I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 
50m! I want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take 
the right gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any 
more up to date info on this route or know where I could look?
Howard

Howard,

I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.

John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
that the description you are looking for?

If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.

In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
and your overall speed.

John



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Thank you John.
Yes it was the full traverse over the violettes that I was thinking 
about, up the coolidge couloir and down the violettes . That's what I 
did before. I remember having to cross the crevasse field from left to 
right near its end and then abseil down to a snow slope. Its apparently 
this traverse that is impassable now, requiring a longer abseil 
somewhere else but I don't know where.

Its a bit annoying as I was in Ailefroide on my own last year and spent 
a lazy day going up the pelvoux traverse descent route almost as far as 
the abseil point but of course was unable to see the glacier conditions 
above it.

Maybe its a sign of age that I remember the traverse as being just 
exciting and the fact that I now intend doing it with my daughter a sign 
of how long ago it really was!

We'll be staying in Ailfroide again this year but the contacts I've had 
with guides so far indicates they give nothing a way without money being 
exchanged. I think I'll take two ropes just in case.

(thanks about the book. I have the 87 version and have just ordered the 
2002 one. looks like it was a wise decision)
Cheers
Howard

John Broadwell wrote:
> Howard,
> 
> I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
> remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
> via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.
> 
> John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
> provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
> serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
> that the description you are looking for?
> 
> If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
> Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.
> 
> In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
> the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
> the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
> and your overall speed.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> "Howard"  wrote in message 
> news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>> needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>> glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>> want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>> gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>> date info on this route or know where I could look?
>> Howard 
> 
>

"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Try here;
http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

"Tony P"  wrote:
> Try here;
> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html

Or here:

http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html

if your Franglais is up to the mark.

The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
descent that isn't all that obvious".

Other remarks from 2006:
Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal

Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.

Martin Carpenter wrote:
> "Tony P"  wrote:
>> Try here;
>> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html
> 
> Or here:
> 
> http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html
> 
> if your Franglais is up to the mark.
> 
> The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
> trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
> descent that isn't all that obvious".
> 
> Other remarks from 2006:
> Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
> Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
> Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal
> 
> Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.
> 
> 
> 
Thank you, both very useful links, looks like it is a bit different now 
but I do remember the descent as being just as 'engaging' as the climb - 
if you count 20m seracs and snow covered crevasses as engaging!
Howard

I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 
50m! I want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take 
the right gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any 
more up to date info on this route or know where I could look?
Howard

Howard,

I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.

John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
that the description you are looking for?

If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.

In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
and your overall speed.

John



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Thank you John.
Yes it was the full traverse over the violettes that I was thinking 
about, up the coolidge couloir and down the violettes . That's what I 
did before. I remember having to cross the crevasse field from left to 
right near its end and then abseil down to a snow slope. Its apparently 
this traverse that is impassable now, requiring a longer abseil 
somewhere else but I don't know where.

Its a bit annoying as I was in Ailefroide on my own last year and spent 
a lazy day going up the pelvoux traverse descent route almost as far as 
the abseil point but of course was unable to see the glacier conditions 
above it.

Maybe its a sign of age that I remember the traverse as being just 
exciting and the fact that I now intend doing it with my daughter a sign 
of how long ago it really was!

We'll be staying in Ailfroide again this year but the contacts I've had 
with guides so far indicates they give nothing a way without money being 
exchanged. I think I'll take two ropes just in case.

(thanks about the book. I have the 87 version and have just ordered the 
2002 one. looks like it was a wise decision)
Cheers
Howard

John Broadwell wrote:
> Howard,
> 
> I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
> remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
> via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.
> 
> John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
> provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
> serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
> that the description you are looking for?
> 
> If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
> Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.
> 
> In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
> the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
> the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
> and your overall speed.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> "Howard"  wrote in message 
> news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>> needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>> glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>> want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>> gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>> date info on this route or know where I could look?
>> Howard 
> 
>

"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Try here;
http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

"Tony P"  wrote:
> Try here;
> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html

Or here:

http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html

if your Franglais is up to the mark.

The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
descent that isn't all that obvious".

Other remarks from 2006:
Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal

Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.

