Chamonix Climbing and Skiing Conditions

Cascade de Bellevue

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:01:00 +0000

With it getting tough to find good and safe skiing, we decided today to cave in and see what this ice climbing lark is all about. The original plan was the Col des Montets but when we arrived there wasn’t any ice so after some deliberation we decided to head down to Les Houches and do the Cascade de Bellevue. I’d done the route years ago but with it already being early afternoon (you can’t rush breakfast when going ice climbing) we were short of alternatives and so headed off.

Although “only” WI3, the route rarely forms, and can be quite sporting unless it is really well frozen. As it turned out the first pitch was pretty solid, and the second pitch looked to be similar but turned out to be hollow, insecure and a good reminder of why winter is for skiing. Still, the route is in a stunning, peaceful little gorge (“Une ambiance tranquile” as the guidebook puts it) and in good nick is a really fun climb, but I think it’s probably best left until next winter given current conditions.

I’m back in Marrakech now and will be here for 2 weeks, so no blogging for me a fortnight or so. Spring is always my favourite time of year in Cham though so when I get back this blog will hopefully be full of tales of epic spring skiing, the odd alpine route, early season BBQs, and maybe even some rock climbing. Bring it on.

Looking up at the 2nd pitch.

With water running just under the surface of the ice on the direct finish I scurried out right. Nez is seen here carrying on straight up and maybe living to regret it (?)

Les Contamines

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:25:00 +0000

Although we've had a huge amount of snow this year, there have also been almost constant high winds, meaning that the good snow is not always that simple to find. In the last week it's got even tougher as the winds have begun to move around, and I've heard reports of bad snow where I was really expecting good stuff. This meant that our criteria for skiing yesterday was - low down (less wind), not tracked out (it hasn't snowed for a week or so), not too much uphill (obviously), no terrain traps, and interesting skiing.

We decided to go for Les Contamines and ended up having a great day, albeit with only a bit of powder but plenty of fun. We were intending to do a tour from the top of the lifts, but with the pistes deserted we took the unusual step of skiing the corduroy for a few runs, and we all agreed that skiing the pistes at high speed is truly terrifying if you really go for it. I think steep skiing is pretty tame compared to the thought of catching an edge doing 50 mph on a piste!

We then skinned up off a lift for an hour or so in search of a good couloir but were rewarded with some terrible crust so we retired back to the pistes to reconsider. Our original idea for a tour was facing the same aspect as the little couloir we skied (North East), and the approach looked a bit avalanche prone, so we opted to just drop into the trees below the resort and find a way out. Expecting a bit of adventure we actually ended up with some of the best tree skiing I've done all winter and some superb powder, making us all wish that we'd just skied the trees all day! You live and learn.

Conditions seem very strange right now, and there was a huge amount of avalanche activity in Contamines, primarily on SE facing slopes, but the avalanche forecast is saying that all aspects are of equal risk right now. The winds have also returned with a vengeance up high, so after ruling out various ski options, as well as an alpine route (I tend to leave climbing in high winds and minus 30 to other, tougher people), we're actually going ice climbing. I was hoping to make it through a whole winter without doing a water ice route, so I'm slightly ashamed, but there are 5 of us going so there should be plenty of banter. Wish me luck!

Matt earning his crust turns, with the Domes des Miages behind.

Me at the top of Les Contamines lift system. "This is miles better than ice climbing!!"

Me in the trees low down. Photo Matt "Oil and Gas, Baby!" Livingstone

Plan de L'Aiguille

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:08:00 +0000

Over the last 10 days I've been to Morocco, caught man flu and had my car die on me, all of which has added up to me not skiing for almost 2 weeks - an unacceptable state of affairs by any measure. I finally managed to get out today and did 3 laps off the Plan de L'Aiguille, finding some fantastic snow in places and some pretty full on bushwhacking/tree skiing.

We skinned up to the top of the ridge which comes down from the Blaitiere for our first lap, but after that we just skied the lift as my man flu began to tell, and there was plenty of good snow to be had without skinning anyway.

Having caught the last Midi bin up we finished the day by skiing the final tree run to a well earned beer, with the orange glow of the sunset covering the Valley. It's good to be back.

Looking over to Le Tour and Switzerland

Tristan below the Blaitiere

Cham baby!

Matt owning it.

Plan de L'Aiguille at 4pm, amazing sunset about to begin.

Les 3 Cols

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:37:00 +0000

The weather in Cham has been pretty unsettled for the last 10 days or so, but with one good day forecast before the clouds rolled back in, everyone was keen to get out. Will and I fancied a descent of the Y Couloir on the Aiguille d’Argentiere, and recruited Peter to come along with us. However, having got to the top of the Grand Montets we quickly realised that the SE facing Y couloir would have so much snow that it would take us days rather than hours to climb it. We considered dropping in from above after climbing the Milleu Glacier instead, but with the potential for massive avalanches we weren’t too keen on going in with no knowledge of conditions in the couloir.

Ever resourceful we thought that the SE Couloir of the Chardonnay might be good, but by the time we reached the Col below it at midday it was already too hot. Time for plan number 3, which was that we’d get over into the Le Tour basin and try and ski the Table Couloir on the Aiguille du Tour. As it turned out it was about 4pm by the time we got to the Table, and so we bailed on that too. All would have been lost but we then got 800 metres of fresh, fluffy powder all the way down to Le Tour. This coupled to the fact that we’d seen loads of amazing views and unintentionally ended up skiing one of the real classic tours of Chamonix (the 3 Cols tour), as well as having plenty of good banter, meant that although we didn’t ski anything “silly”, we had a great day. Here’s some shots –

Skinning up to the Col du Chardonnet

And the Fenetre du Saleina

Will and Peter on the final Col

Will abbing down

Fresh tracks all the way to town

Will and Peter mid way down.

Will in an untracked gully. Who says Cham gets tracked out?

Will shredding

Will loves tree skiing so much that if there is one tree on a huge face, he'll find it.

Le Tour beckoning at the end of a long day.

Aiguille Pourrie SW Couloirs

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:23:00 +0000

With uber keen Vanoise skier Will Eaton over for a couple of days, the pressure is on to provide him with some good skiing. This morning we tried out the Grand Montets mid station and got some good snow but most of it was pretty cruddy and so we relocated to Brevent.

