Chamonix-Mont Blanc Massif: June 2009

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Warning: Long trip report, long winded and lots of adjectives used…but it’s the Alps...

Chamonix- Mont Blanc: The place is legendary. The greats of climbing have all come and cut teeth here before moving on to the Himalayas to bang out first ascents. Bonnington, Doug Scott, Messner, Joe Simpson, Mark Twight, etc... They all spent time climbing here and wrote about it in many books. The Alps - the place is simply legendary to anyone who hikes or climbs.

My wife and I had been planning a 10 year wedding anniversary to Italy for a couple of years and I heard through the grapevine that Frodo was in the beginning stages of planning a trip in the Chamonix area because he was going to be on his own family vacation in France. A few people here (cbcdc, spencer, abster, nif, etc..) had all been out that way hiking, skiing, etc., and all have amazing things to say about it – everyone I spoke to said it’s a must do.

I asked about possibly joining Frodo’s trip since I was literally going to be about 200 miles south in the Cinque Torre (Italy) about the same time. Debs folks were happy to watch Conor for however long we wanted, so we decided to extend the trip to include 5 days in Chamonix, France and then fly back to Dublin via Geneva, stay in Ireland for 4 days and then come home. Frodo said he would be glad to have me along, so the plans went into motion and after a ton of travel hiccups trying to get to Chamonix from Italy (not as easy as it may sound due to something called the Alps dividing the 2 countries). My Italian vacation was amazing in its own right but that’s another story and not remotely related to hiking. But I will say, that Italy had the best food I have ever had in my life. Hands down – nothing was fresher or better tasting than what we had at every meal there.

So on June 20th, Deb and I woke at 5am in Riomaggiore, Italy, took 3 trains to Aosta and a 100 Euro taxi ride through the Mont Blanc Tunnel (impressive in its own right) and arrived in Chamonix about 3pm - at the bottom of huge mountains and glaciers spilling down to nearly the town level. Chamonix is an outdoor mecca - everyone is in hiking gear, the gear shops are everywhere and the beer is plenty. Hiking, Climbing, Paragliding – its all there and the laid back attitude is really cool. The town is just way cool.

Team
Our team consisted of 6 people: Frodo, Arm, Suebiscuit, Leaf, Darl and myself.

To prepare for this climb, we read all the guide books, maps, did hikes, did technical climbs, trained for crevasse rescue, some of us went into Baxter together this past winter and we all got on well - etc.. Most of us had these skills already and had climbed on glaciated peaks before; dabble in technical mountaineering, etc... - so this was mostly a review – but they are still skills you need to keep sharp before you step on the mountain like this. Since, the White Mountains don’t have glaciers, it’s not something you use all the time out here. If you don’t keep it fresh – you could end up being in a very bad situation. Glaciated peaks can be very unforgiving due to crevasse and serac falls – both very real on the route we were doing – in fact, last June, a falling serac killed about 8 people on the face of Du Tacul which we were going up. About 2 weeks before we went, more bad news as a guided party fell into a crevasse and 2 of the 3 perished not far from where we would climbing. Lots of people seem to die on the Mt Blanc Massif…

In the planning stages, we decided we were going to try something different on Mt Blanc. We wanted to do a slightly tougher route than the standard route, so we choose the 3 Monts route which traverses the 3 main peaks of the Mont Blanc massif. (Du Tacul, Maudit, and Mt Blanc proper – all above 4000 meters). The issue with this route is its long and much of summit is sustained over 4000 meters. Also - we wanted to start at the base of the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice) glacier. Most people we told this to told us we were nuts – the “norm” was to take the Aiguille de Midi cable care to about 13,000 feet and then drop down about 1000 feet to the Cosmiques hut and start the climb from there. We had some debate within the team and eventually decided that we would aim for the glacier climb and rely on the cable car only if weather was really bad for a couple days and we had a 2 day window only. In the end it was the right call. We would however take the cable car down after the climb. We decided that we would go in full Alps mode and make use of the great hut system that the Alps are known for. This would help us save weight, but also experience the Alps as most do. When in the Alps, do like the locals! So, we would get the “less crowds” by climbing the Mer de Glace, but have the camaraderie and the alpine hut experience.

