Mount Maudit - Arete Küffner

Arete Küffner - Mount Maudit

Arete Küffner and Cirque Maudit

 

A classic alpine route up towards the summit of Mt Maudit at 4465 mts.

This is a much beautiful climb up sometimes a very narrow ridge line.

The climbing it self is mostly straightforward and do not hold any bigger obstacles or difficult section.

Close to the summit after climbing arête Küffner

But, there are a few sections on the upper part that can feel a little tricky to overcome and if you like to make it a little bit more interesting the climbing up to the pinnacle of Pointe de l'Androsace adds some 4a climbing (5.5)

Lennart On an early start at the ridge

 

From the top of the pinnacle there is an in situ pitons and slings to get down to the brèche. A variant that adds a little more technical input to the ascent.

An other issue is to stay on the ridge as much as possible and to find the right conditions on the route. To much fresh snow makes it at some part very exposed to avalanches and probably very tiresome to plod up.

On the other hand with to little snow and ice it will make the rock very unstable and loose.

Arête Küffner overlooking glacier Brenva and Courmayeur

 

Overall it's a much enjoyable climb and if you make it to bivouac de la Fourche, the bivvy hut at the base of the ridge, the evening standard at the balcony is most perfect.

I have enjoyed it's comfort with just a climbing partner as well as with more then 15 people in there, so weekend might be avoided.

The approach can be done from either Ponta Helbronner or Aig. Du Midi.

And just make sure to have the GPS coordinates because one is almost stepping on the roof of the bivvy until it is seen.

Morning light over Arête Küffner

 

"we started the trip from Aig. Midi going up with the lift at 13:00 and made it to la Fourche in 3 hours. The snow was very wet and the snow bridges at some parts most interesting to cross. The part up from Glacier du Giant and cirque Maudit to the col of was easy to pass over the rimaye and perfect snow and sometimes ice up the 150m face.

Once on the ridge it's always a little interesting to see if the bivouac is still there or if it has tumbled down towards Brenva!

But as always, the Italians has done a good job and we had a very scenic sunset and evening just by our selfs. Just some lights from Courmayeur far below.

l'Androsace pinnacle

The next morning we had an easy breakfast after a night with rockfall continuously roaring around us, down the Brenva glacier. The rock fall from the Küffner arête it self was also quite spectacular. Something we soon would find out as it at some parts was needed to climb over some of the loose flakes.

At 06:30 the sun started to hit us on the ridge and we got th most perfect sunrise, lighted by the red color of the Chamonix granite.

Once on top of de l'Androsace, most of the difficulty was overcome. Just some short sections on the last bit that was 1/ a little loose, 2/ some 4a climbing not sure if it was best to keep the crampons on or not. Which we in the end did.

The last bit up to the very summit of mt Maudit can be a killer but luckily we had some old foot steeps to follow and just before 11:00 we could take the last steeps to the summit.

Returning down the highway on Voie Normal to Cosmiques and Midi was nothing but a cruise"

High up on arête Küffner

Equipment

40m rope, a couple of mid size nuts, 1-2 mid size cams (#1-2 Camalot)

3-4QD'S, Crampons, ice-axe.

Stove and food for the bivouac

Time

Approach 3h from the lift, a little closer from Helbronner

Climbing 4-7h if going all the way up to the summit of Mt Maudit

Vertical meters

From 3679/4465m, total of 1450m going back up to Aig. midi.

Descent

Voie normal via the des Trois Monts back to Midi via mt Blanc du Tacul

Summit of mt Maudit

 

/Om Inte kompassen finns, är det heller ingen riktning

 

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