After doing the ENSA in such good nick yesterday we started with a lap of that and I had a really heavy fall on the way over to it, almost ending the day (and the season) before lunchtime! A quick inspection of my leg revealed no obvious damage, and the pain decreased gradually all day so no harm done but it was quite eye opening how quickly you go from minding your own business to nearly breaking your leg!

After skiing the ENSA and the crud below we headed up the Col Cornu chair and skied 2 fantastic lines off the Aiguille Pourrie, which is accessed by skinning up to the Col Cornu and then the short summit ridge. I'd never seen it getting skied before but the snow looked great and so it proved. The 2 lines we skied are below, and both were mainly 45 degrees ish, with 50 degree entrances -

Our lines seen from the top of the Col Cornu chair, with numerous piste skiers in the foreground. "Here's what you could have won!"

As the afternoon progressed the views began to gradually reveal themselves, and by the time we got to the summit for the 2nd time the Valley was glowing orange and the clouds were swirling all around - perfect. The best part was that the powder was light, thigh deep and steep. Does life get any better? I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

Cornu chair from above

Will, with Brevent behind, getting ready to drop.

And again, this time with Cham calling below.

Into the second couloir with Will visible below on the "Demi lune".

Shredding

Et encore.

Homeward bound with the Aiguilles appearing from out of the clouds.

Combe de la Gliere & ENSA Couloir

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:38:00 +0000

I've just got back from an amazing day at Brevent/Flegere, where we skied the Combe de la Gliere and then the ENSA Couloir. The skiing must have been so mind blowing that it cooked my brain as I've just managed to delete all the photos from the day - oops.

The Gliere is accessed via a short skin from the top of the Col Cornu chairlift at Brevent, and brings you out onto the bottom of the Lachenal piste at Flegere. The skin up is pretty brief, and then the snow all the way down was perfect, 6 inch deep powder all the way back to the piste and all the other skiers.

The ENSA meanwhile is accessed from the Brevent top bin and is known as an uber classic steep run. In reality only the top 50 metres is steep, but it deserves respect and would be tough in bad conditions. Lucky for us the whole couloir had a lovely firm base and 6 inches of light powder on top. :)

We then got a load of fresh tracks down the Brevent face, but unfortunately ended up with some horrific crust for the final few hundred metres. With a perfect short ski tour, tons of a powder and a classic steep line in the bag, it didn't really seem to matter though.

One thing that was obvious today was the effect that the wind has had on the snow up high, and while SE aspects were incredible, but SW was generally terrible, so there is clearly plenty of good snow, but it just takes a bit of thought to find it. Good weather on the way for a couple of days, so I have a few ideas...

Skiing the Lifts

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:06:00 +0000

With all this snow in Cham it would be rude not go out skiing everyday, so I've been all over the Valley in search of good snow. Saturday was Les Houches which was busy but with perfect snow everywhere. It was also the first time I've ever been somewhere with too much snow, a phenomenon I didn't believe was possible. It would actually have been fine had we found some steeper ground, but what we skied was so deep that we kept grinding to a halt!

The view from the front door on Saturday

Stuck! This is with skis on!

Hardcore skiers and rugged mountaineers require tough, lumberjack type food. Matt on the other hand eats "Tiddly Reindeers".

Sunday saw us at a a soggy Brevent-Flegere, and Monday we were at Grand Montets. It has basically been so warm that despite a vast amount of snow falling, most of it has already gone rotten. We had an attempt at skiing the Poubelles Couloir off the Bochard, but after a few nice turns it turned to terrible crust, and we decided to boot pack out rather than ski the fall-and-die section in such poor conditions.

Tristan abbing into the Poubelles with a crowd watching.

Cloud inversion from Grand Montets

So there must be some good snow somewhere, the challenge is now to find it! Touring tomorrow...

Even MORE snow!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:26:00 +0000

Just as the good skiing was becoming slightly tougher to find, mother nature has come and dumped another shedload of snow onto Cham. Merci! Matt, Tristan, Peter and I had a day in Italy on Wednesday in the hunt for good snow but we couldn't find much, and things were beginning to look a bit "winter 2011", so with perfect timing the snow has returned!

Skiing the Helbronner on Wednesday

A huge amount has already fallen, and Matt, Tristan and I did a couple of laps off the Grand Montets Mid Station today in snow that varied from ankle deep right through to I-can-barely-move deep. The best part is that another 40cm (ish) is coming overnight.

The only downside is that, as with the last big snowfall, the snow is accompanied by extremely high winds at altitude, this time N - NW. The avalanche risk was recently upgraded to Level 4, and there will be plenty of slides unfortunately. That said, if you play it safe, sticking to relatively safer aspects and altitudes, trees and other friendly types of terrain, then you're in for an awesome weekend.

For what we are about to receive....

Genepi N Couloir

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

It’s been another busy few days here in Cham, with no sign of any more snow, but plenty of sun to enjoy the vast amounts of the white stuff that we already have.

After a run down the Pas de Chevre from the top of Grand Montets last week, I spent the weekend with my sister who was out visiting, and we took in a stunning day up at Le Tour with “Granny” Abs and “Youth” Pete, a good walk up below the Argentiere Glacier, and some hardcore tourism. Very civilised.

Me on the Pas de Chevre. Photo Jack Geldard.

Ginger Ben shredding the Pas de Chevre while Jack takes the photo.

Jen Boscoe at Le Tour

I was really enjoying doing the tourist thing, but with Jen gone I couldn’t avoid getting my skins on any longer, and so headed up with Matt, Tristan and Peter to do the N Couloir of the Genepi (2884m), above Champex in Switzerland. A bit of a late start (some things never change) meant that we weren’t skinning until 10.30, but with a track in we made good time through the initial forests, and were soon shooting up the steep approach gully into the stunning cirque below the peak. As ever when out with 3 oil rig workers, the conversation was both high brow and clean, and focused mainly on politics, literature and occasionally what the role of women is/should be, so the climb passed fairly painlessly.

Having seen the Couloir from below, and the many similar looking ones surrounding it, we all agreed that the next time we came up we’d be bringing a tent and staying for a few days of steep skiing. However, with only 3 hours of daylight left we stopped planning future trips, and got stuck into the final boot pack up the N couloir. Some nice Swiss people had been up there recently and put in a track, so it only took around 40 minutes from taking skis off to getting to the top. As ever in the Alps, the views were incredible, the silhouetted Aiguille du Chardonnay probably being the highlight.

