Marylebone Mountaineering Club Library and Information

An Alpine Training Course by Andrew Eastwood I arrived in Chamonix France, after a short hop over from London. We were met at the airport by the Icicle rep who took us on a short tour of the town once we had been shown our rooms for the week. On Saturday we walked around town to hire some boots and get some last minute stuff. On the trip with me were Neil and Lee, two teachers from Sheffield, and Chris a soldier from London. On the Sunday morning we were up early and headed up to the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice) glacier. We used the old cog railway train to get up there, and spent the day on the glacier learning how to use crampons, ice axes, and other techniques that would be useful later on. By the end of the day we were getting quite good at all the above. We did a little bit of ice climbing in a crevasse but it was only about 15 metres high. It was quite different to rock climbing, as on the ice, you just bang in the axe or crampon to make your own holds. We got to a maximum altitude of about 2100 metres, and then had a camp out under the stars at about 1600 metres. On Monday morning we travelled by cable car to Grands Montets at 3295 m and then proceeded to do a mixed route of snow, ice, and rock to Petite Aiguille Verte, a small pinnacle at 3512 m. This was quite interesting with lots of exposure and steep drops. After lunch in the sun, where we all stripped down to t-shirts and shorts, we headed down the side of the mountain to the Argentiere glacier. I provided the afternoons interesting moment when the roof of a crevasse collapsed and I fell through it. I was on the rope between the guide Pierre and Neil, but still managed to fall about 2 metres. I was dangling in free air, as the crevasse was about 40 meters deep and 2 or 3 metres wide. I couldn't get any purchase on the sides as the ice was too soft, so I had to wait for them to pull me out. Luckily with the help of the other 3 guys it didn't take to long. It was very beautiful in the crevasse, it was a greeny bluey colour, very quiet except for the sounds of running water far below me, and the collapsing of ice up and down the crevasse. It was also rather cold, but I didn't really notice that because the adrenaline was keeping me warm. According to Allain and Pierre the 2 guides, the have only had that happen to them twice, and have never seen anyone else fall in so I was the "lucky" one. We stayed that night in the Argentiere refuge which is at about 2771m. The dinner they served was excellent, considering everything has to be airlifted into the huts. We had soup, roast lamb and veges, and sponge cake. We didn't have any beers because the altitude meant that they would have gone straight to our heads. After dinner it was straight to bed, as we had our first alpine start the next morning. On Tuesday we were up at 2am, and after a breakfast of stale bread, honey and a bucket of hot chocolate, we were on our way at 3am. On the side of the glacier at this time of the morning, it was surprisingly warm, and we only needed light clothing, but once we were back on the Argentiere glacier, you could certainly notice the temp drop and we needed an extra jacket. The glaciers and mountains were so beautiful at night, as the stars and moon all reflected off them, and if you turned the torches of you could see quite well. We needed the torches on though as walking with crampons was quite difficult if you didn't get the feet placements right. At about 4 am we started climbing the Glacier du Chardonnet, which turned out to be very difficult, as it was very steep hard ice, with lots of frozen pebbles which acted like ball bearings under the crampons. There were also a few crevasses to be crossed, and it was still rather cold. It did provide us with a great sunrise though, as the reflection of the sun on the peaks behind us warmed us up quite quickly. Allain and Pierre were also determined to get us up the glacier as quick as possible, so we were quite exhausted when we got to the Col du Chardonnet at 3323m. It was weird to be hunger flat, at 8am, but we were. We had a 60 metre abseil down the col before an almost vertical climb up the Fenetre du Tour at 3490m. We crossed the glacier du tour which was like a huge white beach, as it was so smooth and stretched as far as the eye could see. By now we were well and truly in the sun, and were walking in lightweight pants and t-shirts. It took us almost 2 hours to cross the glacier and descend to the Albert Premier hut at 2702m. During the walk across the glacier, we could see across to Switzerland, and Italy was basically at the end of the glacier. We stopped at the hut where we had a mid morning lunch. We still had another hours hike down to the chairlift to complete a very tiring day. We were back in Chamonix about 4pm for a well earned