Mont Blanc?

Well sadly after getting back from our via ferrata adventure it was becoming apparent that the weather was not coming to the party for our Mont Blanc summit attempt. High winds and thunderstorms were predicted for the next week in the high mountains surrounding Chamonix so our guides advised even going to the mountain refuge where we’d planned to start our summit attempt from would be pointless as the weather would definitely permit us to go no further.

Onwards and upwards though and the guides were working hard to find us a new objective to focus on, somewhere away from the current bad weather surrounding the Chamonix valley that would still be a step up from our initial acclimatisation mission of Gran Paradiso.

After much deliberation amongst themselves, the guides agreed that The Aphubel in Switzerland would be our best bet for bagging another 4000+ summit in the current weather conditions as it was suitably far away from Chamonix. The weather report wasn’t exactly favourable with high winds forecast, but we would go and give it a try and if we would need to turn around during our ascent due to bad weather well then that was just a part and parcel of life in the mountains.

We set off early the next morning as we had a long five and a half our drive over to the region of Switzerland where The Alphubel lies. Upon arriving near the mountain, after a quick bite to eat and a relatively short hike we made it to the mountain refuge we would spend the night in before our summit attempt. Whilst being a fair bit more expensive than the Italian refugio, the Swiss one was never the less very modern and clean. It also had an incredible backdrop of the beautiful (and quite intimidating) Weisshorn across the valley.

The next morning it was an early start up the rocky path in the dark to arrive at the foot of the glacier in time for first light. The glacier was a fair bit steeper and much more icey than the semi snow covered glacier of Gran Paradiso. After about five minutes of walking up it in our crampons it dawned on me that falling over would mean sliding very quickly down a steep sheet of hard ice, quite a long way straight onto the rocks below almost definitely resulting in broken bones or far worse. The guides must have been thinking the same thing, as almost just as the thought had entered my mind they insisted we rope together for safety.

Climbing the Alphubel is a longer undertaking as I believe it’s a 1600m climb from the refuge, we definitely spent more time on the glacier than we had on Gran Paradiso. After a couple of hours on the glacier the mountain flattened out to an open plain and the wind started to hit us. Some parties were continuing on via the ridge line but our guides decided it would be better to continue around the back of the mountain out of the wind.

We continued on for some time out of the wind, where it got surprisingly warm, gingerly treading over crevasses and up a final steep section towards the summit. We were a bit out of breath but kept pushing on until the steep ascent flattened out and the summit lay ahead. It was pretty windy up top, but not so windy that we couldn’t get a few victory photos before heading back down again.

Once again the way down went by a lot quicker than the way up and after carefully descending off the glacier, with sore legs we all hobbled back down to the refuge where Vit and I proceeded in polishing off a few beers in celebration of climbing our second summit in a few days.

Naturally there was a bit of disappointment in not being able to climb Mt Blanc, but for me the goal we’d set ourselves months before was a lot more about being physically fit enough and ready to climb Mt Blanc rather than actually climbing the mountain itself. There’s not a single doubt in my mind that we would’ve made it to the top of Mt Blanc if the weather had have been good, so we’ve come away from our trip with a great feeling of working towards an objective and the sense of satisfaction that comes from hard work paying off.

Of course setting a goal doesn’t need to be climbing a mountain, it can be focused on any dream that you want to come true. By setting ourselves a challenge it’s given us so much motivation to work hard and focus on something we really want to achieve. I can say hands down that if we hadn't have had this trip booked I would not have been consistently getting down the gym to train during the crazy busy period at work in the months leading up to our trip.

So my advice to anyone who happens to be reading this is to go and write down that dream you've been secretly thinking of for years but are scared you could never achieve, tell people about it, even post it on social media and make yourself accountable. Than, grit your teeth and get stuck into it, break it down into little pieces and it will suddenly start seeming more achievable, get advice from people who's knowledge is far greater than your own. What have you got to lose? If you fail at least you gave it your all. Give it a try, you never know, it might just end up changing your life forever!

Lay Day

After getting back to Chamonix from Gran Paradiso there was uncertainty from the guides about our weather window for Mont Blanc. The weather currently on the mountains was pretty bad which meant we were stuck in the valley for the time being, so rather than sit around resting, stuffing ourselves at the many restaurants around town or my wife spending all her husband’s hard earned money on new outdoor gear, the guides organised a day out to the newly built via ferrata just outside Passy where the weather still wasn’t too bad.

If you’ve never heard of via ferrata, I believe the direct translation from Italian to English is “the iron path”. In particular, it refers to a large series of iron ladders and cables installed around the Dolomites during the First World War to give Italian troops access through the high mountains whilst fighting with the Austrians to the North. Nowadays, these traditional pathways are enjoyed by hikers looking for an extra thrill, as by simply having a harness with two lanyards it is possible to easily access terrain which would otherwise only be the realm of proficient rock climbers.

Traditionally the area we were in didn’t have any original via ferrata routes, however with the growing popularity of via ferrata over the last decade or so the French government have taken the initiative to build new via ferratas as leisure facilities for the general public to enjoy. We did a few via ferrata routes in the Dolomites on our honeymoon and they were mostly hikes with a few cable and ladder sections. However as John our guide told us “the French have a penchant for the theatrical” and that can be seen in their newly constructed via ferrata routes.

We got to the foot of the via ferrata and it was basically one long “climb” of ladders and traversing cable bridges and rocky ledges. The guides were again very proficient in ensuring all of the group were comfortable as I think Mai and I were the only ones who had any previous via ferrata experience.

This was definitely one of my favourite days of the trip, was loads of fun and a really great way to feel really exposed with some big drops under your feet, but at the same time feeling really safe as you know you’re harnessed into some pretty sturdy steel and all the hand and foot holds were very good.

We actually ended up getting about two thirds of the way along the route before we hit a traffic jam. Apparently it’s not uncommon for people to freeze whilst high up and so exposed, we couldn’t see what was happening ahead but assumed this was the case, so after about 15mins of being stood still watching the thunder and lightning rapidly heading our way we decided to turn around and head back the way we came (if you weren’t already scared of the drop offs under your feet, try being tied of to a steel structure high up on a cliff face while your mountain guides tell you stories of people they know being struck by lightning whilst out in the mountains).

All in all a really fun day out of very basic climbing on quite an exposed route while being very safe. Definitely a welcome break from the suffering of endless walking up a mountain! We even had a paraglide swoop past us pretty close at one point.