Courmayeur · Italy

Where three countries end

The summit at the head of this valley is Mont Dolent, 3,823 metres, and it possesses a peculiarity that cannot be seen: up there Italy, France and Switzerland end at the same point. Three national borders meet on a cap of snow where nobody lives and nobody inspects anything. There is no line drawn, no marker that counts for nine months of the year, and the snow marking the exact point changes shape every winter. The first ascent was in 1864: Edward Whymper with three guides, a year before the Matterhorn and the disaster that closed that era. From this hut, which is the end of the road and the beginning of the path, it can be made out clearly. It is the place where three countries cease to be an idea and become a mountain.

Go deeper

Who decided the border went there?

Nobody, in one go. Alpine borders were formed by successive agreements between different states over centuries, and mostly follow the watershed: the line from which water runs one way or the other. Mont Dolent is simply the point where three watersheds meet.

Can you reach the exact point?

Only by climbing the mountain, which is a genuine alpine route with ice and crevasses. It is not a walk. Anyone who walks well can reach the hut and the glacier below the face; beyond that you need equipment and the right company.

What can you see from the hut?

The Pré de Bar glacier coming down from the head of the valley in a very wide curve, and Mont Dolent above it. It is one of the most photographed glaciers in the Alps, and comparing pictures from a century ago with what is there now shows how far it has pulled back.

Where it is

Rifugio Elena, Val Ferret, 11013 Courmayeur · 45.88472, 7.06564 · Open in Maps

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