Chamonix super cracks, Aiguille du Midi

The second post about super cracks in Chamonix is about the climbing at the impressive south face of Aiguille du Midi. A rock wall that most climbers will turn their eyes onto and have on their list of things to "do".

Aiguille du Midi is the prominent summit easily seen from Chamonix centre and accessible by the cable car that takes you all way up to 3800 m altitude. Aiguille du Midi is a true entrance to the alpine and high altitude environment in Chamonix and its south face is home for several classical crack climbs.

The south face of Aiguille du Midi

The south face of Aiguille du Midi has been on my mind longtime and finally we got the good timing. Gorm and I chose to start with one of the most popular (+easiest) routes on the compact face. Rebuffat-Bequet route was opened up in 1956 (!) and offers 200m of good, technical and at parts quite physical climbing.

It is graded 6a and has bolted stands. Some old broken pitons on the crux pitches makes it a bit tricky to protect of you don't bring some smaller cams. I was so impressed by the fact that the route was opened in the 50:ies....the climbers back then were the true heros.

The south face (right) and Eperon de Cosmiques (left) is like a small castle on the glacier

Access by the glacier
We walked down the snow ridge and passed the glacier to access the route. For this purpose, it's recommended to bring and use crampons and glacier equipment, meaning that you'll have to climb with some more gear in your bag. Some people avoid that by abseiling down the route and then climb it up.

This is somehow not what I would recommend, especially if you are not 100% sure of where the route goes and where the rappel stations are (the rappel is not down the Rebuffat route). Second, it's easy to end up on a crowded stance with other climbers trying to work their way up as you are on the way down.

Starting out on 2nd pitch, a fixed bolt is hidden behind the corner of the roof

The Rebuffat route is a perfect introduction to the yellow granite of the south face. Unfortunately, most people agree upon that and you may as well just expect the route to be constantly crowded in high season. Pick a ticket to the queue.

The S-crack is the crux pitch, good to have some smaller finger sized Alien cams

The Rebuffat route became a sweet experience, especially after a team of russian climbers who were waiting in line before us decided not to go. We actually had the feeling of being alone on the wall when it was our turn to tie in to the rope! 

The slabby wall is techniqual and quite balancy at parts

Getting steeper towards the top

Pitch after pitch with good climbing followed. The route-finding was ok even though we had to "search" a little on the upper pitches. We climbed the right variant "Perroux" at the top and passed a section of bolts by the very end (E ridge on the top). This section was graded 6b+ with possible A0 moves.

The Perroux finish, a sweet ridge that leads you to the very top

I highly recommend the Perroux finish. The left variant: "Cretton" has some huge instable blocks that you'll need to climb through and it looked both unpleasant and dangerous.

After 4 hours of smooth climbing we were at the top. During the whole climb we had had the fantastic view behind us over mountains like Mont Blanc, Grand Jorasses, Tacul and Dent de Geant. Standing at the top made the whole experience complete.

Angry clouds were on their way and it was about time to get away from the rock. The late afternoon thunderstorms are nothing to joke with here...

One of the best things about the climbing on the Rebuffat route is that if you brought all your material (mountain boots, crampons, glacier gear etc) you end up rappelling down to the Aiguille du Midi top station, and you're ready to take the cabin down to the beer!

On the very top of Aig du Midi S face I put on the big smile!

Really nice to rapp down from the top, straight into the Aig du Midi station

Intimidating clouds coming closer, a first sign of thunder and for us, a sign to get down

Relaxing safe in the rain and thunder after a day on Midi

Other routes on the south face of Midi
The south face has many top quality routes. Although the Rebuffat-Bequet offers a good introduction to the wall, I was also recommended the routes La dame du lac 6b+, Contamine 7a and for the psyched: Ma Dalton 7b+.

There are plenty of possibilities for the climber in search for a challenge. Things to always keep in mind are the hours of the cable car down (if you plan to sleep at home) and to check out the conditions in advance. Maison de Montagne has all the topos and are good to consult when planning your adventure. Good luck!

Gorm climbing on that golden granite, steeper sections on the upper pitches

Aig. du Midi, south face

Follow me to the aesthetic cracks of Aiguille de Blaitiere in the next post!