Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 13, 2012 - 11:59am PT
"If Mont Blanc is the King of the Alps, then the Grandes Jorasses is the dark and shady counterpart. It's a north face that defines all north faces: a sweep of steep granite that stretches for over a kilometre in length and rises 1200 meter high that sucks in the alpinists gaze. It's not the sheer size of the thing but also the quality and huge variation in climbing that makes this peak such a target for seasoned alpinists" (Jonathan Griffith in Climb 22)
The first ascent of the highest peak of the mountain (Pointe Walker) was by Horace Walker with guides Melchior Anderegg, Johann Jaun and Julien Grange on 30 June 1868. The second-highest peak on the mountain (Pointe Whymper, 4,184 m; 13,727 ft) was first climbed by Edward Whymper, Christian Almer, Michel Croz and Franz Biner on June 24, 1865, using what has become the normal route of ascent and the one followed by Walker's party in 1868.
The summits on the mountain are the following:
Pointe Croz (4,110 m; 13,484 ft) – named after Michel Croz, a guide from Chamonix
Pointe Elena (4,045 m; 13,271 ft) – named after Princess Elena of Savoy
Pointe Margherita (4,065 m; 13,337) – named after Queen Margherita of Savoy, wife of King Umberto I of Italy
Pointe Walker (4,208 m; 13,806 ft) – named after Horace Walker, who made the first ascent of the mountain
Pointe Whymper (4,184 m; 13,727 ft) – named after Edward Whymper, who made the first ascent of this, the second-highest summit
Pointe Young (3,996 m; 13,110 ft) – named after Geoffrey Winthrop Young
The North Face
Credit: Wikipedia
Éperon Croz : Martin Meier et Rudolf Peters, 1935
Éperon Walker : Riccardo Cassin, Luigi Esposito et ugo Tizzoni, du 4 au 6 août 1938
Éperon Marguerite: Jean Couzy et René Desmaison, du 5 au 6 août 1958
Voie Cavalleri-Mellano ou Éperon nord-ouest : Enrico Cavalieri et Andre Mellano, les 13 et 14 août 1958
Bonatti-Vaucher : Walter Bonatti et Michel Vaucher, du 6 au 9 août 1964 (ED, VI, A3)
Le Linceul : René Desmaison et Robert Flematti, du 17 au 25 janvier 1968
Voie Polonaise directe : H. Furmanik, K. Zdztowieki et A. Heinrich, du 29 au 30 août 1968
Voie Polonaise 70 : Jacek Poreba, Wojtek Wroz et Eugenius Chrobak, du 24 au 25 juillet 1970
Couloir central ou couloir japonais : Toku Nakano, Hideo Miyazaki, Kazuhide Seito, Yashuo Kato et Yashuo Kande, du 19 au 29 mars 1972 (ED-, 70º, Vº, A1)
Voie Gousseault : René Desmaison, Giorgio Bertone et Michel Claret, du 10 au 17 janvier 1973
Directe de l'Amitié : Louis Audoubert, Michel Feuillarde, Marc Galy et Yannick Seigneur, du 19 au 27 janvier 1974
Voie Polonaise 75 Wojciech Kurtyka, Jerzy Kukuczka et Lukaszewski, du 3 au 4 août 1975
Petite McIntyre ou Goulotte McIntyre de gauche : Alex McIntyre, Tim Rhodes et William Todd, juin 1976
Voie Yougoslave : Janez Gradisar et Igor Herzog, du 4 au 6 août 1976
Goulottes Mc Intyre-Colton : Nick Colton et Alex MacIntyre du 6 au 7 août 1976 (EX, VI, A1, 90º)
Scala di Seta : Smith et Sorenson, 1977
Voie Slovène : Vanja Matijevec, Joze Zupan, Iado Vidimar et Frank Knez, du 17 au 18 juillet 1977
Rolling Stones : Rutil, Prochaska, Slechta et Svejda, du 24 au 29 juillet 1979
Knez-Skok : F. Knez et J. Skok, du 23 au 24 août 1980
Magic Line Christophe Profit et Dominique Radigue, 1983 - départ de gauche du Linceul et sortie directe (ouverte par Hervé Sachetat et Dominique Séguier les 21 et 22 janvier 1983)
Voie Espagnole : Pedro Pablo González et Paco Aguado, 1983
Coulée douce : Philippe Delmas et Godefroy Perroux, le 7 septembre 1985 (D, 60°,400m)
No Siesta, Stanislav Glejdura et Jan Porvaznik, du 21 au 23 juillet 1986 (ED+, 6a, A2, 90ª)
Extreme Dream : Jean-Marc Boivin et Gérard Vionet-Fuasset, du 29 au 30 décembre 1987
Directissime Gabarrou Hervé Bouvard et Patrick Gabarrou du 27 juin au 1er juillet 1986 (ABO inf, 7a, A2)
Manitua : Slavko Sveticic, du 8 au 10 juillet 1991 (ED, 70º, 6c, A3+.) Onsight and solo.
Cristal Palace : Ivano Ghirardini, du 16 au 17 août 1991
L'Enfant et la Colombe, Marc Batard, du 29 décembre au 6 janvier 1992 (V+, A2)
Le Chemin des Etoiles : Jean-Christophe Lafaille, du 23 au 25 avril 1992
Gabarrou-Appertet : Christian Appertet et Patrick Gabarrou, du 19 au 21 juillet 1992
Alexis Patrick Gabarrou et Benoît Robert du 23 au 25 juillet 1993
Rêve éphémère d'alpiniste, Ivano Ghirardini, du 23 au 24 juin 1994
Michto : Aubert et Jean-Christophe Lafaille, hiver 1997
Eldorado : Valery Babanov, du 16 au 27 juillet 1999 (ED+ 80º, A3/A4, 6b)
Décalage : Jean-Christophe Lafaille, 8 jours en avril 1999
La Belle Hélène : Andy Parkin, 1999
A Leï : Patrick Gabarrou, Philippe Batoux et Benoit Robert, 2003
Voie Desecures-Robach : Desecures et Robach - 2003
Ma-Ika : Sokolowski et Wlodarczak, 2004
Le Nez : Mauro "Bubu" Bole et Mario Cortese, 10 jours de juillet à septembre 2005
Heidi : Philippe Batoux, Christophe Dumarest et Patrick Gabarrou, 2005
Hugues d'en haut : Patrick Gabarrou et Coranotte, le 22 septembre 2008
One of my good friends and climbing partners, bitd, Dave Stutzman (RIP) told me this hair raising story about his ascent of the Cassin Route/Walker Spur (Esperon Walker/the red line in that pic) back in the early 70's!
Evidently they were somewhere around or past the halfway point and the weather started to deteriorate rapidly. Climber's below were bailing and choppers were snatching those above them, that had managed to summit, off the top. They pressed on, didn't have a choice, and then things got really wicked.
