To the bivouac hut

This entry was posted on by

July 7th

Start: Chanrion Hut;  finish: Bivouac de l’Aiguillette à la Singla (CAS), 3199 m
Distance: 11,5 km
Time taken:  6 hours
Vertical distance:  950 m uphill, 210 m downhill

We decide to go up to the Bivouac de l’Aiguillette in the hope of going to the border and climb a summit or two.  Left at 5 a.m.  To reach the Otemma glacier, the hut warden insisted that we must cross the river and climb fairly high on the south side of the valley.  But after a while, there were no more cairns and we had to work our way down scree and moraines to get to the valley floor again.  This lost us at least 30 minutes.  Another group did the same as us, others stayed on the right bank (north side) without problems.  Further along the Otemma glacier, we turned right and reached the bivouac by climbing ledges full of scree and steep snow slopes.

In the afternoon we cross the small glacier to reach the Col d’Otemma, 3209 m.  Snow very soft and we can do neither of the two neighbouring peaks.  No mobile network either.  Return trip of 3.5 km and 180 m height difference, 1 1/2 hours.  Very comfortable bivouac hut; great views; thunderstorm at night.