Welcome to my new limited series on climbing the Seven Summits. Episode 1 is an introduction plus a brief update on the Autumn climbing activity in Nepal and Tibet. For the next eight weeks, I'll drop a new episode discussing one of the Seven Summits in detail. Today is episode 3, Mt. Blanc.

OK, I know what you are thinking, "Alan, Mont Blanc is not one of the Seven Summits!" Yeah, I know, but hear me out. On the border between France and Italy, Mt. Blanc stands at 15,771 feet or 4807 meters high, putting it between Kościuszko and Carstensz Pyramid on the "list(s)."

Month Blanc is a vast massif with three primary subpeaks: Mont Maudit, Mont Blanc du Tacul, and Aiguille du Midi.  Most people find Mont Blanc a serious climb given the objective dangers, such as crevasses, rockfall and avalanches, but it is also a cold and windy peak. While it is usually climbed in one day, it's a long day of ten to fifteen hours, gaining up to 5,413 feet or 1,650 meters on most routes. Summer is the most popular time to climb, but as in 2022, it can be brutally hot. If you climb in winter, you must be a highly experienced mountaineer.

The 7 Summits idea was hatched and first accomplished by American Dick Bass. He started with six summits in 1983: Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Denali, Vinson and Kosciuszko. Then, with guide David Breashears, he became the oldest person, 55 at the time, to summit Everest in 1985. Canadian Patrick Morrow became the first to summit all seven with Carstensz in addition to Kosciuszko in 1986. Italy mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner summited all the peaks without supplemental oxygen, a first, and completed the task in 1986. #7summmits

Episodes will drop each week:

September 15: Introduction

September 22: Mt. Kosciuszko, Australia - 7,310/2228m

September 29: Mt. Blanc, France/Italy - 15,771'/4807m

October 6: Vinson, Antarctica - 16,067/4897m

October 13: Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya), New Guinea - 16,023/4884m

October 20: Elbrus, Russia - 18,513/5642m

October 27: Kilimanjaro, Africa - 19,340/5896m

November 3: Denali, Alaska - 20,320/6194m

November 10: Aconcagua, Argentina - 22,902/6960m

November 17: Everest, Nepal/Tibet - 29,035/8850m