So – on June 21, we took the Montenvers train to the base of the glacier at about 6000 feet followed the trail down a bit and then had to downclimb about 500 vertical feet using steel ladders bolted to the rocks to reach the base of the Mer de Glace.

These ladders were basically vertical drops down the rock. We used a self belay down the rungs as we climbed down – while the downclimb was easy – any slip and fall would likely be fatal and clipping in was appropriate. So, I would guess we started the climb all said and done at about 5000 feet. Everything is in meters there, so calculations are estimates to feet.

 

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Plan:
The first day we had to climb the Mer De Glace glacier to the Requin Hut which sits at about 8200 feet.

The second day we would climb the Mer De Glace up past an icefall, traverse left to and climb the Glacier Du Geant with another icefall in there somewhere….up and past Mt Blanc Du Tacul to the upper Vallee Blanche and then make our way to the Cosmiques Hut which sits just below 12,000 feet.

The 3rd day would be possible be a rest/acclimization day….

The 4th day we would climb/traverse the Col de Midi to the face of Tacul, up that over to Mt Maudit, and then finally up to Mt Blanc. We would then descend the Gouter route down to the cable car/train via the Tramway Mont Blanc.

This plan would allow us to climb about 3000 feet per day at a moderate pace (key for acclimatizing) and not get burnt out on any one day. For those who have not been above 6288, things just get tougher and slower once one gets above 9000 to 10,000 feet – when you are coming from sea level over the last couple of days and you are sleeping at altitude and carrying significant weight in the pack. The terrain is mentally tough, and it just all adds up…you’re trying to do a lot in 3 to 4 days...

Day 1
The lower portion of the Mer de Glace was a typical dirty and very melted out, dry glacier. There were tons of crevasses, but most were “small” and easily negotiated since there was no new snow at all and we could see all the cracks – nobody ropes up down there and neither did we – in fact, the snow and ice was so dirty with dust, we didn’t even need crampons for half the climb up it. The Mer de Glace is huge that the entire upper mountain seems to feed and there is evidence of decades of mangled trash (cans, broken skies, broken poles, glass, etc) embedded in the ice from god knows who or when. I was ready for a body to turn up somewhere!!

While we were climbing up it – walls and cliffs literally thousands of feet rose on both sides of us. We were passing classic climbs. Les Drus, Grandes Jorasses could be seen, etc... It was pretty amazing sights and every now and then just to remind us where we where, the mountains would release massive rockfalls – since it was pretty socked in at times – we didn’t know where this was happening – but the rocks on the glacier would remind us – that they do come down this far – so each time we heard it, you saw heads looking up ready to run if needed. But we never saw (only heard) any rockfalls – We did see larger icefalls spilling down the surrounding peaks and god knows when they fall down – I was glad it wasn’t June 21, 2009..Big mountain climbing is exciting and keeps ya on your toes…

A couple hours out of the gate over “easy” terrain, we see up ahead the glacier is getting a bit nastier and we see a pretty significant icefall ahead. The glacier is still dry and easy to navigate so we still don’t use ropes and crampons. The Mer de Glace now snakes climbers right towards the Mount Blanc massif and up towards Mt Blanc deTacul.

There are 2 choices at this stage – we get onto the scree and rock and try that – or we take the longer route rope up, go climbers left and get on the glacier and around (or up) the icefall. The team decided to try the more direct rock/scree version, staying to the climbers right. We can now see our destination for the night – the Requin Hut looming probably 1500 feet above us and maybe 1 mile away. It looks close, but we have a pretty significant glacier, icefall or steep rock climb to get to it. I have been on enough big mountains to know that looks are very deceiving – it’s never as close as it looks and things always take longer than you think. It would be another 2 hours or so before we would arrive.

We continue over the scree and rock making our own route and are never entirely off the glacier as we keep getting re-routed over and around small to medium sized crevasses. Thankfully, we don’t see any evidence of large moats where the glacier meets the rock walls. Once we get back on the glacier proper – we are getting higher and the glacier is getting a bit nastier, the holes a bit bigger, deeper and there are not many folks around. No brainier – its time to rope up.

