Juho Knuuttila

Every Autumn people start to get psyched for the mixed season. When the first snowflakes hit warm alpine faces speculation begins. Could it be in condition? Is that ice or just powder snow? Rare are those, whom are keen to go first and throw the dice. But when first reports of good conditions hit the internet, routes become busy. I like to climb when conditions are definitely good, but I’m also optimistic and too keen to wait for weeks.

Year ago we attempted Robert Jasper’s “Late to Say I’m Sorry” (ED-, 1000m, M6, WI5+) on the N face of Grande Rocheuse, but we had to bail half way up the face. Since, this route has been on my list. It has only six pitches of proper climbing on a 1000m face, but those six are quite committing and worth of a long day. It got plenty of attention between 2010 – 2012, due to Jon Griffits blog. Most of the teams rapped back down after finishing the hard pitches, but that’s not alpinism. You gotta summit!

I ran up to Argentiere glacier week ago and saw the shining line of the Late to Say I’m Sorry. Three days later I went to climb it with Sami Modenius.

Luckily Lognan’s lift was still open as it shortens the approach quite a lot. We deciced to bivouac on the glacier instead of staying at the refuge, which was open too. Relaxed evening staring our route passed by and soon it was time to wake up and start walking again. Approach was in okey nick, just 25cm of new snow, but easy to navigate in a dark. We used left-hand side approach, cause walking slowly under the Cordier’s seracs wasn’t an option.

At 6am we began simul climbing the first 500m of Couturier couloir. First some snow and then suprisingly good ice. I expected more black ice, but after two hours we were already below the first pitch.

Two easy 60m pitches led to the crux. From afar it looked that it could be possible to avoid the roof via variation on the left, but ice was too thin to be climbed, so I had to go for the infamous roof as it was my turn to lead. The roof was easy M6, but then I had to chooce between M7 crack and steep corner with ice in the back. I went for the ice. Next ten minutes were long as I carefully balanced upwards. It was “no fall” zone due to unexisting gear. And the ice was loose. Monopoints searched tiny edges from the wall, because I couldn’t put my weight for the axes. Very intense! The pitch was one of the best I’ve done on the mountains, but lack of gear reduces the quality a bit.

Remaining three pitches were excellent and very aesthetic ice climbing. Thin ice line middle of the blank rock face is the thing were dreams are made of. Shame it ended too fast!

Last 250 meters to the summit of Grande Rocheuse were tiring and we actually had to climb two more pitches due to hard ice. Then it was only downhill to the Chamonix. Rapping the Whymper and walking all the way back to the village at night was torturing affair.

Nice route all in all. Season’s on!

Walker Spur was in a great late summer nick and parties climb it as late as 10th of September. I was very keen to get back on to Jorasses myhtical N face after two years. Luckily Tim Oliver shared the idea and so we went and climb it on the 8.9.

Tim wrote such an excellent blog about our climb, so it would be waste of time to repeat the story.  Go and read it here!

Walker Spur was first climbed in 1938 by Cassin’s party and I have to wonder their courage and vision to find a such a complex line through the biggest N face of the Mont Blanc massif. It has some loose rocks at points, but solid rock on the steep parts and fun mixed pitches make you forget the choss. Very classic alpine climb after all!

PS. Sorry about the picture quality. My camera was broken and I had to use my phone.

Some describe Brown-Patey as their favourite route in the Mont Blanc massif. That’s very promising when you are picking a line for the next good weather spell. Actually it was one of the big routes on my “to do” list this summer. It’s not climbed very often and it combines three very diffirent aspects of climbing. Plus, it covers 1300 vertical meters of rad alpine terrain on the Sans Nom face of the Aiguille Verte.

The first part of the route climbs 400m high rock spur to reach the hanging glacier. Most teams bivouac on the ledges to climb the upper face next day. The second, ice and snow climbing part ends to a “belle goulotte” also known as “Marsigny-Mohr exit” to the Breche de Sans Nom. Then you just climb the Arete Sans Nom to the summit of Verte. Original route follows steep cracks more on the left, but the most natural and enjoyable line takes the Marsigny-Mohr variant.

A big, four day storm had just hit the massif, bringing snow as low as 2000m in the middle of July! I was very eager to climb something longer than basic Midi S face stuff and so was Chamonix based Tim Oliver. Most of the climbers would have stayed away from the snowy Sans Nom face, but luckily we shared the idea of climbing the Brown-Patey. We knew that if we wait any longer, it will become too hot to climb on the face any time soon. So, we were off on the first clear day after the storm.

Approach was quite relaxed 2 hour downhill from the GM lift. Nant Blanc glacier was filled with snow and the couloir leading to the glacier in good condition. At places there were 20cm of new snow which didn’t promise very quick climb to the bivouac area. Actually seemingly strong winds hitting the summit and creating big spindrifts made the situation very wintery. How strange!

