Today @tskelhon and I summited Mont Blanc via the Grand Mulet ski route for the first time since I have been living in Chamonix! I have been up Mont Blanc via many other routes but it’s the first time I have skied from the top!
In the past, I have always avoided this route. It is quite a classic and therefore sees a lot of traffic, many people on the route! The snow in my opinion is rarely in fresh powder conditions and so unless you do the route fairly quickly after a snowfall, and are willing to do a lot of trailblazing it will likely be a disappointing descent.
However, this year because of my trip to Alaska, I thought at the very least it’s a nice way to get some acclimatisation.
The famous junction was as expected… heavily crevassed with fragile snow bridges!
The last 200m slog to the top went quite slow and I didn’t feel so good with the altitude at this height!
We climbed the North ridge of the Dome du Gouter which is more interesting and less exposed to serac fall in this current summer sun! I was happy we did this as we were alone on this route as all the other parties were on the Grandes Mulet common route.
For the descent, we skied the north face of Mont Blanc where there were some small pockets of powder but as predicted lower down it all turned to crust then slush!
The traverse from and back to the mid station is a bit long. Next year i would simply wait for better snow conditions and prefer to start and finish from the valley and do it as one push just like 💪 @lucienboucansaud
#montblanc #chamonix #skitouring #grandesmulets #chamonixmontblanc #alpinism #stellarequipment