Frodo led the team of Sue, Darlene and him, and I fronted Court, Arm and myself. Frodo’s team took the lead of the 2 teams as he probably had the most skills navigating a glacier. As we get nearer to the hut, a second icefall looms in our path to the hut or we are going up vertical rock about 1000 feet. This icefall is huge and the crevasses look big – it must rise over 1000 vertical feet and has leaning seracs the size of office buildings, but the rock wall doesn’t look that appealing either – the map indicates a route up it, but…my rock skills ain’t that good!

It was about 2 or 3 pm now and its prime time for serac fall. That’s a little on my mind as we climb but there is not really any sun beating down, so probably not a huge issue. We traverse to the base of the rock wall and see that there are steel bolted ladders heading up the vertical rock face going to the hut – but getting to the ladders, we have to cross a couple very sketchy snow bridges that cross the deep moat to access the rock. All said, I think we were all happy to see the ladders – even our best rock climber- Darlene. We make our way across the snow bridges over the holes and some slippery snow….and immediately clip into the ladders, just in case one of the bridges breaks, which was entirely possible. It felt good be clip into the steel ladder as a fall there would not have been ideal. I couldn’t see the bottom of the moat so who knows how deep it went.

The series of ladders is about a 1000 vertical foot climb up mostly near vertical rock and sometime after, we arrive to the Requin Hut at about 8200 feet to a very smiling caretaker who doesn’t speak much English – but enough to tell us the deal - crampons and axe outside, no boots in hut and free water out back!

Up until this, we assumed we were going to be melting snow for water or paying about 8 euro for a 12 oz bottle that gets helicoptered in. The couple that ran this hut were so nice and sweet. He even gave us some French moonshine!! I bet they were retired and simply like spending the time up there. The view was pretty good too with the huge icefall right in front of you. It is here we realize, we are geared up way more than anyone else – the other folks can’t believe the size of our packs. Nobody carries pickets – only ice screws…and they go light… This being said, we used nearly everything we brought – except the emergency gear overnight gear in case someone got hurt, etc… As you will se later on – we needed the pickets…To each their own, but we were prepared to spend the night out – if we had to due to emergency.

 

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Day 2
From the Requin Hut, we had to make our way to the Cosmique Hut which sits just less than 12,000 feet.

We rope up right out of the gate as we are getting on a pretty serious glacier right from the hut. The first portion, which is the path of least resistance takes us up the climbers right of the icefall – from here we will traverse left above the icefall then traverse right again over another icefall until we gain the Vallée Blanche which we will climb to the right of Mt Bland Du Tacul and make our way to the hut.

The weather wasn’t bad at all – but we were socked in for the most part until we go to about 10,000 feet. I personally don’t like being socked in on routes I don’t know well, but it is what it is. We knew there was a guided group that left before us that was heading over to Italy (they went left in the Vallee Blanche – we went right towards Aiguille de Midi)– we never relied on their tracks, but they did prove helpful navigating the glacier – we did what we had to do to get up there and navigating an unknown glacier is not easy. The tracks were nice re-assurance. The trek up was tough enough – but without some tracks, we would have been doing lots of wandering over dicey terrain since it was socked in. Frodo did a great job of keeping us our track. We agreed that the 2 rope teams would keep each other in site in case of an accident or crevasse fall.

The climb to the top of the icefall was pretty straightforward – steep snow, but nothing too extreme (icefall just off to our left was pretty cool seeing) – terrain all of us were very comfy on. At the top of the icefall where I think 2 glaciers (Mer de Glace and Glacier Du Geant) met? – the terrain got very dicey – all of a sudden we were crossing extremely sketchy snow bridges and many times, my axe went through to air below – how I didn’t punch through at times, I still don’t know. The crevasses were big and they were deep. I think at this stage we were climbing through an additional upper icefall, but it was socked in, so I don’t know for sure. For a good while, the pucker factor was quite high – but we were going through without incident so far. It’s completely socked in now and visibility is no more than 100 feet or so - I can see Frodo’s team vanishing at times. But its warm, not much wind – things are going generally going ok – then the terrain gets even worse and Frodo says a couple times – “get ready, the bridges are dicey and look weak and nasty – no fall zone”. I cross 1 or 2 or 3, who knows… and I think to myself – one of us going in eventually – no doubt in my mind.