Tristan checking out the view.

Matt arriving at the top of the bootpack.

Me just about to drop into the Couloir. Loving it.

As if the views weren’t enough, the ski down was just perfect. The Couloir itself was firm, grippy snow, ideal for steep skiing, and though it is sustained at 40 – 45 degrees we were able to ski it pretty fast and get some good turns in. From the bottom of the Couloir it took us about 40 minutes to ski down through the terrain we’d climbed earlier in the day, most of which was soft and great fun to ski. Even the forest at the bottom was pretty straightforward and we were back at the car 6.5 hours after setting off, which felt pretty good for 1600 metres of height gain and loss.

Tristan in the Couloir.

Me further down and still loving it. The descent goes down the obvious bowl behind me and then drifts right through the trees to join the main road between Champex and Martigny.

It’s getting to the stage where it would be nice to see some fresh snow, but days like today just go to prove that there is no shortage of good skiing just yet.

Bel Oiseau ENE Couloir

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:38:00 +0000

Psyched for a day of touring, Jack and I skied the Bel Oiseau (2628m) today, a stunning peak next to the Emosson Dam. The skin up is pretty long (we skied from the small town of Finhaut, making it about 1300 metres of ascent), but takes you through some really nice forest and then into the big bowl of Plan des Marais, and then finally onto the north ridge of the peak. You don’t actually top out, although the high point we skied from is actually higher than the official summit. Go figure.

In the baking sun the skin was pretty sweaty, but we took it really slowly, and had plenty of breaks and chatting, so it all felt pretty stress free. By the time we finally took skis off for the final summit ridge, all of the Frenchies were long gone having skied up and down very quickly on their superlight skis, and we had the summit to ourselves. It’s quite a summit too, with perfect views across the Mont Blanc Massif, the Rhone Valley, and even out to the Bernese Oberland.

Jack on the final summit ridge

Summit Views

As I asserted yesterday, I thought that south facing slopes would be best, but as we were skinning up the NE facing bowl we couldn’t help noticing how good the snow was, and how poor it was on other aspects. Some guys we’d seen skiing down told us that the classic line from the top, the NE Couloir, had a massive cornice at the top, so we’d decided to avoid that and just ski the ascent route. However, just before reaching the summit, we walked straight past the ENE Couloir, and couldn’t help noticing that it looked incredible, so that was decision made. The entry is pretty steep, and the line gets 4.3, 43 degrees, 300m, but it is mainly pretty steady and the snow was superb powder, albeit with a bit of crust for the first 50 metres or so.

Looking up at the ENE Couloir (Green, only the exit visible) and the NE Couloir (Red).

ENE Couloir from the drop in.

From the bottom of the Couloir it was perfect powder virtually all the way back to car, save for a short bit of crud in the forest above La Lechere, so we were both grinning from ear to ear all the way down after having spent all of last winter skiing sugar!

Me in the couloir

Skiing. Fun.

Perfect views, epic powder & a nice little peak - this really is as good as touring gets, and with the sun hardly touching the NE facing slopes that we skied, and them being surprisingly unaffected by the wind, it’s going to be amazing up there for a few days yet. Enjoy.

Sunset views across the Rhone Valley

Aiguilles Rouges Recce

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:55:00 +0000

There’s only so much easily accessible powder the soul can take, so Tristan and I decided on a tour in the Aiguille Rouges today, mainly to check out conditions and also hoping for good snow. We started up the Col Crochues, and were hoping to do a variation on the classic Crochues- Berard traverse, but the snow was pretty deep and trail breaking would have been tough, so we wimped out and followed another team up the normal route to avoid any unnecessary hard work! The Crochues-Berard is a great tour though, usually providing good snow and always providing amazing views, minimal effort and a pub at the end.

We were pretty shocked at conditions, and it is clear that whilst a lot of snow has fallen, the wind has been howling, and most snow above 2500m ish was very crusty and icy, with only south facing stuff being any good. We found minimal good skiing but what the bits we did find were sheltered and/or south facing. The wind has now stopped, and temperatures are on the rise so things are all about to change again but if I was a betting man I’d say that the best snow tomorrow will be south facing and between 1500 and 2500 metres. Natural shelters such as trees and narrow gullies should also provide good skiing, but anything up high and exposed to the wind of the past few days will probably be pretty tough going.

Off on a mission tomorrow to the Emosson Dam area, so hopefully that will be a good shout, but you just never know. Report to follow tomorrow!

This blog does what is says on the tin. Geddit?

View from the Col Berard

You've got to love skiing

View from the apres ski

Montets, Megeve & Mid Stations

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:10:00 +0000

6 days into my winter season and I've still not had my skins on my skis as I've had epic powder every day straight off the lifts. Friday saw Matt, Tom Grant and I skiing off the Grand Montets mid station and it was unbelievable - deep, untracked powder all day. I'd never skied from the mid station much, but I was blown away by the quality of the terrain and the snow. The best part is that I live just down the road from Grand Montets so we could ski home.

Saturday was Megeve, and place famous for it's tree skiing, and I can see why. Easily accesible, and with almost no-one skiing it, we enjoyed ANOTHER day of perfect skiing with absolutely no uphill required. We stayed mainly on the St. Gervais side and had a great day. I will definitely be back when there is a high avalanche risk but plenty of snow, as there was on Saturday.

Today (Sunday) we did a quick lap off the Grand Montets mid station, but the snow as not quite as good as Friday, so we tried the Plan de L'Aiguille (Aiguille du Midi mid station) and that was surprisingly average, so we ended up at Brevent. I'd never skied any of the couloirs from the Brevent mid station, but they looked so good from the lift that we dropped in, and found some incredible powder in the trees, and in the couloirs themselves. We then had a run down the Bellin Couloir from the top of Brevent, and finished off with another mid station run. It's unusual for the snow quality on Brevent (south facing) to be better than the resorts on the north side of the Valley, but the snow was simply perfect all the way, the Bellin in particular being spectacular. It's steep (40 degrees) but the snow was so forgiving that you can ski it really fast and without any stress.

We reckon we skied 5000 vertical metres today, and virtually all of that was in tight trees or couloirs, so we're off ski touring tomorrow for a rest day...

