Mountain landscape - Europe

Kuffner ridge and Mont Maudit

Face-on unfortunately in this photograph, but clearly visible in the centre of the image, above Cirque Maudit, is the north-east ridge ridge of Mont Maudit (aka the Kuffner ridge after Moritz von Kuffner, an Austrian brewer who led the first ascent of the ridge in 1887, or sometimes ‘Frontier ridge’ due to its location on the border between France and Italy). The Alpine Club has shared apparently a view that it is “one of the finest ridge climbs in the Alps”. A common ascent in the past I understand was via the cirque in view, up terrain equivalent to perhaps Scottish winter grade II/III technicalities, which included an overnight stay at Bivouac Fourche, a rudimentary hut that was precariously positioned on the narrow ridge, about “the size of a small garden shed”. The hut unfortunately fell to the glacier in 2022 as a result of rockfall. Today’s primary means of accessing this classic alpine route that leads to the summit of Mont Maudit I understand is via the Torino Hut and Pointe Helbronner (well out of view to the left of this photograph, and perhaps c.2.5 hours away).

Sources: Mark Seaton, UKClimbing and others