Sarah was in Chamonix for a long weekend. We wanted some Matterhorn practice, and preferably some quiet mountains. There was fresh snow up high, covering the rock routes so we aimed for the Aiguille du Moine in the heart of the Mont Blanc range.
We had a busy first day, starting off at the climbing area at Les Gaillands practicing some multi-pitch climbing and abseiling before catching the train up to Montenvers and up to the Courvecle refuge. It’s quite a long approach, with some stunning scenery on the glacier lower down, before climbing the steep and exposed ladders through the rock band to reach the hut.
The weather was due to come in the following afternoon, so we had a little time pressure to get up, and off the route before the rain would make everything slippy and slow.
As we made our way up the tiny glacier to the start of the route it was just starting to get light, and we could see the clouds pouring over the frontier ridge from Italy. They were coming in really fast, and it looked like we were going to be in the cloud ourselves pretty soon.
I crossed the bergshrund and belayed Sarah across after a few meters. Just before she reached the belay there was a metallic clatter as a crampon dropped off her boot and tinkled away into the depths of the Bergshrund. Luckily I had seen where it had gone, so I abseiled down into the “abyss” where I saw the errant crampon lying on a snow bridge about 25ft down. It was a bit wet and drippy, but I was soon climbing back out with Sarah belaying from above.
This obviously delayed us a little, and we raced up the next few pitches trying to beat the incoming weather. Once past the initial few sections the route eases off into quick short-roping territory. We were about half-way up the route when the rain started. Bugger. We were at a crucial junction of the route, with the crux pitch just ahead, and still quite a way to go until the summit.
Out with the group shelter and a snack as we waited to see if it was a passing shower or not. The rock got steadily wetter, and with the worsening forecast we called it a day. We down climbed and then abseiled our way back onto the glacier. It had turned out to be a good training day anyway, and always better to turn around early than too late.
After coffee we headed back to the train at Montenvers via a brand new route and set of ladders from the hut. This traversed around towards the requin hut before dropping down to the Mer du Glace. We roped up once again for the ladders, that were pretty long in places, although not as steep as the original route up to the hut.
The following day was a rest day, which was fortunate as it really did chuck it down all day. Our final day’s climbing was all about milleage, and avoiding the crowds. August is really busy in Chamonix, and we were keen not to spend our day standing in a queue.
We were first up the lift, and first on the route for the classic Crouches Traverse in the Aiguille Rouge. Sarah had gained confidence and we really flew along this, taking in all the extra tricky sections as well. A quick coffee stop at the Lac Blanc before down the lift, and across the valley for the Via Corda.
This 500m rock climb is mostly a scramble, with a few trickier pitches thrown in as well. We were quick, despite the tired legs! By the top we had done over a 1000m of climbing that day.
The new ladders to the Couvecle refuge
The Mer du Glace
Storm approaching
Training at Les Gaillands
Via Corda
Crouches Traverse