Around three quarters of the way they encounter a Spanish team (2) who had given up. They let them tie in and follow (rescued them). At that point I asked Dave "Did they know any english?" Dave's brow furrowed as he reflected back for a moment. Suddenly his face lights up, a smile breaks out and he says, "Yeah, they new one word at least, HELLLLLLLP!" lol
So it turns out to be this huge killer storm and everyone expected them to be statistics. They couldn't be pulled off the summit either, but managed to make the descent on their own. And the storm continued on for days afterwards. There was a lot more to it, starting with spindrift avie's and then getting pelted by heavier stuff, bone chilling and finger numbing cold, etc.! But the main jest of it...they survived by the skin of their teeth. Particularly the Spaniards, cuz apparently they would have definitely perished had they not continued on!
I have the Washburn photo over one of my mantelpieces.
Read Bonatti's account of '64.
Their ropes were cut by rockfall in 5 places and tied back together.
The leader had to fourth class while the second carried both packs!!!!!
I spent eight days at the Leschaux hut in autumn 78. The guardian had just vacated for the season leaving behind a treasure in tomme de savoie, eggs and cheap vin rouge. Had plans for the Walker but instead ate, hunted crystals and drank the vino. The weather was great. When the goods ran out went for the Colton/Macyntre. Descended to Entreves and Maison di Phillipo, on Chouinards suggestion, for more food. The Grand Boeuff on sunday eve was out of this world. The largest bowl of grappa I have ever seen concluded the meal. Second best, no third best tour I had in five years in the Massif Du Mt Blanc. First was on the Italian side of the Monte Bianco but another story. SS
GDavis - That is climbing porn. No two ways about it.
Man, you took the words right out of my mouth, and the thoughts right out of my head. Particularly after watching the above vids! I wish I would have moved to Cham and focused on alpinism. Had spent a lot more time in the high country & Canadian Rockies preparing to go to the Alps, rather then rockclimbing as a be all and end all.
I initially got interested in climbing by reading 'The White Spider' and 'Starlight & Storm'! Now I wish I would have focused on that (alpinism). So much cooler, imo!
Yes, thanks for the vid's. Funny, I just reread Gervasutti's Climbs this week. He was in the mix for the Walker as well but missed it by a day and ended up doing the East Face. The Colton/MacIntyre is a great climb. harder than the Eiger IMHO, but not as long or commiting. I lived in the region a long time and have few regrets about not doing certain routes. But the Walker is one. I thought I'd save it, that I'd always have the chance. But time got away from me. Maybe it's not too late... Yeah man, the White Spider, Entre Terre et Ciel, Buhl, Bonaitti, Gervasutti, Terray those were the reads that got my attention. Yosemite and rock climbing was just a stepping stone. Groupe de Haute Montagne heli rescue pilots are among the best anywhere
Great videos-thanks!Did the Walker in an icy late Sept. with my friend Mike Hill many moons ago. Other than the unplanned bivy, the crowds were non existent and the weather was magnificent. One of my all-time favorite climbs.
Mighty Hiker - Where do they keep the giraffes, anyway?
Marlowe - Not sure what your saying, but...
Beer Giraffe - table top beer dispenser working by gravity.
Perhaps it's MH way of saying (using Canook shorthand), " That looks great and I'm game, only thing I wanna know before I arrive is, where do they keep...!"
Or perhaps MH is on the wild & ever so popular Great Canookian Giraffe hunt, and was simply looking fer clues from yer neck of the woods that he could apply to his 'neck of the woods'...
Dunno fer sure. cuz, although i grew up in and around them, individualy & collectively often times their ways and thought processes remain somewhat of an enigma!
edit: regardless, they have managed to produce some fine alpinist over the years, though ... wish i would have been one of them!
Lucky enough to snag the Walker in Aug. '88 with Jim Dockery. Are you on this site Jim? T'was the best alpine route I've every done! The pics posted above are climbing porn. GDavis has it right.
I'm thinking he's making a subtle reference to a climb in Eldorado Canyon called Grand Giraffe, which supposedly was named as a play on words from Grandes Jorasses. It's not even close to being in the same league, kinda like comparing pee-wee football to the NFL.
Grand Giraffe, Eldorado Canyon, The Americas
"This is a long route starting from the top of the upper ramp. The crux is a slightly overhanging offwidth crack, and the rest of the route is characterized by moderate but very vertical and exposed face climbing. The route is traditionally 5-7 pitches, although we did it in 3 with a 70 meter rope, with minimal drag."
Yeah, (sorry off-topic) I was sucked into this one when I first started climbing in 1972, I think it was rated 5.8 in the original High Over Boulder. I definitely used a little "up rope" action as I seconded in that OW.
In 1968, the famous Scott Davis of the El Cap Heart Route and I were camping in the Biolet at Chamonix. Despite a bad weather year in the Alps, we climbed the Bonatti Pillar of the Petite Dru, and the East Face of the Aiguille de Fou (each first one day ascents) and then set our sights on the L'Eperon Walker Classic Cassin route.
With bad weather forecast, Scott took our limousine on a side trip to Milan. Naturally, a window of good weather blew in, and so I paired up with Paul "Tut" Brathwaite. We were held up on the Leschaux Glacier approach and got a later start than we planned.
We bivouaced high on the ridge just above the Red Tower and watched as a front approached at first light, bringing snow and high wind conditions.
Tut, who had enormous reach, was able to lead the friction slab. We climbed into sunshine just at the Pointe Whymper. Storms were coming in from the North and West and the wind soon picked up and we were enveloped in clouds. We descended in lightning, slab avalanches and then rain all the way to a fabulous British dinner of pasta and sardines just above Courmayeur. Back to Chamonix under Mt. Blanc to find that 5 Japanese climbers had perished in the storm on one of Mt. Blanc's buttresses just a couple of miles away.
Scott had ascended half way up the Walker starting from Chamonix with a replacement, only to retreat in the storm; rappeling through the storm and avalanches.
Kind of an epic for all four of us.
In 1975, some of my friends were in Chamonix. I was burning the candle at both ends, finishing up my degree during the day, and working the midnight shift at G.E.
I managed to get a 2 week vacation from G.E. and flew over to Chamonix specifically to climb the Walker.
I went up with Roger Martin, a N.H. climber who I knew well.
We were over half way up, when we got hit by a bad storm. The rock was covered in verglass and we had a harrowing retreat. It was pretty grim and we made it down by the skin of our teeth.
I took a few days off, and went to visit a girl friend, living near Annecy.
When I returned to Chamonix, John Bouchard talked me into going back up to try the Walker Spur.
Again, we got hit by a horrendous storm, while climbing the last 100 feet,
along with a very young, Voytek Kurtyka and his Polish partner.
Kurtyka and Bouchard both were shocked by the lightning, but Bouchard got the brunt of it, having burn holes thru his wool mittens and out his socks.
Many years after this epic, Voytek was interviewed by Greg Child, and the Polish legend, stated that this storm was perhaps his most frightening experience in the mountains.
Bouchard was at first pretty shaken up and in great pain but thankfully recovered quickly. We all bivied just below the summit.
Reilly my sterling friend!
Of course I still have the RD's and they still don't work so well.....
Good thing I have a full rack of Leepers, and Salathe pitons.
