Entreves Traverse

No interwebs for a while, and lots of driving to get to interwebs, then very slow interwebs, so very little motivation to post and great delays even when I managed to motivate myself.  But I will slowly try to catch up, which may mean that you get the joy of reading this blog well after I get back!!!

Fi and I met up in Geneva, I may post photos later, but I have too many pics of a water fountain and swans to sort through.  In short, its expensive, beautiful, and after Italy, the trains run shockingly on time and go to places you actually want to get to.

After that we made our way to Chamonix and met Jonny.  The week ahead looked, unsettled.  Miserable is another word for it if you don't try to be charitable.  But Monday being of stunning and sunny disposition we were lead off to the alpine to try be led through the traverse of the Aguille de l'Entreves.  We drove through Mont Blanc (or Monte Bianco depending on which part of the tunnel you are in) to the Italian side and took the Helbronner cable car up.  The beauty is that this got us in about 20min from the base at 1000m to 3500m, the downside is, that we were at 3500m.  But a week in the Dolomites seems to have done me well, and Fi must still have been acclimatised from her week of mountaineering at the BMC, we were both a bit slower, and I noticed my breathing speed up, but we kept up a good clip and had no trouble keeping up to people finishing their week of mountaineering at altitude.

Helbronner Station

Looking back at the Italian Alps

The Courmayeur valley

The route starts by traversing around the bottom of a couple of the Aguilles to the Entreves/Tour Ronde col.  This goes around the Vallee Blanche, looking across at the Grandes Jorasses, Aguille du Geant, up to Mont Blanc, and its summits (Tacul de Mont Blanc, Mont Maudite etc) not to mention across to the Aguille du Midi (which were were hoping to climb later in the week, more on that later of course) and the Aguille Verte.  Fiona, of course, immediately started salivating over the prospects of skiing in the Vallee Blanche, which definitely has some great prospects for very alpine skiing from a gondola.

Aguille d'Entreves, the route follows the ridge

Jonny roping up in preparation

The talk of the summer seems to be the unusual heat.  The hottest summer on record (at least that's what I was told in the Dolomites by Gery).  This has led to the permafrost layer in the Mont Blanc range rising higher than it ever has, and crevasses that guides have never seen before coming out.  Some of the, usually, easiest traverses (i.e. trekking across the glacier from the French to the Italian sides) have, with the newly open crevasses, taken on a rather more spicey flavour.  Mt. Blanc itself for many guides seems to be a no go as the permafrost rises and rockfall becomes obscenely common.  The Tour Ronde, which is a common fun easy route, has had massive rockfall with house sized blocks falling down the normal route onto the glacier below, and crossing over what would've been the track leading to the start of our route.

The climbing itself is a shark fin of a ridge over a couple hundred metres offering solid scrambling, with two difficult moves of actual climbing, on solid granite.  Hundreds of parties a year have ensured that any precarious loose rocks have long ago fallen to the ground below.  We were lucky, it was hardly at all busy, only about 15 people nipping at our hells (but a very nice guy right behind us giving Fi tips to get up the crux bit, then giving me dirty looks as I did it slightly differently, hey, it worked better for me and my fat ass).

The Massed Hordes gearing up behind us

The follow-ons

Jonny on the ridge

Fi climbing the ridge

Next in our series of brilliant things europeans do, hiking on a glacier (you have to climb over a fence saying "alpinists only") with no rope, no partner.

A little real climbing and everything!

Looking back on the ridge

 Fi belaying Jonny, Mont Blanc in back

Fi Victorious, after descending the traverse

It was... atmospheric

Fi with the Aguille du Midi in back (more on that later)

Chatting up the Scots who were on the route behind us

The Tour Ronde

The descent involves, of course, coffee at the Helbronner station overlooking the Courmayeur valley.

Dolomiti - Tofana

The great thing is I'm really just going to use these climbing blogs to showcase some photos.  There's not much to tell about the climbs in general, and I don't think most people want to hear too much about the bresaolo cavallo (yes horse) and cheese I ate most days or whether I was rushed at breakfast (but I'll still tell a bit).  I suspect enthusiasm for hearing about the more difficult moves is even lower, so I shall keep these brief and just add lots of pictures.

