Pointe de Charbonnel

Park before the hamlet of Les Vincendières (1,830 m) in the Avérole valley; beyond the car park the road is closed except to residents. Walk a few dozen metres up the road, take the track on the right down to the bridge over the Avérole, then follow the track and a path north through forest and pasture with the Charbonnel stream below on the left. At about 2,300 m leave the Pointe de Tierce path on the right and go left; a rising ramp (vire) from right to left crosses the rock bands and the waterfall to the Torrent du Charbonnel, which is easy to cross in the morning but can run high on hot afternoons. The wide lower ledge is often wet with slippery slabs. At about 2,900 m, with no snow, two gullies appear. Most descriptions use the one leading to a large cairn (rock, II to II+) to reach a terrace at about 3,040 m and the scree below the glacier; the other gully, capped by a large block, is best avoided, especially in descent, and a line of cairns heading left leads to a steep, icy tongue of the glacier where parties have had to turn back. Early in the season a broad snow slope replaces the gullies. From about 3,200 m climb the glacier straight up and then bearing left (south-east), mostly at 25–30° with steeper sections of 35–45° near the top, and finish along the easy ridge to the summit. Descend the same way, downclimbing the chimney one at a time because of loose rock, and identify the key passages on the way up: it is easy to stray above impassable rock bands. Recent reports describe the lower glacier as bare ice in dry, hot summers, with poor-quality ice in September. Waymarking fades from a path to cairns to nothing. Several bivouac spots exist between 2,600 and 2,800 m, and splitting the climb is common.