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Peak(s):  Mont Blanc - 15777
Date Posted:  08/26/2016
Modified:  08/31/2016
Date Climbed:   08/16/2016
Author:  WarDamnPanic
 Mont Blanc Cosmiques Route   

Mont Blanc

Elevation 15,777'
Roof of the Alps
Cosmiques Route
August 16, 2016


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Cosmiques Route-Mont Blanc du tacul, Mont Maudit, and Mont Blanc L-R


Completing the 14ers in Colorado, climbing Rainier and Kilimanjaro left the question as to which mountain should my wife and I climb next? We had discussed Mont Blanc and it seemed like the next logical choice. We could go climb it in 2 or 3 days and then have several days to relax somewhere in Europe. The little research I did made it seem like the Rainier of Europe. Mont Blanc was glaciated, easily accessed, not too much higher than our peaks in Colorado, and not very technical. The decision was made, Mont Blanc.
We mainly trained by trail running at altitude. This maximized our time and limited the baby sitter expense for our two year old daughter. The main trail runs were the Leadville, Crested Butte, and South Park half marathons, and the Aspen full marathon. Two half marathons reached 13,000 feet in elevation and we thought, if we can run up to 13k then surely we can walk up to 15,700?

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Downtown Chamonix


We flew into Geneva as this was the closest airport to Chamonix. After gathering our bags we took Cham Express to our Hotel in Chamonix. Grand Hotel of the Alps which was right on the main pedestrian path and they offered to store our luggage while we were climbing for 3 days. Arriving in Chamonix you can sense that you are not in Colorado anymore. Mont Blanc has over 12,000 feet of vertical gain from the town to the summit. There are huge mountains in every direction and the real European Charm of a French mountain town. Chamonix, first host of the winter Olympics, is considered the birthplace of mountaineering ever since Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard first climbed Mont Blanc in 1786.

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Balmat and Paccard 1786


I had to pick up a new pair of glacier glasses and even the gear stores are impressive in Chamonix. Literally whole sections of the building dedicated to climbing and mountaineering.

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We decided early on because of lack of experience on glaciated terrain and familiarity with the mountain that we would hire a guide. I found several guides who were willing to lead a summit climb and after exchanging a few emails I was encouraged to find Armin Fisher. He was certified as an Italian Mountain Guide and grew up in California but had been guiding in the Alps for 25 years. We had set a preliminary itinerary to do an acclimatization climb on Day 1, a glacier walk and crampon practice on Day 2, and summit attempt on Day 3. His favorite routes and ones he considered safer options were the Italian Normal Route and the Cosmiques or 3 Monts Route. The standard route or Gouter Route is the most straightforward but requires crossing the Grand Couloir where rock fall is a major hazard, plus it is very crowded.

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Observation deck on Aiguille du Midi


For our acclimation climb we decided to try the Cosmiques Arete. A 5.7 mixed rock and snow scramble from the Vallee Blanche glacier to the summit. We rode the telepherique from Chamonix up to the Aiguille du Midi. There are gondola rides in the mountains and then there is the telepherique on Mont Blanc. Accending over 9000 feet with 50 people standing up, and just a few support towers.

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Telepherique


Approaching the top of the Aiguille du Midi you can see ice climbers ascending the steep North Face of the Aiguille du Midi and then mountaineers on the exposed knife edge leaving the gondola station. All of sudden, things felt pretty real.

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Right out of the gate


The few trip reports I read on this site both stated this ridge was an immediate test because it is the first few steps in crampons and a slip left would put you right back in Chamonix about 9,000 feet below. This makes the Knife Edge on Capitol seem like child's play. Once down the snow ramp and onto the Glacier the view the Alps is just stunning.

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We traversed the upper reaches of the Vallee Blanche down to the old Cosmiques Hut to reach the start of the climb. My wife and I have done a little rock climbing but it had been 2 or 3 years. Although more challenging than anticipated and with the exposue, it was a great introduction to mountaineering in the Alps. Plus making 5.7 moves in mountaineering boots with a few thousand feet exposure down to the glacier is a great relaxing first day of vacation.

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Summit of Cosmiques Arete


After the finishing the climb we hopped on the "Bubbles" which are gondolas that traverse the Massif and head into Italy. Here there is also a gondola system that descends down to Courmayuer and is also the location of the Torino Hut. Our guide wanted us to spend a few nights at altitude for acclimation. The Torino Hut, located at 11,073 ft elevation, owned by the Italian Alpine Club and is considered to be one of the nicer mountain huts.

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Torino Hut


The deck of the Torino Hut has massive views of the Italian and Swiss Alps but a great vanatage point of the south side of Mont Blanc. With many technical routes it was obvious that the south side was much steeper and also the site of Walter Bonatti's epic Pear Route attempt in 1956. Inside the Torino Hut had a full bar with stock with food, cappuccino, nice Italians wines and 3 beers on draft.

