Col des Ecandies

1 - The Col des Ecandies overlooks the Glacier du Trient

In Champex village most of the hikers you meet will be heading up the Val d'Arpette, climbing towards the Fenêtre d'Arpette, a pass on the legendary Tour du Mont-Blanc (TMB) circuit. But why not try out a much calmer experience and leave the crowd to head for the Col des Ecandies?

Although less than a kilometre (0.62 miles) separates these two passes, they seem worlds apart! Both share great views of the Trient glacier, a huge mass of ice slowly on the move, but the Col des Ecandies is slightly further upstream and towers over the Trient glacier ice-fall. At this point the glacier valley is steeper causing the ice to break up into enormous seracs. It's not quite up to Everest ice-fall standards but it's not bad and much nearer home!

The Ecandies pass is a dead-end, at least for hikers, so only very few ever make their way up the valley. Enjoy the calm! If you check out the Col des Ecandies on internet, you'll find out that it's not a popular summer day trip since most pages describe it only as a winter ski-touring route.

2 - Up the Val d'Arpette, near a place named La Barme

The starting point of this trip is particularly convenient as you can actually start from the Champex village, more precisely from two different spots: the ski-lift car park or the Relais d'Arpette. Once past the hotel/restaurant the valley bottom that stretches out in front of you is as good as flat, coming to an end only under the Pointe d'Orny, the Pointe des Ecandies and the Genepi peak. Even the stones that pave the wide path are flat, making you feel as if you're following some ancient roman way.

Don't follow the path signposted towards the Col de la Breya - I came down it once on my way back from the Trient hut. Half an hour after the Relais d'Arpette the wide path comes to an end. At this junction (altitude 1822m) another signpost points left, showing again the way to the Col de la Breya. Here, take the smaller path to the right. The path turns into a real mountain trail, winding through shrubland and crossing a small mountain stream several times.

The path suddenly becomes steeper, squeezing between the Tête d'Arpette and La Barme. The climb is much harder now and the high stone steps will make you huff and puff. But it's worth it for the view towards the cliffs of the Pointe d'Ecandies. When the slope evens off again, you'll start to cross the Pierrier d'Arpette, a great field of scree to your left. All these rocks and boulders have rolled down from above to come to a standstill on this small plateau.

3 - The last hundred meters below Col des Ecandies

After about 1hour 20min, you'll get to the junction between Ecandies and Arpette. Leave the main, busy, Tour du Mont-Blanc route up to the Fenêtre d'Arpette to your right. The path now stays flat for about 10 minutes and then becomes definitely steeper. You'll climb the next 200 m up to 2400m (7874ft) without even noticing!

It normally takes about 2 hours to reach the Combe des Ecandies, a cirque made of nothing but stones. You'll then cross a narrow stretch of alpine meadow before starting on the last stony 300 m climb up to the pass. As you can see on photo 3, nothing grows up here: too steep and too much rockfall from the Pointe d'Orny (3187m, 10456ft) and the Pointe des Ecandies (2873m, 9426ft), the peaks directly above the pass. The path isn't always easy to find amongst all the rocks, look out for the cairns and other marks. The last part of the path isn't even marked on my 1:25000 map but you can't get it wrong: the pass is obvious - an opening in a great rock wall. The best way up is slightly to the left but this depends on how much snow is still about. When I did this walk in September there wasn't any around after the summer heat.

4 - Icefall of the Trient glacier

The pass is reached after about 3hours 10 min of excellent mountain walking. No-one's about, apart from a couple of mountaineers trying their luck along the ridge nearby. Apparently there's quite a nerve-wrecking jump somewhere along the ridge to the Pointe des Ecandies. Not for me thank you!

Make sure you take in the breathtaking view over the Trient glacier, it's ice-fall and glacier plateau (of which only part can be seen from here - the entire plateau is best seen from the Cabane du Trient). The way back follows the same path as on the way up (about 2 hours down to the Relais d'Arpette and an extra 1/4 hour for Champex).