Bonatti Couloir, Petit Mont Blanc.
- Dave Searle
- Mar 23
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 23
The Bonatti Couloir on the Petit Mont Blanc tucked in the top corner of the Italian Alps is a true European classic. This deep, north east facing, 1000m / 3000' couloir looks square onto the gigantic west face of Mont Blanc (often referred to as the himalayan face) giving a superb ambiance and often holding good snow due to its sheltered nature. It should be high up on any adventurous skiers list but at the grade of 5.2 it's still a serious undertaking! Truly this is the Godfather of all couloirs (certainly in the Alps).
Over the years it's lost a lot of its year-round snow / ice so it does feel steeper, narrower and more serious than it used to but it still gets skied every season but mostly by people from the local Heli operation. It's worth dropping in there to ask them about it as they may have had eyes on it on the way into skiing other lines and they can also tell you if they have any bookings for it over the day you plan to do it.
It's best done in the early spring when conditions are stable and there is a good amount of snow banking out the couloir. Ideally you'll find some good powder but it is steep enough that when it's cold the powder falls down and leaves runnels and hard snow patches.
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