Climbing at Vallorcine

After yesterdays adventures, we both felt like a more chilled day today, (i.e without the hour walk in and out), so drove over to Vallorcine near the Swiss boarder. We'd both been to the crag before, but many years ago. It's only a half an hour from Chamonix, but the valley has a completely different feel. Much more relaxed and rural. The view from the climb was as good as the climbing itself.

We climbed two of the long classic routes, one of which was good, the other, outstanding. Climbing in the shade in the morning, was still plenty warm enough. By afternoon it was getting too hot in the sun. This and the now presence of many, many other climbers (some of which seemed to know what they were doing, but mostly not), we decided to call it a day and go and meet Clare for a drink instead.

Vallorcine:

- Le diedre de la derniere fleche 4c,5b,4c,4c,4c

- Courage, dulfons 3b, 4b, 5a(amazing), 4c

Alpine Cowboys - Cocher-Cochon and the Traverse AD,5a

Funny how things turn out. We had a stroke of good luck today, which at first seemed like bad luck. Barney and I had set off to climb the 240m 'Cocher-Cochon' Ridge, which can be linked onto another 190m ridge traverse. However, while nattering on the walk in, we took the wrong path and ended up heading towards the top of the route (which is the start of the traverse). We could already see people queuing at the base of the ridge, so opted to carry on and do the traverse first. This meant that we had the traverse to ourselves (as no one had reached it yet), and could then walk down to the base of the ridge afterwards and climb that, once all the teams had gone! A bit of extra walking, but otherwise, genius! 

The traverse was great fun, climbing up and over huge towers and pinnacles, which then had to be abseiled back down. We'd skimmed the guidebook and knew that there was a tryolean traverse crossing between two of the towers. I had assumed that this was an 'in-situ' cable, but we we arrived on top of the relevant tower, we discovered that we had to rig it ourselves! Some hillarious lasso action took place as you have to throw a rope over a spike on the far tower. 

With a team effort, we got it on our second attempt, fixed it as tight as we could, held our breath and ventured out across the void!

We ropes retrieved, we carried on with numerous more abseils, some of which seemed more safe and solid that others. Some were bolts, others, a collection of rotting tat!

With the ridge traversed and lunch eaten, we decided we still had time to climb the ridge. It was a tricky scramble down to the base, but over soon enough. Then it was back into climb mode as fast as we could. It seemed to go on forever and we had thought that we could escape at half height to head back to the cable car. 

This turned out not to be the case and we had to press on to the top as fast as we could.

The final abseil and subsequent slab were a relief, but not as much as making the last cable car! (it would have been a two hour hike and 1000m vertical height drop if we'd missed it!).

Aiguille Rouge - Brevent:

- Clocher-Clochetons Traverse AD,5a*** (10 pitches + 5 abseils + Tryolean)

- Cocher-Cochon TD,6a (8 pitches)***

Above the Clouds - Frison-Roche TD,6a***

Took a gamble on a murky morning. The first lift out of the valley confirmed that we'd hit gold as we burst through the cloud and into blindingly bright day.

As the throng of climbers burst out of the lift, we could barely believe our eyes when they virtually all set off towards different cliffs leaving us on our own at the base of the most classic route in the area. The clouds rose and engulfed us as we started giving 'atmospheric' conditions for the first two pitches.

And then, just as suddenly as it had vanished, the view returned. Magic.

As we crossed the big ledge system before the final pitches, the view across the valley was superb.

It threatened to engulf us again briefly, but it just added to the situation we were in and didn't feel threatening at all. The guidebook we had was somewhat inaccurate in describing the route, but we found our way ok...

The final corner crack was sensational. It looked super hard and steep, but was well furnished with great holds and protection all the way. What more could we want!

After topping out on the route and being told by a local guide that we'd actually traversed in too high at the start of the route, we descended down on foot and climbed the first pitch for completeness!

With still a bit of time left before we had to go down, we raced along the ridge traverse climb called Mic et Maousse, and then even finished off with a classic pitch on the upper crags before taking the ride back into the valley. (which had by then cleared of clouds!).

