Chamonix Rockfax

If it seems that this blog has been a little quieter than usual over 2015, the reason is that I have been working away on a guidebook to Chamonix and have not had much mountain time as a result.

It is due to be published in early summer next year and will be coming out both as a book and in app form. It is being published by Rockfax so keep an eye on their website and also UKClimbing.com for more information. I'll also put a post on here when I have a definite release date and information about how to pre-order the book.

The guidebook will be pretty huge (the current page count is at least 400, although the final number may be closer to 500) and it will cover the best of Chamonix, from valley crags right through to classic alpine routes, high mountain granite, the Aiguilles Rouges and the big north faces of the Massif. All of the topos will be high resolution colour photographs and as anyone who has ever used a Rockfax book knows, their production standards are extremely high.

In the meantime, here are some sample pages just to give you a feel of what to expect. These are yet to be fully formatted and edited so small cosmetic changes will be made and some details may be added where needed but hopefully you get the gist.

(N.B. The kink in the middle of this image is to compensate for the way that a book opens and prevents some information from being visible in the middle of a double page).

There is still a lot of work to do with finishing off the final pages so I don't foresee me getting out much in the near future but stay tuned in case I squeeze in the odd mountain day and check back for information about the book.

First powder day of the season!

Well, it was more piste to be honest but we did ski some powder so I'm claiming it.

I'm in Austria right now and it seems that winter has already arrived over here, with heavy snowfall down to about 1600 metres. I went for a training hike with my mate Robbie on Wednesday and this was the scene at 1900 metres - 

It was awesome to feel winter arriving but I might have appreciated it slightly more had I not been wearing trainers....A beer and knödelsuppe sorted everything out.

With bad weather also forecast for Thursday, there was no way Sharon and I were going to be working on Friday, especially given that Stubai was due to open for the ski season that day. (Yes, I know it's only September but Stubai has "guaranteed" skiing between October and June, plus any other time they get snow, which is my sort of ski resort).

Conditions turned out to be superb, with some pockets of lovely low angle powder and some immaculately groomed pistes. As if that wasn't enough, we also enjoyed an excellent (and reasonably priced) lunch and a cheeky weissbier too. Life in the Alps can be so tough.

Sharon loving the creamy pistes.

Austrain efficiency - this is at nearly 3000 metres!

We even found a peak to scramble up, although I couldn't figure out from the map exactly which summit it was.

Matt "The Alpine Clown" Livingstone, who is a regular fixture on this blog, would appreciate that his standard mountain greeting was engraved on the summit book holder on our little peak. 

Loving the view.

King of the castle.

Sharon on some nice, low angled powder with an amazing cloud inversion below.

Yes it's mellow but for September, this felt pretty good.

Well that was fun.....

As part of my continuing mission to get photos around the Massif, I'd run into the problem of Mont Blanc's "wild side"; the Italian part of the range. After several days of hiking around the Val Ferret and Val Veny Valleys, I concluded that the only way of getting decent photos of some features was from the air. Not a chore by any means, but not cheap either.

Jack, Tom and Sharon joined me on Sunday and we went through the tunnel to Courmayeur where I realised a long held ambition (sorry, "did some work") by flying around the Mont Blanc Massif in a heli. We flew with GMH Helicopter services who were really helpful, tailored the flight to exactly what we wanted and were superb to deal with throughout. Before any allegations are made, they didn't offer me a discount to say that (!) but they deserve a pat on the back for doing such a good job.

Some of the shots are from Jack, Sharon and Tom but I had over 1100 photos to go through so who took what is tricky to figure out; apologies for the lack of photo credits.

Plotting. When paying by the minute, efficiency counts.

Pre-flight checks. Looked alright to me.

Headed for Mont Blanc.

All done at the Dômes de Miage. Trying to get the required shots while not hanging around too long was tricky but sitting in the open door of a helicopter, hovering above Mont Blanc is pretty cool whatever the situation.

The Dômes de Miage looking pretty dry.

The west face of Mont Blanc.

 Looking up at the Freney Pillars and the Innominata ridge.

Cool close up view of the Dent du Géant.

Grand Jorasses south face.

One last look before landing. 

So, an amazing experience but unfortunately one I might not be repeating anytime soon unless the lottery numbers come up. 

