Struck by lightning on the Aiguille du Chardonnet - 12546ft (3824m) | ||||||||||||
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Introduction | ||||||||||||
-To the Albert Premier hut | ||||||||||||
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We needed two days for the climb. The first day we would climb out of the valley and bivouac near the Albert Premier hut. It's quite high at 8865ft (2702m) and just a couple of hours or so from the base of the Aiguille du Chardonnet. Consequently the hut is well placed for climbers wanting to traverse the mountain via the Forbes arete. On day two we would climb the mountain and fitness allowing, return all the way to the valley. We checked the weather forecast and found that the next two days were to have light winds, plenty of sunshine and no rain. A little cloud was expected early on day two but this was to disappear leaving a glorious day for our summit attempt. Excellent. Not wanting to miss the good weather we planned to start up the hill the next day. So the following morning we packed our rucsacs with food, stoves, bivi bags, sleeping bags and all the climbing gear we would need for the two days. I was worried about the abseils on the descent so we put in two 50m ropes, hoping to keep the number of abseils to a minimum. Our bags weighed a ton. We chucked them in the car and drove the few miles from our campsite in Chamonix up the valley to Le Tour. At Le Tour, bowed under the weight of our heavy packs we were unable to resist the lure of the ski lift. Consequently the ascent of the first 2300ft (700m) came rather easily. At the top station we set off on the remainder of the grinding plod to the Albert Premier hut. The ski lifts in the valley combined with the attraction of the high, but relatively easy summit of the Aiguille du Tour above make the Albert Premier hut a popular destination. The walk was hardly a peaceful, solitary ascent into thinning mountain air but the ever expanding views were still great. The nearest mountains are some of the highest peaks in the alps. Perhaps the best vista was looking south to the mountains ranged down our side of the Chamonix valley. Closest were the Aiguille Verte and the top of the infamous tower of rock that is the Drus. Just beyond the Aiguille Verte were the Aiguille du Midi, Mont Blanc du Tacul, Mont Maudit and finally Mont Blanc. It is certainly one of the more spectacular valleys in the alps and it's grandeur was better appreciated the higher we got. We hadn't walked for long after leaving the highest ski lift station before the snout of the Tour glacier hove into view above us. The path moved onto the crest of it's lateral moraine. The Albert Premier hut is positioned just above the snout of the Tour glacier. When we eventually reached the hut we could see the Aiguille du Chardonnet towering high over the far side of the glacier. It didn't have that look of utter impregnability that the Matterhorn has when viewed from Zermatt. Most of the route looked easier than the Matterhorn from where we stood. At the time this buoyed my confidence but in retrospect I can safely say that the Chardonnet is harder to climb than the view would suggest. | ||||||||||||
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