Page 3 - 2000 AMA Alps

Conduct Of The Expedition
the forecast for the coming week was poor too. After the first day spent crevasse rescue training (in a blizzard at the Grands Montets) and running through belay drills and prussiking (in the pouring rain
in the valley) with Mac MacKay there was a distinct need to find somewhere good for morale fast. The improvement in the weather was forecast to come from the SE. After phoning a British Guide based in Ailefroide it was established that the Ecrins Massif was due to gain good
mountaineering conditions several days before the Mt Blanc Massif. After only 36hrs in Chamonix the exped therefore decamped to Ailefroide and the first group reached the summit of the Dome des Ecrins (4015m) the day after- full marks to Dave Smith (DS) and his team of five. This was the first good climbing day in the Ecrins for several weeks and the AMA had its timing right! The day after, DS and his team moved to the Gran Paradiso, following the good weather back to Chamonix.
Adv Trg Qualifications
RCL: SPSA; MLS
MLW; JSRCI
RCL; MLWT: AJSMEL; SPSA WCP
RLT; UEL
JSRCI; UEL
MIC
RCL; MLT
BMG; HBF
JSRCI; SGL; MLWT; SPSA IAM; UEL
JSMEL(W); SGL; WCL; RCL JSMEL(S); SPSA
RCL; WMLT; JSMEL(S) RCP; WMP
Tim Bird with Biowassay behind.
They completed the Gran Paradiso (4061m) the day after before returning to Chamonix! The others had a day multi-pitch climbing in Ailefroide and reached the summit of the Barre des Ecrins (4101m) a day behind Simon (SW) and Jason (JA) by way of the BarreNoireCouloir. Afterafurther half-day's climbing they too returned to Chamonix.
Acclimatisation and confirmatory training phase (next 10 days). The weather had by now turned for the better in Chamonix but there was still concern over the snow conditions. However, the snow in the Ecrins had just reached perfect condition when we had arrived and the Mt Blanc Massif was therefore likely to have just reached the same point. It was decided to go high for acclimatisation and get on snow! DS took a group up Mt Tondu (3196m) and then over the Domes de Miage (3752m) the following day. SW took the remainder on a dramatic two day traverse over the D6mes de Miage and the knife edge traverse of Bionassay (4052m) and staying overnight in
the Durier Refuge, a small hut at 3358m. During this time AS and JR had also completed a traverse
There were 18 expedition participants on the Mt Blanc phase Due to operational and exercise commitments some
team members arrived late or departed early. A list of the expedition members is below:
Initial training phase (first 7 days). The weather prior to the exped’s arrival in Chamonix had been appalling. The snow had fallen and remained down to 1800m and
Rank
2Lt SSgt Capt Capt Capt CpI Mr Capt Capt SSgt OCdt Capt Capt SSgt LCpI Lt Capt CpI
Name
Ainley Bird Broad Campbell Garner Hill Jones Kivell McKay Miller Roberts Roddis Smith Smith
Taylor Truett Wetherall Woodhead
Jason A Tim Andy B Ewen Andy G Jason H Steve George Mac Dusty Steve James Andy Dave Craig Alasdair Simon Woody
Svc No
550611
539542 534771 542688 25000858
542723 542052 24707905 24962477 541524 24664614 532270 25064733 548296 524393 25025349
Unit
38 Engr Regt 721 Sqn RLC
3 CS Regt RLC DSDA
DWR
29 Regt RLC Civilian Guide
2 PARA
TAIT
JSMTC Llanfair RMCS
BW
2 PARA
275 RLC Sqn (V) 6 Bn REME PARA ITC
LISA Fd Sys NICSS
AMA ALPS 2000
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