After a really long, hot summer the weather is a bit rough in Cham now but the sun looks set to reappear in a few days. As has been the case most of the season, I'd say that rock climbs, away from potential rockfall areas, would be the way to go when the good weather returns. The Envers des Aiguilles would be a good shout, as would the Aiguilles Rouges.

Hopefully autumn will begin to creep into the Valley soon and mountaineering conditions might begin to improve. In the meantime, get your rockboots out and enjoy some golden granite.

Conditions on the Verte, Jorasses, Courtes and others

I've been away for the past month or so (hence the silence on this blog) but now that I'm back I wanted to go up to the Couvercle hut and get some photos. A recent snowfall has made the mountains much whiter than they were in July but there is still a huge amount to go at if you choose your routes carefully.

Here are some of the shots I got, albeit in low resolution because the internet just about collapsed when I tried to stick the high res versions on.

Aiguille Verte, with the Moine Ridge looking a bit too snowy right now, and the Whymper couloir not looking snowy enough.

The Grand Jorasses north face. Hard to believe this was being climbing in rockboots 10 days ago!

The Grepon east face looking excellent.

La Nonne, above the Couvercle hut.

Les Courtes looking very dry.

Les Droites looking a bit better but still not in great condition.

Pointe Isabelle.

This summer has seen me climbing lots of classics and going around taking photos; you'd almost think I had a project on the go or something....

Stay tuned!

More Classics - Chapelle de la Glière & Aiguille Purtscheller South Ridge

It's a hard life! With the heatwave continuing in Cham (and seemingly across the rest of Europe) I've been sticking with the enjoyable theme of ticking off Valley classics and trying not to get sunburnt.

First up was another day with Ed on the superb Chapelle de la Glière in the Aiguilles Rouges. I've done it a few times but I always forget how good the climbing and the situations are. There were a lot of teams going for it so there was something of a queue at the start but eventually everyone spread out and we were able to enjoy some peace for the second half of the route.

French guide and client on the "Razoir" section - perhaps the most famous and photographed pitch in Chamonix.

Ed's subtle marketing on show in the Flegere car park.

With work looming I only had one day left and fancied a hard day so that I could sit, graft away and stuff my face free of guilt. The Aiguille Purtscheller fit the bill nicely - a long approach and then a classic alpine ridge of golden granite leading to a great summit. We got the first lift up at Le Tour and made good time up to the hut and then over the Col Purtscheller to the route. 

Once climbing, the route is great but very traditional in nature, with lots of thrutching up chimneys and all the other carry-on that comes with climbing "old school" routes. The rock quality is good though and the descent is really easy so overall the Purtscheller got a big thumbs up from us. However, it is a long way to go in a day and we were glad of the bikes we'd stashed at the top of the Le Tour chairlift to get us down the final bit of descent. 

Unlike the descent from the Flegere last week (see below) the jeep tracks are quite smooth and easy at Le Tour but unfortunately my bike seems to only have the front brake working, which meant that I had to do the whole thing without a back brake. Needless to say this made crashing almost inevitable so I was pleased to escape with 3 small falls and a sore elbow. The bike didn't fare so well though; the heat from me gripping the brake burst the front tyre 50 metres from the car. Thanks for holding out so long tyre, it certainly beat walking.

Tom on the Purtsheller

Abbing off, with the Col Purtscheller below.

Tom biking home and heading for a burger and a beer. A stunning view to cap a great day.

The heatwave sweeping Europe is showing no sign of abating so choose your routes carefully, put plenty of suncream on and enjoy the views.

Voie des Dalles, Aiguille du Pouce

Having just had one super keen mate out from the UK (Ed, see below) another one arrived on Saturday in the form of Matt Groom. Needless to say, I took zero convincing to go out climbing on Sunday so we made plans to go to the Voie des Dalles on the Aiguille du Pouce. 

The 2 previous attempts by Matt and me to do a route (The Aiguilles Dorées (the route fell down, video here) and the Royal Traverse (the weatherman cocked up)) ended in failure so we weren't optimistic. Imagine our surprise, therefore, when everything went swimmingly on the Pouce.

All photos by Matt Groom, except the ones of him, obviously.

