So the previous night, Abbie’s health got worst. We suspected strep throat, and after some discussion, we decided that she should head back to town in the morning to get checked out by a doctor. Meanwhile, Lillian and I would proceed to Cabane d’Orny, stay the night, then head back to Chamonix to regroup.

We got an alpine-ish start

Spirits were mostly high

V(^_^)v

We eventually caught up with a rope team

The team was a large group of French medical students, who were getting their wilderness and alpine medicine training. SUPER COOL, RIGHT?!

We passed them and continued on Glacier du Tour

We were just enjoying the day and then realized we missed our turn off for the Col Supérieur du Tour… The team of students eventually caught up, and their guide pointed out the col, and another guide asked, “is it even passable this late in the season?”

…well, more on that later.

Water check!

We eventually made it to the base of the col. A old German guide, with many missing fingers, and his wife, also arrived. We knew they were heading for the same objective, and we saw them way ahead of us in the morning. Turns out, they missed the col as well.

We looked at our maps, and decided to proceed towards the notch on the left. Spoiler alert, the notch we were supposed to head to, was towards the right, around all that rock fall.

The photos don’t provide the best perspective, but the terrain was steep and loose. It was pretty sketch. But we made it to a nice rock for a break. The couple can be seen making their way up as well.

I eventually make it to the notch. Lil made it too. Please ignore the poorly managed rope around her neck…

We peeked over and realized we gained the wrong notch…

Ha, right?

What happened next wasn’t documented… but the German team, and us, tried to access the correct side of this pile of shit for about an hour, but found it not doable. The German team decided to descend from the notch, and try to gain the correct one. The guide’s wife looked like she was done with this, but they soldiered on. By this time, we were wayyy behind schedule, and called it… We’d go back to Chamonix, find a lodge, and meet up with Abbie.

Sad and annoyed.

🙁

I felt bad. But Lil was a good sport. The correct col is to the right. Getting up to our spot was a big enough hassle. Getting to that other spot seemed even worse…

After another hour or so of shenanigans, which included some very un-enjoyable down climbing, in an area where the fall line was close to a crevasse (see five-photos up), and lowering each other off some large boulders… we safely made it back to the glacier, and backtracked to town.

In better spirits

WE FOUND A BONUS SANDWICH.

So what were the lessons learned?

• I should’ve planned better
• We got complacent with following tracks and not navigating
• Should’ve gotten better beta on conditions of the route at the hut… especially after the discussion with the climbers the previous day.
• The col was in poor condition, and we later learned that the col is considered passable when filled with snow, making it a walk-up. It definitely wasn’t when we were there… We probably could’ve made it up, but the risk was high, and the consequence was not worth it.
• Planning again. There was apparently an alternate route that we were unaware of at the time, through Col Blanc. Sigh.
• Should’ve spent a little more time looking at the col, and looking at the map…
• While the route is considered “mellow,” I underestimated the technical aspects and demands of it, and was kind of treating it like a trek. Should’ve taken this more seriously…

The route will have to wait until another day.