Dent du Geant attempt
by overflow50
On Tuesday Alex, Dan and I headed off from the MIdi across to the Dent du Geant - an amazing granite spire on the Italian side of the range. Unfortunately the lift website mislead Alex so we arrived over an hour early for the first bin to the top...so we were running a bit late from the outset (although we did get coffee and bakery goodies to cushion the blow!).
The quick ski and skin across the Vallee Blanch to the base of the snow slopes leading up to the Dent to Geant let me know that I was going to be lagging for the rest of the day. I am seriously lacking enough mountain fitness!
We then soloed the snow and a few mixed steps up to the base of the climbing proper. Where we roped up and started climbing, it was pretty warm so we were mostly bare handed at almost 4000m! The climbing was on very solid granite but is let down a bit by the ridiculous amounts of fixed rope (the tops few pitches are fixed with rope about 50mm thick). Not that we didnt pull on the ropes...
We got to within a pitch and a bit of the top before time ran out and we had to bail, 3 raps got us back to the snow and then 3 or 4 raps and some down climbing got us back to our skis. We then set off down the Vallee Blanche ski route hoping to get back into town via the walking track out.
Unfortunately by the time we got about halfway down it was getting dark and I was exhausted, so I got dropped off at the Requin Hut, while Alex and Dan got back into town.
As far as unexpected bivi's go it was pretty cushy! 3 course dinner bed and breakfast. Before sitting in the sun watching the mountains until Alex came back down the Vallee Blanche with Greg to pick me up and finish off the glacier skiing back into town (Thankyou Alex!).
Overall a great couple of days but let down a bit by my fitness. I will go back for the Dent du Geant but it will be from the Refugio Torrino to allow an earlier start and much less walking!