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Italians know how to live


After getting settled in our room and buying water for the next day we had a very nice dinner at the hut. That night they served spaghetti with pork and mashed potatoes. It was neat to sit around the table and talk with other guides and climbers. Some were after Mont Blanc, others were acclimizing for the Matterhorn at our table. After sleeping a few hours we set a 6 am breakfast time and then we planned on traversing the glacier to climb the Tour Rhonde.

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Gondola to Italy


After breakfast we descended the hut and crossed the glacier to the base of Tour Rhonde. We climbed up the initial snow slope above the bergschrund and reached the SE ridge. Here the climbing became a mix of Class 3/4 with major exposure off the back ridge. The standard route is an easier snow climb than the SE Ridge route, but it had melted out earlier than normal this year. The ridge route proved to be a big challenge. Again climbing in mountaineering boots became very uncomfortable for both my wife and I, plus the route was very crowded and consisted of lots of loose rock. We really didn't prepare for the climbing aspect, and we discussed with our guide about just heading down and practicing snow slopes in our crampons as that is what Mont Blanc was going to be the next day. He agreed and we headed back down the glacier.

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Navigating a small crevasse


The glacier walk from the Torino Hut to the Aiguille du Midi is a popular day outing with many tourists from both Courmayer and Chamonix. It is a pretty straightforward walk with only the steep exposed snow ridge leading up to the Aiguille du Midi to finish.

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Crossing back into France


We found a fairly steep snow slope of 35-40 degrees and practiced some basic snow skills to help prepare for the next day. Having spent roughly two days in my mountaineering boots and crampons gave us a lot of confidence heading into the summit attempt as we knew Mont Blanc is a steep snow climb with no rock climbing.

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Snow practice


Heading back down the snow slope we can see the Cosmiques Hut ahead on the ridge which is our home for the night. After slogging up the slope to the hut we ordered omelets and beer for a late lunch. The omelet was one of the better ones I've had anywhere. After lunch we took a nap for about 2 hours as we knew that night we would be up very early and sleep would be tough with everyone getting up for their summit attempts.

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Cosmiques Hut and Aiguille du Midi


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Chamonix from Cosmiques deck


The family style dinner was served just after 6 pm with the cooks bringing big pots of soup, and baked chicken and vegetables to each table. At our table were two British climbers, a German guide and his two female clients from London. This was a great group of people as we chatted about our climbs and talked about the route tomorrow. We went to bed early with alarms clocks set for 12:50 AM.

Sleeping in a room of 25 anxious climbers, most of whom got up at least once to use the restroom resulted in about an hour or two of sleep. Some Austrian climbers decided to get up at 11:30 pm and ticked off some of the guides. Our 1 am breakfast quickly arrived and we were on the trail by 1:30 am. We descended back down to the Glacier and began the steep ascent of Mount Blanc du Tacul weaving around the crevasses and seracs.
Earlier that night a thunder storm rolled through the area filling the route with 4-6 inches of graupel. This made each step at little more slippery and required climbing on all 4s with good ice axe placements in some of the steeper sections. I began to get nervous about the descent as both my wife and I aren't super comfortable on snow/ice descents. We quickly made the summit ridge of Mont Blanc du Tacul and ahead we can see the Austrian headlamps ascending Mont Maudit. After a short downhill section we traversed under the seracs with the lights of Chamonix visible below us. Climbing up the steep slope with overhanging seracs and a huge crevasse below us with exposure had me questioning this whole mountain thing. Beach sounds nice right now.

We quickly caught up to the Austrians at the beginning of the crux. The crux is 130 foot section of 50 degree snow/ice. There was a fixed rope present for the bottom half that took you to a rock outcropping where there are lots of old webbing, and a few fixed anchors. We clipped into the fixed rope and ascended to the rocks. My headlamp shorted a few times and went out during this ascent, but after rearranging the batteries it came back on, amazing how dark it gets with no light. We reached the rock outcropping and then free climbed, with Armin leading, the snow pitch to the top of the crux.
Once on top of the crux we descended down off Mont Maudit and there are few sections where the path is very narrow, maybe 4-5 inches, and all ice. We moved quickly and the darkness shielded the exposure. After reaching another flat area we started the final push to the summit. It is fairly straightforward and we started to see headlamps ascending the Gouter route. We reached the summit at 6:20 am just in time for sunrise.

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"Once more we beat the sunrise"


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Roof of the Alps at sunrise


There were 4 or 5 people from the Gouter Route on the summit, and the view towards Switzerland and Italy was stunning. We could even see the Matterhorn. We hung out and snapped photos and with a forcast calling for thunderstorms around noon we headed back down fairly quick. We made it down to the huge cornice and began the traverse across the narrow ice ledge.

