Bring the Thunder

It feels like ages since I last updated even though it's less than a week. First, here's a quick photo:-

More about that later. Lots has happened in the last few days.

Thursday:-
Sam got up early and left to meet the guys for a few rock routes on the Plan. I spent the day doing a few jobs and then decided to try a hike for the first time in almost 2 weeks. I headed up the valley toward the Argentiere glacier on a 2-3 hours walk using trekking poles. The knee felt ok initially, but fairly weak by the time I got down, plus it was roasting so I had plenty of stops to rest my knee. I got down just in time for another thunderstorm, there has been one each afternoon for the past 2 or 3 days like clockwork. A few more photos uploaded, been using the compact lots recently with pleasing results.

Friday:-
A slow start, mainly due to rain on and off, a long morning of brews and talking crap until that evening we headed into Chamonix. Spent a while on the internet in McDonalds with Ally and Alex as they looked for jobs and replied to emails. Then we met up with the others in a bar for happy hour and a few games of pool. We were in Chamonix to witness the start of the UTMB, a trail run of the tour du mont blanc, 100 miles. The start was delayed due to incoming bad weather - and they were right about that! The beer continued (I was driving) and we headed to Poco Loco, another gourmet burger joint just down the road from Midnight Express. Very impressive, and very filling! We headed to the UTMB stand and the sillyness escalated:-

After a few hours standing in the torrential rain, Ally and Alex headed off to camp, I headed back before the campsite closed, leaving Sam, Joe, Phil and Stuie to it. The drive back that night was not a nice one. For some unknown reason, the French don't think it a good idea to have cat's eyes on their dangerous winding mountain roads. A great thing to deal with during a huge storm while driving on the right in a right hand drive car and mental French drivers all around with fog lights ablaze. The thunder continued into the night but I actually managed some decent sleep.


Saturday:-
Woke up starving, so drove to Argentiere to pickup some food, bumped into Alex and headed back to camp for a brew. Joe and Phil turned up in the van, with an extremely ill and hungover looking Stuie in the back who was later dry heaving.

Sam had disappeared and the only clue was an English woman he was talking to in a bar. It turns out after I left, more drinks continued and somehow Stuie ended up at a Swiss girl's place, and Sam wandered off with an English woman. After an hour or two waking up we all headed into Chamonix to see if we could track down Sam, we guessed he might head to the carpark where the van was but had no idea what might've happened to him. We found him wandering down the road looking worse for wear after staying at the woman's flat.

Sam and Stu spent most of the day sleeping in the van while we all went for a wander around Chamonix. Later on the way back, due to some heavy driving and snaking bends, we were all in side splitting agony laughing at Sam who shot to the nearest side window of the van to do the big spit. The Audi driver behind looked highly concerned. That evening, plans were made for their next few days up on the Valle Blanche.

Sunday:-
After lots of deliberation I decided to go up with the guys and do the Cosmiques Arete, hoping my knee would hold out. After sorting out gear, the plan was I'd go up just for the one route and head back on the lift with plenty of time to spare. However, due to a family emergency, Joe has had to drive back to the UK for a few days. We're hoping everything is fine and he'll be back soon, but this left us with a van full of stuff to empty as well as gear to organise for their few days up on the glacier.

Eventually, we ended up catching the lift at around 2 - 2:30, and suddenly I found myself stood at the knife-edged snow arete, roped to 3 mates with a dodgy knee and only them, an ice axe and a walking pole between me and immense drops either side of my feet to either Chamonix or the Valle Blanche.
We took it slow, Stuie first, me next, then Phil then Sam. The knee felt weak, but not painful, probably due to the adrenaline and the prescription Diclofenac that Joe had given me (he's a Paramedic back home). Step by step we made it down the steeper section that winded south toward the towering peaks and slices of crevasse, stopping occasionally to allow climbers heading up hill to pass. Some were more thankful, some were out right rude, as well as being overtaken down hill by non-chalant French guides dragging rich terrified looking tourists past us. The arete wasn't that bad, the exposure was more exciting than scary, the main fear was my knee giving way and walking in the crampons that until then were never used...The ridge levelled out, and we headed to a flat spot to pitch the guy's tent and dump their food and gear.

