More mixed weather passing through the valley, with much rain at times but also some sunny spells, so making the most of the sun while it's around has been the theme of the week! It's still fairly warm when the sun is out but overall the air temperature has cooled since the massive amount of rain fall in the previous week.
We have the North Face Ultra Trail going on this week, which is one of four races: 2 circling around the foot of the Mont Blanc massif spanning over 3 countries, and 2 half routes between Chamonix and Courmayeur. The hardest of the runs is the Petite Trotte a Lyon which is 240km, and will commence tomorrow evening with the competitors running pretty much constantly on the route for around 72 hours or so! Over the next few days there will be races starting and finishing. Make sure that if you're in town to cheer them on for their enormous and courageous effort.
When there was a gap in the weather we decided to take a wee hike up to Les Cheserys with a bit of rope and see how the rock is fairing up in this area. We caught the train to Montroc where you can walk toward the tunnel and turn left on to the path which leads up toward Aiguillette de Argentiere. The signs are fairly easy to follow on the way up, remembering that you are not actually heading to the Aiguillette.
Once you start to see some ibex roaming around and a cliff band approach, look out for a not so obvious path up on the right to the foot of a section of this cliff band where you will see some bolted climbing routes, if you reach the Aiguillette de Argentiere, which is a very obvious pillar of rock, then you have gone too far.
Once at the foot of climb we checked out the routes, noticing that most were around 5 on the difficulty level and loving the opportunity to give them a go. With easier routes on the second and third pitches we were very enthusiastic to get on straight away. The rock here is very grippy and just where you think you don't have a good hand hold, you can still make it as the rock is so rough you can just spread your fingers out and magic your way up the rock.
After the first route up, it became much easier moving on up toward the very last pitch, almost feeling the need not to be attached to a rope on 2's and 3's on the difficulty level. The very last pitch was much the same as the very first pitch, being around 5 on the difficulty level, which again was a great challenge and with some great views.
Once at the top we found that the sun was going down and it was now a lot cooler. Stupidly armed only with T-shirts, we abseiled back down and ran along the path to the lovely warm Office Bar for some good food, great times and wonderful beer!
Check out our Mountain Guide Listings for contact details of local guiding and activity companies.
Check out what to do around town once the lifts have closed with our Apres Ski Report - a weekly round up of what's hot and where to party in Chamonix!
