Mont Dolent - Journey to the centre of the Alps
Updated: 2 days ago
The first and last time I was on the top of Mont Dolent was with Colin Haley back in 2016. We started from the first lift at the Grands Montets in France where skied down onto the Argentiere and skinned up to the foot of the north face where we geared up and simul soloed (apart from one pitch that colin gave me a top rope) the Charlet-Couturier route on the north face which is a 700m steep ice and mixed route graded TD- that heads up and onto the North ridge. From there we crossed into Switzerland to finish up the east ridge (Gallet Ridge) to the summit. I remember standing on the summit and admiring the view down the Argentiere Basin for only a matter of seconds before we headed down the ridge into Italy to start the descent.
Three countries in a day, and a fair amount of trying to keep up with Colin on the way back around as we skate skied down the nordic piste in the Italian val ferret in the early afternoon sun. After we hit the road in La Palud we ran over to the Skyway and managed to get one of the last rides up on the cable car. Despite feeling quite broken already Colin convinced me we had just enough time "theoretically" to take a top speed run down the Vallee Blanche to try and catch the final train at Montenvers which could take us back to chamonix avoiding the long walk down to town. Luckily for me it worked and that trip has stuck with me ever since as one of the most epic days of ski mountaineering i've ever had.
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