German Gully on Triangle du Tacul

Ron and I climbed on the Triangle du Tacul today on the German Gully. The snow and ice was great in places and crusty in others but as the route quickly came in to the sun, we abseiled down rather than continue up to the summit of the Triangle. The descent down from Mont Blanc du Tacul still didn't look appealing with fresh snow and no track!

Chere Couloir

Another sunny day and fairly cool so Ron and I decided to go and find some ice. We should have known better than to choose something on the Triangle du Tacul but these routes are easily accessible and we could abseil back down rather carry on to the top and have to come down the slopes of Mont Blanc du Tacul - no track and what looked like fresh avalanche debris! It seemed that everyone else had the same idea for this long awaited good weather day.
We climbed most of the Chere Couloir before bailing out as teams were climbing over other teams, belays were getting a bit crowded but the deciding factor was the ice being knocked down from above.

Sun again!

A bit of an uncertain weather forecast but sunnier than it has been for the past few days and dry so some more climbing at Les Cheserys where a cheeky little marmotte was watching us.

L'ile aux razmokets

It was to be a very hot day today so we chose to climb a route in the Vallon de Berard that we did years ago but that we knew would be in the shade until early afternoon. L'ile aux razmokets translates as "island of rugrats" according to google! Interesting name.
Seven varied pitches, great belay stances and a straight forward abseil descent all meant a fun day out.

A busy week and sunshine

It was still a bit showery on Monday (14th) but dry enough to go cragging at Les Gaillands. Tuesday was a lovely day which we spent up at Les Cheserys again, a crag where I always enjoy climbing.
Wednesday was our  first opportunity to go up high so we chose to climb Cosmiques Arete for some acclimatisation. The snow on the arete was in great condition and we romped along the route getting back down to Chamonix for a lunch of ice cream!
More acclimatisation on Thursday with a wander around the Col du Midi and the traverse over the three tops of Pointe Lachenal.

Rain and snow

From Tuesday 8th to saturday 12th July it was wet with snow down to the higher level paths around the valley so time for lots of walking and exploring  around Le Tour including a trip up to the Aiguillette des Posettes in full waterproofs, a walk up to the new Albert Premier hut to see what it is like and to check out the hot chocolate and also a touristy visit to the Aiguille du Midi.

Sunny cragging days

Some cragging at Les Gaillands and Les Cheserys to get back into the way of it all and to try out new rock boots. At Les Cheserys the young bouquetin were curious about what we were up to playing about with ropes and stuff whilst they just wandered up the routes!

Alps 2014

Ron and I arrived in the alps at the end of June. Last year we found that Chamonix Sud was just a bit too noisy so chose to stay at Le Tour which is much quieter and feels more open than in Chamonix.