After our arrival on the first day we did some climbing in the first pitch of the Lillaz Gully, WI 4. It was a beautiful afternoon with clear skies and some winter sun.
nice warm sun!
Next day we walked into the Valleile for climbing Patri. The first pitch was very wet. Gloves and ropes were wet and frozen immediately. The ice was pretty good. After two easier pitches we were at the start of the real climbing. The left hand variant was good on the far left. Normally you can climb the whole upper part in one 60m pitch, but now I made belay after 30m on a bolted belay left to the exit gully. The last 25m were really nice climbing. After that I started to climb the right hand variant but too much water was coming down... i made a Abalakov and rappelled down. A great day out!!!
Patri, first pitch
third pitch, good ice!
Next day we went into the Valleile and climbed Tutto Relativo and the crystal pillar to the right. Tutto relativo was really interesting climbing. We had 10cm of fresh snow and the ice in the first easy pitch was completly rotten. One bad ice screw was all i could place on the 50 metres. But the climbing was not difficult - so it was ok.
The pillar of Tutto Relativo was still quite thin early in the season. It had been warm the last days and the freshly formed ice structures were far from solid. It took quite a while to find good hooks and spots to place protection - interesting. The last pitch was nice again. We rappelled down the route because walking down on the other side was steep and we were not sure about slides with all the fresh snow. After that route we did some climbing more to the left. an again, great day outdoors!
attack on the pillar of Tutto Relativo...
Cristallo, WI4+
On our third day we climbed the Lillaz Gully, great ambience, in the far background Mont Blanc, and in the gully a lot of mixed climbing. the upper three pitches were really thin. That made the climbing really interesting. lots of fun.
views on Mont Blanc
first pitch of the Lillaz Gully
climbing the first pitch...
looking down the first pitch, thin ice...
the upper part
start of the second pitch, loads of snow...
nice mixed climbing in the narrow gully...
third pitch, tricky...
The last day we walked to the Lauson ice fall for some exercises... just a short session, because we had to drive back.....
Lauson
note: please be careful with the avalanches in both valleys! and please keep in mind that on the east side of both valleys with e.g. Coyote and Tuborg in the Valleile and Lauson in the Valnontey the sun already arrives at 11.00h! Please carefully assess the risk of icefall!
