Alpine Logistics

We’ve been waiting all summer to do some routes on Monte Bianco’s amazing granite spires on the Glacier du Geant, known in Italian as ‘I Satelliti’. Unstable weather and conditions have hindered us until now but last week-end we decided to give it a go.

The first cable car from Courmayeur dropped us off at Rifugio Torino: 2400m of ascent in less than 20 minutes! I wondered about the validity of modern mountaineering. The cable car was built 50 years ago and before that any alpinist wishing to tackle the mountain would probably have taken days just to get this far.

We pitched our tent on Colle del Gigante just beneath Punta Helbronner, geared up and descended the glacier for about an hour before reaching the base of the rocks. A few tents had been pitched there right below the rocks, where a few people had spent the previous night.

Our initial objective was to climb Grand Capucin but there were already several parties on the route we wanted to do. The snow gully you have to ascend to reach the start of the climb was also in bad conditions and already throwing down mini snow-slides.

Late season snow and unstable weather have left deep, unconsolidated snow on the massif; just approaching across the relatively flat glacier was more time-consuming than it would normally be. We decided to change plans and go to the near-by Chandelle du Tacul, where the start of the climb is easier to access.

Pitch after pitch of beautiful granite cracks and slabs in traditional style bought us to the top of the aptly named Chandelle (Candel) by early afternoon. Fantastic! I hadn’t enjoyed any route as much for ages. The views across the glaciers and peaks of the massif were breath taking. The only thing that concerned me slightly was the constant sounds of avalanches and ice fall.

The descent, as for many climbs on I Satelliti, was via abseil. We were nearly back at our packs when one of our two twin ropes got caught whilst we were pulling it down. We tried flicking it then tugging but it wasn’t going to come.

As the day had progressed the wind had picked up and occasional clouds covered the sun as they swept past. What’s more the face we were on was about to go into shade; it was getting cold and we didn’t want to embark on another ascent of the climb to retrieve the rope if we could help it.

We left the jammed rope and prayed that we’d be able to manage the last two rappels (which would otherwise have been one) with the remaining rope. I held my breath as Manuel went down and on both occasions he just made it.

We put on our boots and gaiters before landing on the glacier below. A few minutes later as we were de-gearing and preparing for the glacier plod back to our tent an avalanche of snow and ice streamed down from the Clocher du Tacul, the rock pillar just to the left of the one we had climbed. We left as quickly as possible.

As we walked back I admired the views in the afternoon sun. So many peaks and rocks which had been standing there for so long, before man arrived and first ventured up onto the glaciers, now criss-crossed with tracks made by climbers and alpinists from all over the world.

We had enjoyed the day and the climb is superb but we decided to descend back to Courmayeur the following morning and wait for more stable conditions before going back for more.