Bad weather, bad snow, bad choice is how I would summarize this day. It was my fault though, the forecast was not encouraging but I wanted to give it a chance anyway. I went up to the Gorges du Cians and started skiing from Beuil (1450 m) on a thin layer of snow, with the …
The « Garriou – Pippolini » is a really nice route in the East face of Mont Neiglier (2786 m). The face is 700 meters high with a series of snow Couloir and 4 ice falls (85° maximum). Anna and I climbed the route in 3h30 which was in good conditions despite the rather warm temperatures. The …
For the last day of photo shoot for Berghaus and the Gore-Tex Active Shell, Anna Gatta, Jon Griffith, Will Sim and I went to the Rochefort Ridge (Arete de Rochefort). We left Torino hut early to be on the ridge before the sunrise. On the way to the « Salle a Manger », Jon took some amazing …
I went back to Chamonix for the first Berghaus athlete camp (more to come…) and stayed three days with Anna Gatta and Jon Griffith for another photo shoots for Berghaus and Gore-Tex. Friday morning we took the first cable car to Torino hut and climbed the north face of Tour Ronde in the Mont Blanc …
I wanted to climb a gully called Motivation Encaissée in the North face of Tête des Portettes (2823m). Bad idea, it was a sunny day, no wind but way too warm, with a freezing level at 3600m. The conditions in the gully were bad; soft melting snow and a bit of fragile ice. I climbed …
Once again it rained up to 2400 meters two days ago which has melted the snow below 1500 m and froze the snow at high altitude. With the wind and snow falling, today I was not expecting a perfect day in the Mountains. Anyway I headed up to the Madone de Fenestre for ski touring …
After two ascents in the North Faces of Grande Rocheuse and Aiguille Carrée (see previous posts), Anna and I enjoyed a sunny day on the Cosmiques Ridge (Arête des Cosmiques) of Aiguille du Midi. On this first day of 2011, we were alone on the route, enjoying the perfect weather and condition on the route. …
Alpinism: Aiguille du Midi – Cosmiques Ridge Lire la suite »
Jon Griffith, Carine Salvy and I went back in the Argentiere Basin, Mont Blanc Massif, for our second day of photo shoots for Berghaus. This time we climbed the Couturier + Vivagel route in the North Face of Grande Rocheuse. We spent a short and cold night on the floor of the Grand Montet cable …
Jon Griffith, Carine Salvy and I climbed the Frendo Ravanel route at the Aiguille Carrée (3716 m) in the Mont Blanc Massif. That was our first day of photo shoots for Berghaus. We left Argentière quite late and when we reached the end of the last hard pitch, it was too late to top out …
Anna and I went to the Cime of Tavels (2795 m) to climb the left Gully of the West face (Goulotte Ouest de gauche), one of the 3 ice and mixed routes of Tavels. The routes is 250 meters high (6 pitches), graded French TD / 85° 4+ / M4. It was cold -16°C. The …