Triangle du Tacul - Contamine - Mazeaud

Beautiful route to reach in an more original way the summit of Mont Blanc du Tacul, via a terrain slightly more technical than the normal route. Less travelled than its neighbour Goulotte Chéré.

Access

Go to Chamonix, then park at the Aiguille du Midi tram. In winter and in summer a booking the tram may prove essential. Telephone: 04 50 53 30 80. Reservations: 08 92 68 00 67.

Ascent

From the upper station of Aiguille du Midi, descend to Col du Midi (3532 m). Go up completely south towards Triangle du Tacul, to the left of the normal Mont Blanc du Tacul route. Go up the snow slope, on the right of the rocky spur descending very low completely in the centre of the face of the Triangle. From the summit of Aiguille it takes 45 minutes to 1h15.

Pass the bergschrund in its highest point to reach the summit of the snow slope. Avoid the rocky steep pitch by making a traverse in ascent towards the left until a small snow slope (60°). Continue straight, pass a small rock reigel (50 to 65°) and emerge on a broad snow or ice slope. Go up the slope vertically on two pitches then start an ascending traverse towards the right to reach a rocky shoulder on the ridge (maximum 55°). Climb the ridge on three easy mixed pitches without moving too far away from the edge of the ridge to easily reach the summit of the Triangle du Tacul. From the bergschrund to the summit of Triangle du Tacul takes 2h00 to 3h30.

It would be a shame not to finish this climb with in the summit of Mont Blanc du Tacul! It is easily reached by going up a small snow scoop until a snowy crest, then traverse to the right to reach the normal Tacul route (between the Shoulder and the summit). Via easy snow slopes then a short mixed climb, you reach the summit of Mont Blanc du Tacul. From the summit of the Triangle to the summit of Mont Blanc du Tacul takes 1h00 to 1h30.

Descent

The descent is carried out via the normal Mont Blanc du Tacul route from its summit, or by traversing to the west to reach it from the summit of Triangle du Tacul. Be careful of the snow conditions on this normal route, the face is often weighted and windy after long periods of bad weather. Then from Col du Midi, you quickly reach Aiguille du Midi for a fast descent by tram. From the summit of Mont Blanc du Tacul to l’Aiguille du Midi takes 2h00 to 3h00. From the summit of Triangle du Tacul to l’Aiguille du Midi takes 1h30 to 2h30.

Access to this facet is very fast via tram, but do not forget that you top out not far from 4000 m and 4248 m for Mont Blanc du Tacul.

The moderate difficulty and easy access make this a good route for improvement and acclimatization to altitude ground.

Get information on the stability of the snow, both for the facet itself, and for the descent route via the north face of Mont Blanc du Tacul.

• Accommodation This route can be done in a day. However, it is possible thus to spend the night at Cosmiques refuge and then take one of the multiple routes from Col du Midi. Telephone: 04 50 54 40 16.