Looking up from Chamonix to the Aiguille du Midi, Vadim asks, “Is there a route up there we can do together Hans?” Of course I immediately thought about the Frendo Spur, number 62 in the “100 best of” by Gaston Rébuffat. Anyone out there collecting points from this classic guide to the Mont Blanc Group? Without even looking at it beforehand, I realized we did 3 this week- 23, 42, and 62!

We took the second lift of the morning from Chamonix, arriving at the mid station of Plan de l’Aiguille at 7AM. From here, it’s about 45 minutes to the base of the route. The neve steepens, and one wants to traverse right to stay out of the line of fire from the seracs above, to the left of the Frendo spur. There was still good, hard snow on the two initial ramps, allowing us rapid progress up. At some point, as the second ramp steepens, one goes right, up some steep blocks and chimneys over something called the râteau de chévre. I never did find it, instead settling on the excellent Hawaiian Variant. A couple of moves on hands and knees near the end of this fine variant, and we were in the sun on the other side of the spur. From here, we climbed quickly together on super mellow terrain. It was fun to scramble rapidly up, gaining lots of height with each step. When the rock steepend, we scooted left again and found more good scrambling and a few nice moves of 3+ – 4. The key passage at the tiny col was a quite obvious dihedral blocked by a little overhang on its left. Three pitons allowed us to French Free this is fine style. Then we pitched out 4-6 rope lengths on super nice rock. A super hard aid move to get over a silly block, of which no guide book ever mentioned, got us on a line to get around even further left and within view of the final snow and ice pitches. Putting crampons on again, we climbed together up the steep knife ridge. As it steepened and the ice became more apparent under the snow, I slapped in a screw and started running out pitches again. The ice was superb! It felt like the finest icy desert to an already fine meal of rock. My Nomics were happy to sink their teeth into some alpine ice after months sleeping under Anya’s bed.

We stepped over the top, into another world. Climbers all over the place, heading up to the Midi lift, heading down to the Cosmique hut, people talking, carabiners clinking, full-on sun… and the lift to take us back down to Chamonix for beer and a Chinese meal! And all this just to save on the lift pass from the mid-station to the top!!!

Descending into in the Larch forests filling the valley floor, I’m aware of the dwindling roar of the cascading waters from the Freney and Brouillard glaciers and conscious of the birds, the trickling water and soft sounds of my feet on the pine needles of the forest bed. Spending a few days high in these hills, and sleeping in these friendly Italian huts, provides one with such a fine feeling of alpine environments. It’s not until you return to the valley floor that you become fully conscience of the sights and sounds that have been with you.

Vadim is back with more intriguing stories of Moscow, Russia, and trips to South America and more. He is so interested in peoples of other cultures, how they prepare their food, the plants they use, and how they cope with different situations. It’s a luxury for me to spend time with him.

We climbed the Ottoz route on the Aiguille Croux from the Refugio Menzino, a 13 pitch, pure rock route, to get acclimatized for our 4000er, the Grand Jorasses. With a maximum move of 6a, this route has an alpine feel to it, yet with only and hour and a half approach from the hut. Armando, the guardian,  is super nice, and has great tips for doing many great climbs from here, including some of the wild routes to the top of the Mont Blanc.

Conditions on the Jorasses were excellent. The huge area of seracs, which discourages many from heading this way, did not look too menacing. And I’d spotted a line from our previous outing that took us left of the main group of seracs. We climbed to the unguarded hut of Bocalatte in three hours the first day. What a pleasure it was to be completely alone in this part of the Alps. While climbers are scrambling all over themselves on the popular routes, we were all alone in this hut. A tiny MSR stove and a bit of pasta kept us satisfied, eating our dinner looking over the glacial ice tumbling down beneath our feet.

We got going the next day at a leisurely 5 AM, with dawn fully cracked. The snow on the glacier was nicely crampon-able, and the rock on the Rocher du Reposoir was warm and dry. A few moves of 3+ got us up and over towards flatter terrain and then onto a snowy ridge. A little serac blocked our traverse to the second rock rib descending from the Whymper, so I was happy to have my “piolet traction” to help me up this little vertical step. The rest of the route to the top was real straight forward. It was magnificent to look own into France, with all her glaciers winding away. Thanks for the trip Vadim!

