Aiguille d'Argentiere

Yesterday I joined Maxime Turgeon and another Quebecois friend of his, Nick, for a ski tour off the Aiguille d'Argentiere. We skinned and climbed up the Glacier du Milieu, and skied down the Barbey Couloir to the Saleina Glacier, and eventually through the Fenetre du Tour to get back down to Le Tour.

Max skinning up the Glacier du Milieu:


On the summit of the Aiguille d'Argentiere, with an excellent view across the Argentiere Glacier:


The very first turns into the Barbey Couloir are pretty steep, but then it mellows out:


Looking toward the east from the upper Barbey Couloir. The Matterhorn was visible a few minutes before:


Nick dropping in:


We were baking in the sun all day long. Max rehydrating upon arriving at Le Tour:

Les Doites, Le Ginat Solo

The predicted storm front keeps getting pushed back in the weather forecast, so today was another nice day with good climbing conditions. I headed back up the North Face of Les Doites, for a solo of the Ginat route. When I spent a winter in Chamonix three years ago I thought a lot about soloing Le Ginat but never had the combination of confidence and good conditions - so it was nice to finally act on the idea. I caught the first bin up Les Grands Montets, crossed the bergshrund at 10:17am, and reached the top of the route at the Breche des Doites at 1:43pm, which felt like good time to me. However, I should have brought skis instead of a rope, as the descent couloir could be down-climbed very reasonably (I made three 30m raps just because I had the rope with me), and the descent to Montenvers without skis was very frustrating in the slushy snow. Fortunately, after a lot of "jogging" through the slush, and wading waist-deep through a glacial pond, I made the last train from Montenvers.

The North Face of Les Doites:


Looking up from mid-way up the central icefield:


At the top of the central icefield, about to start the real pitches:


Looking up the mixed pitch, which is currently quite easy:


Some ice higher up:


The last steep pitch, which I thought was the crux of the route, partly because it was steeper (vertical for maybe 3 meters), but mostly because the ice was more brittle:


Looking down from above the steep section:


Looking toward Mont Blanc from the Breche des Doites:

Torres Traverse Slideshow

If you happen to be in Chamonix, and have an interest in Patagonian climbing...
I'll be showing a slideshow of the first ascent of the Torres Traverse, Friday at 8pm, at the Patagonia store in Chamonix Centre.

Aiguille Verte, Couturier Couloir

My planned rest day on Sunday ended up being spent sportclimbing at Gietroz, Suisse. But today was forecast to be the last day of high-pressure, so rested or not, it was necessary to head back up in the 'pine! On Saturday I had mentioned to Aymeric that I had never climbed Aiguille Verte, and he told me that in Chamonix there is a saying that you are a real alpinist once you have climbed Aiguille Verte. OK then!

I got to the base of Grands Montets at the slacker time of 8:30, and thus had to wait in line for quite a while, finally leaving the Col du Montet at around 9:45. I made good time up the Couturier Couloir, topping out the Aiguille Verte at 11:20. The Couturier is currently icy almost the whole way, and would be terrifying to ski in its present condition. My descent route, the Whymper Couloir, was also disappointingly re-frozen and firm, so I only ended up skiing the middle third of it, and downclimbing the rest. Nonetheless, another nice day out!

Looking down the Couturier Couloir:


Au Sommet de l'Aiguille Vert. Hurrah! Je suis finalement un vrais alpinist!


Steep skiing is always a bit more exciting in climbing boots:

Les Doites, Colton-Brooks

On Saturday I teamed up with Aymeric Clouet, a French climber whom I met in Patagonia this winter and last. We caught the third bin up the Grands Montets telepherique and headed to the North Face of Les Doites to climb the Colton-Brooks route. Conditions were not amazing but were not bad either, with some sections of good, white, alpine ice, and some sections of old, brittle ice. Skis made the descent down the Talefre Glacier much faster, but we weren't nearly fast enough to catch the train down from Montenvers, and thus had to go down the "James Bond" trail, which is currently ski-able about 2/3 of the way to Chamonix.

Aymeric on the first real pitch, a little ways above the bergshrund:


A thin, traversing section above the main icefield, below the upper gully:


Aymeric at a belay in the upper gully:


Arriving at the summit ridge:


Setting the first rap; Mont Blanc behind:


Rappelling:


More Rappelling:


Sickness:

Skiing and Les Courtes Solo

After Les Grandes Jorasses some more storms rolled in, and conditions changed in favor of skiing. I had a couple great days at Le Tour, skiing powder down Posettes to the Vallorcine (Suisse) side. On Sunday Jonna Jacobs, Martin Jern and I had a couple great laps down the Glacier Ronde on the west face of the Aiguille du Midi - enjoying both first tracks and second tracks!

On Monday the three of us headed back up the Midi, and went for a steeper variation to the Glacier Ronde, down the West Couloir. Jonno on the short rap into the couloir:


Martin and I feeling stoked after a great run. There's a mandatory huck at the very end (unless you rap it of course) that, with a great landing, was the icing on the cake!


