Category — France

The highlight of our alpine introduction course in Chamonix was reserved for the last day: an ascent of the Mont Blanc du Tacul (4248m). The Mont Blanc du Tacul is generally regarded as the easiest 4000er around Chamonix and thus it is usually the first big alpine mountain for many novice alpinists.

However, easy does not equate to safe. The ascent route involves navigating the North West Face of the Tacul which is significantly exposed to serac falls and avalanches.

The climb gets real after crossing the flat area around the Col du Midi (3532m). Navigating the serac zone in the Northwest face of the Tacul is the first crux. Conditions can vary significantly according to the accumulated snow falls. We were lucky as we did not have to cross huge crevasses or even climb up steep ice walls. Basically it was snow walking over a well ‘paved’ path.

However, during the walk up the snowy face we soon felt the thin air. Arriving at the shoulder of the Tacul (Epaule du Mt Blanc du Tacul) was a relief. Until here the route is basically the first part of the famous Tres Cols Route up the Mont Blanc. The view towards the Mont Maudit was amazing as was the view down to the valley floor to Chamonix.

Soon thereafter the typical cumulus clouds arrived and made for some pretty views back to the Aiguille du Midi far below us.

The very last part of the ascent involves some scrambling up the rocky summit of the Tacul. It is an easy climb (rated as III of the UIIA scala) but the rock is usually icy making this step the last crux before the final goal.

Our descent was straightforward but carefully avoiding any slipping in the now slushy snow of the North West face was a little bit tedious. An unhalted slip here would almost surely develop to an uncontrolled fall down to the crevasse-ridden chaos of the Glacier des Bossons.

Then the real crux of the day was the return ascent to the Aiguille du Midi. The mere 250 m of vertical were really strenous after a long morning in the mountains.

Arriving in the bizarre world of mass tourism at the summit of the Aiguille du Midi was a big relief. Finally, we had safely passed the ultimate test of our alpine intro course.

The last test we had to pass before we were ready to move on to the high mountains involved learning basic crampon skills and ice-axe placements.

The Chamonix valley is famous for its glaciers whose glacier tongues advance almost down to the valley floor.

The usual spot for learning crampon techniques is the Mer de Glace which can be reached by a cog railway built more than 100 years ago. Using this cog railway we went to Montenvers and enjoyed the spectacular views over the Mer de Glace. However, before we could were able to put our crampons on we had to climb down the famous ladders from the Montenvers stations to the glacier surface. This glaciers is retreating continuosly since its last big advance in the 19th and therefore the glacier surface is some 200 hundred meters below the Montenvers station.

Down at the glacier surface we practised various techniques using our crampons as well as the ice axes. French guides developed these techniques for save travel with their clients back in the 19th century. Some of these techniques are still used until this day.  After becoming familiar with our crampons and ice axes our guide finally decided that the four of us were ready for our first ‘real’ alpine trip which should be a climb up the Montblanc du Tacul (4248m)

One day of our course was almost entirely devoted to crevasse rescue on glaciers. Since glaciers are a defining element of high alpine environments knowing how to react in the event of a crevasse accident is a crucial step in every mountaineer’s career.

Chamonix is an ideal location for learning crevasse rescue techniques. Due to the high elevation of the mountains and their glaciers it’s easily possible to find suited test environments. You need a wet glacier as training ground. A wet glacier is still covered by snow as opposed to a ‘dry’ glacier where there is no snow cover and the ice is blank thus disclosing all the crevasses.

For our training we went to Argentière (1220m), the famous village at the foot of the Aiguille Verte (4122m). For us lazy students the cable car up to the Grands Montets (3295m) was a welcomed means to reach the glacieted terrain without any hassle.

From the top station we went down to the Glacier des Rognons in the huge basin formed by the Glacier d’Argentière surrounded by a spectacular scenery of mountains. Soon we arrived at a location which seemed suitable for our task.

Crevasse rescue is relatively straightforward once you have gone through the necessary steps for several times. At least this holds true for a training attempt. In the case of a real accident there are probably circumstances which make the process much more difficult.

Obviously the first step is to stop the fall of your partner successfully. If your team consists of three or four members this should not be that much of a problem (as long as the ground is not too steep, of course). Usually, the slushy snow creates enough friction for stopping the fall. The next step involves creating an anchor with your ice-axe. Then it is necessary to transfer the load (i.e. the weight of your fallen partner) to the anchor. Thus the rescuer is freed from the load allowing him to undertake the next rescue steps.

The usual method teached for hauling up the partner is the dropped loop. With this method the partner is pulled out on a loop of rope equipped with a locking carabiner which is dropped to him or her by the rescuers.

The victim then locks into the carabiner and the rescuers are ready to start pulling. To ease the process (otherwise you risk that your parnter slips down again if your strength dwindles) it is necessary to back stop the hauling rope with a prusik (or special devices such as a tribloc).

After training this technique for the whole day we felt prepared for navigating safely the amazing world of glaciers. Thus, we discussed our options for climbing up a ‘real’ big mountain in the spectacular Mont Blanc range.

However, our guide promptly lessened our ambitious plans. According to him we were still not ready to stay on our own until we finally learned to navigate on blank ice using basic crampon and ice-ax techniques.