UKC

There was another large rockfall on the Dru this morning...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150334668662251&set=a.10150334...

In reply to Ben Briggs:

Yes, this time we heard it here in Vallorcine! Must have been just before nine. We were just walking up to Tré les Eaux and we could see the grey scar in profile and a billowing cloud of dust where it dropped out of our sight. I think we heard another a few hours later - it could have been a serac fall in the Argentière basin - but could see nothing moving there.

In reply to Ben Briggs: I took a walk down to the ice cave in montenvers last thursday and heard a little rockfall high up towards la drus but thought nothing of it ,suppose that was the start of it, shame i didnt see it go !

In reply to Ben Briggs:

Seems it was quite big. Look post no 68 (today) on this camptocamp thread (the thread starts off about the September rockfall, then switches to today's). http://www.camptocamp.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=203008&p=4 Click on the photo to see the animation. Impressive...

In reply to Ben Briggs:

Blimey that's a big fall. Will it keep on falling in massive chunks like this till all that area is down in the valley?

In reply to jon:

Wow, that really is a big chunk! On a positive note, it looks like an awesome new line is there for the taking, along with Chamonix's own version of the great roof. Any crazy Russians out there?

In reply to Mr Lopez: i guarantee some psycho team will climb that this winter...wish i had the balls/talent just so i could call it Scarface.

In reply to jon:

From the animation, it looks like the latest fall is just right of the last couple of pitches of the West Face Route just before it exits on to the North Face.

On my first visit to Chamonix in 1983 the snowfield in the niche on the N face had been swept away by a rockfall from the top of that face. Apparently at the time there was a team on the Allain Crack which is just below the lip of the niche! Yes, they survived.

ALC

In reply to jon: Interesting talk (in French) about the Drus here:
http://www.tvmountain.com/video/montagne/8534-eboulement-face-ouest-des-dru...

In reply to mattrm:
Potential for a cracking bouldering area - perhaps a little scary at the moment!

In reply to Ben Briggs:

Oh bloody hell, again?! Looks like late-season climbing is out from now on?

Chris

In reply to graham F: Thanks, that is indeed quite interesting.

There's also a paper about Les Drus (from 2008) available at http://geomorphologie.revues.org/index7444.html that covers all the known rockfalls from 1905 onwards. (French with an English summary and photo captions).

In reply to Ben Briggs:

It looks like the Petite Dru is going to disappear quite soon, and we'll just be left with the Grand Dru.

In reply to Ben Briggs: http://www.chamonix.net/english/news/2011-10-31_1.htm

In reply to EwanR:
Good article. Figure 8 is particularly interesting, showing how the warmer temperatures dramatically increase rockfall.
It's also rather interesting that the rockfalls progress upwards, rather than top down as one (or I anyway!) would intuitively think.

I would not want the job of picking around the glacier looking at the bits!

In reply to jon:
Hell's teeth.
Literally.

In reply to pneame:

At 60,000 cubic metres it's five times bigger than Septembers fall. But still only a quarter of the big one in 2005(?)! I think Gordon is right, the Petit Dru's days seem numbered. Looks like the next one might take out the sharp buttress separating the niche from the W face. Still, this must have been going on throughout evolution. A big lump of glacially smoothed rock doesn't become the shape of the Drus overnight. (Cue the complete disappearance of the Petit Dru tomorrow morning... )

In reply to jon:
I was on the American Direct two pitches below the jammed block when the big fall happened in 2005 (I think it was?). I was with a friend, Sandy Ritchie, and I was secondi g his pit h when it happened. We played a strange game waiting for the other to mention what had actually happened and when the other didn't we actually carried on for a pitch or so before deciding that it 'was getting a bit dark' so we should abb off. It was actually quite early but the dust cloud had obscurred the sun.
It was all very character building.
James e

In reply to James Edwards: Stiff upper lip, not mentioning the obvious danger and giving the mountain best. What an excellently British ripping yarn!

T.

In reply to James Edwards:

That must have been terrifying. Did it all go in one?

In reply to jon:
Yes. Their was the usual stone fall on the approach with a few zingers going past. However when it went the mountain roared with the sound of a thousand scraping tombstones and when I looked rightwards I saw whole swaths of rock going downhill. For a full second I was very confused and disorientated and i thought I was rushing upwards. When I realised what was happening i thought that I might well end up rushing upwards in a heavenward direction.

The next week we went over to have a go at Divine Providence and got caught in an electrical storm. It wasn't my most productive summer but perhaps it was my most memorable.
James e

In reply to James Edwards:

Ah! Finally, an explanation for "I had this dream, see. I was falling upwards in a shaft of light" (rock climbers in action in Snowdonia).

I think reality must have been even more surreal than the quote.

In reply to mattrm:

Maybe someone should get up there and trundle it in case some novices go up and get hurt?