Frustration Rules Board Game

Mont Blanc.

Ascent from the Refuge Gonella.

Descent Aiguille du Midi.

Track GPS

And just as all the other times I enclose the path made by my Garmin GPS, I would say that the whole track is very reliable, especially the descent of the Aiguille du Midi . In fact, if you change the time, it is said that traces of the passage of so many people who attend every day that way, could be covered with snow and poor visibility on that occasion, could become very difficult to maintain the right direction. In fact, in If we were surrounded by fog is advisable to follow the path Gouter, with its steps to the ridge edge, is more logical.

addition, rising in steps to the crevices of the glacier before the Dome of the Aiguille Grises Colle, I hope that when they open the new shelter Gonella, equipping some passage, because unfortunately we blocked by about 10 m. wide chasms we had to climb the central serac, under nothing but nice.

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adventure.

Crossing the Mont Blanc.

In my projects "Little mountaineer, wandered for a while 'time the idea of \u200b\u200bwinning the White from the Italian normal route, and then complete the exploration of the valley coming down from the path of Tacul. Not only because the Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the Alps, our beautiful, but mostly because a few years ago, in one of my trips, go up the glacier Miage and was fascinated by the tongues of ice that came down huge crevasses in the Massif and I promised myself that someday I had to try to recover.

I must admit that in recent years, and acquired a bit 'more experience in mountaineering techniques, although I still have much to learn, I do not want to miss. But unfortunately a big problem afflicts me, to face the ice and needed to go to avoid being linked to some bad crack, so I needed a person with whom to go, and do certain things in the village where I live, I found a lot of sharing, so thanks to new technology, I learned to make real contact of mine on the internet and I must admit I have met people with my interests, really good and willing to achieve results.

With Franco, however, was different. The Savoy met at the camp at the weekend where we won the Mont Velan, I was talking about wanting to reach the White rising from Gonnella, but a climb so far, this year also the management of the refuge is not yet in operation, did not convince my other friends. Franco could not help but listen to our discussions, so I replied that he, too, which is a big fan of White, was looking for a partner to make that climb, so we exchanged phone numbers and keep in touch.

Later, Franco was highly specific, so we were able to arrange the crossing of Mont Blanc.

had come the right time, free time we had both, the forecast for the weekend was finally put to good, although during the preceding week had thrown a lot of snow, she decided to leave anyway.

Friday mattina al mio paesello pioveva, pensavo, “speriamo che il meteo che dava schiarite in serata non abbia sbagliato”, devo ammettere di essere stato un po' ansioso col pensiero di partire, ma appena caricai lo zaino in macchina il sogno incominciò a diventare realtà.

Arrivato al casello d’Ivrea, dove avevamo l’appuntamento, stava riversando un gran acquazzone, giusto il tempo di caricare l’attrezzatura su di una macchina sola e via in autostrada su per la Valle d’Aosta. Mentre salivamo in valle la pioggia cessava di scendere, le cime erano tutte coperte dalle nubi, ma per lo meno era asciutto e non pioveva. Arrivati a Courmayeur, abbiamo recuperato gli ultimi viveri in un negozio locale. In breve raggiungemmo le aree attrezzate della Val Veny, dove quella sera piazzammo la tenda e consumammo una buona grigliata di carne. Quella notte il cielo si rasserenò completamente.

