Splendid trunking located on the NE side of the ridge of Grands Montets, in the depression preceding the Cordier corridor coming from the Col du Nant Blanc. It comes out at the rift between the Aiguille Carrée and Pointe Farrar. Access from the top station of the Grands Montets cable car is very fast.

Statistics

577

m

186

m

55

max°

Difficulty

FATMAP difficulty grade

Extreme

Description

[img=218493 right]Route 20[/img] ## Approach # 30min to 1h by foot, 10min by ski From the top station of the Grands Montets cable car, reach the Col des Grands Montets (3230 m).

Go down towards the E on the track for about 100 m, leave the track on the right and walk along the foot of the ridge of the Grands Montets until you reach the edge of the gap between the Aiguille Carrée and Pointe Farrar. ## Itinerary # 4am to 7am from the rimaye to the rift Cross the rimaye (about 3100 m) and climb the snow slope for about 100 m.

Overcome two fairly short passages (10-15 m at 60-70° each), then a magnificent chimney lined with ice (30 m at 65-75°). After the chimney, a snow slope leads to the foot of a steep jump covered with a few chutes.

Cross the jump through the left chute (15 m at 75-80°, thin ice) to the beginning of a snow/ice corridor.

A relay on peaks is located on the right - left bank - at the beginning of the corridor (difficult to find in case of heavy snow). The corridor splits into two chutes.

Go up the right branch for approximately 30 m (70-75° max) to an uncomfortable relay on peaks well to the right - left bank - next to a characteristic quartz vein. From the relay, continue in left ascent for 20 m to reach a thin trunking (80°, 15 m, 1 piton, generally protectable only with short pins), which ends in a very steep wall (85°, 10 m, thin ice or dry-tooling).

A relay on pitons is on the right - left bank - about 10 m after the exit of the wall. The technical part of the trunking is finished.

There is about 200 m of snow/ice/mixed corridor left (about 45-55°, delicate depending on snow conditions) to reach the breach and exit the track.

From the rift (about 3640 m), the view of the Nant Blanc side of the Aiguille Verte and the Drus justifies this last effort. ## Descent As a reminder by the ascent route.

Spit abseils are equipped rather on the left bank in the steep part (relay on spoilers in the less steep part at the top). It is also possible to walk down the corridor on the right bank of the ascent line (50-55°, beware of snow conditions). Once at the rimaye, either go down with the cable car (going up to the top station of Les Grands Montets takes about 1 hour), or join the classic descent of Les Grands Montets (magical on skis, on foot or on snowshoes...)<br/><br/>This Adventure has been shared under the[Creative Commons Share Alike] (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/) license.<br/><br/>_This Adventure has been shared under the [Creative Commons Share Alike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/) licence._