Cosmiques Arete Solo

Friday saw the good weather we'd been heaving in Cham break and a bank of unsettled low pressure move it for the weekend. Ash an Clare decided to have a valley day at Gaillards the local crag but having done a lot of the route there that are within my grade when I was out in Chamonix last I decided to try and get one more day in up in the mountains before my flight and the definitive end to my sumer alpine season.

The Cosmiques Arete isn't hard, nor is it particularly serious, its very accessible and having done the route many times over the summer due to its proximity to the lift station and preferableness to trudging up the snow arete I now know it pretty dam well. As such it made quite a good objective for a alpine solo. I've never solo'ed anything in the alpine before, and when I say solo I don't mean just climbing un-roped, I'm referring climbing alone on the mountain.


The weather was poor, with visibility down to about 15 meters, persistent snow and a reasonably strong wind which made walking across the galcier the scariest bit of the whole trip, especially when I put my foot partially in a small crevasse just below the Eperon - probably not big enough for me to fall in but it did make me think. I took some shelter behind the Abri Simmond, having a quick bite to eat before setting off.

I left the base at 10:10am (having left the Midi at 9:45/9:50am) and climbed fairly quickly up the first slabbly sectyion. The rock was very snowy and sections were covered in rime. After about 15/20 minutes I was at the first abseil. I though about down-climbing this as I've done several times before but as I needed to get the rope out for the next one decided it was probably quicker an safer to just rappel both. Rigging the second abseil my hands got quite cold having got wet earlier from brushing snow off holds, here I had a bit of a moment as once you do this you are fairly committed to finishing the rest of the ridge, including the crux slab. I went for it and got to the bottom of the gully where I pulled the ropes, here I made a stupid mistake. As I took my sack off to stow the rope I forgot that my axe was behind my back and dropped it and had to downclimb a good 15m to where it was perched precariously between two rocks, this cost me a good 5-10 minutes as I took it quite slowly. After this I soon reached the crux slab where I changed into dry gloves and then went for, the last section on the north side of the ridge went very quickly and by 11am I was slumped infront of the telescope on the viewing platform, 50 minutes after I started.



The guidebook time is 3 hours, so 50 minutes isn't bad, I'm happy with it considering the conditions. I would of really liked to of beaten John's record of 40 minutes, and I think if I did in good conditions I maybe could - but that will have to wait to next year. I really enjoyed doing it and got a huge buzz from moving freely and swiftly on the mountain however I really did feel alone and quite vulnerable if anything did happen (there were no other parties on the ridge), I imagine I'll do some more soloing, but I'm not quite sure how much yet.

Thats the summer alpine season over for me, I've done 7 weeks out in the Alps and got loads done, and in general the summer has been one of the best I've had for climbing with the month I spent climbing Yosemite, Squamish and Nevada before the Alps. Apparently its time to knuckle down and finish my degree now...

Aiguille de L'M NNE Ridge & L'Index SE Ridge

Tuesday myself and Ash took a 9am lift up the Midi and jumped off at the Plan station before heading up towards the Nantillons glacier and then cutting across under the Petit Charmoz to the base of the Aiguille de L'M. The approach is given in most books as about 2 hours, either from the Plan station or the Montenvers train station on the to the other side. We opted for the Plan approach as while it undulates a fair bit as it crosses several lines of moraine its basically a traverse, a appose to the Montenvers approach which is shorter but ivolves a lot more ascent - we planned to use this as out descent route.

NNE Ridge, Aiguille de L'M.

I led the first pitch, which starts with a few steep moves before some delicate climbing up a shallow crack on a slab. Its given IV- which makes it allegedly one of the harder pitches of the route but despite it being freezing (the sun hadn't come round yet and I couldn't feel my hands!) I thought it was fairly amenable, I strung this together with the next pitch which has some easy III climbing leading to a nice terrace. Here Ash took over and led a fairly short pitch, but with a stiff move (about British 4b/4c) to start up to below the big diedre. This offwidth corner crack is certainly the crux of the route and takes a bit of though as the natural line is to follow and try to climb the offwidth but the way to do is to make a few delicate but easier moves out on the slab which lead to the belay above. This thwarted me the first time, but Ash dispatched with ease, leaving me to follow with both mine and his rucksack which proved quite a challenge! The line on the next pitch is a bit vague and has a few option, I followed a line that passed a few pegs, but Ash found another on second. From here a final pitch led up to the summit ridge and then the summit of the L'M itself. A bit of backtracking leads to a series of abseil anchors, we made three 30m abseils down to the snow gully and then a further one to the other side of the snow and bit of down-climbing to get get us back to the start. We managed to do the descent from here to the Montenvers in 50mins, getting to the station about 10 minutes before the last train.