Ya got a great thread started, RT. Love the stuff on the French Riviera.
Seriously, I'm not in the mood for ice climbing, though it is crazy enough to appeal at this late, safe stage in my, ahem, climbing career. I never ever thought it possible that I might entertain the notion...I'm a Californian, I've taught myself to avoid snow unless it's for a good reason. It's easy to forget how many have to adapt to it to live.
My interest's there, but nothing will come of it. It's too arcane a pastime to dedicate any of my meager resources to it. I seriously intend to refit my body adequately to get some rock climbing in this spring. When summer comes I'll be ready to travel...
Here's a question you can answer for me, if you will. The Peuterey Ridge is not considered to be part of the Grandes Jorasses, it it? It does lead to the summit of MB, but my knowledge of the massif is sketchy and my favorite old book of mine with maps, Wilfrid Noyce's Atlas of World Mountaineering, is now history. It had very easy to follow line drawings which followed ridges and delineated glacial valleys in black ink.
Rather like this,
Credit: mouse from merced
only from directly above. More like a topo, actually, but w/o hachures.
So, if I were to go to the top of this ridge, via the Aiguille Noire (sure, you betcha) and continued to the top, to the point called MB de Courmayeur, what would I need to do to claim an ascent of the Grandes Jorasses, or is this impossible? Would I need to go start someplace else?
Am I on the wrong side? The wrong country? Where's Mouse? Lost again!!
Keep on keepin' us knowlegeable.
Note: Roy T. referred me to the genereal populace--Great post Mouse, post it on the GJ thread. Mouse is much better lost than Marlow is informed. Much appreciated!
Mouseman, you having us on or is geography not yer strong suit? ;-)
Wrong mountain and you'd better like snow if'n yer gonna do that and then
head to Les Jorasses! :-)
I'd like to go to Chamonix, take a telepherique up wherever, come down again, check out the M from a bar, talk sh#t, then go and go take a pee.
Sound good?
No, seriously, I am quite baffled by the geography of the massif (because I haven't been there--if I've been someplace, I don't get lost easily, I have my bearings), but also fascinated by the tenacity of people (climbers as well as others) in dealing with such a huge establishment.
My own particular favorite armchair cruise would be the Central Pillar of Fresno. Just jiving...which is one of the only connections to Yosemitay which I can dig up, which is Roger Breedloof's fault anyway.
Frenziedly, MFM.
North? Magnetic or Oliver?
Credit: mouse from merced
As I thought I indicated to Marylebone, I know not which part of the massif is which from here, due to lack of mappage and overall distance.
My sense of direction is good. I need a starting point other than just the summit of the beast. And I haven't a good map, too lazy to check the net.
Where do I go from the campanile in Berkeley? Or Bowditch Street at Frat Row? Can I get there from Anders' place?
For years after I met Patrique Cordier, a Frenchman who climbed the Salathe in 1972, I dreamed of a nice dry summer in the Alps. PC was enthusiastic, to say the least, about the Alps.
After wanting to do some of the things he talked about, I was tempted. Jackass. Too much or too little trust in the weather, says I, years later, and abandoned the idea of ever trying European alpinism. It wasn't Berkeley enough.
Tim, my brother, had an experience of horrid financial dismemberment from a season spent trying to compete in speed skiikng in Europe, mid-seventies. There was no snow!! Dry as a California July! Two months he wasted. Ruined him.
Here you go... the Grandes Jorasses on the left, Dent du Géant in the middle and Mont Blanc on the right. The big glacier heading out of the bottom right corner is the Mer de Glace. This was 26 September 2011. Normally the massif doesn't look this 'clean' in September but there'd been a storm a day or so before.
Hey Mouse, jaaan's photo clearly shows the upper Peuterey Integrale and matches your topo/drawing that you posted. The huge rock buttress in the sunlight is the Eckpfeiler/Grand Pilier d'Angle. The Bonatti/Gobi is on the lit up portion with the big ice/mixed routes to the right. Also Mt. Blanc de Coumayeur can be seen as the sharp summit still some meters from the top. The integrale is a Himalayan scale route summiting some very remote and spectacular features. Some have been skied. The Eckpfeiler is fantastic and the site of many interesting and remote routes which is a full day in itself. Once you climb the buttress and gain the Peuterey you still have a long haul to the summit at over 15 thousand feet then a descent to the Grand Mulets Hut if you are returing to Cham. The Eckpfeiler and upper Integrale are accessed from Chamonix via the Midi and Heilbronner freaks. Then a bivy at the Brenva then a dangerous run don't walk type of approach under groaning seracs of the Brenva face to the bottom of the route. The photo also shows Mt. Blanc du Tacul in the right foreground and of course the Dent du Geant and the Jorasses to the left.
And another - for fun - looking in the other direction, down to the Mer de Glace. The Aiguille Verte is in the middle of the photo (the mighty Dru just a bump on its lefthand ridge) and to its right the Droites and the Courtes standing above the little Talefre glacier (the last photo was taken while the plane was over flying this). On the left side of the photo are the Grepon and the Requin. You can just make out the Requin hut perched on the rocks - just up and left of the wing tip. The Grandes Jorasses is out of shot on the right.
The third image you posted, the one below the map, is taken from Lac Blanc, and the building is the original hut that was subsequently (can't remember what year) decapitated due to a huge avalanche. The ground floor is still used by the hut manager and his team.
Just about everyone who has hiked around Chamonix has a photo of Les Grandes Jorasses/La Mer de Glace/Les Aiguilles taken from that spot.
For those interested, the Walker Spur (Eperon Walker) is 5+/6a rock climbing, and in dry years has little to no snow or ice. Still have to descend the regular route down the south face that, due to the glaciers thinning and receding, is now very exposed to serac fall.
To be a bit pedantic, but technically the Mer de Glace starts at the confluence of the Leschaux and Tacul glaciers. In your second photo you are looking down the séracs du Géant and the bottom of the Tacul glacier with the beginning of the Mer de Glace when everything breaks left and out of the photo.
For the naming, Mer = Sea in French, and when the glacier was much higher (lost over 100 meters in thickness since 1990) the crevasses/folds in the glacier looked like waves from the Montenvers. Here's a photo from 1949: http://www.glaciers-climat.fr/Mer_de_glace/1949.jpg
@ Degaine:
Yes I know that, but if I'd said Glacier du Tacul, no-one would have known what I was talking about (apart from you...)! And then of course higher up its called the Glacier du Géant. Three names in a couple of kilometres, so overall Mer de Glace seemed more appropriate to orient folks.
Au contraire, mon ami! Toutes Americaines ain't bucolic rubes! :-)
OK, I agree... and I'll forget that you've just said "... all American women..."!
Let's say Reilly that the glacier in question has three names depending on where abouts along its length you look. In both my photos all three sections can be seen so calling it the Mer de Glace is not wrong, but more importantly, a lot of folk don't know the layout, (Mouse, for instance, who is after all who Marlow was directing his comments at, and hence my photos) but will probably have heard of the Mer de Glace.