Yesterday I headed up the Argentiere Glacier for a solo of the Swiss Route on Les Courtes. Looking up the route; I crossed the bergshrund at 11:45am:


Most of the route had good styrofoam neve:


Looking down to the Argentiere Glacier:


The upper third of the face still had a lot of snow on it, and was thus rather slow and tiring:


On the summit of Les Courtes at 14:45, looking west to Les Doites. It was annoying to climb with skis on my back, but they made the descent down the Talefre Glacier side much more enjoyable, and much, much faster, allowing me to just barely make the last train down from Montenvers.


Why Chamonix is rad:


Another reason why Chamonix is rad:

Les Grandes Jorasses

With the remainder of the high-pressure system, and fairly consolidated snow conditions, Maxime Turgeon, Adam George and I headed toward the Leschaux hut Saturday afternoon, for a crack at the famed north face of Les Grandes Jorasses. We left the hut yesterday morning at 3am, and a couple hours later reached the first bergschrund below the Colton-MacIntyre. It took us about 14 hours to climb the 1,200 meter route - so we're only about 600% slower than Ueli! The route is fairly sustained, in that there is almost zero easy snow slogging, but no pitch is extreme. The hardest aspect of the climb was the very cold conditions and strong wind.

The north face of the Grandes Jorasses on Saturday evening:


Max and Adam arriving at a belay a couple pitches above the initial ice field:


Adam leading the Alexis variation, which was in better condition than the Colton-MacIntyre proper. This pitch is a lot steeper than it looks from below:


Max traversing back to join the Colton-MacIntyre proper:


Max starting the upper mixed section:


Max at a belay a couple pitches below the top of the Walker Spur:


We topped out just before dark and started descending immediately - not only to use the last available light, but also because it was incredibly cold and windy on the summit. The descent down the Italia side went fairly easily, but in the dark we somehow missed the Boccalatte hut, and ended up walking all the way down to Courmayeur. Very hungry, thirsty, tired and cold at 3am, we decided our best bet was to bivouac in an information kiosk at the entrance of the Mont Blanc tunnel. Max at the bivy:

Bienvenue a Chamonix

I arrived in Chamonix on Sunday night, and as the weather has since been excellent I have been busy every day. High winds were forecast for today, so I am resting for the good weather that is predicted to follow, running errands, and posting some photos here...

On Monday I went for a solo romp up the easy and classic Arete de Cosmiques on the Aiguille du Midi. While waiting for a guided group at the mid-way rappel station, I was joined by this crow (or is it a raven?):


On Tuesday I met up with fellow North-American Julia Niles, who is in town for just a few days. We went up the Aiguille du Midi and first skied the classic Cosmiques Couloir, followed by the Grand Envers. Julia rapping into the Cosmiques:


On Wednesday Julia and I joined my generous hosts Peje and Jonno, along with Peje's friend Eva, for some sunny gneissic sport-climbing in Valle d'Aosta, Italia. It's pretty awesome that one can drive from Chamonix literally through the Mont Blanc massif, and come out in Courmayeur, where everyone is suddenly speaking Italian. Jonno clipping bolts on a fun 6b:


Yesterday Julia and I went back up the Aiguille du Midi, this time with packs full of climbing gear, and skied down to the east face of Mont Blanc du Tacul to climb its moderate classic ice gully, the Albinoni-Gabarrou. Julia soloing the grade 3 pitch at the entrance of the gully:


Kicking steps in the couloir above:


Julia on pitch 2:


Julia on pitch 4:


Like so many routes in Chamonix, the standard practice for the Albinoni-Gabarrou is to climb a few pitches and then rap off where the angle starts to kick back. And as the famous saying goes, "When in Chamonix, do as the Chamoniards..." Julia setting the first rap, with Aiguille Verte just above her head, Les Drus just to the left, and the south sides of Les Doites and Les Courtes just to the right:

Le Fin de Mes Etudes

The weather this winter in the Cascades has been rather bipolar. For a long time there was an atypically dry spell, which was a boon for climbing, but made for mediocre skiing. A few weeks ago the weather finally shifted to the normal Cascades winter: non-stop dumps of lots of snow. No good for alpine climbing, but the skiing recently has been amazing.

As for me, I've been too busy with schoolwork to play in the hills much, but I did get several dry, sunny days cragging at Index in February (a real rarity for wintertime). Also during the dry period, Dylan and I made a brief attempt on the McNerthney-Klewin on the Middle Peak of Mt. Index, but turned around after only a few pitches due to thin ice that was rapidly turning to slush in the sun.
Dylan busting out the rope:


In the past couple weeks I was very busy wrapping up the quarter at school, but able to sneak out of town for a few days of skiing, which were all awesome, deep days. And yesterday was, thank dog, the last day of my undergraduate education - a day that I've been looking forward to since enrolling in the fall of 2003. As a personal celebration I have lined up an action-packed spring, and I'm taking off for Chamonix in just a couple hours!