Aiguille des Angroniettes - Sommet W (2854 m)

Seen by Sky

It’s been so long since Astrid (LaGazelle) and I wrote each other, looking for a peak to make together.

Being in Wallis for my summer holidays, we agreed to make something during this period. We talked about it for a while and at the end we decided for the Aiguille des Angroniettes, in Val Ferret.

We met in Martigny, then I drove to Ferret, parked the car beyond the village (at P1783) and then we started our hike. We decided to make all the Dan Barray valley until the homonymous pass, following a report Astrid found on a book. We have to cross many small rivers.. maybe we followed the wrong side of the Drance.. the hike was mostly off-path, with astonishing ridges around and we finally reached the Col du Ban Darray. While going up, I thought our summit was a point, but actually it wasn’t at all. The real Aiguille des Angroniettes was a peak impossible to reach (even if Brandt says it is an F..!), but then I realized that Astrid’s report was talking about the western, or “Italian”, summit (2854 m), instead of the higher one (2883 m). Okay, now everything was clear ! We followed a path on the (easy) ridge and in a few minutes we reached the cairn (actually, the highest point is about 20 m from the P2854). On the summit we met 2 Italians and 2 Germans. The panorama over Mont Blanc and Grand Jorasses was really beautiful. We had something to eat, then we went back to the Col and, afterwards, we descended on the opposite (Italian) side of the Col, trying to reach the path to Grand Col Ferret, loosing as less elevation as possible. There was a lot of people on that path, being a “classic route”. We reached the Col and then closed the ring, back to Ferret.

Really nice hike, in a valley I didn’t know, and nice company by LaGazelle.