After one of the coldest mountain ascents I've had, we reached the summit of Mont Blanc, Western Europe's highest, at 8.45 am 3 days ago. A vicious wind had kept us in pain for hours during the climb but the reward was worth it all: skiing back down!
The Mont Blanc 4810m is one of the most attracted summits in the world having about 30 000 climbing parties going for the top each year. It also has a reputation of being one of the deadliest mountains in the world, perhaps because Mont Blanc goes for being a technically easy ascent without major difficulties such as sections of more demanding climbing. However, there are enough stories to understand that Mont Blanc must not be underestimated despite its gentle shape.
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| Mont Blanc and the regular winter/spring route from the Grands Mulets marked (left) and the Arete Royal (right) |
In the spring, on skis, people usually start from the Grands Mulets hut at 3057m, accessed by taking the cable car half way up towards Aiguille du Midi, passing under the Midi north face and then crossing over the crevassed Bossons glacier. In the spring, the snow bridges are still fairly thick and with skis on, you load them less. This is a popular route on skis because it provides the best and least complicated descent. The Grands Mulets hut is open from April-July.
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| Gorm passes over the Bossons glacier, Aiguille du Midi behind. |
I had been up climbing on the nearby mountains many times, but never on the actual summit of the Blanc. In 2012, when climbing a neighbor mountain, the Aiguille du Bionnassay with its knife blade snow ridge leading over to Dôme du Goûter 4304 m, we had an idea of continuing to the Mont Blanc summit (read more about the Aiguille du Bionnassay climb here) since the Dôme is on the Normal route. But time went out on us and we had to go all the way back down to the valley that same day, so Mont Blanc had to wait.
After the tiresom descent from Dôme du Goûter in 2012, Gorm and I decided that if we would climb the Mont Blanc, it would be in winter/spring with skis on for the descent!
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| Ready for Mont Blanc, starting from the Aiguille du Midi mid-station towards the Grands Mulets hut. |
The forecast for the upcoming days looked really nice and the benefit of living in the Chamonix valley is to be able to pick a day without much forwards planning. We called the Grand Mulets hut the day before to see if there were room - and it was!
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| The Grands Mulets hut is situated on the rocky ridge just behind the seracs on the glacier. |
We packed the most necessary:
- first aid kit, map, transiever, probe, shovel, harness, crampons, ropes, glacier gear, helmet, sunglasses, googles, sunscreen, water, a little food/snacks, head torch, clothes etc
I wanted to go as light as possible and let go of taking my warmest down jacket, and brought only a smaller lighter one in according to double long johns and wool layers.
Double long johns ?!!...yes! And at 5 o'clock in the morning the upcoming day, at 4000 m altitude, I praised myself for the long johns and cursed myself for not bringing the warmer down jacket. It was icing cold!
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| Night start at 2.30 am from the Grands Mulets at about 3000m, I'm climbing down to the glacier while some teams gear up |
In the light of our head lamps, we started from the hut at 2.30 am. Most parties started around 2 am, mostly guided groups that skinned in a slow pace upwards. I felt strong in the morning and impatient. Walking in the speed of 5-6 vertical meters per minute or around 300-350 vertical meters per hours was frustrating, so we passed party after party and were soon up by the front groups. It felt good!
We had chosen to ascend by the North ridge of Dôme du Goûter, called the Arête Royal route, a clearly visible snow ridge from the Grands Mulets. It was first climbed in 1786 (!) by Balmat and Paccard. This is a good choice of route, steeper than the regular route from Grands Mulets, but here you avoid a long time exposure from the huge hanging ice seracs above the Petit and Grand Plateaus.
The other parties had chosen the same itinerary, as a result, a long worm of lights zig-zaged up on the mountain slope in the darkness. We had skis on and changed into crampons when the ridge got steeper (45-50°).
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| Dawn by Dôme du Goûter. Over 4000 m it got very cold and we longed for the sun to climb the sky... |
From a summer night to a polar winter
It had actually been a warm start at 3000 m by the hut. I skied out wearing only one layer under my jacket and the thin gloves. However, at 4000 m altitude the story changed dramatically.
A cold wind met us just below the Dôme and we put on all the clothes we had. Still, it was cold. And it got colder and colder as we ascended. The air temperature around -20 C° + wind chill made it feel like -30°. It slowed us down and inhaling the cold air made my lungs aching. It was going to be a tough ascent to the summit.
