In reply to Misha:
Well, perhaps more "off-trail" than "trail", but yeah, people run the Voie Normal a lot, I've done it a couple of times solo and a few more times with friends. I think around this time either two or three years ago it was the fashionable route to do in trainers, sometimes bringing only granny spikes or nothing at all, because the route across the glacier was so healthy. But I think the low snow winter and the dry summer might have been cruel to a lot of the easier-access glacier routes.
I only ask because I've been away for the whole summer getting fat and lazy at sea level and have only recently come back, so my knowledge of conditions on the areas I usually spend a lot of time in is lacking. Thanks anyway!