Marlow, what is referred to on your old map as the Glacier du Géant is on modern maps the Glacier du Tacul. Where it says Cascade is the Géant Icefall (the Séracs du Géant) and above that - off your map - is the Glacier du Géant. The Glacier du Tacul is directly below the Aiguille du Tacul, which is where its name comes from... not to be confused, of course, with Mont Blanc du Tacul which stands above the upper part of the Glacier du Géant!
Jaaan - Thanks for the information. Strange that the glaciers change name. Maybe you could draw a schematic update? A cool version would be if modern map-makers have made mistakes.
Here's a not very good scan of the map. You can just see the 'CE' of Mer de Glace at the top of the map. The glacier joining it from the right is the Glacier de Leschaux (Leschaud on your old map) and this is where the name changes to Tacul - note the Clocher de Tacul at the extreme right of the map, which is a little rock spire and a part of the Aiguille de Tacul (Mont Tacul on your old map) which is just off the map. Higher, above the Séracs du Géant is the Glacier du Géant. At the lower lefthand side of the map you can see the rocky buttresses of Mont Blanc du Tacul (the summit and name are again just off the map). Interestingly if you find the Pyramide du Tacul, you'll see a steep little glacier bay to its left/west. The prominent narrow buttress at back righthand side (looking up it) is the famous Gervasutti Pillar. Sorry the scan isn't better.
To get back on topic, here's a scan of the map showing the approach up the Glacier de Leschaux with the tiny Leschaux hut on its right bank, the Grandes Jorasses, and part of the descent route/Voie Normale into the Italian Val Ferret. Note of course for accuracy that the part of the glacier that flows down under the north face is the Glacier du Mont Mallet and this becomes (or flows into) the Glacier de Leschaux at some undefined point... The two big prominent rocky spurs projecting from the north face are the Croz Spur (left) and the Walker Spur (right).
For anyone interested in ski touring in Cham... find the Brèche Puiseux on the Périades ridge opposite the north face of the Jorasses. On the west side of the brèche you'll see a diagonal couloir dropping down to the Périades Glacier. So, Take the téléphérique to the Midi and ski the Vallée Blanche down to the Salle à Manger under the Requin hut. Now skin up the Glacier des Périades and then carry your skis up the couloir. A short rap down the other side leads onto the left bank Glacier du Mont Mallet which you ski in a fabulous position under the Jorasses to eventually join the Vallée Blanche again via the Leschaux glacier.
Credit: jaaan
Here are those spurs again, the Walker on the left and the Croz in the middle. As I said further up, these photos were taken just after a storm. The wintery appearance of the north face is deceptive - it's no more than a decorative sprinking of powder - a few days before the storm the face was completely black. This does tend to fool people into immediately going up there expecting runnels of perfect snow ice...
That is the way the Faces Nord use to look most of the time. In my 4 plus years there in the 70's, you could basically climb any mixed or ice route any time you wanted in the summer. As a matter of fact when we did the Dru Coulor direct in summer of 77 the ice grew in thickness by feet while we were on the route. We got hit by a massive storm with rain sleet snow freeze thaw etc. It was only a few rungs on the ladders down to the Mer. And camping under the Midi freak cables, you could hear seracs crashing all the time because the Boisson terminated just above town in those days. We used to ski powder at the Plan de l'Aguilles many times after big summer storms. Our biggest consideration given all alpine objective dangers and conditions to plan for was lightning. In summer at least. We got what we wanted. Pre climate change.
Thanks, Steve, Reilly, and Jaan and everyone. My knowledge of the region is now clarified and improved by geant leaps and bounds or baby steps and this is in between. That's a lot of ground to cover in that massive collection of sharp objects called the Alps, as we bucolics know the mts of Europe, GENERALLY.
Not changing subject, but the word "alp" itself is not used in France by the French, is it, particularly in regard to the areas under discussion? We tend to lump things together, as humans. The European typically seems to see Indians, where I might see Osage or Ojibwe or Crow, orNative Amkericanos, for instance...We 'mericans see alps in Europe, which we'd just label mountains here at home, except in Northern California's Trinity area.
Hence the often-misleading and confusing terms alp, alps, and the legitimate confusion of the geek in the armchair. FOR INSTANCE, the term alp has been explained to me to mean just the meadow, as in "the cows are pastured in the alps among the Alps" not in the the mountains, and I tended to disparage the term as used to describe a mountain simply from pride of knowing better. It's all in the accepted use, and the dictionary is specific in theat an alp is a "HIGH MTN", and alps is a back-formation of Alps, meaning the Ranges of Europe.
My pedantry is gross. I try to control it. I disgust myself when I apprehend pendantry in my speech. Sometimes alprentend it never happened.
So this in practicality tells me that my hero Gervasutti died a long ways from the GJ, on Mt. Blanc du Tacul. I'm getting somewhere. He already had done the GJ when he died, I believe after several attempts.
Well yes, the French do use the word alps to describe the chain of mountains that we call the alps. Google 'les Alpes'. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpes
You are of course correct about its original meaning.
Alpe
Au singulier, le mot alpe peut designer soit un alpage, soit une montagne precise, soit la montagne en general. Le nom vient d'une racine alp, alb, aup, significant "hauteur". Present sous des formes variees dans tote la chaine, il est peut-etre d'origine altaique et, dans son sens le plus courant, designe un paturage d'altitude, c'est-a-dire... un alpage.
Ce que les Suisses entendent par Alpes, c'est moins la chaine de montagnes a laquelle nous donnons cette denomination, que la partie fertile de ces montagnes. (Ramond de Charbonnieres, Lettres de M. Wiliam Coxe a M.W. Melmoth sur l'Etat politique, civil et naturel de la Suisse, augmentees des observations faites par le traducteur, 1781)
The geology of the alpes (from the book - "Les Alpes. Paysages naturels, faune et flore"):
"During the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, René Desmaison became one of the most famous of a coterie of élite French climbers who redefined alpinism, both in terms of technical difficulty and by raising its public profile. Indeed, when Desmaison appeared in Marcel Ichac's award-winning 1958 mountain docudrama Les Étoiles de Midi ("Stars of Noon"), some mistakenly took the film's title to be a subtle pun, for it effectively showcased the climbing talents of the metaphorical "stars" of the "Midi" (the celebrated mountain L'Aiguille du Midi which towers above the Chamonix valley).
At the time, British climbing was still undergoing a transition from an esoteric sport practised largely by maverick elements of the middle classes, while public perception of the activity remained fixated on quasi-military team efforts on Everest and similar lofty peaks. The French media, however, with more of a tradition of embracing fiercely individualistic feats of athletic endeavour, quickly took an interest in the activities of an emerging band of talented alpinists who pushed the extremes of mountaineering."
To follow up with the post on the origins / use of the word Alps, in France using the term "Alpes" when talking about geology refers to the crystalline ranges(often granite) that make up the backbone of the chain, as opposed to the "Préalpes" that refer to the lower, most often limestone "foothills". The crystalline ranges often have a high point above 4000m (Mt Blanc range, Ecrins range) where as the limestone ranges usually top out at 3000m tops, but often in the 2400-2700m range.
