Aiguille d'Orny

Overview

Aiguille d'Orny 3167 m

Aiguille d'Orny is a rocky peak located in the Swiss side of Mont Blanc massif, West of Orsières in the canton of Valais. It lies North-East of the glacier called Plateau du Trient on the chain between Arpette Valley to the North and Combe d'Orny to the South. This chain named Arpettes spreads in the Eastern direction coming from Trient glacier and shows a set of rocky spires overlooking from North the Cabane d'Orny, a Swiss Alpine Club refuge. The summits lined along the ridge from West to East are Aiguille d'Orny (3150 m), the jewel of the climbing sector of Cabane d'Orny, without name on French official maps and Pointe de la Cabane. From the top of Aiguille d'Orny a shoulder starts heading toward SE, forming a wall facing South. This wall is engraved by a series of couloirs and secondary ridges and spurs that offer different superb climbing routes: South Classic, Jeremiade, quiche Moraine and the Carpet (from left to right). South Classic is the easiest.

Developed by Raymond Angeloz, the guardian of the Cabane d'Orny, the climbing routes run on an extraordinary structured and colored granite. The highest point near the Trient hut is the rock chaos of Pointe d'Orny 3271 m. No comparison with the fine shape of the Aiguille with the same name!  To the eastern direction we find the Arpette collar, the Arpette needles with the Aiguille de la Cabane, the Breya collar and the Breya summit near Champex.

Getting There

The starting point is the small village of Champex m. 1466, near the town of Martigny (Switzerland).

Road approach

- From Milan and Turin: follow the A5 Motorway. Exit Aosta Est and follow the road S27 towards the Tunnel of Gran San Bernardo or the Col of Gran San Bernardo, getting to Martigny and Champex.
- From Chamonix: follow towards North the road to Argentiere and the France-Switzerland border, getting to Champex.

Walking approach

From Champex mt. 1466 you can get by chair-lift (in summer open from 8.30 AM to 17.15 PM) to the upper station of La Breya and then follow the good trail to the Cabane d'Orny (2,15 hours from Champex). Alternatively the approach entirely by walking requires 4,30 hours from Champex to the shelter. The hut is situated in a spectacular position, overlooking the Orny Glacier and Petit Clocher du Portalet, near the small lake named Lac de l’Ancient Cabane.

Info about the chair-lift:  Chairlift La Breya

Routes overview

On the spire there are 8 climbing routes about 200 meters long. Maybe the best route is Gérémiade on the SW face. All the routes' reports are written on a big notebook at Orny hut.

Best known routes :

- Classical SW face D
- Gérémiade TD/TD+
- Quiche moraine TD/TD+

The rock is ochre, sometimes a bit fussy but the climb is very homogeneous.

Other climbing in the Orny sector

There are many other climbing possibilities in the Orny sector :

1) Plan de l'Arche : 20 routes
2) Les Calanques : 1 route
3) Ecole d'escalade : 16 routes
4) Côté Parc : 5 routes
5) Aiguille de la cabane : 5 routes - Bon accueil - Tichodrome - Namaste
6) Gendarmes d'Orny : 11 routes
7) Côté Jardin : 10 routes

Red Tape

There are not particulary restrictions in climbing and hiking.

When To Climb

The best period goes from middle June to the end of September

Hut

- Cabane d'Orny  m. 2831   SAC (Swiss Alpine Club “Les Diablerets”) Situation: Swiss side of Mont Blanc Group - Left shore of Orny Glacier, between two little lakes
Open: open all year long, guarded in summer from 10.06 to 20.09
Size: 90 persons + 30 in the winter-shelter
Guardians: Patricia and Raymond Angeloz - Pradurand 1991 Salins
Hut's phone : 0041 277831887

Meteo

Meteoswitzerland
Webcam Tele Champex
Meteo Wallis
Meteo Chamonix

Guidebooks

"Monte Bianco classico e plaisir" by Marco Romelli - Idea Montagna edizioni
"Schweiz Plaisir West" by Andreas Mürner – Edition Filidor, 2012
"Schweiz Plaisir West" by Jurg von Kanel – Edition Filidor
"Entremont Escalades" by Olivier Roduit, 2011
"Guide du Valais - du Trient au Nufenen" by Hermann Biner, 1996

Maps

IGN 3630OT Chamonix - Massif du Mont Blanc
Swiss National map 1:25 000 Sheet 1345 Orsières
Swiss National map 1:50 000 Sheet 282 Martigny