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