17 |02|2009
Le Petit Dru 3733m
Every year after the World Cup, I’m drawn to the beautiful glacier and mountains above Chamonix. I’m particularly impressed by the extremely steep and long rock faces.
One of the most vertical and also longest faces at the Mont Blanc region is the west face of the Petit Dru. A few years ago a gigantic rockslide turned most of the 1000-m face into a scree slope, with the result that relatively few people choose to climb there. After bivouacking approximately an hour away from the face, Jörg and I decided to try the “American Direct”. At 3 a.m. we broke camp and headed for the route entrance. Rock quality was excellent on most places (a few exceptions), and after 14 hours we reached the summit. As the weather was turning for the worse, we had to keep moving. We rappelled down to a suitable bivouac at the Charpoua Glacier, reaching it at 1 a.m. We roughed out the rain and hail for 4 hours, and with the day’s first light made our way across the fissured glacier. After another 5-hour hike, we were back in Chamonix safe and sound.
In a few days we continue with similar adventures from the Mammut Team Trip to Kyrgyzstan…
There are already some photos from Chamonix in the Gallery…