Departure

Finally I've sat down to give this post an attempted writing. I've been back home now for 2 whole days, and the question begs what next? This may be the last blog post for some time, as I need to look for a job and figure out my next moves. I', hoping to maybe get to a point where I can sell and exhibit some prints of my recent work, as well as join a band in some form. Anyway, this might be a long post....

Firstly, Paris was great, and really reignited my sense of discovery. I was dreading the city in some ways after being in Chamonix for so long, but I loved it. I'm not a person who loves either city or country, I like the discovery either way and both have their wonders.

My highlights of Paris weren't anything as arbitrary as the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triomphe or even the Louvre, impressive as they were... I found the wandering about alone wonderful, exploring small streets and people watching. I could go on for paragraphs on all the little interesting things I noticed or saw, but instead for now here are a few of my favourite shots..

More can be found on my Facebook page, and soon hopefully a portfolio website.

After a nice time in Paris (Thanks again for letting me stay Alyce!), I headed first to Fontainebleau to meet Sam, then straight back up north in the car to Dunkirk to spend the next day there and catch the ferry the day after.

Perhaps not the most visually stunning or charming of the towns I've walked in France, Dunkirk still interested me in a lot of ways. Watching the obvious travellers, immigrants and businessmen going both ways makes your mind wander. On top of that, the history of the Battle of Dunkirk is impossible to avoid and must be thought on. We visited the small museum at the former French HQ of 1939. As I found in the Army Museum in Paris, the artefacts and sometimes everyday items still have a profound effect. Seeing things from cannons, guns, knives and weapons to soldiers personal rations, razors and clothing in the flesh from the seemingly distant past really make you consider what these men and by extension their families and countries went through. 

After the museum a quick visit to some of the old Atlantic Wall bunkers yielded some interesting shots. I felt strange both staring out at the now decaying fortifications and looking out at them to the sea. It may sound contrived but it was a very clear visual contrast between the world of men and the natural world. A decaying bunker made for only hateful purposes now vandalised itself, and the timeless scene of the sea and shore carrying on as always, as if the bunkers might as well never have been there... On the way back to camp the night I was struck by the strange assortment of different buildings and no seemingly real pattern to them, and knowing why this is again makes you imagine how the city looked in 1940.

The following day we headed back on the Ferry to Dover. I found my self almost enraged to see a gang of Dutch skinheads on the ferry sporting swastikas.

The drive home was long thanks to accidents near Dover, roadworks, and of course the M6. The past 2 days I've done a lot of nothing, and only now via this post as a kind of catharsis am I reflecting on the past 7 weeks and what they might mean. I don't have an answer. It seems clear I don't want to settle back to old patterns, I want to carry on doing 'my own thing' and being creative when I can - but money will be needed sooner rather than later, if anyone can suggest ideas drop me a message! Perhaps I should reject the Northern mindset that has been absorbed from a life of growing up in Manchester and try and become more Bohemian like some of the Parisians I met!

je ne sais quoi

It's been another hectic week with days blurring and losing track of what I did when. Enough to say that I'm now 26 am writing this from Paris. More on how I got to this point later.

Last week on the 6th, me and Sam decided to have a packed day did the normal route on the Petit Verte in the morning. Very quick and easy due to it being right near the lift station, and lots of overtaking beginners. Later that day we headed up to the Aiguille Rouges to do another rock route having done the South Arete on the Index earlier in the week. We jumped onto a 'fully equipped' route, good fun!

The following day we went for some sport climbing at Lac Gaillands in Chamonix, the most accessible and busy crag there. Ok climbing but had a twinge in the knee, and the next route was once again not as 'fully equipped' as the books led us to believe. Also, be wary of locals pointing you onto a route. Twice now we've had seemingly friendly or helpful Frenchmen sandbag us onto a harder or incorrect route so we are not in their way, mirrored by a similar story from Stuey up on an alpine route....

The 8th marked my 26th Birthday, and not one for big celebrations or early starts, we missed the possibility of climbing the Rebuffat route on the south face of the Midi which was probably for the best due to weather. So headed to do a long 400m route on the Rouges again. Good climbing, some nasty loose bits, but a fun day out none the less. After getting down to Cham and having a fantastic curry at Tigre Tigre near the train station (Great Bhuna, and the owner sounded like a Manc!) - Sam and I decided a change of scenery was finally needed and headed to meet the rest of the gang to say goodbye. We'll see most of them again soon except for Ally and Alex who I will sorely miss and sincerely hope look after themselves and don't become statistics. I highly doubt that as they are both extremely competent despite obvious cranial abnormalities and strange behaviour.

