Chamonix 2024: I’m done with being a punter

My friends and I had arranged to go to Chamonix for almost the entirety of June as a post graduation present. With most of having a few weeks of alpine experience under our belts, ambitions were high. Nevertheless, the amount we (or at least I) got done can probably only be described as pathetic. A few factors played into this, a key one being the weather. There were only two occasions when it was settled for more than two days, preventing us from heading up and biviing on the bigger routes. But they still got done by other people so I’m convinced that the limiting factor was punterism. 

Despite the frustration with the lack of climbing, I still had a great time which just proves the important things to take on a trip are close friends who are a good craic. 

As far as my training prior to the trip, it was again pretty lacking. For the two months prior (April and May) I had been killing myself over my Masters Thesis, regularly doing 10+ hours a day 7 days/week, meaning I was probably at my worst fitness level in a long time. I had been able to go climbing indoors maybe only once per week with the very occasional outdoor session. Nevertheless I had a good leading head on and was comfortable onsighting HS. A fair bit better than the year before.

The following climbs obviously aren’t all the ones I did but they’re enough to get the gist of the trip. 

Getting Drunk on Bad Whiskey 

After a few days at font we headed east to the alps. The weather was looking better on the Swiss side so we headed into the Trient hut for a couple days. This happened to coincide with my birthday and one of my friends had bought, and then lugged, a bottle of bad Swiss whiskey all the way up to the hut. Next day, after climbing the meat of Bon Accueil with a decent hangover, Nathan and I decided to miss out the final spire as some bad weather was starting to move in. It was Nathans first time using crampons and we had given him a crash course on the approach the day before, but the descent couloir was a horrible sugar powder that made for insecure and slow going progress.

Luckily he was able appreciate the joys of the white stuff descending from the hut, as we glissaded almost the whole way to the lift. 

Me looking up to Bon Accueil
C. Nathan Strange

Nathan taking in the view from Bon Accueil before starting down the horrible sugar snow slope

Conville Course 

Of the two decent weather windows across the whole trip, one happened on the three days I was in the Jonathon Conville Memorial Trust Course. The aim of the course is to get British climbers into alpine terrain and I have mixed feelings about it (not the aim, the course itself). I’m a pretty voracious reader so despite my experience (or lack of) and poor technical level, I feel like I entered the course with decent mountaineering knowledge. It’s still good when a guide tells you your doing it right and you can ask clarification questions but I’m not sure if it was worth the money for me though. The first day was spent revising pretty basic crampon skills and crevasse rescue techniques. The second day we did the marberees traverse, again just following the guide, but I did learn a few tips and tricks just by observing how she operated on that kind of terrain. The third day was the best, I ‘led’ her across the Arete a Laurence whilst she posed different scenarios. Eg: how would you protect this section if it was harder, or certain features were missing, or your partner was weaker, etc. talking through the pros and cons of different options was pretty illuminating. 

Heading into the marberees traverse 

Three lemons on Papillons Arete 

The name for this section comes from one of the things taught on the Conville course. Accidents in the mountain don’t normally happen from one catastrophic event, it’s the accumulation of smaller things that gets you into trouble. By keeping track of these smaller ‘lemons’ and retreating when it gets to three you can avoid major problems.

After a few days of bad weather with no break we were all itching to get up and do something. Forecasts were optimistically ignored and Papillons arete was chosen. The plan was to do that, bivi on the Midi Plan, and then climb Les Lepidopteres the next day. The first lemon came when unpacking the bivi kit and, after bragging about how small my bag was, realising I had forgotten my crampons. Pretty essential for the descent, but a work around was found! We could abseil down the line of Lepidopteres it’s got bolted anchors. Never mind that no one abseils back down those and they use the descent for Papillons instead. Lemon número dos: Nathan dropped his water bottle on the approach. Between both these things Nathan was already telling me that we were going to take the bail point at the 1/4 mark. So when we got to the first crux and I was trying to swear my way up the chimney rather than climb it (the beta is to keep big boots on until after this and then change to rock shoes) and it started spitting, the trigger was pulled; we tucked tail and ran away. Not wanting to deprive Nathan of water for two days we instead returned to the comfort of the valley and climbed Crackoukass the next day. 

Bailing on papillons. 

I’m generally pretty hard on myself. Now this doesn’t mean I’m against failure, I feel like I’m good at recognising when I’ve over extended myself or if it’s not my fault. But what I really hate is when I fail on something I should really be able to do for no other reason than being an idiot. Coming down the lift was the first time the thought ‘I’m so fucking done with being a punter’ came into my brain. 

