Description of the route

The Brenva valley glacier is the second largest on the Italian side of Mont Blanc with a surface area of about 7 square kilometers and about 6,700 meters long. it is formed in a majestic circle enclosed between Aiguille-Noire-de-Peuterey, Aiguille-Blanche-de-Peuterey, Mont Blanmc, Mont Maudit, Tour Ronde and Aiguille-de-la-Brenva.

From this spectacular collection basin, ice falls to the valley narrowing near Pierre-à-Moulin, roche moutonnée and gentle surfaces, from which an enormous ice-fall drops to regroup later in a rather even tongue. It is one of the most famous and most studied glaciers in Valle d’Aosta. According to legend, a village called Saint-Jean-de-Purtud once stood where the large left side moraine now extends but was destroyed by the glacier’s progressive shift.

The glacier is now in a clearly regressive phase, a trend shared by all the other glaciers on Mont Blanc.