Martin Carpenter wrote:
> "Tony P"  wrote:
>> Try here;
>> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html
> 
> Or here:
> 
> http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html
> 
> if your Franglais is up to the mark.
> 
> The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
> trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
> descent that isn't all that obvious".
> 
> Other remarks from 2006:
> Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
> Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
> Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal
> 
> Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.
> 
> 
> 
Thank you, both very useful links, looks like it is a bit different now 
but I do remember the descent as being just as 'engaging' as the climb - 
if you count 20m seracs and snow covered crevasses as engaging!
Howard

I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 
50m! I want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take 
the right gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any 
more up to date info on this route or know where I could look?
Howard

Howard,

I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.

John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
that the description you are looking for?

If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.

In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
and your overall speed.

John



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Thank you John.
Yes it was the full traverse over the violettes that I was thinking 
about, up the coolidge couloir and down the violettes . That's what I 
did before. I remember having to cross the crevasse field from left to 
right near its end and then abseil down to a snow slope. Its apparently 
this traverse that is impassable now, requiring a longer abseil 
somewhere else but I don't know where.

Its a bit annoying as I was in Ailefroide on my own last year and spent 
a lazy day going up the pelvoux traverse descent route almost as far as 
the abseil point but of course was unable to see the glacier conditions 
above it.

Maybe its a sign of age that I remember the traverse as being just 
exciting and the fact that I now intend doing it with my daughter a sign 
of how long ago it really was!

We'll be staying in Ailfroide again this year but the contacts I've had 
with guides so far indicates they give nothing a way without money being 
exchanged. I think I'll take two ropes just in case.

(thanks about the book. I have the 87 version and have just ordered the 
2002 one. looks like it was a wise decision)
Cheers
Howard

John Broadwell wrote:
> Howard,
> 
> I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
> remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
> via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.
> 
> John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
> provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
> serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
> that the description you are looking for?
> 
> If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
> Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.
> 
> In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
> the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
> the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
> and your overall speed.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> "Howard"  wrote in message 
> news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>> needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>> glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>> want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>> gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>> date info on this route or know where I could look?
>> Howard 
> 
>

"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Try here;
http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

"Tony P"  wrote:
> Try here;
> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html

Or here:

http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html

if your Franglais is up to the mark.

The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
descent that isn't all that obvious".

Other remarks from 2006:
Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal

Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.

Martin Carpenter wrote:
> "Tony P"  wrote:
>> Try here;
>> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html
> 
> Or here:
> 
> http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html
> 
> if your Franglais is up to the mark.
> 
> The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
> trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
> descent that isn't all that obvious".
> 
> Other remarks from 2006:
> Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
> Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
> Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal
> 
> Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.
> 
> 
> 
Thank you, both very useful links, looks like it is a bit different now 
but I do remember the descent as being just as 'engaging' as the climb - 
if you count 20m seracs and snow covered crevasses as engaging!
Howard

I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 
50m! I want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take 
the right gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any 
more up to date info on this route or know where I could look?
Howard

Howard,

I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.

John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
that the description you are looking for?

If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.

In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
and your overall speed.

John



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Thank you John.
Yes it was the full traverse over the violettes that I was thinking 
about, up the coolidge couloir and down the violettes . That's what I 
did before. I remember having to cross the crevasse field from left to 
right near its end and then abseil down to a snow slope. Its apparently 
this traverse that is impassable now, requiring a longer abseil 
somewhere else but I don't know where.

Its a bit annoying as I was in Ailefroide on my own last year and spent 
a lazy day going up the pelvoux traverse descent route almost as far as 
the abseil point but of course was unable to see the glacier conditions 
above it.

Maybe its a sign of age that I remember the traverse as being just 
exciting and the fact that I now intend doing it with my daughter a sign 
of how long ago it really was!

We'll be staying in Ailfroide again this year but the contacts I've had 
with guides so far indicates they give nothing a way without money being 
exchanged. I think I'll take two ropes just in case.

(thanks about the book. I have the 87 version and have just ordered the 
2002 one. looks like it was a wise decision)
Cheers
Howard

John Broadwell wrote:
> Howard,
> 
> I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
> remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
> via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.
> 
> John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
> provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
> serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
> that the description you are looking for?
> 
> If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
> Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.
> 
> In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
> the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
> the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
> and your overall speed.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> "Howard"  wrote in message 
> news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>> needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>> glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>> want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>> gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>> date info on this route or know where I could look?
>> Howard 
> 
>

"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Try here;
http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

"Tony P"  wrote:
> Try here;
> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html

Or here:

http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html

if your Franglais is up to the mark.

