 | | Andy and Al at the summit of la Tour Ronde, with Mont Blanc in the background |
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The next day started off very misty, so we postponed our planned start from 4:00 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. when the mist had started to clear. Because of the cold night the snow had become hard again and walking was much easier than it had been on the previosu afternoon. We had planned to ascend la Tour Ronde by its South-East ridge, which is graded PD. According to the guide book this means that the route is not very hard, however if you are not used to mixed climbing then it is quite tricky. The route followed the right hand side of the ridge for a way, before crossing over to the left hand side. From here there were good views towards Mont Blanc. As the sun rose it became much warmer, and we were able to hear the occasional avalanche coming from the direction of Mont Blanc. We headed out of the shade back in to the sun and off the rock on to the snowy slope which leads to the summit. At the top there was one last bit of rock and this brought us to the top with an excellent view of all the surrounding mountains. We reached the summit at around 9:30 a.m.
La Tour Ronde is recommended as a first alpine peak since it helps the beginner to get to know the lay-out of the ranges, and I would certainally agree with this statement. The sky was clear towards Mont Blanc, however the cloud was starting to build up towards Helbronner, so we decided to descend down the East col which we had watched the other party descend the night before. We started off down the route we had ascended, but instead of heading off to the (now) right of the ridge we cut down a snow slope to the (now) left. This took us over some mixed ground to a steep snow slope which ended by crossing a bergschrund. We joined up with another party of two so that we could abseil quickly down this slope. The weather appeared to be changing, and we wanted to reach Helbronner whilst the telecabine was still open (it is closed in poor weather and strong wind). From here Al went ahead to collect the one sack and sleeping bags which we had left at out bivvy site to enable us to travel light and faster. We met up and walked around to Helbronner with the cloud starting to close in, reaching the cable car station at 11:30 a.m. From here we caught the telecabine to the Aiguille du Midi and descended by cable car in cloud. The telecabine is well worth while, travelling across the Vallee Blanche and giving an excellent aerial view of the glacier.
All in all it had been an interesting and enjoyable experience. I have been to the Alps several times with my parents (walking) and had thoroughly enjoyed those holidays. It was good to be out on the glacier and rock, where I had watched other people several years ago. La Tour Ronde is definately an excellent choice for the first Alpine peak.
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 | | Andy on the ridge ascending la Tour Ronde |
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