And just like that - it happens – Sue punched through to her waist. She is wedged and can’t easily get out but she is able to get her ice axe in to anchor herself... So, Frodo pulls his end, I approach Sue from the back and yank on the rope with Darl and she finally gets herself out without the need of us setting up a pulley system. But now we know for sure, the place is full of cracks and the bridges aren’t the best. I am going to guess this was just under 10,000 feet where it happened – there is fresh snow now – maybe an inch or 2, so the holes are somewhat hidden, etc… As far as we can tell, this is the best place to cross as there are bigger gaps above and below and below looks like the heart of the icefall, we don’t really know what’s above…even though Sue just went in, we continue on what we think is the best route.

Darl gets over the hole which means Frodo’s team is across - and then I approach it - this is one nasty hole. I can’t see anywhere better to cross as higher it just gets wider and visibility is not good anyway and we want to stay on track as much as we can. I tell Courtney and Arm to get ready as I may be going in if the lip breaks. This is a great example of where trust in your partners is key on a climb like this. It would have really sucked to be roped to someone that you don’t trust can hold your fall if you go. Having climbed with both Court and Arm before – Arm many times, I trusted them to hold me had I punched through and I thought I was going through…

I do a combo of a jump and carefully placed foot and got over it – it’s probably 3 feet wide and as I jump, the far lip breaks and crashed down and now its even wider – 4 of us over it – and 2 to go. I get in self arrest position -- Court jumps it and somehow makes it. Arm has to navigate a larger hole than I did – and by now Court and I are already in self arrest position just in case - Arm goes for it, and I see Arm’s orange helmet plunge down fast as the lip breaks off - he pulls Court about a foot or 2 down, but she never gets out of arrest position and the rope comes taught on me. Court held the main fall. Plainly said – this is the real fckin deal now.

I yell to Frodo, Sue and Darl that Arm is in and everyone snaps into rescue mode like clockwork. The first thing I do is yell to Court if she has Arm – she says yea and I get up real slowly. She has him. I bang in a snow picket up near me just in case - to get us all anchored good. I untie from the rope, because we are going to need it for the potential rescue and – attach to the rope with a prussic and then prussic down to Court and start building the main anchor just below her. I set 2 pickets and back it up with a 3rd picket, set the top ascender to anchor Arm and tell Court to slowly release her hold on him and all is well – anchors are all good and bomber. I start building the rest of the Z-pulley with the second pulley and get it ready. While I was doing this, Darl and Sue belay Frodo down to the lip to see if Arm is ok – he is, but he is about 15 feet down. (In reality, Frodo asked Arm is he was ok very early on and relayed that info to us so we knew early we needed a pulley set up). Court gave him some minor slack to jump the hole and the rope really cut the lip good and dug in a few feet it appeared. According to Arm after, the ice walls are bulletproof blue ice and he needs a pulley system to get out cuz the position he is in, he can’t swing to get momentum to pierce the ice. Frodo prepared the lip with an axe and picket to prevent anymore cutting, dropped part of his rope to Arm and we start hauling Arm’s pack out – which we get to the lip and then it needs help getting over. The Z-Pulley is now set up so I prussic down the lip (pretty un-nerving the first time) and make sure I am anchored in good, and dig my crampons in as much as I can - and try and reach down to get the pack over the lip. I look down and Arm has his camera out. Only Arm could remain this calm during this….haha. It takes every bit of strength I have to get the pack out over the lip – I had to start hauling it out with 2 fingers and only one arm– not easy. To add to the drama - while all this is going on – we don’t know if any of us are over any other holes just waiting to fall through, but thankfully that doesn’t happen. To add more to the drama – while all of this is happening, the wind and snow decides to pick up and visibly drops to about 30 feet. Pretty intense b/c it’s starting to cover any trace of a route we had. Frodo is down communicating with Arm and to us about the haul and we get the OK and Court and I start hauling – very slowly so we don’t pull him into the lip of the crevasse and knock him out or even kill him – which has happened before - and just like that – Arm is back on top. He is cold, but otherwise in good shape. It’s pretty amazing how he kept his composure during all this.

