In preparation for my upcoming climb of Mont Blanc, I decided to look back at some old memories I fondly remember. Spoiler: Kilimanjaro Spoiler: Mount Etna Spoiler: Mount Vesuvius I will start the climb on Friday. It will probably last 2-3 days but I will also add my skiing experience in Bern too.
That's incredible. I WISH I could go mountaineering and scale at least something. Take lots of good pictures. I heard Blanc has a hell of a view at the summit.
This is a rather freaky coincidence, as yesterday while at work, I got bored and went to read Wikipedia (this is a fairly common occurrence; Wikipedia reading is fun to pass the time), and that day, my topic of interest was the Seven Summits (the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents in the world). Vesuvius isn't one of them, but Kilimanjaro and Mont Blanc are, so I was reminded of that. Sounds like quite the pursuit! Have you been at the activity for some time?
Started climbing when I was 10. My Indian grandfather lives in Uttarkharand, where there are a lot of steep yet easy-to-climb mountains.
DAY 0: Had a good flight today. Only an hour but was able to watch some good TV (thanks Alitalia!). Right now I'm staying in a little bungalow-esque house with my guide, Jean. I wasn't able to get many good photos today due to nightfall being pretty early, but: Spoiler: Here is my best shot:
That's so coool! This is probably going to be every comment I make on this thread, but seriously, an aerial view of the mountains is so cool!
For some reason that photo looks like it was taken from the inside of a plane. I'm sure it isn't, but it looks angled downward and has a rounded black edge, so that's the impression I get. The inside of a tent, perhaps?
DAY THREE: Happy to report that I am alive and have successfully climbed Mount Blanc! I am actually so tired right now it's beyond belief! Spoiler: Report And 3 Summit Photos: We took the Gouter route as the Trois Monts is just too dangerous to climb at this time of year. The normal route was mostly walking and scrambling in very exposed terrain - this meant ropes, crampons and an ice axe. During those section we are always roped up. One thing for sure – it is physically very demanding to climb Mt Blanc. Due to the crevasse danger, I roped up in a team - me, my dad, Jean the guide and 2 American climbers who had climbed Denali before. I found it very challenging due to it being extremely long -10 hours on the first and 13 hours on the second day. We arrived in Chamonix the day before and took the gondola to the Aiguille du Gouter, a stunning ridge. From here we walked half a mile across a knife edge snow ridge and went down to a hut called the Tete Rousse. We havd a nice dinner and sleep in dorm style with other climbers and shared some stories - 2 had been stranded on Mt Everest after an avalanche and had to stay in a cave, 3 had climbed K2. The wake-up call was 4:00AM when we had a nice French breakfast, dressed and leaft for the summit around 50. We basically walked it for 8 hours, apart from when we got to the Grand Couloir, a 30m 40 degree ridge which required our crampon technique and easily the hardest and most dangerous part. After conquering that, we summitted and saw the most amazing view I have ever seen from a mountain: That's because it was . We took a plane from Rome to Geneva and then a taxi to Chamonix, where we stayed for last 3 days. Also, I have a lot of pictures, should I post the best ones here? I have maybe 8-12 good ones. For now, I'll only post three.
I think I've only woken up once or twice in my life early enough to see the sunrise... and in both of those instances it was approaching the winter solstice, so that didn't really count for much. But I remember it being really beautiful, so you have a nice find there with the photos.
