TR: Danger on Mont Blanc Attempt 4/16/2010

I thought I would contribute this TR to try and express how easily small (completely random) descisions can make the difference between life and death and how quickly something that you have no control over can instantly erase you from this planet.

In addition, I'd like to express how easy it is (and sometimes necessary, I guess), in the heat of the moment to disregard the events that just occurred and continue to your goal. Now is an opportunity to reflect.

This is a crosspost from the Skisickness Sanitorium.

Early last week the forecasts called for clearing towards the end of the week with cool temperatures: perfect for a summit attempt on the Big One. While Tom and I had originally wanted to climb Les 3 Monts route from the top of the second stage of the Aiguille du Midi because it seemed more pratical for a one-day push (like 1500m vertical), guides had warned of dangerous conditions on the Tacul face (a place where the shit hits the fan often).

Note: all times are approximate, we had no watch to verify.


So alas, it was Thursday night and we had decided to do the Grands Mulets route in a big one day push, much like a single day rainier project. Very possible albeit tiring. Friday morning we arrived at the midi to see that the first bin was delayed from 8:10 to 8:30. N'importe quoi. We began (2200m, ~8h45) the massive traverse under the steep face of the midi and Glacier Rond towards the crevassed zone in the Bosson Glacier passing two groups coming back from an alpine summit push (one pair and one solist) in the serac zone on our way to the Grand Mulets hut.

Traversing under the midi.
http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020767.jpg

Approaching the serac zone. Where we passed the skiers.
http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020773.jpg



We were making good time and were about 150m vertical meters below the Grand Mulets hut (2900m, ~10h15) when we heard the first of two small pieces fall of the Rond. I shat myself because we had just traversed under that thing.

Then just as were continued up again I heard a huge bang and saw this:

http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020782.jpg

which turned into this:

http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020783.jpg

The Glacier Rond had calved and produced an absoulutely massive catastrophic avalanche that ran 1500+ meters, cresting the plan on the Bosson Glacier and raging all the way down Bosson Glacier to near timberline.

We knew that whoever was in the zone at the time was in big trouble. After the snow cleared I saw someone running around in search mode, frantically trying to find his partner. I decided I was not going to go back into the zone of death after all the pieces we witnessed falling off and so Tom called the Gendarmes who were quickly on the scene with helis.

After some time, we looked back and saw a huge crowd of rescuers combing the area for hours. We decided to continue up, a bit frazzled. While constantly receiving and clarifying data all day long, our last bit of communcation with the gendarme was when they asked us if we had lost a pole and a glove, because there was no other trace of the third person.

The Grand Mulet hut.
http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020812.jpg

Whats are the chances of dying in a terrorist attack on 9/12/01?
http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020815.jpg

The rest of the ascent was pretty mellow 30-35 degree snow with occasional crevassed sections, however the snow was primo; that was sure.
http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020822.jpg


http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020829.jpg

At first, I had felt extremely good about the push and the altitude, but right around 4000m I started seeing unicorns. It was about 15h00 and we had crested 4100m on our way to Vallot Box.
http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020833.jpg

For some reason it took us eternity to get to the vallot hut. The Face Nord, and the Crete Summital. So close.
http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020834.jpg

http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020835.jpg

I was exhausted, but still hopefull.
http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020837.jpg

There was nothing but spilled feed and a BIG RED button. I was fondling it, deciding whether to eject.
http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020838.jpg

So close, yet so far. The vallot hut is around 4400m, the summit was within reach. Unfortunately it took us 45 minutes to climb crawl up the 35 degree snow. Step after step, Tom was cruxing on some ice literally 8 feet from the Vallot hut, he yelled at me to "be careful" as we got our ice tools. I finally grabbed the guyline and nearly fell headfirst into the WC. It was pathetic. Really.

http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020840.jpg

Luckily, once we had made the descision to turn around, the weather completely closed in. It left a nice corridor of pefect untouched pow all the way down.

http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020847.jpg

It was so good.
http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020853.jpg

