Happy New Year 2012!

Now that I'm surrounded by the comforts of home, I can't resist the opportunity to do a little armchair mountaineering and relive some of the highlights of this past fall.  I hope somebody out there might still be reading this after our several months of radio silence - updating the blog took a backseat this fall as work and school shifted the balance away from recreating, believe it or not. It was a beautiful fall though and the two of us were able to take advantage of some high mountain time early on, before things got too serious down in the valley. I have to say that being a weekend warrior isn't so bad when the offerings are at your door step and the main barrier between work and play is motivation. It continually blows my mind how far “out” one can get in just a day or two, or even in an afternoon, with Grenoble as the point of departure... 

 

Le Pouce (2874m), La voie des français – Aiguilles Rouges

Day tripping the Pouce (can I say that?) was a prime example of Chamonix’s unique brand of fast-food alpinism. Stressful packing and driving brought us to the Flégère lift barely in time for the 8am departure, which beamed us from the valley floor to 2000m in just a few minutes. The approach continued at a frantic pace as we vied to better our odds of making the last lift down at 4pm. It was something of a relief to realize several pitches up that there was no way we were going to be there on time, and suddenly the blinders-on blur turned into slower paced appreciation. All of a sudden the stress was (mostly) gone and our focus turned to the present moment – even if later on that would involve a quad-jarring 5000' plunge by headlamp on ski trails all the way down to the bright lights below. The trip ended at 2am stumbling back to our apartment in Grenoble amidst the rowdy Saturday night crew just starting to hit their stride.  

Our route headed up the prow on the central peak, follow-

ed by a descent traversing along the righthand ridge crest.  

 

           

La Meije (3983m), Voie normale et traversée des arêtes - Ecrins

Climbing the Meije with Christophe was a three-day mountain trip beginning and ending in the village of la Grave. The first day we went from pasture to glacier, winding our way up 6000’ vertical feet to the col that splits the Meije and the Râteau, and then down the south side to the  Refuge du Promontoire. After sleeping in, we spent the second day climbing an endless arête of 5.6-max golden granite all the way to the summit, marveling at the boldness and route-finding skill of the first ascentionists in 1888. We bivvied on the summit, perched under the stars on a platform about the size of last year's apartment. The last day we got up with the sun, made a few rappels, and rocked along the arête to the Doit de Dieu and then down to the Refuge de l’Aigle, and then down down down to the valley floor below and an abrupt return to school the following morning. 

Looking from the summit down the ridge  that we

travsered on the third day - the Doigt de Dieu 

is the pinnacle at the far end.

One last photo on the summit just before bedtime. I'm very 

excited about the possibilities that bivvying enables - all 

of a sudden the map looks very different if you're willing to 

park it anywhere for a night...

La Dibona (3330m), Visite obligatoire - Ecrins

Happy Birthday, Hillary! The two of us were able to sneak away to celebrate Hillary's birthday at the Refuge du Soreiller over a bottle of wine, cheap steak and fresh pasta. I had ideas about doing a more obscure, gear-protected route in the cirque, but Hillary prevailed insisting we climb Visite obligatoire, 12 pitches of bolted 10a right to the top of the needle on perfect stone. She's usually right, and in the end we had a spectacular day swinging leads up one of best rock climbs I've encountered yet.