La Cremerie, Argentiere, Chamonix Valley
In winter the streets of Chamonix buzz with skiers. Families, gap-year
snowboarders, Swedes and groups of twenty-somethings over for a long
weekend seem to be the most common. Everywhere, there's hedonism,
everyone's a tourist and there's a genuine atmosphere of what the french
call bon-viveur. Mixed in with the skiers there are climbers. A much less
visible group - there's no standard uniform like skiers in their furry
boots and jumpsuits - but if you visit places like the Office de Haute
Montagne and the Bar National you'll meet them. Mostly Europeans, some
Brits and quite a few Americans. Some are here to climb the many famous
mountain routes that no longer come into condition in the summer. Some are
here to climb the steep ice to be found on the frozen waterfalls in the
Chamonix valley. Many will do both - go high into the mountains on the icy
cold and bright days and stay low when the weather's iffy. Being above
3000m when the weather's bad isn't good for your health - unless you're
very very good. I met up with a friend in Chamonix on a dodgy weather day.
He wanted to try ice climbing and we headed to La Cremerie - a popular
beginner's ice climbing venue.
The Chamonix valley runs roughly NE - SW with Chamonix being at the SW
end. Driving out of Chamonix towards the NE takes you through small ski
resorts. past all sorts of avalanche defences and after fifteen minutes or
so you arrive at Le Piagnolet. If you were to drive a few minutes further
along the road you'd reach Argentiere - the resort favoured by British
climbers in the area as it's generally a bit cheaper than Chamonix itself.
Over to the east is the Argentiere glacier - one of the largest glaciers
in Europe and surrounded by spectacular mountains such as the Aiguille
Verte, Aiguille d'Argentiere and Les Courts. Out of the end of the
Argentiere glacier a river flows in a deep gorge. The walls of this gorge
are mainly steep rock and there's a number of frozen waterfalls on the
south side. The ice climbing venue of La Cremerie overlooks the snout of
the glacier. A good track leads up from the road towards a private helipad
where every hour tourists can take pleasure flights over the glacier.
Continuing through the helipad buildings a narrow but well-defined path
takes you uphill until the frozen waterfalls of La Cremerie appear on your
right. Forty minutes from car to climbing. Ben Nevis 0 - La Cremerie 1.
As well as being the name of the venue, La Cremerie is also the name of
the first route that you come to. The guidebook shows it as having
sections of thirty, forty-five and eighty degree ice. In fact, the eighty
degree ice section is only very short and the majority of the route is
very easy-angled. The ice face is broad and can be climbed almost
anywhere. This means that although La Cremerie is popular, teams can climb
side by side and you're never really holding each other up. It's a good
idea to build an ice-screw belay at the bottom and the first forty-five
degree section has some excellent ice for screws. Suitably protected you
can afford to relax and climb up forty metres before building a belay with
screws at the start of the steeper section. The next pitch has a short
eighty-degree section. Climbing up you can see where the route steepens
ahead and it's a good idea to head towards a depression in the centre of
the face where the best ice seems to be. A screw placed to protect the
tricky moves up the steep bit and then it's a romp up a snow slope to
belay at an ice thread with a piece of cord in-situ and well-frozen into
the ice. The best line on the next pitch seemed to be diagonally left and
up from the belay ledge up a forty-five degree ramp and over a short but
steep step at the top. This part is probably the most sustained piece of
climbing on the route and your calves will let you know if you're not used
to standing around on crampon points. Pulling over the top you try to
remember the last time you climbed such good quality ice in Scotland and
most people can't. Descent is either by walking round or abseiling from
trees on the left-side of the route - really easy. Ben Nevis - La Cremerie
2. In fact, if you're used to climbing on the Ben in winter this place
really does feel like cheating.
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