Clare O'Sullivan arrived that evening so with both myself an Ash being a bit tired from 3 days on the run and Clare having come straight from sea level we took the Midi up and just did a quick lap on the Cosmiques making use of our lift passes, and being down in time for lunch in the Petit Kitchen.

L'Index, the SE Ridge is the left side of the prominent fin of rock.

The next day we walked down from Chris an Andrea's down to Flegere lift station to get up onto the Aiguille Rouge before the lifts shut at the end of the week and we'd have to start walking up... Alpinistes actually walking somewhere!? I've climbed l'Index twice before, but always done routes on the face rather than the classic but easier ridge-line known as the SE Ridge. We did the approach pitches first that sit below the terrace, these are 5c and then 4c and fully bolted. As I'd done these before Ash lead both of them with me an Clare following. At the terrace we had some lunch before we swapped over and I led up the ridge, which at it's hardest is 4c. Its got much less equipment than the other routes, but theres pegs here and there and a reasonable amount of in-situ nuts an cams. I think I probably only places about 3/4 of my own pieces. its 4/5 pitches in the guidebok but I manged to run bits together and did it in 3 fairly full 60m pitches right to the summit. The route is well travelled, and as a product it is quite polished in places but again there is a reason for this - the route is very good, and while it does detract from the quality it certainly isn'y a reason not to do the route.

Throughout the day we had great views over to the Chappelle route on La Gliere which is a route that I really do recommend to do up on the rouge, 14 pitches of excellent climbing at a moderate grade, the hardest bits being 6a.

Vallee Blanche Acclimatization

Myself and Ash headed up the Midi lift on Sunday morning after arriving in Chamonix the evening before. We carried up bivi gear and dropped this off at shack that's perched on the spur of rock below the Cosmiques hut. This hut isn't officially acknowledged in any guidebooks or on any maps as far as I know, probably because if it was more well known the actual Cosmiques may loose some business! It seems to have fallen into a little bit of dis-repair recently as the top section of the door is now missing and one of the blankets has been nailed up to cover the hole in a crude fashion, due to this there was quite a bit of snow that had blown inside that we needed to clear. Thankfully it wasn't a windy night so we were ok. Theres probably enough wood lying about under the platform in their for somebody with a bit of skill to fix the door up a bit.

Anyhow after dumping our kit we had a lap on the Cosmiques Arete as Ash had never done it before. I think this was my 5th time on the ridge this summer, and I could probably climb it with my eyes closed now but it is still a good route. It gets a lot of stick of sites like UKC from people that its too busy, not that good and too accessible but I disagree with most of this. Yes there are hundreds of finer routes in the massif but this is one of few that provide what I consider to be a good standard of climbing in such a accessible location. Simply looking at it, less than about 16 hours after getting off a plane in Geneva we were at 3800m climbing, there aren't many places you can do that in the world!

The route wasn't too busy, but a combination of us not moving too fast due to coming straight from sea level and one or two incompetent parties on it meant we took about 3.5 hours which is pretty slow but we took our time, and Ash was able get to grips with the area and back into the whole alpine thing. A quick jog back down the snow arete and across the glacier to the shack and we made are beds an prepared the evenings food.

Pointe Lachanel.

The next days plan was to climb the Contamine-Mazeaud (central route) on the Tacul Traingle however due to the combination of neither of us sleeping particularly well during the night and the alarm not going off in the morning and us getting up late we decided on shorter day so went to go and do the traverse of Pointe Lachanal. The Pointe Lachanel is most famous for its east face which is home to some classic, albeit fairly challenging rock climbing. The three summits can be traversed though, this is given the grade of AD 4a and involves some steep snow slopes, ridges and some mixed ground with a about 60m of rock climbing at the end to the final summit. This was covered in quite a bit of snow an ice when we were there due to it being the end of the season so was in mixed condition, still not hard though probably only going at about Scottish II. Ash led the first section of the ridge until the middle summit where I took over and led up through the mixed section to the final summit. Another steep snow slope led down to below the Tacul Traingle. I actually really enjoyed the route, I'd dismissed it in the past due it being dwarfed by the bigger mountains and harder routes that surround however it was actually quite good fun, not something I'd rush back to do again soon but something I'll keep in mind for a short day or when the weather isn't too favorable. I imagine a good acclimatization day would be to do this and then the Cosmiques in a day.

