Travels in the Alps - Morning on the Aiguille du Tour

TheAiguille du Tour from the glacier above the Albert Premier

Leaving the Albert Premier hut in the chill twilight before dawn, we picked our way by the light of head torches up over the icy rocks behind the hut; wavering pools of light on the snow indicating the position of each climber ahead of me...

I was here as part of an organised trip to climb Mont Blanc in July 2002 and the Aiguille du Tour was our acclimatisation peak; the mountain commonly being climbed as a warm up by parties attempting Mont Blanc. It had been a week of inclement weather, a massive thunderstorm being followed by extreme cold with the snow line down to below 2000m. As we'd left Chamonix the morning before it had felt more like autumn in Scotland than summer in France. The snow on the surrounding mountains had seemed to encroach almost to the valley itself and the temperature indicator at the gondola station had showed an icy minus 15 degrees C on top of the Aiguille du Midi.

We'd been mini-bussed up to Le Tour at the head of the Chamonix Valley where we'd all hopped onto the chairlift for a chilly ride up to Col du Balme. From the top station, you go through a gap in the fence and follow the wide track in a roughly south easterly direction leading around the curves of the mountainside to head south and up away from the grassy pastures of the Col du Balme. The views are good all the way; back to the Emosson Peaks, Mont Buet and the rugged Aiguilles Rouges then down valley towards Chamonix where Mont Blanc towers over everything else. Closer at hand, the immediate area is dominated by the spire-like Aiguille du Chardonnet. The path is an easy steady climb almost all the way with one very short rocky section with a handrail for comfort though it's not really needed. The last part up to the Albert Premier is steeper but not difficult though it is usually on snow.

When we'd reached the Glacier du Tour with its maze of ice towers, seracs and crevasses, we'd turned sharp left to follow the path up the steeply sloping moraine bordering the glacier. I'd plodded slowly up here, weighed down by my pack and up the final steep snow slope at its end to the hut, arriving in a thin freezing mist which gradually cleared to reveal what a breathtaking spot the hut was in - overlooking the glacier at a height of 2703m or almost 9000 feet and on a level with the jagged summits of the Aiguilles Rouges across the depths of the upper Chamonix Valley...

The lights on the snow in front had stopped moving and were extinguished one by one as we stopped to rope up before venturing onto the glacier. It was now getting lighter and the head torches were no longer needed. I was relieved - setting off in the dark is a reality for Alpine ascents so as to cross glaciers and snow before the sun turns them to slush but setting off when your body says it should still be in bed has never been a joy to me. The sun would be up soon.

Clipping onto the line I followed my companions across the frozen snow that blanketed the upper reaches of the Glacier du Tour. A steady pace took us slowly nearer to the craggy peaks which slowly emerged above, etched against the sky from the fast fading twilight. I was relieved to stop for another quick rest and to take a photo as we neared the top of the glacier. Dawn was starting to break up here but below, the valley and distant plains were still in shadow. I was slightly breathless from the altitude and would have rested longer but we pressed on again. Thankfully the angle eased as we entered a wide snowy valley, the peaks before us already bathed in golden sunlight. Now we tackled a long steep slope on our left, kicking steps up the half frozen snow. It was fun to climb though I would personally have done it more slowly!

Just before dawn looking across the upper Chamonix Valley

At the time I thought our leader was something of a slave driver - stopping to enjoy the view is after all one of the pleasures of walking in the mountains and it was something he seemed to have little interest in allowing us to do. In reality my lack of fitness at the time was probably more to blame as I couldn't put my snail like progress down to the altitude or carrying a bit of extra kit but I was finding the going harder than perhaps I should have done - now I only tend to struggle when it's hot - something it certainly wasn't that morning on the Aiguille du Tour.             

From below, the top of the slope appeared barred by steep rocks but on reaching them they were little more than ice covered boulders protruding through the snow. This was the Col Superieur du Tour and was, to my relief, the scene of another rest. With cold hands, I took a photo looking back down the col and to where the far off lowlands were hidden beneath banks of cloud. Here we had a bite to eat and a drink before setting off once more.

The Col Superieur at almost 3300m - the frontier between France and Switzerland

On the far side of the rocks we were in Switzerland as the col marks the frontier ridge and the ground, instead of falling steeply away again sloped gently downwards for a short distance before opening out into a vast and almost level field of snow - the Plateau du Trient - which is the upper reaches of the Glacier du Trient. From here the distant white giants of the Valais led the eye beyond the dazzling expanse into a distance of icy mountains along the main ridge of the Alps.

Following the left edge of the plateau, we slowly gained height moving along below the rocky crest of the ridge which culminated in the reddish brown pyramid of the Aiguille du Tour. Leaving our rucksacks,  we rounded a large bergschrund which is the crevasse that can appear where the moving glacier ice meets the solid mountainside, on the right, before heading back left again over snow and doubling back once more along a rocky ledge traversing the face of the summit pyramid which close up was akin to a massive pile of rocks not unlike some of the summits in the Glyders in Snowdonia.

Switzerland from just below the summit - left my camera with the bag like a dodo

A final short scramble in a mostly enclosed gully brought me out onto the boulder covered summit. Here at 3541 metres the rocks were icy and a cold wind blew but it was (quite literally) a breathtaking spot. To the North the ground fell away steeply back to the glacier we'd climbed above the hut while beyond I could see the Lac d'Emosson with the Dents du Midi lost in cloud to its far side. The peaks of the Valais, including the Weisshorn and Matterhorn appeared to the East while Mont Blanc rose roughly south west of us, still over 4000 feet higher and surrounded by a jagged array of peaks rising out of pristine snow covered glaciers.

The journey down was much quicker and easier with a fast seat of the pants descent of the Col Superieur, the snow rapidly softening in the Sun's heat as we descended. We'd had a good day for this trip but sadly for us, the inclement weather returned with a vengeance that night in Chamonix and we never got to attempt Mont Blanc after all...