Mont Blanc du Tacul - Contamine Grisolle (29.06.2023)
Written by hmsv1 (Hannah Vickers)
| Start point | Aiguille du Midi (3,786m) |
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| Endpoint | Aiguille du Midi (3,765m) |
| Characteristic | Alpine climbing |
| Duration | 6h 45min |
| Distance | 7.5km |
| Vertical meters | 1,065m |
| GPS |
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| Ascents | Mont Blanc du Tacul (4,248m) | 29.06.2023 |
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I’d originally thought that Mont Blanc du Tacul could be easily tagged on the way back from doing the Kuffner Ridge on Mont Maudit, but we ended up binning that idea as I was pretty exhausted and couldn’t face any more unnecessary uphills than we needed to do... And since there are nicer ways to tag the summit than slogging up from the Col Maudit it seemed like a much better idea to come back with fresh legs after having a few days rest and climb one of the more interesting routes on the Triangle du Tacul. After two days rest I felt ready to climb a mountain again but by this time the stable summer weather we’d had for nearly a week was starting to break down, and so for the thursday we really only had until midday to climb the mountain and get back before the forecasted thunderstorms and rain arrived. Since it had been so difficult to get a place on the first lift to the Aiguille du Midi from Chamonix in the mornings (apparently you had to reserve a place the evening before) we ended up planning to sleep at the Plan de l’Aiguille refuge, the middle station for the lift - and then get the first lift at 7.30 going up from there. So our “hut walk” on wednesday afternoon consisted of a 10 minute walk downhill from the Plan de l’Aiguille station, which I think can be considered to be more or less another rest day ;-) It was a nice stay with a very good dinner and, despite the initial horror of having to share a dormitory with a group of 5 other people, I actually had a remarkably good night’s sleep until we had to get up at the luxury time of 6am. Probably one of the best hut nights I had on this holiday :D
Similar to our rather substantial evening dinner, we had a very filling breakfast as well and were feeling pretty well fed for the 15 minute walk back up the hill to the lift. We arrived a bit early and had to wait about 15 minutes, but we at least got a place on the lift without any problem. It was just before 8am by the time we arrived at the top and got the crampons on for the walk down to the Vallee Blanche and across to the east side of the Triangle du Tacul to climb the Contamine Grisolle (Left Edge) route. In the guidebook it was supposed to take between 4 ½ to 5 ½ hours to complete the route to the summit from the Cosmiques hut, so assuming it was going to take at least the same time from the Aiguille du Midi then even taking the shortest guidebook time it would still be at least midday by the time we would arrive at the summit – and still need to get down and back to the lift again after that. I thought it might be a bit tight on time to try and get the route done before the bad weather arrived, but Tim seemed pretty confident we’d have enough time. The approach took ½ hour until we were at the foot of the route and the snow had already caught the sun, so it wasn’t particularly refrozen. However, it was helpful snow for making big steps in, so on the upside my calves didn’t get too pumped until we hit an icier patch a little way up the first slope. I think my muscles were still in sleep mode at this point after several days rest, so it was a bit of a wake up to be front pointing up icy snow again. We made one belay at the right edge of the couloir/slope and then climbed another pitch, a bit of a mix of soft snow and icier patches which culminated in an awkward climb over some rock and up to the next belay where there was some old gear. The next pitch started off with bit more shade and better snow and ice, although it was kind of more mixed than pure snow and ice climbing, also rather fun. I found myself enjoying the climbing a lot more today as, firstly we’d had a substantial dinner the night before, plus my legs were less knackered and I’d had good quality sleep. Its so much more enjoyable to climb these kind of routes when well fed and well rested... One more pitch on ice followed as we traversed out a bit left and followed a kind of narrow line of ice bordered by rocks, then another belay and a final pitch to get out onto the ridge leading up to the summit slopes. It took us roughly 2 ½ hours to climb the route, so we were done by a little over 3 hours from the lift. Now all that was left was a more mundane plod up moderate snow slopes to the summt of Mont Blanc du Tacul. Some fast young guys had overtaken us around halfway up the route, but they were clearly very light and fast guys as the we ended up breaking through the crusty footsteps they’d made in the snow and it was kind of tiring work to be essentially making new steps nearly all the time!
We were on the summit at midday, so it had taken 4h 15 from the lift. Fortunately the updated weather forecast showed the bad weather arriving a bit later, and the weather was still sunny and windless on the summit so there was some hope of getting back in time. The descent down the normal route was pretty rapid and despite it being the same baking hot conditions walking back across the glacier and up to the Aiguille du Midi, it was not nearly as soul destroying as the day we’d done the Kuffner Ridge and returned from Mont Maudit. So all in all, it was a really pleasant day – fun and not exhausting :-)
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