End of season at l’Aiguille du Midi

West face, Cosmiques couloir
AD+, 4.3, E2
40-45° / 800m

By the time we arrived at the Téléphérique de l’aiguille du Midi, about 9am, the scenery was the same as so often: Crowds in the waiting hall and no cable car running. They stopped the service after the first bins because of strong wind, then after several announcements and delays reopened at 11:15. The time in between we used to organize some breakfast at the nearby boulangerie and had a coffee to shorten the time.
When we finally walked out the tunnel at the summit station, there was surprisingly no rush. Strong winds have destroyed lots of the fresh snow from the day before and conditions seemed everything but perfect. We had a look into the Cosmiques’ couloir which looked quite nice. A handfull of tracks, probably from skiers in the first bin, and only two groups abseiling. The first already finished and the second prepared their ropes. We watched them for a while, then decided to ski it as well and went over to the Rond’s entrance. The anchor over there isn’t bolted, but only one single rappel is needed…

The line:

Aiguille du Midi west face with the ski line marked. Photo by Cedric Bernardini