Whilst conditions remain fine high up on both French & Italian sides of the Vallee Blanche the continued warm sunny weather has left it’s mark at the Salle a Manger and below on the descent of the VB. We enjoyed the very quiet atmosphere on this Saturday morning descent but also an end of term feel pervaded with an almost deserted Requin Hut which is somewhat trickier to access now since a recent ice fall above the traverse to the hut. A large crevasse is opening right across the entrance to the Salle a Manger and whilst this was easily crossed on a narrow bridge today, it will get worse quickly if the weather remains warm and sunny.
Lower down the entrance to the Mer de Glace is now quite bare with lots of sections of bare ice skiing and some walking sections to link patches of snow followed by a C 20min walk to the station. Whilst the conditions for harder mixed climbing are also lean and generally quite poor, the good weather has meant normal summer ridge traverses and the easier classic alpine routes have been in good conditions, as Gav’s photo of Ben on the traverse of the Aiguille d’Entreves here shows.
Superb Spring Mountaineering Conditions On The Traverse Of The Aiguille d’Entreves, French Italian High Alpine Border