Matt in his element

"Cautious" Tom Grant

Another hard day in Cham

Homeward bound

Free caps at Megeve!

Steady

Tristan, Matt, Tom Moores and Emma at Megeve

Me in the Bellin

Big ski days require big calories

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:23:00 +0000

After a few days back in Cham, I’m beginning to get a grip on what’s happening with the snow. The first thing to say is that there is LOADS!!! When I walk out of the front door the snow all around the house is about my chest height (admittedly this is waist height for most people), and there’s even more in the mountains.

So far I’ve had a day at Brevent (superb, and complete cover right down to town with no rocky bits), Le Tour (incredible snow but we had poor visibility) and Courmayeur (awesome snow high up but heavy and crusty towards the bottom).

The weather remains pretty unsettled so touring opportunities have been limited, but I’m keen to get some extreme shuffling done as soon as possible and will hopefully have some reports by the end of the weekend.

I’m afraid I have no idea what ice climbing conditions are like, but what would possess anyone to go climbing when the skiing is this good, I’ve got no idea!

Another 4 ski days coming up now – it’s a hard life. Here’s some photos –

Matt and Tristan at Brevent, the Drus behind.

Not a bad view to wake up to.

Jack, Matt, Tristan and Me all looking snowy and a bit knackered after a massive Courmayeur powder day.

New Blog Partner

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 07:29:00 +0000

I'm pleased to announce that this blog now has a new partner in the form of High Trails, a company I had 3 awesome summers working for in Cham and Zermatt. They are recruiting now for summer 2012, so if you are interested in working for them then follow this link -

In their own words they are a -

"Business to business travel operator specialising in group holidays and experiences.We organise trekking, activity and discovery holidays, winter and summer, for tour operators, charities, clubs, schools, families, self guided groups and corporate organisations that want operational help running their trips to the Alps.

We will show the best of the Alps to your clients. We can organise all local logistics and, if you wish, provide all staff and equipment needed."

info@hightrails.co.uk

Vallon de Berard & the end of the year.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:05:00 +0000

With just a couple of days left in Cham, Peter and I teamed up with British Guide (NOT the one from the Entreves!) Owain Jones for a climb on the Vallon de Berard slab. I'd done the route a few years back and knew what good quality it was, so I was happy to do it again. I'd also not done the top buttress (an extra 4 pitches), only the lower 8 pitches, as the top had been soaking wet last time so I was pleased to finally get a full ascent. One slight downer was that someone had drilled new holds into the 2 short crux sections, making the route easier than the stated 6a, and also making it feel a bit artificial. Why would you drill holds in a route?!?! Why not just get better at climbing? Anyway, drilled holds or not, the route is superb, as are the views, and a fun day was had.

Owain on the lower section. Photo Peter Riley.

Peter and Owain on the final pitch. Worth noting at this point that Peter fell off on the very last move of the route, thereby blowing the onsight - unforgiveable.

October in Cham. It's not a bad life.

Unfortunately my time in Cham is now done for 2011, but my lift pass for 2012 is already ordered! I'm off to Nepal (work), Morocco (play) and Scotland (suffering...again) over the next few months so no doubt time will fly and before I know it I'll be SKIING! It would be fair to say I'm quite excited about this fact. I'll be updating my site over the autumn with some shots from those trips, but this blog will be a bit quiet for a while

Final thing - for those in London, with not much to do next Friday (October 14th), I'm giving a talk at "The Winch" in Swiss Cottage, 7.00pm, entry a bargain at 3 quid! There will be no posturing about being fast, light, and generally all round amazing, fear not. I'll be talking about how to get into alpinism, how to actually get things done and stay alive, and also telling a few tales about my own experiences. More info here -

http://rustypegclimbers.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=4

Hopefully see you there, and if not, bring on January for powder, and maybe even some ice climbing. Ciao.

Moine Ridge, Aiguille Verte

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:34:00 +0000

At last!!! Fifth time lucky, Peter and I finally got up the Verte yesterday, via the Moine Ridge. Away from the Couvercle Hut by 4am, we were amazed by how mild it was, and were not overly jealous of the numerous teams visible making their way up the north face of the Jorasses.

Heading up the Couvercle ladders

Chilling at the hut

Grand Jorasses N face

Looking up the Talefre basin with the old hut in the foreground

The walk in was fine, but we struggled to find our way through the maze of crevasses in the dark, eventually doing so and getting onto the route at daybreak. Having climbed most of the ridge a few weeks ago we made good time early on, and found a much quicker way through than we had last time. The route was much drier than last time, and I think for future reference that basically, the drier the route, the better. There were still some snowy sections higher up, but these were pretty brief.

Looking towards Mont Blanc at sunrise

Enjoying some mini fruit cakes - highly recommended alpine food.

Although the climbing on the ridge is constantly easy, we kept the rope on as there was quite a bit of loose rock. There are so many spikes though that we managed to climb the entire 700 metres placing less than 10 pieces of gear and still felt protected.

Nearly there - "a cheval" on the final rock section

The final snow ridge to the summit was amazing - I think I was relieved more than happy! The view from the top is unbelievable, you can see just about every bit of the Massif, and then all the way across to the Matterhorn, and even to the Bernese Oberland.

The promised land - the final summit ridge

Peter arriving on top

Peter on the summit

Me looking surprisingly unhappy on the summit

Thats more like it! Aiguilles de Chardonnay & Argentiere behind

By the way, for those with designs on the big north faces, we sat on the summit in T shirts and Peter didn't put gloves on all day! People are raving about current conditions on north faces but I'm not quite so convinced. From first and second hand reports, some of the big lines are seeing ascents....but only just. There are plenty of people climbing them, but all report very hard climbing, and with it being so warm its only going to get harder in the foreseeable future.

Anyway, back to the Verte. The descent back down the Moine went (mainly) quite smoothly, but is quite tedious, with a few switches between crampons on/off, and several abseils thrown in. We only actually abseiled 5 times between summit and bergschrund, but these are interspersed with long down climbing sections so it is all quite time consuming. We kept the rope on for the descent and I was glad we did for one section, when I was downclimbing first and the entire slab I was on came off the mountain. I've pulled loose holds off routes before but never have I had the rock that both my hands and feet were on come off. I somehow managed to slap for a higher hold, held on and then swung there with legs kicking in space for a few seconds before finally getting back onto something solid and carrying on down, before swiftly changing my underwear. We luckily had a good sling clipped between us, so had I not held on we would at least have been caught on the rope, but it was still fairly gripping. Despite the slab hitting my foot on the way down there is no visible damage, just a slight throb, which may signify a metatarsal or other footballer-esque injury, but I'm sure a few wines tonight will sort it out.

