Mountaineering diary - Bivouac in the cool on the south face

Vivien, a member of the Lagoped Family , takes us on a bivouac with friends on the south face of the Barre des Ecrins.

The high temperatures of mid-summer encourage us to seek out a high-altitude bivouac.

With our friend Lolo (Laurent Thévenot) we are thinking of visiting the immense south face of the Barre des Ecrins with a 1300 m drop . A little detour through the topo confirms our choice:

"The highest mountain in Dauphiné and the only one that exceeds 4000 m in altitude. The southern pillar is a long and beautiful big race with a superb atmosphere (despite rock of very variable quality, from compact to very average, even mediocre in places).

The average rock is announced. For the rest the program sticks to our desires for wild mountains.

A few preparations later, we leave Madame Carle’s meadow around 2 p.m. towards the Glacier Noir.

It is under a blazing sun that we reach the final slope. With crampons on our feet, we approach the rimaye.

A steep wall poses a question for us and we find a path to go around it on the left and “step over” the rimaye.

We return to the rock and decide to unrope ourselves to gain efficiency. The rock is pleasantly and surprisingly good. After replenishing our water reserves and a few dihedrals later we put the rope back on to finish the ascent of the base.

The last chimneys can be swept without any problem.

And it is at 3300 meters that we come across THE bivouac. A beautiful flat gravelly terrace, a snowfield nearby and a clear panorama as far as the eye can see due south.

The evening is mild and we enjoy the joys of a perched bivouac.

It's 5:00 am when a little Jazz wakes us up. The sunrise in the distance is magnificent.

The entire south face of the Barre is ablaze as we begin this promising second day.

Everything is going well, Red Tower, Grey Tower and we arrive at the foot of the Bastion. The lines straighten, a few reassuring peaks appear on the chosen route.

A few longer lengths give us a hard time and we have to be delicate so as not to destabilize certain stone towers.

The exit from the Bastion is magnificent, we arrive at the level of the Mirror, a sort of shield of light gray granite striped by two beautiful cracks.

Having apparently got out of the difficulties, we take a short break before the summit ridge. The topo announced that "the last 300 meters are not to be neglected". This last part is much less steep but in the absence of ice, a giant mikado section begins and we have to be very careful not to lose it.

The crossing of the bar is dry and allows you to progress very quickly towards the Brèche Lory. The descent of the Glacier Blanc requires a suitable route to best avoid the crevasses and snow bridges that seem to be weakening in this late summer period. We decide to make a few detours to avoid them, the surrounding heat of this late afternoon pushing us to deviate from the track and take a few extra steps.

The rest of the descent is on sound terrain, and allows you to enjoy privileged moments in the high mountains until the loop closes at the Pré de Madame Carle.

(The next day a landslide will sweep across the face, light grey part clearly visible in the following photos, taken during a reconnaissance after the landslide).

We take a small set of Friends up to number 2 , some cables and 2 pitons , quickdraws and slings , some cord .

We each have a light pin .

Regarding progression equipment, we have a lightweight ice axe and a pair of hybrid crampons each in order to save weight.

We decide to take a 50 m single rope . This allows us to save a little weight and make it more comfortable to handle; the probability of an escape or of abseiling seemed quite low to us.

We also have a first aid kit , as well as a survival blanket each and a radio for the rope party .

For this climb we decided to make a bivouac. Given the "hot" conditions announced we each take a small duvet and a relatively small but non-inflatable groundsheet (no risk of it getting punctured) . A small tarpaulin/survival blanket is very useful to limit the humidity coming from the ground.

We have a small stove , selected provisions and of course an aperitif at the height of the bivouac .