The Grand Capucin is an extraordinary granite pinnacle in the Mont Blanc massif. It is an outrider of Mont Blanc du Tacul and rises abruptly from the upper rim of the Geant glacier. A huge triangular overhang, which resembles the hood of a Capucin monk, crowns its summit and gives the peak its name. The sheer east face, studded with enormous overhangs, looms over the Mer de Glace and can nowdays be seen at close quarters from the cable car that connects the Aiguille du Midi with the Pointe Heilbronner, which carries tourists across the Vallee Blanche between France and Italy. The east wall of the Grand Capucin appears unclimable and was regarded as the very essence of the impossible until Walter Bonatti finally succeeded in climbing it in 1951.
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| Grand Capucin |