Soft snow and steep slopes

There was no trail between Mont Blanc to Mont Blanc de Courmayeur, so we had to find our own way. At first, we followed the ridge, but when that got a bit harder, we decided to use the steep snow clad slopes west of it. Frankly, if it's this steep, I'm happy if conditions are like this. Below the soft top layer, the glacier was hard enough to stop us from sinking too deep, so while it took some effort, it wasn't nearly as exhausting as it looks. And, much more importantly, the soft snow meant that if one of us would slip, arresting the fall shouldn't be much of a problem. What if you don't know how to arrest a fall here? Well, to give an idea of the exposure involved, the big wall behind Mark is the 1500m high northeast face of les Aiguilles de Tré la Tête (3930m), with the elevation of the Glacier du Miage at its base being around 2400m. We, on the other hand, are roughly at 4700m, looking down on all that! 11 July 2013.