Ski Mountaineering in the Mont Blanc Massif

Combining paragliding with other sports, such as rock climbing or even mountaineering, is the goal of many mountain enthusiasts.

Snow, glaciers, rock, air masses… Playing with the elements to reach the summits is the favorite pastime of Pierre Fornes and Hugues Bonnel, who had a blast doing just that on Tuesday, October 10, 2023.

Hugues shares his account of this adventure with us…

"How about we fly there?"

Pierre Fornes - Family Pilot

L’Envers des Aiguilles: a magical name that, for any climber, sounds like the promise of spectacular granite and a fun climb. Fun… Yes! But only once you reach the refuge, because the route is long and the ascent is grueling. And the worst part is that the descent takes just as long, with the constant worry of missing the Montenvers train!

Okay, let's start from the beginning…

Photo of Hugues Bonnel flying a Supair LEAF3 in the Mont Blanc massif

While flying in the Mont Blanc massif is prohibited in July and August, it is indeed permitted the rest of the year. That’s all it took for Pierre to think, “What if we flew there?”

The idea is simple, though daring: take off from the summit ofthe Aiguille du Midi, land on the Trélaporte Glacier—just a few steps from the Tour Rouge —climb it, take off again from the bergschrund, and head to Chamonix, landing at the Bois du Boucher.

We plan to climb“Le Marchand de Sable,”a timeless local classic that was first ascended in the summer of 1983 by Michel Piola and Gérard Hopfgartner. However, the route’s name is misleading, and we’ll need to stay wide awake for the descent onto the glacier, which is already quite dry at this time of year.

Pierre is used to flying in high mountains and to tricky takeoffs. For me, it’s a little less straightforward. I’ve flown before, but after a paternity leave that lasted nearly a decade, I’m still getting back into the swing of things and I’m not as calm as Pierre!

Since we’re based in the Aosta Valley, we’re evaluating the various takeoff options, but a quick glide ratio calculation confirms what we already suspected: we have no choice but to take off fromthe Aiguille du Midi.

This means, therefore, that the first obstacles to overcome are the logistical challenges posed by the nightly closure of the Mont Blanc Tunnel for construction work, the crowd at the entrance to what is now Europe’s most popular ski lift, and, above all, the wind direction at takeoff for flying down the south face and descending the Vallée Blanche.

Still, October 10 looks promising: the wind is forecast to be very light at all altitudes, despite a slight northerly trend. Indeed, once we arrived at the Aiguille takeoff site at 8:30 a.m., we noticed this distinct northerly trend.

This raises the question of the return flight to Chamonix: do we have enough agility and, above all, enough speed to handle the breeze? Our ultralight wings don’t seem cut out for these conditions, so we opt for higher-performance wings: the Savage for Pierre and the Leaf3 for me. Since, in theory, we won’t need to walk, we also equip ourselves with reversible harnesses to benefit from airbag protection when landing on the glacier.

Photos by Hugues Bonnel of the takeoff beneath the Marchand de Sable

Once we’d overcome these initial logistical hurdles, we were finally ready for takeoff fromthe Aiguille du Midi. The north wind was blowing strongly, so we wouldn’t be taking off toward the south, as originally planned. Since we had no choice but to take off toward the north, we could no longer hope to have the glide ratio needed to cross into the Vallée Blanche via the Col du Plan. Fortunately, thanks to our choice of wings, we managed it without any trouble!

The rest of the expedition went smoothly. The landing, which I had dreaded so much, ultimately took place under excellent conditions. We touched down on a narrow but perfectly flat strip of snow, facing the shelter in the downslope breeze.

As for the climbing, it was absolutely amazing! Both in terms of the quality of the climb and the beauty of the scenery. In short, this route really blew us away.

To get going again, we decided to climb about 100 meters higher than the starting point of the Marchand de Sable route so we could take advantage of a flat section halfway up the bergschrund of the classic Grépon and République routes.