Cogne ice climbing

After climbing in Chamonix I spent a day in Verbier for skiing. Next day Peter came in from Berlin. Initially we planned to go to Chamonix again but the weather got bad. As always we have a plan B: ice in Cogne. On the other side of the Mont Blanc the weather was still good. As we arrived on thursday afternoon we both were tired; Peter from the long trip and I because of 3 days of outdoor activities. So we decided just to walk into the Lillaz valley and checking out the routes for the next days. It was a beautiful afternoon and there were lots of people climbing - but not in the cold couloir. This long ice route starts with 2 difficult pitches and then gets easier. I suggested just to try the first pitch. It is never difficult to convince Peter to do some rock or ice climbing. So in the late afternoon we got 2 really cool pitches of the cold couloir.


cold couloir, with the steeper pitches

Next day we went up to Lillaz again to climb one of the classics in the valley: "candelabro de coyote". We haven't seen a coyote here but the climbing was pretty impressive. 6 pitches of climbing. And we were alone - never expected that. The climbing was great. After 5 hours we were back at the bottom and we discussed options like having coffee or climbing.... 30 minutes later we were at the start of the steep pitch of Tuborg, another WI4+/5. We climbed that route as well and after that we went down, it was too late for coffee.... we checked out the bars if they had Tuborg, but they hadn't since we were in Italy and not in Denmark :-)


nice overview from the bottom of the valley: from right to left Tuborg, Coyote and not really visible on the far left the Chandelle Levure


Coyote ice fall



 the first pitch



airy and really cool climbing



the upper pillar



Peter leading the upper pitches

On our third day we went up to the Chandelle Levure. I already climbed that route with Roeland - earlier this winter. Back in december the last pillar hadn't formed pretty well. So I really had to come back for climbing the last pitch. Peter lead the first pitches. Then you got a 35 m pitch with a almost vertical wall at the top. The climbing was really cool and suddenly I felt the sun - reaching the top of our ice fall. Fantastic. The night had been cold, maybe -12 degrees, the ice has a lot of tension. If you work with your axes on that tensioned ice it breaks. But if the sun starts shining, temperature rises and the tension in the ice removes. So in the upper part of that pitch suddenly the ice got really smooth and the climbing becomes easy inspite of the steepness.


the first pitch of the Chandelle


catching the sun...

Peter followed very quick and we went up to the last pitch. It still looked thin, but most of all very steep (at some parts overhanging). The sun was shining on the upper part and small pieces of ice came down. I saw no signs of previous attempts. But I thought ok, in parts it  looks protectable. I can try. I started really careful the first steep part, but already the second ice screw pinned through the ice and catched air on the inner part of the pillar. Normaly, good icescrews in good ice can hold 2000kg - this is more than my car and thats what I am always visualizing if I'm climbing ice. Ok, stay calm, you just put an ice screw where my BMW could hang on - I don't know but this thought makes me way more relaxed... In this pitch my ice screws were not solid, there was still a lot of tension in the ice and I really did not feel confident to continue. So I carefully climbed down again and we went away.

Petit Viking

Last tuesday I climbed together with Bernd the Petit Viking. It is an alpine ice route in the Argentiere bassin in Chamonix. The day before we took the cable car of the Montet to make a really nice ski descent to the bottom of the glacier and after that we walked on skis with too heavy backpacks (as always) to the Argentiere hut. This approach made me really happy, outdoors, on altitude, in the cold in a really alpine enivronment - love that.
After a good night in the winter hut we started at 6 o'clock in the morning. Instead of 2 hours it took us 3 hours to reach the bottom of the climb. Anyway, as we arrived we saw that the bergschrund was open but climbable. The last two winters it was normally really difficult to cross the bergschrund. So we were lucky.

our route is the thin ice line which goes pretty straight up on the left side of the picture


I lead the first pitches to the bottom of the first steeper wall. Then Bernd took the lead and it turned out that the ice quality was excellent. It was less steep than we expected and it was really fun to climb. After the first steeper pitch it gets easier and after some easier pitches I got the last final steep funnel to climb. I was in a good mood and kept climbing until the 60m rope forced me to make belay on two ice screws. During that pitch I had some serious spin drift which made it more interesting.

the bergschrund and in the background the first steeper part



 the first steep pitch


great views to Les Courtes and the Argentiere glacier




abseiling

We climbed 10 pitches. The route finishes in a col close to the Domino. We did not climb the last two easy pitches because it got late. So we had to abseil down again and then ski out first to the hut and then back to Chamonix were we arrived at 6 in the evening. Great route, normally it is too cold in january for climbing up there but sometimes weather gives you a chance - take it!

facts: alpine ice climbing, WI4, 500m, the belays are on pitons and slings, no bolts. Crux is normally the bergschrund. Best way to get to the start of the route is by skis. To the left of the route are some harder routes like the Charlet-Ghillini. The Northface of the Courtes looks a bit dry at the moment but the Droites (Lagarde/Ginat/Jackson) will be in good shape in a few weeks.