Having finally regained the glacier we took a much better line through the crevasses and finally got back to the hut and a well earned brew. There was talk of walking to town that night, but with a half empty hut and plenty of food, we opted to stay where we were and walk down the next day.

So, the Verte falls at last! Now Peter wants to do it by another route - let's hope it doesn't take another 5 attempts.

Kuffner Ridge, Mont Maudit

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:06:00 +0000

Having got back from Bolivia late on Sunday night (report on my site for those who are interested), Monday passed in a blur or laundry, emails and cafe dwelling, but by Tuesday I was keen for the mountains so Matt, Vicks and I went up the Helbronner to check out conditions. We were hoping to climb the Aiguille de Toule but saw it was all black ice and swapped plans for the Aiguille d’Entreves, always an awesome day no matter how often you do it.

We climbed up what is usually the descent route, and had quite an amusing encounter with a highly preened British guide. Matt and Vicks were ahead when I heard “do you guys have a guide?” Having told this bloke that we didn’t have a guide (matt wasn’t even on the rope!), we got told that ACTUALLY, we were climbing the descent route, and that we would have been better doing the traverse. A few more minutes of being talked to like we were 6 year olds followed, which caused us much amusement for the rest of the day. Not sure what it was that made him think we were hapless punters, but I’m blaming the Hawaiian shirt that Matt insists on wearing for alpine routes. What’s the difference between God and a Mountain Guide? God doesn’t think he’s a Mountain Guide.

On Wednesday Peter and I decided to walk up to the Fourche hut and do the Kuffner Ridge (II, D, 4c) on Mont Maudit. The walk up to the hut is about 3 hours of sweating, the final hour of which is up a steep snow slope. The bergschrund is quite full on right now and although not difficult, 2 axes are definitely required as there is about 10 metres of 65 degree black ice.

On the way to the hut.

The hut itself is just incredible, perched on the ridge with views across the “Himalayan” south face of Mont Blanc. There were a few other parties in the hut, but it wasn’t too cramped and thankfully no-one snored so we all managed to get some kip.

Welcome to the Fourche hut!

Up and away for 5 am, Peter and I made good time initially but managed to lose the route briefly and lost a bit of time early on, but otherwise things went fine. For future reference, when the guidebook says “go left”.....go left. Oops.

The route is perfect – easy but exposed snow and rock climbing, with the most incredible views in all directions.

Route finding is quite obvious in the upper section, and you eventually emerge onto the shoulder of Mont Maudit, looking down on the hordes plodding up Mont Blanc’s “Trois Monts” route. A spectacular snow ridge leads you to the summit tower of Mont Maudit and it is then a short scramble to the top. Peter's photos say it all.....

Looking back down the ridge at daybreak

Mont Blanc's south face

Quick stop, Tour Ronde behind.

Me higher on the ridge

Me on the famous snow ridge just before the top buttress

Higher still

On the final snow slope to the summit

Final slog

Peter arriving on the summit, Mont Blanc behind.

Looking back to the Midi

Getting from the summit down to the Trois Monts path was a bit awkward as the downclimbing was on black ice, but fine with 2 axes. Once there it was a simple case of walking back to the Midi.

Add 2 more names to the already long list of people who rave about the Kuffner!

Salbitschijen W Ridge Video & New Website

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:42:00 +0000

Here's a quick headcam video from our adventure in the Salbit. It's an amazing place so go and check it out.

Salbitschijen W Ridge from Charlie Boscoe on Vimeo.

I'm off on a guiding trip to Bolivia now, so I'll be away until the 25th September, meaning I will hopefully arrive back to some epic autumn conditions! In the meantime, a couple of bits of blog "admin" -

* Unfortunately the www.chamonixconditions.com project has been shelved for a number of reasons, so it will be life as normal on this blog for the foreseeable future. Here's to plenty more epics and adventures...

* I've started a new website as part of my move into (hopefully!) full time expedition leading, so check out www.charlieboscoe.com if you're interested in what I get up to when I'm working. There are also some advice articles on there which I hope will be of use, and there will be a trip report when I get back from Bolivia.

Enjoy September and stay safe,

Charlie

Salbitschijen W Ridge

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:36:00 +0000

With the good weather continuing over the Alps, Tom and I were keen to make the most of it and decided to head over the to Salbit area in Switzerland. This area is surprisingly unknown, although those in the know absolutely rave about it, and in particular the Salbitschijen (2,981m), which whilst modest in height is bristling with long ridges and immaculate granite faces.

Once we arrived at the Salbit hut it was pretty easy to see what all the fuss is about. The mountains are low enough to be warm well into October, there are no glaciers so approaches are easy, and there is enough climbing to last a long, long time, all within easy reach of the hut.

Approaching the Salbitschijen, with the classic South Ridge forming the left skyline. The West ridge is behind this.

Without doubt the most sought after route on the mountain is the West Ridge (6a/A0, ED, 1000m), which is frankly a beast of a route. Although there is "only" 1000m of technical climbing (!), the route takes in 5 towers before finally reaching the summit, each of which requires abseils to get off. This makes the whole route a much bigger proposition than a face route of the same length as you have to also take into account the amount of time required to move from tower to tower whilst also climbing 35 pitches (of which about 12 would be HVS - E1, and another 10 would be VS). It seems worth it though, as it is an incredible route, described on one website as "...the most beautiful, longest and hardest ridge rock climb in the whole Alps. 35 pitches on 5 towers of perfect granite".

Despite the clear length and difficulty of the route, we were confident that we could do the route in a day, and so carried on past the Salbit Hut and up to the Bivi hut which is literally 40 metres from the start of the West ridge. Although a great spot, there is no water at the bivi hut, so we carried up 6 litres each, which felt tough! The bivi hut is amazing, with really comfy beds and nice fleece blankets, and couldn't really be any closer to the ridge.

The newly installed bridge that leads to the bivi hut

Sunset from the hut

Looking up at the ridge from the hut.

