backcountry journal
Aiguille des Glaciers SW face - Mont Blanc massif
Feb 06
The descent from the Aiguile de Glaciers into the Italian side of teh Mont Blanc massif is generally south facing and so prone to pooer quality but more stable snow. We went up there and the snow was rock hard, which is a shame as we took a helicopter. The drop point was on teh snowy shoulder of teh heavily glaciated peak with a view down over les Contamines t teh west. I was able to get a quick view of the rotes that my girlfriend and I intended on hiking and riding in a few weeks.
This picture was taken during a walking trip in late spring. Aiguille des Glaciers (3800m) is the high peak with Glacier des Glaciers on the southern face. We started on the snowy left hand shoulder below the rocky peak.
There had been some fresh snow during the week, about 30cm, however the wind was strong and this entire face had been scoured of loose snow and compacted. The result was very smooth and very hard snow. Various pitches on the descent were quite steep, perhaps 40 degrees and not so easy to handle under those conditions. We were taking care not to build up too much speed as getting and edge again could be a problem on the super smooth hard surface. It was the kind of snow that needed to be softened by the spring sun giving you a few inches of sot snow on a hard fast base. When we rode there it was sunny but the weather was still a little cold for that effect.
The Pyramids Calcairs, taken at the same time as the above picture and not at the time of descent when there was snow everywhere.
One of these days I will bother to upload some video footage of the descent and put it here...
The first half of the descent was spent traversing off the strangely named Glacier des Glaciers. It is a good glacier, but if you ride it to the bottom then you end up in the wrong valley and in France, which means that the heli will not be able to pick you up. We traversed east above col de la Seign and looked for better snow on the north flank of the Pyramids Calcairs. These little peaks stick out of the upper side of the valley. There is often ok snow in the protected northerly side of the ridges but not this day. Although better, it too had been blasted by the wind. The riding surface was breakable wind crust with intermittent sections of dimpled softer snow. From this point we were almost back at our collection point near Lac Combal. Along the route, on a ridge up hill from the Pyramids, there was an old rock and cement bunker that still had rusting barbed wire on the ground around it. I have never seen farmers use barbed wire in the Alps and certainly not up so high and placed around what looked like a military bunker. It turned out to be the remains of a military gun post from WW2. I was amazed that the wire, although very rusted, had lasted so long. The position was high on the flank of Val Veni and could se east and west along the valley. To the west is col de la Seigne which forms the boarder between Italy and France. This col and the valleys each side were likely good strategic approaches around the south western corner of the Mont Blanc obstacle. In fact, the famous Tour de Mont Blanc hiking path runs over the col. This would have been valuable ground for an force moving from France into Italy as the only other way was via Switzerland or much further south, entering Italy below Torino.
Another interesting feature of the area is a small pocket high on Glacier de glaciers. On the map it looks like a icy cove on the rocky upper western edge of the glacier. It is called col du moyen age, which I think was supposed to have held in the glacial ice evidence of human activity from the middle ages.
This was the first time I had been in the Val Veni, a great spot which gives access to the entire south and south west quadrant of the Mont Blanc massif. Lots of touring and riding is possible from here, particularly if you hike up the peaks from the valley and then drop over into the more northerly facing slopes into France.
The first half of the descent was spent traversing off the strangely named Glacier des Glaciers. It is a good glacier, but if you ride it to the bottom then you end up in the wrong valley and in France, which means that the heli will not be able to pick you up. We traversed east above col de la Seign and looked for better snow on the north flank of the Pyramids Calcairs. These little peaks stick out of the upper side of the valley. There is often ok snow in the protected northerly side of the ridges but not this day. Although better, it too had been blasted by the wind. The riding surface was breakable wind crust with intermittent sections of dimpled softer snow. From this point we were almost back at our collection point near Lac Combal. Along the route, on a ridge up hill from the Pyramids, there was an old rock and cement bunker that still had rusting barbed wire on the ground around it. I have never seen farmers use barbed wire in the Alps and certainly not up so high and placed around what looked like a military bunker. It turned out to be the remains of a military gun post from WW2. I was amazed that the wire, although very rusted, had lasted so long. The position was high on the flank of Val Veni and could se east and west along the valley. To the west is col de la Seigne which forms the boarder between Italy and France. This col and the valleys each side were likely good strategic approaches around the south western corner of the Mont Blanc obstacle. In fact, the famous Tour de Mont Blanc hiking path runs over the col. This would have been valuable ground for an force moving from France into Italy as the only other way was via Switzerland or much further south, entering Italy below Torino.
Another interesting feature of the area is a small pocket high on Glacier de glaciers. On the map it looks like a icy cove on the rocky upper western edge of the glacier. It is called col du moyen age, which I think was supposed to have held in the glacial ice evidence of human activity from the middle ages.
This was the first time I had been in the Val Veni, a great spot which gives access to the entire south and south west quadrant of the Mont Blanc massif. Lots of touring and riding is possible from here, particularly if you hike up the peaks from the valley and then drop over into the more northerly facing slopes into France.
[Mont Blanc guide for skiers, reference #24]