Then we plodded up to the start of the Cosmiques Arete route. Running out of time, Stu and Phil decided to give it a miss and stay back at the camp to arrange things and not risk being locked out of the station with no easy way back down to the tent, while me and Sam would go full bore and 'bring the thunder' on the route so I wouldn't miss the last lift down and doom myself to a cold sleepless night without a sleeping bag crammed in with 3 other people in a 2 person tent on the glacier. The going up was tiring at first, the altitude is noticeable when you're rushing, as is the short temper when ropes get tangled. The lift was due at 17:30 and it was now around 15:30, with the guidebook time of the route being 2-3 hours we moved together fast placing little gear. After catching up a team in front, we took in some of the views and got a couple of shots, then abseiled down to the next section which traverses across to the lift station.

We stepped on the gas and managed to over take 2 or 3 teams and got bottle necked behind a guide dragging a British couple up the last section. He assured us we'd be fine to make the lift, so we relaxed a bit and took in the atmosphere. The knee was far from my concerns at this point, and I realised after nearly 4 weeks of staring up at this chunk of rock I'd now almost done the route easily. The climbing was great, easy ground and good rock, and the exposure was pure joy. We made it to the rickety ladder that led up to the platform, for smiles and adoration from the wide eyed tourists. I then rushed off to get the lift, but was faced with a half hour wait due to the amount of sight see-ers up there.
Back on the ground, I headed back to the tent for a bite. Eventually I turned on my phone for the first time in a few days to find that Ant, Drew, and the others here for the next 2 weeks had arrived so I went and met them for a quick beer and let them know about the recent happenings.


Monday:-
This morning another mate arrived after a long evil coach ride down, and now I've finally sat down to get all this in black and white and develop photos. No plans for the next few days, Paris may well be still on the cards, but for now I'm resting a bit easier having finally stepped on rock, ice and snow at 12604ft.

What Next?

Today has been a bit of a funny one, I was pretty keen to get a rail ticket sorted to go to Paris and meet my friend Alyce. However after looking into it further I'm not sure how far my current money will go. I'm waiting on a pay packet that might spur me on, but today I'm having second thoughts. Also, after enquiring at the Chamonix train station, a lot of trains seem to be fully reserved as we're in the peak of high season here. The only thing I could've found to get to Paris for Friday morning was an overnight train and sleeping in a seat, at an extra cost.

Perhaps I'm hesitating to leave my friends, or maybe I'm keen to get my knee fixed and climb, or maybe I'm just too comfortable here at the moment. I don't know what to do.

Maybe the cash injection I'm waiting for will spur me on, but I've been on a bit of a downer today after realising money is limited when you have just quit your job! Saying that, what is waiting for me in Manchester? I do miss home, and I love the place despite all it's grimness, but I have no job or girlfriend waiting (in fact also just discovered one girl I was very keen on back home has just found someone else, not the end of the world but I am quite soft when it comes to these things).

Sorry to be so down, I'll prob feel fine after a good nights sleep, been feeling a bit off today with a dodgy stomach and blocked nose. What a hardcore mountaineer I am. Here's a roundup of the past few days.

Sat:-
That night after my previous blog, Stuie, Joe and their mate Phil turned up on their van, nice to see some more familar faces.

Sun:-
Another chilled out day with Ally and Alex, made my way into Cham to look into a few things and have a chat with someone at the train staion about the confusing interrail situation. Later that night went for a drink with Sam's folks.

Mon:-
Another day biding my time, was far to hot to bother doing much, until later when it absolutley tipped it down and there was huge thunder storms. Very impressive.
Sam got back from the route, they made up the rock pitch without many dramas, but due to the heat the ice pitches were unclimbable, or atleast too concerning to try. After some dodgy abseils down they found themself on a chunk of glacier they couldn't get off of due to a very large crevasse. After much wandering about they finally managed a abseil from a snow ballard. Scary. Sam seemed pretty releived to be back down, despite having lost a headtorch and his new Canon compact camera in the process...


