The heatwaves through much of June finally gave way to more unsettled, showery and cooler weather and our Gran Paradiso, Weissmies and Mont Blanc teams have been making the most of some atmospheric weather and decent opportunities for summiting Paradiso and Weissmies…but not Mont Blanc!
We had a great couple of days training and acclimatising around the Skyway / Torino Hut area and conditions were good for our Gran Paradiso & Mont Blanc preparation with a decent overnight freeze away from the localised cloud around Punta Hellbronner. We did some good crampon and snow training around the Col Marbrees and Petit Flambeau area and it was remarkable to see the lake which had formed in the wind-scoop at the Col Rochefort disappear overnight!
Conditions for the ridges, high altitude rock climbing and mixed routes are basically dry and there is more of a feeling traditionally reminiscent of late summer rather than late June. A few teams were climbing the Dent du Geant but the approach is dry and loose. Better conditions were reported for the rocky Devils Ridge on Mont Blanc du Tacul but overall there is low snow volume due to a relatively lean winter and spring and hot start to the summer season…not to mention glacial retreat due to global warming of course!
These summer alpine conditions are even more noticeable in the nearby Gran Paradiso National but did not stop us having a brilliant adventure with a great base camp at the lovely Rifugio Chabod.
Despite the lean snow conditions we were appreciative of a very good overnight re-freeze and excellent conditions for cramponing up the glacier under the north face of Paradiso and crossing the numerous bridges over crevasses.
We made steady progress and snow conditions were pretty good on the upper mountain and well organised with the one way system in operation on the summit ridge and lots of shiny steel pigs tails for team protection.
The descent via the Vittorio Emanuelle route was just still ok snow conditions wise but there is a lot of loose rock in the central section requiring crampons off and then back on for the final steep glacier snout. We only got a light buffetting and lashing from the wind and rain on the descent to the end of trip pasta party in Pont…
After a rest day, our teams heading on to Mont Blanc were diverted to another peak due to gale force winds forecast over the summit period and also some poor conditions in the Grand Couloir between the Tete Rousse and Gouter Huts. The snow and ice conditions on the upper Bosses Ridge are improved and conditions above Gouter are good, however the heat and recent rain has caused plenty of stone fall in the Grand Couloir.
We headed East to escape the gale force westerlies and have a better chance of climbing something rather than nothing. After some good rock climbing and training on the Dry Hornli ridge and a night at the lovely Almageller Hut we headed up the pleasant sustained easy scrambling on the South Ridge of the Weissmies.
The short snow ascent and summit ridge gave some good mountaineering in crampons and another 4000m peak summit. The constant buffeting from the West was a good reminder that we were in the right place rather than being blown off Mont Blanc!
Our Summer & Autumn 2022 Mountaineering Courses – Remaining Availability
Many of our summer 2022 courses are now full but we do have a few selective places remaining and can still arrange private guiding for Chamonix rock climbing and, depending on dates, alpine guiding.
The selected courses below are all running and ready for you to join & you can keep an eye on the full programme on our course page here.
- Places available on our Gran Paradiso Courses on the 18-20 July, 21-23 Sept and 9-11 Oct
- 1 places available on our Climb The Weissmies Course 21-23 July
- 1 place available on a 3 day Matterhorn training & Chamonix Rock climbing course, Aug 29-31
- 2 Places available on our Becoming An Alpinist Course Sept 19-23
- Places available on our Autumn Mont Blanc course on the 9-15 Oct
