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Since the deconfinement, and despite already having spent some beautiful days in the mountains, I was still frustrated and keen to put myself to the test. However, I didn't have any big, difficult projects in mind, but the weather window in the second week of July opened up for me, without too many working days planned. A day climbing with Baptiste Obino in "La fille aux yeux verts" at the Aiguille de la Vanoise, discussing his crazy plans for Mont Blanc, surely triggered an unconscious desire to create a little challenge for myself. So, all weekend, I searched my social networks and my address book to find people who were available. The aim was to make the most of the 6 days of good weather to 'tick off' a number of races that were close to my heart. No big itineraries, no big races, no long 20-hour rides to do a one-push of the valley. Instead, I stacked up a series of races, with the aim of managing the accumulated fatigue over the long term.
Part 1: Back to the Aiguille de la Vanoise
Tuesday 07 July: La Grande Pasquier, ED, 350m
Climbing "La fille aux yeux verts" on the Aiguille de la Vanoise, a summit I've always climbed below and where I'd only climbed the Desmaison route and "Les joyeux marmottons", made me want to go back and climb all the routes there. First on the list: La grande Pasquier, a route I'd been avoiding for a long time because of the quality of the rock described and the grading of the higher pitches.
In Fred, Béatrice's cousin, I found the ideal first partner for this type of route. So early on Tuesday, we set off from Chambéry. Once again we took the Fontanettes trail to Lac de Vaches, and it was a real pleasure to be there! I'll never get tired of it. The first few pitches were easy, the rock wasn't exceptional but it wasn't rotten either. However, one hold remained in my hand, I was just unbalanced and fortunately I had just protected it. The point below was 25m away. The whole point of the route is to climb the four pitches at the top, in the characteristic large dihedral that you can see from the bottom. I free everything except the 7a pitch, which is wet and difficult to protect. Only the small progress pitons, probably original, are still in place. I really don't want to use a quickdraw to fall on them! Much to my chagrin, I set off, which is a real breach of ethics for me. I'll discuss it with Marius later, who dared to go through... Well done to him, but I'm frustrated, I'll have to go back and do it! Finally, two other pitches in 6c and 6c+ don't present any huge difficulties, you have to position yourself, take your time, the climbing is technical rather than physical, as is often the case in the massif. When we got to the top, we were happy, and one pitch done! For me, it's a great achievement, but I see it above all as the first of a long week. We head back down to Pralo to get a good night's sleep at home, and tomorrow we'll be heading back up to the Aiguille for a new route.
Wednesday 08 July: Electrochoc, ED-, 350m
I only discovered this one recently. Or rather rediscovered it. Arthur had told me about it, he'd done it, apparently it's a beautiful line with crossings and descents that leave a lot of memories. Yorick had also told me about it, the most beautiful line on the face according to him. Let's go and have a look!
This time we're further to the left of the face, just above a small gap in the ridge from which the route emerges. Another long route, with around fifteen pitches to climb.
Here again, the route lives up to its reputation. The rock is excellent, and the first dihedral after the Petite Pasquier junction is magnificent. This is where the beautiful climbing begins. The traverses and descents are very fine indeed, and make you think twice before protecting the second climber. The key pitch: the passage of an overhang with a ruler that apparently has to be tightened. In the end (and that's probably because I know a thing or two about squeezing crusts), it's not the hard step that I'll remember. There's a real slab step at the end of the crossing, which makes you think hard and requires flexibility! For the roof passage, you have to dare to position yourself correctly, with the gaseous atmosphere under your buttocks, which should make the passage abominable for those who are too apprehensive to dare to commit themselves completely. And indeed, the little ruler is a lifesaver! The end on the pillar remains fine, and you need to have managed your rope clippings well to avoid a crazy pull. The rest of the route remains beautiful, with some nice 6b slabs, another nice dihedral, and then the last pitch with another roof passage to finish in style. And that's two! The abseils are made directly from the belay on the S face, and we head for Pralognan, because tonight I have to get back to Chambéry quickly, pack for tomorrow morning and get up early: we take the first skip in Chamonix with Gary.
Part 2: Discovering the Tacul basin
Thursday 09 July: La voie des Suisses, Grand Capucin
After a quick trip to the vegetable garden in Cognin, some gear shuffling and an all-too-short night in Chambéry, I'm off again to Chamonix to take the first skip with Gary. The aim was to complete the route as quickly as possible (while enjoying it), so that I could enjoy a good siesta at the Torino hut this evening! So everything has been optimised. The gear is ready to be drawn, the rope packed, the knots tied... We get out of the skip and 3 minutes later we're hurtling down the Aiguille ridge, running across the Col du Midi towards the Grand Capucin. We're euphoric, it's so good, and we're off for a morning jog at 3500m. It's normal with Gary. 50 minutes later we're at the foot of the route, the Grand Capucin is majestic. It's the first time I've been to the foot of the route, and the red-ochre rock is splendid. Bad luck though, our morning run was for nothing, as many of the roped parties had already started on the route, having left in the morning from the Torino hut or the Italian skip. We were in last place and struggled for a few pitches before managing to overtake just before the Swiss roof. The climbing went well, we were in our confidence zone and enjoyed the quality of the rock and the easy protection in some beautiful and varied pitches. I try the free passage in the toit des Suisses, but stumble on the end slab. It climbs, and not just a little. Disappointed not to have been able to free-climb on sight, which was to be the second and last ethical crack of the week, I pulled the plug and headed out. At the summit at 2pm, we descend the abseils of "Voyage selon Gülliver", and what a slap in the face! It's compact, steep and sometimes even overhanging - hats off to Quentin and Marius Lombard who'd been there a few days before. You'll have to come back to try it out.
