Sump To Summit

What a day! We woke up in Argentier, had croissants for breakfast, and then drove over to Le Buet. We were really pleased to be back here because this is where we ended our awesome ski tour a few months earlier.

Walking up the valley we had skied down in winter was great. It was lovely to recognize parts of it, but in a different season.

Luckily, we got carried away walking up the valley and overshot the climb. I left my bag with El and ran down the valley to try and find it. This was lucky because when I made it back towards El, there was a pack of chamois grazing around. Squatting low, they didn’t seem fazed by us at all.

I had spotted the climb further down the valley and across the river. I decided that rather than walking all the way back down, if we crossed the river where we were, we could walk down the valley on a path on the other side.

Shoes off, icy river crossed, feet dried, then set off walking. We crossed a boulder field, fought our way through shrubs, and then crossed a large steep snow patch.

Eventually, we made it to the climb. We had a bite to eat, racked up, and set off. I led first up a 5C pitch, which was really hard as the crack the route followed was very damp. I strung two pitches together as we had plenty of rope and was pleased to be at the top of it. I belayed El up, then it was her turn to lead off. At that time, it started raining. We waited 5 minutes, and she set off up another 5C pitch. It was steady going up nice rock, though it was damp. There was a nice line of bolts to follow to keep on track.

I got belayed up, and it was my turn to lead. This next pitch, not only was the rock damp, but it was also slimy. We made the call to bail, as it didn’t look like it would improve anytime soon. We abseiled back down, which was a great couple of abseils! We ate the rest of our lunch, and El flicked her chalk bag down a 10-meter drop, which I got to go and retrieve.

We set off walking back down the valley on the path we should have walked up. I was glad we had missed the turning on the way up the valley. The path was a miserable bog and a bugger to follow. We got spat out on the main track, which we recognized from our winter trip. We decided the Via Ferrata looked brilliant as we passed it in the morning, so since our climb had been cut short, we decided to have a go! We dropped our rope and made makeshift cow’s tails out of slings. As far as Via Ferratas go, this was brilliant! Though not difficult at all, the exposure was incredible! We finished with massive smiles on our faces!

Wandering back to the van, we stopped to have a wash in the ice-cold river. For the last few hundred meters of walking, the heavens opened, meaning the icy river wash wasn’t necessary at all… Time to make a plan and try to find somewhere dry for our holiday!