In a proper summer conditions the spur should be doable in a few hours, but now everything was covered with snow. Dry-tooling 5b slabs? Yes, please. The crux 6a pitch was probably the easiest of the day as it was free of snow. At 10pm we finaly reached the bivouac site. It took ages to climb 400 meters!

I didn’t sleep very well on a crumbly ledge, which was a shame, because we still had another long day ahead. At 6am we begun simul-climbing the next section of the face. Now conditions were good and we quickly climbed all to way to the Breche de Sans Nom swaping leads only one time. It felt great to be middle of the big alpine face again.

However, the lower part of the Sans Nom ridge offered more difficulties and we pitched the whole thing. Blocky mixed climbing combined with snowy cracks on smooth walls. I violently french-freed the 6b crack to save time. With rock shoes it wouldn’t be a problem to free it, but you have to sensible. And how there can be 6b rock climbing on a D graded alpine route? Time to change grade for the Sans Nom ridge mates!

The upper arete is spectacular – golden granite towers rising from a knife-edge snow ridge. Absolutely stunning! Wind was still raging strong and at times, it was hard to keep the balance. Soon we stood on the summit of Aiguille Verte. It had been a beautiful trip to climb one of my favourite peaks. I had tried it three times in the past. As a young boy I tried to solo the Whymper, but bad conditions forced to go down. A year later my plan was to solo the Couturier, but again conditions weren’t favourable. And last Autumn my friend got injured slightly while climbing the “Late to Say I’m Sorry” on the N face. Such a good feeling to reach the summit after all those failures!

The descent via Whymper couloir was uneventful. Untracked Moine glacier offered nice sunset views over the Jorasses as we walked down to Couvercle. Thanks for the late-evening cake and soup! Another beautiful day on the mountains was over!

It´s a rare thing to meet a climber who wouldn´t have dreamed about climbing the biggest north face in the Alps. During the last 80 years Eigerwand has played a big role in the deveploment of climbing, as the climbing worlds leading names have pushed the bounderies further. The first ascent in 1938, Ueli Steck`s speed records, Harlin directtissima, Dean Potter´s free base climbs and Jeff Lowe`s Metanoia to name a few remarkable achievements on the face. Is there any other alpine face in the world with a such a rich history?

It was first weekend of November when the news from the excellent conditions of the north face hit the internet. Instantly I started to search a partner for the next week as forecast promised a long lasting high pressure to Bernese Oberland. Kalle Vuorenmaa deciced to skip less important school work and come along. We booked flights to Zurich on Sunday and already bivied at the Eigerglectcher station on Wednesday.

It was hard to gain any sleep due to angry fox, which disturbed by trying to steal my packpack couple of times. Before midnight we were on our way to the route. A bit too early start, but we wanted to get down in a daylight.

We soloed first couple hundred meters to the Difficult crack, which is the first real obstacle on the route. Unsecure nature of climbing became familiar. Sloppy holds and slipery limestone was far from the Finnish granite. I led the steep crack without too much fuss. Except the Difficult crack was now front of me. We had climbed some kind of a direct variation without the last traverse from the left.

More easier terrain under the Rote Fluh appeared and we began a long simul climb section which ended to the Death bivouac. Of course we swapped leads twice when draws run out, but didn´t belay any of the climbing in pitches. Hinterstoiser traverse, Ice Hose and Flat Iron were all iced up and all floated by.

We melted some snow at the Death bivouac when pair of Swiss climbers passed. They were the only people on the route we saw, but later on we find out that the route was full of climbers.

At sunrise we continued the climb through the Ramp. The most entertaining pitch was the Waterfall chimney, which warm temperatures and other climbers had made a hollow and technical ice climb. Overhanging bulge needed careful climbing and went probably around WI5+. How did they climb that in 1938?

More historical sections followed. Brittle ledges were definately brittle and the Brittle crack supposed to be the crux. It was full of in-situ gear though. Bring enough draws and you´ll be able to belay most of the route with them.

Traverse of the Gods is one of the most legendary pitches anywhere and you can really feel the Eigerwand´s exposure on the last meters of it. We moved together all to way to Quartz crack sprinting up the White Spider as fast we could. And I can tell you our pace wasn´t very fast anymore. I balanced up a polished slab which was the real technical crux of the route.

Exit cracks offered full-on chimney stemming without pro on the first 15 meters, but eased up quickly. We took the rope off and climbed the remaining snow field and Mitellegi ridge to the summit. It was a beautiful, but windy late-afernoon. I had just completed the north face trilogy, but didn´t feel anything special. Just a bit tiredness in my legs.

This was also Kalle`s third route in the Alps, and I have to say, his alpine ticklist is pretty impressive in Finnish scale.

West face descent should be a easy two hour plod, but in the dark, climbing down short ice steps felt very odd. Zero sleep in the previos night didn´t help route finding skils and eventually we decided to bivy only 200 vertical meters from the train station.

And yes, we must return to improve our time!