Climbing Monte Blanc

CLIMBING MONTE BLANC The European Alps highest mountain W hen Brandon told me that we should go to the Alps I asked him if he wanted to kill me— jokingly of course. To be honest, the idea of climbing in the Alps had never occurred to me. So I had no clue what I would be getting myself into. He convinced me that it could be our honeymoon and it would be amazing. Then I thought, well why not! I have nothing to lose. And in the end the trip turned out to be one of the best I have done.

Then the planning started and tasks were assigned. All the non-climbing planning was my responsibility and Brandon handled all the climbing related planning. But there was one little twist. He lives in Los Angeles and I live in New Zealand. So being in two different countries 10,000 km apart made the whole process way more interesting.

We finally settled with Chamonix, Zermatt, and Grindelwald for our 30 day alpine adventure. The reason was simple. They are close to each other, have three big mountains we wanted to see, Monte Blanc, Matterhorn and Eiger. The plan shaped up nicely—but as always any climbing trip never goes exactly according to plan. A couple weeks before the start of our trip while browsing my daily reader, I came across a photo of the brand new Gouter Hut and in that article I found that camping wasn’t allowed anymore around the hut. Well that wouldn’t work with our original plan to just wait for a good weather window in Chamonix and climb Monte Blanc before heading out to Zermatt. We rushed to their booking website and sure enough, the earliest available date for the hut was when we were supposed to be at Zermatt! I was annoyed but quickly re-adjusted the plan, re-booked our accommodation and also our train tickets. Now the plan became Chamonix - Zermatt - Chamonix - and Grindelwald. It was very limiting that the climbing plan now was constrained to certain dates. But anyway it wasn’t the end of the world.

Chamonix was awesome in a way that I never expected. The town had this amazing lively vibe and I loved it. And it’s even more amazing how easily accessible most of the mountains around there were. After a day resting from our long flight for a training climb we climbed Aiguille du Tour in the awesome area about 30 minutes by bus from Chamonix. It was our first climb together in the glacier situation so it was quite an adjustment to be roped up together. Here I realized that I was moving much slower than I hoped. That concerned me a lot. I wasn’t sure how ready I was for Monte Blanc but I wasn’t going to back out.

A couple of hikes and climbs in both Chamonix and Zermatt and then it was time to get ready for our objective. I was both nervous and excited. With a good weather forecast we left our hotel. Bellevue chair lift was closed due to a fire at the restaurant a week earlier so we had to take a chair lift from La Prarion, the town next to it. From the top of Prarion lift which is at 1,860 m we had to walk down to the Col de Voza at 1,653 m and then take the Tram du Monte Blanc to Nid d›Aigle at 2,372 m to the start of the normal route, or the Gouter Hut route. This route is the easiest route to Monte Blanc summit but doesn’t mean it should be taken lightly because the route involved crossing the ‘Grand Coulior’ with its constant stonefall. I was dreading this part especially after a text message from a friend of mine who summited Monte Blanc two days earlier via the Italian route and descended by the normal route and who mentioned there had been a casualty in the couloir.

Anyway, we got out from the packed train and started walking. It took us 2½ hours to Tete Rousse Hut (3,167 m). While most climbers prefer to spend a night at Refuge du Gouter at 3,835 m to shorten the summit day, we decided to spend a night here so we didn’t have to cross Grand Couloir in the afternoon when the stonefall is more frequent. A couple of people who I spotted at the train with us also stayed at the same hut, confirming that it might not have been a bad plan after all.

We checked in and got our bunk number. The hut system was a bit different to what I’m used to back in NZ. The hut is huge as it can fit 120 people, very modern with a full kitchen and patio. And of course, like anywhere else in Chamonix there was even a golden retriever dog hanging out on the patio.

Dinner was great. Sitting at the dining table that night it was cool to listen to stories from other groups. The Col DuMidi meal was a tasty elaborate three course menu and with a full belly I headed back to my bunk bed to catch some sleep. Unfortunately for Brandon he barely got any sleep that night since it was his first time staying at the hut. Me? I had no problem snoozing.

By 2 am the whole hut was buzzing with the sound of people packing their backpacks, putting on their layers and boots, and we chatted away while they were getting ready. I had been up even before my alarm went off and I could definitely feel the butterflies in my tummy. We joined the crowd and started packing. After drinking some hot chocolate we headed outside and I was so stoked to find that it was clear sky full of stars and a mild night. There were already a lot of head lamps heading toward the Gouter Hut and I said to myself that we may have been the last ones to get out that night and murmured what had I got myself into.

I was somewhat glad that we climbed in the dark because I couldn’t see how exposed it was. Brandon was on the lead and we were following what we thought was the route based on the crampon scratch marks on the rocks. Then there it was, the Grand Couloir. We waited for our turn to cross. There is a rope installed for climbers to clip in along the path which is supposed to stop them falling if somehow they get hit by falling rocks. We had discussed the night before what we were going to do about it and we decided not to use it for a couple of reasons. Once the path was clear and it was my turn to cross I waited and tried to listen for any sound from above. Silence. I walked as fast as I could while trying not to make any mistakes or slip. The path was actually pretty wide and flat and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be—but I would change this opinion the next day on the way back.

