French Alps - June 2025
Piers Harley
In July, Ian Pegg and I (along with a number of other CMC members) ventured to Argentière in the French Alps for a few days of hiking, climbing, and general mountain fun.
Unfortunately, due to the effects of a dry winter, followed by a very warm summer, forced us to change our plans as many routes weren’t in condition. Instead, we focused on rock climbing.
The South Ridge of the Aiguille du Moine features in Gaston Rébuffat’s top 100 alpine routes list, but surprisingly does not see that much traffic. With rucksacks packed, we took the mountain train from Chamonix to the Montenvers station. From there, we took a cable car down to the Mer de Glacier and set off for the Couvercle alpine hut. We arrived mid-afternoon and made plans for the following day. We befriended a party of Americans who were attempting the same mountain, albeit via a different route.
A 06:00 am alarm saw us having breakfast at 07:00 am. By 08:00 am, we were out the hut and making the 30-minute approach to the start of the route. With crampons donned and axes in hand, we made our way up the final few meters of the Glacier de Talèfre to the start of the route. We elected to stash the crampons and axes at the start (I tried to sound confident that I could find them again later!).
We made rapid progress up the face by moving together and keeping our B3 boots on. As we climbed higher, the climbing got steadily harder and within 100m of gaining the ridge, we had our rock shoes on. Once we were on the ridge, we had 3 crux sections to overcome before the summit. It was far from over. We continued to move together where possible, but the crux sections were pitched with Ian making short work of them. We summited late afternoon and had the American party for company.
We joined forces with the Americans for the descent, and this route down was actually the easiest route up the face! We downclimbed where possible, but the serious nature of the terrain necessitated numerous abseils. Our progress was further hampered by the weather … it had started to rain! We took our time arriving (wet) at the point where the axes and crampons were stashed in the dark. One final abseil onto the glacier later, and we made the short descent to flat ground. Wet ropes and kit were thrown into our bags, and we set off for the hut in the soggy gloom. It was at this point that we got lost for the first time that day and arrived 20 minutes after the Americans! The hut guardian was expecting us and had laid out some amazing food.
As we chatted with the Americans, I reflected on what had been an amazing day. We had dispatched the route easily, but the mountain had made us work hard for it and had thrown a weather-related curveball our way just to gently remind us who was boss.
Sophie Monaghan
During week 1, myself, Paula, Anna and Esme completed a variety of hikes and a couple of climbs.
On the Sunday, we started with a 15km hike at Aiguillette des Posettes, which was a nice introductory walk after a long day of travel. This gave a snippet of the beauty we all were about to be exposed to during the week.
The following day (Monday), we visited the area of La Pierre à Bosson for a short 5km hike, as a result of sore legs from the previous day! Tuesday was then a climbing day, where all of us as as group completed some sport climbing.
On the Wednesday, Paula and I headed off on a morning hike around La Lavancher, via Petit Balcon North and South, while Esme and Anna went on a more elevated walk. Then, with a bit of steam left, Paula and I also headed up to see Mer de Glace nearby, one of the many magnificent glaciers to see around the Alps, or, unfortunately, what’s left of it… but this also resulted in a rewarding visit to a hillside cafe next to it for a nice cold drink with a view!
On Thursday myself, Paula, Piers and Ian completed the South East Ridge on the Aiguilles Rouges Index. This route was my first alpine route, first multi-pitch, first trad rock route and first abseil all in one day - Safe to say, there was a great deal to take in that day! The index is a popular mountain in the Aiguille Rouge. Situated approximately 200m from the top of the Index chairlift, it offers easy accessibility to a number of rock routes. The most popular being the Southeast Ridge, graded at AD 4c. Although a fairly benign route, the seriousness should not be underestimated. It involves multi-pitch rock climbing followed by a 60 m (or 2 x 30-meter) abseil. However, it offered fantastic views and was a great introduction to Alpine rock climbing.
On Friday, Paula and Sophie headed up to Lac Blanc via the cable car, where a great deal of people-watching and basking in the sun with some lunch was done! This route certainly lived up to its popularity and beauty.
Whilst some of us departed at the end of the first week, others arrived/stayed on. Throughout the remainder of the trip, members completed a variety of routes: Crouches Traverse on Aiguilles Rouges (despite there being some hefty queues!), successful mornings on the Brévant- completing La Somone and Rêve de cornichon, Petit Flambeau doing the Northeast Ridge into the West Ridge, Entreves, summiting Aiguilles Marbrees and doing the Pointe Lachenal traverse. Safe to say many routes were smashed with great efforts by all!