Special thanks to..

The following day the weather broke and the thunderstorms that greeted me on my arrival were back once more. I packed my gear away and popped round to see Ron and Fi on the Sat night to say a final thanks and cheerio. I flew home the next day to a happy happy wife, excited pet dog and a surprise welcome home party. By sheer luck there were problems with the check in computers at geneva. They waved my bag through without any questions. I had escaped additional charges yet again. My trip had been an absolutely fantastic experience. I attribute that largely to the fact that I had went with the right people. There was never any doubt in my mind at any point during the trip of the standard of company I was keeping each day. By that I mean Ron and Fi at talisman activities and their colleague Jonathan Preston (IFMGA guide). My climbing partner Julie also helped make the trip a great one too. There are glossy adverts everywhere in magazines advertising similar trips that might appear cheaper or shorter. Ask yourself this..What sort of reputation do these folk have? Do they have credentials? It became apparent to me that not everybody had enjoyed the same sort of experience as myself and Julie with some of the other guiding companies. Julie confirmed this for me with her story about a french guide trying to rush her and her team on mont blanc the previous year. Many of the uk companies will sub contract the guiding out to local french guides. It's worth bearing that in mind. You want your trip to be an enjoyable experience but more importantly you want to know that you are in safe hands as well. Take a look at www.talisman-activities.co.uk/ if you want more info. I have been on four trips/courses with them over the years and they really have pushed the bar up on my mountaineering and climbing skills. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Wind down day

We had reached the summit of mont blanc a day early so the last official day of our trip was spent rock climbing at les gaillands. That night the entire team got together at the talisman base camp over at les moliasses campsite to celebrate the end of the trip. Ron and Fi topped up the glasses with a seemingly endless supply of sparkling wine before we headed down to the restaurant for pizza. Julie, her friend Nick and myself stuck it out and wandered into town to have a few laughs at a rolling stones tribute night.

Walking out of the adventure

Within an hour we were approaching the tram station. We were all looking forward to getting the boots off by this point. There were beers and baths that had our names on them back in chamonix. I realised I was now walking out of the big alpine adventure as we approached the trams. I didn't know if I would be back again. Maybe this was my last look at the white lady. I turned around and made sure I got a good one. The summit was still free of cloud. Minutes later we were rattling down the mountain on the tram....It was all over.

View near gouter hut

We reached the gouter hut and stocked up on water and fluids whilst we had another rest. We had booked the tete rousse hut for a second night as a back up but we knew we weren't needing to stay there now so we cancelled the booking over the phone during our break. Our throats were feeling a bit sore now. Probably a side effect of breathing in the dry air at altitude for more than a fortnight. We left the gouter hut and continued our climb down the gouter ridge for a couple of hours. The ridge was busier now than it was during our ascent so we were mindful of our route choice to try to avoid any rocks being knocked down by other climbers. Eventually we reached the couloir. The last hurdle before we were on safe paths back to the tram station. It seemed fairly quiet but I did see a couple of fist sized rocks fizz across the snow at the bottom of it. There were also a couple of 'rock' shouts from above as we approached it. We readied ourselves for another danger dash. Ready.. Go!! another short dash about the length of a rope with the head down. When we arrived at a safe rock ledge on the other side I swore in triumph and relief. Job done. We were now effectively out of danger and could relax a bit. It was a fantastic feeling. We were grateful for our window of luck. Another break at the tete rousse hut offered us the chance to put more fluid away. I texted Diane to let her know I was safely off the mountain. Folk were piling into the hut in preparation for a summit bid the following day. It was great knowing that our shift was nearly over. Our legs were still working.

View from gouter dome

As we approached the final stretch before the gouter hut on the descent we snapped photos of the route which were in darkness on the way up. At this point I spotted the rescue helicopter buzzing about. I thought nothing of it. When I got home I found out a family had been killed in a tragic accident on another part of the massif around the same time we were making our descent.

Snow ridge above vallot

We reached the vallot shelter in no time. We spotted a few more circus acts on their way up as we reached the gouter col. One guy had a ninja style linen sheet over his face which had slits cut in it for his eyes and mouth. He didn't have an ice axe or crampons. He looked in a really bad way. He was part hunched and creeping up as if he was in pain. He probably hadn't acclimatised at all. It got worse. Further down the mountain we saw 'levis' man. He was making his bid for the summit in jeans and trainers. Yes you read that right..jeans and trainers. Surely it couldn't get any worse??.. unfortunately it did. As we reached the gouter hut a long line of eastern europeans snaked up onto the snow on a very long washing line. The poor tail end charlie was chalk white and tied on with a tiny pink keyring snaplink karabiner. He fell onto his face in the snow. The well rehearsed emergency system kicked in however....his friends sort of looked at each other and shouted at him to get up. When he didn't quite get to his feet the rest of the team wandered over to haul him upright whilst tangling themselves in the washing line. Jonathan provided scathing narration and instruction to us whilst the whole shamble unfolded. He was almost beside himself as we viewed this living horror show. I was thankful I was in good company....

Heading down

It was nice heading down knowing that the summit was in the bag but we made sure our concentration didn't falter on the descent. We bumped into a few climbers we had befriended in the tete rousse the day before as they made their way up. Over the dinner table the previous night a german had enquired if I was british. When I told him I was scottish he beamed widely and shook my hand. A long conversation about whiskies followed. I spotted him working hard as we made our way down. I slapped him on the back and offered some verbal encouragement. I told him the whisky would be waiting for him in chamonix after he returned from the summit. Julie also chatted to folk as we went down. We were cheery and buoyant and the air was getting thicker with oxygen as we dropped. At points we were almost running down the snow. I had long since run out of water so I was keen to get back to the gouter hut to stock up on fluids. The photo shows folk still making their way up.