Mont Blanc by the 3 Monts route

A snowHead

On Tuesday we finally got the combination of guide availability, decent weather (so we thought...) and Chris, Tim and I all being able to get a day off work at short notice. So at lunchtime we exchanged suits for ski gear and raced over to Chamonix to get the last Gondola up to the Aiguille du midi for an overnight stay in the Cosmiques Refuge before a summit attempt on the Wednesday morning.

Unfortunately we didn't have a chance to acclimatise in the days before but are all reasonably fit and hoped we would get some lingering benefit from having skied weekends at altitude all season. I've wanted to do this for 2 years but have always been scuppered by the weather and this was the last chance for me for this season.

And there in the background, centre of the picture was our target, taken from the sun deck at the Cosmiques

And our first challenge in the morning would be navigating the Seracs on the North Face of Mont Tacul

But first some dinner... Tim waiting impatiently in the Cosmiques refuge, which is very nice!

Our group. From left to right: Chris, Mikaele (guide), Marco (guide), me, Maurizio and Tim. The hut keeper assured us that one glass of wine is good for altitude!

Marco is a lovely young Italian guide who introduced Millsy and me to Alagna last year. We joined up with Mikaele (another Alagna guide) and Maurizio for additional security.

After dinner we studied our route for tomorrow

Pinched this one from Summitpost

And it had some surprises in store. To be continued.....

brian

BobinCH, ooooohhhh.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

tease

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Cheeky monkey Very Happy

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

nice job!!!

A friend of me did the classical this past monday, I've had to be there but last minute problems stopped me..... They did the ascent via grands mulets and arette vallot, and they descended via the north face in a really good conditions!! I hope that you had the same!

Surely, the next time that we attempt Mont-Blanc will be by the 3 Monts route, so I wait your photos an explanation!!

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AlTom, alas the conditions turned on us very quickly.... I'm waiting for the summit photo from Marco. I couldn't take photos. My fingers were on the verge of frostbite in my gloves....

After all it is free

ohh, can't wait for the rest of the pics.

After a couple of hours sleep we were up at 1am for a nervous breakfast. After a bit of faffing about with kit we left the hut at 2am and made our way down to the start of the Tacul face where skins went on and we started the climb

Navigating one of the Seracs half way up the face. The track was very narrow so we roped up at this point

Safely to the top of the face we traversed the Col Maudit dropping about 100m in height. This is what the view would have looked like if it hadn't been pitch black

As we climbed the face the sun came up revealing a beautiful but rather eery morning

Reaching the point where it gets too steep for skis

Skis off, crampons on and a bit of gymnastics to get up onto the ice

Marco probably telling me to get a move on...

The final section, called the "crux" of the climb, is very steep. Apparently this is where most people who don't get to the summit decide to turn back

Over the top and down the other side onto the Grand Plateau

The Col de la Brenva with Italy in the background

The wind getting up - the first sign of trouble. The forecast was for the early morning clouds to clear before thickening up again in the afternoon. But it is 8am and already getting worse, not better....

Now the long slog to the top. The altitude started to affect us. Maurizio falls, is held by Chris on his rope while Marco goes to his aid. Why is the weather not clearing? But we are near the summit

As we reach the summit the snow and wind intensify. We are knackered and are starting to get cold. My useless hands were already frozen.

We can't ski down in zero visibility but need to get out of the wind. We put crampons on and head down the Mont Blanc ridge looking for the Vallot refuge. Visible as the "abri Vallot" in this picture

This is what the ridge would have looked like in good weather with the refuge in centre picture. Unfortunately we had no visibility and no idea of the terrain. Thank God for our guides. We were on 2 ropes and stumbled down the ridge trying to stay together. It was hard. We were knackered, the snow was blowing sideways and one pole plant through the Cornice into thin air scared the life out of me. I think that moment was the most scared I have been in the mountains.

Our brilliant guides find the Refuge. I have no idea how. It's taken us 2 hours to get down 500m. The relief and adrenaline is amazing. We were shivering with cold and this photo doesn't convey the relief we all felt...

We eat all the provisions we have left. All our liquid is frozen but starts to melt slowly. Marco calls the Grands Mulets refuge and asks about conditions lower down. It is clearer lower down and improving. None of us want to leave the Valot shelter but we have no food left and it is too high to risk being stuck here all night with more bad weather forecast tomorrow. We decide to go down. We keep crampons on for the first icy section until it gets less steep and the new layer of snow is thicker at which point we put on skis. I've never ski'd roped up before and struggle with it but descending on skis is like pure joy compared to crampons. We are sideslipping/snowploughing down very slowly with Mikaele leading.

Finally after what seems like an age the skies brighten up and the snow stops. Marco calls us to a halt and we unclip from the rope. The weather improves as fast as it had deteriorated earlier. There is field of fresh snow before me. Did I just dream the last few hours! My hands are still frozen but Mikaele takes my camera

Some nice turns in 10cm of fresh

On very tired legs

We headed for the foot of the glacier and the traverse out to the Plan de l'Aiguille but there was a lot of wet snow avalanche activity. We put on skins to do the traverse but a big slide went in front of us and we climbed onto a rock band for safety

Having already used up most of our 9 lives and unsure if we'd even make it to the last gondola from the Plan de l'Aiguille we decided to try and get a helicopter. The private companies wouldn't come out and told us to call the Gendarmes. I vaguely recall Remy telling me that Heli rescue away from the pistes is free in France and the Gendarmes confirmed it was true. We would have paid any price to be picked up.

