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Published on Leave a comment on Alpine Crossing 2013 – Day 11: Refuge de Requin – Courmayeur

What a great day! We got up at 6. After a quick breakfast, packing and putting on all the equipment we left the hut at 7:15. The first thing was to pass the ice fall which was to the right approx. 200m above our heads. We asked the guide if we should wear the helmet. He just smiled and said: If you feel better…. :-) But if this comes down you don’t need a helmet ;-) And so we quickly crossed the ice fall and luckily no ice and no stones came down at this time – probably also because it was still quite early. The next thing to pass were some big crevasses which were partly still covered with snow. Parts we had to go in parallel to the crevasses what actually created a strange feeling because you never know what is under your feet. After 2 hours the critical parts were done. Then we could fully enjoy walking on the glacier. There were still some crevasses but they were not so big. After 4:30 hours we finally arrived at Rif. Turino which is already in Italy. There were quite some people around which all came up with the cable car. From this hut (~3300m) we planned to climb down to Courmayeur. Unfortunately the path down to the middle station of the cable car was too dangerous since it is very steep and there is still lots of snow. Our guide recommended us to take the cable car at least to the middle station. From the middle station it was approx. 90 minutes by foot to Courmayeur. Here we found a quite nice and cheap one star hotel :-) For dinner we had a huge pizza :-)

Published on Leave a comment on Alpine Crossing 2013 – Day 10: Montenvers – Refuge de Requin

Today we got up at 7am. We had a typical french breakfast – a croissant and a coffee :-) After reorganizing and packing the bag again we met Gianni – our guide – at 8:20 at the train station. At first we climb down a via ferrata 300m until we reach the glacier Mer de Glace. The ice is melting very quickly – so every year the ladders of the via ferrata have to be extended by several meters. On the glacier we put on the crampons and the rope. At the beginning the glacier is not very steep. Later this changes and a labyrinth of crevasses opens up. We now need much more time to find our way. Some crevasses are 2 meters wide and hundreds of meters deep. We cannot see down to the ground. It is like a black hole – scary… Some crevasses are still covered by snow. The snow forms a bridge across the crevasses which may or may not carry ones weight…you never know… After 4 hours walking on the glacier we do a short break and then go another via ferrata upwards. After an hour we climbed about 400m and finally arrived at the hut. Several hours we still had the quite strong sun before another thunderstorm arrived. From the hut we have a great view on the ice fall.

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Published on Leave a comment on Alpine Crossing – Day 9: Chamonix – Montenvers

Today we got up a little earlier to avoid the thunderstorm in the afternoon. The weather forecast here was quite accurate so far. For 3 hours a path led us through a forest – upwards to Montenvers (1913m). Tomorrow morning we will meet Gianni – our guide – at the train station. We both are glad that we climbed the 1000m today already – tomorrow will be exhausting enough.  We have a very nice ‘old style’ hotel for tonight. Very old looking rooms – all made up of dark wood. From our window we can see the steep and dark Grandes Jorasses wall – one of the most famous north walls in the Alps. It is hard to believe that this has already been climbed many times… The dinner here was also fantastic. After the three courses I do not want to move any longer…. :-) We had a vegetable soup, Tartiflette (potatoes with lots of cheese), green salad and an apple pie. All was served with French red wine, water and baguette. This was the best thing  I have eaten for a while. I think if I would live in France I would become fat :-D The sunset tonight was not visible directly – but the red light of the sun was shining on the summits and the clouds around. This condition only holds for a few minutes – it is a very special moment :-)

Published on Leave a comment on Alpine Crossing 2013 – Day 6: Refuge A. Wills – Chamonix

This was a day with great weather - but a long day! We passed the Lac d'Anterne which was still covered by lots of snow! After a long way down to a small river we had to go up again to the Col de Brevent. From there you have an amazing view down to Chamonix. Close to the col we met some ibexes for the first time on this trip. We continued a path down to Chamonix. Finally, after about 11 hours we reached the town. We looked for a hotel and had some pasta and pizza!

Chamonix is really worth a visit! We stayed there for two days to relax.

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Published on Leave a comment on Alpine Crossing 2013 – Day 5: Samoens – Refuge A. Wills

Today we had another day with lots of sunshine :-) The first part of the route led us through a valley on a quite big road. I didn’t like this part very much. Still the small villages we passed were very nice. Later the route turned into a small path which led right through a forest. Unfortunately the 150m upwards we had to go downwards again. From here another road led upwards to 1100m. Then the road turned to a mountain path which led us finally up to Refuge A. Wills – named by a famous British mountaineer. For dinner we had cheese fondue and steak with polenta :-)