The night is coming to an end at the Refuge des Cosmiques (3613m) in the Mont-Blanc massif. The day begins to break on the eastern horizon, where the Grandes Jorasses and the Dent du Géant can be seen. The arch of the Milky Way displays its marvels between the Aiguille du Midi and the Refuge des Cosmiques. On the right, the Mont-Blanc du Tacul (4248m) towers over the landscape, with Jupiter and Spica farther away over the Dôme du Goûter (4304m). The headlamps of several groups of mountain climbers light up the seracs of Tacul, while others, members of the Refuge des Grands Mulets (on the rocky spur at the bottom right of the image), embark on the ascent of the Mont-Blanc.
My friend Eric Courcier, in the middle of a shoot, immortalizes our galaxy with the Refuge in the foreground and the Jorasses on the horizon.