From the bottom of the abseil, we pick up our frenetic pace to reach Torino. 35 minutes later we're there, and it's 5pm. A little too late for a siesta, but not for a beer... or two!
Friday 10 July: Traverse des Aiguilles du Diable, Mont-Blanc du Tacul
Another very bad and short night. If I slept 2 hours, that's a maximum. But I managed to doze off for 5 hours, and when I woke up in the morning, I couldn't feel the effects of the fatigue. It has to be said that we're still really fired up! The weather forecast calls for thunderstorms in the afternoon, and we're determined not to get caught in one at Tacul. And what's more, this time they're not going to steal my nap!
We set off at 2.45am, made a rapid approach, and by 4.45am we were at the Brèche Chaubert. At 5am I was climbing, and the first light of day was timidly appearing. The only deviation from the day's route was that we decided not to climb the Corne du Diable, the first optional peak of the race. We didn't want to risk getting stuck behind the three roped parties following us. Pointe Chaubert is easy to climb, and we're both at the summit by 5.30am. As we'd set off the day before on a long route, we had doubled up on the ropes, which turned out to be a good choice! The abseils are vertical, and thanks to our 2x50m we can easily jump off the belays without running the risk of jamming the rope. At the foot of the median, we followed the description in the guidebook, which suggested going round the gendarme to the N. Perhaps we were wrong in our interpretation, but the fact is that we strongly recommend climbing it instead (10m walk then an easy climb from the last abseil belay, where we find a fitted belay that allows us to descend to the terrace at the foot of the steps leading to the dihedral).
The beautiful Médiane dihedral is quickly climbed in one pitch, followed by a playful passage in a mini couloir between two boulders, and already we're heading through the letterbox to abseil down to the foot of Pointe Carmen. It's now 7am.
Beware of possible itinerary errors on the way back up to Pointe Carmen; you have to choose the frozen cracks opposite the breach carefully and not go too far to the right. That's the mistake we made, and I found myself having to pass an overhanging boulder to reach the summit. Physical and athletic, it's better to have some margin! We didn't waste too much time, and as we were well ahead of schedule and of the following roped parties, we decided to climb the Isolée. We went straight up the Isolée without leaving our bags at the foot, which we thought was a waste of time. But that's what the guidebook recommends. It's an easy climb, and by 9am we're at the top of the last of the Aiguilles du Diable and we're doing our last abseiling. We climbed back up to the Tacul, pushing hard, our hearts were in our mouths! At 10:10 we're at the summit of Le Tacul, and at last we can look forward to what's to come. The storm won't get us this time. One last sprint, because we don't want to expose ourselves to the seracs of the Tacul, which we descended in 35 minutes. From here, we're safe at the foot of the Cosmiques, so we switch to hiking mode and make our way back up to the Aiguille in just under an hour. At 13h30, we're comfortably seated on the terrace of the boulangerie de l'Aiguille du Midi in Chamonix, enjoying refreshing sodas and sandwiches!
Ironically, the much-feared storm never arrives.
Part 3: Chamonix again, change of partner
Saturday 11 July: Early rest then Arête des Papillons au Peigne
This is my 5th day this week, and for the first time I'm starting to feel the pinch. Friday afternoon at the Picchi base camp in Les Houches gave me a chance to rest a bit, but I woke up with my eyes puffy and well begun. Fortunately, it was raining, so Basile and I were able to sit down and think about the programme. The initial plan to cross the Aiguilles de Chamonix didn't work for me, as there were too many weather hazards for the day, and it would be a really late start. Given my increasing tiredness, I don't want to get myself into a mess. The morning passes slowly, much to my delight! Basile must be gnawing his teeth a bit, but in any case I have no control over the weather, and I need these few hours in slow motion to think calmly about what's to come. Finally, between two coffees at La Panière (a major decision-making point for mountaineers in Chamonix!), under a cloud ceiling that was struggling to break, a plan began to take shape: we'd climb the Plan de l'Aiguille in the afternoon, Basile would do a little alpine refresher on the Papillons ridge, then bivouac at the foot of the Peigne for Sunday's race.
At 2pm we drop our bivouac bags at the chosen spot, and off we go to Les Papillons! I was surprised because there was no equipment in place, the route being a great classic I thought I'd find some pitons. In fact nothing, apart from a flush in a difficult passage in the middle of the route. We unrolled the route, but saw nothing of the afternoon as we were right in the layer of clouds coming up from the valley. By 9pm we were back at camp, this time the weather was fine, we ate our super spiced semolina and at 10:30pm it was lights out.
