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Base Camp
Up
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: September 2, 2011
- Miles Hiked: 4.0
- Elevation Gain: 2,000'
- Hiking Partner(s): Brian Kooeinga,
Scott Momburg, and Kevin
Smith
- Description:
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Continued from the Matterhorn.
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Video Trip Report
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Brian,
Scott, Kevin, and I were on a climbing high after successfully summiting
the Matterhorn only two days ago. We wanted to continue the trip in
style and drove from Zermatt, Switzerland, to Chamonix, France on
Thursday, September 1, 2011. We met with a guide that Kevin had
contacted online in downtown Chamonix to get some current information on
climbing conditions. Our local friend indicated that the weather was
generally poor and forecasts were currently unreliable. Information
from the Cosmiques Hut gave us the strong impression that no one had
been climbing Mont Blanc for the past few days and no one was going to
attempt it in the near future. As a result, we were encouraged to set
our sites on some shorter French Alp classics that we had on our short
list anyway.
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The four
of us hustled back to the car to prepare once again for another gondola
ride. We quickly loaded our backpacks with ice tools, crampons, rock
gear, and other essentials. We all purchased a 7-day 3-roundtrip pass
on the
Telepherique Aiguille du Midi for 83 Euros. The Euro was also stronger
than the dollar, so this equates to approximately $110. This gondola
holds the record as the highest vertical ascent cable car in the world
from 3,396’ to 12,605’. There are two sections of the ride from
Chamonix to Plan de l'Aiguille at 7,602’, and then directly, without any
support pillar, to the upper station. Since it was late in the day, the
cable car wasn’t crowded and the tourists had all but vacated the upper
station.
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We located
the climber’s tunnel that would deposit us on a 2’ wide snow arete which
would lead to the glacier and the Cosmiques Hut about 1,000’ below us.
The weather was like pea soup, but we negotiated the narrow descent and
then roped up for a short hike across a glacier to the hut. The
Cosmiques Hut is similar to the Hornli Hut in terms of accommodations
and is the launching ground for numerous climbs in the Mont Blanc area.
After being chastised for not making a reservation, we finally got
checked in and had a wonderful dinner of ham, potatoes, and a beer. A
night with dinner and breakfast was 53 Euros per person at the Cosmiques
Hut. We went to bed in the hut with full stomachs and a 5:00 am wake up
call.
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We woke on
Friday to another breakfast of dry bread, jam, and coffee or hot
chocolate. Our objective for the day was the
Chere Couloir, a classic ice gully on the
north face of Mont Blanc du Tacul. The route consisted of six pitches
of 60, 70, and 80 degree ice climbing. Brian and Kevin teamed up as
Scott and I climbed together for the day. We negotiated the bergschrund
(a large crevasse) at the base of the route and then proceeded up
glacial ice to steeper climbing above. The belay stations were bolted
and the route took a combination of ice screws and rock gear. After
several pitches of fun climbing, we opted to rappel the route and return
to the glacier below. We made our way back across the glacier and
returned to the Cosmiques Hut for another evening of enjoyable food and
mountain lounging. It was a short but fun day on a cool ice climb in
the French Alps.
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Continued to
the Cosmiques Arete.
- Maps:
- Photographs:
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