Tete Noire

Yesterday I went to Monetier-les-bains, one of the Serre Chevalier towns to stay with my friend Francois and his wife Barbara, who have a chalet there. After having to turn back in Vizille because I forgot my @#$@ approach shoes, I finally arrived in Monetier at 8:00 pm. The Chalet is owned by Barbara's family and sees most of its use during ski season (all the children draw up a schedule and "book" it for specific weeks in the winter). During the summer, the main users are Francois and Barbara, Barbara's mother, and Barbara's Grandmother, all of whom were there this weekend. When you add in Francois and Barbara's three charming boys, the place was well populated: four generations of the family under one roof! The great grandmother, surpasses all the usual adjectives for someone who has been lucky enough to be aging slower than everyone else. "Spry" and "Alert" don't quite describe a ninety two year old woman who looks like and has the mental acuity of a sixty year old. She goes by the name "T.G.M.": Terrible Grand Mere, an epithet which she obtained by being a strict disciplinarian when Barbara and her siblings were young. She mellowed in her old age, but loves the title and is quite proud to receive letters addressed to TGM.

I arrived in time for dinner and after Francois and I chose a climb, we sat back and talked about the old piolets (ice axes) which he had hanging up in the dining room and about how he as a child had met all the french stars of climbing: Terray, Herzog etc. His grandfather had been a government functionary in Chamonix and knew all of those guys (some of them missing fingers from frostbite!) and introduced them to a young Francois.

Later that night, they offered my Genepi, an alpine elixir made from a plant that only grows at high altitude, and a small bowl of preserved griottes. Having never really liked Chartreuse, I declined the Genepi, but inhaled several of their fantastic home made griottes within a few seconds of their being put in front of me. A few minutes later I realized that the Genepi was not store bought, but homemade from plants that they had personally gathered. Obviously I had to try it. In spite of my aversion to sweet liqueurs, I have to say that it was excellent. The recipe is apparently pretty simple, although there are some variants and "secret ingredients". The hard parts are finding the plants and then getting ahold of pure alcohol, which they had obtained from a dentist friend. The dentist had initially been reluctant to give them any, since it might be illegal, but after receiving a bottle of home made Genepi he became a major supplier of alcohol in subsequent years. Barbara and Francois had found some of the genapi plants on a climb they did the day before, and were trying to get enough to make some of their own (It had always been made by TGM).

The next day, Francois and I set out for the Cerces to do la deuxieme Tour of the tete noire (???, 300 meters, TD+ ).After a very bad dirt road, and a flat hour long approach, we ended up at the base of the climb.


We were on the center pyramid, on a line that followed the arete which is on the border between sunlight and shadow

a tricky section, 4th (?) pitch

about to get on the amazing arete


three pitches from the top we stumbled on another Genepi plant

which Francois harvested
A team on the first tower

still going

On the last 3 pitches, the weather started getting a little scary, and La Meije was completely shrouded in dark storm clouds. We briefly considered retreat, but decided to press on since the rappels from the summit would get us to the ground much faster and more easily. By the time we got to the summit, the weather was fine again.

summit shots


A panorama from the top

rappels

Heres a big shot of the tete noire from the vallons