Alps 2008: Tribute to BladeForums!

[Mikel_24]

Hi there,
As some of you already know I have been out climbing in the Alps for two weeks straight. Well, not so straight, we came back a tad earlier than expected because a friend of mine (Iñaki, desert cammo bonnie hat and yellow backpack) sprained his ankle coming down from the Mont Blanc. I know some of you also climb and a few are into alpinism as well (Brian?).

This being a knife forum, let me say prior to the picture dumping that we all carried Spydercos on our pockets (Rescue for Iñaki and Manu and Endura combo edge for me) and had a sortage of other blades in the van. My BRKT Canadian Camp saw the most use doing kitchen duty, followed by my (I guess now lost) Vic Rucksack as can opener. I bought a Wenger Ranger in Zermatt just for the hell of it... because believe it or not, it is still cheaper to buy them from USA (shipping included).

We first went to Italy to climb the Gran Paradiso. This is a pretty easy over 4000m summit were climbers usually go in the first place to the used to the altitude and avoid altitude sickness while doing harder routes on higher peaks.

We got to Pont-Valsavarenche after 13 hours driving, slept there in the van, woke up late, packed our gear together and headed off to the Vittorio Emanuelle hut. Packing is an iterative process. First you lay down your insulating mat and spread all the gear/food/random stuff you intend to carry. Sometimes it fits in the backpack but it feels to heavy, and sometimes it just doesn’t even fit. Anyway, you discard some stuff and start over again. After a few tries you get things right. We didn’t carry much gear this time, just some crevase rescue gear just in case I took a wrong step. Did I tell you guys that I am the lightest of the three and that I get to go always first when wandering in glaciers? That sucks big time....

The van with all the stuff crammed in there. Amazing we could fit all that crap in there and still have some room for living!

Iñaki on the right and Manu on the left leaving the parking lot.

Waterfalls along the path to the Vittorio Emanuelle hut.

About to get to the Vittorio Emanuelle hut two hours after leaving the parking lot.

The hut itself.

After arriving to the hut we unpacked some of our gear (mostly food), ate some and rested the whole afternoon sunbathing among scarce rain showers. The weather changes quite fast up there.

The three of us resting there (I am the one in the middle).

Maybe some of you know about this guy, maybe you don’t. This guy over here posing with my pal Manu is Juanito Ollarzabal himself. He is the man who has climbed the most 8000 summits (about 23). All of them without oxigen. He is from Spain as well and he was working as a guide there with a partner for six people. I couldn’t get a picture of his feet for you to check out his toes... well... the lack of them really.

Here in the Alps dinner is served quite early, let’s say at 19:30 or so. We usually just sleep in the huts and we bring all our food (stove, pot, lpg, etc). Luckily we can leave the bulky down sleeping bags in the car because all the huts have blankets for free. Water is one of my bigger concerns because unless you can pick it up there for free, you better haul and extra load of gas for melting snow. Buying bottled water in the huts is pretty expensive (1,5l for $7) and you have to drink a lot to stay well hidrated and get better used to the altitude.

Iñaki thought that other liquids could do a better job with altitude... In some huts beer is actualy cheaper than water. I have been in BladeForums for a while already and I though it could be fun to see how far I could carry it with me. I hope none here feels offended or anything.

Keep reading....

 

[Mikel_24]

The Gran Paradiso is an easy summit, there is almost no crevases and no arette walking but the last 60 meters are... interesting. You can only cross them one by one and if you don’t get up there in the first place, you have to wait for the rest of the people to downclimb that section. It is not hard at all but the guides always carry his clients roped up from the hut to the top, and they make a mess there.

Keeping this in mind we got up earlier than usual and were the first ones to start hiking. I don’t really remember but I guess we got up about 3am or so.

Random shot, probably made by Manu (I was in front). We didn’t rope up at all this time.

The arette itself.

Two shots of Iñaki scrambling to the summit. You can see some fixed bolts (Parabolts indeed) in the rock on the side with some webbing on them.This is the exact spot where the guides and clients screw up all the time. Unless the rock is iced it is faster and safer to do this without the hassle of a rope.

And of course, the Bladeforums tribute! And yes, for those of you who are wondering... there is Manu taking a leak. Or about to take it, I am not sure, can’t tell by the picture... Damn... he could have waited a bit, couldn’t he?

We crossed a lot of people comming down from the Grand Paradiso but didn’t take too many pictures. From there we went to Courmayeur to climb the Mont Blanc through the italian route.
I hope you like the pictures so far.
Mikel

 

[bearthedog]

Excellent post. Thanks, it's nice to know you were thinking of the people on Bladeforums while out on the trip!

-RB

 

[Mikel_24]

Excellent post. Thanks, it's nice to know you were thinking of the people on Bladeforums while out on the trip!

