UKC

I'm probably going to the Alps for a few weeks this summer and would like to do a few big hills in a hill running style. By this I mean in one day from the valley, solo, in running shoes with a light axe and crampons if needed. I'm looking for relatively straightforward routes with minimal objective danger so probably just facile, voie normale kind of stuff, maybe a bit harder for rocky routes. I'm thinking the Gran Paradiso could be a good candidate. Obviously I'm happy to get up early and do big days with lots of ascent!

Any suggestions for routes in the Mont Blanc / Aosta area to tackle in this way?

Ta.

In reply to DaveHK:

If you do GP, Gran Serra from Valnontey, one valley over, would be an option. Similar ascent and style. Also Monte Emilius and Testa del Rutor.

In reply to MG:

Thanks. I think I might have skied the Testa del Rutor.

In reply to DaveHK:

Normally skied from the other side to the easiest walking/running route, I think, which passes Rifugio Angeli.

In reply to MG:


Ah yes. Just had a look, I'd planned to ski it from near Val Grisenche but the weather turned. I skied Monte Ormelune up that valley a few days previously. Lovely spot.

In reply to DaveHK:

Anybody else?

There's so much of this sort of thing being done in Europe nowadays (also western USA) ...
So it's hard to know where to start.

I don't know what _you_ mean by
"maybe a bit harder for rocky routes".

Not sure why you're limiting yourself to exactly "running shoes". Lots of people are willing to run in "approach shoes" with higher-friction rubber and better edging for rock moves.
. (seems like if you're willing to use crampons, why not better rock-capability footwear?)

There's lots of long easy rock scrambles/hikes/trail-runs in France I do in approach shoes, and it never occurred to me to think about which ones could be done in just running shoes.

Ken

In reply to kenr:
When I said running shoes what I meant was 'not big boots' rather than 'not approach shoes'. This means I'll need to avoid routes with steeper icy bits as flexy crampons on flexy shoes aren't so great for that.

I was really thinking about 4000m ish peaks so if you've got any suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.

In reply to DaveHK:
Lots of people run up the Aiguille du Tour these days, if there's a decent motorway and the glacier is fairly cold then personally I have no worries going up there solo. People do it in trail runners and granny spikes all the time.
(edit: I recommend going up the moraine path then traversing back to the lift line path for the descent)

More and more people are doing the Aiguille du Moine solo, either from Montenvers or from town. Routefinding on the voie normale can be a little funny (well, we found it funny anyway) but if you can cope with that and climb within the grade then there's no real difficulty. You might want something like Xalps or similar shoes.

One that not many people do, but I think is a smashing route, is the Aiguille du Passon, just below the Chardonnet, taking the Becs Rouges ridgeline from either Le Tour or up from Old Argentiere. Steep forest ascent followed by truly decent ridge scrambling (if at times a little flaky), a flat traverse on a fairly safe glacier, then more great ridge scrambling. Up from Argie gives you a day with 2200m of ascent. I've done this route in floppy-soled trail runners.


A route that I can't vouch for personally, but it is right up there on my to-do list and comes highly recommended, is to start in Lavancher village (or Argentiere and traverse through the Dream Forest) and make your way to the Aiguille du Bochard, then carry on up the Arete de Bochard to the summit of the Grands Montets, and finish with a romp up the Petite Verte (obviously you'd want stiff-enough shoes and crampons/axes approprite to current conditions for the last stretch, I've done it with alu crampons and a single alu axe before), before either catching the lift down or running back down the glacier then the pistes to Argentiere. I have done Petite Verte from Argentiere ascending via pistes and glacier before, but taking the Bochard Ridge gives a few steps of interesting and exposed climbing, mixed in with the usual bag of flaky crap and steep grass that this kind of route always has. There are some blog posts of this route out there if you look for them.

In reply to DaveHK:

Bit of a challenge for you to aim at :

youtube.com/watch?v=-5Y0CmWze9I&

In reply to Pete Houghton:

That's great Pete, exactly the kind of things I was looking for.

In reply to Simon4:

Thanks for posting but that is possibly the most irritating video ever!

In reply to DaveHK:
No problem. When are you out? Unfortunately I'm back in the UK for two and a half months of the summer for work, otherwise I'd gladly point at some things on a map for you.

