rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_78beb42d-e4c7-50f7-a6a0-f1bc88ae040e">2:2). Above the pass to the west rises a ‘wonderful slag heap of shale’ (Lindsay Griffin in the AC guide Valais Alps West). This description of Mont Avril (3347m) may be apt, but the easy 1½hr ascent via an unmissable trail is worth the efforts of walkers, for the summit view on a good day is truly uplifting.
One of the most attractive peaks on show from the Chanrion Hut is the Bec d’Epicoune, an elegant 3528m Ober Gabelhorn lookalike which stands on the frontier ridge southeast of the hut. Not surprisingly it’s a popular goal for climbers, for whom the North Ridge is generally reckoned to offer the best route to the summit (PD; 5hrs). Looming over the hut to the east, the 3403m rock pyramid of the Pointe d’Otemma is another popular target for climbers based here for a few days. It has three prominent ridges; the NE, South and West, each of which may be climbed by PD+ routes.
Then there’s the 3875m La Ruinette, another pyramid-shaped peak, this one located north of Pointe d’Otemma from which it is separated by the Brenay glacier. First climbed by Whymper with Christian Almer and Franz Biner on 6 July 1865, it is a tremendous vantage point, as Whymper was at pains to point out. ‘As a standpoint it has not many superiors. You see mountains, and nothing but mountains. It is a solemn … view, but it is very grand. The great Combin, with its noble background of the whole range of Mont Blanc, never looks so big as it does from here. In the contrary direction, the Matterhorn overpowers all besides’ (Scrambles Amongst the Alps). Whymper also stated (and there’s no reason to contradict him) that ‘There is not, I suppose, another mountain in the Alps of the same height that can be ascended so easily. You have only to go ahead: upon its southern side one can walk about almost anywhere.’ Although his route of ascent is rarely followed these days, the voie normale by the Col de Lire Rose and the SW Ridge gives an enjoyable 5½hr PD- climb.
