Aiguille de Bionnassay
| Aiguille de Bionnassay | |
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Summit, east ridge and glaciated north-west face of the Aiguille de Bionnassay
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 4,052 m (13,294 ft) |
| Prominence | 164 m (538 ft) |
| Isolation | 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi) |
| Coordinates | 45°50′09″N 06°49′05″E / 45.83583°N 6.81806°ECoordinates: 45°50′09″N 06°49′05″E / 45.83583°N 6.81806°E |
| Geography | |
 Aiguille de Bionnassay
Location in France, on the border with Italy
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| Location |
Haute-Savoie, Rhône-Alpes, France Aosta Valley, Italy |
| Parent range | Mont Blanc |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | 28 July 1865 by Edward N. Buxton, Florence Crauford Grove and Reginald S. McDonald, with guides Jean Pierre Cachat and Michel Payot. (north-west face). |
The Aiguille de Bionnassay (elevation 4,052 metres (13,294 ft)) is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif of the Alps in France and Italy. It has been described as "one of the most attractive satellite peaks of Mont Blanc", and is located on its western side. The mountain's south and east ridges form the frontier between the two countries, and its summit is a knife-edge crest of snow and ice. Reaching it via any route provides a "splendid and serious snow and ice climb".
Three significant glaciers originate on the slopes of the mountain: The Glacier de Bionnassay, the Glacier de Bionnassay Italien, and the Glacier de Miage.
The Glacier de Bionnassay is the most obvious glacial feature, arising on the north and north-west slopes of the Aiguille de Bionnassay as well as from the western side of the Dôme du Goûter and the Aiguille du Goûter. It descends for approximately 4.5 km, flowing north-westwards before turning north at the foot of the Nid d'Aigle to end some distance above the settlement of Bionnassay, continuing as the Torrent de Bionnassay. This hanging glacier on the north-west face of the Aiguille de Bionnassay provides a route of access for mountaineers with ice-climbing skills.
The Glacier de Bionnassay Italien arises from a cirque between the south eastern side of the Aiguille de Bionnassay, the Col de Bionnassay and the Calotte des Aiguilles Grises. It descends south-south west for 2.5 km below the Col Infranchissable, then turns south-east to merge with other glaciers, thence continuing as the Glacier du Miage (Ghiacciaio del Miage) – a total distance of approximately 9 km, forming the longest glacier in Italy.
The Glacier de Miage – not to be confused with the much larger Glacier du Miage on the Italian side (see above) – forms from snows collecting between the Aiguille de Tricot and the south-western face of the Aiguille de Bionnassay. The glacier descends in a south-westerly direction for approximately 2.5 km.
Florence Crauford Grove gave a detailed and wry account of his party's first 1865 ascent of the Aiguille Bionnassay in an article published in The Alpine Journal:
Two years before their ascent, Grove had stood in the Hotel Royal in Chamouni (Chamonix), trying to persuade two young ladies and their father, who were using a telescope to view the peaks around Mont Blanc, that a black dot on the summit snowfield was not a person, but a distant rock some hundreds of feet in height. By chance they espied a real group of climbers, appearing as extremely small dots making their way across the Dôme du Goûter. Attempting to devise for them some imaginary route by which they might have reached that point, Grove showed them the fine snow crest descending in a gentle curve from the sharp and still unclimbed summit of the Aiguille de Bionnassay. The thought then struck him that an expedition to the summit, with an exit down the eastern ridge towards the easy Dôme du Goûter might actually make a fine undertaking.
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Wikipedia