Pic Coolidge turned out to be a fantastic adventure. A great summit surrounded by dramatic landscapes of jagged peaks and rock decay. What an AWESOME peak and just a scramble. Would make a great Alpine beginner mountain.
First climbed in July 1877 by William Coolidge, Christian Almer, and Ulrich Almer Jr. via the South Ridge (Rated Facile) It is located in the beautiful Ecrins National Park and easily accessable from the hamlet of La Berarde.
We had planned other tops. But the mixed weather forecast had lead us to this option. I had no idea about Pic Coolidge as Hamish had done most of the research and I was just enjoying the unknown.
We hiked up to the Hut. Refuge Temple Ecrins. Its a nice modestly sized hut, newly refurbished.
The Summit day we left the hut at 5.30am. Its quite a slog up to the col 3hrs - I was quite suprised this was graded F. I thought PD would have been more fair. The scramble and climb up to the summit was mixed ground way easier in practice than it looked from the col. Although a lot of care is needed as there is plenty of loose rock and lots of exposure. However its a good long climb and you need to be up for a hard slog. But....
WOW what a great summit.
I hope I captured a little of the climbs feel and atmosphere. It was awesome. Particularily on the summit block.
#frenchalps #piccoolidge #ecrins
Thanks for watching. Please as always like and comment if you can!
Stay safe out there
John
5 сен 2024
