Burnier Vogler Goulette

17th May: Went for a ski on the Vallee Blanche to have a look at snow conditions.

18th May: Burnier Vogler Goulette : Aiguille du Midi NW Face.

At last, back into the swing of things. Somehow, the lethargy of sitting around in the valley seems to take over and ruin the 'psyche' a little. So today we chose to do a little route off the midi which we could do in a day.

Plum traversing to the start. Looking at the photo, I can't believed we skiid the couloir a couple of months ago!

A very dry/thin first ice pitch!

Once again, we abseiled off the bridge of the Midi and descended about 300m in total to the start of the Burnier Vogler Goulette. Infact, we traversed into the route from about halfway up the first pitch.

Having no knowledge of the condition, we started up the route - very little ice in the first pitch making for some interesting mixed moves. The second pitch started up nice with a good small section of 80 degree ice then ice/snow.

We moved together for what would be a couple of rope lengths to the final pitch, here we found loose snow covered rock. Not ideal, but bearable. Finished up the Cosmiques Arete. Great day out!

Plum coming up the first pitch

We moved together through the middle pitches, good snow - not to deep!