So, somewhat out of the blue, at 06:30 this morning, I found myself heading up to the Aiguille du Midi on the first climbers lift. The whole thing was completely surreal. Our apartment is a stones throw from the cable car station, so I literally had to roll out of bed, pull on some clothes, cross the road to where Alex was waiting for me and we were off. Less than half an hour later and with no physical effort on my part, I had my crampons on and we were crunching fresh steps in the snow as we descended onto the glacier.
I'll be the first to admit, that it's not exactly a text book way of letting your body acclimatise to high altitude, but at least we had a sensible objective that wouldn't take all day. As we walked roped up, towards the Eperon Cliffs in the morning light, all I could do was gaze around at our surroundings. I'd basically spent the last two days in shorts and t-shirts, driving through the UK and France, now here I was back in winter gear with an ice axe in my hand!
Alex's chosen route was up this cliff (The Eperon of the Aiguille du Midi). It looked amazing and the 'Golden Granite' that Chamonix is famous for, glowed in the morning light. To avoid any rock fall, we tucked in close to the base to where our route started on the right hand side. The starting pitch should have been easy, but it took a little while to find the best passage across to the first belay. We only had a meagre rack consisting of four nuts and cams, as we had assumed the route was bolted - it wasn't! The odd peg and piton helped us along the way and our limited kit ensured that each piece of gear was carefully placed and not wasted.
Once we were defiantly on the correct line, we could start to relax a bit and enjoy the climbing. I led up to a comfy stance below some alarmingly steep looking overhangs. Hanging back from a the security of a bolted belay I could gaze around at the tremendous vista around us while Alex came up to join me.
So far, we were both comping well to the demands of climbing at altitude (we were at about 3800m, having basically arrived from sea level). All that was about to change as Alex aid climbed up the next pitch. The guidebook advised of a 'few tricky moves', where one could pull on gear due to the lack of useful handholds. Sounded fine when we read it in the guidebook, but it was a different story, performing one arm lock offs at 3800m wearing a rucsack, as we hauled our way upwards. I was very grateful that Alex was up in front at this point and was impressed with his efforts!
The following pitch turned out to be a real beauty. After a bit of panting to recover from the sudden exertions, I steadied myself ready to climb a long corner crack. It was the exact kind if climbing I'd come to Chamonix for. Wildly exposed, solid granite, with plenty of cracks for gear (as long as you've got some!). I actually felt quite good on the climb and enjoyed the focus of only having a few cams to place. The rock was first class although my energy levels seemed to be waning as I puzzled out the final chimney section.
I was delighted to find another bolt at a comfy ledge and once attached, took off my rucksack and gulped down some water before calling 'safe'. My mouth was bone dry and hands red from hand jamming in the crack. I was elated, but while Alex followed, the adrenaline began to wear off and the light-headiness of the lack of oxygen began to take effect. I was glad when he arrived, as it would have been poor form to pass out while belaying! We both took a few minutes to recover, before Alex led on to the summit of the ridge.
We had initially toyed with the idea of continuing along the famous Cosmiques Arete, but given the amount of people already queuing along it, we decided otherwise and descended the ridge to the refuge instead.
More water and a slice of pizza boosted morale no end as we rejoined the glacier for a very slow pod back up to the cable car station.
The last few steps along the ridge and into the ice tunnel that led to safety involved mustering an inordinate amount of energy!
Once inside, amid the throng of tourist photographers, we made our way to the cafe and I slumped into a chair while Alex battled the queue to procure the world's most expensive cups of coffee! Out of the window, I could see the apartment down in the valley! Amazing.
We decided that we might as well stay high for a bit to aid further acclimatisation, so enjoyed some chat with a view. We also went up to the higher viewing gallery, but just at the same time as the clouds rolled in and it began snowing!
Clare, who meanwhile had been busy working, met us off the cable car. After a good feed, we walked into the town, where it turns out, the International Climbing Competition Final is taking place. After the opening ceremony, we watched a bit of live music, until my eyes started involuntarily closed.
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