Aiguille de Crouchue & L'Index, Chamonix

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.

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.

Travel Day

Plan B … day tripping in Chamonix
With the weather closing in, our thoughts went along the lines that this gave us the best option to minimise the effects of the unstable weather.

So we set off to drive around to Chamonix over the col de Forclaz, and then looked for a cmapsite .. most of them were full but we were able to get a small patch to put the tents up

Settling into the back of a crowded mer de glace camp site, we prepared for a possible day tomorrow, while dodging hte rain storms overnight.

Monch & Jungfrau, Switzerland

Very Early the next morning we forced some breakfast down, and charged off to get up the Monch for sunrise. We had surmised that being fit we could charge up the Monch and then across to the Jungfrau as everyone else was just setting out. The climb went without much incident other than I was feeling a bit queasy.

 We succeeded and the sunrise was spectacular. After several minutes taking in the sights we headed back to the hut.
A second, more palatable, breakfast and we were in the middle of the groups heading off to the Jungfrau.

Back down to the Jungfraujoch, across the top of the aletsch glacier, and we could begin the climb. It was disheartening to have to loose all this height before ascending again, and by the time we had struggled up the steep side to the ridge. This was Dave's time to struggle a bit, and we had a long rest before continuing up to the bergschrund and the col. From here it was just a steep icy slope to the summit.
Heads down in our own world and we were soon at the summit for lunch, ad that great feeling of doing something special.

Going down was a blur, apart from the pull up to the train station, which never seems to get any easier no matter how many times I do it.

Back in the valley, the afternoon shower was in progress. The only difference this time was that it did not clear up over night – time to re-evaluate next steps.

Monchjoch hutte, Switzerland

On cue the next day was bright sun again, and we bought a ticket on the most expensive (per mile) railway in the world. We did the tourist thing all the way up, stopping and gazing out of the windows at the Nord wand and Icegletcher.
Little did we know at the time the next trip on this train would involve us leaving at Icegletcher and heading out thorough an escape door. We even spent time in the ice caves at the top looking at the carvings.

Exiting the underground system at the col we basked in the sun and took our bearings – the route was not a problem there was a well worn wide snowcat track to the Monchjoch hut, with hordes of people out for an afternoon stroll. This hut was new and did not appear in any of the guide books, and so we were not sure what to expect (it was a private hut as opposed to one run by a climbing organisation). We had both taken out membership of climbing organisations with affiliations to alpine clubs who ran the huts as this gave us discount. The hut was the first we had stayed at that did not have the usual "long drop" system several yards from the hut, but rather a more ecological "digester".

Grindewald, Switzerland

The next day we drove around via the Grimsel and Nuffenen passes, arriving in a wet afternoon. We had thought about the car train through to Kandersteg, but assumed it would be as expensive as in the UK ... It would not be for another 20 years before we would look at it again and change our minds.

Setting up our tent in camp site by the river, we headed into town on the traditional routine to check out the weather, and discover if we had made a bad move changing locations. The prognosis we good, and this was only a localized rain storm (as we came to understand, it tends to happen a lot in the afternoon here).

Rest Day

A rest day in the valley, and we decided to change venue and see if the good weather would continue around in Grindlewald. It would also let us explore around a new area.

Trifthorn, Switzerland

Again up early we set off behind the hut along the route we would have used, but turned off to the head of the glacier, and a smaller rock peak. This would give us a chance to look at the problem and to watch those trying to summit to-day.

We gained the pass on the ridge; this is an old traditional route between Zermatt and Zinal; and turned up towards the top. The scrambling and occasional rock pitches bore very little resemblance to anything in the guidebook (not that it was detailed), and it was obvious that it did not see much traffic.

As anticipated the views over towards the Obergabelhorn were fantastic and we could see the limits of where everyone was achieving. This was not good news as it seemed that the snow on the ridge was deep, unconsolidated and causing difficulties.

The descent (mainly via abseil) was tedious and uneventful except for one particularly memorable point where Dave called down whist I was un-kinking the rope – "to not worry but speed up a little and keep going", it was only after he joined me that he mentioned the piton we were abseiling from had bent over 90° - he had re-enforced it, sacrificing a spare sling, but it remained a joke between us for many years.

