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Grand Pilier d'Angle

4,243 m

Italy

Also known as Grand Pilier d’Angle, Гран-Пилье-д’Англь

Grand Pilier d’Angle · Гран-Пилье-д’Англь

Elevation
4,243 m
Prominence
35 m
Difficulty
7/10
Hard alpine
Best Season
Jul
Routes
2

Routes

2
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Approximate line — not for navigation

An automated check found that parts of this line could not be matched to mapped trails, so it may stray far from the real route. Use it for planning only, with a map and a guidebook.

Why? 8 check notes
  • danger scan: Col de Peuterey → Grand Pilier d'Angle: straight line 244 m (limit 200 m)
  • danger scan: Col de Peuterey → Grand Pilier d'Angle: straight line 244 m above the last hut/bivouac
  • danger scan: Col de Peuterey → Grand Pilier d'Angle: straight line: 65° over 25 m (> 60°, high-res DEM)
  • danger scan: Col de Peuterey → Grand Pilier d'Angle: sustained 59° > 45° on a straight line
  • last routed vertex 244 m from the summit (closed by straight)
  • Rifugio Monzino → Bivacco Lampugnani-Grassi (Eccles): dem (snap_failed, 2.9 km)
  • Bivacco Lampugnani-Grassi (Eccles) → Col Eccles: glacier (snap_failed, 0.3 km)
  • Col Eccles → Col de Peuterey: glacier (snap_failed, 0.7 km)
AlpineDSources differ: D+ (Gulliver (Cresta di Peuterey dal Col Eccles))MixedNormal route

Sources differ: D+ (Gulliver (Cresta di Peuterey dal Col Eccles))

The least committing way to the top of the Grand Pilier d'Angle, which is not a free-standing summit but a step on Mont Blanc's Peuterey Ridge: Val Veny to the Monzino hut and the Eccles bivouacs over the crevassed Brouillard glacier, then over the Col Eccles, abseils and an exposed traverse under the Frêney pillars to the Col de Peuterey, and a 50° mixed couloir to the top of the pillar.

Elevation Profile

approximate line
1,0002,0003,0004,0005,0000 km2468Rifugio MonzinoCol Eccles
Distance
≈ 8.7 km
one way
Ascent
≈ +2,926 m
−213 m lost on the way up
High Point
4,243 m
Time Up
≈ 11h 16m
DIN 33466
Time Down
≈ 7h 39m
DIN 33466 · same way back

Day one: from the Frêney car park in Val Veny (about 1,560 m) climb to the Rifugio Monzino (2,590 m) on a path with fixed cables in 1.5–2.5 hours. Continue up the moraine and the remains of the Châtelet glacier, then onto the Brouillard glacier, keeping right (true left bank) close under the mixed slopes of the Innominata, through a heavily crevassed section and up steep snow and scree bands (UIAA II) to the Eccles bivouacs (about 3,850 m) on the south-west ridge of Pic Eccles. Camptocamp gives 5–8 hours from the car park; refuges.info rates the glacier approach at least AD because of crevasses and seracs. Day two: a short abseil from the upper bivouac reaches the steep slopes leading to the Col Eccles (about 4,020 m); the bergschrund is passed on the right. On the far side, descend the Eccles couloir towards the Frêney basin by abseil (an equipped 60 m anchor, or 40–50 m abseils), then make a delicate and exposed traverse under the Frêney pillars to the Col de Peuterey (3,934 m); do this early, before the sun loosens the slopes. From the col, climb the mixed couloir on the right, generally about 50° on poor rock and ice and raked by stonefall and icefall once the sun is on it, or the mixed wall of the pillar itself, to the crest at the top of the Grand Pilier d'Angle (4,243 m). Very few people stop here: the usual continuation follows the steep, corniced snow arête of the Peuterey Ridge to Mont Blanc de Courmayeur (4,748 m) and Mont Blanc (about 4,806 m), descending by the Goûter route or the Three Monts route to the Aiguille du Midi, or to Italy by the Aiguilles Grises. Retreating from the Grand Pilier d'Angle back over the Col Eccles means reversing abseils and climbing back up about 600 m of ascent in the heat. Treat this as a serious, remote high-mountain route for parties already competent on D mixed ground.

