In our tired state last night, we had made an unrealistic plan, which only came clear once we'd walked out of the cable car station at Plan Praz. We needed a new objective, so chose to climb the only route left in the area that I'd not done yet. It was frustrating, but sitting at the base of the route, munching fresh pastries, I reminded myself that it was still a pretty good place to be. To allow other teams to get ahead, we lazed around for an hour and a half before setting off.
It was a different style of climbing again, with a lot of rounded holds and balance moves. It was good that we let the other teams go ahead, as we caught them up on the final pitches.
The route ends on top of a spire that we abseiled down from before hiking back to the station.
I just had time for a shower when we got the call that Andy was close by. While we'd been climbing over the weekend, he'd been cycling around the Tour du Mt Blanc! Having only set off on Saturday morning (and having arrived late on Friday night), it was astonishing to think that he'd cycled some 350km with nearly 8000m of height gain. He was greeted with our full respect and big hugs!
Although we'd not been riding, we felt like we'd been part of the challenge as we'd been monitoring updates and progress.
After hours in the saddle, he limped over to the terrace and got comfy. With food, liquids and looking up at the summit of Mt Blanc, Andy gave us the full story of his solo adventure.
All he'd eaten that day were energy gels - We made sure that the been and champagne intake was matched with cold water!
Then after a well deserved hot shower, we crossed the road for more food and drink, before heading to bed. A taxi arrived at 03:30am so that Andy could fly back to London and be at his desk for 9am on Monday morning! Great style!
Brevent - Plan Praz:
- Label Virginie D+ 5c**
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