Mont Vélan, Alpine peak between Valais, Switzerland and Aosta Valley, Italy

Mont Vélan is a 3,727-metre summit of the Pennine Alps on the Swiss-Italian border, the highest point between the Great St Bernard Pass and the Grand Combin. Its northern flanks carry two large glaciers, the Glacier de Tseudet to the west and the Glacier de Valsoray to the east. The Vélan hut of the Swiss Alpine Club stands at 2,642 metres on the mountain's foothills.

Laurent Joseph Murith, a priest at the Great St Bernard Hospice and author of a botanical handbook to the Valais, set out on 31 August 1779 with two local hunters, Moret and Genoud. They slept one night en route and attacked the mountain from the Glacier de Proz, where Murith cut steps and hand-holds in an ice wall with a pointed hammer. He reached the summit and wrote to Horace-Bénédict de Saussure that he believed he had climbed one of the first great peaks ever ascended in Europe.

The name Vélan comes from the local Franco-Provençal patois, where it carried negative senses of domination ("wickedness", "crushing") and dark shades ("dark"). The Vélan hut, built at 2,642 metres on the mountain's foothills, belongs to the Geneva section of the Swiss Alpine Club and is used by climbers and hikers.

Climbers can approach from either the Swiss or Italian side, with routes requiring multi-day expeditions and climbing experience. Check local weather and snow conditions before planning your climb, as seasonal changes affect accessibility and safety.

Mont Vélan's name comes from the local Franco-Provençal dialect, where it carried negative meanings linked to domination ("wickedness", "crushing") and to dark shades ("dark"). The mountain separates the drainage basins of Valpelline and the Great St Bernard valley. Its rocks are mainly gneiss and schist, metamorphic rocks probably derived from sandy-clay sedimentary deposits of the Grand St Bernard nappe.