The Chere on the Cake

 

I wasn’t sure if I was still asleep, for some reason the mountain had turned into a never-ending stream of light, as though the martians had landed to colonise our camp. Nick gave me some tea and as my body warmed it dawned on me that I was witnessing the nightly parade of Mont Blanc aspirants trudging there way to the top of Europe! It was 3am and Nick and Warren were almost ready to leave by the time Andy and I realized where we were and for what ridiculous reason we were rising at such an un-godly hour. The reason was the Chere Couloir on the NW face of Mt. Blanc du Tucal. 

We were not particular devotees of the traditional alpine start but I was slightly nervous about both the condition of the ice after sunrise and the descent route in the late afternoon (not to mention the prospect of following some French climbers up the route!). Andy thought such an early rise completely unnecessary and thus moaned all the way to the bottom of the route, such was his pre-occupation with the time that he didn’t realize his bowels were somewhat volatile! 

By around 4.30 we were simul-climbing the easy access slopes and, timed to perfection, we gained the technical climbing as it was getting light. Two full rope lengths of steep ice were protected by bomber ice-screws, and the belayer had the pleasure of watching the sunrise over the Chamonix Aiguilles whilst trying to deflect a constant stream of falling ice being deposited by the leader! Such pure climbing can only be spoilt by one thing; the constant, explosive need for a crap! But I was happy! A further two pitches of mixed ground were covered before enough was enough, and my trusty companion required relief. So, slightly off route, a toilet was found and once again parity was restored – we were now both able to fully enjoy this awesome route! 
 
Further simu-climbing led us onto the summit ridge, where a combination of altitude and hunger led me to some confused route-finding and serious faffing! This turned interesting when we hit a bergschrund on a knife edge snow arête at 4200m, this was no time for faffing! This obstacle safely out maneuvered the path was clear to the summit, apart from the hordes of other people, so we stopped where we were and decided it was close enough to the summit and it was the climbing that mattered.

Thus the descent path was located and we joined the stream of folk trying to get off the mountain. We passed down through some immense serac territory, crossed snow bridges and were happy to get off the slopes and back to the Col safely! We then satisfied our hunger, packer our bivy gear and started the ‘slow death march’ to the midi-station wearied but happy!

 

 

This was, although we didn’t know at the time, to be our last route in the Alps for this year, and the Chere Couloir was undoubtedly the cherry on the cake!

 

Camping on the Col

Eventually we managed to hook up with Nick, our friend from previous alpine adventures, and the numbers were once again balanced (unfortunately Mark was still cursing his gammy leg!). Laden with gear, Andy, Warren, Nick and I set off at lunchtime with intentions of a short afternoon stroll before an assault on Mt Blanc du Tucal early the following morning.

This stroll took the form of the Traverse of Pointes Lenechal, a small aesthetic series of summits guarding the south east flank of the Col du Midi, from where it drops down into the Vallee Blanche. Having set up home in a pre-dug open shelter amongst the ‘tent-city’ that is the Col, we tootered off towards Lenechal, enjoying the outlook and relative peace. The closer we got, the better the view of our main objective for the morning became and we had a useful chance to reccie the safest approach routes for the Tucal Triangle.

The traverse itself was very easy but the joy came, as with so much in the Alps, from the situation and with ratio to effort, this must be amongst the finest routes in the area!

Stunning views over the Mer de Glace led to the Jorasses and beyond to Switzerland, over the Vallee Blanche lay the Torino hut with the Grande Paradiso standing tall behind and immediately before us stood Mt Blanc du Tucals North face! This was not to mention where we had come from; looking out over the Col du midi, our tent city resembling mere specs of dust underneath the awesome looking Cosmiques Arete.

We were lucky to get it on such a beautiful clear day and once the bergschrund was dealt with we were back at the bivi spot within a couple of hours, hearts content and bellies rumbling! A quick brew, before cooking supper and, in order to retain warmth for the night , we were all swiftly tucked away into our sleeping bags! From the comfort of our bags we discussed trips past and future whilst the sun cast a thousand shades of red over the mountains as a weird inverted sunset effect highlighted the glory of the Matterhorn over yonder. Nice!.