Sunday 12 July: SW ridge of the Aiguille des Deux Aigles, Davaille-Julien route. TD, 500m difficulty, 1700m total
Let me say straight away that I had underestimated the race. After a week I was well worn out, but I still had a lot under my belt. But I didn't think I'd have to push so hard in the final.
We set off from Plan de l'Aiguille at 4.45am, leaving our bivouac gear behind and taking only what we needed for the race. I made a slight error in my estimate, telling Basile that we'd be back down by 2pm. The schedule was clear: 6.30am for the attack, 10.30am for the summit, 11.30am for the Aiguille du Plan, 2pm for the Aiguille du Midi. How could we have missed the time indication clearly given on the CamptoCamp top, i.e. 7-8 hours on the route, and 3-4 hours for the Plan-Midi traverse? I haven't done the Plan-Midi traverse, and imagine it as a simple snow ridge, a short one at that, to be climbed towards the skip.
The first pitch is true to its reputation, a 4b that shakes things up right from the start! It's worth noting that Basile climbs in the 8s, but this is a real beating! The granite of the Chamonix region and the random grading of the route never cease to surprise us. For me, who's more used to the style, the difficulties are a little less, but I still have to work hard. The route is superb, past the first two pitches. Note that the second pitch is 100m long and is in fact an ascent of a long corridor in 3. The whole route is a school for climbing on granite, you have to find your route, get your hands, feet and fingers stuck, sometimes climb a thin slab, climb up slats, pass letterboxes, go around, abseil... And the route is so long! I could see the clock ticking and quickly realised that my estimate was wrong - we'd never reach the summit by 10.30am. The pitches in 4 climb, they are not jumps followed by easy walking, the difficulties are continuous and the almost total absence of pitons makes progress slower because you have to protect everything and build your belays. At the top of the 5c, which by the way is one hell of a piece of bravery to free in big chunks, I inform Basile that we're going to have to "switch gears" if we want to catch the last grab. In my mind, it's around 4.30pm, just like earlier in the week. We hurried to the top of the route and got out at 2.30pm. Then a completely different race begins. We put on our crampons again, and now we have to climb the last slopes of the Plan glacier, which is extremely crevassed. Via the right and a few rocky switchbacks, we reach the shoulder below the summit, and finally emerge from the Aiguille du Plan, which is completely surrounded by cloud. The whole ridge is shrouded in mist and we can't see a thing. Fortunately, there are the morning tracks, which we follow all the way to the Rognon. The Rognon isn't just a rocky spur; there's another 30 minutes or so of climbing up a dihedral and a hundred metres or so of ledges, and we're still running! Then it's not over, we climb up, down and across again... It's a long way to the Col du Plan! When we finally got there, it must have been 4.30pm, and I was preparing myself for the idea of having to spend the night stuck at the Aiguille du Midi, or stupidly paying for the night at the Cosmiques refuge. We're convinced we've lost the game, but we keep pushing on to the summit. I'm surprised at Basile, who likes to say he doesn't like walking: "Never mind the timetable, at this point the aim is to get to the top and throw up! It would seem that he wants to give it his all! By a miracle of overcrowding, so many people had come to the Aiguille that the return skips were running late, with the last ones due at around 6.10pm. It's 5pm, so we've got a bit of room to spare on this floor, but at the bottom of the Plan de l'Aiguille we still have to go back up to get our bivouac bags! So I thread my way through the crowd, talking to a CMB agent who kindly lets me get on the first skip that leaves, even though the places are assigned to organise the return journey. Basile took skip no. 54, so I had to meet him with our two bags at the Plan de l'Aiguille to go back down to Chamonix together. What a relief, everything is running perfectly, and after a final sprint to the Peigne we save ourselves the trouble of walking back down to Chamonix.
At 6pm, sitting behind the boot of the Dacia in Les Planards, the curtain falls, the race is over and so is the week. All the fatigue accumulated over the last 6 days sinks in, and the body and head know that tomorrow is the last day. I become a zombie, 2 of tension, we drink a beer and enjoy some crisps. What a day! We'll never forget it.
Conclusion
I wanted to take advantage of this weather window and a quiet period at work to do a series of mountain races, move up my list of improvements for the guidebook and, above all, challenge myself a bit by putting my endurance to the test. And so it's done! Six days of pure pleasure in the mountains, with a certain frenzy that sometimes seemed like over-consumption. There was no time to sit back and reflect on what a good day it had been; every moment was focused on the present moment or on preparing for the next day's race. That's also what this summary is for, a quiet reminder of the good times we had up there. This week, there were no major races, nothing extremely difficult, and no long days, but rather a succession of fine days in the mountains on what were, in all honesty, serious races, often run with a bang. That's all it took.
On Monday, we had a great time with Basile at Lac du Bourget, just like two teenagers, in an inflatable boat jumping off the rocks. Then we finished off with a barbecue, just the two of us. No constraints, no timing, no gear to prepare, no stress. I don't have many days like that!
