The unusually high temperatures we have been experiencing this month have really drained me. I’m much more of a cold weather person so finding psyched to trudge about on a falling apart glacier in the baking heat is difficult. Luckily Chamonix provides ample opportunities to find perfect granite with minimal glacial faff and a fine place to look is the Envers Des Aiguilles. This past trip with kayaking legend and general cool guy Johnny Vincent is the third time that I’ve been to the Envers this summer and this short trip provided us with a great route and an opportunity to hunt the elusive chickens that can often be found stuck in up to there necks in the granite.
We chose the route Amazonia on the first point of the Nantillons which is a stunning 370m 6a on pristine granite with a mixture of cracks and slabs (Michel Piola waz ‘ere but must have been having an off day as the slab pitches aren’t sandbags for a change!).
We started at about 8pm and with all told made it back to the train in good time so this route is a good day route to do at the end of a trip to the Envers if your reasonably efficient (which we weren’t as I got us lost at one point, dropped my belay plate and generally was a little spaced out due to the heat and having just finished work in time to get the last lift the day before, hense not feeling like much of a winner). Here’s some photo’s….
Thanks John for a great day. Sorry for all my screw ups but at least we made it back down to the train on time.
The weather is getting cooler now and it feels a lot more like autumn which is very good in my opinion. Getting pretty motivated for some big face action and the Himalaya’s…..
