Vol Du Dragon -

 After an eerily straightforward time climbing Rolling Stones on the Grand Jorasses, Tom and I were psyched to get after it again. The next week unfortunately turned out worse than predicted and I had to contain myself. Thankfully soon after, a 4-day spell of yellow balls on the forecast meant we could get prepped again!

On the Jorasses I felt like an imposter; my first route on a north face in winter, having climbed one other route this season (ski touring leaves you with noodle arms), my climbing gear held together with tape and jackets more patches than material, I had been tempted to turn down Tom’s offer initially.   This time however, I felt more like I knew what I was getting into and I could be adequately mentally prepared to get after it. 

Vol Du Dragon was a bit of an enigma initially as there was very little information available about the route, compared to the normal plethora of topos, photos and beta available from the collective Chamonix valley experience. We knew the route had been done at least once and it sounded like a real battle, 5 bivis is a big mission in Chamonix, the centre of ‘do it in a day’ style.  

As with all routes this season, we began with a long slog up the piste, a somewhat hard reality for each day in the mountains but one that I’ve come to appreciate more and more with each route. As my friend G always shouts "Witness the fitness !!", do we miss lifts ? Of course ! but you can't deny the improved fitness you get after 100000m of ascent throughout a season.                                                          

Making good time we reached the base of Les Droites at 12.30pm, high winds meant we sheltered in a Bergshrund to get kitted up and leave our skis.

 

Taking delicate steep steps up the first pitch while drowning in spin drift did not initially fill me with optimism but after a slower start I got into a rhythm and climbed directly past the belay. Moving into a section with good neve but no anchors, reaching me when I finally stopped, Tom and I agreed that moving together on V+ ground wasn’t the best idea but none the less were moving quickly.

Reaching the base of the M7 pitch Tom took over, “hopefully it’s as straightforward as it looks”. We debated stopping for the night as we were next to a good bivi spot however given the time we decided we shouldn’t waste 3 hours of daylight.  2 pitches of relatively simple climbing later we arrived on the “bivi spot” marked on the topo. A tiny ledge suitable for an uncomfortable night for 1, thus we set about excavating… an hour and 2 damaged nomics later we had managed to establish we couldn’t shift a 100kg granite block to make more space.

Excavation Stations

Thankfully I spotted the bolt that had fallen out of my axe pick in the debris we had created, delicately screwing it in with my fingers then tightening with my crampon front point didn’t fill me with confidence with 2 days of hard climbing ahead. 

(Tom enjoying the morning sun on our 3* ledge)

“Sun! We are only climbing on NE faces from now on”, basking in the brief warmth I watched Tom cruise up the pitch leading to the A2 aid pitch which we hoped to free. Climbing shoes donned he started questing up towards the cracked roof.

As it turned out there was a more logical line of cracks and flakes to the left on the face, traversing out he made short work of the pitch and hauled the bags. We decided I could follow in crampons to save time, this made the traverse significantly more difficult, scratching around for loose crystals instead of smearing in rubber. None the less, we were through what was possibly the crux of the route.

Tom on the A2/M7 crux

I led through on another M7 pitch with wonderful thin feet and thoughtful climbing on good hooks. Tom then did a phenomenal job on the next two harder pitches, one of which I would say was the crux of the route, a flaring V groove with a thin crack at the back, not enough ice for hooks but enough to get in the way and no feet to speak of. After trying and failing to second this clean I was very happy to get to the last ‘M6 !!’ pitch on our topo which turned out to be a fairly standard mountain pitch M4/5. Thankfully, this deposited us on a snow arete to create our 5* bivi for the night.

Very glad of the borrowed belay jacket!

 A luxury night on our snow ledge was greatly appreciated however, due to my last minute packing I had only managed to secure 2 freeze dried desserts instead of real food. 140 grams of sugar in the form of blueberry fruit coulis does not make up for real food!

Stretching is important, looking cool is more important

5am: heat water, eat, melt snow, drink, faff to wait for the sunrise…. Glorious warmth spreading through  tired bodies.

Once we had recharged in the UV like WALL.E I hurried through the remaining easier mixed pitches (taking one slightly harder variation in my haste). I then found myself seconding Tom across grey ice with one screw per 50 m. He found this ground trivial but as I watched the bolt in my axe head loosen with each swing I couldn’t ease the full body tension I had going.  

“What is going on ?!” I heard from above, I'd obviously been moving too slowly. “Give me a f**king second!” I shouted up as I desperately tried to finger tighten the bolt that was holding my pick and life in its loose grip. On reaching the ice screw I clipped in and hung off it while I took my crampon off to use as an Allen key to tighten the bolt. Failing miserably I carried on, trying not to slow us down too much, all the while watching the bolt wiggle it's way loose. 

A harrowing 100m later I emerged into the sun and sight of Tom grinning.

12:30pm, we made soup, stuffed our extra bars into our faces and decided that the decent towards the Mer de glace was way too long and slushy. Even with a wobbly pick on my axe, the long 1000m downclimb on the Legarde gully was preferable as it deposited us back to our skis.

Sitting at the top of something is a strange feeling, you know you've been questing towards this point for days. Spending days preparing, mental energy poured into planning, forgetting previous suffering and building the mental fortitude you need to battle through the coming discomfort. I can only imagine what it must be like to reach a high summit in the Karakorum or Himalaya after years of planning and dedicated training. Anyway, for now I am content to be able to get back home in a day. 

As we started to drop into the Couloir we had one of those funny encounters you only really get in Chamonix, we bumped into two of our mates (Tim and Tom), 4000m up just topping out of the Lagarde.

After a quick catch up, similar to those you used to have in the pub after a day in the mountains, we blasted down to ours skis again. 

Back in the Valley by 6:45 in time for a trip to the shop for beers and pizza before curfew!