Or maybe I'm just bemused at the fact that we were booked for an early rise next day at 3am!
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Still smiling!
Or maybe I'm just bemused at the fact that we were booked for an early rise next day at 3am!
Inside the couvercle hut
The hut was simple but friendly. The food really was superb and there was loads of it too. I would recommend this place as it isn't too busy and it is a wee bit off the beaten track so you get to see some fantastic views from the middle of the massif.
The ladders of doom
En route to the hut we had to climb down eight rickety ladders to get onto the glacier before climbing up another eight or so at the other side. Each one was maybe 60 ft or more high. Top tip...Don't fall off the ladder...Oh and...make sure you dont fall off the ladder...
View up the glacier
The forecast for the day was pretty grim but the weather turned out much better than we expected. We made good headway up the glacier.
Round two...
After a rest day the second week kicked off on the mer de glace. I had two new faces out with me now. My climbing partner Julie and rated guide Jonathan Preston. We planned to head up to the couvercle refuge and climb point isabelle early the next day.
End of week one..
Cheers! We wound down the end of the first week the following day up at the mer de glace. Ron and Fi had done a sterling job of looking after me and I certainly enjoyed myself the whole time. I felt like I was kicking around with a kindly aunt and uncle each day we headed out. I decided in the end that I couldn't choose which day was the best. I liked them all for different reasons. No two days were the same. We went for a meal and a few drinks to wrap up the week. It would be fair to say that we all had a few that night. Ron was still able to show me how to tie prussik loops though. I made sure Ron and Fi got back to the van ok in one piece. A big lie in on the rest day followed after that.
Abseiling down
We abseiled safely back down the crag again and made our way to the pub for a celebratory drink. Ron wanted to go to a place called 'gite a vagabond' which loosely translated means house of the vagabonds. Fi didn't seem too keen though so we settled for a slightly more plush beer emporium in town.
Rock climbing
I think my face says it all here. We spent the day crag climbing in chamonix. We had a fantastic time. Some kids on the crag that looked about five years of age! Talk about starting young.
'None shall pass!!'
Ron struck this amusing pose on the descent from the junction. It made me laugh because it put me in mind of the black knight in the monty python film 'the quest for the holy grail'. You know the knight that says...'None shall pass!!'.
Me and the aguille du midi
Here you can see the spike of the top station on the midi cable car in the background behind me.
Balmat boulders
This photo shows the Balmat boulders a bit more clearly. It's just a few granite blocks. Apparently some tourists had asked where they could find the house as if they expected some semi detatched wimpey home on the site.
Sunbathing at altitude
We soaked up the sun and heard a few ice towers collapsing as the snow softened in the heat. Our vantage point was safe however. The view behind myself and Fi (in the funky orange sun hat) looks down towards the Balmat boulders and chamonix.
Gouter ridge
This photo shows part of the Gouter ridge on the right hand side of the shot. We would climb it in the dark the following week as we made our way to the summit.
Balmat's house
We found the plaque marking the bivouac site used by Balmat and Paccard on their first ascent in 1786.
Ice jumble
The glacier was very broken up at the bottom. Very few people venture onto it now as a result. It is simply too dangerous.
Near the junction
I got fried the previous day on the glacier despite having lathered myself with factor 50 sunscreen. I was taking no chances today and was looking like a member of the foreign legion in my sun hat and buff. We approached Balmat's house at the junction between the glaciers looking silly but without sunburn.
Gite a Balmat
The following day we headed up the route used for the first ascent by Balmat and Paccard. Gite a Balmat means Balmat's house. Apparently folk used to think that if you stayed out on a mountain overnight you would die. Balmat and Paccard were forced to bivouac overnight under a few large boulders. They didn't die and the following day they made it to the summit of mont blanc. They collected a substantial bounty for making the first ascent. The 'house' is actually the space where they sheltered under the boulders.
Race against time!
We were worried about missing the chairlift down to the valley so we got a bit of a shift on to make sure we didn't have to hoof it all the way back down. We made the lift with half an hour to spare.
Albert premiere hut
We stopped in at the hut for a quick refreshment before pressing on down the hill. This hut seemed pretty clean compared to some of the others we saw higher up the mountain.