Start

Frêney (Val Veny)1,530 m

  • Bus to Courmayeur (from Aosta or Chamonix through the Mont Blanc Tunnel), then the seasonal Val Veny shuttle bus towards La Visaille/Frêney.
  • Parking at the trailhead

Stages

DayStagekmm ascentm descentTime
1Frêney (Val Veny) → Bivacco Lampugnani-Grassi (Eccles)7.52,345238h 48m
2Bivacco Lampugnani-Grassi (Eccles) → Grand Pilier d'Angle1.35811902h 28m

Waypoints

  1. Parking:
    Frêney (Val Veny)1,530 m

    Car park in Val Veny below the Monzino hut path

  2. Hut:
    Rifugio Monzino2,569 m
  3. Bivouac:
    Bivacco Lampugnani-Grassi (Eccles)3,851 m
  4. Col:
    Col Eccles4,021 m
  5. Col:
    Col de Peuterey3,936 m
  6. Summit:
    Grand Pilier d'Angle4,243 m

Key Passages

  • Fixed cables on the path to the Monzino hut
  • Crevassed Brouillard glacier
  • Col Eccles and abseils into the Eccles couloir
  • Exposed traverse under the Frêney pillars
  • 50° mixed couloir above the Col de Peuterey

Equipment

0/11 packed
Technical
Glacier
Safety
Clothing
Hut & Camping

Downloads

Route confidence 65%

Overview

A 4,243 m granite buttress on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, where the Peuterey Ridge rises from the Col de Peuterey towards Mont Blanc de Courmayeur. It has only 35 m of prominence and no easy way up: every route to its top is a serious D-or-harder mixed climb, usually done on the way to Mont Blanc.

The Grand Pilier d'Angle is the great corner pillar at the junction of the Brenva and Frêney faces of Mont Blanc, above Val Veny in the Aosta Valley. Its north-east face, some 900 m of dark mixed ground above the Brenva glacier, carries some of the hardest and most dangerous lines in the massif. Its top, by contrast, is barely a summit: a point on the crest of the Peuterey Ridge just above the Col de Peuterey, from which a steep snow arête continues another 500 m to Mont Blanc de Courmayeur (4,748 m). It counts as one of the official Alpine 4,000 m summits, which is the main reason anyone stops there.

The easiest access is from the Eccles bivouacs on the Italian side: a long glacier approach up the crevassed Brouillard glacier, the Col Eccles with abseils into the Frêney basin, an exposed traverse to the Col de Peuterey and a 50° couloir on loose, sun-exposed ground. The classic alternative is the Peuterey Integral over the Aiguille Noire, the Dames Anglaises and the Aiguille Blanche, one of the most famous ridge climbs in the Alps. Either way you are deep in remote, committing terrain, and the natural continuation is to Mont Blanc and down the French or Italian normal routes.

Expect two or three days, unstaffed bivouacs, serac and stonefall danger on the approaches, and the altitude and weather exposure of the upper Mont Blanc. This is a summit for experienced alpinists who are climbing the Peuterey Ridge, not a standalone objective.

Climbing Notes

Only consider it if you can climb D mixed ground (50° snow and ice, loose UIAA III–IV rock) efficiently at 4,000 m, rig and retrieve abseils quickly and travel safely on crevassed glaciers. You will also need the fitness and acclimatisation to continue another 550 m to Mont Blanc and descend a normal route the same day, because reversing the approach is long and awkward. Acclimatise beforehand with nights above 3,500 m and an ascent of a lower 4,000 m peak.

