Mystic Mountains

Ayyyeee. I survived the Mountains of Doom and have many a tale to tell.

This picture was taken shortly before the sun went down, leaving me stranded at 2600 metres above the level of the sea, with no path and only half a litre of water and my head-torch to see me down. I wasn't to know this, but it would be another 7 hours of scrambling through the dark and the fog before I would rest me weary legs. In between were treacherous gullies, deadly loose scree, raging mountain torrents, collapsing boulders and and evil fog that reduced visibility to about 5 metres!

It's a harrowing tale. I might even tell it someday, when the nightmares have stopped .....

Tarzan, or maybe Marzipan.

Sean has returned from his African safari. No doubt he will have many stories to tell, many of them will be entirely fictitious, like the picture of him above being chased by a young Masai warrior.

He has already tried to coax me out for beer once this evening. Fortunately i have a will of steel. A will of steel is necessary for the extreme mountain adventures i will experience over the next week or two. My stories, unlike Sean's, will be entirely real, and not in the least bit exaggerated. Avalanches, falling seracs, surviving on crevasse-ridden glaciers -- and all of it true.

Stay tuned ...

It's Happening Again !!!

Yep -- it's that time again. It's been about 3 months since my last trip to the Alps and I'm getting itchy feet.

This time the focus of the trip is on paragliding, in particular, flying from the Brevent in Chamonix again and getting as high as possible for as long as possible.

Last time I made it to nearly 3000m but didn't stay there very long because I was only wearing a t-shirt, but then, i wasn't expecting to have such a brilliant flight!

While i'm in the area I might try to do one of the via-ferrata routes i missed out on last time, going from the Montenvers railway to the Charpoua or Couvercle hut and back the following day. Strictly speaking it's not a via-ferrata route but more of an easy hike into the mountains. But it's got a few ladders on it and i guess that makes it a via-ferrata.

And if everything is going swimmingly, and the weather holds, then maybe a quick run up Mont Blanc for old times sake. It was in September 5 years ago that i first climbed it and i'd love to do it again and spend more time up there taking photos and looking around. Remember to bring a down jacket this time!