I'll add some more photos when I get chance to get them off my camera, and get hold of Ash's.

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...

Chamonix So Far...

I've been in Chamonix just over a week now, the weather has been a little intermittant and windows have been short but I've still managed to get quite a bit done, while still having a fairly relaxing time.

Last Thursday me an Chris went up and did a quick lap on the Cosmiques from the first bin, our original plan was to climb the Eperon des Cosmiques roiute which is about 8 pitches up one of the buttresses on the south face of the midi. Unfortunately due to the recent warm temperatures the approach gully had melted out leaving a lot of very precairous looking loose rock, so we bailed and legged it down to the bottom of the Cosmiques Arete which we in 1.5hrs from bottom to top, soloing up to the crux slab where we roped up. We got the sad news as we topped out at the lift station that Dave Ridout, a very prominant figure in both our scouting backgrounds had passed away that morning. While sad, it was quite a fitting place for us to receive the news, and I'm sure he would of agreed. RIP Dave.

I've done a bit of sport cragging at the crag thats about 10 minutes walk from Chris an Andrea's place, for a local crag its pretty good, with routes up to about 3 pitches. I did l'Arete with Heather one afternoon which was a nice route at about 5c.

Over the weekend I went for a big walk, for some fitness training, and due to the fact I was short of a partner for climbing. Up from Les Pelerins to the Plan station and then a lovely traverse along underneath the Chamonix Aiguilles at about 2400m, before dropping down to the Montenvers station and walking back down to the valley.

Me leading, about 8 pitches up the Chappelle route, just before the South Shoulder.

Tuesday I got out with a friend of Heather's, Mike who's Swedish. We headed up the Flegere cable car and then the Index chair on the Aiguille Rouge on the other side of the valley first and headed for the classic Chappelle route on La Gliere. The route is 14 pitches with most in the 4c-5b range, apart from the final pitch which is 6a, but probably a soft 6a at that. Its partly equipped meaning that most of the belays are bolted, and theres pegs here and there on the route where you most need them. We managed to do it in just over 4 hours from bottom to top which for 14 pitches I was pretty happy with considering we'd never climbed together. We had a awesome view of the massif over the top of the cloud inversion all day, Mont Blanc, Aig Verte, Grande Jorrasse etc. - getting very inspired for the next few weeks.

Climbing the 'Razor Edge' pitch on the Chappelle route. Mont Blanc in the Background.

Wednesday me an Chris took the first bin up the Aigille Midi to do the Midi - Plan traverse. I had it in my head that it was going to be a bit of scary walk, which was probably underestimating it as it gets AD in the guide. It starts off following a series of narrow snow ridges that extend from the one that extends down from th lift station. Eventually you reach a rock buttress whcih you pass on the Chamonix side, the climbing its probably Scottish I/II but it pretty exposed and you woulden't want to fall. Another bit of a snow plod leads to an easy mixed couloir and then the rock ridge which calls for a bit of concentration with some more exposed moves. From the end of the ridge 3 abseils get you down to the glacier again where you head up to the plan. You can return to the midi station the way you came but we decided to decend the Requin glacier down to the Requin hut on the Mer de Glace and out to the Montenvers train station. The Mer de Glace was a little tedious with a bit of zig zaggin having to be done through the crevasses below the Envers de Aiguille, we were glad on a ice cream and coke when we got to the station.

Yesterday the weather was pretty bad so I had a bit of rest day, going to the Petit Kitchen for lunch, and then some browsing round Chamonix. I'm about to head out to Gaillands with Mike today for some rock climbing, and hoping to get up on the Chamonix Aiguiiles from the Plan lift tomarrow with Brian, but we'll see as the snow line is down to 2400ish at the moment. Unfortunately the Frendo is out of condition with rock getting covered in snow from time to time with these storms and more importantly the ice at the top being in really bad condition, I'm still optimistic that it might come back in but realitically it might be next year before I get it done, I'm begining to think spring may be a better time for the mixed routes...