Friday, 24 August 2012
Thursday, 16 August 2012
Divine Providence
written by Jerry gore
A CLOSE RUN THING!
Last week was a big one! It started with a heart attack, involved a total of 28 hours of driving, an ascent of the hardest route on Mt Blanc, little or no food/water and sleep for most of it, 2 freezing bivvies, the death of a close relative and finished with my oldest daughter getting hospitalised after her drink was spiked with LSD! This is the story.
Monday 13 August
At 6am just as I was about to drive to Germany and pick up Gaz Parry to climb The Fish (one of my big three challenges) I read an email from Gaz saying his dad had had a stroke and he had flown back home from Stuttgart. I was scheduled to do a talk in central Germany Tuesday morning so drove the 10 hours anyway and spent the night in the Hilton, Mainz.
Tuesday 14 August
I gave the presentation to Novo Nordisk (World’s second largest Insulin producer) this morning. By midday I had delivered a superb talk (well I thought it was!), sorted out a new climbing objective and more importantly a new partner. Dave Gladwin is a 32 year old ski instructor, a great mountaineer and an overall genuine good egg! He was totally up for Divine Providence (DP), one of the toughest and longest routes on Mt Blanc and my main Big Three objective! Finding a partner for a route like DP is like trying to find another rower for the coxless pairs at the Olympics so I was pretty chuffed at my networking skills! I drove another 9 hours back home (Vallouise, Southern French Alps) arriving late Tuesday night but fully psyched as I had my climbing itinerary clearly sorted.
Wednesday 15 August
Packed and sorted gear for the route, helped Jackie organise cleaners for the forthcoming 10 chalet changeover on Saturday for our self catering business AlpBase.com, and said good bye to my family.
Thursday 16 August
At 8am I drove four hours to Chamonix and met Dave for the first time in a car park by the Aiguille De Midi telepherique. Tall, laid back, and totally dependable Dave was everything Twid Turner had said he was, having spent a hardcore Big Wall climbing trip to Alaska with him earlier this year. Climbing partners tend to spend years together to develop a bond and understanding before setting foot on a big alpine objective like DP. We didn’t have that luxury!
We sorted the gear, grabbed a sandwich and headed for the Midi tlepherique. Luck was on our side as the Helbronner lift was working so we made it across to the Torino hut by mid afternoon and then started the 3 hour walk to the Fourche Refuge (3685m.), a tiny shelter stuck on the side of the decaying Brenva ridge. Getting to the hut was interesting – a steep 50° ice slope running with water! A crap night (too scared I guess) was spent in the company of two very thirsty French alpinists who had forgotten their stove.
Friday 17 August
At 4am we abseiled off the metal balcony of the refuge, crossed the Brenva glacier, ascended Col More, did a loose series of abseils down onto the glacier beneath the Pilier D’Angle and we had arrived at the foot of our wall! It was a scary and dangerous downhill run over some of the most serac-threatened and crevassed terrain I have ever experienced. The noise from the rock and snow falls shattered our world throughout the 3 day climb.
We started the route at first light but sadly got the wrong gully line. We each climbed with a 25Kg rucksack and moved slowly over the technical ground. There are no bolts on DP and most of the protection points we had to place ourselves using camming devices. By early afternoon we realised we were too far left but Dave pulled out a heroic lead on wet unprotected 6c ground that led us to a big open slab. I aided and then tiptoed across these and eventually got us back onto the right line and our first open bivouac at the start of the hard climbing. We had climbed just 400m. of the 1500m. route and lost at least half a day through sheer bad route finding. Worse still my first glucometer – a Roche Nano – to test my blood sugars was now useless as the fresh batteries had mysteriously run out. So I would have to resort to using the emergency backup, my tried and trusted Ascensia Elite XL – the only issue was I had just 12 strips which would have to last the rest of the climb; I had to ration carefully as I normally test at least 7 times a day. But hey, life is never perfect and diabetes is not an excuse, it’s just another thing to deal with.
