Mont Blanc Expedition - The Italian route

In July 2020, just after graduating from our MBA program, our rock climbing venture team 'MAPO TAPO' decided to celebrate our INSEAD Venture Competition victory by summiting Europe's tallest peak - Mont Blanc. We chose the Italian route for Mont Blanc starting in Courmayer (less crowded, more scenic but also more technical and challenging compared to the French route).

On day 1 we walked from 1900m to 3000m to the Gonella mountain hut for about 4 hours. Reached there around lunch time, relaxed, had early dinner and slept from 8pm to midnight.

Had breakfast at midnight and we started the ascent at 12:45am. We were roped up in groups of 3, wearing helmets, crampons and with ice axes. We had to cross several technical parts - rock patches, exposed narrow ridges on snow and cross many crevices.

After 6km and 1800m of continuous ascent through snow, we summitted at 6:15am. The views were beautiful from the top, the sun had just risen and we saw so many mountains all around (and all below us). We saw a triangular shadow of Mont Blanc in a valley below.

It was an exhausting ascent, gained 1800m and and even tougher and tiring descent - 2500m through snow, rock patches and then some normal trails.

Our bodies were completely destroyed but it was an amazing experience!

Our team:
Edoardo Saccaro (Leader and Guide)
Stefano Fontanari
Alessia Fontanari
Daniele Calvo Pollino
Daniele Packard
Anuj Karkare

Shot on a Gopro Hero 7 Black and DJI Mavic Air 2 in 4K

Видео Mont Blanc Expedition - The Italian route канала Anuj Karkare