Mont Blanc Ascent Glossary
Written by Victor Michel — history enthusiast and passionate alpinist based in Chamonix. Published July 5, 2026 · Updated July 22, 2026
- Mountaineering
- Mountain practice combining travel on snow, ice, rock, altitude and exposed terrain.
- Normal route
- The most commonly used itinerary to reach a summit — this does not mean it is easy or without danger.
- Arête
- Often narrow ridge line connecting summits or high points.
- Couloir
- Steep depression in a face or slope that can channel snow, rockfall or ice.
- Serac
- Unstable block or structure of ice from a glacier, which can collapse.
- Crevasse
- Opening in a glacier, sometimes hidden by a snow bridge.
- Bergschrund
- A bergschrund — the German term used internationally, from the French "rimaye" — is the crevasse marking a glacier's upper boundary, where the moving ice pulls away from the fixed rock wall or firn above. Unlike an ordinary crevasse, which travels with the glacier's flow, it stays fixed in place: it marks the line between two separate masses. The umbrella term covers both the bergschrund proper (ice against fixed ice or firn) and the randkluft (ice against bare rock); internationally "bergschrund" is used for the whole feature. How hard it is to cross depends on its state: snow-covered, it passes without difficulty; otherwise climbers look for a snow bridge, which the lead climber probes with an ice axe before committing weight to it, or occasionally a ladder placed early in the season on heavily travelled routes. Late in the season the gap widens and the drop between its lower and upper lip grows, making the crossing markedly harder than in spring, when snow bridges are still firm.
- Roping up
- Technique of connecting the members of a roped party with a rope.
- Cramponing
- Travel using crampons on hard snow or ice.
- Ice axe
- Mountaineering tool used for balance, progression and certain safety maneuvers.
- Mountain hut (refuge)
- Mountain lodging used as a base for ascents.
- Acclimatization
- Progressive adaptation of the body to altitude.
- Roped party
- Group of mountaineers connected by a rope.
- Grand Couloir
- Famous passage on the Goûter normal route, known for its exposure to rockfall.
- Dôme du Goûter
- Snowy summit crossed on the Goûter normal route.
- Mont Blanc du Tacul
- Summit crossed or approached during the Trois Monts traverse.
- Mont Maudit
- Major summit on the Trois Monts traverse.
- Aiguille de Bionnassay
- Iconic summit and ridge in the Miage-Bionnassay sector.
- Vallot shelter
- Emergency shelter at altitude on the normal route itinerary.
