The brief was to find somewhere high and spectacular where someone who had no previous alpine mountaineering experience could spend a week in an incredible environment. This was a challenge I accepted with Bob & Annie Taylor.
Saturday 5th August. We met at the sports shop , Stamos Sports in Argentiere where Bob and Annie were kitted out with alpine climbing boots, crampons etc. We then headed up Les Grands Montets cable car for an initiation day. Annie had never worn crampons and the whole climbing thing was new to her. Meanwhile Bob was coming back to alpine climbing after a 30 year break. He was shocked that his new boots weighed virtually nothing while his boots of 30 years ago were more like deep sea diving boots. A lot of kit has changed in the last 30 years. We spent the morning learning the fundamentals of proper safe crampon technique. In the afternoon descended onto the glacier des Rognans. In the last 30 years it is not only the equipment has changed but the flip side is that so have the glaciers . It is utterly shocking to see the devastation reaked by global warming. What should have been a simple walk down a steepish snow slope turned into a baptism by fire of negotiating very intimidating open crevasses. What is the start of the ski piste in winter had become a very serious descent in the summer:
The three of us headed down the "ski piste" before steeping over some eye wateringly huge crevasses. Next we turned left and climbed up the aiguille de Grands Montets eventually following the rocky ridge to the top.
Sunday 6th August. We drove through the Mt Blanc tunnel down past Aosta then took the turning to Gressoney. We dumped the car at the road head at Staffel ,jumped on the cable car which conveniently put us at just over 3000 meters. We then walked and scambled to the Refugio Mantova for our first night at a very respectable 3500m. The sunset and view of Mt Blanc some 70 km was impressive:
Monday 7th August.
We left the Mantova at about 7.30 am , threaded our way through the the glacial rocks and then headed up the glacier negotiating some very photogenic crevasses.
We made very good progress and were very happy to pass the magic 4000 meter mark. We continued on and reached the summit of Vincent Piramid 4200meters.
We walked back down to the Gnifeti Hut slightly higher than the previous night. We sat on the terrace and Annie had the inspired idea of opening a bottle of Prosecco.
It was all very fine , my only issue was it was just too hot.
Tuesday 8th.
Being too hot was not the issue the next day.
The weather was not good for much as it snowed all day, Yet for us it gave us valuable further acclimatization which was going to be all important for aim of staying in the Margherita Hut.
Wednesday 9th. The day started bright. The over night snow made everything look beautiful. We were careful not to be away too early so that other teams could break trail. Although we couldn't really afford to relaxed because the forecast was for storms in the afternoon. We enjoyed a wonderful ascent to the Margherita Hut at 4554meters , the highest building in Western Europe.
We arrived at the Margherita at about 11.30am. Just before the weather turned bad . It started to snow and then the hut was hit by lightening knocking out the power for a while. Lightening strikes on the hut are a big deal. Recently according to the Hut Guardian someone had been fatally hit by lightening while taking a photo out of the window during a lightening storm. Although not fatal someone had also been hit by lightening which came through the air vent in the squatter toilet.
Thursday 10th August.
The last time I awoke in the Margerherita hut had been the Friday 24th June. The morning the Old , the Poor and the Stupid killed off the next generations future by voting for Brexit. [Why wouldn't you want your children to have the opportunities that a European passport provides?] Unfortunately I will always have this association with the Margherita. However on this morning I had the more practical issue of how we were going to get down in what was 30cm fresh snow and zero visibility. There was only one other Guide and party in the Hut that night. A very personable and very competent Grindlewald Guide named Patrick. We agreed to team up and work together. We didn't see much for the first couple of hours but once we got back to the Gnifeti Hut we were just below the cloud base.
We stopped at the Mantova Hut for a cappuccino before sauntering back to the top of the lift syatem ending very good week.
The three of us headed down the "ski piste" before steeping over some eye wateringly huge crevasses. Next we turned left and climbed up the aiguille de Grands Montets eventually following the rocky ridge to the top.
Sunday 6th August. We drove through the Mt Blanc tunnel down past Aosta then took the turning to Gressoney. We dumped the car at the road head at Staffel ,jumped on the cable car which conveniently put us at just over 3000 meters. We then walked and scambled to the Refugio Mantova for our first night at a very respectable 3500m. The sunset and view of Mt Blanc some 70 km was impressive:
Monday 7th August.
We left the Mantova at about 7.30 am , threaded our way through the the glacial rocks and then headed up the glacier negotiating some very photogenic crevasses.
We made very good progress and were very happy to pass the magic 4000 meter mark. We continued on and reached the summit of Vincent Piramid 4200meters.
We walked back down to the Gnifeti Hut slightly higher than the previous night. We sat on the terrace and Annie had the inspired idea of opening a bottle of Prosecco.
It was all very fine , my only issue was it was just too hot.
Tuesday 8th.
Being too hot was not the issue the next day.
The weather was not good for much as it snowed all day, Yet for us it gave us valuable further acclimatization which was going to be all important for aim of staying in the Margherita Hut.
Wednesday 9th. The day started bright. The over night snow made everything look beautiful. We were careful not to be away too early so that other teams could break trail. Although we couldn't really afford to relaxed because the forecast was for storms in the afternoon. We enjoyed a wonderful ascent to the Margherita Hut at 4554meters , the highest building in Western Europe.
We arrived at the Margherita at about 11.30am. Just before the weather turned bad . It started to snow and then the hut was hit by lightening knocking out the power for a while. Lightening strikes on the hut are a big deal. Recently according to the Hut Guardian someone had been fatally hit by lightening while taking a photo out of the window during a lightening storm. Although not fatal someone had also been hit by lightening which came through the air vent in the squatter toilet.
Thursday 10th August.
The last time I awoke in the Margerherita hut had been the Friday 24th June. The morning the Old , the Poor and the Stupid killed off the next generations future by voting for Brexit. [Why wouldn't you want your children to have the opportunities that a European passport provides?] Unfortunately I will always have this association with the Margherita. However on this morning I had the more practical issue of how we were going to get down in what was 30cm fresh snow and zero visibility. There was only one other Guide and party in the Hut that night. A very personable and very competent Grindlewald Guide named Patrick. We agreed to team up and work together. We didn't see much for the first couple of hours but once we got back to the Gnifeti Hut we were just below the cloud base.
We stopped at the Mantova Hut for a cappuccino before sauntering back to the top of the lift syatem ending very good week.
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