Back at the hut our fears were realised when none of the parties had succeeded on the Obergabelhorn that day. We could either stay up and try the next day, or else go down and try somewhere else. After a little discussion we chose to go down – I have yet to go back, but it is still on the list.

Zinal Rothorn, Switzerland

The next day we were off early in the dark, to make the most of the frozen snow – the night before we had scouted the route ahead and had no difficulty in finding and following the tracks up the glacier and fore peak from the hut. As the sun started to throw a pale light over everything we were walking along a well defined snow ridge heading for the rocks below the Gabel Notch.

The route was highlighted by narrow bands of snow, however we knew there a sting… to get from the ridge to the slight depression leading up to the notch, we had to traverse a head wall of packed snow.. Not too bad this early, but would present some issues later in the day when everything was softer.

The gulley was a simple grade 1 push and we charged up it without a hitch. At the notch things got a little more technical, we roped up properly, and climbed the next few pitches up the ridge to the summit ridge. Things got easier on the summit ridge, with all the practice and fitness from the previous days we were soon on the top. 

The sun was shining and things were superb, and more importantly for the first time this trip we had beaten the guide book time (always an indicator of how well things are going).

We dropped down to the Gable notch using a couple of abseils, and rattled on down the gully, as the snow was softening – it was difficult to not think about how much harder it was for the people just going up than it had been when we were ascending an hour or so before. The traverse to the ridge tightened the buttock muscles, and before we knew it we were sliding down through the bergscrund at the start of the snow dome and just round the corner from the hut.

Such a great feeling basking in the sun, knowing you had successfully negotiated a classic route in perfect conditions. However not everything was going our way! The next day we had planned to make an attempt on the Obergabelhorn, however all afternoon one party after another was coming in having failed to force a route through from Wellencoup. This was not good and we did not feel we were experienced enough to break trail on an unknown route.
We decided to give it another day and changed target for the next day - we would go to the Trifthorn. This "Little" peak sat at the head of the glacier behind the hut.

Rothorn Hutte, Switzerland

A day in the valley and we were refreshed and ready for the fray again. This time we had targeted the Southern side and headed off for the Rothorn hut (using the railway to get from the campsite at Tasch into Zermatt.

The approach can be divided into two halves the first being a tourist trail up from the centre of the town and terminating at a berghotel. After this the path got more rugged and a lot less crowded. The final approach to the hut is up the moraine to the side of the xxx glacier, with fantastic views over the complete Zermatt panorama. Beginning beyond the Dom were we started this trip, all the way up to Monte Rosa, around to Matterhorn via the Breithorn, and then into the range towering above and around the hut.

Unlike the normality of recent times, the weekly helicopter run came in shortly after we had checked in. This was quite a spectacle for all present with a mad dash for cameras. These days, with almost daily support trips, it is a much more common sight, and does not have the same impact.

Rest Day

Another day around the camp-site, doing a bit of scrambling, and juggling ...  but mainly eating and drinking lots.

Breithorn Switzerland

The next morning we struggled out into the freezing darkness over the rolling folds of the glacier keeping to the side of what the day before had been the piste, now all scraped flat and ready for another day. As we came level with the top telephrique station of Kliener Matterhorn we could see that we were not the only ones up that morning. The cable car had not started yet, but two figures were descending down from the Breithorn. We were by now getting well acclimatised, and the steep slope up to the summit ridge was not too daunting. Before long we were on the top gazing around at the full extent of the 4000's along the summit ridge.
As we looked back down the way we had come the cable car had disgorged several long strings of people heading our way. This was the penalty of the closeness of mechanical assistance, on the Dom there were so few people, here popularity is linked to "ease of access". We charged down the slope like men possessed, keeping well out of the way of the human chain gangs struggling up in a variety of apparel and equipment.
After a brief rest for a bite and some water, we set off for the valley; again saving money we had planned to walk all the way back to the campsite. At lot further than we had imagined but the weather was perfect.


However in hindsight we would have been better off saving the energy for the high mountains and used the facilities.