wfinley Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Trip: Chamonix, France - July in Chamonix Date: 7/1/2012 Trip Report: My wife & I spent all of July in France. I have hundreds of photos and pages of journal entries to sort through so this is nothing more than a brief roundup of our time spent and climbs done. If you're interested you can check my site (http://www.akmountain.com/) in the next few weeks for more stories & photos. Thanks to CC.com members who pointed me the right direction when trip planning. We had a wonderful time. If you're in Anchorage and need guidebooks or maps then get in touch. Gaston Rebuffat busting an aid move in a town center mural. The ultimate backcountry gate at the Midi The routes... Crochues - Traverse Our first climb; a wonderful ridge traverse that is very straight foreword and simple. Super fun, a good way to get over jet lag and get a feel for the area. One pitch of 5.4 chimney, a couple pitches of easy 5th class and lots of exposed 4th class. It took us about 6 hours round trip with a while spent lounging on the summit. Route takes the skyline from left to right. French guides don't wear helmets and love to balance on airy spires while belaying their clients. l'Index - SE Ridge One of Gaston Rebuffat's 100 Finest Routes. First climbed in 1913 it's one of the all-time easy classics. Mellow climbing up to 5.6 with some fun airy ridge traversing. Very mellow with a short steep section protected by pitons. You ascend 4 pitches on the ridge line and then traverse an airy summit ridge to the final summit block. Afterwards it's 50' of down climbing to the rap anchors, a 150' rappel and a final 4th class mank couloir down climb. 5 hours round trip - the last down climb in a driving rainstorm. l'Index as viewed during the Gliere Fun ridge climbing high on the route. Aiguille du l'M - North Northeast Ridge Another one of Rebuffat's 100 Finest Routes. In summary... Across two glaciers, up 1500' of moraine and scree. Then up 800' of immaculate granite. Across a wildly exposed summit ridge. Two raps, more exposed 4th class. Another rap. Then 1500' of mank couloir followed by 400' of rickety metal cables, ladders and wield metal steps. Reach the glacier and play Russian roulette with the serac and rockfall just out of reach (ridiculous objective danger is the norm here) and then tromp 4000' down the trail to Chamonix (after missing the last tram). One of the best alpine rock climbs I've ever done. The NNE of l'M ascends the left skyline of the far left peak; the Petite Charmoz traverse ascends the right skyline of that same chunk of rock. The route more or less takes the right skyline. Excellent rock right off the ground. The classic dihedral pitch. Guidebook called it 5.6 and said it was a "great warmup after a season of ice climbing". Halfway up it I remembered I hadn't ice climbed at all last season. Being at 9K and 3 days out from our house at sea level didn't help. Aiguille du Tour - Normal Route One of the more popular easy glacier peaks in the Mont Blanc Massif. An easy 3 hours to the Albert Premier Hut where we were inducted into the joys of European hut culture. Up at 4am, coffee and bread then out onto the glacier with 100 other climbers in a race for the summit. Ridiculously crowded but everyone had a good time. The crowds included a 10 year old boy and an 80 year old woman. Glacier crossing, a bergschund and then some easy 4th class made difficult by the 100 people trying to push you off. Aiguille du Tour as viewed from across the valley. The summit is the highest point in the center of the photo. The wonderful Albert Premier Hut. Guide and client high on the route. [video:youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHtr1mTkghE French crowds!!! Mont Blanc - North Ridge A lonely climb through a serac zone, rockfall, a crevasse field from hell, a quiet hut, a beautiful snow ridge with slopes up to 45 degrees, narrow catwalks with crevasses on one side / seracs on the other. All leading to high winds, altitude and crowds. This route had all the elements of big mountain climbing packed into two days of fun. The N Ridge ascends the sharp ridge line in the center of the photo. When the French guidebooks say the approach is crevassed they mean it. Leading up the ridge to the world's greatest outhouse! Dawn on the North Ridge. Turning tail and running down the Gouter route after a lenticular touchdown. Petite Charmoz - Traverse Yet another one of Rebuffat's 100 Finest Routes. Old-school chimneys, perfect granite hand rails and massive exposure. Rated "5.5 A0"... which in reality was more like 5.8 with mandatory aid moves over roofs. Super classic after the fact. Discovering the joy of "5.6 A0" old-school chimney climbing. Perfect granite hand rail to the summit. Chapelle de la Gliere - South Ridge And yet another one of Rebuffat's 100 Finest Routes. This route has a super classic pitch that our guidebook called "mythical". "The Razor's Edge" consists of a slab up to a wildly exposed arete. Very fun! The South Ridge of Chapelle de la Gliere ascends the left skyline. Starting up the Razors Edge. On the Razors Edge. More perfect rock high on the route. Cragging On our off days we spent a lot of time cragging. We hit up the local wall Lac Gaillands where the average age is about 8, sampled the multi-pitch slabs at Les Cheserys, the bolted cracks at Vallorcine, the 7 pitch sport routes near Brevant, and the wonderful gneiss slabs of La Duchere The fun bolted mutli-pitch slabs of Les Cheserys. Below is the village of Argentiere. Old old anchors at Vallorcine. Route finding is not hard at the local crags. The bolted cracks of Vallorcine. A name plate bolted into the base of a route at La Duchere. (Note: image sizes are off so if you want full sized & a prettier layout go here: http://www.akmountain.com/index.cfm/2012/07/01/Chamonix-Preview ) Gear Notes: 250 lbs of gear! We took everything - rock gear, ice gear, mountain gear & dining wear. Everything was used at one time or another. Approach Notes: Anchorage to Geneva via the north pole, ChamExpress to Chamonix and a 10 day multipass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave7 Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Looks incredible! Thank you for sharing. I would love to make it the Chamonix. One day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevino Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 looks like a good time. i hope you blow up this picture and put it on your wall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whatcomboy Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Wow! Nice pics. That is a great trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Piston Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Thanks for the great pics and sharing your trip. I was supposed to climb in Chamonix this summer, but couldn't coordinate my schedule with my climbing partner. The outhouse reminded me of one bolted onto a cliff near the Obergabelhorn in Switzerland...talk about exposure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 muuuuuuuustttt fiiiight amerrrrrrrikan instiiiiinct to hate france Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evanmfreeman Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 Nice photos Billy! It was cool and unexpected to see you guys there. It looks like you guys took better advantage of the unsettled weather than we did! Perhaps John(Jedi) will chime in with a TR from our trip (he took all of the photos!). evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wfinley Posted August 6, 2012 Author Share Posted August 6, 2012 Hi Evan! Nice to run into you guys as well. Hope you found some partners for your last week there. Get in touch if you're ever headed north again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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