Back to Basics

Vanessa and Steve had completed a considerable amount of mountaineering both on skis and on foot. Nevertheless they felt had been left with a feeling that all the Guides who had taken them on their trips had provided them with great experiences but had taught them very little. They were very keen to go back to basics and learn the fundamental skills that underpin all mountaineering. We spent two days together: The first was on the Mer de Glace learning everything there is to know about crampons and ice axes plus belaying on ice.
My brief for the second day was to teach them the skills of safe crevasse rescue. We went to the top of the Grands Montets, found a suitable crevasse and the Steve and Vanessa took turns to jump into it while the other fished them out. They proved to each other it was possible to extract someone from a crevasse entirely on their own but it was not something they ever wanted to do for real.