After a relatively long lie in of 7:30am we got up for breakfast, we had granola and nutty bread with jam swilled down with some tea and orange juice. We sat around outside for a while before going down to the rocks at the front of the crag. We went onto the second tier and I spied a line of bolts, I couldn't make out the name of the routes from the topo in the book. It looked fairly good, not too easy or hard so I geared up and got started. The easiest line in the book was 4b on this tier and this felt much easier but a different style of climbing on slabs with delicate finger work and some big step ups where leg flags helped. I made short work of the first pitch.
Me leading the first pitch
I bought up Chris in the middle of the rope and we tied the big boots and sack onto the end of each of the ropes. Chris came up to the bottom of the first tier and I hauled the boots and sack up. I got ready to get on the second pitch which had a tricky undercutting start but then got much easier, I'd say about the standard of a Diff. I got up it pretty quite and clipped the bolt by the hut and bought up Chris.
Me bringing up Chris on the second pitch
Me at the second belay
After this we climbed the short ladder back onto the terrace of the hut and chilled out and drank some more water. One thing I've not mentioned already is that at this altitude and in this heat its easy to get dehydrated. I sweat a lot so its really important for me to drink plenty and I use Nuun tablets to replace lost salts. I ate the cake I'd save from breakfast and we slowly packed up to descend back to the campsite.
Chris on the path to the ladders to rejoin the Mer de Glace, Aiguille Rouge in the distance
Me at the start of the steeper ladders to regain the Mer de Glace
After getting down the steeper lower 100m or so of ladders down to the Mer de Glace we roped up again, this time with Chris on the sharp end of the rope. We headed back over the crevasses, this time more to the left than on the way up.
Chris in between crevasses on the Mer de Glace
The drudge up the ladders was hard work and I was blowing heavy. I think again it might of been because of dehydration as my bladder pack ran out some time earlier. We were rushing up them though, it was nice to get to the top and finally see the station. The queue was massive but we were soon(ish) on the train and back to Chamonix. I bought a melon to eat in the train station while waiting to go back to Les Praz where the campsite is situated. It was nice to get some proper fruit and its so much tastier than back home. I messed around on my laptop until about 10pm trying to get some stuff on the blog but the wifi kept cutting out but eventually gave up and got my sack ready for an early start (5am) on Cosmiques Arete. I'll post that up soon :)
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