France-Mont Blanc

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Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Europe. I had tried to climb it on two previous occasions – with Scharlie in 1994 and with my Italian friend Dimitri in 1996.  This time, in 2002, I didn’t want to fail again and had asked my friend Roger Mear, to “guide” me up the mountain. Roger is a distinguished climber and expeditioner and professional mountain guide.  We planned to spend a few days climbing with Scharlie to get fit and acclimatise before joining Roger.  Cathy, Scharlie’s friend from Cambridge who ran the Cambridge Festival, decided she’d join us and accompany Scharlie on part of the Tour de Mont Blanc while Roger and Steve were climbing.

Despite rain and mist, and Scharlie’s boots giving out on our way, we managed a couple of good training routes on the Aiguille Perseverance and Aiguille du Peigne.  Then Roger arrived and Steve and he had a good day on a training route on Mont Blanc du Tacul before attempting it via Mont Maudit. We got an early start from the Cosmiques hut and were going well but unfortunately bad weather beat us back.  Rather than repeat the same route Roger decided we could reach the summit via the blunt snow ridge of the Dômes de Miage.  Unlike other standard ways, we had this route to ourselves, which was delightful.

Meanwhile, Scharlie and Cathy hiked three legs of the Tour  from Les Contamines to Courmayeur. Col Chécrouit is the highlight of the tour with splendid views of the whole mountain range. But a heavy band of rain and hail spoilt the view.

The journal also includes photos from Steve’s previous climbing trip to Chamonix with a party of Italian climbers in 1996.

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