Although not great for the mountains in general, the hot weather has been perfect for enjoying some of the world class granite on offer in the Mont Blanc massif. Listening to the roar of avalanches and rockfall has been a common theme up high recently, and many routes of a mixed nature seem suicidal propositions at the moment. But most of the big granite buttresses accessed from the Aiguille du Midi remain relatively safe.
Nabot Leon on the Red Pillar of the Blaitiere proved an excellent re-acclimatisation to the granite at the start of the summer after nine months spent climbing with ice tools. I headed up with Jon Griffith, and despite both of us feeling rusty, had a great outing. At this point, in mid-June, the steep ice lines such as Beyond Good and Evil on the adjacent north face of the Pelerins were plastered, whiter than I'd ever seen them. The too-warm temperatures directed thoughts away from such routes however, and they have probably been reduced to waterfalls by now.
Setting off up the 3rd pitch of Nabot Leon, with the soaring west face of the Blaitiere behind.
© Jon Griffith
Belaying Dave Searle on D'entree de Jeu on Pyramide du Tacul. © Jon Griffith
Two outings on the superb south face of Pointe Lachenal , Harold et Maud and A l'oree du Bois, gave some brilliant climbing. The crux pitches are side-by-side in adjacent crack systems high on the wall. On Harold et Maud, this is a burly wide crack followed by an unlikely squeeze chimney; for A l'oree, a pumpy finger crack.
Dave Searle rapping in to south face of Pointe Lachenal for Harold et Maud
On the cracks of A l'oree du Bois on the golden granite of Pointe Lachenal. © Dave Searle
Making the moves back into the cracks on the fourth pitch of A l'oree du Bois. © Dave Searle
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