Conquering New Peaks

Mont Blanc (French) or Monte Bianco (Italian), meaning "White Mountain", is the crystalline core-area and the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe (4810 m), belongs to the Western Alps. The location of the summit is on the watershed line between the valleys of Italy and France. It is 50 km long. Glaciation area of over 200 km², the large glacier Mer de Glas. Mountaineering centre.

 

The 11.6 km long Mont Blanc Tunnel connects France and Italy. The famous ski resort of Chamonix is located on the French border at the Western foot of the Mont Balnc. Another ski resort – Courmayeur – is on the Italian border at the Southern foot.

The first recorded ascent on the Mont Blanc was on 8 August 1786 by Jacques Balmat and the doctor Michel Paccard.

"Three times while climbing I regretted the very idea of going to the mountains, but when I got back down I understood how cool it was!.."

I have long wanted to go to the mountains. Friends advised me to begin with the Elbrus (5600 m). This year I finally found the time for it, but before I considered all the pros and cons and got myself fixed up it was August. I started calling Minsk tourist clubs looking for groups and it turned out that all those who wanted to climb the Elbrus already did it in June and July – in August it is cold, snowy and windy, so no one is willing to ascend it. There was another factor which was very important. The Caucasus region is now a very troubled place with constant counter-terrorist operations, that is why a visit would require going through numerous formalities and would be simply dangerous. Then I thought of the Mont Blanc (4810 m) which, according to reviews, had nearly the same complexity and height. As it turned out, not quite the same. The slopes of the Elbrus are pretty gentle both from the north and the south, so the ascent to its summit is basically trekking with some physical exercise (backpack + long climb). The Mont Blanc, as we understood when we got there, is quite complex from a technical point of view, i.e. along with strenuous hiking trails there are technically difficult sections with the elements of mountaineering (it is when you climb a steep wall with your hands and feet  and there is a heavy backpack on your back or when you have to walk a narrow icy path along a 50-meter cliff followed by a steep slope). Fortunately, the route is pretty well-travelled and there are metal ropes hung where the road is hard but this doesn’t really improve extreme conditions.

 After 3 weeks of searching I still didn’t find a single group and started to doubt that I can make it. I pinned my last hope on a post on extreme.by 'Mountains in September'. That’s it! Finally some luck! I got a response from one of the members of the Mont Blanc group. The campaign was organized by the Borisov tourist club Kayak (Eugene Yakutsenya). The group had a very good balance of experienced climbers and first-timers: 2 instructors, 3 experienced water tourists and 4 first-timers, including me (9 people altogether).

Pic 1. Chamonix. Before the start. In the background is a ski lift.

First we went up for 900 m in a ski lift and then we got on a mountain tram.

Pic 2. View of Chamonix valley from the ski lift.

Pic 3. Mountain tram.

Pic 4. Tran route map.

Pic 5. This train terminates here. All change please… to your feet. 

The last kilometre of the railway track was closed for repairs, so we had to walk it. It was a little warm-up – 1 km long and 300 m up. As it turned out, this was more than enough for the first day because half of the group could barely walk to the first shelter.

Infrastructure is worth a special mention. Everything is civilized and taken care of, places are habitable, shelters for climbers are comfortable. There is water, food, toilet, shower and other delights of the civilization. But! At this time (end of September) the season ends and all delights of the civilization are closed, only living rooms (dining rooms) where you can sleep on the floor remain open, so during our campaign we had to get water from snow and streams, food came from our backpacks and we took shower in the streams too .

Pic 6. Kitchen in the first shelter. 2300 m above sea level.

Pic 7. To our great delight, the dormitory was open too.

Pic 8. Day two, we are leaving our first shelter and heading to the hiking trail. 

Pic 9. On the trail.

Pic 10. On the trail. Step to the right, step to the left… and the man is gone…

The elevation change between the first and the second shelter is about 800 meters, the ascent is easy but at the finish we have to walk on a sharp and narrow crest for 200 meters.

Pic 11. The narrow trail.

It took us 4 hours to walk to the second shelter (from 8 a.m. till noon), by then we got full load on the feet and started to feel the lack of oxygen. At the end of this trek we were awfully tired and had to stop after every 50 metres.

Pic 12. Second shelter. Rest.

Pic 13. Programme of ascent to the third shelter.

Pic 14. Day three. Ascent to the third shelter. On the trail.

On the third day we had to make the most dangerous part of the ascent. 90 per cent of the way between the second and the third shelter went through a sharp and narrow crest and required maximum attention.

Pic 15. Part of the trail went through a steep couloir with the unsteady and moving snow.

Pic 16. Third shelter (3800 m).

Pic 17. The world is nothing but snow.

Pic 18. The night before the final assault.

3800 m above the sea. We start to have fits of mountain disease. Somebody suffers from general weakness, somebody has a headache or a stomach ache but in general it feels tolerable – we’ll just have to acclimatize ourselves. At 2 p.m. we get up and set off to gain the summit.

Pic 19. Climbers’ breakfast.

When climbing you have to think of every extra gram of weight you carry on your back that is why we left part of the food in the first and second shelters. And before our final assault we had a very light breakfast made of cheese, butter, zephyr and tea (all we had remained ).

Pic 20. A narrow trail to the Mont Blanc summit.

We climb to the summit light handed. Walking is hard because there is not enough oxygen. The last 300 m of height took us almost an hour – a stop for breathing after each 40-60 steps.

Pic 21. 8 a.m., the Mont Blanc!

Pic 22. We’ve done it!