When we got back down, we had to traverse the zone of death. The destruction as incredible. I would estimate the slide was about 3/4 of a mile wide with chunks of blue glacier ice and rocks everywhere. How anyone could have surived this was beyond me. The debris had filled in all the crevasses in this part of the Glacier and obscuring our escape. What better time than now to get lost in an icefall?
http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020862.jpg

Just in time to stop hallucinating, we found the escape ramp out of the ice fall and skied down to Bossons. We skied pretty low, due to the good snowpack all the way to the foot path near the tunnel at approx 1250m. It was around 17h30. Until the ice fall, we descended 2500 meters in approximately 15-20 minutes. Crazy.

http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020867.jpg

http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020877.jpg

Later that evening we went to the Gendarme office and gave a full report. As of last night, no one is really sure who/if there are more people missing.

Careful isn't really the word.

You didn't die on that day because of pure chance. Remember this and enjoy your life.

Welcome to Chamonix, a very dangerous place indeed. I'll never forget 99' when we got so much snow the government evacuated the entire valley. I got a police escort back to
my apartment in Mont Roc to gather personal effects. Lost my roommate to a hunk of glacier. Scary place. Great pictures.

Amazing event -- great photos.
Looked like you got plenty of great scenery and good skiing just getting as far as Vallot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by powdherb

we had decided to do the Grands Mulets route in a big one day push, much like a single day rainier project. Very possible albeit tiring.

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From the first lift? Possible for you guys -- not for us mere mortals.

Quote:

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http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020815.jpg

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Good photo of yet another death zone. Substantial serac fall across the ski route just a week before.

Quote:

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When we got back down, we had to traverse the zone of death.

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Seems like for this it was advantageous that the big fall of junk had already occurred in the morning.
I think the biggest problem with a late start on climbing MB with the intent of skiing the Grands Mulets is not so much with finding enough time climb up to someplace high. Rather it's getting down early enough to cross this zone before the afternoon sun gets onto the generally-West-facing slopes above it.

A possible option is to spend the night at the Grands Mulets hut -- which helps with afternoon avalanches.

But your experience shows something I'd heard about, but not seen so dramatically -- that big serac falls can happen fairly randomly almost any time of day.

Glad you're hear to tell us the story.

Ken

I'm not familiar with the area at all, but did i read that right, that you witnessed an avalanche and the start of a rescue and phoned it in rather than going to help with the search?

This is undoubtedly coming across as judgmental, but that would seem quite callous in most of the places I've skied, and I want to understand what's in place in France that makes that OK. Is the response time of the helicopters really such that calling them is an acceptable substitute for doing a beacon search yourself?

Again, that undoubtedly comes across as judgmental, but I have a genuine curiosity about what's in place, and what the protocols are in France, that would make that ethically OK.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by samthaman

Is the response time of the helicopters really such that calling them is an acceptable substitute for doing a beacon search yourself?

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Probably. Chamonix's Mountain Rescue team is the best in the world. And I know at least 2 rescue heli pilots in the valley who sit on the pad waiting for any excuse to fly immediately - avalanche, serac fall, hangnail, etc etc. It perhaps creates a unique mindset, knowing you can go for it and someone will be there almost immediately if you crap the bed.

Add that to the fact that the first rule is not to create any more victims and the fact I wasn't there, and I don't have any issue with his decision.

Thanks for the sobering and interesting TR. I am 0 for 2 on Mt Blanc ski trips but prefer to think of them as "beautiful failures."

Fantastique! Thanks for the TR; see 9 lives count?

Absolutely stunning shots - never been to that part of the world except through others' TRs. And a sobering write up.

Thanks for sharing.

So were those caught in the avalanche rescued?

Wow, what a day!

In response to some comments above: Cham is genuinely a place where you can leave the rescue up to the experts; assuming you have reached them and they know exactly where the accident occured.

At the time of the serac fall, I was probably about 500 vertical meters above the zone (which I really didn't want to go back into after seeing 3 falls that day). In any case, it would have taken us about 15-20 minutes to get to the scene, while the heli was there in less than 10.

