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Rod's Euro 2010 - Trip Report 14-Sep-2010 At 1:31:04 AM rod

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Well, just had a pretty good result on the phone/camera front by using a USB cable and some new software to turn it into a slave then transferring all the contact, agenda and pics data across to my laptop, finally syncing that to the new phone. So here we go...

Aiguille Rouges, A Customary Cham Adventure 1/3

On the trip back from the crag Saturday Sandra invited me for a granite route she was doing with Cyrille, I was kinda reluctant but then Cyrille rang her whilst I was driving and asked me along as well. A bit of arm twisting over dinner and finally I agreed to set the alarm but with the caveat that I was already 3rd day on so if I wasn't on time for the 7AM rendezvous they were to take off without me. No dreaming that night I can tell you: the head hit the pillow and the next thing I knew the alarm was banging on at me...shower, double espresso, brekkie, pack a picnic, water, weather check (sunny and warm), dress accordingly and headed off to the rdv to a background of Tool to get me woken up.

7AM RDV spot, they've both just arrived.

Rod, bleary eyed: "Salut! So what are we doing?"

Cyrille/Sandra: "blah, blah, blah, Aiguilles Rouge, sport, 6b/c"

Rod: "Sounds easy enough - harness, chalk, shoes, picnic, water, softshell in case there's some wind, prussic, reverso, couple of slings, Swiss ID, cash, phone/camera, I'll throw in a couple of extra locking biners."

Cyrille/Sandra: "Sunnies, sunscreen?"

Rod: "Check, let's hit the road!"

Over the passes. Blue sky looking like there's a jetstream cirrus build, it seemed very familiar to my first Mt Blanc run...you know, caught on the glacier in a mid-afternoon storm, manage to sneak out as a hole punches into the cloud line, run all the way from there in a desperate effort to catch the last lift down from mid-station only to wave the last one goodbye and have to do the extra 3 hour trudge as the storm proper hits.

Talk focussed on lots of recounting recent efforts and debating whether Mt Blanc is better on ski's or not, take a paraglider or not, blah, blah...hit Argentiere then cruise along to Cham and park as the Caisse for the lift system is prepping for business...made the first lift up, that alone has gotta be a first for me!

1:45 minute walk to the base of the route at Aiguille du Belvedere, I'm stripped to shirt off and shorts within 5 minutes of getting off the second lift's chairs.

The Mt Blanc massif on the other side of the valley was looking pretty spectacular.