This aesthetic traverse was still on Dale’s to-do list despite his time in Chamonix and so it was a natural objective for us to take on together. We took ‘first bin’ up the Aiguille du Midi and began our way down the now-familiar snow arête at about 8am. Things were reasonably firm at this point in the morning but we knew the risk today which might turn us around would be the coming heat.
After a gorgeous walk down to a notch with views of the entire massif, we roped up and began the first steep snow traverse a little after 9am. Given recent foul weather, there was no boot pack and there was a firm crust that either took a few toe-bashing kicks to yield or required front-pointing. Protection was quite limited but we were able to get at least one piece between us on a 40m line. Dale had not expected it to be this firm or devoid of traffic, so we were each operating with only one axe, which made things feel slightly spicy.
This traverse took a while, taking care to maintain points of contact throughout. We eventually returned to the ridge crest in the sun where we had to make our way down to another saddle. The next section with an hourglass-shaped snow gully looked pretty steep from this point and we knew the snow would continue to be firm, but we could also see enough places to protect it that we decided to continue on. We crested this section into strong sunshine at about 11am.
The snow was already beginning to show signs of instability at this point and, while we both wanted to continue on to the exciting summit pinnacle, it was obvious doing so would have been a bad idea. We turned around here, along with a couple of other parties who made the same call in the same place.
The return was easier, thanks to the toe sacrifices we’d made on the way up, but it was still heads-up down climbing and traversing. Where the crust gave way to sugary snow beneath was especially fraught. Thankfully, it all went smoothly and we made our way back through the sections of steeper snow bathing in the sunshine that we’d been nervous about.
We didn’t finish this one, but we were still able to enjoy some real climbing in a stunning setting together and we came home safely. I’d call that a win.
