Hi,

with some friends, I am going to attempt Mont-Blanc at the end of August. We have settled on the Trois Mont-Blancs route, so will start from the refuge des cosmiques. However, my friends are not very experienced on alpine terrain, so we scheduled an extra day beforehand, to go over cramponing techniques and self-arrest (and acclimatizing a bit probably won't hurt either). We'll take the last cable car up on the previous day and spend the night in the refuge des cosmiques, so we'll be able to leave before sunrise and thus get a full day of climbing.

Since we will be going there again the next day, I am a bit reluctant to just take them to Mont-Blanc du Tacul, especially if there is serac fall risk like last year, though the north face would be quite fitting for our purposes.
My current plan is to simply do a vallée blanche traverse, which should give us the snow experience we are looking for, including some moderate uphill (if my memory serves me well). And if weather is good and everyone is feeling happy, I believe that the Pyramide du Tacul is on the way, which should give us an easy rock climb to fill the day, since the traverse is only a maximum of 4h of walking. We would also have the option of taking the helbronner cable car back to aiguille du midi if we want to save some legs for the next day.

Am I overlooking some nice easy snow daytrip from refuge des cosmiques? Does the aforementioned itinerary sound reasonable? And, as a side question, does anyone know if it's possible to rap down the Pyramide with a single 60m rope?

Thanks for the help.

You could always try the Cosmique-Arrête, if your comfortable with running belays and a small rap at one point. Easy, but splendid views.. If your into mixed ice-climbing, the pyramid on the Tacul offers some great couloirs, like the Chérè. Just remember to get into it early, ppl above you in that one tend to make for dangerous situations..

As for your choice of route, the Trois Mont route is VERY nice, but hard. You should make sure you acclimatize well, cus this route will give you much more of an elevation gain during your summit day, than the normal route. I did this route last year, and it was HARD. I used 14-15 hrs to summit and get back to the cable car. Mind you, this was in the beginning of May and most ppl summited only to ski back down, there was still A LOT of snow - should be easier in August I guess, but with only 1 day of prior acclimatization I'm pretty sure you will feel tired and shitty while doing it..

Alex.

The normal route on the pyramid is a 200+ meters 4+ grade granite route. You can rap off, with a single 60 m, but it will take you some time.
If you choose to do the vallee traverse, it will prob be a good idea to teach them crevasse rescue, as you will be crossing the geant glacier, and at the moment the way through is quite exposed through the crevasses.
If you take the first cablecar up in the morning and start walking to the top, you can delay the symptoms, if you get down late, you can take a night in the cosmiques, where you won´t have trouble sleeping...

Thanks to both of you.

@Alex: I already did the arête des cosmiques last year, and though undoubtedly a great climb, I don't think that it is very good training for the snow route of Mont-Blanc. Likewise for the Chéré on the north face of the Tacul (which I have yet to do, 80km/h winds last time I tried).
I also think that the three mont-blancs route is very different in late summer than in late spring, with a lot less snow which makes going upwards easier. I know altitude will be bad, but am hoping that my recent stints above 6000m will give me a small advantage...

@Jakob: That's what I read about the Pyramide, it looks like a really fine climb and I can definitely lead it. I just hope it won't get too crowded, as we will be there on a Saturday. Leaving at sunrise might give us an edge.
I was already planning to teach my friends crevasse rescue, but I wouldn't expect them to setup a Z-pulley on their first alpine climb... Is the Géant in such a bad shape that you would pause at the idea of taking beginners through the Vallée Blanche?

well, judging from recent weather-reports, the chamonix summer has been a bit of both - varying from perfect sunshine to a lot of snow.. don't know how the snowpack is doing, but it'll probably be easier going uphill in august than may..

your probably right concerning the relevance of the 2 routes I mentioned.. they are great climbs however, and the cosmique arrête WILL teach you a lot about good crampon-technique, which is always useful.. also, the last section to cross over Mont Maudit requires some "technical" climbing, which - although a bit overkill - the chere couloir would prepare you for.

have a good trip, climb safely!

Alex.

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock ... henal.html

it's only a short hike over there you can spend the day doing different things and work on skills

You could always try the Midi Plan Traverse - although its long day. A good 1/2 day is the 'Point Lachenal' Traverse - in good weather it is pretty straight forward and a good acclimatisation option.

Normal route on Tour Ronde. Stay at Torino Hut the night before, then take the bubble car back to Aig du Midi after the climb and stay at Cosmiques Hut for the 3 Mont Blanc.

joynlife wrote:I would do something closer to the hut, Gervasutti Couloir first comes to mind.

At the end of August?

??

And do people even climb that route anymore? The objective danger is horrendous.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Unfortunately, after discussing matters more thoroughly with my friends, they don't feel like doing anything big or remotely difficult on that first day (something to do with climbing Mont-Blanc the next day... weird people). So we will simply do a Vallée Blanche traverse, and either reverse it or take the cablecar on the way back.
All the fun stuff, including the Pyramide du Tacul, will have to wait a bit more...

If I read correctly, you are planning to spend one day at altitude before the Three Monts climb. From the responses, a major obstacle will be the acclimatization.

In 1998 I did the exact same route with only 2 days prior acclimatization and believe me, the headaches & exhaustion were quite marked. You can read about it in my Trip Report on the Mt Blanc page. By the way, it is not simply " individual susceptibility " because subsequently I had no problems with altitude on Kilimanjaro since I took longer to acclimatize.

Another point worth emphasizing is that route is VERY long. We started at 1:30 AM and it took us 9+ hours. My advice to you is spend another day or two for proper acclimatization. Anyway, lots of luck with the climb, the Chamonix area has so many options, it is absolutely paradise for accessible climbing!

JanG

We hiked up from the Mer De Glace and stayed at Requin one night before continuing over to Cosmique. The snow bridges were starting to let go when we were there last month...had 2 snow bridges collapse on us....

Great way to start and acclimate as you hike, then we stayed 2 nights at Cosmique before doing the 3 monts route.

It's a long day so rest well....

It is not really a good idea to take the glacier up to the midi plateau from the Requin hut, as you said yourself snowbridges are in bad shape and it is heavilly crevassed, I was in that area 3 weeks ago and it was not a pleasent exsperience.