Tues:-
I was raring to get a ticket out to Paris via Interrail and go on a new adventure alone after hearing travel stories from Sam's folks. Had a nice relaxing day with Sam + his folks, nice meal at their hotel and so on.
Most of the guys are up in the free hut for a few days to get some routes in on the rock while it's scorching.

Collateral Damage

Today it's Saturday and it's another day of heat and chilling in the woods at the boulders with Ally and Alex. I'm yet to formulate a plan if I'm visiting Paris etc, as it depends on friends and places to stay. I'm torn between going seeing new things or hanging about to rest and recover as more friends arrive in Chamonix soon. Hopefully I can juggle the two and make it around a few cities in 2-3 weeks then come back for a week or more of some Alpine climbs if my knee is up to it.

The possible line-up would be Paris for a few days at either my friend Alyce's or a hostel, then maybe Berlin on my own for a few more days, possibly over to Cologne to stay with my friend Tanja I met in NZ, then even to Amsterdam to catch up with my cousin. All that could result in some good picture opportunities.

Today Sam and Calum are off to climb a big route up in the Argentiere Basin - The NE Spur of Les Droites Direct, with a view to descend the other side toward the Mer de Glace and be back down on Monday evening. It has an alpine grade of ED1, and is considered to be one of the finest climbs in the Alps. Around 1000m of vertical rock and ice for them to bash at, with a bivvy somewhere and summiting at around 4000m.

Al and Alex have packed up camp and possibly relaxing again due to Alex possibly having a mild strain to his knee too, and an interview looming on Monday. For now here is the last few days in a nutshell, a few of the better photo's of the last few days will be up soon...


Weds:
Got a few jobs done and booked a physio appointment finally after toying around with insurance and getting in touch with various private physios. I was going to goto the state hospital but by many accounts they'd just charge me for a consultation and then recommend private.

Wasn't expecting Sam back but he arrived in the afternoon looking knackered, having climbed the Swiss Route on the Grand Capucin with Calum. Looked great, I think it took them about 4 hours to climb, then about the same time to abseil back off. Turn out Calum is Calum Muskett, a sponsored athlete by Rab, DMM and Boreal. Really nice lad, lots of experience and climbs to a very high standard, really is one to watch and could be the next big British climbing star having already been to El Capitan, Dolomites, Alps and climbed lots of super-hard stuff in Britain I could only dream of and has only just finished his A-levels.

I've got a couple of pic's from Calum so here's one to show the abseils on the Grand Cap. Hopefully in the coming weeks I can get back up to speed and be up there with my DSLR to get some great action shots with the guys.

Thurs:
Very hot. I finally got to see a physio in Les Houches, if anyone in Cham is ever having issues then checkout Physi. Kirsten is great, really really helpful and informative. It seems I've a little tear in my collateral ligament and possibly to the meniscus on my right knee. The verdict was to rest for a few weeks, stretch and strengthen. She also gave me an amazing massage to the leg to help loosen it up, felt painful but pleasurable!

Headed back to camp. Sam, Calum and I headed to Barborine near the Swiss border. Was expecting to get lots of photos but in the end the guys did 1 route and we just lazed around. Headed back later to find Ally and Alex set up near us on the campsite. Sounded like they had a scary time walking back down the Mer De Glace with lots of zig-zagging around cervasses and walking over ice-bridges that they could later hear collapsing behind them. I've never heard Ally used the word 'terrified' before. They managed to reach a hut that was full, so slept in a near-by cave. A relaxing night of beers and sillyness ensued at our camp.

Fri:
Very nice lazy day, lots of food and sun with the boys at camp. Sam's folks arrived too, nice to see them, they're treating us all to a real meal soon too! :) Got a few interesting pics that night in Argentiere when there was a quirky little french band playing...

Alpine Start

Here's another quick roundup...



