South Pillar of the Barre des Ecrins

After some time away from the mountains, Guillaume is starting to get restless! The first key step: finding a small window of time that works for both of us in our current schedules—no easy feat! Finally, we managed to squeeze in a tiny window—with absolutely no wiggle room! Guillaume will have to head straight up to the bivouac after arriving by train, and I’ll head there after a quick morning warm-up on the Bruyère ridges!

From Pré de Madame Carle to the Chaud Campsite

Obviously, these days, tying your fate to that of the SNCF is a bit of a gamble, and when Guillaume tells me his train is an hour and a half late, I’m hardly surprised… I make the best of it by taking a nap after my morning hike along the ridges of La Bruyère. Finally, it’s 3:00 p.m. when I pick up Guillaume, and we head straight to Pré de Madame Carle. The plan for the day is to climb as high as possible up the south face of the Barre des Écrins to set up camp, ideally right at the top of the base. It’s a little past 4:00 p.m. when we set off. We’ll see how it goes—there are plenty of options for setting up camp.

The approach hike lets my partner feel that he’s in good shape—that all those kilometers of jogging weren’t for nothing! As for me, as a concerned guide, I encourage him to slow down to conserve his energy and save his strength for what’s ahead! There’s no one else around, except for a few chamois roaming near the Balmes de François Blanc. The vast faces of the Glacier Noir tower majestically above us, indifferent to the pointless and futile activities of humans.

At 7:00 p.m., we crossed the complex bergschrund leading to the south face, on the right bank of the Avalanches Couloir. From there, the route zigzagged as best it could through the base, bypassing the steepest sections via a few chimneys.

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At 9 p.m., we’re level with the Chaud campsite, 100 m below the Tour Rouge. We could push on a bit to set up camp under the Tour Rouge, but we’re both tired and satisfied with our respective days: Guillaume managed to make it from Gare du Nord to the Chaud campsite in a single day, and I covered the Champcella–Chaud campsite route via the summit of La Bruyère!! That’s enough!

The question of whether to bivouac or do a “day trip” is a source of intense debate among all those aiming to tackle this beautiful classic… For us, there was never a doubt about choosing the bivouac option! Guillaume, without any acclimatization, didn’t feel up to a grueling, life-threatening climb above 4,000 m and was frankly drawn to the idea of his first bivouac on the face. As for me, caught up in the frantic pace of the season and the back-to-back climbs, I found the idea of not having to get up at midnight and spreading the effort over two days quite appealing! And besides, with modern gear and a few common-sense choices, you can get by with a very reasonable amount of extra weight!

In any case, now that we’re here at this campsite, we’re really happy! The sun is finishing its daily work on the slopes of Pelvoux and Pic Sans Nom while Guillaume dozes off over his bowl of soup and I melt snow for water. Every now and then, I dare to disturb my companion’s peaceful slumber to offer him a few rehydration drinks, even at the crack of dawn… It’s 11 p.m.: lights out!

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Maybe it’s the habit of waking up at 3 a.m., or maybe it’s that darn “-itis” thing that’s plaguing my sinuses: Guillaume isn’t exactly in a good position to sleep in this morning! A wide-awake guide shakes him awake around 5:15 a.m., claiming that dawn is just around the corner! The view isn’t half bad, with a few thunderstorms fading away over Italy in the distance...

6:15 a.m.: We set off. We still have about 100 meters of “base” to cover before reaching the Red Tower. It’s not difficult, but right after waking up, you have to stay focused. We pass the Tour Rouge bivouac, which is still well buried under the snow at the moment. All things considered, the “Chaud” bivouac option wasn’t a bad choice!

The route descriptions in the guidebooks aren’t exactly crystal clear for the Tour Rouge, and my memories from ten years ago have completely faded! Let’s just go with our instincts! The rock on this tower is beautiful and solid, encouraging bold moves! In the end, it’s sometimes easier to read the mountain than a guidebook! After skirting around the Tour Grise, we found ourselves at the base of the Bastion, the key crux of this climb.

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Everything’s going great in the Bastion: the traverses aren’t as exposed as the guidebook suggests, the rock isn’t that bad, the route isn’t that complex, and the pack loaded with bivouac gear isn’t that heavy… A real walk in the park, basically! Well, almost… In a burst of motivation, I even suggest to Guillaume that we try a direct exit on the last ledge: we wisely opt for the classic route instead!!

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Once past the Miroir, the day’s major difficulties are behind us, and we’ve had our fill of rock. We veer left to reach the snow slopes and the couloir leading to the breach between Pic Lory and the Barre des Écrins. The tracks from previous days and from those coming from the south-to-north traverse help us make progress, but it’s still starting to take its toll up there on Guillaume, whose body is running low on red blood cells…

Guillaume's First 4,000-Meter Peak

12:15 p.m.: Summit! Guillaume’s first 4,000. It’s to his credit that he didn’t treat this altitude as some kind of Holy Grail and that he waited all this time to cross this oh-so-symbolic numerical threshold! Everything is magnificent up there today… The horizon is perfectly clear. The last rope teams coming up from the north face leave the summit to us when we arrive. We spend over an hour up there taking in the view and napping! It’s unseasonably mild. Not a breath of wind to disturb our drowsiness. How wonderful these moments of high-altitude bliss are!

As the typical party pooper and guide worried about getting back, I end up waking my companion from his nap with some soup. After all, we’re not quite there yet!

The start of the rest of the hike will be over pretty quickly: an hour later, we’re at the base of the Dôme, after a long slide of nearly 1,000 meters! The rest of the way to Pré de Madame Carle will be a little less fun!