UKC

Just got back from Chamonix this morning after a quick stopover at Font. Here's a quick report of how things looked up round the Leschaux area.

We stayed at the hut on last Thursday & Friday (5th & 6th)nights. Lots of sun for both days made temperatures very spring like. Lots of running melt water over the rocks and falling snow and ice coming off exposed faces.

We climbed NW Gully of the Frebouze on Good Friday (6th) - one of the seemingly few remaining climbable goulottes in the Petites Jorasses / Frebouze area, with the other having already been stripped by the sun. Good climbing conditions, although thin ice with the vertical ice sections described in the Damilano guide broken by rock steps. Final pitch to the col was surprisingly tricky dry-tooling on snow covered rock (felt M5+). Loads of spindrift channeled down gully from snow shed higher up.

From chat with other parties at the hut...
Baumont-Smith - looked only potential climbable gully on L-side of Pet. Jorasses. [Word of Slovakians scouting up there].
Croz - still seemed to have lots of unconsolidated snow on it. A slow-progressing party backed off after a bivvy at foot of spur.
Shroud - still looked incomplete having visible sections of rock in entry gully. Party backed off before reaching route, complaining of wading in thigh deep snow.
Walker - Slovakian who climbed route in autumn said it looked as dry now as then.

Didn't get much done in the 2 wks prior to this. Weather was unpredicatable, with unreliable forecasts. Regular snow dumps made the skiing good, but the climbing and approaches in many places poor.

Did do the Terray-Rebuffat on the Pelerins on 29 March. Lots of very thin ice and mixed put this (for me) in the 'unrelentingly difficult', rather than 'pleasantly sustained' category. This shaded and sombre place doesn't get any sun, so I doubt it's deteriorated any since then.

Hope this is useful for anyone wanting ideas away from E Face of Tacul!

In reply to TonyM: Thanks. The East face of the Tacul is so full you have to get a number ticket to be able to get on a route there!

In reply to francoisecall:
did you manage to get pelissier climbed ?
and aye you got to run down the arette if you want to get to any of those routes first
whats the triangle du tacule like
it looked prety black last month