Saturday 18 August
After a night of shivering (we had opted for the down jacket but no sleeping bag option to save weight) we started brewing at 5.30am and begun climbing at 7am. It was really hard all day and physically exhausting, especially the legendary overhanging 7c corner. Imagine hanging off your arms upside down, fingers wedged into a 2cms wide crack for an hour. Sadly enough this section was wet which actually I took as a great excuse as the only part of this pitch I managed to free was the final 10 meters of easy ground! The day finished with our second open bivouac below the pendulum swing pitch. The good news was that we had only two hard pitches left to go before easy ground. The bad news was that there was no snow on our 1.5m deep ledge so no water; we had started the day with 1 litre each of water and this small amount now had to last until midday tomorrow – Sunday. And all we had left food wise was our emergency rations, namely a packet of OAP energy food that Dave’s 87 year old grandmother gave him. I sucked my bloodied and sore finger tips (granite dust) and thought about Swedish saunas. Not a great night!
Sunday 19 August
Today started windy and so bloody freezing at just under 4,000metres! We both sat up and shivered waiting for the sun on our tiny ledge. Very reluctantly I made a move at 6.30am and we started the painful business of racking up our gear, putting on super tight rock shoes on bare feet and getting ready for the day’s challenges which would involve 8 hours of hauling and dragging our knackered bodies and gear to the top of the Pillar. And then a further 5 hours (600 meters) of scary soloing on a steep snow ridge (The Peuterey Integrale) to the summit of Mont Banc (4,808m.).
We reached the summit of the Blanc around 8pm and luckily met up with fellow Brits James Thackery, Keith Ball and Tim Neill. Dave and I had done it. We both felt awesome in a sort of totally knackered way. But we still had the descent to go before we were safe and 70% of accidents happen on the climb down so we were still on alert mode although by now we were starting not to care. We descended the Mt Maudit route passing the section where my old friend Roger Payne was tragically killed a month ago when that huge avalanche/serac collapse killed nine people. Despite my exhausted state I felt "lifted" as I recalled memories of a shared climbing trip to Peru in 1985 and remembered Roger’s huge energy and stamina.
Monday 20 August
We descended through the night reaching a flat bivvy spot just after 1am where Dave and I enjoyed a late night brewing session with the other 3 lads. We all had a good gossip and within an hour we both felt sufficiently rehydrated to carry on. We eventually reached the Aiguille de Midi téléphérique station 4 hours later. The last few half of this "Retreat from Moscow" we stopped frequently collapsing onto the snow and trancing out in seconds. But for the final 70 meters up to the Midi we were both fully awake as it involves balancing up a very steep staircase just two feet wide where a fall would be fatal. We had been on the go for just under 24 hours and I had only tested my blood sugar levels 5 times in that period. I ate my last cereal bar and used my last test strip just after we got to the Midi station. I had run it very close on all accounts – Diabetics need regular snacks, blood tests and insulin injections – but it had worked. Proud of that!
We took the first telecabin back down to Chamonix at 6.30am and ran into town for a big pancake and maple syrup breakfast. I now had a new batch of test strips and fresh insulin - life was sweet once more!
I wanted to be with my daughter Beth ASAP as she had had her drink spiked on Saturday night, hospitalised and put on a drip, so I drove home right after the pancakes. An hour into the journey I stopped to test again. All I remember was waking up with test strips scattered around me in the car. I had passed out and more than an hour had gone by!
When I eventually saw Beth later that afternoon she was very zombie-like and still experiencing panic attacks that would leave her sobbing, her eyes full of fear. The family was back together but not yet a whole healthy unit. The news that Jackie’s Grandma had just passed away was another blow but we are a strong team and I for one was glad we could just watch a video together even if at least one of us had lost consciousness not long after the "Play" button was pressed!
Monday, 16 July 2012
Matterhorn North Face
Matterhorn North Face
My first climbing trip to the alps culminated in a speedy shop at a camping store to buy some tent pegs as we couldn’t afford ice screws and then a not so speedy ascent of the Hornli ridge on the Matterhorn. We had plenty of time to take in the sights during our 28 hour ascent and I remember looking down from the summit at the north face and thinking that's the way a proper climber ascends this mountain.
