aiguilles rouges
to any astroman-niac climbers , the aiguilles rouges are just a pile of shiat. It is. However , this is also the best leisurely not committing- sunny side -with a view -sport climbing- alpine-cragg- in the world- that i know of. Also, a lot of the routes out there were open by Piola himself and the rock is at times surprisingly good. This round however, for my 2 days off, i had 2 goals: stay away from the crowd, get confident in placing gear without being scared of falling head first on a sharp flake . i chose to go on the tour des crochue and the aiguille de perseverance. 2 easy routes on nice looking pillars, almost un-equipped (a few 1920 charlet pitons here and there) . The route finding was fun and placing gear in grassy crack pretty entertaining. (does it work really, i dont know , i didnt fall) , but best of all, aside from a couple of chamois and marmottes , we didnt see anyone.
tour des crochues
i started with Anna on the tour des crouchues, voie escande de Galbert (1970). (right side straight up)
anna on tour des crochues
anna tour des crochues
and then with luca on perseverance , arete sud integral
luca pandolfi on perseverance
luca on perseverance
luca
a beer at lac blanc refuge
aiguille d’entreve
We wanted to climb the west face of the aiguille d’entreve but upon our arrival we realized it was more due North and being pretty cold and cloudy that day we opted for the leisurely traverse. Me and Pete had never being on it before and it was a nice surprise. It is a very esthetic ridge walk, very exposed. The surrounding being the Italian side of the mont blanc massif , it is obviously wild and beautiful …I highly recommend that traverse over the cosmique ridge on busy summer days…
thor husted , pete gaston
le ticket le rond le carre et la lune. aiguille du peigne.
If the words : slabs, traverse, roof are frightening to you. beyond reason: you should go there. It will be fun. 250 meter of slabs. open by Piola. and if it is too easy add some wet-ness into the equation . The rock is so good that if you can give it up, if you can balance your all life on that one little coffee spoon dish or crystal or what ever they call a hold then you will realize it is holding you and start to commit to the next move. and again and again and again …Of course i did not lead anything and i was cussing and puffing. i had fun. My next step is to find a tarantula and lick her ass.
Ben briggs getting ready
ben briggs stepping over the first roof.
what is supposed to be a hold
vision of hell
Thor husted sending it.
Thor husted
thor husted
thor husted.
god
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- ben briggs stepping over the first roof.
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- what is supposed to be a hold
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- vision of hell
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- Thor husted sending it.
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- Thor husted
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- thor husted
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- god
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- thor husted.
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- Ben briggs getting ready
wandering and lurking
That is all my job and the weather are allowing me to do these days. the patterns are as follow: days off= unsettled weather. work days=sunny and warm. I watched 3 seasons of “breaking bad” which I highly recommend. I drunk a few bottles of red wine. got fat , unfit and lazy. I went on nice short walks-climbs and witnessed radical climbing at the world cup, the chamois habitat, clouds and mountains, dog fight. I also took a co-worker on the cosmic ridge….
A nice morning walk before work. Taking Miguel on his first trip outside the cave.
world cup and dog fight
chamois rock and clouds
conte de la folie ordinaire
It is very luxurious to wake up-ride a train up 1000 meters and then walk on a sea of ice surrounded by huge mountains to the base of perfect granit crack and slab climbing. watch the moine crumble (hopefully noone was on the trail or climbing) and then walk back on the sea of ice, ride the train back to town and have a glass of wine at home.
And since some weirdo gave that name to the route we climbed i thought i would throw some related quotes from the Man himself : Bukowski.
“show me a man who lives alone and has a perpetually dirty kitchen, and 5 times out of 9 I’ll show you an exceptional man.” “show me a man who lives alone and has a perpetually clean kitchen, and 8 times out of 9 I’ll show you a man with detestable spiritual qualities.”
― Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness
“the free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.”
― Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness
“Forgive me, I guess I am off in the head, but I mean, except for a quickie piece of ass it wouldn’t matter to me if all the people in the world died. Yes, I know it’s not nice. But I’d be as contended as a snail; it was, after all, the people who had made me unhappy.”
― Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness
mer de glace
the aiguille du moine crumbling
midsommar
its summer. i have given up all my big ski projects. the global warming induced heratic weather patterns have transformed my ski dreams into mushy icy hell ski nightmares. I am a climber now. or at least for the next 3 months. A sort of a climber that is. the weak one. scared .
Thor chose one of those 100 Rebuffat finest route. the grutter ridge on the aiguille des pelerins. a fairly easy airy ridge line going to the summit of the aiguille des pelerins. First climbed in 1935 by r. aubert and M .grutter. 1935 means sandbagged and scary. And sandbagged and scary it is. But so magnificient and aerial. With splendid views on the aiguilles de chamonix . A classic!
can you see the climbers
can you see the climbers
back at work.
I am back at work. night shift .in the past 2 weeks i have been trying to rea-just to those hours and the default world i am stuck with. It does not fit skiing. Especially when the high mountains are really good and screaming my name. Especially when the gerva is good. The gervasutti is the king of all couloir. standing there with a fun angle top to bottom. a skier dream. It is Guarded by a gigantic serac which in the past 5 years i have been in cham kept on breaking and taking all the snow away. This is the first year i see it that way. And i am working. Every time there is a window i am working. I tried to go after work at 7, the condition looked sketchy and i didnt feel like i could deal if things went wrong so i bailed.I watched my friends skiing it a little frustrated. i was off last night so me and ben went back up despite a week of precipitation and over a meter of snow. We got kicked out of the midi station in the storm . this is dysneyland up there now, those days are over, you have to go to hotel cosmique and spent 50 euros.we are not a refuge. the “compagnie du mont blanc” who celebrate alpinists from the past in a gallery doesnt want the present alpinits in its hallways.They kick them out like “mal propre” .how sad, they lost the spirit. The “aiguille du midi” is now an anesthetized ride that takes hordes of chinese and other indian who will stay 10 minute and buy souvenir made in china or india. they will soon forbid skis and ice axes.
. Anyway, we skied the ridge and the south side sled with just a touch. when we got to the slope before the perroux hut, it sled as well with barely a touch. the perroux hut needs some love, the door is broken, there are no blankets left and some trash . it is my mission for this summer. if you have blankets let me know. we climbed the first 100 meters of the triangle du tacul and heard a big deep womp followed with some movement. we bailed smoothly but fast. . no gerva. and tomorrow no partners. and then work. fuck. sweet obsession….
nicklas hansen
nicklas hansen
This is the old perroux hut , it needs some fixing : the door is broken and other stuff. it needs blankets as well. And since “the compagnie du mont blanc” doesnt want any dirty alpinists in the hallway , it could disturb the japenese/chinese/ indians watching a movie on alpinism…we might have to spent some time in there…
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- nicklas hansen
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- This is the old perroux hut , it needs some fixing : the door is broken and other stuff. it needs blankets as well. And since “the compagnie du mont blanc” doesnt want any dirty alpinists in the hallway , it could disturb the japenese/chinese/ indians watching a movie on alpinism…we might have to spent some time in there…
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- nicklas hansen
bird watching
i realized on the ridge that my bindings i had switched on a new used pair of skis were at the wrong size, that and the skis were delaming…lame! i stayed up and watched birds.
Cedric Bernardini 