Mt. Blanc du Tacul

Pat and I had time for one more outing before he had to leave to guide a client on the Ortler Tour in Italy. Both of us had designs on summiting Mt. Blanc and thought that doing the classic traverse would be the way to go. This route starts at the top of the Midi and hits the tops of Mt. Blanc du Tacul, Mt. Maudit and, finally, the MB. This covers significant linear distance as well as the obvious vertical.

Normally, there’s a good track making travel easy and straightforward. There’s significant crevasse danger along the way with a few bergshrunds to cross or avoid. A recent snow and wind event eliminated the trail, which was disappointing to see as we approached the face of the Tacul. We plowed away anyway with a few parties not far behind and no doubt psyched to follow our tracks.

The face of the Tacul looks small and easy enough from the Midi but does, in fact, rise about 700 meters from the base. The altitude takes its toll, as well, and, with the post holing, we weren’t moving too fast. Even still, we made it to the first shrund easy enough but got stopped dead cold right there. Seems the crack had widened and getting over it required two tools and about eight feet of over hanging lip. The top out was soft snow so we really didn’t see this as a viable option.

Just as we were about to bail, some Austrians behind encouraged us to traverse far right to a point that looked more reasonable. We hadn’t stepped far enough back to see this weakness before. So, we obliged and headed over. The crack was narrower and shorter – only about two moves, and the lip was firm neve.

With my short-pointed touring crampons and single tool I was intimidated. As soon as I committed to the move over the lip I instantly wanted a second tool. A guy behind me handed me one and after two more sticks, I handed it back to him and climbed quickly up the 50-degree slope above. I got a good stance, slammed in my tool for a back up and quickly belayed Pat over the lip.

We both agreed that traversing the entire face back left toward the original route made the most sense. Interestingly, the Austrians decided that straight up was better and deviated from our boot pack when they reached the decision point. Pat and I both commented that we would be hesitant to forego a trail in order to blaze our own. And, in an admittedly satisfying turn of events, about 30 minutes after they started up their own track, we spied them coming back down and joining ours.

Mt. Maudit too far todayAfter another easy shrund crossing, we gained the ridge and topped out just below the Tacul summit. Maudit looked equally problematic and, with the loss of time on Tacul, we doubted we’d make the whole traverse and down before dark. The going was just slow in front. So, we decided to summit Tacul and ski back down the way we came.

Pat on the summit approach next to the Gervasutti Couloir

Some water ice guarded to final few moves to the top, which was exciting with our lightweight equipment. The views were great and we got a look down the Gervasutti Couloir, which was intimidating as hell. With our tails between our legs we walked back down the icy ridge, jumped the shrund, or at least I did. Pat downclimbing. I jumped.Pat decided it was more stylish to actually down climb, which he did. We then donned skis and center punched the face finding pretty good powder. We jumped the first shrund that shut us down and continued down the Vallee Blanche with the obligatory train back to town from Montenvers.

The consolation prize - wind-buffed powder on the Tacul

Pat jumping the final shrund

Signs of our passingSo, MB remains free of my ski tracks on its summit. I’ve a few more weeks to get it done. Pat is back for one day on the 21^st so perhaps the stars will align and will give‘er then.