GRUTTER RIDGE; AIGUILLE DES PELERINS

The book

Almost there

Scoping the line

4th tower

Summit pitch

Recently I have rediscovered Gaston Rebuffat's classic;  Les cent plus belles courses du massif du Mont Blanc. A definitive "best of" guide to the Chamonix area designed to mentor the aspiring alpinist through a selection of increasingly difficult and complex routes.

Cedric coming up

Chamonix granite

Ced on the Summit

In my younger years I often flipped straight to the back of the book, scheming on legendary summits the GRANDES JORRASSES, LES DRUS, GRAND CAPUCIN, ect. The last few years I've taken pleasure in exploring some of the routes listed early in Rebuffat's bible. Climbs which I had previously thought of as trivial romps on lesser summits have turned out to be gems in there own right. Here are some photos from the Grutter Arete first climbed in 1935, # 25 in the book, not as trivial as one might think.