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Traversing to the top of the crux


The ledge of course looked smaller and more daunting on the descent with the huge crevasse and exposure beneath clearly visible in the day light. But after a few cautious steps we were across and reached the top of the crux. Here Armin belayed us down to the rock outcropping where we clipped back into the fixed rope and downclimbed the remaining crux. It was here I noticed some slide activity at the bottom of the route.

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Serac collapse


Ever since we decided to climb Mont Blanc my only concern was the potential serac/avalanche hazard of this route. It is rare, but it happens a couple times a year on Mont Blanc. We reached the site where a large serac broke loose and we moved very quickly across the debris field. Our path was completely gone from the ascent, so we guessed that it had happened within the last few hours. Once through that section we took a break near the summit ridge of Mont Blanc du Tacul with a great view down the Aiguille du Midi.

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Aiguille du Midi from Mont Blanc du tacul


Now we just had to descend the Mont Blanc du Tacul slopes and we would be out of the avalanche zone. We knew this would be the crux for us as we are always a little slow on steep snow descents. We started the descent and immediately noticed lots of climbers ascending, not sure if they were going for Mont Blanc this late or just out for a hike. The descent went faster than expected even with the overnight hail, crampon trust had been fully developed and we reach the seracs and crevasses which were very easily to navigate with the boot path.

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We reached the bottom of the last slope and immediately gave out high 5's for a great morning on Mont Blanc. We finished just after 10 am for 8 hours round trip from the Cosmiques Hut. The sun had just started to hit Tacul's slopes and the temperature on the glacier became very hot. After taking off gloves and layers we started the glacier walk and ascent up to the Aiguille du Midi and Telepherique. All that was left was crossing the exposed snow/ice ridge to reach the gondola. Reaching the ridge our legs were beginning to tire and we took a break just before the exposed section.

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Looking back at the route.


There were a few climbers ascending the ridge unroped and I honestly could not even watch them, I began the traverse and just stared straight at my boots trying not to look at Chamonix to the right and the bottom of the glacier on the left. Heart rate had to be above 100. After 10 long minutes we reach the safety gate at the Telepherique where lots of tourists were taking pictures of the Mont Blanc massif. It felt great to take off the crampons and get on the gondola for Chamonix. We were back in Chamonix just before noon.

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Climbing trip has ended, vacation has begun


We walked back to the Hotel of the Alps and there is a special kind of feeling walking down the streets of Chamonix in your mountaineering boots, having just climbed Mont Blanc. We checked back into the hotel and took much needed naps and showers. That night we celebrated with a wonderful meal at L'Impossible, little organic farm to table restaurant in Chamonix. Mont Blanc was a much more difficult and dangerous climb than I had anticipated. I have heard a lot of people compare it to Rainier, but I think Blanc is more technical by the common routes and more dangerous because of the serac and rock fall danger. This mountain is legit. I was very impressed with the European mountaineers we encountered, from the rock climbing, glacier mountaineering, trail running, everyone in Chamonix seems highly experienced. We even saw one mountaineer fly off the summit of Mont Blanc in a parachute. I think for my wife and I we will stick to trail running and easier/safer peaks as I feel the objective risks on Mont Blanc are too great for what I am willing to risk for a summit. After the climb we spent 3 days in Lake Como just chilling and relaxing by the pools and lake. The foothills of the Italian Alps are pretty impressive as well.

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Lago di como



Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
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Comments or Questions
MtnHub
User
Good memories!
8/28/2016 8:59am
While I never climbed Mt Blanc, I did hike extensively in the Chamonix area and stayed at the Les Alpes Hotel for 4 nights back in 1990. So, many of your pics were very reminiscent. Thanks!

I also saw several climbers sail off cliffs with parapentes. Might be fun to do, but I prefer to have my feet on the ground! Ha! Thanks for sharing your trip!


jbchalk
User
Nice report, Chris
8/29/2016 10:54am
Congratulations to you two on a well-earned summit! Gorgeous pics.


nychicol
Which?
9/1/2016 3:12pm
Thanks for sharing your climb & trip. IMO, the Rockies are very special, particularly the mostly untouched valleys in the back country. But the Alps, because of their very low elevation valleys, Chamonix is about 3k' elev., and high peaks, Mt. Blanc at 15k plus, large glaciers and more jagged ridges, are a bit more spectacular to view. Is that the way you felt too?


GA_peach
User
Nice trip
9/2/2016 4:56pm
Thanks, an awesome write up and pictures. Would love to do this one day as well, who knows.
Congrats on a safe and successful climb in a beautiful place.
Alan


WarDamnPanic
User
Thanks
9/7/2016 9:55am
jbchalk-thanks for the advice and help in the planning. We are happy to go back and try the UTMB course in our older years

nychicol-The Mont Blanc massiff is more impressive than our mountains imho, but I am happy to live in CO as we have lots of beautiful places as well


Traveler
User
Great Report
9/11/2016 9:55pm
Love the detail in your report and the many photos. Sounds like an incredible experience you will remember for the rest of your lives.



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