Picco Luigi Amedeo
4,469 m
Italy
Also known as Pic Louis Amédée, ლუიჯი ამედეოს პიკი, +1Also known as
Pic Louis Amédée · ლუიჯი ამედეოს პიკი · Пикко Луиджи Амедео
- Elevation
- 4,469 m
- Prominence
- 39 m
- Difficulty
- 6/10
- Alpine climb
- Best Season
- Jul
- Routes
- 1
Routes
1Approximate 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: Bivacco Eccles → Col Émile Rey: straight line 625 m (limit 200 m)
- danger scan: Bivacco Eccles → Col Émile Rey: straight line 625 m above the last hut/bivouac
- danger scan: Bivacco Eccles → Col Émile Rey: straight line: 61° over 25 m (> 60°, high-res DEM)
- danger scan: Bivacco Eccles → Col Émile Rey: sustained 52° > 45° on a straight line
- danger scan: Col Émile Rey → Picco Luigi Amedeo: straight line 351 m (limit 200 m)
- danger scan: Col Émile Rey → Picco Luigi Amedeo: straight line 351 m above the last hut/bivouac
- danger scan: Col Émile Rey → Picco Luigi Amedeo: straight line: 75° over 25 m (> 60°, high-res DEM)
- danger scan: Col Émile Rey → Picco Luigi Amedeo: sustained 63° > 45° on a straight line
Sources differ: 4b crux wall above the Col Émile Rey (Camptocamp)
Picco Luigi Amedeo is a shoulder on Mont Blanc's Brouillard Ridge and is almost always climbed on the way to Mont Blanc. From the remote Eccles bivouac (3,850–3,900 m), a 50 m abseil, a 45° couloir to the Col Émile Rey and an 80 m rock wall (III, 4b) lead to its summit; the ridge then continues to Mont Blanc de Courmayeur.
Elevation Profile
approximate line- Distance
- ≈ 8.8 km
- one way
- Ascent
- ≈ +3,149 m
- −211 m lost on the way up
- High Point
- 4,469 m
- Time Up
- ≈ 12h 01m
- DIN 33466
- Time Down
- ≈ 8h 06m
- DIN 33466 · same way back
Picco Luigi Amedeo is not a separate objective in practice: it is the first summit on the upper Brouillard Ridge, which most parties follow to Mont Blanc. The route here describes the line as far as Picco Luigi Amedeo. Day one: from the Freney car park in Val Veny (about 1,560 m) cross the Dora and follow the path to the Rifugio Monzino (2,590 m); the last section is a short via ferrata (about 2½ hours). Day two: climb the moraine onto the left bank of the Brouillard glacier at about 3,000 m, pass a crevassed zone near 3,200 m using rock steps on the right, then reach the ridge beyond the Punta Innominata and abseil about 30 m back onto the glacier near the Col du Fréney (avoidable when the glacier is well filled). A snow slope leads to the Eccles bivouacs on the south-west ridge of Pic Eccles. Allow 5–7 hours from the Monzino. Day three, start in the dark: from behind the upper bivouac a 50 m abseil crosses the bergschrund. Descend the glacier to the foot of the Brouillard pillars, climb a 45° slope beside the rock and a sun-exposed couloir to just below the Col Émile Rey (about 4,030 m), roughly 1½ hours. About 15 m below the col, climb a wide 80 m couloir (III, 4b; two axes help if the cracks are icy; serious rockfall from above and from the leader), then a 100 m snow-and-scree gully and easy rocks bearing right to Picco Luigi Amedeo. From the summit an equipped abseil leads on along the ridge to Mont Blanc de Courmayeur and Mont Blanc; descending from Mont Blanc by a normal route is usually easier than reversing the Brouillard.
Start
Freney (Val Veny)1,530 m
- Bus to Courmayeur, then the summer Val Veny shuttle bus to Freney/La Visaille.
- Parking at the trailhead
Stages
| Day | Stage | km | m ascent | m descent | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freney (Val Veny) → Rifugio Monzino | 4.6 | 1,038 | 0 | 4h 02m |
| 2 | Rifugio Monzino → Bivacco Eccles | 3.2 | 1,395 | 116 | 5h 17m |
| 3 | Bivacco Eccles → Picco Luigi Amedeo | 1.0 | 716 | 94 | 2h 42m |
Waypoints
- Parking: Freney (Val Veny)1,530 m
- Hut: Rifugio Monzino2,569 m
- Bivouac: Bivacco Eccles3,847 m
Upper bivouac (Lampugnani–Grassi, 7 places); the lower Crippa bivouac is wrecked
- Col: Col Émile Rey4,020 m
- Summit: Picco Luigi Amedeo4,469 m
Key Passages
- Via ferrata below the Rifugio Monzino
- Crevassed Brouillard glacier and the abseil near the Col du Fréney
- 50 m abseil from the Eccles bivouac over the bergschrund
- 45° couloir to the Col Émile Rey
- 80 m couloir/wall above the col (III, 4b)
Equipment
0/11 packedDownloads
Route confidence 69%Overview
A 4,469 m rock shoulder on Mont Blanc's Italian Brouillard Ridge, counted among the UIAA 4,000 m peaks but with under 40 m of prominence. It is reached from the remote Eccles bivouac via the Col Émile Rey and almost always climbed on the way to Mont Blanc.