I'm all over that article. I hate posting my name here because I get googled and like the freedom of acting childish and profane without making it easy on employers to hassle me.
The Walt story was pretty funny. It was actually far worse, but Duane caught the spirit of Walt quite well. That summer was magic. Duane had been sitting on that story for twenty years, going back to the days when he edited Climbing. I have some really good photos by Dockery, but I won't post his. Somebody get in touch with him. He was one of the gang for most of the time that summer, although a little more straight and narrow.
I wanted to do the Eiger. It was such a sh#t show that summer that I should have done the Walker Spur. It sounded much safer and not that hard from talking to people we knew and occasionally passed in the middle of the night on some route or other...I went over and spent many days in that little tiny hut at the base of the 38 route waiting on the weather. Nobody from Cham would go over and waste time that summer, so I had plans to just solo it. I never saw above the 2nd icefield, and it had been a dry winter. So most of the ice routes sucked. We did do the Lachenal Route on the Triolet N Face. The Triolet is spooky because of the seracs. I hear nobody does it anymore. Chamonix was truly magic in the Snell's and Bar Nash days. We spent the whole summer there. I have a great Fissure Brown story.
Here is a good one:
Walt Shipley and I toking hash through an ice screw....
Credit: BASE104
Another one taken by Duane on the Lachenal Direct on the Triolet N Face. I didn't know how to put in an ice screw, so he led all of the ice pitches or I soloed mine. Meaning he did the hard ones. That route took quite a while and when we got back down the backside I was as tired as I've ever been.
The Grandes Jorasses totally dominates the skyline as you walk up the Mer de Glace. It fills the sky. I remember heading up there with Duane to do something or other, and a rescue helicopter went up valley right over our heads. About an hour later it came back with a body, unfortunately a common sight back then. I think somebody died every day on the Mt. Blanc massif that summer, on average. One evening I watched 3 rescues going on at once from the Flammes de Pierres..the safe way to get down to the start of the Bonatti Pillar.
Probably a sad sight for Jan. Frank died on the Shroud, which is the ice face to the left of the summit.
Yeah, that pic was 1984, and 1984 was considered a DRY year. It had been a snow free winter, so the ice routes were almost gone by July. The Eiger was really dry and I dunno if anyone did it that summer. That was the whole reason for going over there, the Eiger.
Although it had been a dry winter, it was a stormy summer, meaning the routes would get a shitload of snow dumped on them and you had to wait a sunny day before going up. It warmed up enough that one day would clean the snow off pretty well. So you needed a 3 day window to do anything long. On the short windows we would go do all of the classics on the Aiguilles.
I was looking at a website a couple of years ago, and some of the classics had lines of parties and were now sport bolted. We would go up there with micro racks and solo anything 5.9 and under. If there was a fixed pin we would clip it. That kind of thing.
If you got stuck in one of those long storms you could get whacked, though. So we were very fast. That was the best shape I was ever in.
Here is a pic of Duane and I just down from some route or other. I sold that Simond Chacal on my red pack to The Dripper, and I sold the state of the art purple plastic Koflach double boots to Dan McDivitt the next year. The dollar was so strong back then that we threw away all of our posessions and flew home with nothing but climbing gear. I remember flying back home in August wearing those double ice boots on the plane!
Duane on the left, me on the right. I was 23. I weighed in at 6 foot and 135 lbs. My resting heart rate was 10 or something. That is why I look dead.
Sorry for going all off topic. Back to the Walker Spur, I kick my old fat ass for not doing it when I had the chance. The word that we got was that it was mainly a rock route with lots of fixed gear. The Croz was more of a traditional route, that while technically easier, had a fair amount of mixed climbing. We didn't go over there to do rock routes. Alas, we did do a lot of them anyway. Walt kind of got fixated on doing the Croz. It scared me.
OK. I'm going to go in the other room and tell my wife to kick me in the ass.
Speaking of ass kicking, there is a great Russ the Fish story. A climber died in the valley once and everyone was kind of mopey about it. Someone started saying how they would want their friends to get together and remember him all kindly and stuff.
Fish said he would walk up to his dead body, kick him in the head, and go, "Stupid."
The word that we got was that it was mainly a rock route with lots of fixed gear.
I climbed it in 1990 which was also a very dry year. We put rock boots on at the bottom and took them off on the summit. To my mind, that is optimum conditions for the route. If you guys were looking for a more mixed route then sure, you're right, the Croz was more appropriate (or simply go on the Walker when it's plastered!)
There were quite a few pitons on the route, but I've seen far more on other routes. I had a small rack with me but I'm not sure if I placed much, or indeed, anything...?
The thing that would make me think twice about doing it would be the number of people that might be on it. I lost count of how many we passed - maybe a dozen, maybe more? We passed at least two teams still in their sleeping bags at the base of the Grey Tower. Eventually a Spanish pair who'd been following close behind us passed us on the red slabs nearly at the top.
More interestingly our ascent coincided with Alain Ghersen's ascent during his solo enchainement of the Dru (American Direct), the Grandes Jorasses (the Walker) and Mont Blanc (Peuterey Integrale) - 66 hours Chamonix > Chamonix. http://www.alpinisme.com/FR/histoire-alpinisme/les-drus/index.php?fic=p29 He trailed a short rope behind him as that way it felt lighter and was instantly available should he need it. The problem was that it jammed from time to time. I think I un-jammed it maybe three times. He topped out at about 11:00 am, having left the hut with us at just after midnight. A helicopter landed on the summit at the same time as he arrived there and we obviously assumed that he'd taken it to descend. Later we found that of course it had dropped off a parapente and he used this to glide down to the base of the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey. We topped out at 2:00 pm, some 20 minutes after the Spanish, and arrived in the valley at 8:15 pm (by which time Ghersen was probably well up the Aiguille Noire?!) My big regret was that neither my wife nor I had thought of taking a camera!
The following day a friend of mine took the first Montenvers train in the morning, walked up to the Jorasses and soloed the Walker and descended to the Boccalate Refuge - now that's quite some day, eh?
At this point climbing the north face is just not in the cards for me. Risk-reward no longer worth it, especially with the descent route being increasingly dangerous (town ordinance closed the route a year or two ago due to high risk of serac fall). I have a friend who went up and down the south face route (the regular route and descent) in 2008 and said the glacier was not looking so good.
Maybe if the stars align and I am in good alpine shape and the Walker Spur is dry I might consider it. Otherwise perhaps the Hirondelle ridge and then rappel back down that for the descent.
Base, as far as rock routes go, many of the routes on the front and back side of the Aiguilles de Chamonix were put up by Michel Piola (perhaps a few after you were there in the '80s). By California standards some might seem over bolted, but he is known for sparse bolting by local standards, and I've climbed a couple of his mixed (protection) granite routes in and around Chamonix, and the only bolts were on run out slab, and often one bolt for every 4-5 meters.
Of course now most minimally traveled routes have well-bolted belays. Given the alternative at certain belay stances, no issue from my end.
I couldn't agree more! Why ever did we do things like this? The thought of doing it now makes me shiver!
