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Swaledale Outdoor Club |
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Swaledale Outdoor Club |
| > Home > Newsletter > Climbing > SOC Alpine Meet 2002 |
SOC Alpine Meet 2002A quick report on what we did, so hopefully there'll be some interest for trips in future years? Myself, Andy Platell and Trish Murray flew out from Newcastle Airport very early on the morning of Friday 12th July and, following a changeover at Brussels, we picked up our hire car at Geneva airport at noon. We had loads of time for the short drive down to Chamonix (which is on the French side of the Alps), have a look around the area and pick a base. We found the "preferred by Brits" campsite in Argentiere (about 5 miles up the valley) and had glorious sun for our first evening. Then the rain started; 3am! It woke everyone up, and the sun didn't really appear again for two day. The morning saw Trish wisely say no to a crack at a mountain route in the rain so myself & Andy went off to the South East Ridge of the L'Index. This grade IV goes to the top of the 2595m peak but has a series of cable cars going from the car park in the valley up to about 2300m. It poured down for a lot of the day but, in true British style, we had to do something! Sunday was a 2nd day of rain, so we planned to walk up to a mountain hut on the Monday, regardless of the weather; better to lounge around up there than around the campsite! We did get a few hours without rain to cross the Mer de Glace (a major glacier) but we did the last hour or so in the rain to the Couvercles Hut at 2,687m, which is at the base of the Aiguille du Moine. We spent two nights at this hut, with a good go at the South East Ridge (AD-) on the middle day. The view were amazing when we got up at 5.30am, with no clouds in the sky, but this did change later with rain in the afternoon. We had to ascend a small glacier before crossing a crevasse to get onto the rock itself, and found that alpine climbing needs a lot of good route finding to be successful. We got within 100-150m of the top but we went off route in a big way and, with the cloud settled in, decided to bail out then. The descent was a scramble nearly all the way back down, with an abseil to get back onto the glacier and the hut. The hut was very warm & dry, with staff in residence to provide hot meals, though at a cost. Much better than the CIC; it even had running water and toilets! Two more days of rest saw us walk out and then have a rest day in Chamonix, before the big route of the trip. Although physically and technically easier than the Aig. du Moine, the Cosmiques Arete (PD+) is one of the "classics" and we got the 6.20am telecabin for it. We had clear blue skies all day (shades were a must) and were one of the first parties on the Ridge. Apart from a 20m abseil in the middle, it is technically easier than Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis but, at 3842m, it just has an amazing "up there" feel to it for a first major alpine route. We were finished by lunchtime and, after a bite and a drink with the gawping non-mountaineers on the cable car station terraces, we descended back to Chamonix. We spent the last full day further down the valley doing some bolted "hot rock" cragging at Servoz, before the rain set in again just in time for us to pack up our gear and head back to Geneva for the flight home on Sunday 21st July. Neil 'Bomber' Harold |