Technical Training in the Alps!

Author: Sarah

7 Aug

Having enjoyed a fantastic first week in the Alps developing our skills and climbing Mont Blanc, we were feeling a little weary and apprehensive about stepping things up a bit in the second week. We also had to check out of the lovely Yeti Lodge and move to cheaper, basic digs in Chamonix. So it was back to our usual cheap and cheerful pasta and pesto and pancakes and nutella for the second week.

After a couple of days of more gentle walking in order to recover a bit, we met up with Sebastian who was going to be guiding us for three days back in the higher alps – poor fellow! Sebastian was a bit of a character, great sense of humour and no fear! Interesting combination when hanging off a cliff on a piece of rope! He had a few key phrases, ‘Merde’ and ‘Catostrophe’ which generally referred to my cramponing skills!!

Anyway, on our first day together we headed up to the Mer de Glace, a huge glacier, to develop our cramponing skills on ice. There is usually a little train running to take you up to the glacier; however it was unfortunately out of action due to a rock fall which had destroyed a large section of the track. We therefore had quite a long trek there and back. The advantage of this was there was no-one else there! Bonus!

First glimpse of the Mer de Glace

There are a few large ladders attached to the rocks to help climbers get down to the glacier which were useful, apart from the fact that the glacier has moved quite a lot over the years and therefore the bottom of the ladder was quite a way from the ground! An unexpected added challenge!

Handy Handrail!

First big ladder!

Ladder's too short!

Nearly!

Once we did reach the glacier, we had a good few hours learning how to cross crevasses and move effectively on our crampons. Having spent the previous week on an organised trip, all health and safety, it felt strange leaping over huge gaps in the ice with no safety ropes should we fall! I mean, some of these crevasses were just bottomless black pits! But hey, we’re still here! And the walk back down was very pleasant on the eyes, not so on the knees!!

Don't slip!

Trust those points!

Doing the splits!

Ooh don't stop!

Getting back up!

Uh oh!

Underground waterfall!

Nice walk down!

The following two days were spent on peaks around the Aiguille du Midi further developing our mountaineering skills in order to be more self sufficient. Due to the hot weather we witnessed a number of avalanches which was slightly disturbing at times! Fortunately, we didn’t get too close to any of them! It was interesting to look at the route we had taken up Mont Blanc a few days earlier and see how the weather had affected that. There were clear areas that had been affected by avalanches and a couple of crevasses had opened right up. Amazing how much the landscape can change in such a short space of time.

Our training culminated in a varied climb up to the Aiguille du Midi itself at the end of which we were greeted by a horde of Japanese tourists determined to get photo’s of themselves with all the climbing gear! So, a fantastic second week in the Alps, a stunning area that no doubt will entice us back in the future!