30 June 2012
This
years Alps trip was a bit of a mixed bag with unsettled stormy weather
across Europe. We arrived in hot sunny weather and raced up to the Midi
station in the hope of getting a route done but had to contend with (due
to cable car times) a quick walk on the Vallee Blanche. The weather
report was spot on and it rained for 48 hrs leaving many teams stranded
in high huts. We were lucky enough to beat a retreat to Annecy for coffee
and cake.
 |
| Craig on the upper Vallee Blanche |
|
|
|
|
With
a short weather window we climbed the uber-classic Cosmic arête
arriving on the midi viewing platform to the applause of the surprised
Japanese tourists. Lots of pictures were taken and we felt like
conquering hero's with one man telling his companions that we climbed
Mont Blanc and another Everest. We spent the afternoon at the 'guides
crag' climbing 3 pitch bolted routes, fantastic.
 |
| Mark with the walk of death behind... its steeper than it looks .... |
 |
| Midi Plan traverse stretching out in front of us |
 |
Low down on the Cosmic Arete
 |
| Rigging the abseil |
|
 |
Abseiling the Great tower
 |
| The difficult crack |
|
 |
| The piton Sud |
 |
| Looking across to Italy and the Dent du Geant |
With high winds the following day the Midi cable car was closed so we headed up La Flégère-Index to climb la Chapelle de la Gliere on the Aiguilles
Rouges. We managed 4 pitches before the rain and wind caught us up. We
rethreaded a found peg with some 6mm cord, backed this up and Craig was
lowered into the mist to see where it went. It went and we continued to
abseil to the base and back to the valley for more cake and coffee.
 |
Another bail...
|
The next day with an am weather window we decided to climb the Chevalier Couloir on Petite Aiguille Verte. The bergschrund
was difficult and by the time we established ourselves on pitch one the
sun was working its magic on the upper slopes and
we were in the firing line for small stones and rocks whizzing past us
like bullets. We bailed and headed for home. This was not without its
dangers as the snow was now soft on the glacier ...
 |
| Chevalier Couloir |
 |
| Argentiere glacier |
|
The CLAG in the Chamonix Valley was just above the tree’s for the
remaining days so we contented ourselves checking out other climbing and
biking venues in the Haute Savoie.
Good to meet Bill (simply Epic team mate) and Eileen in the happy bus on our last evening for dinner, beer and stories...
Sounds epic indeed. Lowering into the mist is very scary, rather you than me. I think for that couloir you need to make an Alpine start and be well established before sunrise. Still it could be worse after hearing the news of at least six dead and two missing on Mont Maudit this morning. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDelete