UKC

Just been watching some youtubes of Mont Blanc and was fascinated to see what appears to be a fixed rope across the GC except that it's about ten to twenty feet in the air. Anyone know anything about it?

In reply to mypyrex:

It's a steel cable. The guides throw a rope over it and back down to secure their client of they were to be hit by rockfall.

In reply to mypyrex:

Yes, you can only use it if attached via a decent length of rope to your partner. I crossed it solo a couple of years ago, I could have probably used a rope but it'd have meant carrying it up to only use on that section! It does get quite far from the trodden path in the middle so you could end up in trouble if you didn't have enough length..

In reply to mrphilipoldham:


Like this guy youtube.com/watch?v=QVm4Ak3v-Po&

In reply to splat2million:

Exactly like that guy!

In reply to mypyrex:

I just about managed to get across using a 16' sling clipped in to the cable. The rockfall in the couloir certainly focusses the mind!

In reply to splat2million:


Always extend your runner slings

In reply to mypyrex:


Off topic a tad about the steel rope, but these two are worth a watch....

What comes down the couloir in summer....
youtube.com/watch?v=_LHwYupe_WE&

Poor guy at 2:00....
youtube.com/watch?v=qsRnRssug70&

In reply to Raymondo:

Not off topic at all. And yet despite this and countless other videos there are still folk on here who'll say 'the danger is overrated, nothing to it, I just strolled across it...'

In reply to jon:

It was not an alarm clock that woke me up at midnight on tete rousse, but rockfall.
It is the UKC way of sandbagging people to make themselves feel bigger. A bit like doping in cycling, it happens and people just turn a blind eye to it.

In reply to Raymondo:

Yes, I've watched several clips. I would imagine it's quite scary just witnessing it from the sides of the couloir, let alone whilst crossing it. Is there anyway of judging the right moment to cross?
I imagine that, given the velocity, even a "pebble" has the potential to kill somebody.

In reply to mypyrex:


Yep cross the couloir very early in the morning when it is frozen into submission! My buddy and I crossed the couloir from the Tete Rousse at around 2.30am (@ 3.05 in the following vid) and it was all quiet:

youtube.com/watch?v=fRBF_y3URI0&

However by the time we made the return crossing at around 12 noon there was a lot of stonefall coming down, mostly due to the large number of parties (guided and unguided) heading up to the Gouter Refuge and kicking stuff off from higher up the ridge! So we crossed/ran very quickly one at a time, whilst the other kept a look out, and it was quite a relief to get out of the danger zone...
Cheers
Dave

In reply to mypyrex:

It'll certainly be the crux of your Tour du Mont Blanc!

In reply to BALD EAGLE:





Yep, cross one at a time with somebody watching for you. I got a shouted warning while half way across. Hunkered down as a load of fairly big stuff ( half brick sort of size) came down. One bit hit the top of my rucksack. Nearly knocked me off but otherwise both me and the rucksack were unharmed. Cable was much closer to the ice back then so no dangling in space potential. However it was very frayed and the poor sod crossing in front of us who was using it as a handrail, gashed his palm open so badly I suspect it damaged tendons. Certainly a hell of a lot of blood in the snow. The whole crossing scared the s##t out of me. May be easy but very serious, which is of course why there's so many accidents there!

Lee

In reply to jon:


Now that would be an interesting "variante"

In reply to mypyrex:
A night at the Tete Rouse, just below the couloir, might be worthwhile, however. The new hut has a huge panoramic window looking over the glacier below the couloir, and the Bionassay face.