Barre des Écrins (17.07.2021)
Written by hmsv1 (Hannah Vickers)
| Start point | Refuge Glacier Blanc (2,511m) |
|---|---|
| Endpoint | Refuge Glacier Blanc (2,514m) |
| Characteristic | Alpine trip |
| Duration | 10h 23min |
| Distance | 23.0km |
| Vertical meters | 2,351m |
| GPS |
|
| Ascents | Barre des Écrins (4,102m) | 17.07.2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Pic Lory (4,082m) | 17.07.2021 | |
| Visits of other PBEs | Refuge Glacier Blanc (2,524m) | 17.07.2021 |
A new round of bad weather came after having returned to Evolene from the Bernese Oberland, and there was forecasted up to 50-60cm of new snow on some summits in the Valais. The extremely large amounts of new snow even prompted the SLF to issue an out-of-season avalanche bulletin for the following weekend, advising against going into steep snow-covered terrain until the new snow had had time to stabilise. Meanwhile, I’d been checking the weather forecast for the Barre des Ecrins since being on the drier side of the Alps there was a chance that the Ecrins would be not as badly affected by the current terrible weather. It turned out that much less precipitation was forecasted for the same days over there, and being keen to not lose my hard-won acclimatization by spending days down in the valley, the Barres des Ecrins ended up being the best escape option while waiting for the new snow to stabilise in the rest of the Alps. Graham wasn’t available at the weekend, so he put me in touch with fellow guide Tamsin Gay who was both available for work and keen to go to the Ecrins too. I knew of Tamsin and had heard quite a bit about her from other guides, but we’d never formally met before now and I was looking forward to finally getting to know her a bit better!
It soon became obvious that we were not the only people who’d decided to escape to the Ecrins this weekend and initial attempts to book beds at the Ecrins hut were unsuccessful. However, there were still available beds at the Glacier Blanc hut which was about a 1 hour walk further down the glacier, so we ended up taking these. Moreover it made sense to stay at the lower hut anyway, since the drive over to the Ecrins was going to take at least 5-6 hours, so a shortish hut walk would at least make sure we got there in time for dinner. The drive to Pre de Madame Carle, the starting point for the hut walk took us southwards over the border into Italy first, passing by Aosta and Turin and then westwards into France and eventually driving through Briancon and Ailefroide. The journey was actually pretty fast compared with the drive across Switzerland to get to Piz Bernina some weeks earlier, and the winding roads didn’t really start until we descended down into Briancon. It was interesting to see a different part of the Alps, especially since the landscape was pretty dry and arid compared with the Valais. I’m not sure I’d ever get too attached to this part of the Alps though. After a final stop in Ailefroide to buy more drink and snacks, we were finally at Pre de Madame Carle mid-afternoon. It was scorching hot! Memories of cool and wet Evolene were by this time long gone.
The walk up to the Glacier Blanc hut was pretty short and direct and with a bit of cloud cover it was actually a pleasantly warm temperature for hiking up with heavy rucksacks. It turned out that Tamsin is also a fan of talking pace and we had a nice slow walk chatting all the way up to the hut. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the day came when we arrived at the hut and were greeted by the sight of masses of people. It looked like the hut was going to be crammed that night :-( After managing to squeeze our way into the dining room to check in we were informed that we’d be having dinner at the second serving and were given beds in the guides room. I’m guessing they were a bit overbooked and Covid measures were apparently not an issue over here?! We had to wait outside while the first round of people had dinner in the dining room, which wouldn’t have been that bad if it hadn’t started to rain.... It was actually surprisingly quiet in the dormitory (I’m always surprised when there is no snoring whatsoever) until the 3am alarm so both Tamsin and I got a decent amount of sleep.
