We woke to a sunny morning (promise of rain for the afternoon). So off to the … les praz telephrique and index lift before walking around to the aiguille de Crouchue. An elegant nose of rock that gave 8 or 9 pitches of good rock climbing.
Climbing pitch by pitch, we soon caught up the party in front, and it was not long before Dave found a way around, and lead off up a chimney and out of sight. The rope quickly ran out and no amount of yelling would causing him to understand and it was not long before we were moving together in a pseudo protected solo!, only stopping when Dave ran out of gear. One of our very few arguments and a short period of grumpiness later and it was all history. We were enjoying the views over the Mont Blanc massif on the other side of the valley. The descent was a track down to the refuge at lac Blanc and the normal tourist trail back to the lift.
So fast had we climbed that it was still early, and after a bite to eat and some glissading on the snow patches we quickly found our selves at the classic of the aiguille rouge (the index).
Being later in the day, we had the pinnacle to ourselves, right up to the last pitch. The climb follows an arête, with fantastic views back down to the town of Chamonix as well as the whole Mont Blanc façade.
I have been back several times since this first ascent, but never has the conditions been so good, or maybe it was the magic of the first time.
There were a few anxious moments on the abseil to ensure we made the last cable car - which we did with a few mins to spare, but we had snatched an unexpectedly good day.
I have been back several times since this first ascent, but never has the conditions been so good, or maybe it was the magic of the first time.
There were a few anxious moments on the abseil to ensure we made the last cable car - which we did with a few mins to spare, but we had snatched an unexpectedly good day.
This was to be the last day in the alps this summer, but it was to be highly memorable.
Our time was up and we had to head back ... only this time we went back along the autoroutes, through to Bourg En Bresse then up to Dijon, then we went to Paris and around the Periferique .. frightening at the best of times.
