Alpine Finale - Kuffner Ridge

I'm back in the UK, having spent Monday an Tuesday in Zurich flying back into Manchester yesterday afternoon. After a bout of bad weather over last weekend we set off, perhaps a little prematurely for a crack at the Kuffner/Frontier Ridge on Mont Maudit, a big classic mixed route at high altitude.

The Kuffner Ridge on Mont Maudit, D IV 850m.

We chose to do the ridge in whats probably its most classic form, to approach the Col de la Fourche bivi hut, which is perched very precariously on the arete which divides the Cirque Maudit and Brenva basin, then traverse the Tour Ronde-Maudit ridge to the base of the true Kuffner and then climb the 850m of height to the top from there. The alternative would be to leave from the Torino hut, pass under the Tour Ronde, the Col de la Fourche and head up a snow slope just as the ridge steepens.

We left the Midi in fair conditions, but these soon deteriorated. There had been a lot of fresh snow as well, so as soon as we left the tracks of the Vallee Blanche traverse path somewhere just below the Grand Capucin we were trail breaking all the way up Cirque Maudit. The approach climb to th bivi hut it about 200m, sitting somewhere around scottish I/II, so really easy but it was super hard work as there was a good 60cm of powder snow sitting on the route... 1 step forward two steps back kind of thing. We got to the hut just as the weather was beginning to worsen. We had a bit of dilemma as we knew that if we were to set off the next morning and struggle up the Kuffner, we'd basically be committing to Mont Blanc and down the Gouter route as the normal route down Tacul back to the Col du Midi would be an avalanche related death trap waiting to happen. We decided to bail, so set off back down the couloir the next morning, with only a 60m rope, 30m rappels interspersed with some down-climbing took a little time but we were at the bottom at a good time. The weather really came in on the walk back to the Midi with hight winds and wet snow making for near Scottish conditions.

Second pitch on the Voie Frison-Roche Route.

After our retreat on the Kuffner we decided to have an easier day so headed up to the Aiguille Rouge on the Brevent lift to do the classic Voie Frison-Roche, TD- 6a. The route was really good, and never that hard or desperate. Stubbsy had a bit of an issue on the 6a crux crack pitch an had to retreat but I soon got up it probably thanks to Yosemite crafted crack climbing skills. Its well equipped with good belays and fairly spaced bolts. We got the first lift but were at the top by 11am, 8 pitches I think. Petit Kitchen followed, naturally.

Myself on the classic snow-fin, just before l'Androsace.

So with two days left, the weather finally improved so we decided to go and redeem ourselves on the Kuffner. The approach was much easier, as we followed the trail we'd put in a few days before! We went to bed with clear skys and got up around 4am to fantastic frozen snow, clear skys but not baltic temperatures - perfect! The traverse along the first horizontal ridge takes a bit of time as there are two fairly sizable gendarmes to cross with several bit of down-climbing. After this you start the 850m of mixed ridge climbing which leads you to the top of Maudit, a series of snow gullies and ridges, mixed sections and the odd bit of rock climbing. The technical crux of the route is probably a short rock section of about 4c after the traverse under the point l'Androsance its easy though. The physiological crux is certainly the exposed corniced snow aretes in the top sections with are difficult if not impossible to protect. We hit the top at 10am, having taken 6 hours from the bivi hut, and 4.5 from the start of the route. Both under guidebook time so we were fairly happy. I was keen to push on for Mont Blanc as it really did seem so close but Stubbsy was suffering quite a bit so we quickly dropped down to the Col Maudit, over Tacul and then the slog back up to the midi station. By 2:30pn we were sat in the Petit Kitchen with bacon an sausage sandwiches. Absolutely fantastic route, one of the best I've done.

Stubbs on one of the final snow ridges.

Theres a lot more photos of the route in my facebook photo album.

So thats it for my summer alpine season this year, its been a good one and I've got lots done, but the Kuffner was certainly the high point and a perfect finale. Our tour de force of the Chere Couloir and North Face of the Tour Ronde in two days was pretty satisfying as well. I need to focus on my dissertation for a week or so now, but my had is still in climbing mode...