weather was warm so we could not climb the kuffner/fronteer ridge, we decided on the spur of a moment to ascend mont blanc by the normal toute (goutier) stared off at 3.30am and summited at 7.30am, glorious sunrise and had the summit to ourselves, tedious walk down to the goutier, had a beer then headed back to chamonix.
darien17 - Sep 26, 2011 4:38 am Date Climbed: Jun 12, 2011
Great climb
Normal route from Tette Rouse to the summit we have few days bad weather so we had to stay in Chamonix,after a storm up the mountain was very stong wind but we decided to go up.Started from Les Houches with cable car then with train only 200 metter up.We started our hike to the Tette Rouse hut,it was cold day aroud -3 at 2000m high we had snow all the time on path.Also on grand couloir and on all rocks was deep snow and ice.We started at 2am from Refuge du Goûter to the top,we was on top of Mont Blanc at rgoue 6am beautiful day but very very cold with high winds, it was -30 with high winds 65 km/h
geeman - Sep 11, 2011 5:36 am Date Climbed: Aug 8, 2011
A lucky climb
Climbed via the Gouter route.
Hiked to the Gouter refuge in poor windy weather,betting on an improvement during the night (forecast was for the weather to clear up but for the wind to remay strong at 4000m)
At 9pm, the wind died down...Great night sky when we started the climb a 3am. Great sunny day all along, no wind. Reached the summit at 6.30am, no crowd, just my buddy and I.
dmiki - Sep 2, 2011 10:47 am Date Climbed: Aug 29, 2011
2nd unsuccessful attempt
Day 1: Hiked up to Tete Rousse from Les Houches through the lovely forest and the soon to become standard trail they are currently securing. Still had enough time to go up to Gouter but opinion was divided about the Grand Couloir.
Day 2: Set out at 2 after a restless night and minor acclimatisation issues. The couloir had been unstable throughout the night and was also tricky when we tried to cross. Reached the new Gouter hut at dawn. Lost some gloves while fixing a loose crampon on Dome du Gouter (had spares luckily). Turned back at Vallot around 8 o'clock due to the ~50 km winds and fatigue. (Many people summited but quite a few people turned back.) 2 Spaniards had a near-fatal fall on the loose rocks below Gouter on the Bionassay side. The couloir was again in full motion, but at least we could see what we were up against. Hiked down to Les Houches the same day and did some very enjoyable ferratas in the following days.
Jake - Aug 30, 2011 6:33 am Date Climbed: Aug 26, 2011
Strong winds
My climbing partner Marcin and I reached the summit of the Mont Blanc at 8:42am on the 26th of August. We found the small Swedish flag on the summit. The wind was very strong (60km/h) and we didn't see anyone else from the Vallot refuge on this day except two Czech climbers who turned back before the final ridge. Our calculation of the chill factor was -35 Celsius degrees.
We came via Italian Normal Route and this was the best climb in my life even despite the really strong wind and clouds. We were the last people descending towards Gouter Refuge on that day leaving the dark clouds behind us. The descent via Grand Colouir was scary and stressful among the flying stones reaching the size of the large backpack. We have used the tram from the Nid d'Aigle to get to the Les Houches on the same day.
I would recommend The Italian Normal Route to everyone - it's a beautiful, classic Alpine route with the elements of rock and ice climbing, glacier crossing (event that negotiating the Glacier du Dome in the darkness was quite tricky) and good exposure factor. The Gonella Hut is the most pleasant place to stay in this part of the Alps and the owner (David) was really friendly and professional. The greatest days out on the hills so far!
skotty - Aug 18, 2011 11:26 am Date Climbed: Aug 18, 2011
An epic traverse
An epic traverse
NKING100 - Aug 18, 2011 9:27 am Date Climbed: Aug 1, 1993
Traverse
From Vallot hut to Dome du Gouter via and Bosse ridge. then Mont Maudit and Mont Blanc du Tacul and down
starybaran - Aug 14, 2011 12:53 pm Date Climbed: Jul 11, 2011
gouter
Les Houches-summit-les houches cca 30 hours. Beautiful walk and "climb", only the number of the people makes impression less interesting.
ferbat - Aug 12, 2011 5:05 am Date Climbed: Jun 25, 2011
Mont Blanc
Impressive sun rise. I got it second attempt
johan - Jul 31, 2011 4:27 pm Date Climbed: Jul 30, 2011
3rd time high!
