The peak · FR/IT · Mont Blanc Alps
Grandes Jorasses — Pointe Hélène
4,045 m
Named after Hélène Walker, sister of Horace Walker, the climber after whom the highest summit of the Grandes Jorasses is named.
Coordinates45.8683° N · 6.9828° E
UIAA rank№ 68 / 82
CountriesFrance · Italy
Normal gradeAD · assez difficile
First ascent1898 · Luigi Amedeo di Savoia (Duke of the Abruzzi) with Joseph Petigax, Laurent Croux & César Ollier
Typical seasonJuly to August
A sub-summit on the west part of the Grandes Jorasses ridge, climbed together with Pointe Marguerite during the Duke of the Abruzzi's 1898 traverse.
Named for Hélène Walker, sister of Horace Walker — the English alpinist who in 1868 with Melchior Anderegg made the first ascent of the highest summit of the Grandes Jorasses (now Pointe Walker). The Walker party traversed several of the sub-summits on the way, and the alpine-club minutes of the period attached the Walker family names — Hélène and Marguerite — to two of them.
Summit · huts that serve as bases for routes on this peak
AD · assez difficile
Vertical / summit day2,650 m gain · 8h 30m
Fourth summit westward on the Jorasses ridge — a small bump in the crest between Croz and Marguerite. Bagged on the full traverse from Boccalatte, with the descent usually continuing past Pointe Marguerite to the Col des Grandes Jorasses and the Bivacco Canzio.
Huts on this route
- Refuge Boccalatte2,803 m