Au revoir a Chamonix

Rain yesterday and rain today ruined our plans for an early morning run on the Chere Gully on the triangle du tacul. We packed and prepared for a very early start, but awoke to downpours. We sadly rolled over and went back to sleep, knowing that our last attempt at a climb in Cham was over. Although the soggy weather at the beginning and end of our trip was not the best, it did not dampen our spirits.

We have been walking Chamonix today, taking in all that this amazing town has to offer. There is a big buzz right now as the Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc race is underway. Lots of fun things to see and overall excitement for outdoor sports. It has been an amazing August in Chamonix with my Dad. We have learned alot about ourselves, our climbing and one of the greatest mountain towns in the world. I hope that this is not our last trip to Chamonix! Au Revoir!

La Fourche Bivouac and Cosmiques Arete

Its been a few days,  as we decided to go for an overnighter, staying at the Fourche bivouac on the Italian side of the alps. This 15 person shelter is not maintained and does not have a three course meal like our stay at the previous hut! It was a smelly and crowded high mountain shelter that is meant as a launching point for a few big climbs. Despite this, we had a great time and got to see what the locals do rather than paying 50 euro to stay in a posh hut.

Our trip started with a long glacier crossing on a sunny day,  bringing us to a steep mixed climb that leads to the Fourche Bivouac. The shelter is literally bolted to the top of a knife edge ridge about 3300 meters up on the frontier ridge between France and Italy. The bivy is actually in Italy, so technically, I climbed in two countries on this trip.  It is impressive and was difficult to get pictures that did it justice!

After little sleep, we woke at 3:30am to start our climb, the north face of the Tour Ronde. This climb required that we get back down from the bivy to get to the base of the climb. We woke to very cloudy/foggy conditions and it was clear that our climb was not safe due to rockfall and lack of frozen snow overnight. We were dissapointed, but knew we were making a safe choice in leaving that climb behind. On our crossing back across the Vallee Blanche to the cable car, the sun began to shine and we decided to do a classic and relatively fast ascent of the cosmiques arete. This climb literally leads back to a platform at the lift station and finishes up a ladder on to the observation deck. Its a funny scene as tourists stand next to you as you get off the ladder to get their pictures taken with the Chamonix mountaineers!

Tonight is the start of the Chamonix Ultra Trail Mont Blanc race that sends adventure runners over 166km of distance and 9600meters of ascent for three days! Its a crazy race, but fitting that it takes place in this town, the epicenter of adventure sport.

We have one more full day in Cham tommorrow, but it is raining.....again. We will see if we can squeeze in one more climb.

Route leading up to the ridge and the Fourche Bivouac

Dad on the small balcony at the Fourche Bivouac

No go on the NF of Le Tour Ronde (behind me). Scary rockfall, bad ice and a general sense of "bad idea". Maybe another day....

Two new Italian friends at the bivy. 

Cosmiques Arete is the skyline leading from left to right,
ending at the observation deck of the Aiguille Du Midi. 

Finish of the Arete des Cosmiques

Ok, really a rest day

So much for our rest day on sunday! After finishing the blog, we decided to hurry up and make our way to a hut high on the Argentiere glacier. We quickly gathered our things and caught a bus ride to the Grand Montets cable car, which delivered us to a high pass below the Petite Aiguille Verte. We then had about a 2 hour long approach to the beautiful mountain hut at the foot of the Aiguille d' Argentiere. We had a wonderful hut experience with a great three course meal! We tried to get some sleep before our 3:00am wake up and 4:00am alpine start. This was difficult as we had a snoring man next to us and forgot our earplugs!

Our objective was the Aiguille d' Argentiere via the normal route, which is an ice and snow climb that ascends about 1200 meters to the summit. The guidebook called for a 4 hour ascent and we made it in just over 4 hours, landing on the summit at about 8:10am. It was an amazing experience ascending the Glacier Milieu in the dark with headlamps. We had some route finding trouble with the massive crevasses across our path. By the time the sun began to rise, we were about 2/3 the way up the route and about to start the steep slopes to the summit.

The descent was very long and arduous and took about 5 hours. 9 hours of climbing really takes it out of you! We made it back to the apartment exhausted in the afternoon and took a long nap before re-fueling and going back to sleep again!

That brings us to today, which really has been the rest day. Rain again and laundry to do. Looking forward to the good weather again on wednesday.

Leaping a typical flooded crevasse atop the glacier

Approaching the Argentiere Hut

Sunrise on Les Droits and the Aiguille Verte 2/3 of the way up the route. Note the SLOWER party behind us who started before us :)

Dad on the summit of the Aiguille d' Argentiere

Rest Day!

Its Sunday and we took a late morning for some well deserved rest. Yesterday was amazing, but really destroyed us. We did a route up the triangle du tacul called the Contamine Grisolle. It was a mixed climb that ascended the triangle and finished on the summit of Mont Blanc du tacul (a sub summit of Mont Blanc). It was at 4200 meters and the tallest we have climbed yet. Fortunately, we are very well acclimated at this time and the altitude was not a problem at all. The route was our first in true Alpine conditions, meaning the snow melted during the previous day, then froze overnight due to the clear skies and cold air up high. This makes travel in the morning much easier as the snow is hard and you can walk right on top of it. The sun was blazing the entire climb and it was a challenge to keep sunscreen on our faces with all the sweating. I have never felt sun so intense as i did yesterday. You will see in the posted pictures that my face is basically white with sunscreen!

Not sure what is on tap for later today and tomorrow. Possibly a hike to a hut for an overnight stay in the mountains. We hope the weather stays nice for a few more days!

