Richard on the Midi-Plan Traverse
The exposed snow ridges continue for some distance with occasional breaks from the exposure. The traverse is then interrupted by a steep abseil, more than twenty five metres so the party needs more than one fifty metre rope. Where as the Midi has a cable car, the Plan is remote at the head of a cluster of rock spires. There is a wonderful little climb up to its tiny summit.
We descended down to the Requin Hut. The descent couloir was notorious for its crevases and many parties choose to go back to the Midi.
The Midi-Plan traverse is one of the accessible classics of the Mont Blanc Range. With the Midi Telepherique taking the climbers to the highest point of the route one could be cynical. However the essence of this traverse is to travel along a very narrow and exposed ridge in a tremendous mountain setting. When I stepped out of the Midi station with Richard the exposure was immediate. The drop to the right was several hundred feet into a deep crevasse. This was mild however compared to the drop on the left, a full three thousand seven hundred feet. A slip could go the whole distance.
Richard on the abseil