-RB

I am glad you like them. We did another three summits so as soon as Imageshack stops screwing me and allows me to upload some more pictures, I will post them here.

As you can see there isn't much to be cut up there besides ropes, food packages and some first aid supplies. We didn't feel the urge to carry more substantial tools.

Mikel

 

[PB Wilson]

Beautiful sights! I'll bet you had a great time. That hut is fantastic as well.

 

[kgd]

Excellent post and adventure. I'm looking forward to hearing more of your trip as it progresses!

 

[j williams]

Man, that looks amazng. Thanks for posting the pics. That is an area Ive always wanted to visit. Great trip, and great pics bro. You guys be safe.......:thumbup:

 

[cocomen69]

That is a sweet trip, and excellent pics! I love the Bladeforums sign!

 

[Brian Jones]

Mikel,

Welcome back! AWESOME tribute to Bladeforums W&SS, thank you!

I am definitely getting out there to visit you and play..hehehe!

 

[Brian Jones]

Mikel,

Welcome back! AWESOME tribute to Bladeforums W&SS, thank you!

I am definitely getting out there to visit you and play..hehehe!

 

[siguy]

that looks like a great trip, even if you only showed the first summit.

also, that's cool that you brought the banner with you like that.

 

[JohnnyO]

That was great! Really enjoyed your pics.

 

[Mikel_24]

Once we arrived to Courmayeur the first thing we did was going to the Mountain Guide Office. You need to get lucky in those places to gather info because sometimes you just came across people focused only in selling you the services of a mountain guide, which we were not in need off. We chatted for a while with a guide who told us that the Papa Route to the Mont Blanc was closed due to a rock avalanche that destroyed the chains and other fixed gear installed to reach the Gonella hut. He suggested us two other routes but also told us that temps were way too worm to climb safetly the ice/snow arettes involved. We finally decided to forget about the Mont Blanc from the italian side and drove to Chamonix (on the other side of the Mont Blanc tunnel... pretty expensive by the way).

We slept there and the next day we drove to Tasch (Swizerland) were we set up camp in a camping. We spent the whole day eating, sleeping and walking arround. We also went to Zermatt. All the cable cars and mountain trains start from Zermatt but unless you have a special permit (only issued to residents) you can’t drive there. You need to take a taxi, bus or train from Tasch to Zermatt. Thank God it is fairly cheap. In Zermatt all you see are electric cars. It is weird to see all those tiny cars with snow tires and boxy bodies. It is also shocking to find a lot of fashion and luxury stores. You can spend as much money as you want here. There is also a number of sport related stores. Besides climbing and mountaneering you can also enjoy paraglyding, skiing (glaciers) and of course, downhill riding. When you get into the cable cars there is a mixture between turist, climbers, downhill riders, skiers, etc. Once in a while you get lucky and find a few hot chicks, just like everywhere else I guess.

Back to the pictures.

This is our camp while we were putting our gear together. This time it was two ice axes for each and a bit more of prottection gear. We ended up using none of them, but just like condoms it is better to have them and not need them... you know how it goes.

We wanted to climb now the Monte Rosa (Dufourpitze in the picture), it is 4634m high with some interesting arette climbing to reach the summit, mixed climbing and such. Here you can see how we intended to do it. First we had to take the Gornegrat train from Zermatt to Rotenboden (3089m) and then hike to the Monte Rosa Hutte (2795m). We had to go down like 300m, cross a glacier and then back up almost that much. The next day we had to get to the summit, back to the hut and back again to the Rotenboden train station before 17:00 so we could take the last train to Zermatt.

That’s me with the Dufourpitze on the back (above my head to the left), the glacier we had to cross and the hut. It can’t be seen in the picture at this resolution but it is in the rocks on the right of my cap’s brim.

Manu and Iñaki posing over a brige at the beginning of the first part of the glacier. This time we put on the crampons as soon as we hit the ice but they were not really needed. The dust particles carried by the wind stick to the ice and then absorb the heat from the sun melting the ice arround them. You end up with an iced surface with the texture of toasted bread. Rock solid and very grippy.

One of the many crevases we crossed. This is a small one as you can see but there are some big enough to fit a 4 story building. At this time of the year there is no fresh snow covering them, just raw ice, so it is relatively safe to cross the glacier unroped. The route is also marked with evenly spaced poles with flags on them.

Manu and me about to get into the second part of the glacier.

See what I just told you about the ice being grippy? That’s Iñaki getting lost among the crevases.

Once again there was a number of cables, chains and steel rods to aid reaching the hut. The problem with this terrain is that long long ago the glacier covered it all and the ice with the help of the rocks it dragged down, polished the rocks.
We reached the hut and as usual we put all the food together.