The entire team performed amazingly during this crevasse rescue and it worked nearly like right out of the book. It’s a highly stressful situation and one I don’t think you truly know how you will react until it happens. This team was amazing. No panic – we all kept cool and did what we had to do to get him out.

 

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We continued to climb up zigzagging through/over more crevasses, etc,,and the terrain started to “mellow” a bit as were starting to get high, crevasses less and less, snowcover more and more…and just like that above 10,500 feet or so – the clouds break and we are above most of them. By looking at the map, we know exactly where we are and where we need to go. As we climb the steep, “but not that steep” snow we crest the Vallée Blanche and De Tacul is to our left, and the Aiguille de Midi right in front and we can now see the Cosmique hut in the distance. We can now see the cable cars coming from Italy and they aren’t much higher than us now. The altitude is starting to take effect and the rests more frequent for all of us.

The sights are simply amazing at this stage and we know the”worst” of the glacier is behind, there is really no more risk of rock or serac fall for the time being - so we can relax just a little now…and just like that the clouds move back in and we are back socked in and the winds picks up…and it goes from about 90 degrees in the beating sun…(its hot up high) to what feels like sub-zero with the wind and no sun.

Eventually we make it to the hut after a slog up one final steep hill - and a nice hut it is!! Food, beer, heat, snacks, etc... The thing sleeps about 100 people. The food at the huts was great and plentiful. I really enjoyed talking with climbers from all over at this hut – France, UK, Germany, etc… If you’re going to do huts – take a lesson from the French and do it right.

We all have a climber pow-wow about 4pm and decide if we go for summit tonight or rest a day – team decides to rest a day as a midnight wake up doesn’t see appealing after a couple tough days. The extra day at nearly 12,000 feet will help us acclimatize better.

At this stage, I am feeling pretty damn good – better than expected to be honest coming from literally sea level (I was on a beach) 2 days ago…, but having been at altitude before, I know it’s going to catch up and sure enough, I wake up at about midnight – with a brutal pounding headache and nausea….. AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) has arrived…. I toss and turn a bit for the next few hours and finally wake up feeling pretty nasty. Both Frodo and I were at a bit of disadvantage as the rest of the group was able to take the cable car up before we got there and get to about 13K and then sleep back down at 3K before getting back up to 8k and then 12K. I have been at altitude before for multiple days and have a good idea what works for me to help feel better - I get up and hydrate the hell out of myself, have some coffee, force food down my mouth (which I don’t want to eat but know I have too) and by about noon, I am feeling much better – and by 3pm, feeling pretty much perfect.

Day 3
Everyone lounges and naps throughout the day – we stare at the massive 2000 foot face of Mt Blanc Du Tacul which we will be climbing about 1:30am. The route looks good – goes over a couple massive crevasses, around and under seracs and then a final bergshrund near the top which you pass by a large serac on a snowbridge – the entire face is steep, but the final 500 feet is very steep and is a no fall zone – as it would drop you in one of many crevasses if your lucky – if not lucky – your going to Chamonix via the “bouncing off rocks” express. The faces on this massif are impressive.

Unfortunately, Sue had decided to leave us, while she was feeling good – she had an issue with her eye (small retinal hemorrhage) due to altitude and decided that it was best for her to head down via the Aiguille de Midi cable car, which was about an hour hike from the hut. According to Sue, this is not uncommon when gaining altitude quick…and she didn’t want to place any un-needed burden on the team in case something got worse as she went higher. She was able to hook in with another team (Spanish) heading down. We all hugged Sue and shed a tear or 2 for her as she had worked so hard and prepared so much to get here. Sue was a huge help to all of use since she speaks French and did a good amount of logistical work to get us spots at the hut, getting info on the ground in Chamonix, etc... She downplays it, but I appreciated her doing this legwork for sure.