The next morning saw us climbing by 6.30 and making good time through the first pitch (thought to be the hardest on the whole route, but which fell to "combined tactics" - it was too early for free climbing ethics). On the second pitch however, I ran it out about 15 metres, clipped a bolt and then carried on legging it upwards, only to suddenly find myself airborne. I'm not quite sure what happened but I was climbing a layback that would be about english VS, didn't place my foot carefully enough and promptly fell off. I managed to shred a load of skin off the tops of the fingers on my right hand, bruise my backside and scrape both elbows pretty thoroughly, but was otherwise ok. I quickly got back on and finished the pitch and eventually managed to stop the bleeding out of my fingers with a bit of sock and a load of climbing tape. Lesson learned though - respect the climbing even if it is well within your grade. I paid the price for my mistake for the rest of the route when Tom got to lead anything that looked like you might need to crimp, and I had to second as best I could, mainly with one hand and sometimes with 2, which resulted in plenty of yelps whenever I caught my bad hand. I did manage to lead some of the more juggy, steep pitches though, so all was not lost for me, and Tom was chuffed to bits with getting to choose his leads! "This incredible layback pitch on perfect granite looks like it will definitely require some crimping, I better lead it."

Anyway, the rest of the first tower went smoothly but the second was a bit of a nightmare. We got down to the bottom of it (tower 2) only to realise that our guidebook was still on top of the first tower, and then we got lost on probably the easiest bit of route finding on the whole ridge, and lost over an hour as a result. We also got a rope completely stuck when abbing off tower 2, so the whole thing was a bit of a nightmare! By this stage we knew that the chances of doing the ridge in a day were virtually gone, but pushed on to see what would happen, as the climbing and the rock is of such incredibly quality that we were having too much fun just to give up.

Looking up at Tower 2. The route takes the obvious splitter crack just right of the left hand arete.

The third and fourth towers both went well but by the time we got to the foot of the fifth tower it was gone 7pm, but we decided that we'd both rather sit out a cold night and finish the route than to bail. As it turned out we found an awesome bivi site under a massive boulder, and even found a space blanket under a rock - result! We also had the Jetboil with us from our night in the bivi hut, and there was a snow patch nearby so we were able to melt snow and keep hydrated. All in all, it was about as civilised as unplanned bivis go, and we managed to get a bit of sleep even without sleeping bags, before getting up at 5am to melt snow and get away at first light.

Sunset from the bivi

7 am plus rock climbing = cold hands. Not a bad view though.

The higher we climbed the more relieved we were that we had stopped where we did as there were no sites as good as the one we'd found, and none with space blankets included! The route finding on the final 2 towers was not that easy and took quite a bit of faffing with short abseils and awkward traverses, so we would never have made the summit in daylight anyway. The quality of the climbing gets even better towards the end, and the final pitches to the summit are incredible. The 6a/A0 pitch is amazing in the top half but bold, as layback moves up the Arete lead you ever further from the bolts in an incredible position. The final tough pitch (the last pitch of 5c) is up the Arete, no matter how much I wanted it not to be, and is equally amazing but a bit gripping after a long route! Luckily there is only one spicy move, but it felt tough enough at the time with only a cam behind a wobbly flake between me and a factor 2 fall.

Tom leading on tower 5.

Self portrait near the summit with the W ridge behind.

Tom high on the 6a/A0 pitch.

The final pitch to the very top of the mountain is basically an easy solo (graded 4+ but with only a single peg after 2 metres serving as the only runner in 15 metres), and then the summit is amazing. About a metre square, with views of all the 3 classic ridges of the mountain and huge drops all around, it is definitely how a summit should be.

Looking down the West Ridge from the summit.

Tired but happy on top.

Ab off the summit

After snapping a few shots we quickly abbed off the top and then walked down to the hut, scoffed a load of soup and sausage, and then carried on down to the car and a 3 hour drive back to Cham.

The South ridge seen from the Salbit hut

Amazing views across to the Finsteraarhorn on the drive back to Cham

Despite a grim night for both of us and a smashed hand for me, we both agreed that the ridge was the best rock climb either of us had ever done. Perfect granite, an incredible line, consistent and sustained climbing, and an amazing summit. I cannot recommend this route highly enough, but if you are going for the onsight in a day, you better be quick!

I took my headcam on the route so there is a video on the way, including onboard footage of my fall....!

La Meije Traverse, Massif des Ecrins

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 07:22:00 +0000

I’ve been meaning to get down to the Ecrins all summer, and so when Matt suggested a spontaneous trip straight from the Vanoise, I didn’t take much convincing. Like all climbers in the Alps, we’d both always wanted to climb the Meije so we decided against acclimatising and got straight on it. Approaching the Promontoire Refuge from La Berarde took nearly 4 sweaty hours, but it could have been much quicker had we not taken numerous 20 minute swimming breaks on the way up.

La Meije from the walk in. The route takes the prominent red rock pillar down and left of the rectangular snow patch (the Glacier Carree) and then crosses the snow and climbs the highest summit in the photo before traversing all the summits to the right.

The hut is pretty spectacular, poised right underneath the Promontoire ridge and S face of the Meije. It is also pretty small so it feels much nicer than being in one of the huge huts in the more accessible parts of the Alps.

View from the hut heli deck.

Looking up at the route from the start point

With Tuesday being the first day forecast to be clear of thunderstorms, the hut was surprisingly quiet, and there was only us and 2 other parties going for the traverse. The other teams got away at 4.30, and we were 15 minutes behind (you can’t rush these things!) but we never saw them again as one of them was a Guide who clearly knew the route like the back of his hand, and the other team followed him shamelessly!

Matt's dress sense is best viewed in the dark.

At the Dalles Castelnau

Matt just below the Carree Glacier.

The route finding is actually ok on the lower ridge, you just climb the crest until it steepens dramatically and then traverse left into a big couloir which leads you up the Dalles Castelnau area. From there it becomes slightly harder as you have a big rightwards traverse followed by one straight back left. We started looking for the traverse back left too early, so just remember to keep traversing right until you can almost touch the water streaks coming down from the Carree Glacier and you’ll see the ledge system leading back left. Once back on the main ridge you follow the crest, taking the easiest line up to the Carree Glacier.

Exiting the Carree

Looking up at the final summit ridge. We climbed up the deep groove on the right and then drifted back left before heading back right for the final steep wall. Its all pretty steady really so just follow your nose.