Picco Luigi Amedeo (Pointe Louis Amédée in French) stands on the Brouillard Ridge, the long south-west ridge that climbs from the Col Émile Rey to Mont Blanc de Courmayeur and Mont Blanc, on the wild Italian side of the massif above Val Veny. It is a rock step on the ridge rather than a separate mountain, and its prominence is only about 40 m, but its steep walls above the Brouillard and Fréney glaciers, including the Red Pillar of the Brouillard, make it one of the more remote 4,000 m summits.
There is no easy way up. The usual line is the Brouillard Ridge from the unstaffed Eccles bivouacs at about 3,850–3,900 m: a 45° couloir to the Col Émile Rey, then an 80 m rock wall (III, 4b) and broken ground to the summit. Getting to the bivouac takes most of a day from the Monzino hut over the badly crevassed Brouillard glacier. Rockfall in the couloirs is serious and increases as the glaciers shrink.
Almost everyone continues along the ridge to Mont Blanc and descends by a normal route, so plan the climb as a three-day Mont Blanc ascent with Picco Luigi Amedeo on the way.
Climbing Notes
This is a committing high-mountain route for experienced alpinists: you need to be at ease on 45° snow and ice, on loose rock to UIAA III/4b with a pack at over 4,000 m, on crevassed glaciers, and with abseils. Be fully acclimatised before you start, ideally after a night or two above 3,500 m and another 4,000 m peak.
Typical itinerary: day one Val Veny (Freney) to the Rifugio Monzino (about 2½ hours, with a short via ferrata); day two Monzino to the Eccles bivouac (5–7 hours; carry food and gas, the bivouac is unstaffed and small); day three an early start to the Col Émile Rey, Picco Luigi Amedeo and on to Mont Blanc, then down by a normal route (if descending the Goûter route on the French side, the prefectoral hut-reservation rules apply). Many parties hire a Courmayeur guide. Go early in the season or in a cold spell: the couloir to the Col Émile Rey is sun-exposed and the glacier approach worsens as summer goes on.
History
The summit is named after Prince Luigi Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of the Abruzzi, the Italian mountaineer and explorer. It was first climbed on 20 July 1901 by the brothers Giuseppe Francesco and Giovanni Battista Gugliermina with the porter Joseph Brocherel, who reached it by its north-west spur during the first ascent of Mont Blanc by the Brouillard Ridge. The ridge from the Col Émile Rey was first climbed on 9 August 1911 by Karl Blodig, Humphrey Owen Jones, Geoffrey Winthrop Young and Josef Knubel, approaching from the west side of the col; the now-usual approach from the east (Eccles) side was first done on 28 July 1933.
Season
Best Jul- January: Not advisable
- February: Not advisable
- March: Not advisable
- April: Not advisable
- May: Possible
- June: Good
- July: Best (best window)
- August: Good
- September: Possible
- October: Not advisable
- November: Not advisable
- December: Not advisable
- Jan
- Winter; Monzino hut closed
- Feb
- Winter
- Mar
- Winter
- Apr
- Winter; steep-ski objective only
- May
- Snowy; the Brouillard glacier line was first skied on 24 May 2024
- Jun
- Monzino hut opens mid-June; glacier better filled, couloirs still snowy
- Jul
- Main season; start early for the sun-exposed couloir
- Aug
- Crevasses opening on the Brouillard glacier; more rockfall in heat
- Sep
- Monzino hut closes mid-September; glacier often difficult
- Oct
- Huts closed; early snow
- Nov
- Winter
- Dec
- Winter
Access & Permits
- Hut Booking
- Rifugio Monzino: info@rifugiomonzino.com, +39 0165 809553 or +39 333 9480629. The Eccles bivouac cannot be booked.
- Fees
- Rifugio Monzino: overnight fees (owned by the Courmayeur guides' society); sleeping-bag liner required
- The Eccles bivouac is free
- Rules
- If descending from Mont Blanc by the Goûter route, the Haute-Savoie prefectoral decree requires a reservation at one of the route's huts and ID; Saint-Gervais's minimum-equipment ordinance also applies on that route
- The lower Eccles bivouac (Crippa) has been unusable since at least 2022; only the upper Lampugnani–Grassi bivouac (about 7 places) can be used
- Getting There
Courmayeur (Aosta Valley, Italy)
Turin (TRN), Geneva (GVA) or Milan Malpensa (MXP)
- By car or bus to Courmayeur (through the Mont Blanc Tunnel from Chamonix, or via Aosta), then the Val Veny road to the Freney car park (about 1,560 m)
- In summer a shuttle bus runs up Val Veny from Courmayeur (timetable not verified for 2026)
Hazards
- Glacier
- Crevasses
- Rockfall
- Altitude
- Exposure
- Weather
- Remoteness
Huts & Shelters
2- 2,590 m
Rifugio MonzinoRefugeStaffed
55 beds · Staffed mid-June to mid-September; winter room with about 8 places
- 3,900 m
Bivacco EcclesBivouacUnstaffed
7 beds · Always open, unstaffed