay

The Mont Blanc Tramway is a train line operating in the Mont Blanc area, with majestic views. Gare du Nid d'Aigle is the railhead of the Mont Blanc Tramway, just beside the foot of the mighty Bionnassay glacier.

Mont Blanc Tramway - Gare du Nid d'Aigle (Eagle's Nest)

Having made our way with cable cars from the Chamonix valley to the Mont Blanc Tramway, for the first time I saw the Bionnassay side of the Mont Blanc massif from up close. 

First View of the Mont Blanc Massif

This movement depicts a sense of excitement about the upcoming journey. Having successfully acclimatized in Switzerland and Italy, we were now speeding from Switzerland to France on alpine roads through myriad tunnels, finally arriving at the legendary village of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc. It felt a real privilege and an honour to be able to see the cradle of modern mountaineering and a place so rich in history as Chamonix.

Chamonix Valley

The opening movement depicts a strange recurring dream I was having for many years about climbing Mont Blanc, also known as the "White Lady".



Imre Lahdelma

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