The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
descent that isn't all that obvious".

Other remarks from 2006:
Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal

Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.

Martin Carpenter wrote:
> "Tony P"  wrote:
>> Try here;
>> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html
> 
> Or here:
> 
> http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html
> 
> if your Franglais is up to the mark.
> 
> The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
> trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
> descent that isn't all that obvious".
> 
> Other remarks from 2006:
> Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
> Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
> Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal
> 
> Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.
> 
> 
> 
Thank you, both very useful links, looks like it is a bit different now 
but I do remember the descent as being just as 'engaging' as the climb - 
if you count 20m seracs and snow covered crevasses as engaging!
Howard

Howard,

I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.

John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
that the description you are looking for?

If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.

In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
and your overall speed.

John



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Thank you John.
Yes it was the full traverse over the violettes that I was thinking 
about, up the coolidge couloir and down the violettes . That's what I 
did before. I remember having to cross the crevasse field from left to 
right near its end and then abseil down to a snow slope. Its apparently 
this traverse that is impassable now, requiring a longer abseil 
somewhere else but I don't know where.

Its a bit annoying as I was in Ailefroide on my own last year and spent 
a lazy day going up the pelvoux traverse descent route almost as far as 
the abseil point but of course was unable to see the glacier conditions 
above it.

Maybe its a sign of age that I remember the traverse as being just 
exciting and the fact that I now intend doing it with my daughter a sign 
of how long ago it really was!

We'll be staying in Ailfroide again this year but the contacts I've had 
with guides so far indicates they give nothing a way without money being 
exchanged. I think I'll take two ropes just in case.

(thanks about the book. I have the 87 version and have just ordered the 
2002 one. looks like it was a wise decision)
Cheers
Howard

John Broadwell wrote:
> Howard,
> 
> I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
> remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
> via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.
> 
> John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
> provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
> serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
> that the description you are looking for?
> 
> If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
> Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.
> 
> In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
> the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
> the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
> and your overall speed.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> "Howard"  wrote in message 
> news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>> needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>> glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>> want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>> gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>> date info on this route or know where I could look?
>> Howard 
> 
>

"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Try here;
http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

"Tony P"  wrote:
> Try here;
> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html

Or here:

http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html

if your Franglais is up to the mark.

The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
descent that isn't all that obvious".

Other remarks from 2006:
Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal

Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.

Martin Carpenter wrote:
> "Tony P"  wrote:
>> Try here;
>> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html
> 
> Or here:
> 
> http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html
> 
> if your Franglais is up to the mark.
> 
> The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
> trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
> descent that isn't all that obvious".
> 
> Other remarks from 2006:
> Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
> Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
> Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal
> 
> Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.
> 
> 
> 
Thank you, both very useful links, looks like it is a bit different now 
but I do remember the descent as being just as 'engaging' as the climb - 
if you count 20m seracs and snow covered crevasses as engaging!
Howard

Howard,

I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.

John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
that the description you are looking for?

If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.

In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
and your overall speed.

John



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Thank you John.
Yes it was the full traverse over the violettes that I was thinking 
about, up the coolidge couloir and down the violettes . That's what I 
did before. I remember having to cross the crevasse field from left to 
right near its end and then abseil down to a snow slope. Its apparently 
this traverse that is impassable now, requiring a longer abseil 
somewhere else but I don't know where.

Its a bit annoying as I was in Ailefroide on my own last year and spent 
a lazy day going up the pelvoux traverse descent route almost as far as 
the abseil point but of course was unable to see the glacier conditions 
above it.

Maybe its a sign of age that I remember the traverse as being just 
exciting and the fact that I now intend doing it with my daughter a sign 
of how long ago it really was!

We'll be staying in Ailfroide again this year but the contacts I've had 
with guides so far indicates they give nothing a way without money being 
exchanged. I think I'll take two ropes just in case.

(thanks about the book. I have the 87 version and have just ordered the 
2002 one. looks like it was a wise decision)
Cheers
Howard

John Broadwell wrote:
> Howard,
> 
> I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
> remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
> via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.
> 
> John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
> provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
> serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
> that the description you are looking for?
> 
> If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
> Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.
> 
> In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
> the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
> the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
> and your overall speed.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> "Howard"  wrote in message 
> news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>> needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>> glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>> want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>> gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>> date info on this route or know where I could look?
>> Howard 
> 
>

"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Try here;
http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

"Tony P"  wrote:
> Try here;
> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html

Or here:

http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html

if your Franglais is up to the mark.

