18 Jan Ice: difficult conditions in the Alps

 

  
Bad time  for the ice mountain climber ! The anti-cyclone rages with late spring temperatures, the snow melts and the ice is falling apart. The situation is bleak waterfalls. It took a few days to demolish structures that were intended to last a few months, in ordinary seasons.
 
The worst is that the warm wind blew more insistently on high altitudes. For example, in Valdigne, Courmayeur area, the Grand Vacherie, a large flow climbed on Sunday, January 9th, collapsed just five days later.
 
The same has happened in the beautiful icefalls of Malaval (La Grave – Oisans), which were frequently climbed in the early days of the year, and are in miserable conditions about ten days later. The waterfalls that remain more consistent and structures have undergone a general “weight loss” but are still affordable, paying the utmost attention to the conditions and snow slopes surrounding them.
 
They have also occurred the large avalanches that swept the gullies leading to the valley gigantic amounts of heavy snow. Many practitioners have diverted their interests in the gullies, with the result that in week end the classic of the basin of Argentière in the Mont Blanc were crowded
 
Remaining in the area, the great wall on the right bank of the glacier was affected by the heat. Shiva Lingam is inadvisable, and above all the Icelander sector, where a huge portion has collapsed, leaving the rest in the balance.
 
Good conditions for the easy icefalls that are enough fat. Access is always safer rappellino down. Those who practice ice climbing in recent days would have to drop its choice on the route that has less objective risks . Fortunately for the weekend there is a significant drop in temperatures.

Source: Up-climbing