Valle di Chamonix — Aiguilles Rouges
Tour du Mont Blanc — Stage 9: La Flégère → Les Houches
14.6 km
+334 m
−1492 m
7 h
Fitness level
Map & route
GPX track — verify on the ground before hiking
Description
From La Flégère the Grand Balcon Sud continues to Planpraz and climbs to the Col du Brévent and the Brévent summit (2,525 m), the classic viewpoint over the whole north face of Mont Blanc. A long descent past the Bellachat hut leads to Les Houches (1,007 m).
The last great French balcony is also the highest: from Planpraz you climb through reddish scree to the Col du Brévent and on to the summit, where the cable-car station shares space with one of the most photographed panoramas in the Alps — the whole of Mont Blanc, from the Goûter to the Jorasses, with the Bossons glacier plunging valleywards. The descent is long and knee-testing, past the Bellachat refuge and down through forest to Les Houches. A sun-exposed stage with almost no water: full bottles and an early start.
Earth sciences
Geology & landscape
The Mont Blanc massif is a Hercynian granite batholith (~300 million years old) uplifted by the Alpine orogeny: the pale Mont Blanc granite — the “protogine” — forms the Peuterey and Géant spires. At its feet the tour walks on older crystalline basement rocks (gneiss and micaschist) and, in Val Veny, on the Mesozoic limestones of the Pyramides Calcaires, a sliver of sedimentary cover pinched between the granites. The Miage and Brenva moraines are textbook examples.
History & culture
From the Brévent in 1786 Horace-Bénédict de Saussure scanned the route for the first ascent of Mont Blanc through his telescope: the summit opposite was reached by Balmat and Paccard on 8 August that year.
Water sources
Water at the stage's support points (La Flégère, Les Houches). On the high ground and at the passes springs are not guaranteed: fill bottles in the valley and at the huts.
Getting there
Cross-border stage: on the foreign sides local public transport applies (PostAuto in Switzerland, line buses in France/Piedmont). Check seasonal timetables; in peak season several access links run by reservation only.
Warnings
- Check the weather: long high-altitude stages with few escape routes
- Book overnight stops in peak season
Start & end
Start
La Flégère
1883 m
Finish
Les Houches
1006 m
Adjacent stages
ACurated and verified by Andrea
Data source: Tour du Mont Blanc — itinerario internazionale segnalato · Traccia calcolata su rete sentieri OpenStreetMap (ODbL); verificare sul terreno
Last verified:
Valle di Chamonix — Aiguilles Rouges
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