I could only dream that in 11 years time and in less than half the previous ascent time I would be standing on the top again.
Proper chuffed.... mainly because we climbed it but also because I won’t have to get on that mountain again.
Friday, 13 July 2012
Taghia - New Route
free every pitch.
We started trying to bolt ground up in the rain but after only equipping one and half pitches in the first day and wading through thigh deep rivers for access to the gorge we decided on rap bolting.
This worked well as a day later we were under 30cm of fresh snow so only certain sections of the route were climbable. Actually not much of it was but we tried anyway.
The last day of our trip was the only day of the 10 day trip that the whole route was dry and about 1 hour before having to pack our donkeys and leave we successfully managed to lead the wet crux pitch. Good work twid.
Our route goes up the obvious blank headwall in the middle of the face which the other routes have avoided and
covers a massive mix of climbing styles from crimpy slighly overhanging endurance fests to juggy roofs to delicate slabs where we seemingly made progress on nothing other than foot smears and pressing moves.
But the most amazing thing about this route and the area is the sustained style of climbing of the routes and continous interest of the pitches. That combined with an amazing culture, great people, tasty food and an abundance of rock makes it possibly the best multi pitch sport climbing area i have been.
.JPG)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NTzhgh3Lx4&feature=youtu.be
http://dmmclimbing.com/news/2012/11/multi-pitch-sport-climbing-in-morocco/
http://dmmclimbing.com/news/2012/11/multi-pitch-sport-climbing-in-morocco/
Friday, 29 June 2012
American Direct solo – Petit Dru
American Direct solo – Petit Dru
I finally managed to put my demons to rest.
The American direct solo has been an aim of mine for a few years after reading an account of Bonatti and his incredible efforts on this face.
It thwarted my efforts more than once, the first time due to bad weather, the second due to lack of balls and the third time due to equipment issues (forgotten crampons).
It all went quite smoothly apart from drifting off to sleep on the descent and missing collecting my girlfriend from the airport (sorry Ali but I thought it was a fairly good excuse) oh and the odd bit of falling rock.......
I climbed the route to the end of difficulties and used a rope on some of the pitches.
Friday, 8 June 2012
Alaska New Route
So...back on the sun soaked crag those 7 days of suffering on the snow plastered peaks of Alaska seems like a different life time.
It all started on the same sun soaked crag.
"Dave you fancy a trip to Alaska in a few weeks. My partner has just dropped out, I have loads of funding, loads of kit out there and there are loads of new route objectives to be done"
I was sold on the first sentence and drooling by the last.
The area is often referred to as the ‘Patagonia’ of Alaska with stunning granite spires clustered around a tight area of deep glacier valleys, and with more new route potential than you can shake a stick at it is an obvious expedition choice for any motivated climbers.
We arrived in Alaska after the usual airport shenanigans of Visa issues and overweight baggage and after being told multiple times that the bags were too heavy and fines must be paid. With our reaction of unpacking and putting clothing on, taking clothing off, putting boots on and filling pockets (repeat multiple times) resulted in the check in lady waving us on with the hope that the next unlucky passenger would be an easier target for her to get her claws into…
And so before we new it we were on our way to Talkeetna blurry eyed with a month’s worth of food and climbing kit to hopefully get us up whatever came our way.
Talkeetna is a great little town described as a ‘|Drinking town, with a climbing problem ‘and is the usual departure point for which to get a short flight into the mountains of many areas of the central Alaskan range.
As a result it’s a great place to catch up with many climbers at their final departure point into the mountains and that we did but after 5 days of socializing and drinking with twit I was starting to suffer and dream of an easy life in the mountains.
Unfortunately/fortunately for us our destination is in a rarely visited area of Alaska where reliable weather forecasts are hard to come by so with the risk of an unsuccessful flight blue skies and zero clouds were the order of the day and so we each day we waited, getting up before the pilots to show our keenness watched and chatted to climbers who came and went often flying in to climb the highest peak in north America or to climb some beautiful ice lines in the Ruth gorge and then ate and partied. After a couple of days we started thinking maybe another area might make more sense but luckily some of our friends who flew into the Ruth a few days previously were updating a blog from the glacier regularly so we new they were just sitting out storms and waiting for things to stabilize so we may as well do that in the comforts of the fair view in.
