After bailing from part way up the "Desecures -Robach" on the right hand side of the Jorasses north face due to warm temperatures, Jon and I were doubtful as to what to get on next. The ice on the route was a another freeze-thaw away from becoming useable, but when walking underneath the Croz spur to start the long walk back to chamonix we noticed good looking white stuff snaking up the Slovenian start and in to the top icefield.
Two days later we found ourselves digging out a bivi ledge near the bottom of the north face and at 3.30 the next morning we were busy melting snow and packing up to be over the schrund of the Croz by 5am. 10 hours and 1000 metres of toffee-like ice and interesting mixed climbing later we were on the summit ridge. The hellish descent in to Italy was made extra time consuming due to poor conditions on the glacier which required careful navigation in the dark and some dicy downclimbing.
By midnight we were at the Boccalatte winter hut forcing litres of water in to our dehydrated bodies and enjoying the view over a moonlit northern Italy.
Check out the shots on-
http://www.alpineexposures.com/blogs/chamonix-conditions
Cheers,
Will
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