The conditions for ski mountaineering on Europe’s highest peak were almost perfect yesterday. I was climbing and skiing with Kaz and Pete, who had spotted the good weather forecast and had given me a last minute call for the trip.
The Grand Mulet hut was pretty full, we weren’t the only ones who could read a weather forecast! My friend Roeland was there with two clients so we had a social evening, and ended up sharing the ascent the following day.
Mont Blanc does require an early start, and the alarms went off at one fifteen am, for a one thirty breakfast. Ouch. Actually it isn’t too bad at the time, but normally hit me just before dawn, that’s when I get tired and then get a second wind once the sun has risen.
I had a major water bottle faff in the morning as well, my lid had failed leaking hot tea. Luckily I spotted this before packing it in my rucksack! A quick question to the hut guardian produced a spare bottle (ta muchly), but a couple of hours later I took my first proper drink and realised that my tea had things floating in it. Totally grim. I think I must have received the dregs of the Hot tea, and was unlucky to have the bits of lemon, or whatever they were, in my bottle. I really couldn’t stomach the water at all, and tipped it all out onto the snow to save weight. So it looked like I was going to be water free for the whole mountain 🙁
We climbed the north ridge of the Dome du Gouter, saving us a nerve wracking skin under the seracs of the normal Grand Mulet route. A mixture of skinning and boot-packing took us past the Dome and onto the Vallot hut. This section was pretty cold as the sun hadn’t quite reached us yet, and the early start was taking it’s toll. I think we all periodically shut our eyes as we were skinning along the flat plateau.
From the emergency Vallot hut we had the sun on us, and the climbing gets more steep with some narrow ridges to negociate. There was no danger of falling asleep on this section, but the altitude was having an affect on both Pete and Kaz, but they soldiered on to the top with only the occasional stop for a drink and a photo.
The summit was amazingly warm, virtually no wind and a blazing sun. We probably had twenty or thirty minutes on the summit, taking photos, preparing kit for the descent and enjoying the sit down. There were quite a few other people as well, and it was fun to listen to all the other languages being spoken.
The ski from the summit started with some fairly hard wind blown snow. Some side slipping and careful skiing was required but further down the snow was pretty soft and we had some good turns, although I was taking it easy out in front scouting the route, and both Pete and Kaz were feeling the altitude and had tired legs.
I was also experimenting with some hired ZAG skis, and my lightweight race boots. Nice on the way up, but not so great for ripping through snow on the way down! When we had consistent snow they were pretty good, but heavy or tracked snow was tricky.
The ski descent off Mont Blanc is very spectacular, with some nice sections of skiing but there is also some big objective danger from hanging glaciers and the seracs that regularly avalanche across the ski tracks. This means that on some sections you don’t want to hang around, but there are plenty of places to stop for a safe drink and a photo.
Since my ski descent last week it had snowed a little, so the route down had changed, and there were a few spots when we could safely get fresh tracks. The path through the “Jonction” was fairly smooth, and we were on the long traverse back to the Midi lift, getting there for about one forty five, just under twelve hours on the hill.
My waterbottle faff meant that i was feeling pretty thirsty by this point, but I felt more sorry for Kaz, who was due at work for six o’clock that evening for his chef shift…..
Skiing under the Seracs of the North Face
Early start
Dawn shadows on the Dome du Gouter
The Bosses ridge of Mont Blanc
Pete and Kaz
Summit shot
Soft snow on the North Face of Mont Blanc
Last-Minute Bookings & Custom Dates
