The Aiguille du Midi, North Face

The North Face of the Aiguille du Midi taken the day after a major storm and the day before we climbed the Frendo Spur.

Due to the recent warm spells in Europe, I have heard that there is considerably less permanent snow on the face. This is a shame, as the route in the conditions we climbed it in was stellar.

The line of the Frendo Spur begins under the large buttress and face one third of the way in from the left of this picture, then works it's way up the faint ridgeline aiming for the prominent snow arete high on the face before weaving it's way up to the secondary highpoint just left of the summit. For scale, the snow arete was 600+ feet in length.

Photo from the Loran Smith Collection, August 1985.