Triangle du Tacul. Our route follows the left of the initial rock, angling back right up the snow where it meets the rock, then straight up through the rock until it meets the ridge on the left. Above this, we continued up more snow fields to the summit of Mont Blanc du tacul, which is not visible here. 

Middle of the mixed section about halfway up the triangle. 

Nearing the summit of Mont Blanc Du Tacul. Notice the massive cornice (hanging snow) to the left. Walk AROUND those!

Two very tired Corry Men. Now we just have to get down......

More Bad weather

Well, as far as Chamonix and the alps go, we have had some bad weather. Even the locals have been in a funk about how long we have had rainy days and bad conditions in the mountains. Despite that, we have been busy. We had an epic day yesterday with an attempt at the midi plan traverse, a climb that finishes on the summit of the Aiguille du Plan. This is a mixed route (rock, ice, snow) and the best way to climb a route like that is when the snow is frozen hard (Neve) and the sun is shining! We set off yesterday with deep snow and realized that we were the first party to try that route since all the recent snow and bad weather. Needless to say, it was quite difficult and very, very slow. With all the deep snow, we could not move as fast as we needed. On top of that, we attempted to get the first bin on the cable car that morning to get an early start, but it was delayed by nearly two hours. In the end, we made it about 3/4 of the way and got a good butt kicking in the process. We were feeling kind of bad about it until the final slopes up to the midi when we came across one of the Chamonix guides (badass) When he asked us what route we had done for the day, we told him and he showed us a surprised look and appeared impressed we had gone that far in those conditions! He said thank you for setting the path as far as we did. He then proceeded to shepherd his scared client down the ridge!

Today the weather appeared better in the morning, but on our approach to the Aiguille de L'M', things took a turn for the worse and the fog set in. This is a lower altitude rock climb that would be a blast in the sun, but we got to do it in rain and fog. C'est la vie! We got a late start as we were exhausted from yesterday and it almost came back to bite us in the ass. We made the last cable car from the Plan de l' aiguille (mid station) back down to the valley by seconds! If we had missed it, we would have had to walk another 2.5 hours back to town.... or sleep at the lift station.

Having an amazing time here, despite the challenging weather for climbing. What a place! Gotta win the lottery and buy a chalet! Pics are uploaded.

Oh, by the way, i hear a certain surfing aussie dentist is following the blog! Bonjur a vus, mon ami.

Dad on the start of a mixed section along the traverse

topping out on a couloir on the Mid Plan traverse. Not far from where we turned around.

On our way back from the Midi Plan traverse.  Nice weather huh.

Climbing the crux dihedral....and having fun

Topping out on the Aiguille de L'M

 

The very cool bolted ladders at end of our descent from the L'M

Another rainy day in paradise

Well, it rains alot in Chamonix. We woke up at 5am to catch the 6:20 Bin (car) of the Aguille du Midi cable car. Skies were clear and the mountains were in sight as we were leaving the station to cross the Vallee Blanche glacier. About halfway across, the clouds rolled in and within an hour, there was no visibility beyond 50 yards. After about two hours of wading through deep snow and bad visibility, we decided to call it quits for the day. Forecast is for 80% sun tomorrow and hopefully they are right!

If you havent already noticed, you can look at my posted albums by clicking on the slideshow in the upper left of the blog. Bonjour!

Petite Aiguille Verte

After a rainy day yesterday, we woke up to clearing skies. We decided to take the bus to Logan-Grand Montets cable car. This quickly brought us up to the 30cm of new snow and our route for the day, the Petite Aiguille Verte (~3500meters). Since we have been stuck in the low lands for the past few days, we were thrilled to finally make it up to the world of ice/snow/rock. It was a good acclimatization day and we are planning on continuing up higher tomorrow with something off of the Aiguille du Midi (midi-plan traverse or the Contamine route on Point Lachenal)

On a non-climbing note, we are glad we rented our tiny studio apartment.  It was an additional cost over camping,  but with the rain that would have been awful.  To offset the cost, we're cooking all our meals at home so we've had fun shopping for food & speaking the language.  We've made friends with a couple of cashiers at the local petite Casino (supermarket).

Here are a few pics to whet your appetite for the full albums on Picasa...

Rainy Chamonix 8/15

Our ride from Geneva to Chamonix

Plan Des Aguilles Refuge Hut at 2200 meters

After a long and stressful flying day, we finally made it to rainy chamonix. and settled into our new home for 17 days! It is 9:30am monday and the rain has finally stopped, with the weather forecast calling for clearing skies and back to normal summer weather by tuesday. Not sure how much, but quite a bit of snow has fallen high in the mountains, so it may be a day or two before big routes are safe again. We did manage to get some acclimatization yesterday with a few hours hike in rain/snow of the Balcon Nord from Plan des Aiguilles to the Montenver. We grabbed the train at the base of the mer de glace/montenvers train station back down to Chamonix which was lots of fun.

View from the Signal Forbes of Les Drus shrouded in Mist

Another acclimatization day planned for today, hopefully with clearer skies. We expect to get wet, but still hoping to check out a few huts at the entrance to the mountains. Will update this evening......

View from the Balcon Nord of the Chamonix Valley. 

One week to go

My flight to Chamonix leaves at 4pm on friday. Cant believe the trip is almost here. Gear swapping is complete and i am pretty sure i have all the essentials. Most importantly, i got both maps yesterday that cover the entire Mont Blanc Massif. Its scary when you open both of them and see just how big this area really is. Just a bit bigger than the East Coast mountains. Although bigger, i am pretty confident that the east has prepared me for just about any level of suffering out there!

When i tell people that i am going climbing with my Dad in the Alps, they are all amazed that he is doing this with me. The funny thing is that i just hope to keep up with him.