LA MEIJE BY CHARLES-HENRI CONTENCIN

CHARLES-HENRI CONTENCIN (1898-1955)

La Meije (3,984m - 13, 071ft)

France (Isère)

  In La Meije et  l'Oratoire du Chazelet, oil on canvas,  1946

The mountain 

La Meije (3,984m- 13, 071ft) is a mountain in the Massif des Écrins range, located at the border of the Hautes-Alpes and Isère départements. It overlooks the nearby village of La Grave, a mountaineering centre and ski resort, well known for its off-piste and extreme skiing possibilities, and also dominates the view west of the Col du Lautaret. It is the second highest mountain of the Écrins after Barre des Écrins. The central and second highest summit has five teeth, the highest of which is known as Le Doigt de Dieu (The Finger of God). This summit was reached from the northeast on June 28, 1870, by Christian and Ulrich Almer and Christian Gertsch, guiding Meta Brevoort and W.A.B. Coolidge. The ridge from the central to the main, Western peak, which is 13 meters higher, was considered an insurmountable obstacle for the next 15 years.
The Western true summit of La Meije, the Grand Pic, is notorious in that there is no "easy" path to its top and it was the last major peak in the Alps to be summited. The first ascent was eventually made from the southwest on 16 August 1877 by father and son Pierre Gaspard and their client Emmanuel Boileau de Castelnau. Their approach, over the south buttress Arête du Promontoire and further over the Glacier Carré and the southwest face of the Grand Pic is now the normal route.
On July 26, 1885, Ludwig Purtscheller and the brothers Otto and Emil Zsigmondy made the first traverse from the central to the main summit, via the "insurmountable" gap that is now known as the Brèche Zsigmondy, in what is still considered a classic route though thoroughly modified by a may 1964 rockfall. The traverse in the opposite direction was accomplished 6 years later by Ulrich Almer, Fritz Boss and J.H. Gibson.
The south face is widely considered to be the most difficult of La Meije. Within two weeks after their successful traverse, the Zsigmondy brothers, together with Karl Schulz, tried to reach the Brèche Zsigmondy over the south face, but Emil died in the attempt. The first successful attempt was not until twenty-seven years later, in 1912 by Angelo Dibona, Luigi Rizzi, and the brothers Guido and Max Mayer, while a direct route over the south face to the Grand Pic was only climbed in 1935 and that to the Central Pic in 1951.
For mountaineering, La Meije can be approached from two mountain refuges:
- The refuge du Promontoire at 3,082 metres, situated at the bottom of the steep south buttress of the peak, and allows access to routes on the south face of the mountain.
- The refuge de l'Aigle at 3,450 metres, situated at the top of the Tabuchet glacier, and allows access to the north face.

The painter 

Charles-Henri Contencin (1898-1955), is a French painter who painted many landscapes of mountain and high mountain of the great Alpine peaks, Mont Blanc and Massif and the Écrins mainly. His palette is characteristic. He particularly used the effects of sunrise or sunset over snow or glaciers.

Raised in the Bernese Oberland to the age of 10-12 years, it was a lifelong mountain lover. Good climber, he was a member of the French Alpine Club, where he made the connection with the Mountain Painters Society (SPM). He made the First World War in the infantry and he received the War Cross. He then worked in an architectural office and at the Compagnie des chemins de Fer du Nord before joining the french national railways company, the SNCF, where he was responsible for engineering structures.
In addition to his professional designs it is also author of posters and handbills for the railways under the pseudonym "Charles-Henri." He is best known for its mountain paintings and leaves an important work.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

THE CERVIN (MATTERHORN) PAINTED BY C.H. CONTENCIN

CHARLES-HENRI CONTENCIN (1898-1955)