By the time we got to the Gouter Hut it was already 6.30 am and I was very concerned as it took us double the time the guide book suggested and I was afraid Brandon would call off the summit bid. At the hut I went in to find the kitchen to fill up our water bottle. To my surprise I found not only that the kitchen was closed but we had no option than to wait until breakfast time to buy some water (there wasn’t any available drinking water in the hut). I found that a bit odd but we didn’t’ really have any other choices. We waited anxiously as time passed by and headed out right away after we filled the water bottle. It was already 7.30 am. I looked over to Brandon and asked if we should try to go to the summit.

He was a bit reluctant and mostly it was because of my speed. I convinced him that I was feeling great and we should just try. I was feeling good still and thought that we could always turn around if we weren’t making a good time to Dome du Gouter. Thankfully once on the snow field I moved a lot faster than when I was on the rocks. And we made a good time to get up to Dome du Gouter at 4,297 m. I felt a lot more confidence moving on the snow. From there we dropped down to Col du Gouter only to go up again to Bossons Ridge, then the long summit ridge slog. We crossed paths with a lot of climbers who were on their way down from the summit. I was bummed about my speed for a while but then I realized that now the summit would be empty and we could have it to ourselves instead of with twenty other climbers.

Finally at 12.30 pm we got to the summit! There were only us until one other team came up from the Italian side of the summit and then a solo climber who also came up from the Italian side. He wasn’t looking very happy. We stayed for 45 minutes there so Brandon had time to take pictures and video. I was just sitting there admiring the amazing view from the top—France in one side and Italy on the other side. The weather couldn’t have been better. It was so warm and no wind. A perfect day.

Then time to head down. I went first and slowly we made our way down the Bossons Ridge. To my surprise there were still climbers coming up. I had thought to myself we were surely the last people that day. One guy who was wearing a cowboy hat was climbing up with his head and shoulders down and he didn’t even looked up to see us and he looked really tired. I whispered to myself that I hoped he would be okay.

It took us 2½ hours to get back to Gouter Hut where we would spend another night. I checked in but they had lost our reservation. After I showed them our email confirmation they gave us our wrist band and bunk numbers. Thank you internet, but the wristband made me feel a little bit like I was at a nightclub. The hut itself was very modern and nice looking, but somehow it took away a feeling that we were up in the mountain—it just felt a bit out of place. But we enjoyed our stay regardless.

At dinner we sat across from a super nice older couple who were going up the next day. I think they pitied us for being the only non-French speaking couple in that table. So he tried to get us involved in the conversation. I really enjoyed meeting other climbers and listening to their stories, I tried to make conversation with broken sign language and asked the guy who sat across from me how many times he had climb Monte Blanc. He waved his hand and said ‘too many—can’t count.’ I was in awe. It also helped that the meal they served at dinner time was great.

After a much needed rest that night we left the hut at 7.30 am and headed down. We tried to beat the rush by skipping breakfast that morning. It took us 5 hours to get all the way back to Nid d›Aigle. The trip down was highlighted by a sarcastic but funny French guide who got really impatient and annoyed with some stuff that people were doing while traversing the couloir. I could see how it could be a very dangerous situation as it had been mentioned by some people.

By the time everyone got to the couloir after leaving the hut at 7.30 am the sun was already up and the falling rock was more frequent. There was a long line to cross the couloir and some people appeared to be pretty clueless of the danger and took their time to cross. Some of them even stopped mid-way. These events caused a young guide who was waiting in front of us to get pretty upset and who started yelling at them, encouraging them to move along. It wasn’t very successful and he realized it. Once the big group in front passed we had to force our way to start crossing since some people behind didn’t seem to understand the concept of taking their turn. It Approaching Tete Rousse Hut really made me nervous how things were played out there and I hoped wishing that there wouldn’t be any accident.

Once on the other side we stopped briefly at the little shelter past Tete Rousse Hut to take off some layers. The weather was still holding up nicely. We then continued on to Nid d›Aigle to take the train back to Le Prarion.

I didn’t feel like the climb was over until we got back down to the bus station and looked up to the summit where we had been the day before. But it was hard to really relive the experience at that moment—all I could think of was a nice hot shower. A couple hours after we got back to the hotel it started raining with thunderstorm— what good timing.

The trip had been a good learning experience. It made me realize that I really had to train hard and move faster in different terrain. It taught me how to handle long days in the mountains, how to move on a glacier, sharp ridges, and steep rocks—and learned that I should always remember to put sunscreen especially in my face (I had really bad sunburn after the climb).

But above all it was great days in the mountains, and now I definitely want to go back there again.

Tete Rousse Hut The author on the summit of Monte Blanc Photos: Brandon Risa

Kotukutuku/ Native fuschia Northern Walkway, Wellington. October. Photo: Tony Gazley

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