Routes up Mont Blanc

Has anyone climbed Mont Blanc via the Aiguille du Midi, Mont Blanc du Tacul, Mont Maudit and up to the summit? We plan to have a go this August (perhaps visiting each of these peaks, but with Mont Blanc as the main aim)and were considering going up and descending this way. A lot of people seem to indicate that camping on the Col du Midi should be approached with caution because tents have been known to be conviscated, however we were planning to do a 'sunset to sunrise' camp in an attempt to avoid this. Anybody had any bad experiences?

We also had a bit of a more risky (?) idea. In an attempt to try and improve the chances of successfully summiting on Mont Blanc in good time (given some good, stable weather) we thought of camping / bivouacing on Le Col Maudit, (the area between Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit on the route). Has anybody tried this? On a previous trip whilst climbing Mont Blanc du Tacul I remember seeing a tent there early one morning. Has anyone tried this?

Final question, does anyone know if there are any lockers up in the cable car station / restaurants etc. up at the Aguille du Midi?

Thanks in advance for any replies / suggestions.

It sounds like you already have all the information you need about camping, so you know that it's possible but not risk-free, but you're the only one who can make that final decision. (I trust you know why camping's officially banned).

What you really need to think about (when you get there) is if the weather's up to it. This route's only feasible if both the forecast and the snow are perfect.

I would question your decision to leave at sunrise. This is a 6-7 hour route, and the same in descent if you're doing it in nasty, soggy afternoon snow. I would leave around 1am and aim to be back for lunchtime. In any case, my preference would be to descend via the Gouter ridge - no uphills to contend with, and several huts where you can rest if necessary.

BTW, there are no lockers in the upper station, but you can stay in there if the weather's bad and there's no room in Cosmiques hut (officially it's not generally allowed).

Hi, thanks for the suggestion about the Gouter descent, it makes sense and completes the official traverse I think. We do plan to set off at about 1am as you suggest, so it's good that you indicate that. Apologies, the 'sunrise to sunset' was meant more as figure of speech to indicate that we were planning to put up a tent principally under the cover of the night (because of the restrictions). I guessed that the ban on camping was motivated for aesthetic and pollution reasons - it's a horrible thought to imagine the park littered with camping sites. Are there any formal reasons? I think those are reason enough really - oh and not to take away business from the huts.

The main reason camping's banned is safety. If the weather suddenly turns, and especially if your tent and gear get blown away, you would find it virtually impossible to make it up to the AdM station, (or even navigate to it) and the huts would be nearly as difficult. Without shelter you would be at great risk. There are only a limited number of MR personnel, and if there were 50 tents, there's no way they could evacuate everyone. And the sort of people who camp there are holiday alpinists, not self-rescue experts. It simply reduces the accident statistics.

Good point. It seems to me that a sensible thing to do if putting a tent up on the Col du Midi would be to take a bearing to the Cosmiques Hut should the weather turn as you describe. However, I understand that in certain areas of the park a compass is essentially useless because of the properties of the rock (Mont Maudit being one of them I think). A gps would do the trick (but not something to rely on - out of principle!?). Descending the north west flank of Mont Blanc du Tacul is apparently notoriously difficult in poor visibility, so I think any plans we have for a high camp/bivvy beyond this point will be entirely determined by the presence of a good, stable weather system.

Ive bivied outside the old Abri Simond bivie hut at the foot of the Cosmiques Arete leading to the Midi,and had no problems.But that was before they built the Cosmiques hut.And there are some massivr cravasses around there!!!!!!

When I did the route that Richards talking about I luckily only had one (very deep) crevasse to cross, it was jumpable but the landing side was about 8 feet higher than the take off side so you had to jump and land in foot holds cut into the other side,... come to think of it, thats probably where they got the vertical limit jump thing from.. :-)

If the main reason camping's banned is for safety, then presumably that applies to bivvying too? Yet anyone I've spoken to seems to imply that camping's banned, but bivvying's OK....?