Page 26 - 2009 AMA Winter

THE TOUR OF MONT BLANC
A really true account by Damo ‘the mountain goat’ Wilkinson.
From 9-22 September 2008, six junior fast at 7am, which became the norm for together in our mutual loathing of the
the entire expedition. Tom O’hara, slighter larger than most was horrified to discover that in France coffee is served in a large bowl without handle, exclaiming “Only dogs drink from bowls!” He used his ther- mos flask from then on.
We set off shortly after breakfast, facing a gruelling 25km trek gaining around 2500m of height over the course of the day, carry- ing our worlds on our backs – no support team or base camp on this trip! Our map reading skills were tested straight away as we deviated from the main TMB route to tackle the more challenging alternate via the Tre la Tête glacier.
As this was our first day and being relative novices the steepness and ruggedness of the Alpine terrain caught us by surprise. We were all broken men by the time we reached the Refuge - just before the evening meal’s cut-off of 1930 was due. Damo particularly felt the pace and took over an hour to eat his meal – much to the amusement of his colleagues. We had been on foot for an energy sapping 11 hours.
Day 2 - Refuge Tre La Tête to Refuge Nova (France)
Despite the shock to the system we all felt very refreshed the next day and set off on time with much enthusiasm (due to several bags of Haribo Smurfs) heading downhill towards town of Les Contamines, were we picked up the main TMB route. The day presented the group with an unexpected surprise - sun-burn! We also got a brief glimpse of what many believed to be Mont. Blanc. After yesterday’s beasting this was a shorter day, and we arrived at our refuge some 3 hours before dinner, having cov- ered some 18 kms.
We began to realise just how global the attraction of Mt Blanc is; we ended the day sharing a meal with a group of America walkers and Swiss Cyclists. We bonded
ranks led by WO2 Al Jeffs of the Joint
Service Signals Unit Cyprus, set out to complete the 105 mile Tour of Mont Blanc (TMB). The aim of the exercise was primarily to promote joint service team- work, improve fitness and moral; and to pass the Summer Mountain Proficiency (SMP) course.
At Larnaca airport, our diary keeper, Damo believed he had the lightest bag at 9.1kg, until the Boss, proving that light is right dealt a sucker punch with a mere 6.3kg backpack - this included all SMP course documentation and a 500g Mountaineering guide book! At this point we wondered if we were destined to complete the tour with no more than the clothes on our backs – Ben our photographer seemed especially concerned as he was dressed in shorts and flip-flops! After a couple of hours inter- rogation by the British Transport Police in Heathrow (due to our resemblance to English Football fans travelling to Croatia for the 1-4 thrashing of Slavin Bilic’s side the next day) we all safely departed on-time to Geneva.
Arriving at Geneva we all gave a huge sigh of relieve upon sight of our bags on the conveyor belt – none more so than Ben, who was by now beginning to feel the cold! The same could not be said about our transport to Les Houches - the original minibus had broken down and replacement transport had to be sought. After an event- ful taxi drive where the driver narrowly avoided causing a pile-up involving our- selves, a Range Rover and a Porsche (!!), we arrived at our accommodation, 3km below the French Alps. The accommoda- tion offered a spectacular first glimpse of the glacier covered terrain we’d be tackling the next day. To a man we were awed by the sheer size of the mountains before us.
Day 1 – Les Houches to Refuge Tre La Tète (France):
Our first day of trekking began with break-
evening meals main course, which consist- ed of what could only be described as ‘yel- low cat sick’. After a few sociable drinks with our new-found buddies we retired for the night.
Day 3 – Refuge Nova – Refugio Elisabetta (Italy)
After a poor nights sleep, caused by a combination of our additional roommate for the night (an elderly French cyclist) suffering from sleep torrets and one of our own party doing an award winning impression of a horse chewing its bit, we prepared to set off. It was raining this day, which meant our intrepid fellow American fellow ‘hikers’ chartered in a minibus to take them to the next Refuge! Having discovered the day before that his waterproof jacket wasn’t actually waterproof, Damo produced his secret weapon – a poncho – which provid- ed some welcome humour for the rest of the group. We set off knowing that today we were going to be crossing over into Italy.
Having walked for many hours uphill the group was pleasantly surprised by the magnificent views from the Col de la Seigne on the French – Italian border with Mont Blanc to our left and our Refuge some 3.5kms to the front at the foot of the Miage glacier.
Descending into the valley was a mixture of emotions as Ben started to suffer from a knee injury that would hinder him for the remainder of the tour, whilst others enjoyed the Alpine wildlife, including a group of Marmots. Damo enjoyed his first day in the lead, having discovered to his joy that he was the only member of the group that pre- ferred going downhill!
Morale was extremely high at the end of day 3 with the entire group staying up late playing cards - until someone noticed the refuge-staff were patiently waiting for us to retire so they could setup for breakfast and bed down for the night.
Day 4 - Refugio Elisabetta to Courmayeur (Italy)
Day 4 proved in every sense to be a bit of a washout due to heavy thunder storms, persistent snow and trekking within the cloud-line. This forced all but Grudge to change into waterproofs. There was many a white face as we reached our midway rest stop amid a thunder and lightening storm. Realising we were stood out in the open, on top of a hill, with metal walking poles we hurriedly decided to skip dinner and press on.
24 ARMY MOUNTAINEER