Thursday we were off to climb a classic route up the pilastro di Tofana di Rozes which is to say a pillar on the side of the Tofana, 13 pitches of beautiful rock climbing up a corner and over three towers.  We started with some easier terrain looking back at the views of the Cinque Torri across the valley and the hideous traffic of hikers and via feratta-ers running around the bases of the faces.  We had the route, again a busy moderate classic, to ourselves and one Italian party ahead of us, at least that we knew of.

Cinque Torre from the base of the Pilastro di Tofana

Gery leading up the starting corner

The route heads up over the three towers above

A slightly more aerial view of Cinque Torre with the Marmolada in the background

This guy was looking for a bit of lunch on our belay ledge.  Not as hard for him to get there!

That's the view down to the valley bottom.

Gery showing some leg, generally showing off and goofing off.

Gery, frustrated at the pace of the Italians (one a traverse Gery had to hang out waiting for the Italian second to move along so he could climb the route, which can be exhausting!) who wouldn't let us pass when we got to more moderate ground (about half way up there is a scree ledge where we could've easily passed).  So when watching them at one belay, with the lead getting lost making his way up a much harder crack, Gery took off like a pistol shot up the route, crossing over the Italian's rope and skipping the next belay station to get well ahead of them.  He went from a relaxed climbing pace to running up the route so fast I could just barely pay out the rope to him fast enough.  Then of course the pressure was on me.  I had to climb faster than the other party, but more importantly, not rush so much that I might fall.  All good in the end.

Gery about to climb over the Italians

On top of the pilastro with the Toffana di Mezzo in the background

Again on the summit, the Croda di Lago in behind

Dramatic.  A bit of Cortina poking out in the green just below and lookers left of me.

One stunning thing is the tenacity of the flora.  Throughout the climbing of course lichen would be lightly covering the faces, but many little pockets with no earth in them would have beautiful little flowers growing out of them.  I was stunned by them growing in such a barren place, Gery was more impressed by the ones that grew on deep on the north faces, where they never get sun.

The climb ends with a traverse around to a col that, again, was part of the WWI lines and still has the ruined barracks and trenches, not to mention leftover tins from food and for some reason shoes.  But also, given that it is a way point on many a hike and via feratta there is a hut, complete with fancy cappuccino machine and fancy cappuccino, all overlooking the range.

The ledge to get us the heck outta there!

mmmmmmm.... coffee.....

And not a bad venue for it!

Dolomiti! Cinque Torri

We managed to find 3 days of stellar weather for some climbing.

As the clouds parted on Wednesday we went off to the Cinque Torri.  Classically Italian there aren't really 5 towers, well there sort of are, but there may be more, or less depending on how you count.  One of the towers collapsed in 2004, so there should be only four left, but at some point they stopped counting the smaller towers, and they ignore that Torri Grande is split in two and is essentially two towers.

They are, however enumerated beautiful, and very close to the road with a super simple approach which is one of the huge benefits of climbing in Italy.

From the parking lot

The Cinque Torri at sunset from Cortina (where I was being lazy, drinking beer and eating, far less strenuous)

Our first route was the Miriam route up Torri Grande.  A very aesthetic 5 pitch climb.  On pitch one we were startled by a few loud rifle shots across the valley.  Sounds as though hunting is alive and well!

Usually, the route being one of the "moderate classics" and every tourist in the world wanting to climb it ,you are in a European climbing traffic jam on the way up.  Or at least so I'm told as we were followed by only one other party and were otherwise alone (the guide following us was equally surprised, she's a guide from Cortina and had never been on the route with so few people!)

The start of the Miriam

Gery leading

The view across the valley from the Miriam

The other party coming up behind

Gery on Torre Grande

Summit view from Miriam, the rocky outcrop in front of us is the other half of Torre Grande

Rapelling between the two Torri of Torre Grande

We then wandered around to the other side, and the other half of Torre Grande for another 5 pitch climb called the Finlandia.  A bit harder, you can see that you follow up the overhanging crack and eventually weave around the face to find a weakness in the top layer of overhang.  Harder climbing, very sustained and by the end of it I was barely making the moves (in fact Gery may have had to drag me, briefly, up the final crux move...)

Climbers ahead on the Finlandia

Gery, ever serious

Looks impressive, the belay was about 2m to my left and I wasn't going up

Gery on the 2nd pitch of Finlandia