Brouillard and Innominata

Chamonix – the wild side of Mont Blanc (4809m).

Jeroen and I had a brilliant trip to the Mont Blanc. For us it is not uncommon to go to Chamonix for a week and come home with nothing than dreams and not the big route where we came for. The reasons are various – altitude, weather, conditions, personal factors like fear or just discomfort of climbing a big route.

But this time every piece of the puzzle was in the right place. The weather forecast was at least good enough to make a major plan and we were eager to climb a bigger route. The Walker on the Grandes Jorasses wasn’t in condition, but Jeroen had some information about the pilier rouge de Brouillard. I had read about the south side of Mont Blanc but had no good idea about the location of the huts, bivouacs, routes and so on….

But with the internet and classic guiding books (Rebuffat, Damilano and Batoux) we set our mind on the Brouillard pillar. The name in itself is part of the history of alpinisme. Bonatti climbed there in the late fifties and on the other side of the col Eccles there is the (in-)famous Freney pillar with the drama of bad weather and several casualties during the first attempt in the sixties (also by Bonatti).

We knew that the climbing itself must be great, but the adventure is more like getting to the pillar. We were not acclimatized and the climbing is around 4000m… if you want to go to the top of Mont Blanc it’s even 4800m.

From the Batoux guiding book we had the information that the Bonatti route on the pilier rouge had bolted belays – that would make the descent very easy and would make it a perfect high altitude multi pitch alpine rock climbing route with finishing in the Eccles bivouac for a second night. After that we would try to climb the famous Innominata ridge to the very top of the Mont Blanc.

To be honest – until two weeks ago I wasn’t really aware of the existence of the Innominata ridge at all – lack of basic knowledge of the anatomy of the Mont Blanc massive – I apologize.

On Saturday 13th of august we drove down to Switzerland – and slept on the Grand Saint Bernard. First night at 2500m to get some extra acclimatization time. Sunday we drove to Courmayer, had a big pizza and went to the Val Veny – starting the 1000m climb to the Monzino hut. The guardien Mauro was really kind and we enjoyed to be on our adventure…

Next morning we startet at 7.00 AM with heavy back packs our way to the Eccles bivouac – 1300m first on the moraine and later over the upper Brouillard glacier with enormous seracs and crevasses. The track was good and after 4,5 hours we were at the bivouac. In the lower shelter is room for 9 people – we went up tot he newer higher shelter for 6 people. We were happy that both nights we were the only climbers in the upper shelter. With 6 people in that tin it would be really shitty I think.

Next morning we startet at 6.00 AM. The weather was different than predicted – some higher clouds and a big thunderstorm cloud building up in the Aosta valley. After some discussions we decided to give it a try – but on this altitude it is a bad idea to get into a thunderstorm….

 

south side of Mont Blanc with the Brouillard on the left and the Innominata in the background 

impressive glaciers and rocks 

good track on our way to the Eccles biwak

 

nice biwak

After 10 minutes on the glacier we discovered a fixed rope… I walked down a bit and looked in an gigantic crevasses. We discussed the situation. So the idea was to rappel down into that crevasses (8 metres free hanging) and we guessed that the idea to get back was by prusiking like you learn in glacier rescue stuff… a bit weired idea- but this was the only way to pass this crevasses.

After rappeling we went down to the foot of the pillar. We climbed the steep cone, passed the bergschrund and made a traverse to the right to get tot he start of the Bonatti route. On a small terrace after pitch 1 we could easily switch from mountain boots and crampons into the rock climbing shoes.

Pitch 2 is the crux pitch – 6a. I started climbing when the first sun light hit the lower part of the pillar. The first part of the crack is not too difficult but I had to get used to the smooth edges of the crack. That makes the climbing and the protection more difficult. The last 7 metres to the belay are vertical and the crack isn’t that easy. I was happy when I reached the belay. 

 

looking back on the nice crack of pitch 2 (6a)

Jeroen came up as well and pitch 3 was a bit easier but still demanding (5c). Jeroen did a great job and pitch 3 and 4 were easy, we really enjoyed. Good holds and flakes. Pitch 5 is the start of second part of the pillar, 5a, really nice steep start and then easier angled crack to the right. That belay is shared with the second route on the pillar a bit more to the right. I continued climbing the quartz band to the left again. This pitch brought us up to the center of the pillar again.

