Page 27 - 2000 AMA Summer

tion an early morning found us kitted up taking a ride up the telepherique to the Aiguille de Midi for our attempt on Mount Blanc de Tacul. The ride itself was great but unfortunately the weather was not when we arrived at the top To those who have never experienced it a 'white out' is a strange phenomenon, and at the same time unwelcome on the mountains by would-be Mallory's and Hillary's. With the prospect of the weather deteriorating further the group made it’s way across the Col to the Cosmiques Refuge. As storm clouds slowly gathered and the conditions failed to improve it was decided to opt for plan B (was there a plan B?). Plan B was to climb the Cosmiques arete. This, I am informed, was not a cop-out in any shape or form since this route actually involved individ­ uals using a higher level of technical ability on what is a grade 3/4-winter route. As we climbed, the intermittent breaks in the cloud revealed the true exposure of the mixed snow and rock route and its' knife edge nature. The route itself finished back at the Aiguille and we were treated like great conquer­ ing explorers by the tourists, as one by
one we climbed over the safety railings with ropes and climbing gear hanging off us and stamped the ice and snow off our boots. Having finished slightly earlier than expected we all jumped into our minibus and drove to Les Gaillards to get a bit more climbing in. This time the guides, came with us and showed us how the locals climb. If Andy and John were spiders these guys were lizards, able to hold onto ridiculous looking overhangs without a care in the world. The fact that they had probably been climbing these routes since they were children did little to console us that we still had an awfully long way to go in the climbing world.
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Ascent of Petit Aiguille Vert. By U Diamond.
Following our snow and ice day, we decided to have one last, long walk around the local area and day six found us taking a route to the Col de La Terrasse (2651m) from Vallorcine via Le Buet. The long gradual ascent to the Col provided us with tremendous scenery and a look over the border into Switzerland.
Our expedition finished with one final day of rock climbing close to the Swiss border on a crag at Vallorcine. It was the most demanding rock climbing of the whole expedition, involving excellent technical multi-pitch routes (5/6 pitches) with outstanding exposure and views and was probably one of the best crags in the area we only wished we had found it earlier on in the week.
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Throughout the expedition we had excellent weather in the valley but unfor­ tunately not quite on the tops but the whole trip was a great success, and even though we didn't get up Mont Blanc, for many of us this introduction into alpine/winter mountaineering was a great experience. I am sure that all of us will be back just as quickly as we can persuade our regiments to let us go!!
Expedition members were:
Major A Cameron RA (SI YO's)
2Lt’s A Howell (Exped leader, JSRCI & JSMEL)
J Catto (MEL)
M Penney (MEL)
J Diamond
MWebb(RLT)
BOOK REVIEW:
by Tim King
MALLORY AND EVEREST
Ghosts of Everest - The authorized story of the search for Mallory and Irvine by J Hemmleb, L Johnson and E Simonson (The Mountaineers and Macmillan, full price £22).
The Legendary Everest expeditions of George Mallory by D Breashears and A Salkeld (National Geographic at £25).
I received the latter book from Gina Sussens Associates, who market it in this country. I found a remaindered copy of the Macmillan edition of Ghosts of Everest at about the same time and thought that I would compare the two. The problem with this idea was that I found them both utterly fascinating! Ghosts is principally about the 1999 expedi­ tion that found Mallory’s body (and later a 1924 oxygen bottle below the First Step) but weaves the 1999 story skilfully round the 1924 events. By carefully building up evidence for and against, it gives a well reasoned and lucid account of what might have happened to Mallory and Irvine and the detective story reads like a Hercule Poirrot. Sometimes the story is so fascinating that one forgets that it could not be told without the extraordinary achievements of the 1999 expedition itself. Last Climb is in its way equally satisfying. Clearly, Ghosts says almost all that can be said about the 1924 conjecture but Last Climb manages
somehow to add another significant contribution by con­ centrating on the historical aspects, especially Mallory himself. It was started before the 1999 discoveries and is typical of Audrey Salkeld's meticulous research work and engaging style. It uses the 1999 discoveries to ask the same tantalising questions. For example: was the absence of a photograph of Ruth, Mallory’s wife, or a letter from her among all the bits of paper that were in Mallory's pockets, an indication that he had, in fact, been able to honour his vow to leave them on the summit? Did Odell see the two men at the top of the Second Step or the Third Step at 12.50pm on 8 June 1924 and is it significant which step it was? Both books leave open - as they must - the possibil­ ity that the two Britons made it and I suspect that the Mallory story will run and run. I hope so if it continues to fascinate us in the way that it has for 75 years. Whichever of these books you buy, you will not be disappointed.
Army Mountaineer 25