Alpine Summer 2006

July 2006 – N. Face Les Drus, Chamonix Valley French Alps
After two previous attempts aborted in poor weather Rob and Hannah Burrows-Smith finally managed to climb the excellent Pierre Allain original (1935) Route.  Conditions were cool and clear after a good freeze overnight.  This meant there was very little stone fall out of the niche but numerous pitches were highly verglassed and a little easy aid climbing was needed to pass some of these sections.  Generally the rock quality is high on the face and there are some superb, well protected granite crack pitches – worth taking a few large cams for!

June 2006 – N. Face Aguille Sans Nom, Chamonix Valley, French Alps
For once the all too frequently exclusive factors of weather, conditions, mates and just being there came together.  As we drove into the valley it was obviously icy – the best mountain ice conditions for a year.  It would not last long though and in another week the isotherm would be soaring from 2200m to 4200m and the icy faces, particularly the lower ones like the Grande Charmoz, would be stripped in days.

Owen Samuels, Tim Blakemore and I found good ice on the lower half of the face and were soon debating the best line through the upper headwall.  We had intended to take the Cohen-Collister finish but this was not obviously icy.  We kept climbing and took the first obvious line which provided some fine icy mixed climbing up to Scottish V and turned out to be the Baumont-Cardis Gully finish – described in Damilano’s Mont Blanc Guide, Volume 1.  A breezy but highly atmospheric bivvi by the Horns of Pointe Croux, and descent of the Whymper Couloir rounded off an excellent round trip from Montenvers.

May 2006 – Eugster Direct, N Face Aguille du Midi, Chamonix
Andy Houseman and I climbed this high quality 1000m mixed route before the very snowy weather at the end of May kicked in.  The difficulties are not sustained but are concentrated into 5 excellent mixed pitches (up to Scottish VI) two thirds of the way up the face. 

Thinly iced cracks and good quality granite provided some of the best  climbing I have done on a big alpine north face.  Although this route has had a few ascents from Brit teams based in the valley it deserves more attention as it provides far better, if harder, climbing than the numerous other popular Midi N. Face routes to the left. (A very fast ascent by Jon Bracey, Kenton Cool and Dave Hesledon gave us the idea of trying a Freak-to-Freak ascent.)  There is however a surprising amount of easy ground to cover at the top of the face before the station is reached and needless to say we missed the last telepherique down by miles!  Our reward for reaching the station and completing this last section in a dusky blizzard (apart from the inevitable ‘bivvi in the bogs’) was the worst hot aches I’ve ever experienced!

As soon as the temperatures rose in the second week of June this fine line was reduced to a dangerous rubble shoot.  If you’re out in the valley this autumn, winter or spring cast your eye up to the big hanging groove under the station – it’s not difficult to see!