Piola routes - yes, you're right. To some people his name simply means BOLTS, whereas that's just not the case. Certainly he's recently produced quite a few commercially motivated consumer routes, but equally some very bold (almost) trad routes too. You mentioned the Perrons not too long ago... presumably you've climbed up there. Piola's latest route there, le Premier Matin du Monde is such a route with 7a+ climbing and 6c+ oblig - originally he'd said 7a oblig, but knocked that down a bit.
I've posted this before, but it's interesting in this context to see the difference in snow cover between end of August 1971 when this was taken and later photos. There had not been any recent storms when this was taken either, this was normal snow cover on the Mer de Glace and Grandes Jorasses.
As you say Jan, very interesting but I'd say that for the end of August - even in 1971 - that can't really be described as normal. The Leschaux glacier even then would have been dry by late August. Leads me to think that either the slight over exposure of the Leschaux is deceiving me and in fact it's grey(?), or there must have been relatively recent snowfall, despite your recollections. I spent summer of 1971 mostly in Zermatt sitting in a waterlogged tent. We maybe saw the Matterhorn once in two weeks and when we did it was a brilliant white pyramid! We then came over to Chamonix and only managed to climb the M/Pointe Albert in between storms.
I hope Peter Neame won't mind me linking these photos here. Maybe he'll post up the photos later...? (In which case I'll edit this post).
I remember alpine summers in the 70s being characterised by really wet snowy weather (this prompted me to abandon the alps for the sun of the western US during 78 and 79). The 90s on the other hand were the opposite with long periods of good weather. The early 2000s were very warm and dry - was it 2003 or 4 when there were record high temperatures? Those high temperatures just melted away years and years worth of snow cover from which I don't think the glaciers will recover (or not for a long time at least). Now it seems the cycle is/has returned to rather worse/wet summer weather.
Interesting question. I always thought that part of normal in the Alps was lots of days of bad weather even in the summer. In fact, we had better luck climbing in the fall than in summer as it was colder but the weather more reliable in September and October. Now I'm wondering if the years 1970, 71, 72 were abberrations?
And I was going to add that my photo was indeed over exposed. They have gotten so dark over time, that I end up over correcting trying to lighten them up. I no doubt should take a course in photoshop.
In my time there mid to late 70's mid July was about the time good alpine conditions came in and lasted til late Sept. The summers were always snowy and storm ridden however. Sept typically had the best 2 or 3 week window for clear weather. Every year was the same. I do not know what the weather records say but climbing wise the conditions were perfect for mixed and ice. Storm, day or two to clear off, then go for it. I know all the waterfall bred, US expat alpinists living there thought it was fantastic. I for one rarely did rock routes,most of us were there for the ice/mixed. Every summer, usually late Aug., we had our pilgrimage to Grindelwald to have a look at the Eiger NF. Every year it was plastered and looked outrageous. On my forth trip we finally got it, Nov. 79, we waited for winter cold. Summers were just too stormy. Looking at some of jaaan's photos I can see how bad the descents are. Not just the SF Jorasses but the Droites, Grand Charmoz, getting to the Brenva Face, Eckpfeiler etc. It looks bad. Are the Tacul routes still in for summer? Supercouloir, Gabarrou/Albinoni, Gervasutti etc? I do still want to do the Walker. But maybe will change my mind when I see the descent in person. I have not been there sice 1991. Planning to go soon though.
Good grief.
Base - that picture of Duane and Dumbass is at Snell's field, right? 1973?
That looks remarkably like Eric and my tents in the background, mine on the left and Eric's on the right (and Eric and me, for that matter).
jaaan, thanks. Yes it looks grim, just a big rubble heap. Sad. We used to be able to glissade/ski off the Droites almost all the way to the Couvercle, no more. Wow, there is nothing left on the NF Charmoz!!
I did the Walker in 1975, and the conditions were very similar to the photo image. We barely took our crampons off on the entire route. A real adventure!
Nice! It used to have that perennial gorgeous upper ice field with just a few runnels leading up. In that photo it looks changed even with all the snow. Great photos jaaan. Brings back great memories.
Wow Peter, that 'round the corner... ' shot of yours - the hanging glacier in the middle of the shot - maybe the Envers de Blaitière(?) - has all but gone now!
Edit: I said hanging glacier... in fact it appears that it might join up with the Glacier du Tacul/Mer de Glace, but unfortunately that bit is obscured!
Here's another showing the Talefre basin better, with the Verte, Droites, Courtes and Triolet on the skyline. I reckon the Talefre glacier just won't be there in another few years.
Wow. From the breche des Droites it was only a couple of raps to the snow. In your last photo it looks like 500 meters!!! And the Nant Blanc Face, unbelievable! Gone.
No Steve, the picture has deceived you! The face you see there is the face with the Y couloir in it, above the Charpoua. The Nant Blanc is on the back of that. Probably a lot less snowy than you remember, I'll grant you! In fact you can see the Nant Blanc in the photo just above this post.
jaaan so right! I was shocked to see so much glacier recession. One bit of good news is that here in the Tetons the Black Ice Couloir has returned. It is not to its former size but a few cold snowy winters and cool summers have allowed the glace to stay and build. Thanks again for posting the photos.
The lower part of the Argentière glacier (below the major ice fall) has finally separated from the upper portion, whereas in 2000 the ice fall's jumble of seracs flowed seamlessly over what now is a cliff separating the "upper" and "lower" glacier.
Anyone who has skied the Vallée Blanche and walked back up to Montevers's upper train station has seen the plaques indicating where the glacier level has been over time starting in 1990. 23 years ago, the glacier came more or less right up to the base of the pulse gondola (that's why they built the bottom station where they did), now the glacier sits 120 meters below.
The snout of the Bossons glacier has significantly receded and looks nothing like it did even 6 years ago.
A lot of rock fall (see West Face of Les Drus) in areas where the permafrost was holding things together.
Piola routes - yes, you're right. To some people his name simply means BOLTS, whereas that's just not the case. Certainly he's recently produced quite a few commercially motivated consumer routes, but equally some very bold (almost) trad routes too. You mentioned the Perrons not too long ago... presumably you've climbed up there. Piola's latest route there, le Premier Matin du Monde is such a route with 7a+ climbing and 6c+ oblig - originally he'd said 7a oblig, but knocked that down a bit.
Piola went up in 2011 and replaced all of anchor and slab protection bolts with glue-ins. A good mixed route where the cracks are easy to protect with gear, the cruxes have bolts where they need to be, but there are still 4-5 meter run outs on 6a+ slab.
A few years back I was climbing a trad route on the Aiguille de Praz Torrent while Piola was putting up a new route just around the corner for his recently published (2nd edition?) Aiguilles Rouges guidebook.
People who had fallen in glaciers a hundred years before were surfacing in the early 1970's (complete with much speculation as to who they were) so I'm sure that will only accelerate.
@ Degaine.
