To make most of the day, we would continue to the Roche Faurio, at the head of the glacier - A pyramid shaped peak.
Leaving the hut early - at the same time as the parties going to the summit (as we found out yesterday, probably a step too far)
We started up in the dark, back along the trail from yesterday, and before long upwards to the side of the seracs at the end of the glacier. The surface was very icy and hard, so we were soon putting on the ski crampons, to give us extra grip and surety. Here we discovered that Derek had a problem moving with ski crampons ... it was a technique that he was not confident in, and this was not helped when he lost one down the slope. I would give him my spare at the end of the trip, but for now he was limited, and resorted to using boot crampons and carrying his skis.
Once up on the Glacier Blanc, the slope eased up, and became almost flat. Far in the distance we could see the promintary where the hut sat looking out over the glacier.
As we got closer you could see a path separating to go up to the hut. My feet were causing me a great deal of pain, and to ensure that I would be fit to make the summit the next day, I took the difficult decision to go to the hut, whilst Bryon and Derek continued.
I slowly climbed up the 50m vertical to the hut, whilst the other two disappeared to the end of the glacier. At the hut, I was the only guest around, and spent the morning in the sun with my feet up and reading my book.Bryon and Derek continued on and summited on the Roche Faurio, however the descent again proved to be a problem for Derek, and his technique. Bryon resorted to defensive skiing to assist him getting down, and the slopes reverted to the chorus of
"Derek ..Around 2pm they were back at the hut, and after we had regaled each other with the exploits of the day, drunk tea and snacked, the conversation got more serious.
turn, turn,
turn now
fall over!"
Both Bryon and I were certain that Derek would struggle to get to the top of the Barre, with only one ski crampon, then there was the descent, with the seracs and crevasses, we could not be certain that he would be able to control everything on the descent. Derek wanted to continue on foot, but Bryon and I felt this would lead to us taking a long time and bringing additional problems from soft snow.
The only viable alternative was to retreat ... much to the disappointment of the guardian, as there was not many people staying that night.
The descent was the reverse of our ascent, with the exception, of visiting the Glacier Blanc hut.
The descent down to the Pre was again a challenge for Derek, and really just highlighted that we had made the correct decision.
At the Pre, we had a very tiring section of polling to get across the flat fields to the road, and a long plot down to the barrier.
Back at the car, exhausted and slightly disappointed we quickly packed up, and headed back to Ailefroide. there was a camp-site on the side of the road which we had seen on the way in.
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| Table and chairs courtesy of the camp-site |