Matt on the final summit ridge

The Carree is given 30 minutes to an hour in the guidebook but I’m not quite sure how it would take that long as we were up it in 15 minutes of plodding. From there it is just a case of scrambling up very easy terrain to the ridge crest just below the summit and then there is 15 very exposed metres to the top. The summit is amazing – just views everywhere, and a nice little statue of Jesus to pose with!

Giving Jesus a peck on the summit!

And a piece of cake!

Looking along the traverse from the top of the Grand Pic

To get down you go to a block with loads of abseil tat around it in the direction of the rest of the Meije ridge and then downclimb about 5 metres to a bolted abseil point, and then 3 abs get you down.

The ridge line from there is easy to follow and straightforward enough that you can safely move together the whole way, apart from a section below the first point which is a 70 degree ice gully, thankfully equipped with a metal cable to pull on. There were some sections where the cable disappeared though, which made for some fairly spicy climbing with a ski touring axe and bendy B2 boots. The ridge is spectacularly exposed and in an amazing situation, so the easy climbing is great as it allows you to take it all in without too much stress.

Typically exposed climbing just below the Grand Pic

The icy section - character building with bendy boots and a lightweight ski touring axe.

Matt downclimbing on easy but exposed ground.

Looking back to the Grand Pic from near the end.

Matt on the final snowy traverse to the Doigt de Dieu.

We made good progress along the ridge and were soon on top of the Doigt de Dieu, which marks the end of the Meije peaks. The descent from there down to the Aigle hut is simple enough but with hindsight I would downclimb most of it as we abbed too much and got the ropes caught a couple of times.

The traverse seen from the descent

From the Aigle it is then a simple (!) case of walking for 3 hours down to La Grave and then hitching back to La Berarde, which was frankly epic. We luckily got picked up for the final leg to La Berarde at after 10pm, and with hindsight I would stay in La Grave instead of risking not getting picked up and ending up in the middle of nowhere for the night. After a very comfortable night in the van we had a much needed coffee and then headed home to Cham via a swim in the lake at Passy.

Both of us agreed that the traverse was absolutely superb and despite the enourmous walk down to La Grave, it was one of the best days we had had all year. The climbing is easy, the route finding is not too bad, and the situation incredible. The guidebook time is 10 – 12 hours and this seems about right. We were unacclimatised and came in at 10.5 hours by just keeping up a steady, unspectacular pace and keeping hydrated and well fed.

Gloves vs. Meije - no contest.

What a route.

Aiguille de la Vanoise & Mont du Fu

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:10:00 +0000

Despite the good weather in Cham, I am still not conviced that the forecasts are reliable, and the conditions as stable as everyone is saying. With this in mind, Emma, Matt and I bailed down to the Vanoise for the weekend and left the crowds behind. I’d never been climbing in the Vanoise before and I was really impressed by what we found, save for the monster walk ins! Looking for some good mountaineering objectives and some research into possible ski lines, we teamed up with Will Eaton, all round good guy and a former Brit turned Vanoise local.

Another rough night in the Vanoise with Will

The first day we went in to do the traverse of the Aiguille de la Vanoise, above Pralagnon, and had a fantastic day. Passing under the north face of the peak was pretty impressive, and Will pointed out some amazing looking 300 metre rock routes which climb it, so Matt and I are keen on a return before summer is out. The traverse itself is amazing – perfect views, easy route finding, bags of exposure and easy scrambling.

Will, Emma and random German tourist below the Grande Casse.

Will low on the route with the Refuge du Col de la Vanoise below.

Will a bit higher, above the north face.

Matt on the final summit ridge

Will on the final section to the summit

Looking down the North face

Me, Emma, Matt and Will on the summit, with the Grande Casse behind.

The descent of the West ridge consists of some tricky down climbing (albeit bolt protected) but there is an abseil descent down the south face which starts just by a cairn 50 metres west of the main summit. I think 2 or 3 x 50 metre abs would have you down on the path. Despite the long walk in and out it was great to be out on such a superb route and have it to ourselves, and even better to walk out with no-one else in sight. Big thanks must go here to Matt, who carried 4 beers all day so that we could enjoy them whilst having a swim in a river on the descent!

The next day we went for the Arete Blanche on Mont du Fu, above St. Jean de Belleville in the Val Thorens valley and again had a great day. The route is slightly better known now having appeared in the “6a Max” guidebook, but was still deserted. The climbing is slightly trickier than on the Aiguille de la Vanoise, but most of the difficulty is concentrated into 2 sections of about 50 metres, which were the only bits where we used the rope. The one quibble with the route is that it is escapable virtually the whole way along, and the fact that it is a guided classic means that it is fairly vigorously bolted, but it is fun and in an amazing place so it is hard to whinge. One top tip would be to drive up the dirt track to Gollettes, which we didn’t do in case the road was impassable (Our local guide, Will, hadn’t been up there and didn’t know how “off road” it was). We chose to walk from La Sauce and ended up doing much more than we needed to.

Mont du Fu. The Arete Blanche is the ridge line climbing up from the left.

Emma at the start of the route proper

Matt soloing a "lovely" little variation

Thanks to Will for the guiding and hospitality, and here’s to a winter of skiing all those 1^st descents we scoped out!

Aiguille Verte 4. Charlie 0.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:05:00 +0000

After a summer of solid rain, the good weather had to arrive at some stage and it finally did so in the middle of August. This should explain the fact that the blog has been fairly quiet since then! The list of ideas was long and time short, so I have been getting stuck in and getting into the hills.

The views from the Couvercle are heard to beat

First on the list was to finally get on top of the Verte via a decent route. With Peter’s time in Cham running out we headed up to the Couvercle Hut hoping to do the Moine Ridge, graded AD but known to be long and serious. The hut guardian suggested a midnight start but that seemed far too keen, although 2.30 felt pretty grim all the same. The walk in took about 2 hours (but could be much longer if the glacier was more open) and the initial ramp was climbed quickly so we found ourselves hitting the ridge at daybreak. The route finding is not particularly obvious but just following the line of least resistance seemed to work fine, and we were making guidebook time despite the route being covered in snow.

Me low down on the ridge. "I thought this was supposed to be a rock climb!"