Friday:-
The guys all decided to head up on a route that afternoon, so I was left with some chill time, made a nice meal and got an early night after a day of trying to rest my knee.


Saturday:-
Another quiet day, managed to read all of the first Discworld novel and get some sunburn. Was expecting the guys back at aroun 5, last I'd heard they'd gone up onto the Mer De Glace to bivi and do a big rock route the next day. Nine came and I was getting concerned, not long after just as I was going to bed Sam turned up. They actually changed their mind last minute and went to the hut I mentioned in a previous post to sleep. Then did a big rock route on the Plan and got back down. After the route, Sam carried all their stuff down on the lift while Al + Al walked down due to lack of a lift pass. They were supposed to meet Sam at the carpark, but somehow missed him and decided he must have got the bus, so went for a wash and a burger. Afterall, what else would he have done?...

Actually, Sam was in a seperate park of the carpark apparently. He saw Ally + Alex drive round the roundabout, and thought they'd be around any minute to get him. An hour goes by and he's getting concerned. More time goes by and the busses have finished. Sam somehow convinced a Spanish couple to get a Taxi with him to the campsite, and they paid for it!


Sunday:-
Spent the day with the guys just chilling out around camp and in town, knee felt much better. Got bored and went for a walk.... knee felt much worse!...



Monday:-
Another quiet start, it'd been raining all night and was still raining in the morning. Felt rather run down so headed to the supermarche to buy some real food. Got back to camp and tidied a bit, was getting pretty horrible just randomly finding food/clothes in strange places. A Lad I spoke to earlier in the week came over to ask if Sam fancied a climb up around the Grand Capusin area. He seems to climb pretty hard and be very experienced, recently soloed the Frendo Spur in 4 hours and he's only just left school. Sam should have fun keeping up with him! They all got their gear together, with Ally and Alex planning on heading up that night too for similar routes.

They all left, I decided to head into Argentiere again to look into Interrail tickets and a few other things, broken up nicely by a couple of hours back at camp and a pizza I bought. When I got back to camp after dark I was surprised to find Ally and Alex sat there, they'd managed to miss the last lift upso thought they'd come and entertain me.
With them getting the first lift at 6:30am I decided I'd go along for photo purposes and then to get a few things done in Chamonix afterwards. Ally took Sam's place in my tent and Alex managed to squeeze inside the porch, a bit sneaky but it saves them money. Shit nights sleep due to some Eastern European group near us at it all night on the guitar and folk songs.

Tuesday:-
Awoke at 5:00am wide awake (4am UK time), got scared shitless by turning round to find Alex glaring through the mesh at me. I thought he was still asleep, bastard. Got stuff together and headed to the Midi station. It's the quietest I've seen Cham since I've been here, until we got to the station.

Mornin!

Loads of alpinists, and a few tourists, we crammed in and headed up.

At the top the light and visibility was amazing, and no feeling sick due to the altitude either. Got some amazing photos, and then paid to get the Cablecar over to Italy and back.

More amazing shots on the ride, and it finally occured to me what an amazing place this is, I was so jealous of all the climbers marching down the ridge and heading out to routes, I tried to follow Ally and Alex with my longer lens but they were rather far away, and also managed to spot what I think was Sam's tent near the bottom of the Grand Capucin.

Possibly Sam's Trango 2 beneath the Grand Cap.

The Grand Capucin

 I was very apprehensive in the past about the dangers up ther, but after a good few hours taking it all in, there is no fear holding me back to get out there and give it all a go, only my injury!
Back at the station, I headed back down by 11am and enjoyed a French McDonalds, mainly to take advantage of the free wifi and power. So far it's been either one or the other...

I then decided to get a bit more money's worth out of my pass and headed up the Brevent/Planpraz lift. More great views and photos. Got back down and headed to the trainstation for a bit more info in Interrail. Headed back to camp and fell asleep for a few hours!

