An attempt on Mt Blanc - August 2000
by Paul Harrison
So this was it. We were off to Cham, and our
target Mt. Blanc. Oh well, I didn't now how hard that would be, but who cares, it sounded
like a great opportunity and an even greater challenge. I had been to Chamonix once before
in the winter and had a great time, but being winter the weather had been quite bad to say
the least. (not to mention that I had come down with the flu which put a dampener on my
holiday and the Millennium celebrations). After a 6 hour drive from Calais, Steve and I
drove into Chamonix late Saturday afternoon, and the contrast couldn't have been greater.
Here we were rolling into a town basking in bright sunshine. The temperature was in the
90s (or upper 30s Celsius for those more accustomed to pounds, shillings and pence). We
were in T-shirts and sunglasses. We could see right up to the tops of the mountains, a
view I hadn't been able to witness at Xmas. And what with no snow we could clearly make
out the glaciers of Argentiere, Bosson and the high peak of the Aiguile de Midi that
provides a terminus for the Telepherique. We found the Brevent hut, our home from our
previous trip and settled in and began hatching plans for our attempt on Mt. Blanc.
The first week we spent ticking several high peaks and spending the night at higher and
higher altitude, all in an attempt to get us acclimatised. But what with the unsettled
weather we could only spend 3 nights at the altitude we would have liked. Our plan had
been to get an attempt in quickly before Chris had to go home.
But it was now Sunday August 30th and we were going for it, Chris unfortunately
having to leave for home a few days ago. Leading us up was Ian and Anna, and the
cannon-fodder was made up of myself, Steve, John and Mairéad and the now (in)famous
"Bog-Boy" a.k.a, Tony. Our weather reports had said the next 2 days would be our
only chance of a crack at the summit, so at 9ish we made our way to the Tramway Mont-Blanc
in St Gervais and took a rather pleasant trip up to the Ni d'Aigle (The Eagle's Nest).
We disembarked with the masses, then quickly took the path upwards to escape them. This
took us about 1 ½ hours and was done in brilliant sunshine and was hot work. At the end
was our fist objective - the Tete Rousse hut. This was situated just at the snow line, at
2000 odd metres and a short walk across the snow enabled us to finally dump down our heavy
rucsacs and heat some water up for a quick soup. We had some time to kill so took the
chance to chill out and admire the view that occasionally presented itself to us through
the clouds.
Finally, at about 4 o’clock we were allowed book in and could put all our kit in the
building. So once again we made the obligatory cup of coffee and sat inside. We then had a
kip for a couple of hours before dinner at 7.
Dinner was surprisingly good. For the hut to produce a 4 course meal in that location was
quite an achievement and was, in the circumstances, worth the money. We then went back to
bed at about 8.30ish and planned on getting up at midnight - an hour before the
"official" wake-up call at 1.
OK, so now you've got to imagine that you've put your head down on the pillow way before
your bedtime in order to get some sleep that you know you need. That it then seems you
failed to get any decent sleep at all; that you are then woken what seems like only 10
minutes later by Ian's fancy altimeter watch thingy. You are tired, irritable, and in no
mood to get out of bed whilst trying not to make any noise that could disturb everyone
else. Anyway, the 7 of us manage to drag ourselves out of bed, get kitted up and were all
waiting outside the hut 20 minutes later. It was dark, and it was cold. There wasn't
a cloud in the sky and the lights from the villages in the valleys shone brightly
reminding us of just how warm and cosy we could have been at this moment. But that was for
another time; now we had to get going. Our ascent was relying on 2 things; that we made
headway fast enough, and that the altitude didn't affect any of us, or at least
didn't affect us too much.
The first thing to do was make the steep ascent to the Col Du Gouter and the Gouter Hut.
This had to be done by a steep looking wall about 500m in height that was behind the Tete
Rousse hut (see picture) and we headed for this now. With our headtorches on and roped up
we set off. It was 12.30am early Monday morning. Translated, that meant, "I should be
fast asleep in my nice cosy bed" time.
The ascent was slow. At first we had some difficulty finding our way, but we soon picked
up a path. I was surprised that the path went almost straight up - I thought it would have
zigzagged off way over to the right, but perhaps I was being too optimistic, it was steep,
exposed (I wasn't to know how exposed until the descent later that morning) and very
tiring work (as we got higher the altitude kicked in).
