Off to the Alps again...

Pretty much all summer, Viv and I had organised to go on a trip to the Alps. The next time that we both had free time, and the weather forecast looked promising, we would jump on a plane. Well, good things take time I suppose. My passport was about to expire, so in pretty much the last available opportunity, the forecast was good and it was all go. Due to a wetter and colder summer, a lot of ice routes were in pretty good nick for the time of year, and we were keen to get amongst it. We had spent all week discussing what routes we wanted to climb and had still not made a decision. In Chamonix we met up with a bunch of Brits who had been doing amazing things and were encouraging us to get on a hard route.

We still hadn't decided what to climb the next morning (felt like kids in a sweetshop sometimes), but eventually decided to attempt the Lausser route on the North Face of Les Drus. The trains were not running, so we hiked up the hill with huge packs, getting totally knackered by the time we reached a biv under Les Drus. It is an amazing piece of rock, but was pretty bare of ice which was not promising. We set the alarm anyway, and trudged around the corner to find the route totally dry. Hmmm. Plan B was the Drus Couloir, another awesome looking climb, but we were a bit overequipped for it, and would have to lug too heavy packs with us. It looked really dry too, and we spent 5 minutes under the shrund discussing whether to go for it or not. We decided to, I racked up and was just about to set off when a large volley of rocks whined over our heads. We were content to battling with the out of condition climb, but not if it kept spitting rocks at us, so we turned tail and fled back to the valley.

Ok, so Plan C was to head back to the Grandes Jorasses, and climb the amazing looking ice route, the Colton-MacIntyre, shown below. The plan was to climb it in a day, hut to hut. This meant we could carry a lot less gear, as we could leave sleeping bags behind, but we would have to be fast to climb the 1200m route in the 12 hours of daylight. One benefit was we had been there last year, and thought we could manage the descent in the dark.

The North Face of Grandes Jorasses, showing the line of Colton-MacIntyre

So off we went, climbing the easy, but tiring lower icefield in the dark, getting to the bottom of the hard climbing on first light, a little behind schedule due to taking the wrong couloir, whoops. The crux was a steep wall climbing out of the second icefield. It was well covered in ice, but was dead steep, and the ice was disintegrating, making for one of the most pumpy and scary ice pitches I have climbed. I was absolutely spent at the end of it, and welcomed the chance to follow Viv up to base of the headwall above.

Viv climbing the lower couloir

Viv climbing towards the second icefield. The crux ice pitch is visible above.

So the headwall was where it got interesting. The description of the headwall was not helpful, pretty much follow mixed ground left to the ridge. Viv first did a tremendous, difficult lead on tenuous rock, but (in hindsight) in completely the wrong direction. He then had a difficult, tenuous downclimb back to me. This ate up about 2 hours in total, not good with darkness approaching. So we tried again, this time further left, all going well, another hard lead, but the rope seemed to go out pretty fast, so that made me happier. Next lead started well, Viv making good progress, but then slowing, then stopping altogether. The climbing was just getting harder and harder, and with no protection, quite dangerous. Viv was finding himself making difficult moves way above gear, that he could not reverse. It was not the way. He finally found some gear, reversed down to some more, and brought me up.

Adrift in a sea of granite, Viv looking for a way up the headwall.

I haven't moved, it is hours later, we are trying a new way.

It is proper dark now, we are both exhausted, and mentally rattled after some difficult dangerous, yet unproductive climbing. The sense of urgency has gone, as it is not going to get any darker. Luckily, just below the belay is a small snow arete which we stamp into a small flat patch, the only one visible around us. We eat and drink, recharge a bit and Viv calls up some friends who have climbed the route for some advice on the correct route as we consider our next move. We basically work out where we want to be, a snow arete out left, but not sure how to get there. The decision is to stay here for the night and figure it out in the light of the morning. What we were trying so hard to avoid, a bivvy on the face, is about to happen. I won't bore you with the details, it wasn't pleasant, but we got through the night ok, and were in a much better position to face the climbing the next day.

A sideways abseil got us to the base of some easier climbing below the snow arete. A nice pitch of mixed climbing got us up to the crest, and we were there, on the Walker spur, about 3 pitches of pleasant mixed climbing to the top. Pulling over the top was amazing, it was a gorgeous day, the anxieties melted away as we soaked up the sunshine and the fine view. The descent was knackering, a cup a soup and gel each was the food for the day, but we had a hut with blankets and (hopefully) food spurring us on. A nice sleep in, then it was down for welcome pizza and beer.

View of Mt Blanc from the summit