With excellent alpine conditions, low winds, and my Mont Blanc counter for 2025 sitting at 9 summits, it made sense to make summit number 10 a special one. The conditions were excellent and I could see the good weather would end soon, meaning this might be one of my last big mountain days before winter settles in.
The Voie Royale is one of the longest and most beautiful routes to the summit of Mont Blanc. It takes in over 20km of technical terrain, around 4600m of elevation gain and takes most parties 3 days.
After a 3am start from Les Contamines, I spent the first couple of hours in the dark following old GPX files from friends. I wanted to arrive on the first summit at first light so I could begin the technical terrain in daylight. With a bit of luck I arrived on Aiguille de la Bérangère just before 7am, in the twilight.
Traversing the Dômes de Miage during sunrise was surreal, perfect ridges lit up in shades of pink and orange. This was probably the most fun section of the whole day, so good that I will be back again with my skis or wing to further explore the area.
By 9am I was at the Durier hut, starting to feel some fatigue, but full of psyche from the ridges so far. Shortly after, I arrived at the technical crux, around 50m of steep rock. Not my strong point in terms of terrain, so it felt pretty serious being there alone. I moved slowly and carefully, getting distracted only once by a vein of crystals slightly off route.
Around 11am I reached the summit of Aiguille de Bionnassay, took a few minutes to recompose, then started the literal knife edge ridge that leads to Piton des Italiens. The north side of the ridge was bulletproof ice, while the south side had already had a couple hours of sun and was warming up. I awkwardly moved along the ridge with my left hand and axe on the north side, and feet on the right side, being very, very careful, there was no room for mistakes.
This is where the real suffering began. Now above 4000m and totally exhausted, all I wanted to do was get my glider out on Dome du Gouter and fly home. But the end was in sight, and I wasn’t ready to give up. I joined the Mont Blanc normal route, very familiar territory, and ascended slower than ever before.
At 13:46 I arrived on the summit, totally spent and full of emotion. I bumped into a friend who had ascended the other side of the mountain and also hoped to fly down, we quickly exchanged stories before starting to get ready for the descent. I layered up, prepared my glider and launched over the monstrous south-west face. The 30 minute flight that followed was incredible, gliding peacefully over the endless ridges I had traversed that morning. I laughed and cried, thinking how lucky I was to be able to experience the mountains like this.
I soon landed back in Les Contamines, in a field only a short walk from my van. It took me a little under 12 hours, van to Mont Blanc to van. Mission complete.
This felt like the perfect conclusion to my summer alpine season, combining my endurance, climbing and flying skills into one mega mountain day.
