We walked up the fast melting Mer de Glace in searing heat stepping over small rivers in the ice to where the Leschaux Glacier meets the Mer de Glace & the ladders up the steep rock wall leading onto the Couvercle Hut.
Up the ladders we had fantastic views back across to the Envers des Aiguilles & up the Glacier de Geant and over to Mt Blanc itself.
A great view of the Grande Charmoz on the right, the Grepon, the Fou, the Plan & the Dent du Requin on the left.
L'Envers des Aiguilles with Mt Blanc behind
In very dry conditions & with very little snow or ice, we climbed the Moine ridge on the Aiguille Verte & summited the Aiguille Verte
A fantastic view from the summit of the Aiguille Verte
Descending mixed ground from the summit of the Aiguille Verte
We had a fantastic day on the Verte, it was a long day but totally worth it. It was made even more enjoyable, as on the way up I found some crystals in the gravel down by my feet. I ratched around some more with my axe & found 5 good quality crystals! All smoked quartz & a couple of really good clean examples. Bonus!
Once back down to Chamonix we then decided on a more relaxing day climbing in the Aiguille Rouge on the other side of the Chamonix Valley. The rock here is just fantastic & we had a great day up on the Brevent lift climbing one of the Classic long rock routes there.
The following day we headed up to the Torino. Next day we left early, heading towards the Tour Ronde and where greeted with the most amazing sunrise & full moon.
A fantastic sunrise & full moon above the col du Brenva in between Mt Maudit & Mt Blanc.
We traversed the Aiguille d'Entreves to the Col Freshfield & then continued up the SE Ridge of the Tour Ronde
Looking back at the Aiguille d'Entreves & the knife edge ridge we'd traversed with the Aiguille Verte (the highest summit) in background
Me on the summit of the Tour Ronde with Madonna!
Safe climbing
Ade
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