Another great route is to take the Le Tour lifts to the Col de Balme and follow the ridgeline up the Grandes Autannes, then the Pointe de Bron, then the Aiguille du Genepi. There's a few ways to follow, either ridge all the way or hopping on to the glacier every now and then depending on conditions. For a suitably-equipped and enthusiastic expedition I think it would be possible to sneak around the back of the Aiguille de Genepi and tag the summit of the Aiguille du Tour, before descending quickly and easily on the motorway down to the Albert Prem, but when I was there last we had to cut the day short and descend via the glacier to the north-west of the Aiguille du Tour instead. Still a great route, and much quicker and easier than grabbing the Tour as well, but I'll definitely be going back to try and complete this route when trailpinism season starts again.

(A video of the route outlined above, embed doesn't seem to work so copy/paste into address bar:
vimeo.com/184495918 )

In reply to DaveHK:

...and no list of Chamonix trailpinism objectives is complete without the Crochues Traverse which, when coupled with an ascent of the Aiguille du Belvedere, is a pretty bloody spectacular day out. Great climbing, a little exposed at times, you can start from the valley for another 1000m of exercise or cheat and take the Flegere lifts...

Shamelessly, here is ANOTHER video, which isn't nearly as annoying as the 5x4000 video up there.
vimeo.com/170580816

Embed might not work again, copy/paste into address bar. Jump.

In reply to DaveHK:
Oh no, there are FAR more irritating ones than that! Normally "extreme" skiing videos, aka "death by obvious avalanche conditions, with loud, inane and vastly intrusive music thrown in so much that you don't care if you die anyway, as you have lost the will to live" videos.

In reply to Pete Houghton:

Yes indeed. Earlier in the season, could be some trickiness in the snow approach on the south end.
Continuing north from Aig Crochues on the ridge toward Col des Dards and Aig Belvedere ...
many authorities say there's a mandatory abseil near the Col, but I did it with some thoughtful down-climbing, then continued up on the ridge toward Belvedere.

I was told that the SE side of Aig Belvedere has bad rock, so I traversed around to the NE side and went to the summit that way. Finishing down the N or NE face had lots of thoughtful scrambling moves. So next time I'd more likely descend the SE side more directly toward Refuge Lac Blanc.

Continuing the below-4000m theme ... the E->W traverse of the Aiguille de la Vanoise has one of the most sustained narrow ridges anywhere (with one fixed-aid move at its W end), and constant views over big glaciers and fairly dramatic peaks.

Below 3000m ...
the Vercors + Chartreuse + Bauges + Aravis massifs are full of long ridges and ledges ("sangles"). My current favorite is N->S traverse of the "Aretes du Gerbier" SW from Grenoble - (I wrote the English-language description on c2c, which corrects the mistaken claim of a mandatory abseil at the S end). For a much longer "sky run" make the ridge farther north at the Col Verte.

Mont Charvin S-N traverse in the southern Chaine d'Aravis is great (with lots of cables).
. . . (and I'm also psyched to try ridge setions between there and N toward the Col des Aravis).

N ridge of the Arcalod is also a worthwhile "sky run" with a couple of short cable sections: Make the ridge lower farther N at Pas de l'Ours - and then return down the same way - (instead of descending the slippery E face to reach a boring non-ridge trail return).

Ken

In reply to DaveHK:

I did the Crochues traverse with the family (9 and 14) last year and it is eminently runnable. The opening climby chimney is very secure and you can downclimb the abseil. You'd need to go from the valley to make a day of it: it was a pretty short day just walking. Another similar scrambly walk/run would be the Point Percee just down the valley above Sallanches. I've stayed for a fortnight in Samoens for the last couple of years and I can recommend the area just North of Chamonix for running big hills. Mt Buet from that side is a great run, as is the Point de Bellegarde loop from Sixt through the Fer a Cheval. The pointy hills down the valley are also good for c. 3hr trips. The other advantage which was very apparent in the Aiguille Rouges is how quiet the areas outside Chamonix are in comparison. On the Point de Bellegarde I saw less than 10 people in 3 hours of running: at Lac Blanc we were queuing on the path. We stayed at the municipal camping at Morillon which is very cheap and has a lake across the road to ice bath your legs in when you get back. For "short days" a jog up the valley from Morillon will still net you 900m of sunny climbing.

In reply to dmhigg:
To make it a loop, could go up the Cheminees des Sallanches and down the W side Normal. But when I did it the W side had fresh snow, so I just went back down the same way.

Less approach work (and perhaps quieter) if start from the W side (Col des Anes?)

Or to make it a longer day, I know people who have linked other bumps to S + SE.

Ken

In reply to kenr:

We (family again) started from the col des anes: another short day! We must have been at a similar time. We had to reverse the cheminees as well.