 

Jeroen on pitch 3

 

start of pitch 5 

pitch 6

In the meantime the higher clouds got thicker and some lower clouds were surrounding the pillar. A light wind catched up. After a short discussion we decided to go down – difficult decision because the two next pitches (5c) looked really great.

But finally the total package of altitude, remoteness and unstable weather were the important factors. We rappelled down and within 1 hour we were back on the glacier. The overhanging crevasse was a nice exercise of prusiking… it took some time but it was ok! Of course the weather went a bit better but principally we still think it was a wise decision.

At 13.00 PM we were back at the bivouac for some snow melting action. We checked the weather forecast for the next day – better- less cloudy, thunderstorms in the evening and the last good day before detoriation would set in on Thursday.

Next morning we started at 4.00 AM for climbing the Innominata ridge. We made our way up to the col Eccles. From there we climbed on the ridge and on the Brouillard side until the foot of the dubble red tower. From here it was a hard rock section – rated 5b. First climbing left – I followed the two Austrian teams. They made belay on the left but they were in doubt about the correct route. To the right I saw an very old sling and a vertical wall. I thought, well this must be it. It was cold, I had a backpack and mountain boots and it was still dark. Great adventure – I was a bit in doubt if I would be able to climb this vertical wall but I was determined as well.

I clipped and old piton and put the blue cam number 3 half a meter higher. Good start for the hard part. I rewarmed my hands and took some time to make a plan. I put my left foot in the crack 20 cm above the blue cam, I twisted my foot so that the whole leg was locked. With my left hand I found a pretty good round side hold and I stemmed with my right hand on a minor rock outcrop. My right foot was searching for a hold, but there was nothing… so I pulled hard with my left hand and managed to get my body half a meter higher and suddenly my right foot was high enought to put it into a big crack. A bit scared, shaky and with very cold hands I somehow put the yellow cam number 2 in a crack on the right. Yes! After some shaking I pulled myself over the edge of the wall and found a belay on two pitons. These two pitons and another one high in the route were the only pitons we found in the whole route – great. 

Jeroen came up – and I continued climbing through the hole to get back to the Brouillard side of the Innominata. Sun came up – great moment, always, if you are high on a mountain. At that moment we were 3 hours climbing and had gained only 300metres…

 

waiting for the first sun light...

 

yes!

I continued on crampons another nice pitch rated IV to the start of the upper part of the route. On mixed grounds we climbed a short vertical wall of snow to get on the very knife edged ridge. Great moment! 

We continued the ridge, went through more mixed grounds and entered the upper couloir. At 4350m we traversed to the left – no stone fall at all – we were really happy.

 

knife edged ridge - cool

 

second part...

The ledge to the left is easy. We then followed the ridge until it joins the Brouillard ridge, and from there it is still a long way to the Mont Blanc de Courmayeur. From there you climb down to the col major and up finally to the summit of Mont Blanc. The summit was already in clouds, it was cold and strong wind gusts were blowing. From the Brouillard ridge I put my down jacket. Great. We were on top at 12.00 PM, exactly 8 hours after our start and also according to the guiding books.

 

Jeroen traversing the great couloir to the left, - the ledge leading up to the secondary ridge in the background

 

almost at the ledge... 

 climbing is straight forward...

the secondary ridge - still not on the Brouillard ridge

 

 really airy sections

and long... with the Brouillard glacier far down 

 SUMMIT!!!

The descent down the Trois Mont route was interesting – we had a real white out condition just below the abseils on the col de Mont Maudit. Jeroen did a great job to find back the track and we continued our descent without problems – except the exhaustion on altitude. We were really slow on the climb to the shoulder of the Tacul.

 

on the shoulder of the Tacul

On 16.00 PM we were at the Cosmique hut, ready for hot tea, a beer and proper food.

Great trip!!!!

Equipment:

·         Only one ice axe – if you are less experienced in ice, just take a second one with you (light aluminium is enough).

·         Two ice screws only (for the whole team).

·         We had a full rack of cams (for the Brouillard pillar), for Innominata a smaller rack including cam 2 and 3 is enough.

good info over the routes:
http://www.camptocamp.org/routes/54513/fr/mont-blanc-arete-de-l-innominata