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and then some more pasta! Some of the guys I don’t think will be going for an Italian meal for some time!)
An Alpine start on a summit day commences at approx 0400hrs! With breakfast (no full English here either) at 0400-0430hrs and then head torch on, crampons on, harness on, ropes tied on and off you go at anywhere between 0430 & 0500hrs and follow the feet in front on the usually well trodden track onto the glacier and onwards & upwards to the summit.
The Gran Paradiso has a short rocky section along the top to the summit and requires a little more concentration and some quick rope trickery to eliminate any chance of someone slipping and falling 1000s of metres down to the glacier either side of the summit rock steps!
Safely back down to the valley and back to the safety of the camp, a day off is well earned as, some of the guys found that this “altitude lark” is actually quite tiring after all. Some guys were actually affected by AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) – in other words altitude sickness. Symptoms range from shortness of breath, dizziness, lethargy, coughing and blurred vision including the 1st sign a head ache! All of these symptoms can be cured (in most people anyway) by losing height as quickly as possible, rehydrating, eating and resting at a lower elevation. So the day off at a little over 1000m above sea level was welcomed by all!
The next trip was to scale the Monte Rosa, a massive rectangular block of a
peak right next door to another 4000’er the Dufour Spitz only this summit actually had a high altitude mountain hut on its summit. The group dynamics and rope positions change along the route as people need to rest, call of nature, adjust clothing, eat & drink etc but
out and selected to stay in the hut and play cards, read magazines and drink tea! (How British)
Over the course of the night the weather got better, the views were amazing again,
generally, we all arrive
at the summit within
5–15minutes of each
other. Luckily for some
of the group, the
summit hut is open
and a well earned hot
chocolate and piece
of cake is happily gorged during our rest before heading back down to the start hut for lunch, change of clothing and then the short walk back down to the lift system that will take us all the way down to the transport.
Up until now the weather has been pretty good to us! Up until now that is. The last couple of peaks were the Castor Ridge and, the Lyskamm West Ridge or face depending on the quality of the snow & ice. The weather was turning, and quickly. By the time we reached this next hut (Refugio Sella) the visibility was down to about 10-20m and the wind speed was increasing by the second! Over the course of the next couple of hours the weather deteriorated and we had no option other than to delay the start of the next days trip out!
In the morning there was no change, in fact only worse, so we cancelled the day
still there. Between Vallerio Stella the Italian Captain and myself
we agreed on making the trip up the Castor Ridge from West to East which should only take approximately 3.5hrs from Hut to Hut! Only, we would cut down the rope
teams and those guys that were suffering would stay in the hut and wait for our return.
The trip ended nicely with a meal out at a local Pizza place with all of the Alpini Guides we had met and gratefully utilised their experience, expertise and Alpine knowledge and the guys from 4 Mercian without of course there would not have been a trip at all!
A big thanks goes out to the RSM for organising another great trip, the Italian Alpinis for their assistance and of course all of those at HQ ATG & HQ 143 Brigade
Here’s to next year’s trip! Summits climbed:
Gran Paradiso 4061m Monte Rosa 4610m Aiguille du Midi 3842m Castor Traverse 4210m
EX DRAGON MONTAGNA EAGLE 18-31 JULY – By Sgt Roddis
Luckily for some of the group, the summit hut is open...
only the wind was
After a very busy year I was lucky enough to be picked to go
on EX DRAGON MONTAGNA EAGLE in Courmayear working with the Italian Alpini’s attempting to summit Monte Rosa,
Gran Paradiso and Mont Blanc. We conducted some low level training culminating in a weekend on Snowdon doing Crib Goch and trying out all the new and Gucci kit we had been issued
for the trip, then before we knew it we were off. Once we had met the guides we went out to the Geant Glacier and tried
out more of the skills we had used including the crampons, which apparently feel like wearing high heels!
Over the next few weeks we managed to summit, Aigulle Du Midi 3842m, Gran Paradiso 4061m and Mont Rosa 4606m and met some very interesting
individuals in the mountain huts. Unfortunately we were unable to make an attempt on Mont
Blanc due to the weather conditions,
however the RSM and Phil Maddox pulled it out of the bag and managed to get in some Grade 4 White Water Rafting where someone managed to complete his Military swim test in the first 30 seconds of launching, not mentioning any names. We then went off to attempt two more 4000m plus summits instead of Mont Blanc, however the first day we ended up playing cards for 12 hours as the weather was too bad, even the locals stayed in. The following day the remainder of the group managed to get out and summit Castore 4228m, we then had a quick turn around to get back to the airport and back to work.
It was quite easily one of the best experiences of my career so far, laid back and relaxed, but it was also one of the hardest, in terms of physically demanding, especially when you are tethered to two mountain goats, I would recommend it to anyone, get yourself fit and have a go.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE