50-70 cm of snow around 3500 m

A snowy situation in Chamonix




North face of Peigne



North face of Midi

Kuffner Ridge D, 50, 700m, IV

On the 8.th of august, Pernille and I climbed the Kuffner Ridge on Mont Maudit.

It is a route that I have been wanting to do for a very long time, so it was nice to finally climb it. The Brenva side of Mont Blanc is spectacular and the views from the bivi and the route are really amazing. We arrived pretty late at the Fourche bivi hut, around 6 pm, just to find out that the bivi with a max of 15 people, was already housing 20. We ended up staying 24 people in there, I sat and got a bit of sleep on a bench with three others and Pernille slept on the floor with another six. We got out of the hut around 5 am and topped out on the Col du Maudit at 10 am.

The walk from the Midistation took around two hours, the Tour Ronde north face looked to be back in pretty good conditions, Gervasutti couloir looked dry.

There were quite a few people on the Pointe Lachenal rock routes. 20 cm of new snow.

The Combe de Maudit, on the approach to the Fourche bivi hut. There were a lot of people, on the rock routes of the Tacul satellites. The climb to the bivi was in ok conditions, a fair bit of loose rock and gravel, but pretty easy.

The start of the ridge, can be seen in the middle of the picture.

Sunrise over the Geant basin, a lot of cloud passing over in the morning, as day came it became almost whiteout with light snow.

After the snowridge, the route climbs some rockbands and small snowfields. Good snowcover throughout.

Pernille high on the snowridge of the Kuffner, Tour Ronde in the background.

Me climbing one of the snowfields before Point de l'Androsace. Beautiful ridge climbing.

The snowridge just before the traverse under the l'Androsace. Very photogenic scene.

Aiguille Peuterey´s in the background.

Traversing under the l'Androsace, easy climbing around a great granite tower. This is the last photo from the route, as it clouded over and started to snow.

Trois Monts PD+, 50, III, 1660m

Mathias, a mate from Copenhagen is training for Cph Challange, which is an Iron Man in the city centre this August. He thought climbing Mont Blanc would be a great way to test himself and some of the gear, that he uses on his ski expeditions.

The goal of the trip was to climb Mont Blanc over the Trois Monts route, which crosses Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit, before summiting Mont Blanc. It was a great trip with great views and great winds. It is not technical, it is just long.

The headchef cooking up some very tasty freezedried stuff. There had fallen around 30 cm of new snow on the mountain, made for pretty hard bootpacking on the route.

Room with a view, tentcamp on the Col du Midi. Jumped in the bags at around 8, to get up and out around midnight. It was a very nice and clear night with lots of shooting stars.

Mathias resting on the Col du Maudit, just as the sun starts to come up. We did not feel the warmth, as the winds picked up.

Sunrise, Matterhorn, Grand Combin and Monte Rosa massif in the distance.

People struggling to get to the summit in the strong winds. We summited as the second team from the Midi, a lot of teams turned back.

Summit at 8 0´clock, in 50 kmph winds. But very clear weather, you could see the Grand Casse and Grand Motte over in Tignes. It was very cold, so we did not hang around for long.

Looking back at Maudit and Tacul from the summit, Kuffner ridge next weeks goal coming up on the right.

When we arrived back at the Col du Maudit, some guy was choppered off, quite impressive to see how fast and effective the PGHM guys work.

Mathias had some prototype of a new solarpanel with him, he wanted to give it a test on the hill before taking it on an expedition. You can read more about Mathias and his adventures on www.whiteout.eu

Some of the crevasses on Tacul has opened up so wide, that the PGHM has put up ladders to make the glacier passible.. Soon the gap will be to big, and you will no longer be able to cross.

There were quite a few people on the normal routes to Tacul and Maudit, a few came up from the Kuffner and Brenva spur as well as people on the Tacul Triangle. Pretty good conditions all over.

Arete de Rochefort, AD

On the 31. of July Pernille and I climbed the Arete de Rochefort, the route is pretty straightforward and easy. As the guidebook says it is more exposed than hard.

It has some of the best views and best scenery in the Mont Blanc massif.

The approach to the route involves an hour or so of scrambling

The ridge in all its glory, pretty easy and pretty exposed. Italy down on the right

Further along the ridge, with the dent du geant, tacul and mont blanc brenva face in the background, very nice views.

Climbers on one of the rocktowers of the route

Rescue to get four people of the Geant, that had climbed the fixed rope, but could not get down again on their own. They were dropped of on the glacier.

We did not climb the geant, as there were a cue of 15 people waiting to get on the route.

Contamine Mazeaud AD+, 65, 350m

On the 27th of July, Pernille and me climbed the Contamine Mazeaud on the Tacul triangle. The night before it had snowed around 15 cm. We had pretty harsh conditions on the route, with 40km winds and heavy spindrift. Apart from that, the route was nice and varied. We abseiled down the couloir Chere.

We had the Mazeaud to ourselves, but there were people in the Grisolle and the Chere. We counted over 70 people on the Tacul normal route. Quite a few teams on south face of midi and the Eperon also.

Approaching the route, it goes pretty much straight up from there.

Third pitch in the entry couloir, pretty windy stuff

Belay after the third or fourth pitch, these are the only two pictures from the route, after this we came onto the main face, where there was a lot of spindrift going on. Good climbing though.

The first of five abseils down the couloir Chere, which seemed to be in ok conditions after the first pitch. There are in situ anchors for every 20 meters or so.

Very nice sunset from the col du midi.

Contamine Grisolle AD, 60, 350m

On the 10th of July, Pernille and I went up to the Col du midi, to climb the Contamine Grisolle and Mazeaud on the Tacul triangle.

Tacul triangle, a lot of great short training routes on this face. Easy acces and descent.

Quite a lot of snow at the time, digging out the pit for the tent .

We simulclimbed pretty much the whole thing, route was in really good conditions.

Topping out on the triangle ridge, after two hours of climbing.

The last bit to the top, great views. We downclimbed to gain the normal route on Tacul further down, spending as little time as possible under the seracs of the nw face.

Next day we made an attempt on the Mazeaud, but abseiled off, a 100m up the route after a couple of avalanches had swept the entry couloir.

Aiguille de l'M, NNE, D, 6a, 180m

On the 18th, Pernille, Sune and I climbing the NNE of the L´m.

I did the climb last summer, but it was worth doing again, especially the alternative direct finish is very nice, around F6a.

Pernille seconding the first slab pitch.

3rd pitch, very nice crack, with a bit of slab to it. 2 pitons in place

4th pitch, very nice handjam start to offwidth.

Sune starting up the direct finish, very nice cracks and grooves, 2 pitons in place.

After the 5th pitch we abseiled off, instead of going for the summit. 3 abseils, some in situ stuff.

We had a look a the Voie Couzy on the north face TD-, 6a 250m, looked very nice and busy, another day.

Arete Des Papillons D, 5c, 250m

On the 20th of july, Sune and I climbing the Arete des papillons on the Peigne. Nice relaxed day out with nice weather and climbing.

Approach to aiguille de Peigne, easy scrambling about 30 min from midstation.

Second pitch on the ridge, nice cracks and grooves

Lunch at belay, waiting for french ropeteam of three to get their stuck rope out.

5th pitch, cracks and a nice corner.

Me seconding the crux pitch, on very exsposed corners and flakes, beautiful. 4 pitons in place.

Last pitch, bit of crack to a nice slab, two bolts in place. We abseiled of from top of this pitch. You can continue another 2-300 vertical to the summit of the Peigne, another day.