AAI climber Claude Burton (New York City) and guide Tim Connelly recently returned from a five-day climbing trip outside of Chamonix, France. Claude's main objective was to get a lot of alpine rock climbing in, so Tim conjured up an itinerary that allowed them to do so while staying mostly in the mountain huts along the way, instead of going back to Chamonix each night.

The first day they met up and headed out to climb around Brevant. They climbed a good 8 to 10 pitches and got warmed up for the days ahead.

The next day they climbed the Papillon Ridge, which is off the mid-station of the Aguille de Midi. The ridge was 10 pitches of high quality granite, up to 5.8 in difficulty. They saw an ibex (like a mountain goat but with huge horns! Tim said they look like they belong in Africa or something). After climbing, they boarded the tram back at the mid-station and rode to the top of the Aguille de Midi and stayed the night in the Cosmique hut.

The next morning, they left the hut and cruised across the Vallée Blanche to the Pyramid du Tacul, where they climbed an "awesome" 11-pitch route (5.8). Afterward, they had an adventure crossing the rest of the Vallée Blanche, as there was lots of fresh snow from the previous days' weather. They came across a recently collapsed snow bridge, about 12 feet across, which climbers had been crossing all day, and had to find a way around. They arrived at the Torino Hut on the Italian border just as the weather turned a bit "iffy," and settled down for the night.

An early start was in order the next morning, as they were off to the Tour Ronde to climb the South Ridge. Tim reported great mixed climbing, and a 4-hour trip to the summit, where they found a metal Madonna statue (which is apparently quite common in the Alps). Tim said this route would make a great Matterhorn-prep course.

Tim and Claude's last day brought more iffy weather not suitable for alpine objectives, so they took the Helbronner lift, then the Aguille de Midi back down to Chamonix. They were hoping to beat the storm, and donned summer clothes for the sunny weather they found in town. They then caught a bus to the Flagere tram and climbed an 8-pitch route on the East Face of the L'Index. A pitch and a half from the top, the storm caught up with them, and they had to hurry to summit and descend the other side before the lightening began. Unfortunately, the tram closed down due to the storm, which was pretty furious for two hours, and sixty people sat in the tram station waiting for it to pass. When the storm finally blew over, Claude and Tim took the tram back to town to end their five days of climbing together.

All photos by Tim Connelly.

The ibex, with it's unbelievably big horns...