I had 4 days of July allotted for the ascent but at a holiday pace, without the slightest intention of taking time off. In fact, in the 9 days allocated for the trip from France. i climbed mont blanc, walked a bunch through saint gervais, chamonix, one day was set aside just for the pool and i still managed to get bored. 5 – 6 days would have been more appropriate. Mont Blanc – doable if you can manage on the ridge, in winter, in Romania, with beavers and ice axes. Overrated in weight, underrated in beauty, dangerous in places but not difficult, expensive if you count the boulangeries, wine, French refuges and glacier water beer.
At 4809 or 4810m, Mont Blanc is not the highest peak in Europe. The 4th I think. But it is the highest in the European Union. And certainly the highest alpine peak in the world :)). Alps.. alpine..
Don’t laugh but some of the discussions after my ascent of Mont Blanc were like this: “but it doesn’t have 4809, it has 4810!”.. well the snow cover varies.. “but it’s not the highest in Europe!”. . yes and no.. What I mean is that Mont Blanc is not a destination to brag about, if you climb it like a normal person, with refuges and on the standard route. In fact, in good weather there are groups of tourists / guides, climbers every 100 m. There are many who make the ascent of Mont Blanc a sporting performance, with tears and crying at the top. They seem exaggerated to me. Maybe the standard route is not for beginners. But it’s not just for performance athletes either, it’s not that big of a challenge. And anyway it’s not cool to do it for performance.