View from the tete blanche
One last look around the blanche before we made our way down. The snow had fairly softened up by this point so some short patches of the glacier were hard work. We got down pretty quickly though.
Ron getting his arms burnt!
Ron's arms got a bit fried on the way up. They look ok here but the next day they were looking a bit raw.
First alpine summit!
Fi and myself admire the stunning views from the tete blanche. My first alpine summit and a mini milestone for me.
The aguilles
We admired some of the rocky aguilles or 'needles' as we made our way up to the tete blanche.
Glacier climb
It was great to be on snow and ice at last. The strength of the sun was just incrdible on the glacier. The challenge here was staying cool and hydrated. Suncream and glacier glasses were an absolute must on the ice.
Albert premiere hut
As the ground got steeper we could see the hut up ahead. The hut was fully booked so we didn't stay here overnight. We pushed on up to the glacier.
Glacier greetings
We got some great views up the valley as we approached the albert premiere hut. The glacier was a jumble of seracs and crevasses at the bottom.
Marmotte ahoy!
We spotted this cheeky marmotte as we walked in. Marmottes look like a cross between a beaver and a squirrel.
Tete blanche walk in
The following day Ron, Fi and myself started our walk in to the tete blanche. The tete blanche is one of the intermediate peaks on the mont blanc massif.
Sunset over mont blanc
I got this snap of the mountain just as the sun went down. Mont blanc is the peak on the far left of the shot.
The highest 'tele' in europe
I got a quick snap of myself reading the 'tele' before taking the cabecar back down to chamonix again.
Mont blanc shows herself
As the day progressed the cloud began to break up and I got a peek at the white lady herself for the first time since my arrival in chamonix.
Scary ridge
At the top station the cloud lifted enough for me to get a peek at the sort of terrain I was going to have to negotiate over the next couple of weeks. A few climbers were heading down a narrow snow arete which had very steep drops on either side. Fi told me it had earned the nickname 'scary ridge'. A few days later I would be creeping down scary ridge myself. Top tip...Don't fall off it!
Car crush
A large squad of japanese tourists shared my trip up in the cablecar. They took pictures of every boulder and snowflake on the way up.
Aguille du midi trip
Quite a bit of snow fell through the night so many of the high paths were out of bounds as a result. Ron suggested going up in the 'midi' cablecar to gain a bit of height. I spent the day up at the top station eating cakes to help myself acclimatise to the thinner air at altitude. The air pressure at the top station at 3,800m or so was only 65% of normal pressure at sea level so the difference was significant. I didn't feel any ill effects though.
Plan du midi trek
The weather was still very murky when Ron, Fi and myself took our first trip up the the mid station and the plan du midi. It was still great to be out on the mountain though. I actually felt like I was doing something to help prepare myself for the climb.
View from chalet
This was the view that greeted me most days from my balcony. It shows the bossons glacier. The dome is the gouter dome. The summit of mt blanc is to the left of this but you can't see it for the cloud in this photo.
Les Arolles
After passing through the notorious terminal 5 at heathrow I was never so happy to see my massive kit bag roll off the conveyor belt at Geneva airport. A few hours later and I had arrived in a very stormy chamonix. I was pleasantly surprised to find a neat wee chalet as my base for the next couple of weeks.
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
www.justgiving.com/stephenmcallister
Hi folks. Elaine Bowers and her team have done the MS society proud today by including a two page article on my climb in the local press. I set up a charity account page fairly recently to allow folk to pledge money directly and securely online via the 'just giving' web site (see the link above). I paid all the fees for the trip myself so all money pledged goes directly to the charity and gift aid of 25% is applied. I will update this page as the climb progresses so you can see how I am getting on. If I can't get live feeds to this page during the climb then I will do a wee diary report after the event. Live updates should also appear on the talisman activities website under their 'mountain blog diary'. We plan to have a charity night / disco when I return, probably on the 9th of August so keep your eyes on the paper and this blog. I hope to do some more rock climbing next week just before I go and if the weather remains lousy then I will probably be doing the last of my training in the rain. I'm looking forward to the trip. The spare bedroom looks like a floor on 'tisos' with crampons and ice axes dotted about. Thanks for looking in and thanks for all your kind sponsorship! ...Stephen.
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