A typical plan: day one from Val Veny to the Monzino hut and on to the Eccles bivouacs (5–8 hours); day two over the Col Eccles to the Col de Peuterey, up the couloir to the Grand Pilier d'Angle and along the Peuterey Ridge to Mont Blanc, descending to the Goûter or Cosmiques side or to a hut. Climb the couloir above the Col de Peuterey early, before the sun reaches it. The Eccles bivouacs are unstaffed: carry a stove, fuel and food. Go only in a settled, cold weather window; many parties hire a Courmayeur guide.

History

The point was first reached on 20 August 1822 by Frederick Clissold with guides J. M. Couttet, M. Bossonney, D. Couttet, P. Favret and J. B. Simond, while descending from Mont Blanc de Courmayeur. The first ascent from the valley was made by James Eccles with Michel and Alphonse Payot on 30–31 July 1877, via the Brouillard and Frêney glaciers, the Col Eccles and the upper Peuterey Ridge, the first route on Mont Blanc from the south. Walter Bonatti and Toni Gobbi climbed the north-east face on 1–3 August 1957; Bonatti called it the most sombre, savage and dangerous mixed face he had seen in the Alps. Walter Cecchinel and Georges Nominé opened their north-face line on 17 September 1971, and Patrick Gabarrou and François Marsigny climbed Divine Providence on the pillar's Frêney side in June 1984.

Season

Best Jul
  1. January: Not advisable
  2. February: Not advisable
  3. March: Not advisable
  4. April: Not advisable
  5. May: Possible
  6. June: Good
  7. July: Best (best window)
  8. August: Good
  9. September: Good
  10. October: Not advisable
  11. November: Not advisable
  12. December: Not advisable
Jan
Winter; only for expert winter alpinists
Feb
Winter
Mar
Winter
Apr
Spring snow; the Col de Peuterey couloir has been skied
May
Good snow cover but cold, avalanche-prone slopes; Monzino hut closed
Jun
Monzino hut opens mid-June; snow still binds the couloirs
Jul
Best window when cold and stable
Aug
Stonefall increases in heat waves and dry summers
Sep
Colder, quieter; Monzino hut closes mid-September
Oct
Short days, early winter conditions
Nov
Winter
Dec
Winter

Access & Permits

Hut Booking
Rifugio Monzino (Società delle Guide Alpine di Courmayeur): info@rifugiomonzino.com, +39 0165 809553. Eccles and Craveri bivouacs cannot be booked.
Fees
  • Rifugio Monzino: half board about EUR 60 per person (2020s price listing)
  • Eccles bivouacs: free, unstaffed
Rules
  • Summer traffic limitation in Val Veny: a maximum number of cars (about 260) is allowed into the valley, shown on an LED sign at the entrance; use the free shuttle bus when it runs
  • The Eccles bivouacs are for overnight shelter on the routes; they cannot be booked
Getting There

Courmayeur (Italy)

Turin (TRN), Geneva (GVA) or Milan Malpensa (MXP)

  • Courmayeur: bus from Aosta, or from Chamonix through the Mont Blanc Tunnel
  • Free summer shuttle bus from Courmayeur into Val Veny (towards La Visaille) about every 30 minutes, roughly June to late September
  • By car: Val Veny road to the Frêney car park (about 1,560 m) below the Monzino hut path, subject to the summer traffic limit

Hazards

  • Glacier
  • Crevasses
  • Rockfall
  • Altitude
  • Exposure
  • Weather
  • Cornices
  • Remoteness

Huts & Shelters

4

  • Rifugio Borelli-PivanoBivouacUnstaffed

    2,325 m

  • Rifugio MonzinoRefugeStaffedBooking required

    55 beds · Mid-June to mid-September; winter room

    2,590 m

  • Bivacco CraveriBivouacUnstaffed

    3,490 m

  • Bivacco Lampugnani-Grassi (Eccles)BivouacUnstaffed

    6 beds · Year-round, unstaffed

    Website of Bivacco Lampugnani-Grassi (Eccles)

    3,852 m