ben jammin - Aug 19, 2002 10:30 am - Hasn't voted
I count 47 people...... in one picture! =:-o
How many climbers can you fit onto the summit at one time? Do you have to take a number and wait your turn to stand on the top of the Alps?
Thanks for posting the set of photographs of your climb on Mont Blanc, Velebit. They give a great impression of the route. It must be a bit of a zoo doing the climb with so many other eager climbers around?
Personally, I prefer more peaceful routes, but then I haven't ticked Mont Blanc yet either. Are some of the other routes onto MB less busy? For example, 3M's or Central Pillar of Freney?
cheers,
ben
Rahel Maria Liu - Aug 19, 2002 3:44 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: I count 47 people...Ben,
if you climb Peutery Integral, the chance is very big, that you are alone ... ;-)
I climbed 2 times the normal route via Grands Mulets, one time at bad weather (so that we turned around at about 4000m) and one time with perfect weather - but there were only about 3 other groups besides us, who left Grands Mulets for Mont Blanc. The hut was quite empty. So I dare to say, that the normal route via Grands Mulets is in summer quite lonely for the ascent. Friends of mine, who did it more often, confirmed me this experience.The probable reason: This is the one of the normal routes, on which you have to climb the most highmeters on the summit day: about 1800 hm. It's a little bit dangerous because of the crevasses and seracs. At Ref. Vallot, you will, of course, meet the masses .... but you are normally later than the people, who left from Ref. Goûter, since the have to climb only about 1000 hm, but leave also very early after midnight. So you probably meet during the ascent those (not sooo many) people, who come from Ref. Tête Rousse on the summitday, since they have to climb about 1650 hm and leave at about 2 a.m., while you leave Ref. Grands Mulets a little earlier. You might also meet the climbers from the normal route from Rif. Gonella, who are also later than the people from Ref. Goûter, since they also have to climb a lot, almost as much as the Grands Mulets people. I have not climbed this route by myself, yet. But friends of mine, who did it, told me, that it's not so crowded (probably also because of the many highmeters on the summitday). And you will also meet those people, who don't do the traverse from Ref. Goûter to Aig. du Midi but come back from the summit. The best way to avoid these still quite many people on Bossesridge would be, to arrive very late on the summit of Mont Blanc, as Ivano and I did it 3 weeks ago. We stayed in our bivouac place on Col de la Brenva till noon (yes, I admit, the masses were not the only reason, but also or maybe mainly our laziness .... ;-)).... slept long, had a long breakfast, enjoyed the mountains and ourselves ...). The masses from Ref. Cosmiques passed Col de la Brenva between 6 and 8 a.m. These people normally reach Mont Blanc between 8 and 11 a.m. and meet the Grands Mulets climbers, the Gonella climbers and the Tête Rousse climbers on the summit .... We were at about 3 p.m. on top of Mont Blanc. At that moment, just 3 people left , so that there were only 2 other persons besides us, who also left soon. Then we were alone on top of Montblanc - in the afternoon sun!! We were probably the last persons, who came up from the 3 MB route on that day. Bossesridge was also very empty. When we went down, we only passed the 2 groups, who descended the summit before us, and 1 group, who came up from the valley that morning (via Tête Rousse, with a mountainguide). It seems to me, that some mountainguides from Chamonix prefer this method: to start with the first cable car (Aig. du Midi) or the first train (Tête Rousse) and to have the advantage of avoiding the masses and to sleep longer .....;-)
I personnally would recommend: To make the ascent on the 3 MB route - it's really a nice route - and to traverse to Ref. Grands Mulets. It's faster than to go down to Ref. Tête Rousse, since it's only easy glacier walk, while the descent to Tête Rousse includes some rock climbing. I personally would not like to stay overnight in the crowded Gouter hut, also not during the descent. But I would, in any case, prefer now to make a bivouac on the 3 MB route, for example, on Col de la Brenva or on Col Maudit or on top of Mont Blanc ... (BTW: Ivano and I wanted to make our second bivouac on top of Mont Blanc. But we started very late in the morning for our new route on Mont Maudit, because we wanted to climb in the sun, which reached the face quite late, so that we were back on Col de la Brenva too late (about 6.30 pm) in order to continue to Mont Blanc on that evening.) Cheers Rahel
Velebit - Aug 19, 2002 6:28 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: I count 47 people...Hi ben jammin :-)
All those people were on the way down already. I was roped with a person that was suffering from altitude and we were dead slow!!! 2.40h from Vallot refuge to the top. It was very tough for me because I couldn't get my rhythm but the good thing was that we were almost alone on top, with only 6-7 people maybe. That same person didn't have any
strength left to descent down to Mont Blanc tramway and he described one hell of a night in Gouter refuge, without reservation (100 people on the floors!):-) Day after I observed from Aiguille du Midi that Cosmiques route is equally crowded but anyway I'm going to do it next time, while descending down via Grands Mulets. There is no reason to avoid Mont Blanc because of all the people, it is amazing mountain.
cheers
Aleksandar
Rahel Maria Liu - Aug 20, 2002 4:37 am - Hasn't voted
I'm counting 21 people ...... on this photo of Col de la Brenva during sunrise on July 28th, 2002 ....many people passed already, and there are still many people coming ....
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