We bivied in the hallway in the Grand Montets, and left for the route at about 3:15. The approach is through a fairly broken section of glacier, and then a bit of an uphill snow slog to the bergshrund. After the initial neve/ice slope, which went very quickly and easily at 50/60 degrees, we arrived at the beginning of the technical climbing. It was still dark, and we had to choose from two possible lines of ascent. The left one was a narrow runnel with a thin section, and the right was wider and looked somewhat easier. Since they looked as if they probably met up we headed up the easier looking line, with Graham taking the first pitch. He climbed slowly, and when I followed I understood why. He had placed only a single peice in 45 or 50 meters that would have stopped him. The anchor was a good v-thread.
I took over for the second pitch. The climbing began with a delicate traverse over the belay, up a thin neve/ice runnel, and then generally reasonable mixed with good placements for tools and a few delicate moves out a full 60 meters. It was well light by this point as I had also been climbing slowly. I had placed a couple screws, but nothing that would have stopped me, so it deserved the time it got. When I reached the belay, however, I could look across and see the well beaten track in the left hand gully, and how much easier it was than what we had just climbed. By the time Graham climbed up to the belay we faced a bit of a conundrum. Should we push a bit higher and see if we could link it to the Ginat by traversing left when possible? Should we try a diagonal rappel to get into the left hand gully? Should we rappel and climb the proper gully? Should we bail?
While it was possible that we would be able to link up with the Ginat from where we were, we didn't know the terrain that well and were not that inclined to climb any more unprotected pitches. That we were getting anchors was making the climbing tolerable, but that could just as easily have changed with further climbing. The diagonal rap would have been quite interesting. It would have been a rope stretcher to get over there and a good long pendulum if you slipped up. We decided to bail because even if we had planned to hop straight back on route after our raps we were not liking our time line. The best choice was to chalk it up to a learning experience and head down.
Being that I put a considerable amount of mental energy into the route, it was a definite disappointment. I wanted very much to get up the route, and felt we could have. On the other hand, I am happily no longer intimidated by the route. It is long, to be certain, but having completed the pitches we did gives me confidence that I could send it. Since the Ginat attempt we also got up the crux of the Supercouloir, another Cham classic. It was in difficult shape, with no ice in the crux pitch(es), but Graham lead it proudly. Unfortunately we were a party of three, and not all of us wanted a long day which might have resulted from climbing the easy upper ice pitches, so yet another route in Cham went without completion. Tough one, I would like to climb it when there is ice in the first pitch, and definitely finish off the upper tiers.
In the end I think that I can be happy with the fact that these routes are taking the mystery out of Chamonix for me. I may be failing often, but I am learning the game and gaining confidence, if not as quickly as I might have hoped. The nice thing is that I may get another crack at the Ginat with Graham. Weather has conspired against his rock climbing trip, and so he may be around for the sequel. I don't mind learning through failure, but the odd success now and again can be a good ballast for the ego.