Il sabato alle quattro del mattino, suonava la prima sveglia, si pensava di partir presto, per accaparrarsi i pochi posti del bivacco del Gonella. Una splendida stellata sopra le nostre teste. La colazione, Franco, l’aveva preparata la sera prima, bastava accendere il fornelletto da camping e consumarla. Affardelliamo per ultimo gli zaini e ci avviamo alla sbarra che chiude l’accesso in autovettura ai laghi Combal. Un’oretta al buio sulla strada asfaltata che porta al bar Combal, poi la luce del giorno, rischiariva la valle e le prime luci del sole illuminavano the tip of the Aiguille de Trelat. On the tops snow falling in recent days was still evident, it worried us a bit ', but we continued the ascent, at first, then the moraine of the glacier Miage. Most Miage and covered with huge boulders split, if you step wrong, it can be really long ascent, but fortunately my partner, I knew that place, so I had to do the right trajectory to avoid the most treacherous rocks . Another consortium followed us and got us in a hurry, seemed to the French, they were more cocks us, because we were told that the next day they would try to climb the White Tournette by way of a treacherous ice walls, so a certo punto, svoltarono a destra scalando le seraccate del ghiacciaio del Monte Bianco che portano al bivacco Quintino Sella.

Mentre si sale il Miage, si può vedere, su uno sperone roccioso in alto a destra, il rifugio Gonella. A un certo punto, ci accorgemmo che delle persone stavano già scendendo dal rifugio; la conclusione era una sola, se nei giorni precedenti è sempre stato brutto, la discesa a quest’ora, non può che essere un fallimento. Io pensavo “e già, forse c’è troppa neve molle”. Gli individui si avvicinavano sempre più, li abbiamo incrociati, sulla parte alta del ghiacciaio, erano inglesi, nelle poche parole che riuscimmo a capire, dissero che non si poteva salire ed era veri Dangerous. Io e Franco ci guardammo in faccia, eravamo preoccupati, “se questi non ce l’hanno fatta, come faremo noi” io pensavo che se la neve sui pendii del ghiacciaio del Dome, fosse ancora troppo instabile e i passi sprofondano, avremmo trovato una situazione impossibile per salire. Per un istante c’è stata l’idea di rinunciare, ma poi ci guardammo negli occhi, e dicemmo: “Ormai siamo qui, e per essere sicuri, non ci resta che andar su a vedere”. Così attaccammo le roccette che risalivano al rifugio; io ricordo che mentre proseguivo, un pensiero mi frullava nella testa: “chissà se questa volta, non la diamo a bere agli Inglesi, sarebbe proprio una vera vittoria in casa”.  However, all it took more than six hours to get to Gonella. By now we realized that there was no one in the camp, and while we were preparing a hot soup, came a lone climber. He was a young Frenchman, was strong, he stopped to eat near the camp, then he said he wanted to do the ridge of the Aiguille Grises maybe Blank. Anyway, after eating his meal, took the backpack and go his way, saying he bivouacked on the rocky ridge, started to climb the slope behind the hut and disappeared quickly behind the huge boulders. Franco and I looked at, another in the eye and said in a joking way, "the little people there, but it seems all mad, "taking a bit 'in a good mood.

Since you have to start at night, with daylight was essential to go see the first part of the climb to be aware of the steps, so while Franco had put to rest continued on the rocks behind the hut, arriving at the foot of the glacier the Dome, I saw that the tracks of the British, had beaten the snow on the leeward side, leaving traces of the exhausting, it was certainly better off in the center of the glacier where the ice was no longer dry and you could walk better, but there were many crevices that you should pay close attention, also under the serac Colle Aiguille Grises remains a incognita vista dal basso, la salita non era banale, ma io come sempre ero ottimista e ritornai al rifugio. Franco nel frattempo si era svegliato e gli raccontai ciò che avevo visto. Ci serviva acqua, il rifugio era sprovvisto, ma per fortuna ancora l’esperienza di Franco, ricordò di una sorgente che sgorgava dal versante, non era simpatico andare a prendere l’acqua, ma almeno c’era ed era pure buona. Il pomeriggio passava e nel silenzio della montagna, si sentivano le continue frane di pietre sui versante di fronte. Avvistammo anche degli stambecchi, due femmine e un cucciolo, stavano leccando il sale, lasciato dalle recenti lavorazioni cementizie, sulle pietre, nei pressi del rifugio. Franco lui è un esperto di animali selvatici and said he probably did not have a puppy of the second female, perhaps he had fallen, or worse killed by human hands. At some point in the monotony of the noise of the valley, we heard a big bang. He was a helicopter up the valley, closer and closer, until you land right on the platform in front of the shelter, got a construction worker, the company returned to the work of the refuge and the helicopter in flight. The worker appeared to be very upset, began to put the junk taken from the camp in a large bag, I had a bad breath of alcohol, claimed to be a mountain guide. At one point, talking, start to explain the way to climb, and he said it was easy would have been child's play to leave the ridge and arrive before the Mont Blanc, honestly we gave back the charge that we had lost that morning with the British. He returned to the helicopter, loaded it again, but not picked up anything, "that strange," thought: "So it really true that in all these places are just crazy", making a laugh about it.