Piola had already replaced the old bolts on Le Ticket, le Carré... when I climbed it in July 2010. However, I agree with you entirely about the nature of that and the other routes up there. I remember the last but one pitch having only two(?) bolts in it... this one:
Credit: jaaan
The Perrons... for me the Perrons have simply the best multipitch routes in the region. The only modern route I haven't done is in fact the one I mentioned above, Le premier matin du monde, which I doubt I'll be racing up there to do! Besides Squatteurs..., Grévole Directe is good especially combined it with the top half of Alea jacta est. Another good combo is Balade des gens heureux followed by the traverse. There's also another new one in the grade six range called Au coeur de l'anticyclone. It's hardest pitches are 6a+ though in reality Piola has graded it very harshly and it's worth 6b at least. I don't want to flood this thread with photos of the Perrons, but for anyone interested I posted some on another thread some time back. Here: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=492354&msg=1907589#msg1907589
The guidebook you refer to is in fact volume 2 of the Aiguilles Rouges (rather than a second edition of vol 1). It contains Praz Torrent, Vallon de Bérard, Tré les Eaux, Loriaz, the Perrons, Emosson and a part of Giétroz.
Good grief.
Base - that picture of Duane and Dumbass is at Snell's field, right? 1973?
That looks remarkably like Eric and my tents in the background, mine on the left and Eric's on the right (and Eric and me, for that matter).
That was 1984, but I am widely known as a dumbass, so it could have been 1973.
I'll tell you the trippiest route of the trip: All of the ice routes on the Argentiere Glacier were gone by July. They had big blank slab sections and nobody did them.
We had a German friend come back after doing the N Face of the Triolet and said it was barely there.
So we go up in the evening and bivy on the glacier (too poor for the hut just above the glacier). We take off after dark and there was a good moon. That Serac that goes off on the Triolet had this massive field of ice boulders extending way out from the base. You could have easily ice bouldered on them some were so big. That kinda spooked us, so we did one of the direct routes on the left. I've looked at a topo of the face since and think that it was the Lachenal, but I'm not sure.
There was one 200 foot section down low that was 2 inches thick, max, so we just simul-soloed it. After we got over on the steep part of the other route the ice was thick and fairly steep. 80 degrees or so for a way. It was much safer, but any route on that face has to go through the fall zone of the big serac. That thin section wasn't so bad, because the ice was very good quality styrofoam. The rest of the route was as hard as nails and huge dinner plates would come off.
Duane told me a few years ago that after a guide was killed by that serac, it fell out of favor. Certainly by the guides. The regular route looked pretty spooky. Even our route had all kinds of hanging nasties over it. It was a really good route, though. One of the better routes I have done.
A week or two later, that thin section melted and that was that.
Here is a picture of this tiny shepherd's hut at the base of the Eiger. I talked to Mike O'Donnell the other day and he said it was still there in 2003. I hitched over there, took the train through Brig and spent ages waiting it out in this tiny hut with a 3 foot roof. The word in Cham was that it was too dry that year, but I think I read of someone doing it then. Twight or somebody. He was there that year, but I haven't met him to this day. We were basically rock climbers who could ice climb. Twight was already a hotshot back then. Info was so hard to get in those days. No internet, no topost, vague lines on photos. I didn't even know that the Fissure Brown was supposed to be hard until a thread on it started here a year or so back.
Eric wouldn't have been Eric Beck? You guys would have been hanging with us. We had this hobo village that kept getting bigger as more and more Germans moved in next to us. We rigged this micro city under plastic and tree limbs. It was huge by the end of the summer.
I later had a good talk with John Bouchard about climbing there. If we had had somebody pointing us around to the routes in better condition, we would have had a better summer.
Historical trivia: Have any of you hung out in this tiny doghouse beneath the Eiger start? Note the waterfalls behind:
"Dumbasses Big Adventure"
Credit: BASE104
I came "this" (imagine thumb and forefinger 1mm apart) to getting laid on the train through Brig. I was being true to my slut girlfriend who had taken to banging a guy while I was gone. It all worked out well. They married and had a horrible life for 5 years or so.
Anyway, when a girl sees you with a pack covered with ice tools on the way to the Eiger (you always let the word "Eiger" slip), you had a better chance of success. It is a great story. Ravishing American rich girl inviting me to spend the rainy night at her rich father's chalet above Interlaken. Instead I spent the night soaking in a bivy sack burrowed into a hay stack.
I have no idea where most of these pics were taken, but this is 1984 for comparison:
Courtes,Droites? They look filled in, but the lower halves were just little snow that would melt in a day.
Credit: BASE104
Credit: BASE104
I think that is the Blatiere on the left.
Credit: BASE104
This is all I saw of the Eiger after about ten days waiting beneath it. Some Chamoix hunters gave me some sort of stout clear booze and said it was "petrol."
In the opinion of Dumbass, the N Face of the Eiger doesn't exist.
Credit: BASE104
g
Hey. That Rock & Ice story about our summer there with Walt is excellent. I'm not sure if it is still out or in the last issue. It is a very honest portrayal of Walt.
Your photos Base:
1 Yes, The Courtes and the Droites.
2 I think maybe the Talefre glacier, with the Aigs Ravanel and Mummery towards the left and the Pointe Isabella/Triolet right at the back? Not completely sure...
3 Yes, the west face of the Blaitière and north face of the Plan.
The season we did the Eiger NF, autumn 79, we stayed at the Alpiglen. Lydia,the owner of Pension des Alpes Alpiglen hired us to do chores around her farm. Digging potatos, churning butter etc. In return she gave us the hayloft in her barn and the occasional meal. We started at noon, bived at the Swallow's Nest and Brittle Ledge and finished about 10/11 am day three. Being alpine history freaks we even met Frau Von Almen and arranged a weather check. She flashed lights for us our first night confirming the forecast we had gotten from Geneva Airport. The weather/meteo in Grindelwald was very primitive. Nothing like Cham which was very good. She was not the original Von Almen but a family member nonetheless and the matriarch of the clan at the time. The family lived in the same house though. We went to see her after we got down and had a celebratory schnapps with her. We had to wait about three weeks. We were the only ones around waiting to climb. Late autumn. Like Duane we had full international villages waiting on most of our prior trips to do it in summer. The Poles had the beat parties and were outstanding climbers. Only made one attempt before and got to the Wet Cave where we bailed due to rock fall. BTW we found remains frozen solid in the Ramp Icefield. The left arm and upper torso of what we thought was a climber. It turned out to be the body of a pilot who crashed into the wall just above near Brittle Ledge. We found out the story a year or so later. My partner was Larry Bruce, the best!
Base, my bubble has been well and truly popped, but that's mitigated by the great tale
N. face of the Eiger, possibly, suffering and discomfort certainly - versus - bliss. Really hard call.....
Your picture did have some inconsistencies (no plastic tarp, no nice seat outside the tents, neither Eric Holligan or I would be seen dead in shorts (what would the neigbors think?) which my brain was happily ignoring. Also, Snell's was packed in 1973, for no reason that I could tell. It was a thoroughly wet summer until August.
At the first sign of sun, Eric and I rushed onto the hill to do the Courtes with the following series of events:
See the blue sky - woohoo! Argentiere Cirque 1973
Credit: pneame
Somewhat loaded slopes....
