Page 23 - 2020 AMA Winter

BEATING THE LOCKDOWN – AN ALPINE ODYESSY
Duncan Francis
Chris and I had a simple but cunning plan; head for Courmayeur and do the Peutrey Integrale, one of
the biggest routes in the Alps. Sadly the weather of 2019 defeated that, the South side of Mont Blanc was effectively closed, and we had to make do with some lesser climbs around Chamonix before heading back to the UK, defeated. So 2020 it would be; plenty of time for preparation, we could go out and get acclimatised; it was in the bag.
Only of course it wasn’t; by August we would both normally have been climbing and mountaineering almost constantly since working the Winter, but Covid had come and scuppered that. I had been mobilised and was working with the Scottish Government in Edinburgh; at least I had managed to get out running up and down Arthur’s Seat each day. Chris had been stuck down South and had been pushing his cragging grades, but neither of us had been to altitude, and neither of us had been doing the big mountain routes that you needed to prepare for the Integrale. But we thought we would go anyway; you never know....
In Chamonix, Chris was looking fit; he was also 28 years younger than me and on his way to becoming an aspirant guide. He was also just back down from something hard on the Blatiere. Sigh! We briefly toyed with the idea of the Aiguille des Deux Aigles, and a bivvi, but I wasn’t
Alpine Luxury Guides d’Ayas Refuge
acclimatised, even if Chris was, so I persuaded him to repeat a route I last did in 1983; the Chapelle de la Glière in the Aiguilles Rouges. The Chapelle is a great route, quite easy but sustained, and it has probably the most photographed pitch in the Alps; the infamous Rasoir [Razor]. This is actually dead easy, but looks amazing, and has Mont Blanc as a background. We moved fast, passing a few other ropes, abbed off the back and scuttled off down the descent, content with a very pleasant day.
The weather was fabulous, and, unbeliev- ably, it was to stay that way for the next two
weeks. We decided to go higher, and took the first frique the following morning to the Plan du Midi, heading up by a somewhat circuitous route [i.e. we took the wrong path] for the Grütter Ridge on the Aiguille de Pelerins. Unlike the Glière, the Grütter is seldom frequented, so we had the entire aiguille to ourselves. The Grütter is infamous for difficult route finding, and we were no different, both having our moments on un-bolted, apparently virgin terrain, but we kept on heading back to the arête and soon found ourselves at the crux pitch. By now we only half way up, and had only four hours left until the last frique, so we moved as fast as we could,
Breithorn Traverse
Chris on the summit of Castor
Edraianthus
ARMY MOUNTAINEER / 23