Climbing Central Piller of Frêney (Mt. Blanc, FR)

TD+/ED, VI A1, Piller HD 500m , 23.-26.8.2001

Late August 2001 Sam Broderik and I climbed the Central Piller of Freney. We started from the Aig. du Midi cable car, went over to Biv. de la Fourche, where we slept the first night. Although we traversed Col Moor and the Brenva flank during night, we had a lot of rockfall (I wount do this route again) and a difficoult Bergschrund. The crevassed north face up to Col de Puterey also took a lot of time to climb. So it's definetely better to start from Val Veni and sleep on Biv. Eccles. The second light we bivied just below the candelle on central piller de Freney. On the third day we climbed to the top of the piller and went over the summit of Mt. Blanc to the Vallot Bivouac. The next day we descended to Chamonix via Grandes Mulets and the Busson Glacier.

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