Just under 140 photos to process.... Might end up more like 100 really good shots, but it'll give me something to have a crack at the next few days. Most of them should be on Flickr/Facebook shortly. Expecting the guys back down on Thursday. I've hopefully got a physio appointment tomorrow, decided I'd rather just pay the €60 to a British physio here instead of mucking about with the French state hospital who by most accounts will probably refer me somewhere private anyway..
Other than that it's a couple more chilled days, suntan, reading, the kinda things most people do on holiday I suppose...
[Edit] - Processed the photos out of sheer boredom, check them out! Bed in a min, tired....

Week at the Knee

This afternoon (Friday) I've mostly been hanging about, writing this blog and sorting out photos. Oh, and eating weird runny French cheese, baguette and pain au chocolat. The guys have gone off to do a big route that requires a 2 or 3 hours glacial approch, an overnight Bivi and then a long day climbing tomorrow. Therefore it's a night chilling on my own, reading and contemplation. Here's a run down of the past few days...

Tuesday:-
Cloud. Had a reply from a physio, might be heading there later in the week. Still having knee pain. Went for a bit of a walk in the woods towards a glacier and def doesn't feel much better.
Found a place doing Helicopter rides, €200 for 30 minutes covering most of the Mont Blanc Massif. Worth it?

Weds:-
Woke to some sunshine, got stuff ready and dropped Sam off bouldering again. Got myself some strong Ibupofen tablets that seemed to help. I decided to make good use of the visibility and lift pass, so headed up the Le Tour lift to get a few shots, then back down and up the Grand Montets lift too, more good shots and a look at the Petit Verte route which looks quite easy and fun.

Arrived back down and decided to head to Chamonix to go up more lifts if possible to get my day's worth of money out of it. However when I got to the Midi station it was rammed, after a bit of diving around and not even finding a parking space I decided to give up and head back to the tent. I got back to find two familiar faces sat in our chairs in the sun. Ally and Alex had finally arrived, so we went and found Sam and had a relaxed afternoon at the boulders.

Thursday:-

A day of contrasts.

Started the day feeling great and rather optimistic. Had a great hot shower, the weather was amazing, less knee pain, and two more friends around. Ally and Alex arrived at our tent fairly early, we got a few bits together and then headed into Chamonix. They both decided to walk up to the Mer De Glace while me and Sam got the tourist-trap Montenvers railway up to the glacier. We got there fairly quickly despite the crowd, and had a walk round. Soon got very pissed off with tourists and the beginnings of knee pain.

When Ally and Alex arrived, we headed across the mountain side toward the mid-station of the Midi cablecar. The plan was to try and find an unattended/empty hut in the trees that could be a possibility of free accomodation, as suggested by a mate of Ally's. Then, those 3 would run down to Cham while I got the lift and we'd meet in town.
I was really enjoying the walk, it felt good to be actually out doing something after a few days of sitting around. The walk was mostly up hill or level, and I was only really getting knee pain when coming down hill. So naturally out of impatience or frustration at my downhill speed, I was hammering it uphill whenever possible.
We stumbled across a half fallen down hut in the trees, but on inspection it didn't appear to be the one Ally's mate had tipped him off about. We messed about there for a bit and then carried on.

Eventually we came to a fork in the path that led on to the lift station or up hill and looping back to the Mer de glace. Up hill we went to try and find this elusive hut. About half way up the snaking up hill path, something didn't feel right. So far walking up hill had been fine and almost fun, but suddenly I was getting very nasty knee pain again to the point where I had to stop and sit down, leaving the guys to carry on while I waited for them to come back in the opposite direction. So I waited just thinking I was being a bit wet, or tired or dehydrated, and tried to ignore this new development by amusing myself via the passing tourist show.
Japanese hikers in full waterproof hiking gear, gloves and sun hats with face veils. Half naked sweating overweight middle-aged italian or french men with family in tow, and the hordes of british walkers geared up to the eyeballs letting out a forced 'Bonjour' or 'Merci' to me when they passed. I've given up replying in French now and say Hello or Hi, or if they are obviously Brits, a very Mancunian 'Alright!'.

