Alpine Climbing Conditions - 27/08/08

Posted on August 27th, 2008 by info.
Categories: General, Mountain Conditions, Alpine Conds, Trip Reports, Alpine.

Chamonix is filling up with ultrarunners this evening - with the Mont Blanc Ultratrail starting on Friday.  I’m just doing the ’short’ race this year from Courmayeur to Cham (ie working too hard this summer!) - but at 98km and 5500m of climb it’s still gonna be a pretty stiff day out..

On to mountain conditions - the accident that occured on Mt Blanc du Tacul this Sunday morning has obviously been reported widely and yesterday the PGHM were still requesting people to stay off the voie normale amid fears about the stability of the slope - but about 50 people stomped up it regardless this morning… I wouldn’t advise doing the same.  We stayed well clear, abbing back down the Chere Couloir, which in excellent condition at the moment.  Other teams on the Tacul N Face were climbing Petit Frounet and the Voie Perroux, so conditions really are good here.

Owen climbed the Dent du Geant on Monday in wild weather and just topped out on the Matterhorn today too with Tim Coburn - so a great weeks climbing unfolding here too.  The intro groups are up at the Trient and Albert Premier huts tonight, so a major assault on the Aiguille du Tour tommorrow!

 It’s due to get very hot over the next few days (4500m freezing level) ie the hottest week of the summer - so although ice climbing conditions were perfect today, it may well be time to hit thre rock and ridge lines again till things cool down.

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Technical 4000ers - 21/08/08

Posted on August 21st, 2008 by info.
Categories: General, Mountain Conditions, Alpine Conds, Trip Reports, Alpine, Als Blog.

OK - just relaxing back at the Rothorn hut after putting the trail back in on the Ober Gabelhorn today.  A great day out and the Zinal Rothorn is on the menu for tommorrow.  We did the Dent Blanche earlier on in the week (putting the trail back in on that too!) after the big snowfall last Friday.  All of the above are in good condition, though quite snowy on the Ober Gabelhorn summit rocks (ie think Scottish mixed..)  Now all the recent snowfall has consolidated well, cramponing conditions are very good on the easier classic 4000ers too.  The Weisshorn and Matterhorn on the other hand, are not yet seeing ascents - but this could change soon with more settled weather on the way.  Pics soon…

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Alpine Climbing Conditions - 02/08/08

Posted on August 3rd, 2008 by info.
Categories: General, Alpine Conds, Trip Reports, Alpine, Als Blog.

Ok, a bit more news on alpine climbing conditions in Switzerland and Chamonix:

The Matterhorn N Face is still in excellent condition and seeing rare summer ascents.  Jon and Matt made a full on ascent of the Zinalrothorn with Norman Jones and Alvyn Bywater yesterday, in very difficult conds after an unforecast early morning storm. Jane and Lewis Grundy and I were on the Dent D’Herens at the same time, but decided to retreat down the West Ridge rather than face the verglas coated upper slabs…

Lewis and I were out on the Tacul Triangle today, which continues to be in excellent condition - there were teams on the Frontier Ridge on Mt Maudit and the Frendo Spur on the Midi today too.  Many high alpine rock routes are nicely dried out now and in good condition (albeit with more snow around than usual) - but with good access conditions on glaciers etc at the moment.

The biggest feature of this past week has been overnight cloud and unforecast early morning storms - which lead to poor snow conditions and rapid retreats back to huts for several parties.  Tuesday morning in particular brought a fast moving storm front across the western Alps - so as always, it’s wise to look out of the hut door before setting off and keep a close eye out on the weather!

Morning storm engulfing the Matterhorn this Tuesday.

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Travails on the Taschorn

Posted on July 28th, 2008 by info.
Categories: General, Mountain Conditions, Alpine Conds, Trip Reports, Alpine, Als Blog.

Another email post - so sorry about how it looks. Well - it doesn’t happen often, but we backed off the Taschorn today - due to some very unstable cornices + poor snow conditions on the S Ridge.
Back at the Mischabel bivi hut now, relaxing for the afternoon in a wonderful spot - the bad weather last night mean’t a poor freeze, so every sunny slope is now avalanching - ie too dangerous to go back over the Alphubel till tomorrow morning (don’t worry - we brought enough food for a 2nd night!)

A few more bits of route beta too - the S ridge of the Eiger is similarly corniced to the Taschorn, with experienced guides turning back in recent days.

Lyskamm on the other hand is in excellent nick on seeing regular traffic and there’s been some action on the N Face of the Matterhorn: with tracks up the Schmidt route and a team putting up a new route on the Zmutt Nose.

East faces of the Taschorn and Dom.

Current conditions on the S Ridge of the Taschorn.

Al on the S Ridge of the Taschorn.

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Mont Blanc Traverse

Posted on July 26th, 2008 by info.
Categories: General.

Jon Bracey just completed our Mont Blanc Extra fortnight with a fine traverse of the Blanc - congrats to Richard Harrison and Mark Thorpe, for a big day and a great ascent.  other routes climbed during the course included the Gran Paradiso and numerous Chamonix classics.

