Mischief with Marlin: 3 Days of Chamonix Classics

I hadn’t been in France for long but when my good friend Marlin reached out and said he was coming to Chamonix for a few days I knew what was on the cards. We spent the following three days living out of my small tent on the Blanche glacier climbing some classic and totally baddass routes.

On the approach to Le Roi Siam. The North face of Tour Ronde in the background. - Marlin

We organised the trip over burgers at Poco Loco and left with a list I’d named ‘‘Mischief with Marlin’’ containing a few stellar routes on both ice and rock. Early the following day we waddled up to the Midi station and sardined squeezed into a tram. With our cumbersome packs on our backs, we roped up and headed down the valley, past the South face of the Midi and stashed gear somewhere below Cosmiques.

The constant battle of keeping dry feet in alpine continues.. Pitch one of Lifting Le Roi. - Marlin

The beauty with camping up there is there really isn’t much time pressure as you don’t have to catch the lift back down. We had plenty of daylight hours and decided it would actually be easier walking coming back in the evening. We started up the first pitch around lunch time.

Marlin heading up pitch two. They seem to bolt all slabs here..

The line wasn’t exactly obvious and with bolts all over the place the first half of the climb wasn’t much to write home about. We eventually found the 5c crack sections which were superb and this put us on the last half of the 9 or so pitches.

The last pitch also provides the crux. It goes to the right but I wanted the roof! - Marlin

All too soon came the last pitch and the crux which went right around a small roof. I took a slight variation and went through the roof following a crack that provided a couple harder moves and then excellent ground to the summit. We sat and enjoyed the views, picking out lines on nearby peaks and then rapped down. The walk back felt long and I was glad to stumble back into our tent site at around 1 am.

Day two started with a pleasant lie in and plans to get on something on the South face of the Midi. That was until we saw the lines forming! We decided just to chill out for the morning and get on something later. Con Kalma!

After scoffing back a Radix meal for lunch and getting a coffee at the Cosmiques Refuge (with forever bug me out how this is a thing here) we slowly made our way to Rebuffat on the South face of du Midi.

The S crack was INCREDIBLE and I was stoked to be on such an iconic piece of rock. We did have an early start planned for the next day so we called it after the first 4-5 pitches and were climbing into our sleeping bags as it was got dark.

2.30 am - alarms ringing left, right and center. I got out of the tent and flicked the stove on. It wasn’t actually that cold and I hoped the ice was in condition. We were planning to climb Chere Couloir, a very popular ice route on the Mont Blanc triangle. So popular in fact it had warranted a full alpine start just to be the crowds! We packed light for the morning climb and made our way down the well beaten track towards the couloir which lay just out of sight.

After crossing the shrund and getting up the snow slope we struggled to find the first anchor (spotted easily on the way down, I blame lack of coffee). The climbing seemed easy enough so I put in a few bits of pro and we simul’d (moving together roped) on looking for the second belay. We found a bolted anchor on the right after climbing the first pitch. Marlin racked up and got stuck into the second pitch just as another party approached the belay.

Marlin seconding just above the third pitch.

Marlin cruised up the 50m pitch and I was on belay in no time. The climbing was great. Steep but not desperate and of course pretty well stepped out. I grabbed some ice screws of Marlin and snapped a couple shots of him with the rising sun in the back. Looking back now I’m kicking myself that I didn’t get any shots of the climbing!

We can’t decide whether the next pitch was actually the crux as it’s described but it was great nonetheless and I was yaahooin’ all the way up! Marlin led another pitch and this took us to the easier section of mixed before the summit of du Tacul.

A team of polite German guides followed us up.

We decided to rap down instead of topping out as there was nobody below once we let the Germans pass. We were off the route sometime around 8 am and back at camp at around 9 - not a bad way to start the day!

After tea with a team of crazy polish dudes and a second breakfast (i.e eating as much food as possible so I didn’t have to carry it) we shouldered our heavy packs once again and made our way towards Cosmiques Arete. We stopped in at the refuge for some more coffee and cake first, of course.

The Cosmiques is always a great way to finish off a mission and we took a few variations to sneak around the crowds. In no time we were feeling like superstars topping out on a tourist-packed viewing platform but unfortunately the line for the lift was huge!

We spent nearly 3 hours waiting to get back down. Pas bon.

Spent longer waiting in line for the lift than we did on Cosmiques - Marlin

Hot, bothered and hungry we dumped gear at Marlins hotel and went back to Poco Loco for well deserved burgers.

A superb trip. Thank you very much Marlin. A bientot, see you in August!