The guys returned, and we began back downhill towards the lift station, via the winding uphill path. This is where things got worse. I could barely walk on level ground, bending my knee by just 45 degree seemed to hurt. I was actually enjoying stopping to let the lines of walkers pass by in the opposite direction so I could rest my knee, something I would normally have avoided when possible!

Due to my pace, the guys left me far behind and waited further up the path. When I caught up I decided to walk back to the glacier instead of on to the lift station, as it was the choice between an hour back or anhousr and 20 mins onward. We parted ways and I then had a rather long, slow, painful and embarassing walk back alone, only to be passed by hikers looking surprised at the sight of a climber type limping along a walkers footpath. My reward when I made it? A train full of screaming kids and sweaty tourists.

Back down in Cham, I met the guys for a much needed monster burger at Midnight Express. Unfortunatley this time, the girl serving was a complete arsehole, and despite us being very clear muck up the order and insisted it was our fault. After this, we headed to the mountain guide's office and had a look around. /by now feeling a bit happier and amused at our antics, and escpecially by the sight of Sam almost vomiting in a public space due to a rotten apple in the box he bought.

Later that evening, I managed to get online to find my Dad has been in touch with the BMC on my behalf about my travel insurance and my current situation. They have recommended a hospital in Cham. to visit, and I've yet to clarify all the details and find out what happens next, but there's also a new worry. Unfortunatley, I don't have a European Health Insurance card. Something until now, I'd not really heard of, but was annoyingly assured by Sam 'everyone had'. Maybe this is my own ignorance, bad preperation or just down to lack of european experience, but I was now feeling even more at a loss than earlier in the day.

As for the significance of this, I'm yet to find out, it might be nothing or it might make things expensive.  So now, I'm having serious doubts about whether I should stay in Chamonix, or head home, or do something else if fund allow it. I have 7 seperate days remaining on my lift pass to use as yet, but if I'm going to struggle climbing even easier grades or even hike then there might not be much else to do. It's been a week since I tweaked my knee and now it seems worse than before.

I'm trying to remain optimistic, I can't get angry about things not going to plan, as there wasn't really a plan in the first place, but could this be making things worse? For now, that's a big enough update, it's gone from a quick one into a short story, so enjoy the recent new photos and I'll have some more news on my misfortunes when it comes!

Rainy Monday

Monday:-

Knee still not much different, nor the weather. Spent a lot of the day just chilling out, went to the supermarket and indulged in some cheap pasta, pesto and meat to break up the days of noodles and beans. Sam got bored and despite the rain went off to do some bouldering.

I stayed at camp and read all of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas again, tried some light stretches and exercise on my knee. Decided to wait and see if pain continues tomorrow and if so look at my insurance documents and the possiblility of seeing a Frenchie Dr. No doubt if I do I'll be told to rest my leg, very annoying I've sacrificed a lot to come here and I've possibly ruined it in the first week on a fairly easy route. Rather embarrassing. Maybe I'll ignore the pain and atleast do the Cosmiques or Petit Verte, but worst case scenario I might have to head home early. The pain seems worst when I'm walking down hill, when I'm about mid step, and feels like it's on the exterior right side of my right knee and almost like it's coming from the inside. No swelling or bruises, leading me to assume it could be something quite bad like a tendon tear or ligament injury. It feels very weak, like a sprained ankle or a over-bent finger might do..

Undecided what to do at this stage, I don't know what'd be worse, being here unable to climb but having a laugh with my mates. Or being at home job hunting, but atleast not be wasting money and working toward maybe another longer trip....or is it really being wasted? Hopefully the next few days will help me decide. It almost feels like I'm being lazy or making excuses, if anything I'm just getting very bored of sitting around. I want to be up on mountains, even if I'm not climbing, at least walking and taking photos, but I feel that might even be detrimental at the moment.

