There's some hot weather on the way, so Nick and I went straight to the closest crag in the valley, to climb a few routes before it became too hot to do so. The cliffs a Gaillands are only a five minute drive away, so we climbed a three pitch route and a further one before the sun prevented any further upward progress.
Instead we cooled our toes off in the lake at the base of the crag and then went for coffee at Le Vert Hotel.
Back at base, we had lunch with Clare and got our backs packed for the next adventure. We left the house at 14:00 and via a bus ride, a cable car and finally a chair lift, we were soon up high and walking across the meadows above the village of Le Tour, on our way to a night in the Albert Premiere Refuge.
The views (as always around here it seems), were spectacular. You can see the refuge on the left hand side of the photo, right next to the glacier.
It was fascinating to walk right up next to the big crevasses which have formed where the ice drops over the cliffs towards the valley.
The old hut is now dwarfed by an enormous new building which was built in 2014 and can sleep over 150 mountaineers!
It's really modern inside - quite an upgrade from my last French Alpine Club hut, which had drop toilets outside! We even had duvets here!
As Nick and I are both qualified International Mountain Leaders, we get a reduction in the hut fees and don't have to pay full price. This meant that we had some spare cash for a little 'welcome treat'!
Once our room had been allocated and we had stashed our kit, we swapped boots for 'hut slippers' and settled back to enjoying the views before dinner.
We also scoped out our route for the next day - it's the right hand ridge line that leads to the central peak. If you zoom in, you can see the perched block (l'table) on the skyline near the top.
Hut soups, rice and cake was gladly consumed, before getting ready for an early bedtime.
One last view off the terrace of Le Tour Glacier and we went off to bed.
The dorm was well packed and it wasn't the best nights sleep ever, but I did get to see a fabulous sunset from my bed!
Les Gaillands - Le Grand Gailland:
- Les Rings Argentes, 5a*** (3 pitches)
- La Sovonnette, 5c**
No comments:
Post a Comment