was time, we had to prepare harnesses and equipment, then consumed the extensive dinner and finally, although it was still day we went to bed to sleep that night was the start really soon. The evening was quiet and I sleep well, all the mice that live in the camp. The alarm clock had the

fissata per mezzanotte, addirittura ci svegliammo qualche minuto prima che suonasse, per prima cosa uscimmo fuori a controllare il tempo, era una splendida serata con aria tiepida, milioni di stelle spiccavano nel cielo, la luna da ovest che faceva capolino dalle creste dell’Aiguille Grises, illuminava una gran parte di ghiacciaio. Senza perdere troppo tempo facemmo scaldare la colazione, un po' fuori luogo a quest’ora, ma era indispensabile mangiare, prima di mettersi in marcia. Partiamo legati dal rifugio e affrontiamo il primo tratto di roccette coi ramponi nei piedi, dieci minuti arriviamo ai piedi del nostro ghiacciaio del Dome, gli ultimi preparativi di corda, in un ghiacciaio cosi crepacciato era indispensabile, mantenere una cordata piuttosto lunga, con dei nodi a palla in mezzo e l’uso di cordini di svincolo alle estremità. Di nodi a palla bisogna farne almeno due, si dice che il primo fa la sede sul bordo del crepaccio, mentre il secondo blocca la caduta, sinceramente non vorrei metterli alla prova; i cordini di svincolo, invece, mantenuti all’imbrago e fissati alla corda da un nodo prussing, un particolare nodo autobloccante, sono molto utili per creare una sosta immediata con la piccozza ed assicurare in ogni momento il compagno.

Iniziamo la salita non seguendo per nulla le tracce degli Inglesi, il passaggio in centro è buono, anche se bisogna raggirare parecchi crepacci e oltrepassarli su sottili ponti di neve, nel primo tratto sembra di non prendere mai altitude, but at some point we are to overcome a wall of snow, a slope of about 40 degrees more than a hundred meters high. As soon as I set foot on the slope, I realize I had stumbled into a damn leeward side, the steps collapse, and earned a share of difficulty, I will not give up, I knew that we would find better conditions above and slowly walked out of the Paciocco, the crust Snow became increasingly carrier and took speed again. I remember going up that slope, in the silence of the night and the troubles of breath, felt thuds settling of the snow, I thought: "We hope that does not come off right now this damn wall, meanwhile, once you graduate from here, do not spend more . Climbed the wall of snow, we finally arrive at a basin, which attacks a ridge on the left side that leads al'Aiguille Grises, remembering the words spoken by quell'operaio, the day before, advised us to circumvent the right of serac ice, as well as the moon went down behind the peaks and darkness obscured the valley, we continued to climb. At some point, however, a huge crevasse, more than ten meters wide, blocking the passage. "Wow!" Said Franco, "from here you do not pass." The rift did not show the bottom and moving to the right on the slopes of the Piton des Italiens, was very tricky, we had to go down a little and returned to the valley of darkness, go left towards the ridge of the Aiguille Grises, we could not get around too much, it was already late, so I decided to climb the serac Central, I went on a frame of thin ice, upstream of a beautiful ravine, it was hot, the seracs hanging over our heads dripping, just then, or could have climbed to the mountain, good planting the pick of my ice ax and crampons on the tips of the crevasses of the ice live, dance and we went over on the plateau at the foot of the hill ' Aiguille Grises, a sigh of relief.

