Mont Maudit: Küffner Ridge (Frontier Ridge)

Mont Maudit is located between Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Blanc at an altitude of 4465m. It is a very aesthetic little climbed summit when you do Mont Blanc via the traverse "3 Mont Blanc".

The Küffner ridge was climbed for the time first by Moritz von Küffner, Alexandre Burgener, Josef Furrer and an high-altitude porter.

To climb Küffner ridge, one must return to Bivouac de la Fourche. There are 2 ways: from Aiguille du Midi or Pointe Helbronner. From one of these two points head to Cirque Maudit, very wild and yet easily accessible.

View picture informationKuffner - Attaques

View picture informationKuffner Ridge

Approch3h

From Aiguille du Midi, descend the ridge completely to the E until the altitude of 3670m. From there, pass the bergschrund and go between the large Rognon and Pointe Lachenal. Then go completely S in the direction of Pyramide du Tacul and Pointe Adolphe Rey. Here you enter Cirque Maudit. Zigzag as much as possible between large crevasses while remaining not far from the rocks Roi de Siam and Petit Capucin. At height of Grand Capucin, the ground is less steep and less crevassed. You can then reach the middle of Cirque Maudit and head towards the base of the corridor leading to Col de la Fourche. You pass a bergschrund at the base of the corridor then go up it. It is rather steep, approximately 45 to 50° for 150m. This corridor leads to Col de la Fourche. You then reach the ridge of Brenva at the start of the Küffner ridge. From Col de la Fourche, while leaving on the left, you return to Bivouac de la Fourche via easy mixed terrain (50m). The refuge is located slightly below on the Italian slope.

The Ridge4 to 7 hours

From the bivouac, take the ridge which is initially snowy. You pass a small gendarme to continue then via mixed. A thin snow or ice ridge leads to the foot of the lower steep pitch of Küffner ridge. Climb just to the right from the ridge via an ice corridor to reach the ridge when it becomes snowy. Follow it as far as the summit of the steep pitch which forms a cornice. You arrive on a superb very exposed snowy ridge but not very steep which leads to the base of Pointe de l'Androsace.

You pass the Brenva slope, via a snow and rock slope (slings in-situ). Then go up a small corridor not too close to the rocks to reach the ridge. You arrive near the summit of Pointe de l'Androsace at a notch. A belay in-situ. Variant: One few scale the gendarme of l'Androsace by some steps of UK-4a /US-5.5. From the summit, a small rappel leads to the notch mentioned above. This small variant lengthens the route slightly. The notch forms a small platform which runs into the higher steep pitch. Go up this rather steep pitch via a corridor first straight then right and finally left to get to the NE ridge of Mont Maudit, 100m under the shoulder. From the shoulder and via a long corniced ridge, you reach the summit of Mont Maudit. If necessary, you can end the route at Epaule du Maudit.

Descent

For the descent, there is a small variant from the start. When your reach the NE ridge of Mont Maudit, via a steep slope on the N slope, you can escape and join the descent route of Mont Maudit at the level of the scoop of Col Maudit. From the summit of Mont Maudit, begin the descent to the SO, in the direction of Mont Blanc in order to pass a rocky bastion on the left. Rather steep slope. By a traverse to the left (looking at the slope, on the right when descending) and to the side, you reach the pass of Mont Maudit at 4345m. At this place, a wooden stake is generally in-situ to carry out a first rappel until a rock then a second rappel to pass the generally very open bergschrund. From there, descend towards Col Maudit. Be careful of certain threatening seracs. From Col Maudit you can easily reach the shoulder of Mont Blanc du Tacul. Around 4080m, descend completely N then in the direction of the base of the triangle of Tacul by passing successively 2 bergschrunds which can be steep depending on the conditions or the season. Be careful, the slopes of the normal Tacul route can be weighted with snow. From Col du Midi, you can easily reach Aiguille du Midi and the tram to return to Chamonix.