UKC

Since this will clearly be a virtual season, and to complement the other thread.  I'll start with:

Hornli Ridge (the route, not the summit)

Hohlaubgrat

The Frendo spur

MB via Gouter route, Breithorn from Klein Matterhorn, ...

Downright dangerous

Yes, but imagine it before all the ski paraphernalia.  I think it would have been stunning then for some so easy technically.

It is a fantastic route of its type. Of course spoilt by all the people, but does that mean it's overrated?

There are so many better routes of that type, and the view from a mountain with such prominence is never the best, feels a bit like being in an airplane. Just compare it to the Dom, Aletschhorn, or Dufourspitze normal routes, where the surrrounding summits are of similar height.

And yes, the crowds spoiling the fun are there precisely because the route is rated more highly than it deserves, just because MB is the highest summit around. IMO that is the very definition of overrated.

Similar things can be seen in the Bernese Alps, where every man and their dog do the Fierscherhörner that just about surpass the 4k line, while you can have Chamm and Gross Wannenhorn all for yourself even though the routes and position are absolutely stunning.

CB

Sorry, but I have to disagree with all of that. The upper part of the ridge has a true feeling of spacewalking unlike anything else in the Alps and the view, being so much higher than anything, makes it quite unique. 

I thought the Hornli magnificent. We did have the summit and most of the route above the Solvay to ourselves though.

The second Alpine route I did was as an 18 year old on the NW ridge of the Aiguille du Midi. We were total novices. Guidebook time was about 12 hours. We pitched everything and bivouaced twice. I think we over rated ourselves. 

Petite Aiguille Verte, Have never done it, but it looks like an overcrowded Ant hill. 

De gustibus, etc.... I did not particularly enjoy the view downwards only. Nice, but not so nice that it deserves being so obviously highly rated.

CB

You can avoid the crowds. One October, I went up Mont Blanc via the Gouter (and then went down via the Trois Monts route): I saw only one other person on the entire trip (that was on the slopes of Mt Maudit) , and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience.

Yes I did it late in the season as well, and also many years ago, so the crowds were not a problem. The question, though is, whether it is really better than comparable routes (Dom, Aletschhorn, ...), or whether it so popular that you have think about crowds because it is overrated due to the height of the summit?

I would argue the latter, same as rather nondescript 4k summits being much more popular than more spectacular 3980m summits just across the glacier and in an arguably more spectacular setting (my Finsteraarhorn hut examples above. Finsteraarhorn itself is of course very much worth doing)

CB.

How did you get down out of interest. Was the cable car still running? 

On the ascent, I walked all the way up from Les Houches. On the descent, I took the Midi cable car, which indeed was still running. (I wouldn't have tried the trip if it wasn't.)

The great thing about this thread is that the more dislikes you get for a suggestion the better - after all, for a route to be overrated, lots of people have got to think it's not. So the suggestions with large numbers of likes and dislikes are the correct ones. I'm therefore cautiously encouraged by the response to my Frendo suggestion.

That is doing my head in. In a Father Ted      'Near and far away' way...... 

It's quite simple: if you like it, you don't like it so you dislike it.

Ages ago I had a thread asking what the appeal was because I couldn't see it.  Apparently it was obvious to everyone but me.  

Cordier pillar for sure, so over rated.

Cordier Pillar (TD+ 6b)

Why oh why, it seems to be on every Brits wish list I've no idea?

So many better long granite routes out there, the only pitch with any character & interest is the off width at the top.

A route quite often cited as THE acclimatisation session prior to MB. It's a fun morning out, I quite enjoyed the ridge, and the views are superb.

However, you can easily spend the day waiting for others to get out of the way, or being shouted at by guides as you overtake their clients - that isn't fun.

I did this. But my mate was living locally and knew the logistics of getting there, and what time the crowds would arrive. We got the first lift up, ran off down the stairs, into our crampons and off we went with no one following us. By the time we were half way up we could see the hordes amassing. On the descent we encountered the typical 'French guide' scenario; overtaking, clipping anything, slow client etc etc. So we decided to abseil a rope length down the face and traverse off the other side. The actual climbing was great (for someone of my modest ability) but I would have hated being stuck in that clusterf*ck of ropes and people. 