The collar was not difficult to trace, but it just came over, everything changed perspective, the ridge was very thin, it was necessary to remove the nodes ball and shorten the string, the first stretch of rocks sticking ice is Grade II, then we arrive at the end of the ridge, at which point you will encounter a tricky triangle of very thin ridges, we must go right and reach the Piton des Italiens. It 's still dark, you see the lights of the houses in the Valley of Chamonix, the passage of the ridge is exposed and dangerous, there is also no sign of passage, the front lights are lost in the bottom of the icy slope. Better not be on the wire, it seems there are frames on the Italian side, at some point I come off the custody of my camera, fortunately I had attached to another berth, while trying to fix, I slips a foot, but now tears the pike in the ice and I stop, "fiuhh! a sigh of relief, "then I turn to Franco, he was also in crisis, it was loose the knot of the rope and doll's cluttered progression, a short scream, a crash, even Franco, luckily I managed to stop due to ax. At this point it was obvious that we had to reorder some 'ideas if we did not want to fall in, the only moment of crisis had come in the most exposed, had to calm people and continue the progression of the ridge, the ridge at that point salt is very thin and slightly inclined towards the Piton des Italiens, the frames at this point seems to pour into France, then down a bit 'on the Italian side, I remember saying to France many times in a row for my good marks, because if I had passed I had to go himself, the more saliva, then spreads over the ridge, finally got on top of the Piton des Italiens. A small plateau ice is not very comfortable but certainly safer than the crest passed, we were able to sit for a while and eat something in the meantime, the lights of the day cleared the valley, "which show the day!" I cried, from here you can see ' whole caravan of people who follow the path until Gouter White and all the sharp ridges of the amphitheater and the Aiguille de Bionnasay under the houses of Chamonix with its valley. I must admit to have had a moment of intense emotion, now the worst was over, reorganized the backpack, we began to descend on the wide shoulder leading to the Dome de Gouter, at one point we saw two French Quintino Sella, who trace Tournette, were still very low and was still waiting for a treacherous ice chute, I honestly do not envy them at all. Then a roar, a helicopter closer and closer, the helicopter was the day before, they were both safe, I saluted him and after a moment, he changed course and did not see him ever again, "that strange," he repeated.

however, exceed the ice cap of the Dome de Gouter, we took the trail crossed a very normal way of French, gente che saliva e che scendeva, chi legato e chi no, era evidente che non c’era alcun pericolo oggettivo a quel punto, dovevamo solo camminare e camminare, ricordo le espressioni di chi scendeva, sembravano ghignare di noi, perchè eravamo gli ultimi a salire, ma nessuno di quelli sapeva la nostra storia ed io molto fiero della salita, camminavo a testa alta su per la comoda cresta che conduce in cima alla vetta del Monte Bianco. Onestamente ricordo di aver letto che dalla cima il paesaggio è un po' deludente, è vero. Anche se oggi la giornata è così limpida che ci si potrebbe immaginare anche di vedere il mare, tutto da quassù mi appare spento, “che strano”. Comunque non importa, segno il waypoint sul mio GPS Garmin, mi segna 4810 e siamo sulla vetta più alta delle nostre Alpi, chiediamo a qualcuno di scattarci qualche foto ricordo, e poi, per finire alla grande iniziamo la discesa verso l’Aiguille du Midi, per visitare così tutta la montagna.

