Mont Blanc via the Goûter Route - 28/29 July 2008

“The best climber in the world is the one who’s having the most fun”

-Alex Lowe

 

After a week’s training in Switzerland on the Jagged Globe Alpine Introduction Course of July 2008 it was time to jump in the bus and head to Chamonix. Five of us (including me) had made our way over the border from Arolla and we were joined by one from Zermatt (a fellow Welshman and ex paratrooper). The training and acclimatisation had gone well and apart from a pain in right foot I felt ready for Mont Blanc. 

We dropped our kit in our chalet and ventured into Chamonix for a day of leisure and sightseeing. It was here that I caught my first glimpse of Mont Blanc. The weather was pretty darn hot so we all sat under an umbrella in a street café promptly stuffed our faces to build up some energy stores of the climb. Next a visit to, quite frankly to best outdoor shop ever! Snell Sports. After an hour of looking at all the shiny new toys I decided to be reserved and treated myself to a new elasticated nut key an a map of the Mont Blanc massif.

After a relaxed breakfast the following morning we grabbed our packs and boarded the mini bus and headed off to Les Houches and the Bellevue cable car station where we meet our guides. It was amusing listening to my guide trying to pronounce my name, so we settled on a new name for me,  ‘Dave’, which I kind of regretted by the end of the trip (I’ll explain a little later). After the meet and greet and weather report (which was giving us a great weather window) we jumped on the cable car to the tramway du Mont-Blanc train that slows rides up to the Nid d’Aigle at 2373m. Fun fact: The tramway was supposed to go all the way to the Goûter hut but work was suspended in 1914 because of World War 1 and was never resumed.

Ibex below the Refuge de la Tête Rouse

Single Pitch Award Assessment

The time had come… in August 2011 I attended my Single Pitch Award training with Phill George Mountaineering in Llanberis. The course was very, very good. This was my second outdoor training course that year after completing my Mountain Leader Training two months earlier. It had been particularly difficult getting the climbs in. My logbook has about 120 different routes in it, but unfortunately about 95-100 where sport… It took some doing to get the climbs in with all the bad weather and lack of free weekends but I got there in the end. Barely… 

The assessment got off to a good start. We drove to Holyhead Mountain and our personal climbing skills were put under the microscope. The weather was glorious and we began with belay construction and top roping, all bread and butter so we all enjoyed our turn to climb in the sun. After lunch we moved onto lead climbing and gear placements. This one caught me out a little. The route, New Pants and Booties S 4a, proved a little tricky toward the top and my leg did begin to party like it was 1999 but after a little bit of precision footwork I topped out onto the easiest belay construction of the day.