Aig. de Triolet 1973
Credit: pneame
After the guided parties all retreated, and we had started the wading process, we thought that maybe, just possibly, they might be right....
There is/was really good crystal hunting behind the Leschaux. I lived off of crystal sales from time to time. Georges Bettembourg was a master crystal hunter. One of his stashes was behind the hut. Georges was killed while hunting crystals in the Argentierre. Rockfall.
Yeah, I saw that Twight did the Eiger in 1984. He fer sure wasn't staying in Snell's. I first heard of him through Bouchard a couple of years later.(very nice guy). People need to understand that in those pre-internet days, it was very hard to even get decent topos of routes. We mainly just yacked with other climbers and did stuff that they knew about.
I am curious what month Twight was there. I hear that nobody does it in the summer anymore. Way too much rockfall since the ice all melted away.
I read his book "Kiss or Kill" when trapped last summer and I thought he was so wound up in himself. Not in a narcisitic way. He's all grown up now. I could relate to him, but he was more of a badass. Remember, I am a dumbass.
Topos? Did you not see the topo book in the Meteo? Very detailed IMHO. But there was so much new stuff to do there were no topos for that obviously. It was a smorgasbord of unclimbed routes. But for Gordon Smith, I never would have gone to Cham. The Brits were on it. Alex, Terry, Gordon, the Nicks...
I was on the Eiger in about 88 in september. At that time there was already talk about warming ruining the summer although I tend to think there was a changing attitude of rockfall as "just the way things roll". I know there was a similar attitude in the rockies. I always thought it strange that anyone would go up on the Grand Central coulior or Deltaform super coulior in July. You just have to be a little thick I think. I confirmed it myself one fine July day on the Andromeda strain having fortunately bailed only to safely witness the cornice ream the whole gully an hour later! Now no boddy does those things in summer and it hardly has anything to do with lack of mid summer ice. Its just a dumb time to be in a gutter.
In 88 (or whatever it was) the icefields were still well intact with old ice. Conditions were good but we got scared off by storm.
Bruce, I agree. Larry and I had a very similar event on the Grand Central on Kitchener in Aug 79. We were dumb, full of Canadian Kokanee (beer) and chasing the alpine dream. The ice fields had the most confounding weather though. The Altimeter would read high pressure and it would snowing in July. Cham was much more 'predictable'.
Yes. I met Gordon in the states in 76. We climbed together a bit and his stories of Chamonix and what was possible got my attention. I met up with Gordon in France in 77 and then the rest of the Brit contingent. The whole Bar Nash scene it was unforgetable. There were a few Americans there, Rick A, Tobin, Mugs, Jack Roberts and others. 77 was Tobin's incredible season. Anyway that was it. I basically moved there. Spent a lot of time with black Nick the following summer. The whole lot of us pretty much got chased from Snell's and moved to under the Midi cables. It was free and the Gendarmes had not figured it out yet. Once everyone got wind of it though, it turned to typical climber's camp squalor. Nick always drove out from GB so we had wheels.
Apart from the genuinely mixed nature of the climbing + the tasty history, the other take home lesson seems to be that the "light" part of the modern "fast and light" was already much in vogue.
Note the quite small sac on the photo of the 'schrund.
The lack of "fast" was mostly due to the lack of modern gear slowing them down
I recall a tale From Gastley's book "Starlight and Storm" where Ghastley and an entourage of aspirant guides were doing their exam on the Wymper Spur. That alone I thought remarkable but worse yet he described how while bivouacing a number of the aspirant guides were killed by rockfall. That must have been a devastating tragedy. Does anyone out there recall this event and the details surrounding it?
Piola had already replaced the old bolts on Le Ticket, le Carré... when I climbed it in July 2010.
Ok, glad you had the replaced bolts. We looked over to Verdon Memories and the anchors looked like crap (old rusty pitons and tat). The second to last pitch of Le Ticket (your photo?) is pretty run out. The last pitch and variation are well protected cracks in the 5+/6a range.
jaaan wrote:
The Perrons... for me the Perrons have simply the best multipitch routes in the region.
I agree, the rock and setting are excellent. The traverse is fantastic, and a great intro to arête traverses.
Only climbed on route at Barberine, which has great rock as well.
is amazing, there is so much glacier / ice coverage. Nothing like that today.
Here's a photo of of the (l to r) Courtes, Droites, Verte:
Left to right: Les Courtes, Les Droites, La Verte
Credit: Degaine
Taken in April 2011. We climbed the Y couloir on L'Aiguille d'Argentière, and then skied the Milieu Glacier (the classic ascent/descent route, "milieu" means "middle" in French).
The snow coverage on those classic north faces hides the glacial thinning and retreat in recent years.
Now I get it! Two mountains, one massif. How elegantly confusing... :)
Marlow, I must say, were it not for all that cold white shite, it'd be heaven, because the rock looks like it was cut and faceted in a jeweler's shop, it's that crisp-looking.
Mouse
I can see that. To repeat the opening: "If Mont Blanc is the King of the Alps, then the Grandes Jorasses is the dark and shady counterpart. It's a north face that defines all north faces: a sweep of steep granite that stretches for over a kilometre in length and rises 1200 meter high that sucks in the alpinists gaze. It's not the sheer size of the thing but also the quality and huge variation in climbing that makes this peak such a target for seasoned alpinists" (Jonathan Griffith in Climb 22)
Not much seems to be made of the south face of the Jorasses, so here it is, taken today. You can see the 'little' east face just left of the right hand skyline. Compare that with my photo posted 7 Feb and you'll see how Himalayan in scale the Jorasses is. Also the Brenva Face of Mont Blanc - and the tiny little Freney Pillars on the far left - way over on the left.
Credit: jaaan
Here's another view of the Freney and Brenva faces of Mont Blanc.
Thanks, Marlow... only 3/4 more... we were lazy for photos years ago... and I feel regret now.
As I do not know if it is correct to link blogs here... I have one... if interested in one complete topo ok Walker, Dru, Doites, Courtes,Piz Badile, etc.... please mail me and I will give you the link.
I want to share a picture from last week, even it is not the Grand Jorasses. It shows the Glacier d'Envers de Blaitière - not showing the temperature: -20 grad celsius and 60 km/h wind..
Quote Here
Glacier d'Envers de Blaitière
Credit: Berner
conditions are great - Ice is noice, Sorenson-Eastman have perfect ice and now some more pitons to rapell.
jaaan, I lost one of mine crossing a raging river in the N Cascades once and
hiked out with one boot and my bare foot taped up. The bare foot felt better
at the end. Actually, it felt better all over, not just the end. ;-)
Jaaan...mmm... maybe in august but do not remember date.
We were surprised by storm near the top... I remember that there were a couple of climbers behind us that made bivouac 150m. from top... and we did it near de summit but in the italian side.
The next day we met two japanese climbers sleeping in a crevasse (italian side)... and near the hut we met two more climbers (we were eating with them and remember that they made the Eiger north face a days before).
Let us know!