Pascal and I climbed Harold et Maud in Pointes Lachenal this morning. What a beautiful route on a perfect Granite!! Note that the other routes on Pointes Lachenal and Aiguille du Midi were dry too.
View over Grand Capucin and Gervasuti Couloir from Pointes Lachenal (© P. Gatta)
We took the first cable car from Aiguille du Midi and reached the bottom of Pointes Lachenal in 40 minutes.
Above the clouds, Aiguille du Midi (© P. Gatta)
The route is 250m high and graded TD, 6a+. There are bolts on anchors (except the 2nd) but nothing on the pitches.
Pascal in the 1st pitch Harold et Maud (© P. Gatta)
Grades: 5c (at least), 5a, 5c, 5c, 6a+, 5b, 5a, 5b.
Climbers on glacier du Geant (© P. Gatta)
From the 3rd anchor, traverse 2-3 meters to the rigth to reach a good crack not visible from the anchor.
Pascal in the 4th pitch (© P. Gatta)
The beautiful double crack of 5th pitch (© P. Gatta)
At the end of the 5th pitch, clip an old bolt and traverse 3 meters to the right to reach the real anchor.
End of the 5th pitch (© P. Gatta)
With a 60 meters rope, it is possible to link the 6th and 7th pitches.
Climbers on the last pitch of Contamine (© P. Gatta)
We climbed the route in 3h45. We chose to climb with the pack so we skipped the rappels and went back to Aiguille du Midi in 1h.
Climbers in the Rebuffat, Aiguille du Midi (© P. Gatta)