Sunrise views

Things took a turn for the worse when the sun hit us, and it got incredibly hot, even as we approached 4000 metres. Looking up we saw snow covered slopes which ought to have been rock, and knowing we had to descend the same way, we decided to bail. The whole ridge is downclimbed save for 3 or 4 short abs, and the thought of climbing down through ever softening slushy snow on slabs was not particularly appealing, especially with Peter leaving Cham the next morning and so keen to avoid an epic.

After all the sun we’ve had now the route would be in much better nick, and much safer to descend in the midday heat, so I may be back for a second go. One word of warning though – descending the Moine takes as long as climbing it so although it is safe (when dry), it is long and not obvious where to go, so allow plenty of time if descending.

Looking across to a surprisingly snowy Whymper Couloir - bit hot for my liking though.

So the Verte remains unclimbed by me after 4 attempts – I might have to resort to plodding up the Whymper just to get it done!

Alternative Approach to Montenvers!

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:11:00 +0000

With only a morning free, and Peter looking to get his kids out climbing, we went and checked out the recently installed route which leads up to the cafe below Montenvers, where the James Bond track ski run starts.

Starting in Les Bois, you walk towards the deep cut gorge leading down from the Montenvers and just head for the foot of the rock buttress. I appreciate that this is not a great description, but I would struggle to go the same way twice as there are paths everywhere, so just follow your nose. When you get near the bottom there are signs leading you to the first pitch.

The whole route is great fun - easy climbing pitches separated by some walking and scrambling sections too. There are bolts on the trickier sections, but there is nothing harder than about French 4, so the fact that they are well spaced is not too much of a problem. A combination of pitching and short roping saw us up the route in about 3 hours from the car, and then the walk down was about an hour.

All round, a great day for kids or just a fitness trip.

Isobel and Theo on one of the slabs high on the route. Peter and I found the odd move a bit tricky in big boots, and then watched embarrassed as the kids (aged 13 & 11) shot up everything with ease.

Isabelle showing her Dad how its done.

Peigne Pelerins Traverse & Aiguille de Roc

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:07:00 +0000

For a while now Peter and I have had our eyes on a traverse from the Aiguille du Peigne, across the Pelerins, Deux Aigles and Plan, and all the way to the Midi. Looking through the guidebook it was obvious that there was a huge amount of terrain, much of it quite technical, and so we decided that we would have to take 2 days over it.

Taking bivi kit is always a nightmare, and after a week or so out of the mountains, it felt pretty tough making our way up the normal route on the Peigne. The route is quite tough to follow in places, and involves some climbing, down climbing and traversing, but always following the line of least resistance. There is one desperate pitch right near the top, but I think we might have been in the wrong place.

An early Midi bin passes us on the approach

Peter in the lower section of the Peigne normal route

And higher up, just before the Breche du Peigne

Me just past where the normal route crosses the Pappilons Arete.

2nd to last pitch

Final summit ridge

The summit itself is amazing, with big drops on all sides and amazing views up towards the Plan and the Midi. We were keen to keep moving though and so didn't hang around long, and we were soon back in the depths of the Peigne couloir, and headed for the Carmichael route on the Pelerins.

Looking down at me from the summit

Looking up at the Plan from the summit

A former classic, the Carmichael doesn't seem to see much traffic these days, and there was no fixed gear at all - a shocking state of affairs in Cham! The climbing pretty good, and the situations even better, but it is a long approach to the route, so I can see why it isn't busy.

Where the route joins the Grutter ridge on the Pelerins we stumbled across an enourmous ledge, albeit at a bit of an angle, and decided to make it home for the night instead of pushing on into unknown territory and risking not finding a decent bivi spot. It was still quite early and so we were able to chill out and take in the surroundings for a while before crashing out.

Looking back at the Peigne from the Carmichael route on the Pelerins

North face of the Midi from our bivi

At this point I must point out to any people who would potentially like to climb with Peter that he took by far the best spot on the ledge with absolutely no discussion, and couldn't be guilt tripped into moving. Check out this video of him being unrepentant!

After a surprisingly good kip, we woke to find some pretty dodgy looking clouds looming around us, and that was enough to send us home having tagged the summit of the Pelerins. The route off the Pelerins is quite straight forward, but there are no abseils at all, it is just down climbing all the way. There are a few technical steps thrown in, and much of the rock is a bit loose, so all in all it feels serious enough though never too difficult.

Downclimbing the initial ridge off the Pelerins summit

Downclimbing the Pelerin's ordinary route

As it turns out we made a good decision to bail as an hour of rain arrived in the afternoon which was unforecast and caught out quite a few people who had been high in the mountains when it arrived.

Yesterday we decided to try and climb the Aiguille de Roc, just next to the Grepon, by taking the first train up and walking straight in. As it turned out we managed to leave our axes and crampons in the wrong place and realised further up that if we pushed on, our descent route would not take us back to them. What a pair of ****s! Still, every day is a school day. If you do it then don't leave kit where you would for the Republique. Instead, carry it over the Tour Rouge Breche, across the couloir and up to the long leftward traverse. It will all make sense when you see it.

There is still some good weather coming up, so we'll be out making the most of it - we've waited long enough!

Midi Plan Traverse

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Boscoe) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 09:32:00 +0000

Looking to the Aiguille du Plan from the top of the Midi

With one good day of weather forecast, but most of the rock routes around here covered in snow, Tom and I decided to head up to the Midi and choose between the Midi Plan traverse and a route on the Tacul Triangle. The Tacul looked a long way away, and with nice firm snow on the Midi Arete we decided to head over to the Aiguille du Plan.

The Midi Plan traverse is one of the real low grade classics of Chamonix, and the Alps in general, so we were both pleased to get it ticked. The terrain is generally quite easy but varied, taking in exposed steep snow and some rock scrambling, and is pretty tough for the guidebook grade of PD. I think general consensus is that the route is actually a grade or so harder, and it feels quite serious despite the easy access and straightforward climbing.

Tom on the snow Arete leading to the Col du Plan

Abbing. There were anchors everywhere at the 60 metre rock step that you need to abseil, so just pick a line with no-one else on it.

Tom nearing the Aiguille du Plan summit rocks

Looking back to the Midi from the summit.

Throughout the route, the situations and views are unbelievable, and we both felt that it was one of the best routes we had done for ages.

Here's a quick video from the summit to keep the spririts up through the next few days of bad weather -