shower, a short sleep and then dinner. Before dinner we practiced some crevasse rescue techniques, which we thought was funny as we had already done the real thing. Dinner that night was raclette and fondue, which was nice, but not what I consider to be a real meal, as it was basically melted cheese and potatoes. On Wednesday we had a sleep in then proceeded up the Aiguille du Midi cable car to 3842m. Here we really noticed the altitude for the first time, with it taking a massive effort to even walk up stairs. It was snowing at the top, and continued snowing all night. We had a short walk over to the Cosmique refuge at 3613m. We got here about 2pm, and tried to sleep in the afternoon, but breathing was difficult, let alone sleep. It was a weird feeling that I had just caught a cable car to the highest altitude I had been to, as Mt Fuji in Japan is 3776m and Mt Kosciusko (Australia) is only about 2200m. I also did my skydive from 4000m. Dinner was another nice meal, but the 4 of us all had head aches from the altitude so didn't feel like eating too much. Strangely though, we all took some aspirin, drank heaps of water, and felt fine. We slept quite well until 1230. Thursday we had our second alpine start, this one being a bit earlier, at 1230, as we were going to climb Mt Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe at 4807m. After some more stale bread, and another bucket of hot chocolate we were on our way just after 1am. We climbed very steadily for the next 6 hours, to the Col Maudit at 4465m. By this time the wind had picked up and was bitingly cold. The town of Chamonix was far below us and looked very beautiful just twinkling away. The lights made it look like the town was burning. As the sun came up behind us, again the scenery was fantastic, as the sky lightened, allowing us to see the huge seracs, and columns of ice around us. Just below the summit of the Col Maudit we were forced to turn around due to the weather. The 4 of us were really pissed off about this, as we got the impression the guides had made their minds up hours before this that we weren't going to make it, but they made us continue to this point anyway. The weather beating us we could accept, but they knew we only had a small window of opportunity, to reach the top, so we could have left earlier, or travelled faster, but we didn't do either and so had to come back down. The walk back down was difficult, and very depressing as by now the sun was up, and we could see how far we had come, and how close we had got. As a consolation we went up Mt Blanc du Tacul, at 4248m, but none of us were in the mood for celebrating this, as we were still angry at having to turn back. Looking back it wasn't a bad achievement but we didn't notice it at the time. We finally dragged our sore sorry carcasses back to the chairlift we had come up the day before at about midday. We were well and truly physically and mentally exhausted, and bored out of our heads, because by now we had given up looking at the scenery and taking in the view, which turned the walk in a very long hard snow plod. Back in Chamonix, Chris and I had a family size pizza each for lunch, and had a sleep. We had agreed to meet Neil and lee at 7pm for dinner. Not thinking we would need it, I set the alarm clock anyway, thinking that we would have a quick afternoon snooze. 5 hours later we both were still fast asleep when the alarm went off. We met the others, had a nice Indian dinner, and were back in bed about 930, and still slept like logs. On Friday we were looking for an easier day, and Neil and Chris, were even happy to do nothing. In the end we went to the other side of the valley and did a 6 hour hike that included some rock climbing and a traverse of the Aiguille les Crochues at 2888m to end up at Lac Blanc at 2352m. This was very beautiful, and we were all pleased to have gone, as we were on shear cliffs overlooking all the peaks and glaciers we had walked across the last week. It put it into perspective how far we had travelled each day and how much we had climbed. We had a beer at a small mountain hut next to Lac Blanc, before catching the cable car back down. We packed in the afternoon, and then went out for Mexican and a few beers to celebrate our week. Despite not reaching Mt Blanc, we had learnt a lot, had a very demanding week, and seen some fantastic mountain scenery. Apart from one bad morning, the weather had been perfect, and most of the time even up high, we were able to get around in light tops and pants. I got back to London, and of course it was raining. I was home at 1230, and needed another sleep in the afternoon, even though it was an easy day. I did enjoy my week, and learn a lot, but am not sure if I'd do the alpine mountaineering again. I'd definitely go ice climbing again, but the jury's still out on the mountaineering. Andrew Eastwood August 2002