Aiguille Rouge - Brevent:

- Roche-Frisson TD,6a*** (6 pitches)

- Mic et Maousse AD+,5a* (5 pitches)

- T'as pas tout lu, 6b***

Climbing at Gaillands

A well planned (or some might say optimistic), mornings cragging to beat the incoming storms! Tim took on the gamble of a shaky weather forecast and arrived from Switzerland shortly after 9am at the car park. Clouds were already building, but the cliffs had been quick to dry from last nights downpours. We wasted no time and climbed six great routes in quick succession.

And as always, Tim had some of the latest developments in equipment at hand, to keep me educated!

A few drops of rain threatened to spoil the fun, so rather than push our luck, we decided to call it a day and head off while we were still dry. It was a wise choice. We just had time to get back to the pad via the shop for some lunch produce, before the heavens opened. We did try and sit outside, but as you can see from the sky, minutes later thunder was crashing around us and the rain was torrential. Instead, we enjoyed an extended lunch and good chat inside. 

Then amazingly, it dried up and we strolled the high street for a bit of leisurely window shopping. Was nice to have the time to kick back and chat with no other agenda for the afternoon. Thanks for making the effort Tim! There is also a Jazz festival on this weekend and we got asked if we fancied meeting a friend in town. On the way there, we passed the main stage, so stopped to watch a bit.

Just before the next wave of torrential rain arrived, we carried on to the agreed meeting place, where we danced the night away with another great band.

Le Petit Gailland:

- La Plaque Rouge, 5b***

- Vairiante du Diedre, 5c

- La Diagonale, 4b,4c

- La Diagonale start, 6a

- La Directe Lachenal, 5c

High Altitude Swimming along the Balcon Sud

The kind of day that dreams are made of.... Imagine waking up to this view...

After an comfy and warm night, the lake was mirror calm.

We lay in bed watching the colours change as the sun rose.

Then it was out of bed and straight into the lake for a blissful swim. One of the best ever.

Then we packed up and leaving no trace of our passing continued hiking upwards.

We soon reached the famous Lac Blanc, where this famous view is always photographed from. It was a beautiful view, but unlike first thing, we had to share it with other trekkers.

The higher lake was considerably cooler, but the heat was intense. We had to get it!

Hot enough to be on the snow in fact!

At the Chalet Refuge Lac Blanc, the TMB trekkers had now all left, but the day trippers had still not arrived, so we enjoyed the terrace all to ourselves while admiring the views.

We still had a good way to go on our itinerary, so carried on along a higher level traverse than the actual 'balcon sud' and saw very few people along the way.

Near the top of the Index chair lift, another cool down opportunity presented itself! This was colder still and we both came out tingling all over as it was literally a pool of melting snow water!

The final climb up to the Col d'Cornu was almost unbearably hot. Even though we were at 2400m. We stripped off in the shade and ate the last of our food to recover before carrying on down to Planpraz. 

It was downhill all the way to the cable car that took us directly into Chamonix. We collapsed onto the sofa back at the pad, exhausted and happy...

We'd only been gone 24hours, but it felt like we'd done so much! A great adventure....

Balcony Sud Bivi

We beat the heat this morning with a few quick climbs at Gaillands before Nick's taxi arrived to get him back to the airport.

It was way too hot to set off anywhere in the afternoon, so we waited until evening before setting off on a little bivi adventure along the famous 'Balcon Sud' foot path that traverses the hill side above Chamonix. We actually set off from Le Tour, not Tre-le-Champ as we caught the wrong bus. It added an extra kilometre of hiking and a bit of sweat, but it was always going to be a sweaty evening!

This normally busy trail (part of the Tour du Mt Blanc), was quite and cooler, at 18:30 when we set off, so much more enjoyable. It's uphill all the way though. We stopped off at the 'Aiguillette', which we climbed on a previous visit about fifteen years ago.

Beyond this was new terrain for us and some handy ladders helped on the steep sections.

We passed plenty of Bouqutien and Chamois along the way.

Having stopped for dinner along the way, it was about 21:00 when we arrived at our proposed bivi site. We scoped out a few options, but hit gold when we found this secluded spot.

Mirror calm, with incredible view and not a soul about. Even as it went dark, we were warm enough for a quick drip to freshen up from the sweaty hike.

Sun set was mindblowingly good.

Then we bedded down for the most comfortable nights sleep. I woke twice in the night. The first time I saw a shooting star, the second to watch the moon rise from behind the jagged peaks opposite. Incredible....