Trials and Tribulations on Contamine Grisolle

My journey with Contamine-Grisole started near the beginning of the trip when Andrew and I approached it but bailed onto Pointes Lachenal Traverse when a guide told us the seracs on the north face of the Tacul looked very collapsey. We really should’ve remembered about not listening to silly Frenchmen from the Ecrin.

A couple weeks later Miranda and I were doing the now familiar plod across the midi glacier. We had started late due to high winds but they were forecasted to die down for the rest of the day. Not that either of us complained too much as we had got a stomach bug the previous day and were still feeling a bit weak. The snow had softened considerably and I was having a hard time breaking trail through waist deep snow on the approach couloir, even so Miranda wasn’t moving too quickly. Turns out she had twisted her ankle at some point, shit. We quested upwards and, belaying above the crux at around 1/3 height, were exposed to the wind which had really picked up again. At this point M uttered those fateful words ‘I can’t be fucked with this wind anymore’. We had only brought a single 60m rope so about 10 abseils later on some very dubious tat, we got down to the glacier. Walking back to the midi station the wind was strong enough that it was blowing us sideways and we had to get down on our knees at times. I can honestly say I’ve probably never got so tired from such a short day before or since. To the point where we both fell asleep sitting in a cafe waiting for our friends when we got down.  

And after all that we got the notification of our thesis results on the bin down. I just missed out on getting a 1st both for my thesis and overall grade. With the amount of effort I had put into the project I was distraught. When it rains, it pours. 

Heading to tacul with high hopes and expectations 

Going for a Ski at the end of June 

With the weather clearing up on the Italian side for a couple of days a plan was hatched to go for a ski on Gran Paradiso. I drew the short straw so had to get there on public transport by my onesies whilst the others shared the van. Luckily it’s actually super easy, barely an inconvenience. Flixbus gets you from Cham to Aosta for pretty cheap, there you have a couple of hours to kill (but do remember to pick up the skis from the rental place), until you can get the bus all the way to Valsavarenche, and from there it’s a steep 1hr 40 walk to the refugio. On the way back, you should give your friends the pity eyes so they let you sit in the back of their van so you can get to Aosta in time for your Bus back to Cham. 

It had been an unusually wet spring so there was still a good snowpack starting from the hut. However, this was my first time ski touring so there was a steep learning curve with many a fall at the start. The only scary part was near the top on a steep, icy section (I didn’t know what ski crampons were so hadn’t asked for them) and had a slip which quickly developed into an uncontrollable slide. By luck I was able to get a pole into a hole to stop myself before going to far. The descent was pure bliss. 

It pays to have friends who are good at taking photos. 
C. Andrew Bonner

Annoying guides on Italian Side 

The other good weather window occurred for the last three days of the trip. As with the trip to the Ecrin, I found the end of the trip when everyone is fit and working well together the most enjoyable part. Miranda, Andrew, and myself did the Traverse of the Perrons in a chill 6.5 hrs car to car. Including having to wait about an hour in queues and stopping for a swim on the way back. We soloed almost the whole route, except for the crux. 

Miranda running along the traverse of the perrons. 
C. Andrew Bonner

Me at the same point, trying desperately to keep up.
C. Andrew Bonner

The next day we went through the tunnel and up the hellbronner lift to do an afternoon ascent of the south west face of the Deant-du-Geant*. I enjoyed the route but was definitely radicalised by it. Exceptional climbing and positions all ruined by the fact that they have put huge ropes down the whole face, getting rid of any wonderful climbing or adventure you could have. A delightful, if not slightly chilly, bivi by the Torino hut and we were up early the next day to do the Traverse de Entrevés. Not much to say about this route, other than it’s very enjoyable and that Italian guides get quite annoyed as you overtake them, so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

*extra points are given for the correct pronunciation. Deant = Dent (like two-face from Batman), du has a hard D and rhymes with two, Geant also has a hard G and rhymes with Kent

Up the fixed ropes we go. 
C. Andrew Bonner 

Throwing gang signs at the belay. Despite the very late start we still got stuck in horrendous queues. 
C. Andrew Bonner

Disappointed at the summit. Both at the route and watching the parties ahead of us attempting to abseil.
C. Andrew Bonner 

Eating some food having got down from the route.  

Walking out by ourselves towards the Torino hut for cold bivi. 

Evening alpenglow. 

After working hard and digging most of the bivi out, Andrew took over and this is the only photo leaving him with all the credit of my hard work. I’m definitely not hung up about it. 

Posing for the picture on entreves. Note: you do have to go slightly off route to get this but it’s worth it for the background views of the massif. 
C. Andrew Bonner