Monte Bianco: Under and above the glacier

Once upon a time, the mountain was known as “Mont Maudit”, meaning “cursed mount” and was the eternal dwelling of monsters and evil spirits feared by the inhabitants of the small villages nestled on the mountain’s slopes. That was until the day, as the legend goes, Mont Maudi became Mont Blanc (“White Mountain”) when a powerful wizard who had travelled from the east disguised as a passer-by, thanked the locals for their hospitality by imprisoning the evil spirits under a thick blanket of snow and ice.

The charm and magic of the numerous legends of Mont Blanc, a gigantic granite rock at 4819,45m high, has attracted adventurers and explorers such as Balmat and Paccard, who at exactly 18.23 on August 8 1786 was the first to reach its peak, marking the birth of mountain climbing.

Successively its became one of the most sought-after destinations, mainly thanks to the eccentric novelist and journalist Albert Smith, who, after having taken part in the eighteenth ascension to the “roof of Europe” in 1851, transformed his experience into a theatre show at Piccadilly Circus, which a display of table games, tales, songs, ice-creams and cream desserts, launching a trend of mountaineering in Victorian London.

Today this celebrated ascension is possible with the convenience of a six consecutive cable-cars. The first departs from la Palude, in Courmayer, arriving at Pavillon du Mont Fréty (2173m). The second ascends to Rifugio Torino (3375m), and finally Punta Helbronner (3462m), where it is possible to visit the crystal exhibition. From here expert skiers can descend until Chamonix, situated on the northern slopes of France; less experienced skiers can proceed by cable-car. The fourth cable-car horizontally crosses the glacier for a good 5km and arrives in Aiguille du Midi (3842m), the fifth descends to Plan de L'Aiguille (2137m), and the last to Chamonix.

A tour of the Mer de Glace, the second Glacier of the Alps, which is 7km long and 200m thick, departs from Chamonix by rack railway which was inaugurated in 1908 and takes 25 minutes to get to Montenvers, a village partly in the mountains situated at the end of the Glacier. Here a cable runs directly to Grotta di Ghiaccio (Ice Grotto), sculptured each year since 1946, next to the glacier.