The odd thing about Mt Blanc is the use of the cable cars – which for our descent – we really had to use. The last car down was 4pm. The typical time on summit day for our route was about 6 to 8 hours (probably closer to 8) and about 4500 feet ele gain to the summit depending on the group speed and it doesn’t matter how fast you are in NH are much ele you can do there– it’s a different ballgame out here altogether. We were looking at best - a 5 to 7 hours descent (and about 9,000 feet to the cable car), so we needed roughly 12 to 14 hours to make climb if everything went to plan. If we missed that cable car, we were looking at a 13,000 foot descent over unknown terrain to a town about 5km from Chamonix and possibly a bivy out. I had a flight out of Geneva the next day and Deb was dealing with the transport to Geneva, but I knew it was going to be leaving in the morning at some stage; Frodo had to be in Paris the next day and Arm had to be in Geneva by 9am. We had to make that cable car and get to Chamonix that night. We decided a wake up at midnight and get on the route by 1am and hope we could move fast enough to get to the top of Maudit by sunrise or shortly after. Unfortunately, the damn cable cars would influence our call on summit day.

 

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Summit Day
After getting to bed at 10pm and waking at midnight – none of us really got much (any?)sleep. We got ready, did a quick eat and drink - and were heading off about 1am or so across the Col de Midi and to the base of the massive 2000 foot face of Mt Blanc de Tacul. The night was crystal clear and we could see the lights of Chamonix nearly 10,000 feet bellow.

Court’s team got out the gate before we did, so she was actually “breaking trail” about half way up
the face, until we passed them out, but by that time, the snow had hardened, so I got off easy breaking no trail. Plus a few teams had passed us out – and some of these folks were really cruising since they had had nearly nothing on their backs….Court was trying to make steps , but the snow was so unconsolidated, she kept losing footing and sliding down……The face of Tacul is steep and full of crevasses and lots of seracs…

Climbing by headlamp and roped up – you’re in your own little world. Its dark, so on the way up your not seeing much of the objective danger. I was teamed up with Arm; while Frodo, Darl and Court climbed together. Arm and I have climbed together on a number of occasions so this worked well. As the face steepened, we stopped and shorted the interval on the rope to about 15 feet or so. I wanted to limit the slack in case of a fall by either of us and the crevasse danger was low I thought due to strong snow bridges. The slope was pretty damn steep, so we tried putting some pickets in just in case one of us fell – but this just slowed us down too much and we had to scrap that idea and just climb and rely on self arrest if a fall happened. It’s a risk - but one you have to do on big mountains. There is simply no time to protect every inch of the climb.

We stopped a couple times to catch a breather – by this time, we were approaching 13,000 feet and a couple teams passed us and the ethics of what I saw were rather terrible actually. We had a Russian team and a French team walk right over our rope when they could have easily went to either side. Just crossed it like it wasn’t even there…. We saw the Russians barking orders to one of the climbers that was clearly in over his head and scared – another woman doing the same. Arm commented that he was sure one of these was going to take a tumble. I have never seen this type of climbing in the US. Not to say it doesn’t happen – I just never saw it. It was scary actually, but it is what it is. I think this is common in the Alps. Different styles I guess. I was a guest there, so I can’t comment more on it I suppose. I heard this would happen, so was kind of prepared for it. Being honest, if you’re not at least somewhat comfy with exposure and long run outs.., Mt Blanc is not a great place to be...

We kept climbing up and as the face got steeper we saw the route went past a huge serac overhanging the top bergschrund and then up and around it over a large snowbridge – the route got very steep for the last 200 feet or so. We were frontpointing at this stage and just like that Arm and I topped out on Du Tacul and waited for the other team. It was quite cold at this stage.

The climb up Tacul was tougher than I thought it would be and it took longer than we thought. This was the point of no return and we (as a group) had to make the most important decision of the climb. . Do we head over toward Maudit and then we are committed for the long haul?

The sun was just starting to come up now and we had to decide and in my opinion, we weren’t as far along as we needed to be. This being said, one of my favorite parts of big mountain climbing is the sunrise after an alpine start… you’re just climbing via headlamp and then you see the light starting to come up….and you start seeing the features of the mountain and the peaks below you of smaller peaks, the colors of the pre-dawn sky are just amazing….… this is something that can’t be described and needed to be seen - but is simply an awesome and humbling experience.