The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
descent that isn't all that obvious".

Other remarks from 2006:
Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal

Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.

Martin Carpenter wrote:
> "Tony P"  wrote:
>> Try here;
>> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html
> 
> Or here:
> 
> http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html
> 
> if your Franglais is up to the mark.
> 
> The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
> trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
> descent that isn't all that obvious".
> 
> Other remarks from 2006:
> Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
> Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
> Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal
> 
> Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.
> 
> 
> 
Thank you, both very useful links, looks like it is a bit different now 
but I do remember the descent as being just as 'engaging' as the climb - 
if you count 20m seracs and snow covered crevasses as engaging!
Howard

Howard,

I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.

John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
that the description you are looking for?

If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.

In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
and your overall speed.

John



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Thank you John.
Yes it was the full traverse over the violettes that I was thinking 
about, up the coolidge couloir and down the violettes . That's what I 
did before. I remember having to cross the crevasse field from left to 
right near its end and then abseil down to a snow slope. Its apparently 
this traverse that is impassable now, requiring a longer abseil 
somewhere else but I don't know where.

Its a bit annoying as I was in Ailefroide on my own last year and spent 
a lazy day going up the pelvoux traverse descent route almost as far as 
the abseil point but of course was unable to see the glacier conditions 
above it.

Maybe its a sign of age that I remember the traverse as being just 
exciting and the fact that I now intend doing it with my daughter a sign 
of how long ago it really was!

We'll be staying in Ailfroide again this year but the contacts I've had 
with guides so far indicates they give nothing a way without money being 
exchanged. I think I'll take two ropes just in case.

(thanks about the book. I have the 87 version and have just ordered the 
2002 one. looks like it was a wise decision)
Cheers
Howard

John Broadwell wrote:
> Howard,
> 
> I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
> remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
> via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.
> 
> John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
> provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
> serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
> that the description you are looking for?
> 
> If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
> Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.
> 
> In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
> the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
> the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
> and your overall speed.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> "Howard"  wrote in message 
> news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>> needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>> glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>> want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>> gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>> date info on this route or know where I could look?
>> Howard 
> 
>

"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Try here;
http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

"Tony P"  wrote:
> Try here;
> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html

Or here:

http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html

if your Franglais is up to the mark.

The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
descent that isn't all that obvious".

Other remarks from 2006:
Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal

Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.

Martin Carpenter wrote:
> "Tony P"  wrote:
>> Try here;
>> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html
> 
> Or here:
> 
> http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html
> 
> if your Franglais is up to the mark.
> 
> The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
> trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
> descent that isn't all that obvious".
> 
> Other remarks from 2006:
> Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
> Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
> Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal
> 
> Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.
> 
> 
> 
Thank you, both very useful links, looks like it is a bit different now 
but I do remember the descent as being just as 'engaging' as the climb - 
if you count 20m seracs and snow covered crevasses as engaging!
Howard

Howard,

I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.

John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
that the description you are looking for?

If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.

In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
and your overall speed.

John



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Thank you John.
Yes it was the full traverse over the violettes that I was thinking 
about, up the coolidge couloir and down the violettes . That's what I 
did before. I remember having to cross the crevasse field from left to 
right near its end and then abseil down to a snow slope. Its apparently 
this traverse that is impassable now, requiring a longer abseil 
somewhere else but I don't know where.

Its a bit annoying as I was in Ailefroide on my own last year and spent 
a lazy day going up the pelvoux traverse descent route almost as far as 
the abseil point but of course was unable to see the glacier conditions 
above it.

Maybe its a sign of age that I remember the traverse as being just 
exciting and the fact that I now intend doing it with my daughter a sign 
of how long ago it really was!

We'll be staying in Ailfroide again this year but the contacts I've had 
with guides so far indicates they give nothing a way without money being 
exchanged. I think I'll take two ropes just in case.