On the fairly safe assumption that we'd miss the last chairlift down from the Index, we stashed mountain bikes at the top of the Flegere lift in order to make the descent back to town easier. It was certainly quicker than walking but for 2 novice mountain bikers on knackered, 15 year old hardtail bikes, it didn't feel very easy!

Looking down on the initial section of the approach.

A French climber ahead of us. Having faffed about stashing our bikes, these guys got ahead of us on the approach but then they failed to locate the correct start of the route, meaning that we spent the day climbing alone. We spotted them retracing the approach route in the afternoon having realised too late that Les Anglaises had been right about where the route started after all. We tried not to be smug but didn't quite manage it. 

Me on the approach.

The approach wasn't actually as bad as everyone says it is but it does take a while. We had crampons with us and could just about have done without them until the last 5 metres to the route, which was bullet hard, 40 degree snow and would have been terrifying in just boots. 

Once on the route the climbing is superb but it is quite technical for the grade and doesn't follow obvious features so it is really tough to climb fast. On many of the routes in Cham, the line follows a feature and so route finding isn't an issue but on the Voie des Dalles you constantly need to think about the next few metres, and the bigger picture of where you are on the face. This, coupled with the slabby and occasionally bold climbing means that it's pretty hard to keep up a fast pace. However, with such good climbing and the World's best mountain view (in my humble opinion) behind you, taking your time doesn't feel like a chore. 

The climbing is interesting throughout and breathtakingly exposed in places. Many of the pitches are quite bold too so make sure you have a grade or 2 in hand, especially given that you'll need to carry your pack up the route. The top section is a bit loose and rubbish but it's a small price to pay for what precedes it. 

A few pitches up, enjoying the view.

Looking down the initial pitches.

Matt midway up the route.

Matt nearing the top of pitch 7 or 8, we'd sort of lost track by this stage.

Me posing on the summit. No amount of photoshopping made it look like I had anything resembling a sun tan so I gave up and accepted my paleness.

Quite the view from the summit. 

The descent was much looser and more involved than we expected and after a full day of walking and climbing under a hot sun, we were pretty over it by the end. I think my face says it all. 

One final look at the face.

Needless to say, we did miss the lift and were very glad of the bikes. 

The weather looks superb this week but very very hot so I'd be very wary of anything with the potential for rockfall right now. However, if you pick your routes right, summer should be off to a great start.

Climbing the Classics - Aiguillette de la Floria, Mani Puliti & Lépidoptères

It seems as if the weather has been ropey in Chamonix for weeks now so the fact that we've finally got some blue sky is very welcome. To celebrate the arrival of the sun, I've been out making the most of it and working through some of the classics of the Valley.

First up was a half day with John Vincent ticking off the south-west arete of the Aiguillette de la Floria, followed by "La Plage" on the same peak. The weather wasn't as good as forecast and we moved together for most of the day just to stay warm but given that it was tipping with rain at 9am, getting to the end of the day with the best part of 10 pitches of climbing in the bag felt like a good result.

John clinging on to winter with some ski-less skiing.

The Drus looking moody through the mist.

The next day was the first real "bluebird" that had been forecast for ages and with my mate Ed over from Lancashire, we shot up "Mani Puliti" just above the Index chairlift. I'd somehow never got round to doing the route before but it was superb, with good rock throughout and excellent views. 

Ed leading on Mani Puliti.

Friday saw Ed and me out again, this time on the slabs of the Aiguille du Peigne and specifically Lépidoptères, a low grade classic that leads onto the Papillons ridge. After a few shenanigans finding the right approach, we were soon underway and fired up the route in no time, leaving us plenty of opportunity to enjoy a leisurely lunch looking at the superb view.

Ed low down on Lépidoptères.

Some French climbers on an adjacent route being dwarfed by the Midi's north face.

Ed has now teamed up with other mates but he reckons he can convince me to get out climbing sometime next week instead of working. He's probably right but I'm going to try to be strong. In the meantime, make sure you give Ed a toot if you see him driving around the Valley in "The Munchkin Mobile". Ed's got a cool company called Mountain Munchkins and all I will say is that what his car-based marketing lacks in subtlety it makes up for in effectiveness! You won't miss him if you do see him. 

The weather now looks superb for this week and I'll likely be out making the most of it so stay tuned.