Mont Blanc du Tacul

Today I was back on the mountain, after a relaxing weekend in Chamonix. The weather forecast is not good for this week, with the expectation that rain and snow will move in across the Alps this evening and tomorrow. So today was a one day alpine climb near Chamonix.

The weather doesn't bode particularly well for my Matterhorn ambitions, but I have hired the guide for most of the week, and we are trying to make the most of it, so if the Matterhorn gets covered in snow or the storms don't lift, we may have to make do with other plans for the rest of my time here. With things moving on at home, now that I have a new flat to live in (I am very excited about having a wardrobe with all my clothes in it, quite a change from nomadic transcience!) and new uncle duties to perform (big congratulations to Mike and Kate), I can't hang around in the mountains forever. Between this week and last, I am certainly getting the most out of it though.

Today was my first with the new guide, Mark, and to be sure to beat the incoming weather, instead of doing a lesser route in the mountains, we went for the option of just going faster on a similar length route to last week! This was fine from the top of the Aiguille du Midi cable car down to the glacier col below, along the precipitous arete that is a snowy knife-edge about a foot and a half wide (with Chamonix 2,800m below if you fall off to the left!). However, once down and across the col, Mark was almost racing up the slope in front of me, and we were first up climbing the steep ice of the contamine-grisolle route of the north face of Mont Blanc du Tacul. This was a true cardio work out, even compared to running, and it seems like all the good mountain guides are also mountain runners or adventure racers, which certainly adds the stamina needed for mountaineering.

So yes, I was panting along up behind on the first part, which was steep ice, catching my breath and resting burning calf muscles every time there was a step dug out in the otherwise smooth ice slope. After a 100-150 metres ascent or so, daggering the blades of our ice axes into the 60 degree slope, we moved onto mixed ground. Basically, rocks, surrounded or covered by ice. We charged on through this, crampons scratching on the rocks when not biting into the ice, and came out before I had caught my breath at the top of the rock triangle that goes most of the way up Mont Blanc du Tacul. A quick drink, a bite of chocolate (actually a whole bar)and a banana, and we were underway again; a final plod in the snow to the top of Mont Blanc du Tacul, 4,248m. Another 4,000m peak climbed: this time well ahead of the guidebook time!

Strangely, as soon as you turn round and start heading down the hill, all the lung bursting feelings dissappear, and I was able to savour the wonderful views out down the glacier over the Chamonix valley and the other peaks in the range, which, any higher than where we went, were buried in sinister looking clouds. Guides 1, weather 0! We followed the easier route in the snow down the side of the mountain back to the col, following the at-times deep trough cut by those slogging up Mont Blanc on a daily basis. No prizes for guessing that Mont Blanc du Tacul is quite near Mont Blanc and is on one of the routes up the mountain. Back to the col, and a large packet of crisps which had found their way into my rucksack helped me back up the arete to the cable car station: always a nasty slog at the end of a day on the mountain. Four and a half hours after we left, we were back in the hands of modern machinery, whisking us away from nature's ravages, back down to the valley below. All in a morning's work...