Mont Cervin or Mattherhorn (4,478m -14,691ft), 

Switzerland

In Mont Cervin Face ouest, oil on canvas

The mountain 

Here is Mont Cervin (4,478m -14,691ft) (in french), an alpine summit located on the Swiss-Italian border between the canton of Valais and the Aosta Valley in Switzerland. It has several other names: Cervino in Italian, Grand'Bèca in Arpitan, Matterhorn in German. The Cervin / Matterhorn is the most famous mountain in Switzerland, including the pyramidal shape that it offers from the village of Zermatt, in the German-speaking part of the canton of Valais.
Its four sides are joined about 400 meters below the summit in a summit pyramid, called "roof." Its summit is a broad ridge about two meters, on which stand actually two summits: one called "Swiss summit," the farther east, and the "Italian summit" slightly lower (4,476 meters), on the west side of the ridge. The two are separated by a notch in the hollow of which a cross was laid in September 1901.

Its north face is one of the three great north faces of the Alps with the Eiger and the Grandes Jorasses.

The most famous faces of the Matterhorn are the faces east and north, seen from Zermatt. The first
1, 000 meters high, has great risk of falling rocks, which makes it dangerous climb. The north face high of 1100 meters, is one of the most dangerous sides of the Alps, particularly because of the risks of landslides and storms. The south side, overlooking the Breuil (Valtournenche above) is high, it, 1 350 meters. This is the face that offers the most channels. And finally, the west face the highest with its 1400 meters, is the one that is the subject of fewer climbs attempts. Between the west side and the north side there is also the north-northwest side, which does not stretch to the summit but stopped Zmutt Nose, on the bridge of the same name. This is the most dangerous route for climbing the Matterhorn. There is also a south-facing southeast, deemed to be the most difficult of the south face route, which leads to the Pic Muzio, on Furggen Shoulder.

Due to its pyramidal form, the Matterhorn has four main ridges, through which pass most of climbing routes. The easiest ridge, that borrows the normal route, is the Hörnli ridge (Hörnligrat in German): it is between the faces east and north, facing the Zermatt valley. Further west lies the Zmutt ridge (Zmuttgrat), between the north and west sides. Between the western and southern sides is the Lion ridge (Liongrat), also known as Italian ridge, which passes through the Tyndall peak, summit of the southern part of the west side, at which begins the upper face. Finally, the south side is separated from the face is Furggen

Swiss normal route from the cabin of the Hörnli, located at 3260 meters. Since Zermatt is accessed by gondola Schwarzsee; there are 700 vertical meters to the hut and 1200 vertical meters to the summit.

Difficulty (Hörnli ridge): AD (fairly difficult), 3 climbing passage; fixed ropes were installed near the top for easy ascension.

The Italian normal route, taking his departure in Breuil, follows almost entirely the southwest ridge, called the Lion ridge. It was inaugurated by the guide valtournain Jean-Antoine Carrel 17 July 1865.

The climb from the Italian side includes three steps:

- du Breuil (2012 meters) at the shelter Duke of Abruzzi in Oriondé (2802 meters)

- the refuge Duca degli Abruzzi refuge to Jean-Antoine Carrel (3830 meters)

- Jean-Antoine Carrel refuge at the summit (4478 meters).

The ascent by Hörnli ridge, July 14, 1865, was considered the last of the great feats of mountaineering in the Alps. But this ascent error ended at the beginning of the descent, in the death of 4 of the 7 members of the roped Victorieuse.

The painter 

Charles-Henri Contencin (1898-1955), is a French painter who painted many landscapes of mountain and high mountain of the great Alpine peaks, Mont Blanc and Massif and the Écrins mainly. His palette is characteristic. He particularly used the effects of sunrise or sunset over snow or glaciers.

Raised in the Bernese Oberland to the age of 10-12 years, it was a lifelong mountain lover. Good climber, he was a member of the French Alpine Club, where he made the connection with the Mountain Painters Society (SPM). He made the First World War in the infantry and he received the War Cross. He then worked in an architectural office and at the Compagnie des chemins de Fer du Nord before joining the french national railways company, the SNCF, where he was responsible for engineering structures.
In addition to his professional designs it is also author of posters and handbills for the railways under the pseudonym "Charles-Henri." He is best known for its mountain paintings and leaves an important work.

2016 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau