An attempt to ski Mont Blanc via the Three Monts: Mont Maudit turns us back, but Mont Blanc du Tacul delivers a superb plan B and a memorable descent!
I’m straight back out again with Quentin and Jérémie. And when I say straight back out, I’m not exaggerating!! Erika and Julien watch us pack our bags while waiting for me to hand over my car so they can drive home… Meanwhile, I wolf down an Italian-style ham sandwich before jumping straight back onto the Skyway I’ve only just come down on… With the weekend weather forecast in mind, I’ve suggested to Quentin and Jérémie that we bring our plans forward by a day and attempt Mont Blanc on skis via the Three Monts tomorrow. One small — but rather significant — difference compared with the previous few days: this time, we’re on skis!!
Today’s traverse begins with a descent… At this time of day the snow has already softened nicely, and it feels pretty damn good to simply glide through the mountains…
Then comes the long climb up to Refuge des Cosmiques, where it’s absolutely packed tonight: at least 12 people!! Broken-down cable cars do have their advantages!
No more luxurious 7am starts. This time the alarm is set for 1am… Tomorrow looks like a beautiful day on paper, but we want to stack the odds in our favour and get the best snow conditions possible. There are two fairly major unknowns: what will the snow be like on Mont Maudit? And how will Jérémie and Quentin cope with the altitude after only very limited acclimatisation?
When we wake up, a mischievous cloud is wrapped around the Aiguille du Midi, but I’m pretty sure I saw stars twinkling just above it. Go! Two other teams fall in behind us and stick with us… stick with us, but behind! Much better that way if you want to take advantage of the guide’s trail-breaking!
The first slopes of Mont Blanc du Tacul are fairly gentle before gradually getting steeper… Before long, we strap the skis to our packs in solidarity with Quentin, who’s on a splitboard — one of those cumbersome contraptions that isn’t exactly easy to handle. Once everything is on our backs, it suddenly feels a lot heavier! We reach the shoulder of the Tacul and it’s time for the first assessment of the day… Between the altitude and jet lag, Quentin is starting to struggle a little.
The view across the slopes of Mont Maudit is pretty unforgiving: this certainly isn’t where Quentin is going to make a miraculous recovery. But if we can get over the Maudit, we can always drop towards the Grands Mulets via the Corridors… So we traverse across to the foot of the Maudit, where we take off our skis. After just a few metres, the verdict is obvious: we’re going to sink far too deeply on foot. If we’re going up, it has to be on skis. The crust supports us nicely on skis but collapses as soon as we’re on foot. We try a kick turn… Quentin has ground to a halt, and his two anchors have him nailed to the spot before he’s even managed the first one. There’s only one decision to make: turn around!
Quentin climbs back up to the shoulder and waits for us while Jérémie and I head towards Mont Blanc du Tacul, which has been tempting us for a while. The atmosphere and views are incredible today. Fifty metres below the summit, we leave the skis and finish on foot with a short section of mixed ground. Magic!
We ski back down to Quentin, then launch ourselves into the north face of the Tacul… The skiing is fantastic, with 5 cm of fresh snow over a firm base. Jérémie and Quentin are both strong skiers/snowboarders, so we don’t exactly hang around! We still stop from time to time, though — you have to enjoy it!
At the bottom of the slope, we swing hard right towards Torino… The snow is just perfect: a little layer of spring corn where we can completely let the skis run. Pure joy… We’re seriously tempted by a descent of the Vallée Blanche, but between the crevasse maze waiting for us lower down, 5 km of snow-free Mer de Glace and the climb back up the ladders with heavily loaded packs… I make the call: we’re heading back to Torino.
A tough 300 m climb awaits us… We lighten Quentin’s load as much as possible so we can make it back in time for the shuttle to Chamonix. Yep, there’s always a train, a shuttle or a last lift to catch around here. You just have to get used to it!
The effort pays off, and we make the morning shuttle!!
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