UKH

Hi

Have a day or two before joining a course at the end of the month. Would usually either go and sit up at the midi and walk the balcon later on to montenvers. Not keen on getting on any glaciated terain on my own

Any different ideas please just for a short day, not overnight in a hut,  will be doing enough of that. ...

aig. belvedere in the aig. rouge, the highest peak in the range and an easy scramble. can be done up and down from the centre of argentiere in about 7 hours if fit

If you are happy soloing mod/diff you could do aiguille moine from couvercle hut. Tiny bit of glacier to cross on the route. Dry glacier and steep ladders to the hut. Best views from a hut in the world. 

Edit. Sorry just saw you didn't want to overnight. 

Just the trip to the hut is a good outing in itself; great view of the Walker Spur when you get there. I remember it as being a lot of glacier, but that was early in the season and in 1997.

Aiguille petite verte. Just go early to avoid the queues of newbies on their first route. 

Hard work without the grands montets lift! And would involve glacier. 

Since actually performing exercise at higher altitude has almost nothing to do with triggering the physiology of acclimatization (with goal of performance at 3500 - 4500 meters temporarily for 7-10 days), just sitting at the top station of the Midi lift is actually the most effective strategy (or perhaps spending a night at Refuge des Cosmiques).

. (and there a couple of tricks of chemistry and physics that help speed up the acclimatization physiology for that sort of goal, but likely you're already including those in your programme).

Ken

Great thanks

Willing consider a long day of sitting at the midi

Definitely worse places to spend the day

Thanks for your replies. Done the petite verte twice and the cable car is not currently in use and can be tricky exiting the glacier onto the ridge even as a pair

Cheers

Oh yeah, forgot that was out of action.

Any idea what it's like getting a bed at the hut at this time of year? Do you need to book or can you just turn up?

Cheers,

E

Edit - just looked online and you can book and there's plenty of space this week.

Solo cosmiques arête could be an option - only a little bit of glacier to cross and very well-trodden/tracked down there. Would also need to be comfortable descending the arête solo. But would get you moving nicely up around 3500m.

crossing the valley blanch solo this time of year after 2 heatwaves is NOT a safe option!