Frodo, Court and Darl arrived on Du Tacul just under 14,0000 feet and I then spoke up and simply said…– there is no way we will summit and make it down for the last cable car at 4pm. We were at least 5 hours from the summit at the rate we were going and that would put us on top at 10am give or take…. And I think from 14K to 15.7K, we would have really slowed down considerably. We were just under 14,000 and had to spend a long time at that elevation on tough terrain. Could we have made it ?– probably all said and done, but it would have been a very grueling 13,000 foot descent back to Chamonix being completely wasted coming down and possibly a bivy - Speaking for myself, I had to be in Chamonix that night and couldn’t risk a bivy. Of course, now I am second guessing – maybe we should have pushed on and just did it - I don’t know. But at 5am, in the wind and cold of Du Tacul and not being where we should at that stage – it seemed like the right call for us that day. I was talking with Mats via phone shortly after I returned and he summed it up – turning back and coming back safe is never the wrong decision, but since I was the first to suggest a turn back, it will probably always haunt me – that I was that close from the true summit on Mt Blanc and bailed…but that’s easier to say now than 5am on June 24th… I try to justify it by saying this happens on peaks like this, the summit rate is basically 50/50 - sometimes you’re in the 50% that summits, sometimes your not…. This time, I was not.

Altitude is funny – it’s not like you’re really out of breath – its more your muscles don’t get the O2 they need and they just slow down… Personally - I felt ok, but not great... I was starting to get the slight headache back (totally expected) and that “weaker” feeling ones gets during that first day at 14,000 feet….but not too bad really… Did I have it in me to summit and get down? Probably, but – I will never know, but right now all I can say is – I don’t know. It was still 2000 vertical to the summit. And when you’re at just below 14,000 feet - 2000 vertical is a hell of a lot. I do know if we were going to a car rather than a cable car timetable, I would have kept going.

So, as a team in about 30 seconds - we decided to bail down the Aiguille de Midi. All the training and planning led to a 30 second call – but that’s they way things roll on peaks like this. You have to make the right call quick.

This meant heading down the Du Tacul face and up another 800 feet or so to get the cable car down. But – at least we would be not totally wasted downclimbing the face and climbing the knife edge to Aiguille de Midi. The first few hundred feet of the Tacul descent were quite dicey and in fact, some of the dicer downclimbing I have done. Arm and I tossed pickets in for the first couple hundred feet and until we cleared the bergschrund and just like that we were at the Col Du Midi again and roasting in the sun which is now up.

The climb back up the Aiguille de Midi was no joke either, this is a real knife edge about a foot wide with some serious exposure on both sides, but the side down to Chamonix is a clear 7000 foot drop right down….this was real nasty when the teams coming down from the Aquille de Midi had to pass those going up. Again, we saw some lack of class from many groups – just plowing on without a care about who they passed. One group stepped on Arm and my rope. One grabbed on to my and Court’s pack as he downclimbed – and trust me – one doesn’t want to lose balance on this knife edge. One guy told Frodo to move - we were like – move where???? Darlene had someone literally push her out of the way. A team coning down went to the left and right of Arm and I, dug into the steep sides – which was fine, but they had their rope going over our heads, etc… Again, just different styles, but I am amazed there aren’t more accidents there.

Looking back - If we had done the “normal” route, we would have pulled this off I am pretty sure as the summit day would have been shorter, but we did a longer, tougher route from the bottom and honestly I think at the end of the day…we just ran out of time. I prefer the way we did it as we got to see lots of the lower glacier’s which was some cool climbing. We got to climb in a legendary place and saw many amazing mountain sites that we don’t see in the northeast US.

We did this safely and came back in one piece and we had fun the whole time. It was awesome to be there and I am happy to get some more glacier skills under my belt. I was bummed about not making the summit and still am to some extent, but then again I am lucky to have just had the privilege to go there and climb in the first place.

We got back up the cable car about 8am give or take and stopped at the halfway station to down a early morning beer (Kronenberg!!) on the way back to Chamonix.

Everyone was awesome on this trip, but Frodo did a great job providing de-facto leadership leading by example. This was crucial during the crevasse rescue – making sure everything was moving along as it should and not forgetting little details – comforting Arm with jokes as we got everything set up. Everything was a group decision and we did it all as a team. We excelled as team during the crevasse rescue and we bailed as a team on Du Tacul…

I would feel proud to climb with any of these folks again and hope the feeling is mutual.

