Me (Dave), Karen and Chris headed out to meet up with Al, Suzanne, Melly and Andy, and next day John and Helen, at the Mer de Glace campsite.
The first Sunday was nice, and me Karen and Chris did a Lac Blanc circuit
while lots of brave fit people were finishing the Chamonix marathon. A,S M+A went cragging in the valley.But then the rain and cold came and put paid to ambitions to (a) get up Mont Blanc, (b) get up the Aiguille du Tour, (c) get up anything really...........apart from the climbing wall,
which did a roaring trade from all us soggy Brits abroad...
Despite the forecast claiming that it would clear up soon (political forecasting?) it remained pretty dismal, despite John Helen and Chris's brave effort to do the Tour. Having flogged up to the Albert Premier hut, next morning there was snow everywhere, and no visibility. I believe some comfort was gained from learning that the guides had been having an equally naff season up to then.
While they were heading up in hope, the rest of us did a very fine walk
to the Emosson dam, at which point it started chucking it down. Still impressive to see the bolt on route all the way up the front wall though - madness!
Quote for the day was from Melly, "I'm wetter than I've ever been!" Weve never been more grateful to stumble upon a refuge selling hot chocolate and chocolate cake....Down in Argentiere, Dave was peeved that Vin Chaud was off the menu at the bar- apparently it's not a "summer" drink...
One more day of sh**e prooved too much, and A,S,M and A sacked it off and headed home, while the rest of us (with a couple more days spare, and inspired by the blue stuff visible on the Briancon webcam) headed south to the Ecrins, camping at Freissinieres.
With blue sky and a good forecast at last, we all headed up to the Glacier Blanc refuge
, and John and Chris had a crack at the Barre des Ecrins, Dave jibbing out with a "souvenir" cold from Cham. (or maybe I'm just unfit!) They made it to the snow summit, but global warming and crazy Frenchmen prevented them doing the last ridge to the top. (Nasty pitch off glacier onto ridge, now glacier is lower...)
Meanwhile Dave and Helen sampled the delights of Freissinieres crag, Helen doing a French 6a and well chuffed. Karen went for a walk and found some lovely views.
After the heroes returned from the mountain, Dave and Chris had a big day cragging finally in HOT weather at Freissinieres,
with lots of 6as and finishing with an ascent of the original route of the crag, Fissure Keller. Must be a classic, surely??? But after a good juggy 1st pitch, with some thrutching thrown in for interest, it headed into the bowels of the crag, and ended up with 2 pitches of back and footing up bat poo! Lovely route to finish the trip, but it was definitely an experience.
The hot day (Sunday) was followed by thunderstorms, and just to confirm the weather was up the creek, on their last morning (Tuesday), John and Helen scraped ICE off the car windscreen before starting the long drive home!!!
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