Really good for a quick route too. My shuttle back to Geneva was at 10:30. Got back with seconds to spare!

EDIT: just saw Tony's post above. Which reflects my comments. ...Have a like! 

Probably the telepherique. But, of course, they don't realise that that is actually one of the things which makes it a bit rubbish.

I think I must have soloed it and had it to myself about five times. I used to have a routine of arriving in Chamonix after that dreadful Eurolines bus journey, dosing myself with paracetamol, taking the telepherique up, dossing in the Grands Montets station, and nipping up the route before getting the first morning telepherique down (and then doing a similar thing the next night using the midi telepherique........ )

It's actually a nice little route and a superb viewpoint.

I would be interested to know why you don't like the Frendo. Is it just the closeness of the telepherique?  I've done it 3 times.  It was my very first alpine route, way back and the experience was a dangerous disaster for one reason or another and resulted in my thinking that perhaps alpine climbing was not for me.  I repeated it after having done several other alpine routes to see what it was really like. The last time I did it was as a warm up for the Walker Spur and in that regard it to proved to be very good. I thought that it was comparable to the Walker in ascent but of course the telepherique makes it considerably less serious and time consuming. Bear in  mind that the first two times I climbed it we did the Rognon which makes it better and much harder IMO.

Al

Check out Money bags! if we used the Telepherique, we would be heading into the Basin to do a proper route.

I didn't say I didn't like it or that it is a poor route. I said it is overrated which is not the same thing. So the question shouldn't be why I don't like it but why a lot of people think it's better than it actually is*.

Similarly I think that Gogarth is overrated while still thinking that it is an excellent crag - it's just that the number of people that go on about it as if it's the best crag in the world is ludicrous.

*Apart from the telepherique, I suspect that for quite a lot of people it is their first (and perhaps only) biggish alpine mixed route, so they have important personal memories of it without having all that much to compare it with objectively.

Edit: I now see that I did earlier say it was "a bit rubbish". I take that back - I should have been more careful. Sorry.

The Frendo is nice enough and a key stepping stone to bigger things. The rock is not the best but it’s not exactly loose either, great bivvy spot if you take it and nicely varied with the snow and ice at the top (increasingly difficult to get in condition now unfortunately). I wouldn’t put it in the ‘best of’ category but it’s nice enough and definitely serves a purpose as a training or acclimatisation route.

Yes, a fair assessment.

It was probably in better condition when we did it back in the day, the snow ridge was definitely in worse condition the last time I did it.  Granted the quality of the rock is not as good as that on the Rebuffat but it's a different style/character of route. If I'm honest I don't really recall much bad rock as such.

Al

I did it in '83 as my first reasonably serious alpine route and the conditions were good apart from Russian roulette with stonewall getting onto it and then dreadful stonewall off the rognon itself (someone in front of us got his thigh badly smashed); getting established on the rognon was really dangerous. 

Really? It may well be overrated (I've not done too many routes of a similar style to compare it with), but I remember there being plenty of good climbing on it.

I think we should start a "Worst way of getting to Chamonix" thread. Eurolines would be a clear winner. I think I used it four times. On one journey driving on the motorway out of London the car in front had a blowout and the bus rammed it. The car looked like a write off, but luckily nobody was injured.

Short thread! Only did the bus once. Horrible.

Nine times for me I think. It was hell. Worse than the worst alpine bivi. At 6'5" my tactic was to spend the first hour with my knees rammed hard against the seat in front until the occupant gave up trying to recline it.

Dent du Geant, SW face.

Slog across a glacier, slog up 2/3 of the height gain up a choss gulley/slope, slog up an ok-ish route for the remaining 1/3. For full marks I slogged my way into a crevasse on the way back.

Ah right! That was you, was it. Bastard!

My pleasure.