Goûter Route (Voie Normale)

The classic ascent of Mont Blanc and the most-climbed 4,000er route in the Alps — but a serious glacier climb (PD), not a trek. From the Nid d'Aigle tramway terminus (2,372 m) a mapped path climbs past the Rognes to the Refuge de Tête Rousse (3,167 m), then crosses the Grand Couloir — the most accident-prone rockfall corridor in the Alps — and scrambles the cabled Goûter ridge to the Refuge du Goûter (3,835 m). Above the refuge there is no fixed trail: a snow ridge over the Dôme du Goûter (4,304 m) to the Vallot emergency hut (4,362 m), then the exposed, corniced Bosses ridge over the Grande (4,513 m) and Petite Bosse (4,547 m) to the summit. Refuge reservation is legally mandatory (Saint-Gervais bylaw, checked on the mountain), and crampons, ice axe, helmet and rope are non-negotiable.