Waiting at the foot of the glacier...

A sight for sore eyes....

The Gendarmes were brilliant. Didn't give us any grief for our situation and wanted to know what conditions had been like on the mountain. Great guys and a truly amazing service.

We were finally down at 7pm after 17 hours on our feet. Relieved, tired, quite emotional and elated in a weird way. What a day.

Lessons learned:
Don't trust the weather forecast. It turns so quickly up there and with little warning.
For the small weight/space saving leaving out goggles is crazy
When the altitude hits you it hits hard. I think my pace slowed by 2/3rds for the last 100m of the climb
If you've got gay hands like me always carry handwarmers. Trying to put on crampons with frozen hands is horrible
Get a GPS with a decent battery life. My Garmin 405 packed up after 7 hours. Luckily Marco had his which he used to locate the Valot refuge
Agree with guides in advance not to do significant downs with skins on. Take them off, ski down and put them on again. Faster and much less knackering
Get a decent rucksack that is easy to get stuff into and out of. No more faffing about for ages at each change.
A decent guide is worth his weight in gold. If we'd been there on our own I don't know how we'd have got down....

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Not sure if that ledge would be better in the night or in the day Shocked

Glad you got down ok.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

You could have perhaps stopped at Grand Mulets refuge ?
Instead of getting a helicopter.
However congratulations on getting back down - that is the main thing.

As you say Mont Blanc is certainly not to be underestimated.
Not somewhere I would wish to navigate on GPS.
Mont Blanc its high enough compared to adjacent peaks that it often gets totally different weather.
So often the Chamonix valley is clear and sunny - but the summit is covered in thick lenticular cloud for the entire day.

Havent done the 3 Monts - but have heard it not a good route to be on if the weather takes sudden turn for the worse.
Nice write up & photos.
Sounds epic (and scary)......

Doug.

p.s oh yeah - if its any consolation the chopper teams need to log a certain amount of training hours each month!

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BobinCH, epic trip!! Also glad you all got down in one piece.

You know it makes sense.

BobinCH, what an adventure! glad you got down OK

with your frostbitten fingers, will you ever play the piano again?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

great report and glad it turned out okay. Now I know why I took the mulet route last year (still had to turn back at Vallot due to weather)

Well done. interesting info about the gendarmes.

A snowHead

^ Grand Mulets has its own dangers - giant serac falls, probably more crevasses.

In France mountaineering, and ski touring, rescues are free.
But you pay for piste / off piste skiing rescues.
Which is why you can buy carte neige insurance with a lift pass.

If you get rescued whilst off piste skiing from the Grand Montets then you might have to pay.
Though interestingly Aiguille Du Midi, and I think the La Grave telephrique, are special cases officially classed as mountaineering since there are no pistes to leave.

Glad this one had a happy ending (having been involved in my own scrapes!).

A snowHead

ow- what an epic.

Nice to see you all smiling at the end.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Bubba,

Great write up, glad you got down safely in the end. That'll teach you for not taking Cousin Logie the guide!!

Enjoy your weekend.

Kev (and Kate and Bobby and Nick!)

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Well, well, well my heart is certianly in my mouth after reading about your little jaunt!

This all seems very close to home at the moment as my husband and his freinds are going out to climb Mont-Blanc next week. I've seen the kit list and skis haven't been discussed, so I think I'll be pointing that bit out. What sort of insurance did you take out, or did you just rely on standard stuff?

Glad you got down safely, I hope to be reporting the same for our group soon!!!!

Thanks

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Barratschamonix, mountain rescue seems to be free on Mt Blanc. And I guess E111 covers medical? Not sure about repatriation if you get severely crocked. We live in Switzerland and are members of an organization called REGA which provides rescue services in Switzerland and repatriation if necessary.

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Thanks will look in to it, but he seems to be confident that their guide's insurance will cover them.
Best of luck with your next trip

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Good effort BobinCH, sounds like you'll get some distance out of this tale...

After all it is free

Wow - epic! Thanks for posting this - really glad you got down OK. Lovely photos, especially the sunrise one, and a great read from the warmth of the chalet... Smile

(Incidentally we have the BMC insurance)

Good TR - glad all ended well

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Nice TR - makes me slightly less jealous of your earlier May exploits. Looks like a big contrast between your day and the Brit snowboarders who posted a TR up the same route possibly the day before on TGR.

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Cool trip, son.

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glad you made it down safely & thanks for the TR Happy

Phwow. You are going to have to try very hard next year to better that TR. Very pleased to hear all turned out OK.

You know it makes sense.

That was impressive! Well done...and I'm not showing this to mrs horizon, as she'll nix any further trips with you lot!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Can't beat an epic in the mountains - well done on getting out of there alive. Although I must say I would have retreated to the Mulets refuge...but if a chopper if there reay to take you then why not!
Ski Mountaineering in Chamonix is like nowhere else in the World - you can push limits so much with the Helicopter support in the back of your mind.

Help!!

Mont Blanc by the 3 Monts route

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