Eventually a semi window appeared, either that or the pilots at TAT were so fed up of us constantly badgering them (the previous night we actually slept in the main office ) that we were told we had 5 min to get all our kit together . We quickly squashed our loads of kit into the plane and off we went with our new best friend. The whole way there it was hit or miss. There was a lot of cloud and it seemed unlikely that we would be able to see the glacier never mind land on it and then finally at the last minute it cleared to reveal a beautiful sight of snow plastered peaks , snow laden glaciers and although it wasn’t ideal conditions and I can honestly say I wasn’t complaining the sight before us was up there as one of the most incredible views I have ever seen. A grown ups playground to pit our child like fantasies against.
A bit more research and money had gone into our toys compared to the bucket and spade that we needed for our childhood adventures but none the less we were equipped for any style of ascent and it’s just as well we were as with record snow falls in Alaska for the last 50 years combined with the last 5 days of snow storms to say things were from ideal would be the understatement f the year. The avalanche risk was un…. High and access to routes would be a long hard slog. My usual approach to peaks would be light and fast a system of packing everything you need for a safe multi day trip up a peak and then halving it and accepting that you just cannot stop. But in this environment twid's idea of ‘come on lad let’s just get strapped on something and suffer’ really paid off as whilst we were literally suffering our way inch by inch up this peak other parties were just getting totally shut down and coming back empty handed.
Our line ‘hard Arteries ‘named after the lads who joined us who had a interesting diet of blocks of butter, could no doubt be climbed in a very quick time in ideal conditions as a lot of the sections we were forced to aid(the art of placing gear and attaching a webbed ladder to it to make progress, so climbed gear rather than the rock, slow but sometimes the only way up) were beautiful soaring granite crack lines as good as any I have seen in the alps the majority could definitely be free climbed at around E2 and would be great fun but some of the overhanging bulges it difficult to say if they would go free.
The new route we climbed weighed in at ED, A3, Scottish V and had about 1000m of climbing on it.
The peak was the NW pillar on Middle Triple Peak, Kichatna Spires, Alaska
This was my first of hopefully many trips to the kichatna's
I would like to thank Mountain Equipment and DMM for their great kit. Mount Everest Foundation and the BMC for their massive help. TAT for their brave pilots, the roadhouse for their greasy spoons and the Fairview Inn for their fine ales and great music that kept us sane. Oh and twid for his bottomless enthusiasm and great story telling
Facts
Condor Airlines – www.condor.com
Do direct flights over Greenland from Germany. We actually landed in Anchorage earlier than we took off…
Accommodation – Anchorage
Talkeetna – TAT offer a free bunk house
But for more luxuries try the roadhouse
Rangers Station
Talkeetna Air Taxis – The best airline for flights onto the glaciers
Sat Phone – Opposite REI
REI –gear shop
Supermarket near REI
Piolet D'Or Nomination - http://www.pioletsdor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=265&Itemid=363&lang=en
http://dmmclimbing.com/news/2012/06/alaska-success-for-twid-turner-and-team/
It all started on the same sun soaked crag.
"Dave you fancy a trip to Alaska in a few weeks. My partner has just dropped out, I have loads of funding, loads of kit out there and there are loads of new route objectives to be done"
I was sold on the first sentence and drooling by the last.
The area is often referred to as the ‘Patagonia’ of Alaska with stunning granite spires clustered around a tight area of deep glacier valleys, and with more new route potential than you can shake a stick at it is an obvious expedition choice for any motivated climbers.
We arrived in Alaska after the usual airport shenanigans of Visa issues and overweight baggage and after being told multiple times that the bags were too heavy and fines must be paid. With our reaction of unpacking and putting clothing on, taking clothing off, putting boots on and filling pockets (repeat multiple times) resulted in the check in lady waving us on with the hope that the next unlucky passenger would be an easier target for her to get her claws into…
And so before we new it we were on our way to Talkeetna blurry eyed with a month’s worth of food and climbing kit to hopefully get us up whatever came our way.
