Pigne d'Arolla (13.07.2009)
| Start point | Arolla |
|---|---|
| Characteristic | Alpine trip |
| Map |
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| Ascents | Pigne d'Arolla (3,796m) | 13.07.2009 |
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Sunday, 12th July 2009
It was a nice, fresh morning we woke up to but it looked like it was gradually becoming more overcast as the morning drew on. Anthony, our guide, pulled up at the chalet at about 9.50am and our first stop was a gear hire shop in Les Hauderes, a couple of km down the road. Tobbe needed some proper boots and crampons, and Dan also needed to hire crampons. My chesty cough was still giving me much hassle, so I waited outside while they sorted out all the bits they needed.
Once we'd driven to Arolla and parked up we began the walk in to the Dix hut. Mont Collon dominated the views at the top end of the valley, which stayed pretty much to our left. The air was warm but not too intense. At about halfway to the hut we reached a nice grassy plateau and stopped for some lunch. It was probably quite fortunate we stopped at that point, because about ½ hour later, just as we’d arrived at the start of the ladders that descended down to the glacier, it started to rain lightly and then became heavier once we’d begun the glacier crossing. Fortunate that we weren’t far from the lovely warmth of the hut. We ended up spending the remainder of the afternoon drinking masses of tea/coffee, playing cards and after it had stopped raining and doing some ropework practice outside the hut. Dinner was a bit of a cosy affair, with every single table crammed to full capacity but despite that, the soup was a tasty vegetable concoction followed by some surprisingly tender beef casserole with mashed potato (a rather odd combination in my opinion) and an interesting dessert of pears with chocolate sauce. I was in bed by 8.15pm, and the dormitory filled up not too long after; we appeared to be in good company because the old geezers sharing the room with us didn’t appear (to my knowledge) to have any snoring issues. Actually, it was probably Hanna who made the most noise snoring with her blocked nose that night!
Monday, 13th July 2009
The first signs of life and footsteps creaking the floors of the hut appeared vaguely at 4am, and having felt that I’d had sufficient sleep, I did the same and wandered downstairs into the dining room. It actually turned out that there was no one else around and it was completely dark. Well, I wasn’t going to go back to bed, so I switched on the lights and sat at one of the tables and sorted out my rucksack to pass the time. It wasn’t too long before the hut warden appeared to get things prepared for breakfast, so I went and collected oUr group’s tray shortly after about 4.30am.
After much dithering around, it was nearly 6am before we actually left the hut. First we had the short descent back on to the glacier below the Dix hut again, followed by the crossing to reach the other side and onto the lower slopes of Pigne d’Arolla. The snow was in good condition but not overly icy so we didn’t rope up and put on crampons etc until quite a way up the other side of the glacier. The temperature was surprisingly warm so most of us stripped off our shell jackets for the next part of the ascent. It was an easy walk to get higher up the glacier and at about 8am we had another stop for something to eat at the col between Pigne d’Arolla and Mont Blanc de Cheilon.
From there we had some spectacular views of the Matterhorn and Dent Blanche, the two prominent peaks to the west. More easy-angled bimbling past some seracs followed with bright sunshine overhead. Just before the last stretch of slogging our way to the summit, we donned the sun hats and slapped on a load of sun cream and then plodded off again.
In contrast though, the summit was immensely windy, and I had to pull on my shell jacket again. Anyway, we took some photos and then made a swift exit off the summit and out of the wind. The rest of the descent to the Vignettes hut, our intended lunch stop was easy-going, treading quickly down the soft snow and eventually taking off crampons once we’d reached a bit of a rock outcrop. It was really hot by the time we reached the Vignettes, and it was a nice place to take a break and get something to drink for an hour or two. There appeared to have been some substantial refurbishment done to the hut since I’d last been there in 2005, and it definitely felt a lot more modern and cleaner inside. The long-drop toilets at the end of the ridge had now been replaced by a large indoor WC unit upstairs too! Anthony and Dan ordered a plate of Rösti each for lunch, Hanna sunbathed on the benches outside the dining room and I ate my sandwiches inside. I didn’t want more sun dosage than necessary – it was too intense!
So, after our very leisurely lunch break, we finally departed from the hut at just after 1.30pm-ish, and had a very fun time literally running down the soft wet snow of the glacier leading down to Arolla (I really should find out the names of these glaciers!). Quite soon after hitting the moraine at the bottom, we bumped into another group of Intro alpine course students, and who were basically doing the same route as us but in reverse so they were heading up to the Vignettes hut to stay the night before making an ascent of Pigne d’Arolla the next morning. After that brief meeting with the others it took maybe another hour of walking slowly downwards into Arolla. The path wound its way around the mountainside before dropping down onto a ridge and into woodland. It was warm but quite cloudy when we reached the car again and I could not wait to pull off my boots and air my feet. It was a nice feeling! Anthony drove us to Chalet les Maures for the obligatory afternoon tea and cake session, although it seemed pretty quiet without the company of the other groups there too.
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