Alpine Intro, Sort of - Moiry and Vignettes Hut
I was with Dick, Martin and Tony this week, it was my 4th time with Dick and Martin but Tony's first time in the Alps. We started the week with an Ecole du Glace on the way to the Moiry hut introducing Tony to crampons and ice axe. On Tuesday we climbed the Peigne de La Le which is a great introduction to alpine scrambling with a glacial descent. Tuesday was another day of perfect weather, we climbed the Pointe du Mourti a slightly longer route with a glacial approach then a rock scramble to a snowy finish. We spent a night in Grimentz then went to the Vignettes hut above Arolla. We traversed the Pigne d'Arolla from the hut, the glacier is the driest I have ever seen it with lots of open crevasses especially on the descent towards the Dix hut. I have had the weekend off cycling round Lake Annecy on Sat then doing some kayaking on the Lake. Dick and I are hoping to climb the Matterhorn next week if the weather behaves.