Mont Dolent - Arête Gallet en traversée

This was our second attempt at the Gallet ridge of Mont Dolent.  Last week, we stayed at the La Maye bivouak and followed the glacier up to the ridge, but entered the ridge much too early (about 3050m on the glacier) and had to downclimb on garbage loose rock.  Then we aimed to get on the ridge at the top of the glacier, but were stopped by massive bergschrunds. It was very warm with an overnight freezing-level of 4500m.  We turned around and vowed to come back later.

So we went 5 days later.  Same plan, but armed with a better idea of where to enter the ridge from the glacier.  From La Fouly, we hiked to the La Maye biv (~2 hours), arriving at 21.00.  There is a WC near the biv and fresh glacier water can be found in a few places within a 5 min walk.  

We woke up 3.00 on Saturday and were on the glacier by 4.00.  We hiked along the glacier until ~3350m.  This route may not be viable later in the summer.  Very little rock climbing was involved... I would say it was grade II+ maximum.  Alternatively, it's possible to enter the ridge at ~3150m, where the climbing is likely grade III.

From the ridge, ~3450m, we stayed on the glacier on the north slope, traversing on a thin ice/snow sheet just above a large bergschrund.  This isn't ideal: the snow section is very thin, allowing little protection and little space to arrest a fall.  Similarly, the rock face is quite smooth, so no rock protection is possible either.  But the section isn't too long before getting back on good snow.  Alternatively, stay on the rock ridge and continue that way.

We followed the snow slope to a flat piece just in front of a very large crevasse/bergschrund (3600m).  There were several crossings, but none looked bombproof.  We found one we liked and crossed it.  Again, finding a crossing during the summer may prove difficult.  If no good bridge exists, one could access use the rocky ridge to the left and perhaps find a way back to the snow slope.

Beyond this, the last 200 meters are 45-50 degree snow/ice slope.  The snow was still good, but turned to ice half way up, with a thin layer of crap ice that is easily scraped away.  We set some ice screws for peace of mind and continued upwards.  Just at the end of the ice, we looked left and saw that we were level with the Madonna, with only a few meters of rock to go.  It took us longer than expected - we reached the top at 11.00 or so.  Not ideal.

Weather at the top was wonderful.  It was warm enough to sit and enjoy ourselves.  Beautiful views of the Grande Jorass, Mont Blanc, Glacier d'Argentière, Grand Combin, and far off in all distances.  Enjoy the views of tiny needles that rise from every ridge in the area.

Our slow ascent made the descent a bit dangerous: the summit immediately gives way to a ~50 degree snow slope that continues for 200m.  The snow was rotten and melting, with avalanche scars here and there.  Care is needed to prevent sliding (don't forget to smack your crampons to prevent balling).  We yelled at one another to speed up, to slow down, to hurry up, to stop pulling on the rope, etc. etc., but eventually we made it down.  Below 3600m, the danger of falling is significantly reduced: it's not very steep and there's no crevasse waiting below to swallow you.  The return to the hut is pretty straightforward (shown in the camptocamp topo linked below), but fairly long.  Fresh water can be found from ~2900m.  

We arrived to the Bivacco Fiorio ~15.00.  A few of took a lunch and immediately left for La Fouly, about 2.5 hours away.  Last route from La Fouly to Zurich is 19:30, but the small grocery in La Fouly closes at 18:00.  They have a nice selection of local beers.


We used topos from camptocamp.com.  A good topo can be found here (in French).  There, you can find good diagrams of the route we took (we followed the green route on one of the pictures).