We climbed this pretty summit on the Swiss, French and Italian border under a perfect blue sky. Though not technically difficult, fantastic views abound. We spent the night at the Fiorio bivouac to break the climb into a couple small chunks. It is a cute little hut, reminding me of what most of these alpine huts used to all be like. Take a cook stove, food and a couple of spoons to prepare your own food since this bivi is not guarded.

Carla and I climbed the Dent Blanche in the Val d’Hérens yesterday under clear blue skies and a light SW breeze. This was Carla’s 2nd 4000er in 2 days! Bravo!

We climbed quickly to the hut in just over 4 hours Monday, and made the summit in just over 3 hours the next day. But it is still a long day, arriving back at the car at 3 that afternoon.

The climb is a real nice variety of tasks, involving crampon changes several times, as one goes from ice to rock. The route finding is real straight forward as it is getting very well worn. There is some very steep and exposed climbing on good rock, but all very well protected, with either new bolts or rock spurs. Though the climb is not very difficult, one needs good rope skills to make the climb safe. The views along the climb and at the top were phenomenal.

Ingrid, the hut warden, is an exceptionally nice women. I was so impressed with her easy going style, chatting nicely with most every one, even though she had a million and one things to do. A climb just to the hut itself is a worthy task!

Vadim and I spent a few days in the Chamonix valley, climbing some classics, and traversing the iconic Drus. This long climb from the Charpoua Hut, goes up to the Flammes de Pierre, across the SE face of the Petit Dru, over the Grand Dru, then down a series of recent rappels to the Charpoua Glacier. We were lucky enough to have good weather, allowing us to do the climb on a warm and calm day. Checking out the Charpoua Glacier the evening before, we found a nice direct line through the seracs, even so late in the season. Traversing the ramp and climbing to Flames de Pierre in the dark unroped, got us to the ridge at daybreak, 2 hours from the hut. Finding the series of chimneys, sandy couloirs, and steep cracks for the next few hours became a fun game of choosing the most appealing line and the easiest way up! The infamous Z up the Grand Drus was not as difficult as expected, but the iced up chimney above was certainly quite a feat with the back pack getting stuck every few centimeters!

The line of rappels down from the East Ridge of the Grand Dru were quickly found, and provided a fine way to get off the peak. They lead to the little gorge which spits out all the debris of the East Face onto the Charpoua Glacier. Knowing this allows you to imagine where the next rappel station is, as they are placed in very logical places, allowing a climber protection from falling rocks as she pulls her ropes. We were lucky to not get any of our ropes stuck!!! (A real good guide book for this and other routes around the Mont Blanc is the Jean-Louis LAROCHE – Florence LELONG “Ascensions au pays du Mont-Blanc”)

We finished our trip with the classic Rébuffat route on the South Face of the Aiguille du Midi. What a contrast to the remote and quiet Charpoua Basin. There were people everywhere: literally crowds on the Arête des Cosmique, people cruising the Valley Blanche, and crowds of tourists gazing at us as we rapped down onto the Midi platform, though amazingly enough, we were alone on our route. A quick cable ride got us to the valley floor in under an hour. Talk about contrasts!

Continue reading →

We headed to the end of our Val duBagnes for a bit of Autumn climbing, and got a real nice Himalayan experience. This area is so wild and beautiful. There are so few visitors here, that you get the feeling you are far from civilization. The glaciers are big, and the North walls were rimmed with snow from the past week’s storm. Cramponing on the lower glaciers was on perfect, frozen snow. High up, we had the ambiance of a mid-winter climb. Temperatures were real mild, so we were able to go light and stay warm. The Foehn is with us now. 0 degrees is at 4000 meters! Climbing on the North Face of the Pierre Avoi yesterday was warm and comfortable in a t-shirt! This fine weather will deteriorate over the weekend, bringing us rain for most of next week. Temperatures will drop 9 degrees.