To finish off our first month in Chamonix, Bucky and I decided to actually summit the mountain we have been playing around on for so long. The weather forecast looked glorious for Thursday so we decided to give it a go. Wednesday we took the bus down to Les Houches to catch the Bellevue tram. From the Bellevue tram we get on the train from St. Gervais up to the Nid d'Aigle, or Eagle's Nest. Wednesday the weather was very gloomy. The clouds were low in the valley and from about half way up the Bellevue tram, all the way to our campsite at the Tete Rousse (3167 m), we could not see more than about 50' around us. Up at the campsite it started to sleet so we set up our tent as quickly as possible and got down to boiling snow for dinner. After a quick look through the Tete Rousse refuge we decided to go to bed early to prepare for our 0245 alarm. After drifting in and out of sleep as other parties woke and left the campsite I felt my shoulder being nudged by Bucky, "Dude, Mark, wake up!"
"Yeah, OK, I'm awake."
"Dude, it's 3:51! We slept through the alarm!" At which point the first thought that went through my head was, "screw it, let's sleep in and fool around up here for the day and we can try again some other time." Bucky, however, followed that up with, "I think we should go for it anyway." To which the only thing I could say was, "well, we better hustle!" We quickly got dressed and packed up our bags and started on our way at 0430, only an hour and a half after we had wanted to start. The guide book said that from the Tete Rousse the route should take about 12 hours round trip. In order to catch the last train down to the valley we would have to be at the Nid d'Aigle at 1710. Since the Tete Rousse was about and hour and a half from the Nid d'Aigle and we were going to have to break down camp, if we didn't beat 12 hours we were going to be spending a second night up on the glacier.
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At 4402 meters, just surpassing the summit elevation of
Mount Elbert, the highest either of us had ever been! |
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| Tete Rousse camp |
We started with a quick pace in our boots only before we got to a very steep couloir traverse where we crampon'd and roped up and began the ascent to the Gouter Hut. From the description in the guide book I was under the impression that this was going to simply be a long glacial hike, but the ascent to the Gouter hut was all 3rd and 4th class rock and snow scrambling in the dark! It was really fun, and my favorite part of the whole journey. About 3/4 of the way up to the Gouter hut the sun started to rise and we got some pretty breathtaking views. At the Gouter hut I checked in with Bucky on time. The book said 2 hrs from Tete to Gouter, we had done it in an hour and a half. Knowing that we were making solid pace, we continued on pure glacial snow from the Gouter hut to the summit. Aside from a few very steep sections, some gorgeous views, and one crevasse crossing, there was not much to the route besides a lot of hiking. At 4402 m we took a picture to document the highest both Bucky and I had ever been, surpassing the summit of Mount Elbert by one meter. Once upon the summit at 4810 meters we took in the spectacular view. Bucky was especially surprised at just how much Mont Blanc towers over the rest of the Alps as far as you can see. Another time check showed that we had gone from the Tete Rousse to the summit in 4 hours. The guide book estimated 7-8 hours so I felt very confident we were going to make it home that day. After some videos and pictures and a few bites to eat we began the descent. It was shocking just how much the temperature rose as we descended back to the valley. After starting the day wearing all of the clothes we brought with us, to stripping down to our underwear and laying down in the snow back at camp, it was a dramatic change. We were back at the Tete Rousse only eight hours from when we had left. We tore down camp and made it back home to beers on the deck in the sun, a perfect way to end the day. I filmed the last few minutes of the ascent and some panoramas from the summit if you would like to check out the video here:
Mont Blanc Summit
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| At the Top of the Alps! |
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