It feels hard to beleive just over a week ago I was still in my retail job and now I'm sat in a campsite near the Swiss/Italian/French border. If anything, other than wanting to climb and get photos, this has opened my eyes to how much more I really do want to travel and write. I feel almost burdened by the fact I have brought lots of gear to climb, previously before I got into climbing I'd have taken as little as possible. If that were the case now, maybe I could jump on a train to a few places in Europe, or maybe I wouldn't even be here and I'd already be in Asia/Canada/South America/who knows...

I'm still trying to get my head around this town and the lifestyle. This place is obviously very beautiful, and although the landscape is similar to places I've visited such as New Zealand's Southern Alps, there's almost a hint of fakeness about it. Don't misunderstand me, I know full well this place is awe-inspiring and there is nothing fake about the dangers and the power of this environment; but it feels almost down-played or diluted. To see notices about preserving the beautiful surroundings, followed 2 minutes later by being whisked up a cable car to places mountaineers 100 or so years ago would have risked their lives to reach and are now swarmed with tourist's ice cream eating children seems very odd indeed. This is an impressive feat, but is it the right message? So far I've witnessed litter, human waste and everything from metal bolts to gigantic metal machines bonded to the living mountain. I don't know whether to feel thankful the access has allowed me to see such places, or concerned that it will lead to their downfall. So goes everything in our current time, we preach about making a change to our ways and conserving while the majority remain blind to this and carry on. Turn the heating up, and put the kettle on, it will be OK, and I'm guilty like all the rest.

To be honest, I don't know what point I'm trying to make. While writing this I'm sat alone in the common room of the campsite listening to conversations and activity in languages I will never understand. I'm half writing out of boredom, and half out of the process of clearing things that have been whirling around my head the last few days.

Perhaps it's the heavy couple of hours from reading Hunter S. Thompson's better known work that have sent me into this writing mood, and perhaps it because I admire men like him that made me go on this trip for better or worse, even if I end up with a crippled knee and a financial knightmare, wouldn't this be better than plodding along in the rat race until what?

Weekend Update

Another quick one, this time I'm sat in a stairwell out of the rain. Not too down about the weather being crap on account of my knee being crapper. It's supposed to be nice later in the week though, and by then Alex and Ally should be here.

Saturday:-

Still suffering with knee pain. Bought a strapping from the pharmacy to see if it would help, not a huge difference so far. Despite this, we went and checked out a local crag near Vallorcine. Bolts everywhere as well as French climbers of varying ability. Following some of the routes proved difficult, bolts randomly placed inbetween routes seemingly for no reason. It turned into a bit of a free for all, people crossing over routes and clipping the wrong bolts or belays. Despite it being a walk-off crag, people were abseiling all over the place on top of each other, a complete mess. I saw one guy throw down ropes twice to hit the same person on the head both times. We made it 2 or 3 pitches into a couple of dead ends and decided to call it a day due to frustration. I really nice crag ruined by bolts. I can understand bolting high mountain or difficult sport climbs, but for an easy difficulty roadside crag with decent looking rock it's a bit overkill in my opinion.

After this, we went to check out some of the local bouldering. Another person had decided to take a dump right by the path. Why?. We were joined by a quiet Frenchman who walked up and said bonjour, urinated near us, and began bouldering. I'm guessing he was a local by how he cruised most of the climbs like he'd been there many times before. He also seemed to have a flatulence problem that he didn't notice or didn't acknowledge. It's strange seeing someone fart their way up a climb.

Fart.

Later that night a dinner of baked beans, noodles and protein powder in aspiration to climb with the power of our French friend. Then another 12 hours of rain.


Sunday:-

Woke to continued rain. We had planned to head back up to the Aiguille Rouges to have a go on some routes on the East face of L'Index. It seemed a bit too damp, and still having knee pain, so Sam went for a run up there while I stayed and sorted some notes and photos. Getting a bit dissappointed about my knee playing up but there's not much I can do. By this point I wanted to be up doing some things on the glaciers,and practicing rescue skills as well as getting used to the altitude. Also feeling a bit bad for holding Sam back in a way, as he seems unable to sit still for long.

I headed into Argentiere for the Sunday market and got a few good shots, and spotted a few graves near the church of climbers killed on the mountains above.