The following morning was a bit chaotic outside the hut as everyone had decided it would be a great idea to put on gear outside instead of in the boot room, but we managed to leave before most people in the hope of getting a bit of distance from the crowds. Naturally all the guys who followed on after us were not keen on walking slowly behind us so they all did their best to overtake us in an effort to reach the glacier first. They were clearly not as quick walking in crampons though, because once we’d roped up for glacier travel we basically sailed past at least 6 groups of people who were trudging along in snails pace. By the time it had begun to get light at around 5am, we could see the Ecrins hut just above us to the left, so it had taken a little over an hour to reach the same point as people who’d left from the higher hut. From here it was a stunning view of the whole north face of the Barre des Ecrins and it was even more beautiful half an hour later when the first rays of sun hit the face, turning the snow from pink to orange and golden colours. The plan was to follow the standard route that weaves its way up the north face until around 3800m, then make a rising traverse eastwards to reach the start of the northeast ridge, then follow the northeast ridge to the summit and traverse the mountain by descending the standard route down the northwest ridge to the Breche Lory and back down the north face again. Progress up the standard route was pretty efficient since there was already a good existing track weaving its way up the face. It was good to stop and look behind us every now and then to admire views across the Glacier Blanc northwards – despite the Ecrins seeming to be very arid and rocky from the valley bottom, there was definitely an abundance of snow and glaciated peaks up high. It was a perfect morning with no wind and sunshine as far as our eyes could see.
Once we’d traversed a few hundred metres or so there was a section of steeper snow and ice to front point up before the angle eased off and we reached the start of the northeast ridge. We could see two other climbers further up the route already but otherwise it was pretty quiet compared with the standard route. We didn’t get very far before deciding that the rock was a bit sketchy though.. Tamsin had climbed around the right side of the first rib and I had just started to follow on, but somehow managed to get hold of a loose block which fell off and caught the top of my knee as it did so. It hurt like hell and I was at first terrified that it had done some serious damage, but after about half a minute I realised I was still able to put weight on it and move without being in agony, so we concluded that I’d had a lucky escape and probably got a bruise on this occasion. Being sceptical about the rock quality along the remainder of the route we decided to go for the tried-and-tested option of doing the normal route up and down. So we descended down the same way until we hit the well trodden track again and continued up this to the Breche Lory, where the northwest ridge starts proper. It was straightforward scrambling though with the rocks still partially snow covered we kept the crampons on. Initially it wasn’t too exciting but once we reached the crest of the ridge leading up to Pic Lory, the scrambling became more exposed and much more fun. The rock was ace too! (didn’t find anything loose at least) We moved together for more or less the entire ridge, using spikes and blocks to run the rope around as protection. It got a bit congested at some points since there were teams returning in the opposite direction, but there was fortunately no queuing which I had been concerned about after seeing how many people were staying at the hut. From Pic Lory it was more of the same – airy walking and scrambling on snow covered rocks to reach the summit of the Barre des Ecrins, and we had it all to ourselves since we were most probably the last team up after having spent a good 1-1.5 hours on our detour to the northeast ridge.
Well, since we didn’t want to end up walking down in terrible snow we only stayed at the top for about 10 minutes before starting the descent and retracing our way along the ridge. Not far abelow Pic Lory we caught up with some guys who we’d met when we were still on the way up, and they didn’t seem to be especially competent descending down airy ridges, so there was a bit of waiting around on the more exposed parts of the ridge. After making it past the congested spots we found some convenient spots to traverse the ridge below them and get past. Neither of us like getting held up by guys ;-) After that we were pretty quick to get down to the Breche Lory again and begin the easy plod back down the north face and down to the glacier. Conditions were excellent until we approached the final steeper slopes above the the glacier, then the snow had transitioned to mush and we were wading up to our knees at times. Nevertheless it was only about the last 100-150m in elevation with crap snow and once back on the glacier it was back to soft but firm summer snow again. We took a good long break here before beginning the final long trudge down the glacier and back to the Glacier Blanc hut. We’d initially planned to stay here another night and drive back the day after, but after the previous nights’ experience with a crammed hut neither Tamsin or myself were feeling enthusiastic about spending another night there, so thanks to a decent 4G signal we managed to find a reasonably priced hotel in Puy Saint-Vincent on booking.com, only about 20 minutes drive from Ailefroide. If we needed reminding that it was a sunny saturday in July, the crowds of people on the trail back down from the hut to Pre de Madame Carle served as a good reminder! It was a relief to finally get back to the car park and end a really fun and fairly long day - thanks Tamsin!
| Start date | 17.07.2021 03:44 (UTC+01:00 DST) |
| End date | 17.07.2021 14:07 (UTC+01:00 DST) |
| Total Time | 10h 23min |
| Moving Time | 10h 02min |
| Stopped Time | 0h 21min |
| Overall Average | 2.2km/h |
| Moving Average | 2.3km/h |
| Distance | 23.0km |
| Vertical meters | 2,350m |
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