User:Nick Moyes/sandbox/MBM


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Note: From time to time this user sandbox page may contain a copy from the main Mont Blanc massif article (which I converted from a simple List of summits) in order to assist with re-structuring, prior to re-applying for FA status. All feedback re FA status was incorporated in that article, apart from a recommendation to reorder the sections. I plan to do experiment with that new layout in this userspace, but the page is not yet changed as I did get rather burned out, and intend to return to it later to pick up the FA ambition for this article.

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INSERTED: The Mont Blanc massif is accessible by road from within France via the A40–E25, or from Switzerland via Martigny and the Forclaz pass (1527 m), or via Orsières to reach the Swiss Val Ferret. From within Italy the A40 from Aosta leads to Courmayeur, as does the higher mountain route from Bourg-Saint-Maurice via the Col du Petit St. Bernard (2188 m). The massif can be quickly crossed in a north – south direction via the 11.6 km long Tunnel du Mont Blanc which connects Chamonix and Courmayeur. It took twenty years to construct and opened to vehicle traffic in 1965.

INSERTED: The massif contains 11 main summits over 4000 m in altitude, as well as numerous subsidiary points above this height. Crowning the massif is Mont Blanc (4808.73 m), the highest mountain in the Alps and in western Europe.

INSERTED: The summit of Mont Blanc is an ice cap whose thickness varies from year to year. From the summit of Mont Blanc to the River Arve near Chamonix there is a 3800 m drop over a distance of just 8 km.

INSERTED: Because of its great elevation, much of the massif is snow- and ice-covered, and has been deeply dissected by glaciers. The Mer de Glace is the longest glacier in the range as well as the longest in France and the second longest in the Alps. The debris-covered Miage Glacier on the southern side of the massif is the longest in Italy.

INSERTED: A large part of the massif is covered by ice fields and is cut by numerous glaciers, mostly flowing northwestwards on the French side; southeastwards on the Italian side and eastwards on the Swiss side. With much steeper slopes on the Italian side, many glaciers drop very sharply and some, such as the Miage Glacier and the Brenva Glacier, are very heavily covered in rock debris. The massif is itself defined by broad valleys which formed along fault lines and which have subsequently been shaped by ice during the last glacial period of the ice age.

INSERTED: The Aiguille du Midi Cable Car in Chamonix attracts 500,000 people each year and gives views over much of the massif, and up towards Mont Blanc itself. From Chamonix it rises to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi at 3842 m, and holds the world record for the highest vertical ascent of any cable car (2807 m).


 * 1) The Vallée Blanche Cable Car is normally used by visitors travelling from one or other of the tourist centres of Chamonix or Courmayeur and gives views over the glaciated regions of the massif. It crosses the massif in a roughly north – south direction and connects the Aiguille du Midi with the Point Helbronner, each of which can themselves be reached by téléphérique from Chamonix and Courmayeur, respectively.

IMAGES

 * Carte Mieulet Mont Blanc+frontispice.jpg

Geography FAs to read

 * Bath, Somerset
 * Falkland Islands
 * Joppenbergh Mountain
 * Mount St. Helens
 * Mount Tambora
 * Trout Creek Mountains
 * Roxy Ann Peak
 * Death Valley National Park
 * Glacier National Park (U.S.)
 * Mauna Kea
 * Mauna Loa
 * Nevado del Ruiz
 * Skye
 * Yosemite National Park
 * Yellowstone National Park

Principle cols are Col de la seigne and Col du Bonhomee in the Pennine Alps south of MB, Cole de Balme and Col de Ferret int he same chain N of MB; ref The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of ..., Volumes 7-8

The massif can be divided into several areas:

the Domes of Miage and Tré la Tête; the central group, comprising the summit of Mont Blanc itself; the Aiguille Verte, the Drus; the Chamonix Aiguille, from the Aiguille du Midi to the Aiguille de Grand Charmoz; the Grandes Jorasses ; the Aiguille d'Argentiere.

Plants

 * Chamonix and the range of Mont Blanc; a guide by Whymper, Edward, 1896
 * flora and fauna article