Luc and I had eyed the east face a couple of years back when we’d dropped in to the north couloir. With the good March snow it seemed like the ideal opportunity to give it a go. The only concern was the weather. It had been warm all week but the weekend promised to be cold, -6 overnight at 1000 meters with a bitter north wind.
We decided to climb the face as route finding on these flagstone cliffs is always hard from above. There was snow cover from le Revols at 950 meters although things are beginning to thaw on east to south sector slopes. After refrozen snow in the forest we started to zig-zag up the east face which was much more sugar like in consitency.
After climbing a short pitch we entered into a kind of intermediate section angled around 40 to 45 degrees. The wind dropped and it got quite warm with a layer of 5cm of wet and slippery snow. No time to be a hero. We fitted crampons and climbed with an ice axe. Although the footings were good the handle of the ax would penetrate the snow to the end. Not a place to hang around on a warm day. Digging down to the base revealed a layer of ice, this would turn to melt water later on providing a lubricating surface whereby the whole slope could slide. There was evidence of this higher up with some serac like structures.
Closer to the summit and you get an idea of the vertiginous view back down to the valley below. The descent isn’t steep but you have to be careful. In some places the snowpack has begun to separate from the mountain leaving, in effect, small rimayes. If you caught a ski in one of these you would cartwheel down the mountain and over 55-60 degree cliffs to a near certain death. From above the route finding isn’t obvious and on the steep, convex slopes it would be easy to descend too far and have trouble getting back onto the right track.
