User:Gildir/Les Courtes

Les Courtes (3856 m) is a mountain, part of the Aiguille Verte chain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps. It lies in the French department of Haute-Savoie.

Location
Les Courtes lies in the basins of the Glacier de Talèfre and the Argentière Glacier, along the ridge that leads from the Aiguille Verte through Les Droites and Les Courtes to the Aiguille de Triolet. Just west lies of the Col de la Tour des Courtes (3720 m) separated the Tour de Courtes (3816 m), a steep rock tower separated. Further west follows the 3733 m high Col Droites at which the Droites connect. Southeast of the ridge above the 3601 m high Col de Cristaux leads to the steep gorges of the Aiguille Ravanel (3696 m) and the Aiguille Mummery (3700 m), the ridge of which leads to the Aiguille de Triolet.

The north face, toward the Argentière Glacier, is particularly demanding for mountain climbers. To the north, Les Courtes with a steep fall, interspersed with rock wall of ice, almost 1,000 meters on the Argentière Glacier from. In the south, they have a 600 meter high rock wall in the Glacier de Talèfre passes.

In addition to the main peak, the mountain has several other peaks:


 * Tour des Courtes - 3816 m
 * Épaule Ouest - 3841 m
 * Les Courtes - highest point - 3856 m
 * Aiguille Chenavier - 3799 m
 * Aiguille Croulante - 3765 m
 * Aiguille qui Remue - 3724 m

Climbing opportunities
Les Courtes is frequently visited and offers tours of different character and different levels of difficulty. The normal route leads from the foot of the Aiguille du Moine located Courvercle Refuge (2687 m) on the Glacier de Talèfre and steep firn in the Col de la Tour the Courtes, of which the Westnordwestgrat leads to the summit. The route is a Hochtour with difficulty PD, ice up to 45°. Also a high tour with difficulty PD via the SE Ridge, head of the Col de Cristaux to the summit. The Col de Cristaux is the Refuge du Courvercle and lying east of Refuge d'Argentière reachable. By the steep north faces several routes that can be accessed from the Refuge d'Argentière. The Swiss driver is a pure ice route (TD, in the ice up to 70°). A combined climbing route goes over the north-east pillar (D, 50° in ice, rock IV). Through the northeast face a frequently committed pure Eisanstieg pulls with a slope up to 50°.

History
The first known ascent was made on 4 August 1876 by ​​Henri Cordier, Thomas Middlemore, John Oakley Maund, Jakob Anderegg, Johann Jaun and Andreas Maurer by the Cordier route on the north side. The first ascent was probably already made years earlier by crystal prospectors on the southwest side. The first ascent of today's normal route was made by O. Schuster and A. Swaine on 17 August 1897. The first ascent of the north face was made on 12 August 1930 by P. Chevalier and G. Labour. In the late 1930s, the Swiss driver (July 1938 by C. Cornaz and R. Mathey) and the north-east pillar (July 1939 by E. Frendo, A. Tournier, R. Jonquière, A. Mallol and M. Villarem) were first ascended.

Refuges

 * Refuge d'Argentière (2771 m)
 * Refuge du Courvercle (2687 m)