hillhugger Posted April 1, 2005 Posted April 1, 2005 Portland climber interested in putting a trip together for 2006. It's a ways off, but I figure it gives us time to climb together on rock/ice/snow. I have no dates yet, as I'm still researching areas, but I'd like to visit Mont Blanc, Matterhorn, and/or Eiger/Jungfrau. Quote
1amy_klak Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 I just got back from Chamonix France to do Mt Blanc the grand Mulet route. unfortunalty we had a small window of weather and missed our chance to get up to hut by one day,., and possibly summit by about 3 days.. France is a very frustrating area to gather accurate information. When we first got there to chamonix we went to the usual places to get beta on current conditions... they moutain rescue people spoke hardly any english and basically told us not to go up there,. the moutain guides were no better,.. so we hung out by the aquille du midi the cable car to get to the approach were we met some guys from scottland who just came down they were happy to talk to us and said they did summit..they had to break trail 10 hours from cable car to hut ( book says 3-5) and 12 hours from hut to summit these were really longs times as they had to go really slow to break trail and watch out fro crevases due to lack of previous snow. we attempted to get up to the hut the very next day .,. packs on skis in hand in hopes of riding out the upcoming storm at the grand mulet hut we got to the cable car and they basically said there was no visibility...what does that mean we asked we want to go to the hut not sight see,.,. once again no visibility .. we sat there and watched them turn away tourist after skiier after tourist not taking there money and telling them to go across the street and not willing to send up a cable car for only 2 people willing to check it out.... no such luck .. our window had closed the storm set in and we were bummed .. even though we both knew this was a possibility given the time of year we went.... but it is possible.... you can pm with more questions about the area ... we did find ice ... on the mer du glace glacer only to be turned around by very unstable conditions you could see the rock fall and hear it all up and down glacier ... but to save the trip since it did keep snowing and snowing we did go skiing at the grand monte area ... in waist deep powder best snow of the year said the locals.... Quote
swaterfall Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 they moutain rescue people spoke hardly any english and basically told us not to go up there,. the moutain guides were no better,.. Â you realize that you were in FRANCE right? Quote
1amy_klak Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 no kidding?!! is that why that all smoked like chimneys and smelled real bad!!! of course I was in France ... we had several contacts with the OMC prior by email and they were actaully in english!!! my point was they basically told us it was undoable too dangerous ,,,, the scotts proved them wrong as will all the other people who will be summiting this weekend... Quote
cj001f Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 Si vous ne parlez pas les Français n'attendent pas la merde. Quote
Squid Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 this is a troll, right? please tell me this is a troll. Quote
Ireneo_Funes Posted April 22, 2005 Posted April 22, 2005 no it's not a troll,., he really went to Chamonix france but the French didnt' speak english... or know how to use punctuation... or anything,., Quote
miller Posted April 26, 2005 Posted April 26, 2005 I just got back from Chamonix France to do Mt Blanc the grand Mulet route. unfortunalty we had a small window of weather and missed our chance to get up to hut by one day,., and possibly summit by about 3 days.. France is a very frustrating area to gather accurate information. When we first got there to chamonix we went to the usual places to get beta on current conditions... they moutain rescue people spoke hardly any english and basically told us not to go up there,. the moutain guides were no better,.. so we hung out by the aquille du midi the cable car to get to the approach were we met some guys from scottland who just came down they were happy to talk to us and said they did summit..they had to break trail 10 hours from cable car to hut ( book says 3-5) and 12 hours from hut to summit these were really longs times as they had to go really slow to break trail and watch out fro crevases due to lack of previous snow. we attempted to get up to the hut the very next day .,. packs on skis in hand in hopes of riding out the upcoming storm at the grand mulet hut we got to the cable car and they basically said there was no visibility...what does that mean we asked we want to go to the hut not sight see,.,. once again no visibility .. we sat there and watched them turn away tourist after skiier after tourist not taking there money and telling them to go across the street and not willing to send up a cable car for only 2 people willing to check it out.... no such luck .. our window had closed the storm set in and we were bummed .. even though we both knew this was a possibility given the time of year we went.... but it is possible.... you can pm with more questions about the area ... we did find ice ... on the mer du glace glacer only to be turned around by very unstable conditions you could see the rock fall and hear it all up and down glacier ... but to save the trip since it did keep snowing and snowing we did go skiing at the grand monte area ... in waist deep powder best snow of the year said the locals.... Â Quote
kailas Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 They spoke english they just didn't want to communicate with silly Americans. If the Midi lift was closed they had good reason. Quote
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