Petit Mont Blanc, from La Visaille

Introduction

From the enchanting basin of Lake Combal, at the foot of the Miage glacial tongue, via the steep ascent first of a detrital gully, then of an easy rocky ridge, nivo-glacial in the last stretch, we reach the summit of the most easily accessible peak of the entire Mont Blanc chain, from which we can nevertheless enjoy a superb breathtaking view of what is perhaps the most secluded, wild and at the same time majestic corner of the entire massif: precisely the west face of the "giant" of the Alps, with the extraordinary glaciers that cloak its rugged overhanging walls The itinerary can also be split into a 2-day tour, staying overnight at the Rainetto Bivouac (3/4 of the way up).

Description

After La Visaille, we park the car before the bar prohibiting vehicular access to the last stretch leading to Combal. On the left we immediately find a little path that goes into the woods nearby and allows us to "cut through" the first two hairpin bends of the cross-country road leading to Lake Combal; once the shortcut is over, we continue along the road, which is in places unpaved, in others still asphalted, and in about half an hour, right at its end, we reach the clearing where the Combal Bar is located
Warning: the bridge we met a little earlier, on the left, is only for going towards the Elisabetta refuge or beyond.
From there, we head towards the little path just in front, just before the building, which runs along the eastern shore of Lake Combal from above, in an evocative environment cheered by the whistles of the numerous marmots, until we reach the junction with the path to Rifugio Gonella (currently closed for renovation, as is the entire access route). We find ourselves under the orographic right moraine of the Miage glacier, kilometres of glacial tongue now entirely covered with mobile debris, where the ice can only be glimpsed below, among crevasses and moraine accumulations that are constantly changing due to the increasing melting. At this fork, we follow our route to the left, gradually ascending, at first even with long diagonals, the grassy slopes that descend from Mont Tseuc, upstream from the northern shore of Lake Combal. The terrain soon becomes rougher, the ascent steeper and more 'concentrated', gradually approaching the opening of the gully between the crest of Mont Tseuc and the Aiguille de Combal, which further up converge into the crest of Petit Mont Blanc. We thus reach the crossing of the stream that cuts through the gully, with wide views of the head of the Val Veny with the pointed silhouette of the Pyramides Calcaires. From here, the path becomes even steeper, climbing up the steep scree slope to the left of the stream, on increasingly treacherous and unstable terrain (especially on the descent, beware of loose stones from above), on an increasingly slender track (but always well signposted), crossing a delicate gully with caution, until we reach the first rocky outcrops where the gully narrows. Here we advance a few hundred metres further. Parallel to the looming rocky rib, until we come to a large snowfield in the middle between the two ridges: we cross it to the right, and then return left again, above the slabs that close the snowfield, following an evident rocky ledge that is quite wide. In the upper part, where the gully widens out into a funnel, and where ibexes (especially females with their young) are usually encountered, a new series of narrow bends, still on scree terrain, soon direct us to the attack of a sort of steep chimney with an almost entirely earthy bottom and an articulated rock flank. In years of heavy snowfall, and generally following a few days of cold precipitation, even in summer, we find it, even in August, cluttered with snow at the top. At its end, we finally come out near the first highly panoramic shelf: this is a veritable collar in the ridge descending from Petit Mont Blanc, which could, in the event of not too good weather or excessive tiredness, constitute a final destination in itself!
We continue northwards, accompanied by the yellow signs, to ascend the wide ridge in the direction of the bivouac, through passages on articulated rocks and ledges that are never too exposed (maximum grade II), interspersed with short terraces partly occupied by large patches of residual snow: all in an increasingly spectacular and grandiose environment.In about 45 minutes we complete this rocky section of the ridge, and, after a last oblique stepped couloir, at the edge of the slabs, we finally come out right next to the Rainetto bivouac, which we had already seen once from a little further down, in the vicinity of which very 'sociable' ibex females often stop, even in the presence of people.
Already from here, in the distance, we have a vast view that even reaches as far as Rutor, Gran Paradiso, and the peaks in French territory beyond the Col de la Seigne. To our right, the entire crest of the Brouillard al Bianco passes by us in a succession of wild spires; behind it, on a different plane, the highest peaks of the Aiguille Noire stand out; at the top of it all, the western face of the Bianco, in all its beauty and majesty On the left, the Aiguille des Glaciers with the glacier of La Lex Blanche.
From the large bivouac shelf, we proceed northwards, bypassing large boulders and small snowfields, slightly to the right, in the direction of the evident terminal chute of the glaciated ridge, limited to the left by a few rocky sections.
Here it is a good idea to always wear crampons, despite the more or less consistent layer of snow covering the slope. However, since this is a very wide stretch of ridge, especially in the first half, we will not find a single 'track' to follow, but numerous tracks; the important thing is to keep rather in the middle: the 'overhang' to the right towards the Miage glacier below is about 800m in direct depth, and to the left (La Lex Blanche) the drop is also considerable. As we ascend, the spectacular nature of the latter glacier becomes more and more impressive: the seracs and wide crevasses follow one another without interruption and, now that we can look down on them from above, we can better appreciate their size and breadth.
After the first steep slope, a more restful part of the shoulder awaits us, preceding the last section where the slope once again steepens (as well as narrowing a little). If the season is already well advanced (late August September generally), especially here we find a wide tongue of live ice, with no snow cover, and so we need to be more careful, especially on the descent, of course, as it is not convenient to go around it to the left (less steep but much more exposed and at greater objective risk). Another short flat section and we are almost at our destination: only one last 'jump' of elementary rocks, which can be circumvented to the right by track, separates us from the summit! From here, in addition to the exceptional 360° panorama, we now have a complete view of the entire border ridge from the Aiguille de Bionassay to the Dome to the formidable west face of Mont Blanc, with the famous ascent routes for the Aiguilles Grises, and the Rocher, from Quintino Sella. To our left, separated only by the glacier of Petit Mont Blanc, a close-up view of the first of the peaks of the Aiguille de Trélatête (whose alpine ascent is made from here).
The return, to be done more carefully in any case, offers beautiful views of the peaks and glaciers as a whole from top to bottom, as you glide towards the now familiar gully and finally the quieter Combal pastures.