Third week in a row to Refuge Albert Premier. This time to do one of the ice gullies on the north face. Ben wanted to do the Aureille-Feutren because on this face it is the longest and the hardest (TD- IV+) gully and the best line, going straight up the north face.

It was a cold and mainly sleepless night in the refuge. Our late arrival in the very busy hut meant we had to share two blankets with three people. At three in the morning, the first people were waking up to get on their way. We found it too early, but more sleep was out of the question.

There was now a direct path traced to the Chardonnet, which shortened the approach a bit. On the last part to the north face there was no track yet, but the snow wasn’t as loose as a week earlier. The route consists of a snowfield with a rimaye half way up. After the snowfield a steep gully goes up for 120 meters. After this the gully widens again and the angle eases off. The ice was mainly good, apart from the first part of the gully. This was mainly thin and rotten. Ben got up it without too many troubles. The second pitch was fat steep ice of a good consistency. Perfect to climb and easy to run out.

The spindrift was quite bad. While climbing we frequently had to stop for a moment to hide our head between our shoulders, swear and let the spindrift pass. After the steep gully we were simulclimbing a couloir, a ridge and some snow, to finish at the end of the Forbes Arete, a few minutes away from the summit.
Descending went smooth. The crevasse jump seemed bigger this time and was still exciting.  After 11 hours we were back in the refuge for some much needed sleep.

It was the second time for us, walking to Refuge Albert Premier, after the big dump of snow at the beginning of October. Like a week earlier, we were keen on doing a route on the north face of l’Aiguille du Chardonnet. This is a beautiful mountain dominating the Tour basin. There are two routes on it listed in Rebuffat’s 100 finest, Arête Migot and Arête Forbes.
We were mainly interested in Arête Migot, the more difficult one of the two. It is a steep mixed line going straight up the north face, graded IV D-. The Forbes Arête (III AD) is the 1km long east ridge, clearly dividing the south and north faces. It is approached from the north side from the Albert Premier hut (2 hours) or the Trient hut (3 hours). Contemplating which of these routes to take, we met two French climbers who had attempted the Forbes that day, but retreated because of the deep snow. Knowing that other parties had been on the ridge made us decide to go for the Forbes as well.

We started from the Albert Premier at five in the morning. The hut which had been overcrowded with climbers on Saturday, was already almost empty by this time. There was a clear trail to the col du Tour and from there a less well traced line to the Chardonnet. In the dark we heard a big avalanche on the Chardonnet and when we came closer we saw an even bigger one going down the north face. The slopes up to the Forbes Arête were traced up to the arête, where the actual climbing strarts. The powder snow was virgin on the arête and covering most of the rocks.

After scaling the first few pinnacles we thought we made good progress, so we weren’t in a big hurry. The fresh snow however made route finding and climbing harder than they should have been for the grade. There were a few traverses on the north face that were exposed and hard. One steep hard ice traverse proved to be quite challenging.

The ridge turned out to be very very long and the gendarmes just kept coming. Traverses, mixed climbing, downclimbing, ice, snow, rock, it was all there. During the day, the clear skies turned more and more hazy, until the skies became quite threatening. When we finally reached the summit, the views were spectacular, with the incredible north faces of Les Courtes, Les Droites and the Aiguille Vert dominating the views and behind them the big north face of the Grandes Jorasses.

The descent took a long time. First there is a sort ridge to descent, then a snow slope, after which there are three rappels. We had a problem retrieving the rope on the last rappel, which cost us at least an hour. After the rappel there is a 45 degrees ice slope towards a col. Just below the col there was a huge crevasse on a steep slope to be jumped. Quite exciting, but luckaly we could do it just before the last light faded. We walked over to the refuge in the dark, where we finally arrived at 2130 for a combined lunch/dinner.

Forbes Arête, III AD 500m. Long ridge traverse and one of the classics in the Mont Blanc range.
Starting point: Refuge Albert Premier. Usually a very busy hut, espescially in the weekends. Winter room open after September. Blankets present.
Walk in: Clearly traced path towards the Col du Tour to avoid the highly crevassed glacier du Tour. From the Col du Tour in a straight line towards the Aig. du Chardonnet.
Gear: Ice axe, crampons, Two 50m ropes for rappelling, plenty of slings. Small rack. We used one icescrew on the ice traverse.