After nearly 3 hours slog we reached the Gouter Hut. To me this was a major accomplishment
and I felt a sense of satisfaction. This wasn't to last very long as Ian had said this
should have taken us 2 hours instead. Oh god! Well never mind, I thought, we were at the
Gouter Hut and the rest of the trip was just going to be a long walk. Hmmm, that turned
out to be nice in theory, but it wasn't quite like that...
We had a quick breather and a drink while we prepared ourselves for our the next stage.
Tony had already fallen victim to the altitude and had been having nose bleeds for a while
on the ascent so decide it was probably wisest if he didn't progress any further. He then
did a reasonable impression of Captain Oates and crept into the Gouter Hut to find a place
to sleep so he could wait for us upon our return.
The remaining 6 of us then stepped up from the Gouter Hut onto the Col du Gouter. The sky
was still clear and I thought I saw a glimmer of the sunrise that was yet to come. I was
in front and leading my group of Steve and Ian, my breathing becoming noticeably difficult
for the first time. Whilst climbing up to the Gouter Hut it had been quite strenuous so
didn't really stop to think about breathing difficulties. But here, just walking, I became
aware for the first time of the effects of altitude and my non-acclimatised condition.
Still, I thought I would plod on and hopefully I would be able to keep going at a fast
enough rate that we could get to the top.
A short while later we arrived at the campsite on the Col. Here were all the tents of the
people who had decided to camp instead of sleeping at the Hut, which for most people
wasn't really an option unless you booked a year early, as apparently all the beds are
booked this far in advance by all the Guides. Most of the tents had already been vacated
and we could see a snake of headtorches winding off up the mountain in front of us showing
us the way. I turned to Ian and asked, "Is that the summit?". I was pretty sure
I knew the answer. And he confirmed my suspicions by answering, "No. That's the Dome
du Gouter". Damn! I thought. It didn't look that far on the postcard. Still, the
going was easier now and rather than a steep haul up a cliff face it was now just a gentle
plod up the mountain. It didn't look that far so we headed off.
The "gentle plod up the mountain" turned out not to be so easy. I managed to get
a reasonable pace going put had underestimated the effects of altitude. My optimism and
confidence in my ability to get to the top was slowly and surely eroded by my difficulty
in breathing. I had no doubt I could get to the top, it was just a question of how long?;
but as time wore on I knew it would take a lot longer that the 2 hours that Ian was
expecting us to do it in. Things weren't helped by the fact that there had been a
recent fall of snow which made walking more tiring that we'd have liked. It was still
dark and the night seemed to have lasted for ever, but checks on our altimeters showed us
that we were making headway.
Finally we reached 4000m, and was secretly pleased that John decided he had had enough and
was heading back. I didn't want to be the first to admit that it might be beyond me
(particularly, because back in the Hostel I had been perhaps too cocky about my
chances of getting to the top - so cue lots of mickey-taking later on!). That left 2 lots
of 3 and we continued to carry on to the top of the Dome du Gouter. Somewhere hereabouts I
came to a decision of my own, and that was to get to the Dome and then call it a day.
After taking into account the speed we were going, and the need to be off the mountain
before the sun was high up in the sky, I felt it was the best option.
We arrived at about 4.30-5 a.m. just as the sun was rising. We all briefly discussed the
situation and agreed that returning was the best choice. ("Take me home!", I
believe were my words. Oft-repeated by others since!). So we took a few photos and enjoyed
the view. This was the highest I had ever been, 4300m, and in the light of the rising sun
the view was sensational. We were situated at such a height that what clouds existed were
way below us and lit from above by the orange glow of the sun. It was really strange to be
able to look in any direction and see such a flat distant horizon. With no clouds above
us, and seemingly the world beneath us, and hardly any wind it was a very unique
experience. Still, no time for too much dawdling as we had a long way to go before we got
back to the hut. So off we set, but going down-hill was much quicker, which was a shame
because now it was daylight we didn't get the chance to hang around and see the
scenery, and the Alps stretching off in all directions.
By about 6 a.m. we were back at the Gouter Hut. We traipsed in through the door and found
ourselves a table where we could flop down to recover our breath. As I sat there my heart
was pounding and I felt a bit sick from the exertion but mostly I just felt very tired. As
it was still early, and we had all had little sleep, we jumped into some of the bunks for
a couple of hours. A bit later we reconvened for soup and chocolat chaud before our
descent down the Gouter face. Tony was looking much better, in fact we were all fit and
ready to get going again. Our descent to the Tete Rousse took about an hour and half
with another hour to the Ni D'Aigle. The weather was fantastic and made for a great
day. All rounded off with the obligatory Café culture once we were back in the valley.