Summer Trip 2005 - Ailefroide, Les Ecrins

Posted October 29th, 2007 by

Climbing Articles

Written by:

Tom Halfpenny

Summer Trip 2005 - Ailefroide, Les Ecrins

I type this the day after I arrive, things still fresh in my mind and the overwhelming desire to be back in the sunshine surrounded by mountains - lucky ba******* them being there for a month.
As you can tell I'm not bitter about leaving, having thoroughly enjoyed myself in the Ecrins but I felt some of you guys not lucky enough to be there might be interested in what we got upto there.

With this in mind, here is a kinda photo montage / journal of some of the best and most memorable bits of the trip that stick out in my mind.

*For loads more full size pics check out the gallery*

13/07 - The journey begins..

Luton -> Grenoble
Grenoble -> L'Argentiere Le Bessee
Argentiere -> Ailefroide campsite

All went smoothly for the highly exciting journey with my fellow traveling companions; Crazy Alex, Rachel and Michael. We even had time to check out some of France's best culinary delights in the form of a dodgy looking Kebab shop round the corner from Grenoble station....mmm tasty...

Also was nice at the end of the journey to bump into Toby who was, unknown to us, a carriage away on the train the whole way.Nice too that unlike us he had a lift organized to the campsite so we got one too :)

14 - 15/07 - Settling in..

The usual stuff, tents pitched, wander around, source liquid refreshments and generally do very little, the minibus crew arrived too so that was almost us all there.

On arrival, Chris and Jamsey decided that shaving their heads would be a great idea, providing much hilarity for the unshaven amongst us

17-18/07 Up high for the first time - Peak d'Arsine, 3300m

A real experience this one...certainly pushed me, being at that point, not as fit as I could be. The day began with Me, Jamsey, Jo, Olivia, Rachel, Jenny,Chris and Dougie at about 3pm with a fairly steep ascent and a fully loaded pack to the bivi site at about 2200m where we set up and grabbed something to eat.

We checked out the Glacier Blanc refuge which is a very cool hut perched on the mountain-side within convenient distance from a lot of great routes.

Bedtime called pretty early for the 2am start the next day to avoid glacier melt, rockfall and other fun alpine hazards on descent.
For me the glacier traverse was really good fun, if slightly nerve racking at points, avoiding the occasional crevasse.

Sunrise at this altitude has to be seen to be believed - one of the most stunning sights that I've seen for quite some time it has to be said.

After some pretty exposed scrambling (I ALWAYS pick the most stupid way round the rock) we hit the peak sometime around 11am and were treated to yet more amazing views of the Ecrins and beyond; Mont Blanc made an appearance through the clouds in the distance...

Time for a quick lunch then the decent began, as did the beginning of my "lucky streak" which combined a bumslide gone wrong culminating in the loss of most of the skin on my knuckles and a somewhat embarrassing exploding jar of jam in my rucksack - a bit pissed off would quite accurately describe my mood :)

Back at the refuge the end seemed near so we decided to order wine, Dougie got f*&ked (well not really, slightly tipsy perhaps) on spritzers and we walked (some staggered) back down the mountain to the campsite.
All in all a pretty amazing first taste of alpine walking.

18-19/07 - Rest, cragging & Briançon

A nice chilled out day of easy cragging and a trip to Briançon old town for a pizza and a beer en route to pick up Caroline.

22-23/07 My Second Peak - Montagne De Agneaux 3664m

This was more of a mixed route with a fair bit more snow, another glacier traverse and some rock climbing to reach the peak. A very grueling 18 hours in total but well worth it - the sights we saw were incredible and the route quite difficult in parts.

The Rest....

The remainder of the time for me was taken up cragging mostly. Other more ambitious people took on further peaks - Alex and Michael did loads including the barre de Ecrins standing at 4100m and during which drank sewage water below a hut and spent the next little while throwing up and destroying toilets...

We went Go Karting as well which was great fun and I confirmed the fact that Iam a crap gokarter by coming a very un-respectable 9th with Toby coming second (1st out of GUMclubbers). I've even put up a vid clip of the action for a laugh, but Caroline has to take the credit for the filming and expert commentary though.

More cragging, drinking, and relaxed continental breakfasts followed until we (me Alex rachel and Caroline) reluctantly left and spent a very cosy night sleeping in a bus shelter in L'Argentiere waiting for out train back to the UK.