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| Happy to see the summit, only 800 vertical meters more to go! The Bosses ridge to the right. |
The Vallot Bivouac at 4362m is literally a sheet box and not more, but it is enough to keep the wind away. We warmed toes and ate a little. The bivouac was full of garbage and litter from previous climber's visits. I felt sad about the fact that people don't take more care, but I think that the Vallot bivouac has saved many lives through out the years... From here we had another 400 vertical meters to the top, by the Bosses Ridge.
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| Approaching the Vallot Bivouac at 4362m, about 1300 vertical meters are done when you get there, 500 to go. |
A cold ascent to the top
By 7 am the first sun rays showed and made life a little more pleasant. Still, the wind kept us in its grip. I wasn't sure if we would made it all way, it was a painful ascent. The altitude makes you want to breath more, but breathing felt painful because of the cold air. Many parties turned around, maybe because of the cold or just fatigue, I counted 15-20 ski tracks descending on the glacier. We decided to leave the skis by the Vallot to be faster and continued the last 400m vertical on crampons.
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| On the Bosses ridge, the sun heated up a little and life felt pretty good! |
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| The top ridge and the summit of Mont Blanc |
I had pushed myself mindfully, knowing that the conditions were pretty much like cold winter days up in the North of Scandinavia. Both Gorm and I knew what had to be done: keep moving or turn around.
We climbed the nice Bosses Ridge to the top, one step at the time. Coming up felt so good! The altitude over 4000m had slowed us down a bit, but at a quarter to 9, we were happy to stand on the summit. Only one other party sat there waiting for someone to take a picture of them. We benefit from their service too :-)
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| The top of western Europe, nice to get up! |
The Bosses ridge had been a nice climb, especially on the way down when you feel light and more and more powerful in every step. By the Vallot we put on our skis and skied down the regular route. The snow was flipping good with 15-20 cm of dry powder.
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| Enjoying the descent and the good snow! The summit seen in the background. |
Further down the regular route, we had to ski under a big field of threatening seracs from above, in old debris and always in mind of the fact that something can come any time. It was simply dreadful. I glanced up to the hanging danger and skied pass as fast as I could.
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| A kilometer away they look much smaller, but skiing under them is just awful yet unavoidable |
Skiing down the Mont Blanc is not a walk in the park. You need to master your skis well and be able to ski efficiently in every type of snow condition. There are no-fall-sections yet not a large general exposure, apart from the seracs. Technically the regular route is not extreme but, skiers who go for the Mont Blanc must have a strong level of skiing in order to be safe and to have fun.
The last ski section was a traverse followed by a narrow ridge that was icy and scraped from previous skiers. Luckily the snow had been heated up by the time we got there and the edges gripped alright.
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| Gorm enjoying some turns. A recent serac fall over the tracks behind reminds you of the setting. |
We arrived at the Grands Mulets hut just by noon. After the cold ascent it had been a fantastic day on the mountain and I loved skiing down!
On the way back to the mid-station of Midi, we met herds of people in direction of the hut. It felt like we had chosen a good day after all. The fluffy snow would be tracked after us and the other parties, yet I think that the summit of course is the most important for the majority.
Like an American/German party we met said: "skiing down is just secondary". Well, for myself the skiing was just as important and we were lucky to be there on a day with fantastic snow conditions!
After 2500 vertical meters of skiing we were back at Midi mid-station Plan de l'Aiguille.
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| I'm not complaining, it was a fantastic descent! Last turns before coming back to the Grands Mulets hut. |
For anyone interested in skiing or climbing the Mont Blanc with the use of a good guide to lead the way, check out:
Chamonix Guides (The guides Ulrika Asp, Caroline George, Mattias Erlandsen and many more )
Mountain Spirit Guides (Eva Eskilsson and Wolfgang Huber)
James Thacker Mountaineering (James Thacker)
Fjellguide.no (Nils Nielsen - site in Norwegian)
Mountain Adventure Company (Bruce Goodlad)
Alpine Madness (Krister Jonsson - site in Swedish)
These are all very competent people who can help you to realize a dream. But the first step is always to embrace the idea and make it yours :-)
Good luck and enjoy all the way!
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| Gorm Gunleiksrud skiing down from the Mont Blanc |
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