Mid July and Amos and I are ensconced in the CUMC bivvy tower above the bustling town of Chamonix having just completed the Gervesutti Pillar on Mont Blanc du Tacul. As we gorge ourselves on fresh peaches and such Cham delights as the Poulet Croissant, we idly flick through the guides looking for our next challenge.
Somehow the guide falls open at Route 53 ..... the Walker Spur on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses - "a magnificent classic.... generally accepted to be one of the best routes in the Alps... one of the most sought after rock/mixed climbs in Europe.". Now this sounds just the ticket...
A couple of days later and we're steadily plodding out of the heat of the main Cham valley up towards the Mer de Glace and the icy delights that await beyond. The approach to the Walker has to be one of the finest in the Alps - first up to the Mer de Glace then along this amazing ice motor way right into the heart of the mountains. Junction 2 and you turn off up the Leschaux Glacier for a few more hours until with a heart stopping gulp you look up and realise that this is a no-through road. The enormous rock face of the Grandes Jorasses stands barring the way.
Undeterred - well sort of - we continue up to the base of the spur, and pick a patch of snow clear of crevasses and avalanche debris and dig a small bivvy ledge. The remainder of the day is spent peering at the face and brewing up, attempting to prepare for the morrow.
Far too early in the morning the alarm goes off - we're both only dozing anyway. Nothing much is frozen which is par for the course this summer, and we end up swimming our way up the first steep snow slopes - scary!
Safely on the rock (a figure of speech and definitely not true as a volley of boulders buzzes past), we start the rising traverse that leads up to the foot of the Rebuffat Crack and the first hard pitches. It's still dark and all our route planning of the previous day seems to have failed us. Amos tries traversing further but is soon repelled. He climbs back and hands over the lead to me and I decide to try directly up. A meter up and it looks feasible. The next second, three meters down, sitting on Amos and with my foothold clattering down into the darkness below I think twice - lets reverse a couple of pitches and try .html line.
It's light by the time we reach the Rebuffat Crack and climb blindly straight past it looking for an obvious crackline. When we return we soon realise that the vertical grooves above are what Rebuffat was talking about and I'm soon finding them as strenuous as hell. Fifteen meters up and I'm puffing and panting, desperately looking for more extenders. I end up lolling on a hanging belay and point Amos towards the scary moves across to the stance.
The next few pitches give us a chance to catch our breath before climbing up to the 75m diedre. We feel we're getting somewhere now and after the diagonal abseil know that the only way is up! The climb keeps us continually on our toes as it weaves it's way back and forth avoiding the main overhangs and sections of blank rock.
At one point I lead across an exposed slab to gain a stance, only to come face to face with a Spaniard coming from the opposite direction. Finally somebody else who has had trouble route finding - not us this time!
Numerous pitches later and we finally make it to the top of the Tour Grise and the crest of the spur. As we arrive, we notice a reasonably sized ledge for a potential bivvy site. However this is soon dismissed as there is easy ground ahead and a number of hours daylight left. There have to be other alternatives ahead.... fatal thoughts indeed.
By 7pm and after 18hrs of continual climbing we realise that we have to stop and get a feed in. We are pretty well wiped out and progress has become very slow. The Spaniards have the same idea and swiftly nab an exposed ledge leaving us with very few possibilities. After some futile searches we opt for what there is - Amos manages to find a 3/4 length snowy horizontal slope complete with overhead shower, whilst I end up on a ledge that slopes both outwards and down to one side. Having scoffed some food I truss myself up in the ropes and squeeze into my pit and dangle. Delightful! Despite the somewhat unorthodox position I soon doze off. All too soon I awake to find Amos up and preparing a brew. It's morning and one of the coldest we've had for weeks.
Getting going takes some time as we attempt to get resisting muscles to operate again. We move on up to the Red Chimney which consists of a mixture of ice and shattered rock - what a combination! Sitting on a stance I look out across the Vallee Blanche to the Midi and realise with a grin that we are now higher than it - we must be at around 4000m - only 200m below the summit.
We continue up, ever onwards and upwards, passing the Pulpit and its much talked about bivvy spot. A pitch higher and a wondrous traverse leads rightwards to a hideous ice covered pitch. Time for a stance and a quick change of lead. Cheers Amos! Some precarious skating and we have bypassed the Tour Rousse and are onto the final easy pitches to the top of rock.
As we plod up - feeling decidedly weary, two Frenchies move swiftly past wearing lightweight leather boots, small day packs and without helmets....they have just climbed the route in third of the time we have taken! They must be seriously fit.
At the top of the rock we swap rock boots for plackies and get out the axes. Amos is convinced that there are 3 or 4 pitches still to go, but I'm not so sure, so I nip up the steep snow above and stick my head over...what a view, we're at the top of the Walker Spur. Wahey!