Les Drus, viewed from Montenvers.
Les Drus. The light grey mark is where the Bonatti pillar was.
Les Grandes Jorasses in the back. La Mer de Glace in front
A marmotte came very close to us, we almost took it for Costica
These long stairs lead down to the glacier. We'll be climbing them back up next day under the rain.
La Dent du Géant and the Rochefort ridge on the right.
A closer look on the Dent du Géant
La Mer de Glace was full of torrents who cut deep into the glacier
Patricia jumping over one such torrent
Les Grandes Jorasses from refuge Leschaux
Me, Malina and Patricia, notre “cordée” having a great dinner in refuge Leschaux. It is not too often that one has the priviledge of dining in front of one of the most famous north faces of the Alps.
North face of Grandes Jorasses
Towards Montenvers, the weather was already changing
Our goal was Pointe Sisyphe, to the right of the 4 equally sized gendarmes, hidden behind the ridge
Sunset
Eperon Walker
Sunset over glacier Leschaux
Last sunrays on Grandes Jorasses
Morning on the glacier
Sun is rising
Petite pause
The Grandes Jorasses seen from around 3000m
The weather is quickly turning for worse
The “rope” behind us. We decided to turn back from around 3000m because of deep soft snow. We were advancing too slow, and we were worried about the snow bridges we had to pass on the way up. Weather was going to change much quicker than announced by the meteo, so we started descending pretty fast.
Patricia and Malina, agreeing to descend
Le Capucin du Tacul
Some not-so-old avalanches
Weather was really changing every minute
One short stop before the crevasses
Dark clouds are gathering. The afternoon storms were to start at 9.30 AM
After the rain comes shine
A short exercise in crampons
