Vent du Dragon
It is called the Wind of the Dragon, the alpine mixed multi pitch route found on the North face of the Cosmiques ridge, Chamonix. You access it by abseiling down from the Aiguille du Midi bridge into the narrow gully leading towards the Glacier Ronde. The route is committing, not only because of the M5 difficulty, but also because the only climbers way to get back again is to climb to the top!
I had been scooping onto the Cosmiques N/NV face for many times, looking especially at one mixed line called the "Vent du Dragon". Its 5 pitches of ice, snow and rock made for an impressive 200 m climb, partly steep and intimidating, but at the same time very intriguing with beautiful strings of ice and cool formations.
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| The N/NW face of the Cosmiques with the Cunnigham couloir in the bottom, Vent du Dragon is pretty much a straight line up towards the obvious big pinnacle on top of the ridge, halfway you can see the ice gully on pitch 3. |
In the book "Mont Blanc - the finest routes " by Philippe Batoux, both the beauty of the climb and the challenges by grade M5 (mixed climbing grade of difficulty) were mentioned significantly. I had never climbed such a difficult mixed route in altitude before and felt that it was time to try the wings...
Vent du Dragon is a committing objective in several aspects. When having abseiled down into the narrow Cunningham gully 200 m down from the bridge on Aiguille du Midi, the only climbers way back up is to complete the North face of the Cosmiques. There are no easy ways up from there, so we had to succeed. I felt a little thrilled about it because I had no similar experiences to lean back on, nor did my partner Gorm.
I imagined that this adventure would stretch our skills.
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| Gorm abseiling in the Cunningham gully, the Midi bridge where you start is seen above |
Alpine adventure
The morning started by an hour of delay before the cable car up to Aiguille du Midi opened. We started abseiling just before 10 o'clock and it was hard to find the anchors that were all hidden under snow from the previous day's storm. After a misconception of where the route actually starts, we realized that we had rappelled 1 pitch too far down and we had to climb back in snow deep to the chest. Needless to say, it was very nice to start climbing after the small "entry hassle"...
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| Abseiling too far in the gully meant swimming back up in snow to the cheast! Bosson glacier in the backdrop. |
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| Gorm in the top of the first pitch. The smooth ice gully seen above on pitch 3. |
The mixed climbing was fantastic. Vent du Dragon was in nice condition and we enjoyed firm snow, good ice and beautiful weather. The Dragon's wind were nowhere to be found...yet.
I had the pleasure of leading the first of the two M5 key pitches. The pitch started with a fantastic ice gully and continued over a shorter overhang on rock (M5) and ending with beautiful mixed terrain before I reached the belay 55m later. It suited me perfectly! I enjoyed the entire pitch and felt strong and confident. It was a good feeling!
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| I'm getting on with the ice under the M5 section on pitch 3, a beautiful one! |
During our small entry struggle, when abseiling too far in the gully, another team had come ahead of us. They advanced slowly and seemed to have some issues along the climb. While waiting in line, we ate lunch on every new stance. I have never had so much food on a route before! But unfortunately, when we were about to start climbing on the last M5 pitch it became clear that being last in line also meant that time would definitely run out on us.
We would not be able to catch the last cable car back down the valley, and would have to sleep at the Cosmiques hut. We knew from the start that a night in the Cosmiques hut was a Plan B in case we wouldn't make it on time. After all there was nothing we could do but to climb and contemplate about Next time; when we would have to make sure to be even faster to not come behind in line. Well, next time... not now...
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| We did of course enjoy the late afternoon sun one of the last belays! |
Gorm continued on the last key pitch and enjoyed another M5 with interesting gymnastic moves. He played it really well! Behind us, the sun was about to disappear behind the clouds and the wind picked up significantly as we approached the top ridge. I imagined it was the Dragon that came to show us its powerful presence.
Spindrift filled my nose and whipped hard on the face. The last stretch of climbing back to the Midi station follows the classic Cosmiques ridge that we both knew well from before. I had never climbed it faster than now, the Dragon played with the wind and made us finish quickly. It was nice to enter the warm station, this time with no crowds taking pictures on the terrasse. It was all quiet inside.
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| Gorm Gunleiksrud starting out on the beautiful and pretty airy, second pitch M5 |
The Cosmiques hut
The walk over the glacier towards the Cosmiques hut "Refuge de Cosmiques" is efficient, but with powerful wind, the old traces in the snow fills up in minutes. We came into the hut just in time for a delicious 3 course dinner!
After all, the disadvantage of missing the last cable turned into an advantage to acclimatize even better! A night at 3600 m altitude gets your red blood cells working and they increase... Now that's something!
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| Looking out over the clouds that covered the valley under us |
The Vent du Dragon had been a good experience after all and I am happy that we were realistic about the objective. Making a plan B in advance is as always a good thing to do. Especially in higher altitude and in the big mountains. Staying away from any epics will make life much nicer!
(A note: if you do make a second plan to stay in the Cosmiques hut, make sure to keep away from the high season when it will most likely be complete, and also, call the guardian to prevent your stay - especially if you wish to eat. We called them at about 15.30 and it was no problem to add some extra plates)
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| Windy glacier walking |
A comfortable night in a warm hut VS dealing with an epic moment?
That day we were not the only team to not make it on time for the last cable car down. The others had also prepared well and had brought food and water, clothes and gear to make sure that they would stay healthy. Many climbing teams have met their destiny on the Aiguille du Midi station's toilet, hungry, thirsty and with strong head aches. That is of course not a very pleasant outcome.
That plans change or unexpected things happen are a part of the game, and in some ways I do also look back at the times when I have experienced an epic moment as something that have taught me much. But if we can avoid it, we always do! Plan B's are good for that. I think that the more you develop your skills in the mountains, the better you become at understanding the rules of the game so that you can play it with margins. And yet sometimes there will be epics too. Then it is likely your experience that decides how well you'll handle it.
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| In the morning on the way back, viewing the wind on the Cosmiques ridge Aiguille du Midi |
My best advice to avoid the epics is to prepare well in advance. That includes being well informed about the weather, the conditions, the type of difficulty and terrain (so that you can bring on the right type of gear), trying to estimate the time according to the level of your team (in the best way you can), bringing enough water/food/clothes and always a medical kit with useful medicaments/first aid kit. Remember not to forget a head torch, sun glasses and sunscreen (especially in altitude!). This is by no means a complete list, but the point is that when we are well prepared, we can enter the adventure of the unknown by giving ourselves the best conditions to succeed.
After all, what we're aiming is to get is a nice experience :-)
If you are curious to climb the Vent du Dragon II/4/M5 200m, check out the inspirational guide book by Philippe Batoux.
And for more inspiration, check out this report plus more pictures from the Vent du Dragon by my friend Fred Degoulet (in French).
Enjoy!
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| Gorm climbing in the last M5 crux section on Vent du Dragon |
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