Per la discesa ai colli del Mont Maudit e col du Midi, bisogna scendere un enorme plateau ghiacciato, il versante è ben  innevato non mostra crepacci, ma solo una solcata traccia lasciata dalle altre centinaia di persone che seguono quella pista tutti i giorni, devo dire che rispetto alla via Gouter c’era ancora una stragrande di gente che stava ancora salendo, il primo tratto ci fa perdere subito molta quota, poi spiana e risale leggermente verso il Col del Mont Maudit, a questo punto il sole ci arrostisce come delle aragoste su quell’enorme plateau ghiacciato, ma se ci si ferma un po' un’aria gelida ci raffredda subito, una situazione sconfortevole.

Arrivati al Colle della Brenva, avvistiamo un gruppo di alpinisti alle prese col versante insidioso del Mont Maudit, noi passiamo ai piedi sempre su solcata traccia, ma ad un certo punto la traccia finisce e un lungo dirupo rimane sotto i nostri piedi, era il Colle del Mont Maudit che da quando staccò verso valle un tratto di ghiacciaio era diventato più insidioso da scendere o salire. Una guida si fa strada coi suoi clienti, pianta la sua piccozza nel ghiaccio e cala i due fino alle corde sottostanti, infatti una decina di metri sotto erano ancorate delle corde di sicurezza, subito lo abbiamo copiato, dalla picca col mezzo barcaiolo mi faccio calare da Franco alla corda, io mi assicuro ad un anello ricavato da un nodo su di essa e sempre col mezzo barcaiolo invito Franco alla discesa, poi man corrente alle corde fisse scendiamo ancora un po', devo ammettere che sotto il colle c’è un bel precipizio ghiacciato, ma ad un certo punto il pendio si attenua un po', l’esposizione rimane, ma una traccia ben solcata ci accompagna verso un plateau meno inclinato che scende e continua a scendere per i lunghissimi versanti della via, le gambe a questo punto vanno da sole, lo zaino pesa sempre di più sulle spalle che fanno male, ogni tanto ci fermiamo a fare uno spuntino e bere la poca acqua che ci has been a race against time, we wanted to take the last race of the cable car at Courmayeur, it was thought to shut eighteen. Honestly, the way of

Cosmiques is very long, the Aiguille du Midi, you see, it seems close, but then is still very far away, you can never turn. But walking and walking, we finally arrive at the Col du Midi, another huge ice plateau overlooking the Vallee Blanche, luckily up here there is still a huge reservoir water ice, but it was impossible to appreciate the landscape very well, we were so tired that it was thought only to walk and get there as soon as possible for the last race. The cable car Aiguille du Midi is 3800 m. and the Col du Midi is just over 3500 m. It was necessary to make one last effort and go up the last 300 m. We confirm the theory of mad, in fact, to go up to the cable cars must pass through a well-exposed ridge and a lot of people are coming down and going up makes it even more insidious. Finally we arrived at the Aiguille du Midi, you get frozen in a cave, a metal gate prevents the passage of tourists in the cable car, because even if a single person without crampons unfortunately ended on the crest of the plunge in the safe. We took off our crampons and rope, Franco runs immediately at the ticket office to purchase my tickets, but soon returned disconsolate and he says "the nostra funivia è già chiusa”. Erano solo le diciassette ed era già chiusa, inoltre l’ultima corsa per Chamonix parte alle diciotto e trenta, vergogna a l’Italia. Per fortuna qualche brava persona a pensato a noi, avevamo una faccia stanca, e non ci fecero più scendere per quella cresta, invitandoci a bivaccare nell’impianto.

Grazie ai francesi molto cordiali.

Quando andarono via tutti i visitatori potemmo finalmente allungare i nostri sacchi a pelo vicino alle latrine dello stabile, può sembrare un posto molto sconfortevole, ma in effetti era un angolo molto accogliente, riscaldato dai soffioni di aria calda che scaldavano i bagni pulitissimi, inoltre una grande vetrata si affacciava sulla Vallèe Blanche ed allora e solo ad allora, finalmente potevamo ammirare quello spettacolo di panorama.

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Clicca e visualizza la raccolta fotografica su Flickr.

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