With a luck in the weather (snowed and was cloudy hours before the summit attempt from Gouter) we managed to summit under perfect weather conditions. Quite a lot of snow for being in the end of July (recent snow) which made the Grand Couloir just perfect to climb (crampons a must).
atavist - Jul 25, 2011 3:39 am Date Climbed: Jul 18, 2011
Salvation
One week in the alps with nary a day under the sun. Managed to get on top of the big white mountain. Spent a day at tete rousse waiting out a fresh dump. Only passed about 5 people in all on summit day. Definitely encountered more mountain goats than people!
domipost - Jun 25, 2011 1:49 pm Date Climbed: Aug 4, 2010
Gouter route
Nice climb after an unsuccesful first attempt the day before. Third group on the summit, so not yet too crowded :)
IvanBraunDK - May 12, 2011 2:26 pm Date Climbed: Aug 26, 2010
Traverse from Gouter and down Tree monts
Hard day at the office
At sunraise was visiblity down to less than 1m - then the storm came and everything was clear, crystal freezing clear.
We meet a lot of teams heading down while still heading up - they all said "impossible" - but we felt strong and continued.
Perfect windy summit - perfect view - only one other team on the summit with us.
mreiter1 - Dec 11, 2011 1:59 pm Date Climbed: Sep 1, 2007
Success SoloAiguille du Goûter
PUCHMAN - Nov 25, 2011 11:05 am Date Climbed: Aug 11, 2009
exelent weather nice vievAscent via The Three-Mont-Blanc route (Cosmiques), descent the same route.
Silvia Mazzani - Nov 16, 2011 5:23 pm Date Climbed: Sep 6, 2004
Gouter RouteA great peak!!!
goodwilson - Nov 12, 2011 2:20 pm Date Climbed: Sep 14, 2011
Gouter Routegood weather, complete within 2 days
Rafal - Nov 11, 2011 4:26 am Date Climbed: Sep 26, 2011
Solo traverseAwesome weather!!
Ascent via The Three-Mont-Blanc route (Cosmiques), descent through The Gouter route.
hunterslee - Oct 23, 2011 12:56 am Date Climbed: Aug 19, 2010
Great View Up ThereClimbed the normal route, stayed at the Goutier hut...would like to go back and climb a more technical line next time.
mills - Oct 10, 2011 3:59 pm
fun mountainweather was warm so we could not climb the kuffner/fronteer ridge, we decided on the spur of a moment to ascend mont blanc by the normal toute (goutier) stared off at 3.30am and summited at 7.30am, glorious sunrise and had the summit to ourselves, tedious walk down to the goutier, had a beer then headed back to chamonix.
darien17 - Sep 26, 2011 4:38 am Date Climbed: Jun 12, 2011
Great climbNormal route from Tette Rouse to the summit we have few days bad weather so we had to stay in Chamonix,after a storm up the mountain was very stong wind but we decided to go up.Started from Les Houches with cable car then with train only 200 metter up.We started our hike to the Tette Rouse hut,it was cold day aroud -3 at 2000m high we had snow all the time on path.Also on grand couloir and on all rocks was deep snow and ice.We started at 2am from Refuge du Goûter to the top,we was on top of Mont Blanc at rgoue 6am beautiful day but very very cold with high winds, it was -30 with high winds 65 km/h
Flattlander - Sep 21, 2011 4:29 pm Date Climbed: Sep 10, 2011
Gouter RouteGreat weather. Chamonix kicks ass.
geeman - Sep 11, 2011 5:36 am Date Climbed: Aug 8, 2011
A lucky climbClimbed via the Gouter route.
Hiked to the Gouter refuge in poor windy weather,betting on an improvement during the night (forecast was for the weather to clear up but for the wind to remay strong at 4000m)
At 9pm, the wind died down...Great night sky when we started the climb a 3am. Great sunny day all along, no wind. Reached the summit at 6.30am, no crowd, just my buddy and I.
dmiki - Sep 2, 2011 10:47 am Date Climbed: Aug 29, 2011
2nd unsuccessful attemptDay 1: Hiked up to Tete Rousse from Les Houches through the lovely forest and the soon to become standard trail they are currently securing. Still had enough time to go up to Gouter but opinion was divided about the Grand Couloir.
