Tour Ronde North Face

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, France Short Link

We made the decision to move back to Chamonix from Saas Fee due to a better forecast combined with there being more routes in condition that we wanted to do. The first weather window we had was meant to be an afternoon and a day before a storm came in, during this weather window we decided to head to the Tour Ronde to climb it’s classic north face. We made this decision largely due to there being a strong wind forecast, so we didn’t want to be up on any exposed ridges, and the Tour Ronde was sheltered by some of the larger mountains surrounding it. During Monday afternoon the weather did not clear as expected, which meant that we were not able to take the gondola to Italy from the Aiguille du Midi. Due to this we decided to spend the night in the Cosmiques refuge and walk across the Vallée Blanche in the morning to climb the Tour Ronde, before walking back to the Aiguille du Midi cable car station (at no point did we think about driving through the tunnel to Italy). After having to wait for. Read the full article…

Panorama – Jegihorn

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing, Switzerland Short Link

After having a rest day following our ascent of the North Ridge of the Weissmies, we decided to make the most of a single day of good weather by heading to the Jegihorn to do some multi pitch sport climbing. We climbed a route called ‘Panorama’, which was a 10 pitch f5a. After a quick walk up to the crag we were pleased to find out that no one else was aiming for our route, everyone else was either heading for the classic Alpendurst or the via ferrata. From the route we had a great view of the Weissmies, including the long north ridge, and the Lagginhorn. Multipitch sport climbing with two people is very efficient and we made great time up the route, finishing the 10 pitches in under 2.5 hours. The main delay at belays was having to get our breath back as climbing at altitude is hard work! The climbing was initially fairly easy and broken with lots of easier ground, but the climbing just improved with height as the rock got steeper. There were some surprisingly tricky moves at points, which were made all the more exciting by. Read the full article…

North Ridge of the Weissmies

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Switzerland Short Link

After an aborted attempt at the Rimpfischhorn due to conditions which were more similar to Scottish winter due to hill fog, a freezing wind and plenty of fresh snow with some dangerous windslab. We arrived back in the valley too late to start a long walk in to a hut which left our options fairly limited. In order to make the most of a brilliant weather window we decided to head up to the Hohsaas hut with the intention of having a look at the North Ridge of the Weissmies, although this was potentially a bit more optimistic due to the amount of snow around and not having any condition reports from the ridge. We woke up to a fantastic morning with cold air and a clear sky, this enabled us to make very quick progress up to the Lagginjoch. After the approaches to the Rimpfischhorn and the Aiguille d’Argentière it was great to have a short approach to a route, rather than a long slog. The sunrise over Italy was fantastic and provided some great light over the Saas mountains. It was a freezing morning and we initially started climbing. Read the full article…

Flèche Rousse – Aiguille d’Argentière

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, France Short Link

After a number of days of unsettled weather we finally had a period of settled weather which allowed us to get up into the mountains and attempt a route. Our objective was the classic AD Arête du Flèche Rousse on the Aiguille d’Argentière, although its condition was unknown as it hadn’t been climbed in a few weeks and since then there has been a lot of snowfall and the nights haven’t been that cold. We set off from the cable car station to start the walk in from the hut in very Scottish weather which included hill fog and rain. After a relatively painless walk in we arrived at the hut with lots of wet kit and were very pleased to be greeted by a happy guardian and news of a proper drying room! We set off early the next morning to a crystal clear sky, although unfortunately despite this it was not a cold night and the snow had not refrozen overnight. We made good time to the start of the route despite having to break trail, however after this the snow slowed us down significantly. The initial snow. Read the full article…