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November 2003 Other Articles
A Strange And Savage Summer!? Duncan Lee
Nearly three months of hot sunny settled weather in the Alps!
Perfection personified, or so you would think. Wrong! August's heat
wave, estimated to have killed around 10,000 people in France, caused
chaos in the mountains. Seasoned alpinists viewed the conditions with
horror, adapted plans to suit and advised the uninitiated that had
enough nous to ask questions. Many did not however and the constant
drone of helicopters accompanied any forays into the mountains. Even
experience, good judgement and a yellow streak a mile wide were no
guarantee this year. Conditions were deteriorating rapidly from day
to day and the authorities were forced to take drastic action such as
closing huts, routes and eventually entire mountains. At one stage an
armed gendarme had been stationed at the Grand couloir on the Blanc
to deter the foolhardy and terminally stupid from attempting to
cross. These decisions were not taken lightly considering the loss of
revenue involved for the huts and the guides plus the eventual knock
on effect in the valleys.
So what brought this situation about? The winter had been one of the
best for years with large quantities of snow and low temperatures.
February on the Italian side of the Monte Bianco massif barely saw a
day above minus 5. One good winter however could not repair the
damage of years of slow steady glacial retreat and spring arrived
early and with avengeance. By late April and May temperatures in the
Alpine valleys were already topping 30 degrees C regularly and the
winter's accumulation of snow soon melted away. Spring was also very
dry with very little in the way of fresh snowfall. Thus by the time
June and July arrived (there was one day during this period when the
temperature in Coumayeur was below 30C) things were on the downhill
slope.
Early season visitors faired best however getting perfect conditions
on classic routes such as the Walker Spur on the Grand Jorrasses
which was climbable in rock boots until a big chunk of it fell down
in August. This was just one of many major rock falls in late July
and August. It was like a war zone in the mountains.
Despite the conditions it was still possible to get the odd route in.
Late July was spent acclimatizing and getting my Dad and his friend
Peter up the Briethorn before they flew home leaving Colin and I to
get on with some harder routes. Attempt one was the Italian Ridge on
the Matterhorn which according to the Cervinia guides was in perfect
condition but unbeknown to them (at the time of asking) and us a rock
fall just above the Carrel hut had left the route in a dangerous
state. Thus our arrival at the Carrel hut coincided with another rock
fall and the arrival by helicopter of the Guardia di Finanza. They
had a quick chat with the guides present and closed the hut and the
climb. BUGGER! The long slog back down to Cervinia was a bitter
brooding affair. How dare they prevent people from making their own
decisions about the safety of a climb based on years of hard gained
experience. Mind you we were not about to argue with a man with a gun.
Colin and I then beat a retreat to Valle Dell-Orco for some fun
cragging before he flew home and I headed over to Chamonix to meet up
with Steve Bowker. Our first venture into the hills was a day trip
into the Valle Blanche from the Auguille di Midi telepherique. The
ice tunnel had collapsed and the arête was completely unrecognizable
from previous years consisting of slate grey bare ice and crevasses
stuffed with bales of straw. Once in the valley the mountains
revealed themselves to be in just as pitiful a condition. The north
face of the Tour Rhonde , for example, consisted of two unconnected
patches of bare ice that were constantly being racked by stonefall. A
huge bergshrund ran the entire length of the face providing a natural
barrier to anyone wishing to make a bid for the Darwin awards. The
crash, cracks and rumbles of stonefall were constant and the glacier
itself was grey and bare with fresh crevasses creaking open daily.
Steve and I did the excellent Contamine route on the fine honey
coloured granite of Pointe Lachenal and beat a retreat back to Cham
to reflect on the situation. On the way out we passed Dave Kenyon and
partner on their way to do the Gervasutti Pillar which had been
recommended to them as a safe route by someone who had done it two
days earlier. Our observations that day did not confirm that and
after a quick inspection from the relative safety of the glacier the
next day Dave and his partner ran away. The final straw was seeing a
rock bounce out of the left hand couloir over the top of the pillar
and into the right hand couloir. How quickly things change.
Two days latter Steve and I were back in the war zone for our own
personal lesson in the speed that the conditions were deteriorating.
The plan was to do a route on the fine looking walls of Pointe
Adolphe Rey one day, camp in the valley and then do the Swiss Route
on the Grand Capucin the following day. We had received favourable
reports and good information regarding the Capucin from an American
team on the campsite and from the guide's office in Cham.
Part one of this master plan saw us failing to find a safe route to
the base of Pointe Adolphe Rey through a veritable maze of crevasses
and dripping fragile snow bridges.
A tactical retreat back to the tent was made in order to spend an
afternoon studying the stonefall activity down the couloirs on either
side of the Cap whilst weighing up the 'new' approach to the routes.
The usual easy snow plod up the Couloir des Auguillettes
was an unclimbable deathtrap.
After a night spent listening to regular rockfalls a closer
inspection early the next morning revealed the promised 'safe'
corridor to the base of the climb between the rubble cones from the
couloirs on either side; the beta from the Yanks was looking good.
Safe is a relative term however so we ran like hell across this
section to the shelter of the base of the towering monolith that is
the Grand Cap. The five approach pitches were constantly accompanied
by the noise of rocks rattling down the couloir that we were keeping
as far to our left as possible but once on the Swiss Route proper we
were able to relax and enjoy some fine climbing and exposure. We
summitted at 3pm and commenced on the long series of abseils after
spending a few minutes on the apex of the beast. There was no
celebration on the summit as we were both fully aware that the
riskiest part of the day lay ahead; getting back out into the middle
of the glacier. The heat of the day had intensified the rockfall to a
truly frightening scale and frequency. Whilst we were preparing the
final abseil a truly monstrous rockfall swept down the left hand
couloir with blocks the size of cars whistling through the air before
crashing into the previously 'safe' corridor that we had approached
upon. We were glad we could not see the expressions on the faces of a
German team who were on the verge of running for it across the
corridor. A minute earlier and they would have been dead. As it was
they made it back to the glacier safely and ten minutes latter we
like them, stopped, looked both ways, crossed our fingers, felt lucky
and ran like the hounds of hell were on our tails to the relative
safety of a heavily denuded melting glacier.
It was not until 10am the following day when we reached the sanctuary
of the telepherique station that we showed any elation about the
whole venture and that had more to do with getting out of there
unhurt and without the assistance of a helicopter. Many others had
not been that lucky. Even now with the 20/20 clarity of hindsight and
numerous boozy nights of reflection I do not think the climb,
excellent though it was, justified the perils of the descent. Thus
once Steve had headed homewards, Mr. Kenyon and I turned our backs on
the big mountains and headed off to the Bregalia initially and then
Valle Dell-Orco. After all the routes that are still standing next
year can only be in better condition than they were this August.
Fingers crossed.
November Newsletter Index.
Copyright © 2003 Karabiner Mountaineering Club
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