Dawn across the Brenva Face of Mont Blanc.

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Alpine 4000m Peaks

Posted on July 26th, 2008 by info.
Categories: General, Mountain Conditions, Alpine Conds, Als Blog.

Back off the hill now having been up the  Aletschhorn and Dent Blanche this week - conditions on both are very good (though v windy on the aletschhorn on wednesday!) with excellent neve for cramponing.

The Matterhorn is finally seeing ascents with a lot of snow but good bucket steps in the upper half (teams are puting crampons on just below the Mosely Slab, which is covered in snow and actually quite quick).

As for the next few days + following week - I’d expect things to start getting icier on these bigger peaks as they dry out, but then improve again as it becomes quicker to climb without crampons.

Dawn on the NE Ridge of the Aletschhorn this week.

Climbing the S Ridge of the Dent Blanche.

View from the summit of the Dent Blanche.

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Alpine Climbing Conditions - 21/07/08

Posted on July 21st, 2008 by info.
Categories: General, Mountain Conditions, Alpine Conds, Als Blog.

OK - another quick update on the latest conditions out here.  The weather has calmed down a little bit, but it’s still been pretty unsettled this week - though the forecast now looks good for the next few days.

The general situation is still very snowy for this time of year across the alps - ie favourable for classic ice and mixed routes (eg Tour Ronde N Face, Tacul Triangle etc all seeing plenty of traffic).  On the bigger 4000m peaks, ridge lines are still snowy, but starting to settle down and come into good condition too - eg Frontier Ridge on Mont Maudit is seeing ascents.

We’re off to the Aletschhorn and then on to the Dent Blanche over the next few days, so more info from Switzerland soon.

Funnily enough, we had the Dent du Geant to ourselves this week…

Looking down the W Face after clearing ice off the fixed ropes.

Rochefort + Jorrasses from the summit of the Geant this Friday.

Teams setting out on the Rochefort Arete.

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Terra Modana 2008

Posted on July 20th, 2008 by Al.
Categories: General, Race Reports, Fell Races, Als Blog.

A good prep run today for the Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix race at the end of August: the Terra Modana race covers 50k with 2600m of ascent around the Frejus Valley, visiting half a dozen forts in the area en route (including one section running through the dungeons!)

With a bit of a cold and a lot of climb in the legs (12000m of ascent for the week..) I was pretty pleased with 4th place in 5hr 11min - relying mostly on pushing like hell with the poles, coz my legs certainly weren’t working too well after a week like that!

Mountain running French stylee - shades, batons + water bottles

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Alpine Climbing Conditions - 15/07/08

Posted on July 15th, 2008 by info.
Categories: General, Mountain Conditions, Alpine Conds, Als Blog.

OK - in summary, it’s been damn snowy the last few days - so lots of putting trails back in on classic ridges. ie Cosmiques Arete on Sun in ‘Scottish’ conds + just got down off S ridge of the Tour Ronde today, which is in great nick - though I wouldn’t go up the couloir to Col Freshfield just now - safer (and much more fun!) to stick to the ridge all the way. The N Face looks stellar too. 

Teams went up the Geant/ Rochefort Arete direction today too. Frendo was mobbed last week, Mallory Porter got done too (but not so good). Whymper Couloir + Moine Ridge on the Verte have also been seeing ascents recently.

Everything was plastered today after the recent dump, so its difficult to tell anything re conds on the bigger faces - ie it needs a couple of days of sun to clear all the fresh snow off and see what’s really there..

Over in Switzerland all the standard classics like the Weissmies, Laginhorn, Allalinhorn, Breithorn etc are now seeing plenty of traffic, but the Matterhorn is still very icy higher up and not really in condition (and that was before all the snow fell). Postscript - just checked out the situation re the Matterhorn - it’s now really buried in snow!

Sim Spencer on the SE Ridge of the Tour Ronde today.

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Alpine Climbing Conditions - 05/07/08

Posted on July 5th, 2008 by info.
Categories: General, Mountain Conditions, Alpine Conds, Als Blog.

It’s been a little cooler here for the last couple of days, so ice + mixed routes more of a goer - in particular the Frendo Spur looked in ideal condition from Plan d’Aiguille today - ie rock section dry, top section snowy + not too hot. N Spur of the Chardonnet + Forbes Arete are also seeing traffic with good conds.

I’ve also heard good reports about classic snow/ice faces over in the Swiss Valais being in good condition too just now - eg NE Face of the Lenzspitze climbed in perfect conds last week etc.

As for me, it’s been an alpine rock week - so just back from an awesome day climbing the N Ridge of the Tete du Gramusset in the Aravis yesterday + out in the Chaminix Aiguilles today.

Weather looks less settled for the next couple of days, so I’d keep a close eye on the freezing level if you are after ice + mixed routes and get in position + ready to climb on the next good day - as conditions could well be excellent.  For rock routes ditto, as things are drying out nicely on many of the higher routes, with good glacier conds currently for access.

Climbing the N Ridge of the Tete du Gramusset yesterday

Malcolm on the penultimate pitch

Looking down the final aid pitch - a mad finish to the route!

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