(thanks about the book. I have the 87 version and have just ordered the 
2002 one. looks like it was a wise decision)
Cheers
Howard

John Broadwell wrote:
> Howard,
> 
> I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
> remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
> via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.
> 
> John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
> provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
> serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
> that the description you are looking for?
> 
> If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
> Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.
> 
> In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
> the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
> the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
> and your overall speed.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> "Howard"  wrote in message 
> news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>> needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>> glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>> want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>> gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>> date info on this route or know where I could look?
>> Howard 
> 
>

"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Try here;
http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

"Tony P"  wrote:
> Try here;
> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html

Or here:

http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html

if your Franglais is up to the mark.

The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
descent that isn't all that obvious".

Other remarks from 2006:
Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal

Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.

Martin Carpenter wrote:
> "Tony P"  wrote:
>> Try here;
>> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html
> 
> Or here:
> 
> http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html
> 
> if your Franglais is up to the mark.
> 
> The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
> trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
> descent that isn't all that obvious".
> 
> Other remarks from 2006:
> Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
> Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
> Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal
> 
> Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.
> 
> 
> 
Thank you, both very useful links, looks like it is a bit different now 
but I do remember the descent as being just as 'engaging' as the climb - 
if you count 20m seracs and snow covered crevasses as engaging!
Howard

Howard,

I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.

John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
that the description you are looking for?

If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.

In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
and your overall speed.

John



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Thank you John.
Yes it was the full traverse over the violettes that I was thinking 
about, up the coolidge couloir and down the violettes . That's what I 
did before. I remember having to cross the crevasse field from left to 
right near its end and then abseil down to a snow slope. Its apparently 
this traverse that is impassable now, requiring a longer abseil 
somewhere else but I don't know where.

Its a bit annoying as I was in Ailefroide on my own last year and spent 
a lazy day going up the pelvoux traverse descent route almost as far as 
the abseil point but of course was unable to see the glacier conditions 
above it.

Maybe its a sign of age that I remember the traverse as being just 
exciting and the fact that I now intend doing it with my daughter a sign 
of how long ago it really was!

We'll be staying in Ailfroide again this year but the contacts I've had 
with guides so far indicates they give nothing a way without money being 
exchanged. I think I'll take two ropes just in case.

(thanks about the book. I have the 87 version and have just ordered the 
2002 one. looks like it was a wise decision)
Cheers
Howard

John Broadwell wrote:
> Howard,
> 
> I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
> remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
> via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.
> 
> John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
> provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
> serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
> that the description you are looking for?
> 
> If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
> Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.
> 
> In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
> the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
> the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
> and your overall speed.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> "Howard"  wrote in message 
> news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>> needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>> glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>> want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>> gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>> date info on this route or know where I could look?
>> Howard 
> 
>

"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Try here;
http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

"Tony P"  wrote:
> Try here;
> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html

Or here:

http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html

if your Franglais is up to the mark.

The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
descent that isn't all that obvious".

Other remarks from 2006:
Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal

Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.

Martin Carpenter wrote:
> "Tony P"  wrote:
>> Try here;
>> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html
> 
> Or here:
> 
> http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html
> 
> if your Franglais is up to the mark.
> 
> The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
> trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
> descent that isn't all that obvious".
> 
> Other remarks from 2006:
> Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
> Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
> Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal
> 
> Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.
> 
> 
> 
Thank you, both very useful links, looks like it is a bit different now 
but I do remember the descent as being just as 'engaging' as the climb - 
if you count 20m seracs and snow covered crevasses as engaging!
Howard

Howard,

I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.

John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
that the description you are looking for?

If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.

In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
and your overall speed.

John



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Thank you John.
Yes it was the full traverse over the violettes that I was thinking 
about, up the coolidge couloir and down the violettes . That's what I 
did before. I remember having to cross the crevasse field from left to 
right near its end and then abseil down to a snow slope. Its apparently 
this traverse that is impassable now, requiring a longer abseil 
somewhere else but I don't know where.

Its a bit annoying as I was in Ailefroide on my own last year and spent 
a lazy day going up the pelvoux traverse descent route almost as far as 
the abseil point but of course was unable to see the glacier conditions 
above it.

Maybe its a sign of age that I remember the traverse as being just 
exciting and the fact that I now intend doing it with my daughter a sign 
of how long ago it really was!

We'll be staying in Ailfroide again this year but the contacts I've had 
with guides so far indicates they give nothing a way without money being 
exchanged. I think I'll take two ropes just in case.