Later, we headed to Chamonix in the pouring rain. Loads of tourists, loads of cool gear shops, and loads of amazing little deli's with local cheeses and dried meats! :) Treated ourselves to an epic burger each from a place called 'Midnight Express'. Extremely messy and tasty. The fries were served in the bun of the burger, along with the meat, salad, cheese and sauces. All washed down with a can of Amstel. Satisfaction.

Managed to get a few more shots last night when the sun popped out for an hour. This one is my favourite.

Week 1

I'm currently sat on the pavement in Argentiere, like some kind of high-tech vagabond, as it's a sunny day and the Tourist Office provides free wireless internet. Here's a quick run down of the past week so far.... (Photos to follow and will be on Flickr and Facebook)...

Monday:-

After a rather sleepless night I repacked 3 or 4 times and left the house at around 10:30, after another hour or so of trying to cram everything in the car we set off for Dover...

Fairly smooth drive to Dover aided by listening to old podcasts of Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant and Karl Pilkington...

Wasn't too impressed with Dover, bit of a grotty town... The ferry was rather boring to say the least, which resulted in a game of 'Bogies' and many confused Europeans.

We drove into the night, getting more and more tired to the point of almost running a red light with a police car behind us. On the way, and while trying to find somewhere to sleep, we came across a humbling sight which kind of put my worries into perspective.

Eventually we stopped at the side of the road and I managed to get 3 or 4 hours sleep by the side of the car. Sam couldn't get to sleep....

Tuesday:-

We started driving at around 6:30 and drove for most of the day, down through Dijon and on toward Geneva. This took quite a while due to tiredness and trying to navigate away from the toll roads, not helped by the crappy French road signs.

After a few short stops +  a power nap, we swapped driving turns a few times and eventually hit Geneva while Sam was driving. A very nice city but I was unable to appreciate it at the time, however the motorcyclists there are suicidal...

We finally made it through Chamonix and to Argentiere at around 21:00 and set up camp, ate and collapsed.

Weds:-

Fairly quiet day, chilled out, ate, went for a wander around Arg. and was very impressed with the French supermarkets :)

Thurs:-

First route of the trip, we headed out at around 8 to La Paz and I bought a 10 day non-consecutive lift pass. WE then got the cable car and a ski lift up to L'Index on the Aguille Rouges, and walked up to do the Aiguille Crochues Traverse - 9317ft/2840m above the valley floor.

A great route, a long ridge scramble above exposed ground. Noticed the altitude a tiny bit on the plod up, and were greeted at the start of the climb by a big poo someone had left. Thanks.

Met a few other brits on the climb and the clouds eventually cleared. then had dodgy descent down a loose gully and lots of nasty scree. Enjoyed this at first but my right knee started getting achier and achier...

We made it to the lift back down for around 16:00 and then jumped on the lift to the top of the Aguille Du Midi before the last return.

A very impressive place to be standing. 3842m/12604ft. It was really strange being so high up on one side of the valley earlier in the day and seeing this remote high place in the distance, and then in the same day being on top of it looking down on the route we did that morning.

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Lots of tourists and climbers up there, and got my first glimpse of the snow ridge which looks very intimidating. Also got my first big taste of the affect on oxygen up there, combined with tiredness of the day I felt pretty ill.

Friday (today):-

Woke up to continued knee pain so I've had a day of doing nothing much. Finally got round to sorting out some of the recent photos, tidied around camp and then now I'm sat here typing this.. I'm a bit concerned about the knee pain, which I think is connected to the on going problems I've had with my right leg for almost a year now since a bad sprain when I had a short fall climbing. Trying not to let it worry me too much, as climbing and hiking aren't the only things to do her nor the only reasons for this trip. It's be really easy to beat myself up about it, and I'm trying not to feel too pressured to get up on climbs and routes with Sam or the other guys when the arrive, so we'll see how things go.

That's all for now, ended up typing a lot more than I intended and my battery is about to go. It's a shame, it's quite nice sat here on street in the sun :)