With a forecast for afternoon thunderstorms and a thirst for some Chamonix granite crack climbing, today we headed up early to the “hidden gem” of the Voie Abert.
Tucked underneath the impressive bulk of the Aiguille Blaitiere, this little ridge has some fantastic crack climbing and numerous pinnacles to traverse, and abseil from.
We had the whole route to ourselves, and had a really good time, with some tough little pitches of Fr6a interspersed with some scrambling and airy ridge traversing.
Above – summit of the Blaitiere on the left, with the Lames Fontaine on the right.
Above – The sustained first pitch, not much of a warm up.
Above – Han jams, and foot jams.
Above – Solid rock all the way, and the odd handy bolt.
Above – posing for the classic photo, Aiguille Peigne in the background
Above – Many a gendarme to climb and rappel
Above – A 25m abseil down to the end of the route. A 50m rope is fine, all, the pitches and Abseils are shorter than 25m.
Above – Looking back across the route.
