The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. During the same week on the Alps we also ticked the traverse of the Grandes Jorasses.<\/p>\n
The traverse of the Meije is one of those routes which are called “grandes courses” and for a good reason.\u00a0The\u00a0easiest route\u00a0up to Grand Pic of the Meije (3982m) is graded AD which\u00a0makes it one of\u00a0the\u00a0most difficult\u00a0mountains on the Alps.\u00a0About grades\u00a0it should\u00a0be noted that there are “AD routes” and AD routes. Climbing\u00a0the Meije is quite a bit different adventure compared to climbing the Arete Cosmiques, for example. They both get the same grade but the first one takes 2 days and the\u00a0other one\u00a02\u00a0hours.<\/p>\n
Teppo had never been to Ecrins and I had driven by only once so we didn’t know what to wait really. We’d seen a set of pictures on the internet posted by two blokes who combined the west ridge to the traverse and that looked like\u00a0good\u00a0fun. They bivied comfortably on the mountain and we wished to do the same. Neither of us have never been among the biggest fans of the huts and we prefer sleeping outdoors. To our experience the huts can be quite loud and the pace of the day is very different to what we’re used to. We like staying awake late and waking up late.<\/p>\n
Enfetchores\u00a0spur (PD, 950m)\u00a0and the\u00a0West Ridge (AD+, 600m) – July 29th, 2012<\/span><\/p>\n Climbing the Traverse of the Meije\u00a0has a probem with parking since the way up is different to the way down.\u00a0The\u00a0most logical\u00a0way\u00a0is\u00a0starting from La Grave and taking the ski lift to the mid station\u00a0to 2400m. With the ski lift also possible to\u00a0go\u00a0all the way up to 3200m\u00a0for acclimatizing for one night.<\/p>\n The climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\n Traverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n We reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\n The abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\n After the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\n From the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\n The descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\n It took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\n All in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\n Prior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading
\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\n
\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\n
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296120.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296121.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296140.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296146.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296149.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296152.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296160.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296167.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296176.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296179.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296181.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296188.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296190.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296193.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe day of our ascent started at the top station and we rode the morning first\u00a0ski lift\u00a0back down to our car. At the car we packed our climbing gear and boarded the ski lift again. At the midstation the approach begun.<\/p>\nThe climbing was mostly easy on the Enfetchores ridge but with a couple of steps of grade\u00a0III free climbing. The west ridge was slightly harder and more sustained at III or IV.\u00a0 From the\u00a0mid station\u00a0(2400m) to the Breche de la Meije (3357m) it took us 5 hours. From there to the bivy below the Carre Glacier (3700m) it was 5 hours more.<\/p>\nTraverse\u00a0of the Aretes (D-, ridge) – July 30th, 2012\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe second day we woke up at out bivy. We’ve never been too good with alpine starts so we hung out in our tent untill 10 am. Teppo had\u00a0some head ache so we had no hurry either. We were woken up by a couple of guys from Liverpool who climbed the classic route up.<\/p>\n\n\n \t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-west-ridge\/p7296199.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306203.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306212.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306213.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306216.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306225.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306226.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306228.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306232.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306238.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306244.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306245.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306246.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306248.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306250.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306251.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306257b.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306258.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306259.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306265.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306268.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306269.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306274.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t \n \n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306278.jpg\"\n){kind=link}
![\n \n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t\n \n\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\nThe Carre glacier was very straight forward. There was a good path up it. After the glacier it was sustained climbing at III or so. Never hard but never totally easy either. The protection was at times poor but sufficient since the climbing was easy.<\/p>\nWe reached the top of the Grand Pic (3983m) about 2 hours after leaving the bivy. There are plenty of good bivy sites on the top and after our climb one local said the top is the better bivy. The one below the Carre can be quite smelly later in the season.<\/p>\nThe abseils from the Grand Pic were very straight forward with the exception of the last 70 meters before the breche. Since we had short ropes we had to do the second last abseil of a rock horn and on the last abseil we had to down climb a bit but it was easy. I’d say\u00a0the traverse is\u00a0very much doable with one 50m\u00a0rope but\u00a0backing off could be hard. The abseils on the regular Promontoire route\u00a0had anchors maybe\u00a0once every 50 meters.<\/p>\nAfter the abseils there was\u00a0a little bit of traversing and\u00a0then there was the\u00a0via ferrata cable below the Dent Zigmondy. The\u00a0via ferrata\u00a0made the climbing easier but in my opinion such thing shouldn’t exist on this mountain. The angle\u00a0of ice was very moderate by modern standards at 60 degrees. If people could do this traverse without\u00a0the cable\u00a0in 1891 why do we need such in 2012?\u00a0The via ferrata\u00a0was in good shape since it was refurbished in 2007 but\u00a0a couple of meters of it was inside the ice. I placed one ice screw for protection on that move.<\/p>\nFrom the col after the via ferrata it was more or less easy scrambling\u00a0along the crest untill the last breche between the 4th Dent and Doigt de Dieu (3973m). There the slabs were really smooth and we made two abseils of 25m to the col. The mid achor was a block of rock on the egde of the\u00a0big\u00a0drop. Sometimes\u00a0this\u00a0anchor\u00a0may\u00a0be below the snow but then the snow may be down climbable.\u00a0 We reached the Doigt de Dieu 5 hours after topping out the Pic Central.<\/p>\nThe descent was fairly long. From the summit you’ll have to walk or scrable down all the way to La Grave. That’s about 2500 meters of altitude difference and will surely knacker your legs.<\/p>\nIt took us 2 hours from the summit to the Aigle hut. We stopped at the hut for some soup and cola. It was 6 euros for the soup and 3 euros for the cola. Cash only. From the hut it was 1,5 hours to our bivy site on the moraines and from there 1,5 hours more to the road at Le Pont des Brebis. From the road it’s a little over\u00a0hour to La Grave if you’re unlucky with hitch hiking.<\/p>\nAll in all the climb took us about 48 hours divided on three days. For rack we took four cams, a set of nuts, two ice screws, abalahook, eight draws and one twin rope of 50m. For bivy gear we had insulated jackets, fleece layers,\u00a0 summer weight sleeping bags and the Firstlight tent. One ski touring ice axe and crampons\u00a0for each\u00a0climber.<\/p>\nPrior leaving home we asked on UKClimbing.com forum about the rope lenght and everyone gave us advice about taking two ropes but we chose only one. During the climb we abseiled once off a rock horn during the Grand Pic rappels and on the final bergshrund we made one abalakov thread which was nice but not mandatory. The other abseils near the shrund were all doable with our rope. We climbed everything the rope doubled (ie. 25m for simulclimbing). Besides the two mentioned cases all other abseils were off chains or cords with maillons. Before the climb we reasoned the abalahook weights a lot less than the second rope which was just about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The traverse of the Meije has been one of those things on my wish list for ages. I’ve always wanted to\u00a0do it but I’ve never actually done it. But\u00a0finally, a little over a week ago we finally got it ticked. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":89,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/777\/revisions\/803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.patagonia.fi\/blog\/wp-content\/gallery\/la-meije-traverse\/p7306281.jpg\"\n){kind=link}