On the train
The alpine 'dogue'
Still in the fog, we head towards our hut
Mathieu carrying the rope
Robert
Le Grand Combin hides behind the clouds
The trail is long and relatively flat
Hole in the skies
Norbert et Robert, our 'chefs'
The first aiguilles, whose names I don't know
Frozen lake
View towards Le Portalet (In the clouds)
Grand Combin
Robert starts climbing
We exercised slides and stops using the ice axe
We climbed a steep couloir, then realized we were very late for dinner, so we started looking for a way down. To the right, we see Tete Blanche with it's 'facette' nord, and at the other end of the snow ridge, Petite Fourche. In the middle, Les Aguilles Dorees
Le Portalet (middle). To the left we see the Chandelle (the pointy rock). The route (la banane) starts in the snow right below the Chandelle, continues to the left and comes back to the right of the Chandelle (hence the banana name)
Malina unclimbing the last part of the steep couloir. Norbert is belaying her from the piolet.
Down the couloir, facing Cabane d'Orny
Mathieu
Sunrise
Marie
Up the Orny glacier at sunrise
Les Aguilles Dorées
Aiguille Purtscheller to the left, and the two summits (N and S) of Aiguilles du Tour (our goal for today)
Tête Blanche to the left, with its nice 'facette nord'. To the very right, the two Aiguille du Tour
Our route makes a large detour to avoid the middle of the glacier plateau and losing too much altitude.
Another rope heading towards Aiguille du Tour
We stopped to put on our crampons. We see better the Aiguille Purtscheller
View backwards, towards the Alpes Valaisannes
Waiting for the other ropes.
Aiguille Purtscheller. The route starts in the V-shaped 'breche' to the left, and continues on the ridge, then on the face following some cracks and ledges. A bit above our level now, but a definite 'to do once'.
Grand Combin et moi
Les Alpes Valaisannes. The biggest is Grand Combin. To the left, a bit camel-shaped, Matterhorn (looks really small)
Other parties have left their backpacks before starting the ascent.
Eric, our chef de course
Again, Eric
Jean Marc, one of the 'premier de cordee'
Davor roping up.
Up the steep couloir, right before starting the rocky ascent. The 'belay' is around a big rock, and really uncomfortable (at least when there are 3 ropes at the same time)
Malina in the first length, the most difficult one. Especially when climbing with the crampons on. Eric belays. We used slings around rocks to protect more 'interesting' steps.
View from the summit nord. The rest of the group is climbing the last snowy part. We can already see the South summit route (a bit easier) being overcrowded.
The other summit, and the tens of people crossing on the route.
View towards the rest of the Mont Blanc massif
Eric taking a picture
Davor is descending the tricky rocky part
The N summit of Aiguille du Tour
Eric wanted to climb this 'gendarme'. Luckily, we could pass around it.
Marie smiles again.
The N summit of Aiguilles du Tour: our route crossed the ledge in the lower part to reach the first snowy field, then more or less directly up in the snow, until the last rocks on the summit.
Summit picture on the South peak
..and one with me
Going back home
Descending towards Champex-Lac. Some people decided to continue on the glacier, we took the 'normal' path.