That night we set off to Fontainebleau and ended up camping not far from Lyon due to tiredness and roadworks on the motorway. We hit Font the next afternoon, a nice town, and by chance bumped into 2 guys we camped near on the Argentiere camp-site. Saturday I jumped on the train to Paris to meet up with another photographer contact Alice, and may be spending the next 2-3 days here with plans to return to Manchester on Friday, with maybe a day or so of bouldering at Font in between.

First impressions on Paris, aside from the tourists, a very nice city and puts my home town to shame in many ways. I love Manchester and all it's rough northern industrial charm, but I'm afraid it's not a case of sophistication but more logistics. The public transport here is brilliant and very efficient. The metro is quite cheap, as well as all the buses and bus stops having detailed maps of the bus, metro and train routes. There's also lots of bike lanes and bike rental spots all over.

I got a few cliché shots as well as some interesting street art that mirrors things I've shot in Manchester's Northern Quarter. Hoping to possibly get some more this week, with maybe the Catacombs and the grave of the late great Jim Morrison on the list.

That's enough for now, as its 1:45am here on 11th September and I'm feeling the hours stacked over my head. Unfathomable that it's nigh on 10 years since I was a gawping 16 year old dumbstruck by the horror of 9/11 on the tv screen; yet just as mind-boggling how life works out and here I am in a empty flat in Paris at almost 2am, after recently mountaineering in the alps and quitting my job. If you'd have told me that's where I'd be back in 2001 I would never have believed it.

Splash

It's been a long week, and I'm struggling to put down what days I did what... Infact, I can't be bothered even trying to figure it out, but today I finally got another climb in after a few days of aching after the last big climb. A link up of 2 routes on the Aiguille Rouges, the second being the classic SE Arete of the Index. Excellent climbing, easy difficulty and a fair amount of bolts, some spaces in between that we just ran out as it was mainly easy ground. Overtook lots of beginners who were very polite for a change, a kiwi chap we passed seemed to find our relaxed attitude quite funny compared to the stressed French. I'm not sure why some groups were taking so long on belays, as clipping bolts is pretty straight forward! Got down to Cham for a Midnight Express before the weather came in. Forecast for the next few days is a bit grim. I've spent a fair bit of time chilling at the group's apartment when possible this week - it's been nice sitting on a sofa, eating from a plate and drinking tea from a real cup.

In other news, Ant and his mate Cropper headed up to the Midi to climb a Rebuffat route on the south face of the Aiguille du Midi. After a bit of faff and going off route, combined with maybe carrying too much gear, they managed to miss the last lift down by 10 minutes. That night they had to sleep in the toilets of the Midi station along with 8 other unlucky alpinists during a massive thunderstorm, on cardboard and bubble wrap. Fun!

Also this week, Sam, Phil Booth, and Stuie managed the 3 monts route of Mont Blanc. That being Mont Blanc du Tacul, Mont Maudit and Mont Blanc Summit in sequence. From their description, it was a bastard of a slog with lots of punters and guides dragging clients. One woman went mad at Sam when he accidently kicked her with his crampons, but to be fair it's her own fault for trying to shove past when Sam was about to abseil. Ally and Alex got a few big routes in including the Gervasutti Pillar & the north face of the Tour Ronde, epic!

Spent a while having a chat to Phil Booth this week. Phil is a Freelance Photographer and is a few steps ahead of me in the Photography career, exchanged lots of great tips and ideas and we'll hopefully be working on some climbing shots in the future. He also shoots with Canon, and is soon to purchase a 5d, nice! Have a look at his website! - www.philboothphotography.co.uk - He's also suggested www.photobox.co.uk and www.moo.com for making my own prints and business cards, so keep watching this space when I'm back in England.

Other than that, I'm tired and struggling to remember other events this week. There's a few new shots up soon on Facebook of the lads launching each other about in the swimming pool, and a few ok shots I got of the Petit Verte..

I'm 90% decided to go to Paris on Monday via a carshare I've found (www.blablacar.com), and I luckily found €40 today in a wallet on the pavement! Finders Keepers :) Possibly spend 4 or 5 days in Paris depending on cost and transport back, then hopefully for the last week I can possibly get a few more rock and alpine routes in!

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....