Getting there
We drove, via the channel tunnel. This was for a variety of reasons: ease of organisation; flexibility; convenience of movement when there; and having a mobile storage locker for spare kit. It cost most of a tank of fuel each way (say, 2 * £100) and somewhat above £200 for the chunnel (say, £500). Plus overnight accommodation, since we didn't bomb down. Leaving at 8 we got to Besancon at 7 ish, so if we'd driven faster with fewer stops we could have got to Cham in a day. But that would have done us no good, as we wanted to go up. Also Besancon and Troyes are well worth seeing.
The Cham valley has good public transport (train line; buses) which would have got us everywhere we wanted to go. So (apart from the freedom from having to organise anything in advance, no small matter with me) maybe the mobile storage locker was the main advantage (but maybe Chamonix has storage? See here or here (though that last is well below les Houches)). Set against that the hassle of finding a parking space (use Biollay (see here, open the "white zone" bit; note that on Google maps it seems to be called "parking montenvers") unless it's full which it will be, in which case head 500 m NE along the "chemin du pied du Grepon" to the Planards, not really marked on Google maps) and the worry about whether your stuff will be there when you come back (it was).
Without the free locker we'd have had to take everything up with us, which would have been doable if we'd been ruthless, and known exactly what we needed. Which we didn't. So if I had to do it without a car, I'd take one ultra-lightweight set of "valley clothes" and otherwise rely on mountain clothes; just one rope (we took a second for some sport-climbing in the mid-week but could just about have got away with one rope); not too much gear (what do you need it for anyway); and fewer spare books (oh no).
Hotels and appartments
We got ours from booking.com. Hotel le Chamonix was nice: central, convenient, two stars. We returned. No AC if you're there during a heatwave (we were); good wifi; a bar on the other side of the building. In Argentiere the appartment in Résidence Grand Roc - Bruyères was fine inside if a bit brutalist outside; and again conveniently located. In les Houches the Hôtel Les Mélèzes was disappointing, if OK for a quick overnight.
Going up
From le Tour, we went up to the ref Albert Premier using the cabin then siege Charamillion. This saves you a couple of hours walking up (and down, if you get the return, which you probably should).
For the ref Couvercle off the Mer de Glace we got the rack-n-pinion train up to Montenvers from the small gare near the main gare in Cham; this costs the apparently unreasonable E33 each, but they do have a lot of tourists to flog places too, and by the 9 am train it was full (by contrast 8:30 was much clearer; get up early). Again, you can walk if you like, its a couple of hours.
For the ref Tete Rousse we got the Tramway de Mont Blanc from le Fayet (aka St-Gervais-le-Fayet, but St Gervais is actually up the hill a ways; you can also pick up the tram from St Gervais but parking there looked even harder) which trundles slowly up to the Nid d'Aigle, again for the apparently unreasonable E33 each. The parking near the station will be full; there's spare: follow "P2" I think; under the railway line to rue du Casino / chemin des Lots.
For Cosmiques / Aiguille du Midi, you want the main Aiguille du Midi cable car. This is E63 each, but when you see where it goes you won't think that unreasonable. You can book in advance - or so I now understand - but not just the night before or on the day. So - somewhat panicked by failing to book at 22:30 the previous night - I got up early and got to the ticket office just before 7; there was already a 20 min queue. I got tickets OK but for no particular time; I'd have to come back to queue, apparently. When we did come back, around 10, it turned out they were running a queuing system: cabin 28 was going, the man at the entrance hands out tags to people with tickets; we got cabin 40, so retired for an hour to a nearby cafe, so that was fine. It took an hour to get up, what with shuffling in groups and the mid station queue and all.
Money
Huts in general don't take cards; take cash. If you get a reciprocal rights card then hut accomodation (but not food) is half price (except for private huts like Cosmiques).
Switzerland (Martigny) seems to take Euros (at 1-1 with CHF). We didn't see a guard any time we crossed the border.
Huts
This isn't the place to discuss huts I think; but here's a pano of the boot room in the Gouter.
High huts (Gouter; Cosmiques; even Tete Rousse, but if you try hard you'll find trickles in the snow at the TR) don't have drinkable water, but sell 1.5L for E6/7. So take some up yourself. Or, consider taking chlorine tablets.
Hut b'fast at about E12 for a bowl of coffee, a bit of juice, and a couple of small slices of stale bread, is poor value. But we did it anyway; maybe we shouldn't have. Evening meals are better.
Camping
Strictly prohibited on the Tete Rousse / Gouter route. There's a bloke just above the Nid d'Aigle who has a printed list of bookings, and will want to see your name on it. There's also a bloke in the "hunter / forestry cabin" at ~27xx m just before TR; but he may well be gone late in the day; he didn't check us.
Also prohibited outside of Aiguille du Midi (see photo) but (a) no-one is checking and (b) there was one tent there when we went by. But it certainly wasn't the vibrant tent community of 30 years ago.
The usual "bivouac between sundown and sunup" exception applies.
Pacing
We went up to Albert Premier for two nights (two climbs); down for two nights (one day rest); up to Couvercle for two nights (one climb; but the path to and from Couvercle is epic in itself) and then had four days rest in the Appt in Argentiere, before going for the Big One. The four days rest wasn't pre-planned but we found ourselves in need of it; mountains, full on, are hard work and battering.
Kit
For most of the routes we did, a ski-pole was more use than an ice axe. But we had Grivel Ghosts anyway. On Pointe Isabella I was grateful for the bite of my full-weight axe that I also carried then; on the Tacul face I might have fared better with two proper axes. Otherwise, the obvious: harness, rope, crampons, boots to take them, gaiters; helmets, head torches, gloves, spare gloves, neckwarmers. How warm to dress is always a bit of a puzzle; this was a warm season. On Mt Blanc I had my waterproof trousers on; D+E had, respectively, leggings and lightweight trous and got a bit chilly. I got a lightweight Exped rucksac for the trip and that worked well; oh and the Petzl "Altitude" lightweight harness was very good (except for the gear loops which are a bit rubbish). A 50 m half-rope (8.5 mm) between three seems fine. As for gear... not very useful. A few slings just for the sake of it on some of the ridges. And I used an ice screw on Pointe Isabella but at a pinch could have done without.
Books
Mountaineering in the Mont Blanc Range: Classic Snow, Ice & Mixed Climbs by Jean-Louis Laroche and Florence LeLong. And for the valley stuff, Crag Climbs in Chamonix by François Burnier and Dominique Potard.
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