(thanks about the book. I have the 87 version and have just ordered the 
2002 one. looks like it was a wise decision)
Cheers
Howard

John Broadwell wrote:
> Howard,
> 
> I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
> remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
> via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.
> 
> John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
> provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
> serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
> that the description you are looking for?
> 
> If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
> Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.
> 
> In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
> the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
> the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
> and your overall speed.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> "Howard"  wrote in message 
> news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>> needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>> glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>> want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>> gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>> date info on this route or know where I could look?
>> Howard 
> 
>

"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Try here;
http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

"Tony P"  wrote:
> Try here;
> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html

Or here:

http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html

if your Franglais is up to the mark.

The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
descent that isn't all that obvious".

Other remarks from 2006:
Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal

Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.

Martin Carpenter wrote:
> "Tony P"  wrote:
>> Try here;
>> http://www.summitpost.org/route/204032/pelvoux-traverse-traversee-du-pelvoux.html
> 
> Or here:
> 
> http://alpinisme.camptocamp.com/route337.html
> 
> if your Franglais is up to the mark.
> 
> The descent does sound somewhat fiendish. The remarks in the last recorded 
> trip: "Descent just as interesting as the climb. A beautiful route with a 
> descent that isn't all that obvious".
> 
> Other remarks from 2006:
> Take a helmet, watch out for objective dangers
> Be careful of getting the rope stuck in the rocky bars on the descent abs
> Descent not difficult but "engaging"; hard on the knees; potentially lethal
> 
> Nobody writes about receeding glaciers, 50m rope recommended in this topo.
> 
> 
> 
Thank you, both very useful links, looks like it is a bit different now 
but I do remember the descent as being just as 'engaging' as the climb - 
if you count 20m seracs and snow covered crevasses as engaging!
Howard

Howard,

I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.

John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
that the description you are looking for?

If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.

In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
and your overall speed.

John



"Howard"  wrote in message 
news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>date info on this route or know where I could look?
> Howard

Thank you John.
Yes it was the full traverse over the violettes that I was thinking 
about, up the coolidge couloir and down the violettes . That's what I 
did before. I remember having to cross the crevasse field from left to 
right near its end and then abseil down to a snow slope. Its apparently 
this traverse that is impassable now, requiring a longer abseil 
somewhere else but I don't know where.

Its a bit annoying as I was in Ailefroide on my own last year and spent 
a lazy day going up the pelvoux traverse descent route almost as far as 
the abseil point but of course was unable to see the glacier conditions 
above it.

Maybe its a sign of age that I remember the traverse as being just 
exciting and the fact that I now intend doing it with my daughter a sign 
of how long ago it really was!

We'll be staying in Ailfroide again this year but the contacts I've had 
with guides so far indicates they give nothing a way without money being 
exchanged. I think I'll take two ropes just in case.

(thanks about the book. I have the 87 version and have just ordered the 
2002 one. looks like it was a wise decision)
Cheers
Howard

John Broadwell wrote:
> Howard,
> 
> I climbed the Pelvoux via the Mettrier Couloir many years ago but cannot 
> remember any problems with glaciers ;-) we came back down to the Pelvoux hut 
> via the voie normale which is/was an easy snow plod.
> 
> John Brailsford's 2002 Alpine Club guide "Ecrins Massif" does not seem to 
> provide any information on what you are looking for other than a fairly 
> serious descent via the Violettes Glacier to complete the full traverse. Is 
> that the description you are looking for?
> 
> If all else fails, then nearer the time perhaps a call through to the 
> Bureaux des Guides in La Berarde, La Grave or Ailefroide would prove useful.
> 
> In any event, 60m ropes will build in an extra safety dimension albeit with 
> the added weight. That's the nub of alpinism of course, as you will know, 
> the eternal trade off between which equipment, the weight of that equipment 
> and your overall speed.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> 
> "Howard"  wrote in message 
> news:sP2dnUXcqIdxrZXbnZ2dnUVZ8saonZ2d@pipex.net...
>> I last did the traverse of the Pelvoux some years back and remember it 
>> needed a couple of shortish abseils off the glacier. Now I hear that the 
>> glacier has shrunk so much there are three abseils, including one of 50m! I 
>> want to do it again this year with my daughter but want to take the right 
>> gear -which sounds like a couple of 60m ropes. Has anyone any more up to 
>> date info on this route or know where I could look?
>> Howard 
> 
>