France (Chamonix especially) is different than the US. Response time here is impeccable and from what I've seen rescuers don't have all that much fear of getting up in the shit.

My instinctive response was to head towards them, but then I realized I had to negotiate a serac band to get to them, and then put myself and my partner in harm's way. It wasn't something I was willing to do.

The first and most important part of any first aid/ safety course is safety of yourself.
Thanks for posting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KenR

Amazing event -- great photos.
Looked like you got plenty of great scenery and good skiing just getting as far as Vallot.


From the first lift? Possible for you guys -- not for us mere mortals.


Good photo of yet another death zone. Substantial serac fall across the ski route just a week before.


Seems like for this it was advantageous that the big fall of junk had already occurred in the morning.
I think the biggest problem with a late start on climbing MB with the intent of skiing the Grands Mulets is not so much with finding enough time climb up to someplace high. Rather it's getting down early enough to cross this zone before the afternoon sun gets onto the generally-West-facing slopes above it.

A possible option is to spend the night at the Grands Mulets hut -- which helps with afternoon avalanches.

But your experience shows something I'd heard about, but not seen so dramatically -- that big serac falls can happen fairly randomly almost any time of day.

Glad you're hear to tell us the story.

Ken

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I was actually just discussing the same thing with my friend. The two parties who were caught in the slide had made the right decision by going for a morning summit attempt and being out of "harms way" well before the sun hit the above faces. Ironically, it was us that was spared by the avalanche by starting late in the day for the summit.

It goes to show that seracs, while more likely to fall in the heat, are completely unpredictable. Seracs don't care you got an alpine start.

As for staying at the Grand Mulet hut after the ski, its not a bad idea. I was considering the same. Unfortunately the point for us was to avoid huts all together. I'm not really sure why.

What an incredible and sobering post. Unpredictable for sure.

Thanks for the time you took to share this.

damn that must've been a helluva push! it looks like you were pushing just fast enough too...

I'd sure hate to be in the Glacier Rond exit couloir and see that coming at me, a thought I've had when looking back up the bridge on the Midi, knowing I was in the ultimate path trap. Punani and I were skiing across the valley one day when a serac fall took out like 12 or 18 people crossing the glacier for Mont Blanc. The odds are better than Vegas but being around when the mountain takes one person or a group of people will instill a certain perspective.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by robbo

You didn't die on that day because of pure chance. Remember this and enjoy your life.

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Wrong. They didn't because of smart choices, (and a certain amount of luck.) Every day we ski/climb in precarious situations we try to minimize the risks by making wise choices. Some days are luck holds or runs out, but it is rarely pure chance.

But, I do agree, we need to enjoy every day of the life we have.

Great TR. Well written and very intense. Some sweet pics to boot. Glad you got out of there okay. It sounds like you made a lot of right decisions.

Interesting thoughts about whether to join in a rescue. Thanks for the follow up. Again, it sounds like you made the right choice.

http://students.washington.edu/demas...c/P1020783.jpg

Holy ballz, that is a sobering shot. Glad you're alright and will live to shred another day.

wow.

just wow.

Thank whatever deity is present you weren't in that serac fall D

Incredible TR.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by samthaman

I'm not familiar with the area at all, but did i read that right, that you witnessed an avalanche and the start of a rescue and phoned it in rather than going to help with the search?

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Yo man....they had their own objective, and that was to ski. Not save some beaters life.....and they got the goods! (instead of saving some strangers life)

The End

RAD TR!

very interesting,thanks for sharing. So good you're ok

Shared this with the wife.Brings the importance of living in the moment to light.Thanks for posting it.Incredible pics BTW...:)

Normally I'd have a reaction to a story like this but....it's Chamonix. Not really an unusual or shocking story from there. (Not to downplay it and I'm glad you are alive, of course.) Calving ice chunks happen all the time and there are many other ways to die every day in Cham. I guess though if you don't take risks and play it safe in that valley, you're sitting at home.

Thanks for sharing your photos and story.