Vallee Blanche

Up at 6am and back to Chamonix Mont Blanc.

The plan was to take the first cable car to the Aiguille de Midi at 3800 m and spend the day travelling down the Vallee Blanche.

The length of the route was about 20 km and the main difficulties were in finding a safe route through the crevasses. After the crevasses we had a half dozen ice pitches to climb down and some abseiling off cliffs above the hut.

We were disappointed to find the Requin Hut closed and locked for the winter.

After down climbing the ladders bolted to the cliff we discovered the last 10 meters were missing so again we had to abseil . Another ice pitch and we were on the glacier and off on a race against the fading light. Splitting into two groups the front runners found the 200m of ladders up the cliff in pitch darkness which saved us a long cold night on the glacier.

Once at Montenvers we got onto the track for Chamonix and then it was just a matter of an hour or two into the town.

It was just after midnight when we finally arrived at our accommodation

Some food, water and a good rest was followed by some early morning shopping in Cham then the airport and home.

A really good trip!

Summit Day Grand Paradiso

The summit of Grand Paradiso - this was what we were in Italy for!

When we got up at 3.30 am it was bucketing rain and there was thick mist. Departure was put on hold.

Breadfast at 4.30 am showed the weather had improved.

At 5.00 we decided to go for it. After an hour on the trail the rain finally stopped and we climbed above the cloud to the edge of the glacier.

We encountered steeper than expected slopes; due to being slightly off route! After a few hours hard work, Il Roc appeared and from there the summit was visible.

The final 300 meters were hard won as we approached the 4000m mark but the views compensated as we could see the high alpine summits of France, Italy and Switzerland.

Up to this point there were only 2 other parties on the mountain but groups now appeared from several different directions and we were soon jostling for position on the very narrow summit block

CROWS on Grand Paradiso

Finally at 4061 meters we were at the top of Italy and had fantastic views in every direction.

We descended to the hut by a different route which included some very scary scree and after some food and drink, collected our gear and descended to the valley.

All in all a hard day but a good one!.

La Tresanta

At 3600m high this would get us ready for the climb to Grand Paradiso. A straight forward glacier traverse was followed by a climb over a snow bridge at the bergschrund at the top of the glacier and a rock climb onto the ridge itself. That was followed by a long and tiring climb to the summit in mist. Some photos and a little bit to eat and we headed back down. No views due to the poor weather but we were sure we would benefit from the altitude.

The descent was tricky and required good judgement.

The return to the hut in mist and rain made us wonder if we would have the weather window the next morning. The decision was to get up at 3.30am anyway and be ready for the start. We got ourselves ready (removing any equipment judged too heavy and were in bed at 9.00 pm.

Setting out for the Refuge Victorio Emanuelle II

After a late arrival in Pont (Val Savaranche) we had a relaxed start to the Refuge. The sun shine kept everyone's spirits high.

A two hour hike to the hut was followed by a few hours on the glacier working on our skills and checking out a route for the La Tresenta climb the next morning.

We arrived back at the hut in the rain and had a good meal before settling down for the night. We were up at 5.30 am for the climb

At the airport

All present and correct 9 for the alps !

Training for the Alps

Training is done and the bags are packed for the trip to Grand Paradiso in Northern Italy (only 4 days in Italy and we need 3 of them to do the climb) 4061 m

Looking forward to it but as usual the weather forecast is poor

We will make the best of what we get

The CROWS