"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, which is the most horrible thing in the world."
--Oscar Wilde on Absinthe
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Kostěj - Apr 26, 2022 4:24 am Date Climbed: May 21, 2016
Chèré CouloirThe first trip to the mecca of mountaineering
Rapparee - Feb 27, 2014 10:41 am
Technicals....Four of us camped up on the Vallee Blanche. And naturally one of my buddies heading down took one of my DMM Flies rather than his walking axe. Seconded with one technical and a Petzl walking axe leashed with a sling. Tired when I got to the top!
When its crowded, not fun, especially when abseiling, lots of and lots of stuff comes falling down. Got a lovely bruise on my leg at one belay point from a massive chunk of ice. Glad I brought a helmet!
Alberto Rampini - Sep 2, 2012 9:52 am Date Climbed: May 9, 1998
Triangle du Tacul, Goulotte ChèréGood conditions.
BigLee - Nov 5, 2011 6:16 am Date Climbed: Aug 28, 2011
-Good conditions although main pitches stepped out. Ab'ed off from the top of the couloir. Needed about 10 abs due to only having a single rope.
Peter K - Apr 23, 2011 10:00 am Date Climbed: Apr 10, 2010
Route Climbed: Goulotte ChèréReally neat climb. Already lean conditions, water ice along the whole route and mixed on the first and last pitches. Rappeled down the Contamine-Mazeaud.
oldgrey - Apr 14, 2011 9:44 am Date Climbed: Jun 28, 2010
Loads of ice practice!4 teams on the route but very well protected and great conditions. Even did it in guidebook time! Good practice for the icy bits on the Frendo which we did the following week. Short hop back to our tent in the Vallee Blanche.
icypeak - Sep 25, 2010 6:13 pm Date Climbed: Sep 16, 2010
Great RouteClimbed on a very cold and super windy day, which may explain why we had the whole route to ourselves! A really fun climb and great views of the Tacul.
mattnoland - Oct 15, 2008 9:17 am Date Climbed: Oct 13, 2008
Triangle du TaculClimbed with one other party on the route, which got crowded until we got well above them. Great ice countered poor visibility. Spindrift pouring down the route constantly made me glad I decided on a third layer. We were thinking of climbing to the summit of Mount Blanc du Tacul, but the weather didn't seem promising and the big slope looked pretty bad, so we rapped off and called it a day.
Bas Visscher - Oct 13, 2008 6:41 am Date Climbed: Oct 10, 2008
niceTogether with Jurgen Mesman. Great little classic!
Jurgen - Oct 13, 2008 3:59 am Date Climbed: Oct 10, 2008
Nice route but very crowdedClimbed the route with SP-member Bas Visscher. Nice steep ice climb, but overcrowded! There were at least 7 other parties during our climb. Got hit by ice all the way..Conditions were perfect!
climbxclimb - Sep 13, 2008 7:41 pm Date Climbed: Jul 10, 2008
Nice route but a bit to crowdedwe climbed the route on a rope of two people swinging lead at each pitch, I led the steepest pitch, i think it is the 4th but it was in my opinion a WI 3+ more than a 4.
We topped Mont Blanc du Tacul just because it was still early, on the descent through the normal route we saw a small serac fall, probably a worning of the major disaster that happened this summer...
iceiswise - Sep 19, 2007 12:00 pm Date Climbed: Jun 5, 2007
short but niceFirst clear day in a long period of snowfall. We even had to make a track to the foot of this normally, extremely popular route! We climbed most of it simultaniously until the start of the real difficulties. These are climbed in two long steep pitches. We had to rappel down because of avalanche danger on the normal rout. It's more like a sporty winter crack but just a litlle bit higher.
Gripped - Sep 15, 2006 2:52 pm Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2006
ClimbedGreat fun, empty and we walked off the top and down the normal route.
uphigh50 - May 15, 2006 4:05 pm Date Climbed: Jul 22, 2005
Summer ascentSuperb route, but in leanish condition at this time. Could see the winter bolts and tat two or three meters above us. Would echo the words above about climbers above you, but finding it clear would need an early start. Not sure of the exact date we did it, but it was the day the Tacul ordinary route avalanched. Rather glad we decided not to top out!
bbirtle - Apr 9, 2006 9:53 pm Date Climbed: Jan 9, 2006
Climbed......it. Seconded the whole thing. Jon led it. Nice route!
bbirtle - Apr 9, 2006 9:52 pm Date Climbed: Feb 2, 2006
Climbed......it again, this time swinging leads with Patagonia Thomas. I led the crux pitch, yeah! I echo Jeroen's sentiments about being careful of other climbers. It's a very popular route. Be the first and go quick otherwise expect ice and rockfall.
Cool route though, definitely a classic.
Jeroen Vels - Mar 31, 2006 5:17 pm Date Climbed: Sep 26, 2004
My first steep ice-climbWhen we climbed the couloir there was one other party in the route. I wouldn't do it a second time with other climbers in the same route. I got hit by falling ice on the left arm and one of the other climbers got hit on the nose. Other than that, a very nice introduction to steep ice!
See also my website here.