Day 2: Set out at 2 after a restless night and minor acclimatisation issues. The couloir had been unstable throughout the night and was also tricky when we tried to cross. Reached the new Gouter hut at dawn. Lost some gloves while fixing a loose crampon on Dome du Gouter (had spares luckily). Turned back at Vallot around 8 o'clock due to the ~50 km winds and fatigue. (Many people summited but quite a few people turned back.) 2 Spaniards had a near-fatal fall on the loose rocks below Gouter on the Bionassay side. The couloir was again in full motion, but at least we could see what we were up against. Hiked down to Les Houches the same day and did some very enjoyable ferratas in the following days.
Jake - Aug 30, 2011 6:33 am Date Climbed: Aug 26, 2011
Strong windsMy climbing partner Marcin and I reached the summit of the Mont Blanc at 8:42am on the 26th of August. We found the small Swedish flag on the summit. The wind was very strong (60km/h) and we didn't see anyone else from the Vallot refuge on this day except two Czech climbers who turned back before the final ridge. Our calculation of the chill factor was -35 Celsius degrees.
We came via Italian Normal Route and this was the best climb in my life even despite the really strong wind and clouds. We were the last people descending towards Gouter Refuge on that day leaving the dark clouds behind us. The descent via Grand Colouir was scary and stressful among the flying stones reaching the size of the large backpack. We have used the tram from the Nid d'Aigle to get to the Les Houches on the same day.
I would recommend The Italian Normal Route to everyone - it's a beautiful, classic Alpine route with the elements of rock and ice climbing, glacier crossing (event that negotiating the Glacier du Dome in the darkness was quite tricky) and good exposure factor. The Gonella Hut is the most pleasant place to stay in this part of the Alps and the owner (David) was really friendly and professional. The greatest days out on the hills so far!
skotty - Aug 18, 2011 11:26 am Date Climbed: Aug 18, 2011
An epic traverseAn epic traverse
NKING100 - Aug 18, 2011 9:27 am Date Climbed: Aug 1, 1993
TraverseFrom Vallot hut to Dome du Gouter via and Bosse ridge. then Mont Maudit and Mont Blanc du Tacul and down
starybaran - Aug 14, 2011 12:53 pm Date Climbed: Jul 11, 2011
gouterLes Houches-summit-les houches cca 30 hours. Beautiful walk and "climb", only the number of the people makes impression less interesting.
ferbat - Aug 12, 2011 5:05 am Date Climbed: Jun 25, 2011
Mont BlancImpressive sun rise. I got it second attempt
johan - Jul 31, 2011 4:27 pm Date Climbed: Jul 30, 2011
3rd time high!With a luck in the weather (snowed and was cloudy hours before the summit attempt from Gouter) we managed to summit under perfect weather conditions. Quite a lot of snow for being in the end of July (recent snow) which made the Grand Couloir just perfect to climb (crampons a must).
atavist - Jul 25, 2011 3:39 am Date Climbed: Jul 18, 2011
SalvationOne week in the alps with nary a day under the sun. Managed to get on top of the big white mountain. Spent a day at tete rousse waiting out a fresh dump. Only passed about 5 people in all on summit day. Definitely encountered more mountain goats than people!
domipost - Jun 25, 2011 1:49 pm Date Climbed: Aug 4, 2010
Gouter routeNice climb after an unsuccesful first attempt the day before. Third group on the summit, so not yet too crowded :)
IvanBraunDK - May 12, 2011 2:26 pm Date Climbed: Aug 26, 2010
Traverse from Gouter and down Tree montsHard day at the office
At sunraise was visiblity down to less than 1m - then the storm came and everything was clear, crystal freezing clear.
We meet a lot of teams heading down while still heading up - they all said "impossible" - but we felt strong and continued.
Perfect windy summit - perfect view - only one other team on the summit with us.
Down to cosmique hutte for steaming meal :)
Perfect long day with James & Edward