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.