So What’s It Really Like to Be Guided Up the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc?
/WRITTEN by ANNE ENSOLL & WENDY DODDS
Wendy Dodds has featured in a few of our blog posts over the last year. In July 2017 she booked some time with Chris, hoping to climbing the Matterhorn. In January 2018 we interviewed here for our Who Needs A Mountain Guide? series, and she also got a mention in last week’s blog post, Don’t You Just Love It When a Plan Works Out? This summer she booked a ten day slot with nine guided days, with the aim of revisiting her aim of climbing the Matterhorn, after her hopes were dashed in 2017 by an injury during the preparation days. Oh, and maybe Mont Blanc as a bonus - not a bad aim for a woman in her 60's.
This is Wendy’s account of the two summits in her own words.
On the summit of Mont Blanc du Tacul during the training phase
The Matterhorn 27th July 2018
We only decided on the attempt forty-eight hours beforehand when we knew the weather forecast was good and stable and we were easily able to get a booking at the Hörnli hut. The good conditions did mean that the rest of the world was there as well, including quite a few Brits. We drove over from Chamonix to Tasch on Thursday 26th July and had a gentle stroll from the Schwarzsee to the Hörnli Hut.
Before the 'opening of the door', at 4.20am precisely, there was almost a fight, possibly because a non-Swiss guide was trying to move up the queue, but it only got as far as an incomprehensible slanging match. We got quite a good position among the non-Swiss guides and did not seem to wait too long below the metal rungs at the start, and it was warm so only wearing a base layer and no gloves until the snow when we put on our crampons around or above 'the shoulder'. We were mainly on our own up to the Solvay, only a speedy pair and a non-guided climber racing past. The queues really only began at the bottom of the fixed ropes where the quick ascenders were returning at speed as we were trying to go up. Chris said that he had never seen anything like it during his 50 or so ascents. There were so many people and guides ropes around, it took a lot of concentration to just get on with it. Although I was obviously on Chris's rope it was hard to keep him in sight and even more impossible to communicate, not helped by folk behind telling me what to do, all of them something different! I actually enjoyed that bit as I just had to implement the skills we had been refreshing during the days before.
Descending the shoulder of Mont Blanc du Tacul
On the final haul above the fixed ropes it was quiet and we summited with a British guide and his client who we had eaten with the night before. That was the first real rest apart from the queues and even then it was short and mainly to put on a second layer. I had sneaked a jelly bar when in a queue but did not feel like much at the top. We got back to the Solvay pretty quickly on the return and I had to ask for a rest there. The ascent to there had been the hardest bit for me as I could feel the effect of the altitude, even though it was just like going up a staircase and I was surprised at how non-technical the whole ascent was. After that, possibly because there was so much going on, I felt good. The descent from there was perhaps the hardest bit technically as I knew I was weary and had to take care which meant the 'continual flow' that Chris likes was not always/often there, and he had remarked earlier in the week how bad I was at following route lines which he thought were obvious. We had a quick drink before departure from the Hörnli hut and were back in Chamonix by 6pm, the exact time we had been invited for a meal by friends of Chris. Although I was desperate for a shower having been in the same clothes for almost 36 hours (I had a change in Chris's camper van but we thought we would have time for a shower but were delayed by a road closure and diversion, just before the Swiss border) and would have loved a very early night, it was enjoyable to have an excellent home-cooked meal, be looked after and 'wind down' and relax. I had no aches or pains on return to the Hörnli but did find the walk back to the Schwarzee produced sore knees, not usually a problem for me, but I felt OK the next morning and could not sleep beyond 5am.
On the summit of the Matterhorn
Because the forecast when I started with Chris was unpredictable and not looking too good, I had said that I did not mind not doing the Matterhorn. I just asked for 9/10 good days in the mountains (there was always going to be a planned rest day somewhere). In fact initially I wondered if I really wanted to climb it. Looking at it from the Hörnli hut on Thursday I wondered if I was up to it, but lay in bed mentally preparing myself to implement (and remember!) all that I had been taught. Up to the Solvay I wondered if my body could take the altitude and I was wondering how slow/bad I would have to be for Chris to turn me back, but then everything was fine and I enjoyed the variety.
Back at the Hornli hut after descending the Matterhorn
Mont Blanc 30th July 2018
Chris's word from July 2017 still echo in my head: ‘Don’t expect me to take you up Mont Blanc if you can’t do better than that’, referring to my crampon technique when I allow my mind to adversely affect my body! On day one with Chris this year I was not much better on snow, though this was without crampons and I was a little better when I ‘cramponed up’ but still lots of room for improvement. I had to keep giving myself a ‘talking to’ (when Chris was not doing so!)
