In the summer, I went on a climbing holiday in the Chamonix area. I do all my climbing with my father, as everyone at my school either free solos E5s or shows no interest in climbing at all. We were accompanied by my sister and mother, who do no climbing at all, but walk on the lower level paths.
The Climbs
Sunday 29th July
On the first day, we arrived at lunchtime and decided to try a simple alpine style rock climb. We headed of the Aiguille de l’Index, on the North side of the valley. Due to the late start, we were just 15 minutes too late to catch the last cable car down, and had to endure the agony of a whole kilometer of descent on foot.
Monday 30th July
For our first ever snow climb, we went up the Aiguille Petite Verte. The day was cloudy, so visibility was very poor, but we gained some experience at moderate altitude (3512m)—all important for the acclimatisation process.
It was easy technically (PD IIIc), and we did a few rock moves in crampons. In England, this is more unusual, as you either do not bother with them, or put them on for Scottish snow/ice in my experience, but it seems in the Alps there is a lot of movement on pure rock in crampons.
Tuesday 31st July
To gain familiarity on rock in boots, we headed back to the other side of the valley to rock climb on the Clocher/Clochetons. We had an amusing incident on the approach with an old man who told us to go back the way the way we had come, which we did, only to find we had been right after all and wasted and hour of ascent. The climbing we did was fairly simple, but I took the opportunity to try in heavy boots, but the face cracks were too thin, which made the lead a little interesting.
Wednesday 1st August
Since the weather looked to be detiorating, we decided to make a dash for a higher peak. Mont Blanc du Tacul seemed ideal, as it was higher (4248m), and yet still technically easy (PD). The weather stayed fair, though the snow was getting rather soft on the descent.
Thursday 2nd August
Today it was too stormy to venture out high, so we opted to stay indoors rather than try a low climb in the rain.
Friday 3rd August
The storm was set to clear up on Saturday, so we went to stay the night in the Refuge Albert 1er, a hut up near the Argentière glacier.
Saturday 4th August
Starting at 4 o’clock on the glacier, we made our way up to the Aiguille du Tour. Ascending via the Table Couloir, our first AD on ice, we made it to Switzerland for lunch. The snow was very slushy on the way down, so we retreated from the snow to wait for a freeze, as the alternative would have been earlier starts!
Sunday 5th August
Today was disastrous! We decided to start late, since today’s rock climb, Petit Charmoz, was unlikely to melt in the sun, but, what with one thing and another, we left far too late. The approach took much longer than the guidebook suggested, as glacial retreat had greatly widened the areas of slow moraine to cross. The final error was for me to have not even read the guide book once, and so starting up the wrong gully!
After some desperate leading, we had to turn back more than three quarters of the way up, leaving some tape. An hour’s arduous jog thankfully brought us back to the télépherique with only 5 minutes to spare, or we would have had to suffer 1.4km of descent.
Monday 6th August
Today we decided to spend one day with the girls on a gentle walk, so we became thorough tourists and went to look at some dinosaur footprints in the rock above the Emosson dam. The Swiss alps seem to be more loose and more like slate around that area, and much more accessible to casual walkers in summer.
Tuesday 7th–Thursday 9th August
The storms really moved in, and there was constant heavy snowfall down to 2500m, making it very unsafe to try to climb for several days.
Friday 10th August
By Friday, over a meter of fresh powder snow had fallen at the Aiguille du Midi! This made most routes off limits, as the snow pack must stabilise for several days, and indeed the next two days were punctuated by the distant rumble of avalanches.
Because of this, we decided to take a guide today. We had been planning to do the Ârrete des Cosmiques, which he agreed with, as it was the only route in the area which was really safe, which meant that there was severe congestion at the abseils.
The climb itself was fine, though the guide, slightly worryingly, assessed us, then took apparently no effective precautions belaying us. The route itself is extremely fine, and takes you out to the top of the Aiguille du Midi.
Saturday 11th August
To avoid the toil of making fresh tracks through the meter of powder snow, we went to the Aiguille d’Entrèves since we had seen some movement there the day before. At the col d’Entrèves, the route up the Tour Ronde looked unmarked, so we took the easy option rather than do some tricky route-finding on a fresh route.
The climb, though not marked in the guidebooks, did have some interesting sections, for instance where I had to take a harder line to avoid a guided party blocking the route.
We made it back in plenty of time to catch the cable car back across the Vallée Blanche, ending a fine holiday plagued with weather first too sunny, then too snowy. Still, we made a reasonable first impression the Alps.
