What happens when a Guru of alpine granite combines forces with a world champion in sport climbing? When I saw the names of Michel Piola and Romain Desgrange in the guidebook, my interest was picked. Many enthusiastic reports of the quality and the beauty of the climb cemented it further, we had to check it out ourselves!
The classy white Dacia rolled into the valley as the rain was closing in. The good thing was that we received a shiny new tent as a present from my parents, for the big family trips. Even better – the tent was already put up by the time we got to the campsite!
When the sun finally came out a few days later, some bonding time between the grandparents and the granddaughter was in order and Saule and I got a chance to do a first long climb together since a while. Because we were reluctant to leave for a long time, we decided to do it in a day from the valley and then walk all the way down.
The shenanigans took place before the Montenvers train derailed (!!!), so we could use some aid in getting to the Mer de Glace. Ladders, glacier, more ladders, and an epic bergschrung later we were up and flowing the beautiful cracks and slabs that comprise the route.
The guidebook description reveals that the ‘first ascentionists were not following the most aesthetic or logical line, but sought out the best climbing’. It proved very accurate indeed, since, on many occasions instead of following an obvious groove, we veered off to steep cracks or blank-looking slabs.
Six dreamy hours later, we stood at the Point Trelarefe, having freed the route in a Plaisir mode and were discussing the Navier-Stokes solutions for the glacial flow, check out the picture below!
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