Arriving back from Zermatt, there looked to be a possible weather window and it was a question of selecting a day. I needed a rest day, and felt that two rest days were preferable. Chris’s route of the Trois Monts (Mont Blanc du Tacul, Mont Maudit, Mont Blanc) sounded good and we had already done part of it the previous week when going up Mont Blanc du Tacul. Even more attractive was having a good night’s sleep in Chamonix and catching the first cable car to the Aiguille du Midi and hopefully back before the last one down and avoid an unplanned stay at the Cosmiques hut.
1. Mont Maudit from the Col du Maudit
Chris collected me at 5.45am and we were at the front of the queue for the 6.30am Aiguille du Midi cable car, allowing us to step over the barrier at the top at 7.00am. I felt that I descended the arête better than on the two occasions the previous week and certainly with more confidence than a year earlier. Initially we were going over the same ground as six days previously and I worked at my breathing with this influencing pace rather than the reverse. The vertical ladder was much easier when climbing it for the second time and we were soon contouring around Mont Blanc du Tacul and it was getting warm, so I was relieved to have nothing more on than a base layer and a shirt rated SPF 30 to dampen the sun’s rays. The seracs looked awesome and I was told that this was a ‘no go slow’ area where we must keep moving. With the high temperature we had taken gloves off and I failed to notice Chris put his back on until I had started the only real technical pitch on the route requiring the use of two ice axes. That was not a problem but climbers were going in both directions and using the same bolts for gear. I was exceedingly ‘ham fisted’ in removing gear, testing Chris’s patience to the limit. Although I needed gloves back on I was reluctant to slow down even more by doing so and even more worried about dropping one. So a series of ice burns over my knuckles ensued and I left a trail of blood in my wake. Fortunately cold has an anaesthetic effect so no worries.
Soon after this an ice screw was unaccounted for, but I knew that I had taken two out and put them on my gear loops and not heard them clatter beneath me, but it created a concern for me that I had ‘lost’ such a valuable piece of gear. Fortunately it had already been transferred to Chris, so again no worries.
On the Col du Maudit after descending from Mont Maudit
The final climb to the summit of Mont Blanc from the Col du Maudit
I had been ‘promised’ two water stops on the way to the summit, one at each of the two cols, but I was sure that we had passed one. Eventually a welcome break came at the second col. Then it was the final (long) haul. I had heard Chris talking about ‘desperation rocks’ where clients had begged to go back despite being within spitting distance of the summit so I blotted out these rocks from my brain. I had debated whether or not to take poles for this final ‘walk’. At one point thinking I might only need one plus an ice axe but in the end Chris had advised two poles and that meant we could have one each! So it was like being in Scotland in winter, but MUCH slower due to the reduced partial pressure of oxygen as we climbed. Eventually we could see a few climbers on the summit and in no time we were there too, sharing it with only four others. An amazing sight, we were above everything with majestic peaks on three sides and the valley beneath us on the northern side. Cloud had been forecast and I later said to Chris how lucky we had been to miss the cloud. He then pointed out that there had been lots of little white things beneath us! After the obligatory photos, we literally ran down to the Col de Brenver and avoided having to put on any extra clothes.
On the summit of Mont Blanc
When returning to the pitch on which I had been VERY slow at removing gear, Chris announced that there would be no ‘messing’ on the descent and he was going to lower me down. Off I went and then there was an ‘Oh’ from above. I had half the rope coiled in my sack so there was not enough for me to get down, so I had to climb back up which was justified as being an extra hill rep (of great value for my fell running!). This was all happening while another pair was descending with the guide prusiking down his rope. From here on we passed a few pairs having been on our own for most of the day, only one pair appearing to have started when we did.
At every opportunity Chris had me moving quickly. The small ascending route back to the col below Mont Blanc du Tacul seemed to go on forever. Then before we knew it we were back to the ladder and then a rapid descent into the area of the Cosmiques hut. The final obstacle was climbing back up to the Aiguille du Midi, the hardest part when we had been there a week earlier. Today it was the last leg of an amazing journey, so paced this accordingly with plenty of time to spare to get us back to Chamonix the same day. We were out nine hours, an hour more than on the Matterhorn three days earlier. It was technically easier than the Matterhorn but energy wise harder, as might be expected with an additional 300m height gain.
A huge ‘thank you’ to Chris for turning a fell runner into a novice alpinist, not an easy task!? A day on an alpine peak is in some ways less tiring than racing on the fells with a quicker recovery, but the effort involved minute by minute is draining. If I can achieve this, anyone with reasonable fitness and prepared to put in the effort to learn new skills and take preparation and planning seriously, should be able to do the same.
