On the 14th July, with the ‘Alphubel’ team I spent the night at the Tete Rousse Hut. At 2am on the 15th July we left the hut to ascend Mont Blanc. The Grand Couloir was frozen and no rocks fell down it during our ascent. However, there has been reports of rockfall later in the day. The temperatures in the Alps are currently high and this will become more of a problem over the next few weeks.
There was a good track from the Gouter Hut to the summit.
We descended Mont Blanc via the Trois Monts route. The descent from the Col du Maudit is currently on good snow. However, at the bottom the bergshrund is beginning to open and some teams may prefer to take two 60 metre ropes to abseil over this hole.
The usual serac problems exist on Maudit and Tacul. One crevasse on Mont Blanc du Tacul is crossed on large pieces of serac debris. If a team chooses to ascend Mont Blanc by this route a very long time will be spent underneath these seracs.
Yesterday, we had a day out in the Aiguille Rouge climbing L’Index via the ‘Arete Sud’ and the Aiguille de la Gliere via the ‘Nez Rouge’. Details of both these excellent routes can be found in the guidebook ‘Plaisir West’ by Jurg Von Kanel.