 

[giggy]

Links to more pix:

http://leaf.smugmug.com/France 2009

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/573410798kjEPSV

http://community.webshots.com/user/armtrips

http://picasaweb.google.com/RMW2112/Blanc09?authkey=Gv1sRgCNvugcarhtWyxQE#

 

[Juniper]

Awesome! I have been anxiously awaiting this report. Can't wait to look at all the pictures. Thanks for telling such a detailed story...especially about the crevasse rescue. Good ole Arm...cool as a cucumber! That photo is amazing.

Glad you all made it through safely. Don't beat yourself up about not summitting - sounds like you made the right call. You had an amazing adventure regardless!!

 

[Abster]

wow!

That was f*&^ing awesome!! What a great report and sounds like you had the trip of a lifetime. Glad to see you found a way up that didn't use the trams - 'cause I know it was important to the group. Glad to know that Arm is still fully with us and well

Great decision making on the turn-around.

What else can be said? Great group, great challenge!

Congrats all!

Hanna

 

[TMax]

WOW! What an awesome trip and beautiful climb. Like Giggy says, it's about trusting your team! Nice job everyone. And great trip report Gig. You're writing brings the reader into the trip without really making us hang in the crevasse with Arm.

 

[Paradox]

Totally impressive!

 

[Jason Berard]

That was a great read! You guys had a hell of a trip!

 

[Mad Townie]

Amazing climb, amazing team and amazing trip report! You guys did a fantastic job, and like you say, when you're enslaved to a cable car timetable . . .

Gig, quit beating yourself up about making the right decision. Lots of us make that decision on hills that are a LOT smaller and safer all the time. Besides, you have many years to go back and get it! Mont Blanc ain't going nowhere.

Congratulations to all of you for a very rigorous, skillful and SMART climb!

Now I gotta go check out the photos.

 

[cbcbd]

Gig, this is the best trip report ever. Great reading, dude! Excellent job on the trip, all. Jealous

 

[DougPaul]

Nice... I'm jealous too.

Doug

 

[Woody]

I could have gone to Barnes and Nobel and bought a climbing book and not have read a better story! Great report. Sounds like a wonderful time. I know that Giggy is big on practicing cravasse rescue and this is why. Sounds like a great combination of a family vacation and a climbing trip! Glad you're all back safely.

 

[David Metsky]

Good decisions made by all, well done. A safe return is always a successful trip.

 

[leaf]

gig- thanks for writing up the report.

summit day.. midnight.. frodo asks casually, "hey, you wanna lead out."

I respond casually, "yeah. sure. ok."

inside, i'm so excited i can't stand still.. that hour, two hours of being in the lead, noone ahead of me, i feel i'm the only person on earth, lights 10,000 feet below me in chamonix, stars a billion feet above me, mountain shapes in the darkness, crunch of crampons on glacier.. finding the route.. leading out... there's not alot of things that will top that.

spending time in the alps. summit or no summit.. will be with me for a long time. gig has it right.. nothing like the sun rising and all the sudden you see and realize where you are.. perched on some mountain slope about 14,000 feet in the air. seracs, crevasses reveal themselves.. views of the high rocky mountain peaks laid out before you...

that knife-edge snow ridge dropping down off of aiguille du midi was intense! dang.

i'm glad we started from the bottom because i felt like we really climbed the mountain. we had experiences that we couldn't have had otherwise.

i'll no doubt be back and start were we left off. could i have kept going after a minute or two, a water break, a fuel recharge? probably.. but the fact that it was a question in my mind tells me i made the right decision.

good times, big mountains, love it.

i think gig posted this but my complete album of the trip is here:
http://leaf.smugmug.com/France 2009
two videos:
http://leaf.smugmug.com/gallery/8687809_nJxCY#586078999_Ttg9j - watching the helicopter drop supplies at cosmiques
http://leaf.smugmug.com/gallery/8687809_nJxCY#586076411_Kh2rM - descending mont blanc du tacul

 

[mookie]

Amazing trip!
Great report Gig, you guys rocked.

 

[Rik]

Great report, thanks.

 

[spencer]

Now that's the kind of adventure I had in mind when I was standing on Augille du Midi in my tourist clothes last year.

thanks for letting us virtually climb with you!