This is Iñaki relaxing a bit while I fix something to eat in the back. Just in case you wonder, unless we intend to melt lot’s of snow, we carry an MSR Pocket Rocket, a 2l stainles pot from Primus and as you can see in the picture a cozy I crafted out of an old insulating pad. Instead of heating water and dumping it into the freeze dried packages, I do it the other way arround and do all the servings at the same time. The cozy keeps the food hot so it cooks on itself for a long time and I don’t have to worry about under cooking pasta or anything. It works great. I also insulated the lid with a piece of pad. The bad news is that if you crack up the stove, you may burn the edges and need to replace the brim of the lid insulation to avoid heat loss. You can see the cozy in the back (blue).

Keep reading....

 

[Mikel_24]

Walking on hard terrain with big boots is a PITA. No matter how well they fit, you will sweat like a pig, your feet will get soaked, the skin softens and if you don’t patch up in advance, you will end up with blisters. Even if you do so you can still get some.

These are Manu’s feet. He had a riding accident long ago and almost lost his right foot (you can tell by the scars).

These are my feet. I am happy with these boots (Vasque Super Alpinista) they have a soft core with a hard plastic shell but are not double boots. Warm and supportive. The only drawback is that if you tighten them too much on the shins... they will tore you appart. In the Grand Paradiso I made that mistake so I had to patch up with two pieces of Comfeel (the industrial strentgh Compeed, big pieces for you to cut and trim) and four strips of tape. I had to pry all that off with a crowbar 10 days after that picture... LOL.

This is the view from the hut down to the glacier. If you look closely there is a hot chick lying in the rocks. Later on she stripped to her undies but I didn’t have my camera ready... sorry about that! She and her three partners were also from Spain.

The summit day we got up early. And when I say early I don’t mean getting up at 5:00 and start walking by 6:00. When I say early start I mean getting up at 1:00 and start walking by 2:00. As you can imagine we didn’t take too many pictures at night.

The bad news is that the previous afternoon we had some rain... which become snow at higher altitudes. Fresh snow means no track and covered crevases. I got to go first once again. After we had crossed the most dangerous part we steped out to the side to take a little rest, eat something and let someone else go in front making the foot steps. To top it off the snow was not as cold as we desired and our crampons booted up all the time, making our feet wait way more than they were supposed to.

After dealing with all those snow slopes to 4300m Iñaki broke down. He had headache and was feeling weak. Manu was way ahead of us with the other Spanish group so I was ready to go back down with Iñaki when two guys and the girl from the other spanish group turned arround as well. I was feeling great so we swapped partners. Iñaki went down with them and I hurried up to catch up with Manu and the other Spanish guy.

I got them when they were reaching the arette. I intended to climb it unroped, as usual but Swish guides and clients where going roped and there was a bunch of people backing up due to the bad weather. Soloing is safe as long as there is no people there to interfere with you. This time we roped up. Here you have two random pictures of the arette.

And here it is the summit!

That’s Manu and me clipped to the metal cross that was in the summit (now buried with snow).

And of course, Bladeforums tribute!

Going down this time was as much fun as going up, trust me on that.

Downclimbing a corridor.

Waiting for some other guys to cross a difficult section.


It took us 9 hours to go from the hut to the summit, 5 to go down from the summit to the hut and another 3 to go from the hut to the train station. Once we reached Zermatt and then Tasch we rested a whole day and thought about climbing the Pollux also in Swizerland.

Once I upload those pictures, I will post them here.

Mikel

 

[cerberus]

Pausing for picture with the bladeforums sign while in the Alps...........priceless!

Great pics thanks for sharing.

Cerberus

 

[Mikel_24]

Pausing for picture with the bladeforums sign while in the Alps...........priceless!

Great pics thanks for sharing.

Cerberus

I tried to find a nice picture of the forum patches but I couldn't so I had to make miself one. I just printed it here in the office and waterproofed it. It should last a while!
Mikel

 

[jds1]

What an awesome group of photos. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: You really captured the essence of the climb, starting with the fully loaded climbing van, all the way to the downclimb. Most excellent! Thanks a lot for posting.

Jeff

 

[jds1]

Mikel,

Have you ever done any climbing in the Montserrat area?

Jeff

 

[Mikel_24]

Mikel,

Have you ever done any climbing in the Montserrat area?

Jeff

I haven't but my pal Manu has been there I guess. There is plenty of rock in Spain and me, not being that much into rock climbing (I just climb 6a unprotected, not much more...) I don't travel much looking for rock. I live in the north part of Spain and I usually climb arround here or in the Picos de Europa or he Pirinees.
Have you been there Jeff?
Mikel

 

[Mack]

All I can say is, WOW.
Great trip, great pics. Thanks for taking us along.