Talkeetna is a great little town described as a ‘|Drinking town, with a climbing problem ‘and is the usual departure point for which to get a short flight into the mountains of many areas of the central Alaskan range.
As a result it’s a great place to catch up with many climbers at their final departure point into the mountains and that we did but after 5 days of socializing and drinking with twit I was starting to suffer and dream of an easy life in the mountains.
Unfortunately/fortunately for us our destination is in a rarely visited area of Alaska where reliable weather forecasts are hard to come by so with the risk of an unsuccessful flight blue skies and zero clouds were the order of the day and so we each day we waited, getting up before the pilots to show our keenness watched and chatted to climbers who came and went often flying in to climb the highest peak in north America or to climb some beautiful ice lines in the Ruth gorge and then ate and partied. After a couple of days we started thinking maybe another area might make more sense but luckily some of our friends who flew into the Ruth a few days previously were updating a blog from the glacier regularly so we new they were just sitting out storms and waiting for things to stabilize so we may as well do that in the comforts of the fair view in.
Eventually a semi window appeared, either that or the pilots at TAT were so fed up of us constantly badgering them (the previous night we actually slept in the main office ) that we were told we had 5 min to get all our kit together . We quickly squashed our loads of kit into the plane and off we went with our new best friend. The whole way there it was hit or miss. There was a lot of cloud and it seemed unlikely that we would be able to see the glacier never mind land on it and then finally at the last minute it cleared to reveal a beautiful sight of snow plastered peaks , snow laden glaciers and although it wasn’t ideal conditions and I can honestly say I wasn’t complaining the sight before us was up there as one of the most incredible views I have ever seen. A grown ups playground to pit our child like fantasies against.
A bit more research and money had gone into our toys compared to the bucket and spade that we needed for our childhood adventures but none the less we were equipped for any style of ascent and it’s just as well we were as with record snow falls in Alaska for the last 50 years combined with the last 5 days of snow storms to say things were from ideal would be the understatement f the year. The avalanche risk was un…. High and access to routes would be a long hard slog. My usual approach to peaks would be light and fast a system of packing everything you need for a safe multi day trip up a peak and then halving it and accepting that you just cannot stop. But in this environment twid's idea of ‘come on lad let’s just get strapped on something and suffer’ really paid off as whilst we were literally suffering our way inch by inch up this peak other parties were just getting totally shut down and coming back empty handed.
Our line ‘hard Arteries ‘named after the lads who joined us who had a interesting diet of blocks of butter, could no doubt be climbed in a very quick time in ideal conditions as a lot of the sections we were forced to aid(the art of placing gear and attaching a webbed ladder to it to make progress, so climbed gear rather than the rock, slow but sometimes the only way up) were beautiful soaring granite crack lines as good as any I have seen in the alps the majority could definitely be free climbed at around E2 and would be great fun but some of the overhanging bulges it difficult to say if they would go free.
The new route we climbed weighed in at ED, A3, Scottish V and had about 1000m of climbing on it.
The peak was the NW pillar on Middle Triple Peak, Kichatna Spires, Alaska
This was my first of hopefully many trips to the kichatna's
I would like to thank Mountain Equipment and DMM for their great kit. Mount Everest Foundation and the BMC for their massive help. TAT for their brave pilots, the roadhouse for their greasy spoons and the Fairview Inn for their fine ales and great music that kept us sane. Oh and twid for his bottomless enthusiasm and great story telling
Facts
Condor Airlines – www.condor.com
Do direct flights over Greenland from Germany. We actually landed in Anchorage earlier than we took off…
Accommodation – Anchorage
Talkeetna – TAT offer a free bunk house
But for more luxuries try the roadhouse
Rangers Station
Talkeetna Air Taxis – The best airline for flights onto the glaciers
Sat Phone – Opposite REI
REI –gear shop
Supermarket near REI
Piolet D'Or Nomination - http://www.pioletsdor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=265&Itemid=363&lang=en
http://dmmclimbing.com/news/2012/06/alaska-success-for-twid-turner-and-team/
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