chere couloir

5:10am Friday morning: Mark and I were walking out of the Cosmiques hut at 3,500m altitude, in crampons, tied onto the rope for glacier crossing. I had lots of clothes on (I had no desire for hot-aches today) and the helmet torch was on full beam. I also felt a strong love for my fleece trousers.

The early start was partly driven by safety, to have a clear run at the Chere couloir route before the larger group attempting that route for the day got on it. Mark and I both had travel plans for the afternoon, out of Chamonix, so that was an added incentive to get cracking early and see how much we could achieve in the improving weather. The asssured gloats of the other group the previous evening of undoubtedly being first on the route in the morning were enough to motivate us to be fully focussed and well ahead in the battle of throwing down a morning breakfast and gearing up for the elements. I also later found out that the guide for the other group was Mark's assessor in the mountain guide training scheme, so there was plenty of pride on his side in beating them to the route. And up it, more importantly.

No fear on the latter: Mark set us off at a fearsome pace, remeniscent of the first climb of the week, which was an easier route on a different side of the same mountain. We crossed the glacier col in good time, and when we stopped to look back, after a fair climb up the gradually increasing angle of snow slope, we saw the lights of the group behind us plodding down from the hut. We had a good 20 minutes on them.

Soon we were into steeper snow and ice, first at a healthy pace, moving together and using the tips of the ice axes like daggers. Then, as it got steeper, we switched to taking turns to belay each other on pitched climbs as per normal rock climbing, which takes longer. We were on our first proper steep pitch of ice climbing before it was light, which turns out to be a great way to get over any fears you might have. If you can't see how far it is down or up, you just concentrate on what you are doing and what you can see with your headtorch. Thud, thud: ice axes in, quick tug to check the hold is good, then stepping up with the feet, kicking firm to make sure the front points of the crampons are biting. Thud, thud, step, step, step, step: easy!

First light of the pre-dawn, and I was climbing on vertical ice; trying to maintain good rhythm and balance and not get too burn't out in the arms or calves; trying to remain cool when taking out ice screws (they are supposed to save you if you fall, but I haven't tried falling onto one so far!), whilst hanging off an ice axe; trying to pace myself so I'm not exhausted after 10 moves at altitude. Actually, I felt good, and I really enjoyed the thud of the axe biting into the ice, and keeping good balance on my way up. The reward for this extreme exertion at such an early hour of the day, apart from the satisfaction of just getting up it, was a beautiful sunrise hitting the top of the Aiguille du Midi. Not long to savour it at this point though: photo, banana and water whilst belaying Mark, then take out the ice screw and go...

This was a more sustained difficult route than any I had done before (alpine grade D for difficile, as opposed to previous one's being AD; assez difficile), and the near-vertical ice went on for some time. After that, we neared the top of the couloir, and the terrain was less straightforward, with a fresh coating of powder snow covering the rocky outcrops. This proved more difficult than just ice axes and crampons on the steeper pure ice.

Mark pushed us hard, and with fast early progress made and little time wasted (i.e. no breaks to speak of), we were able to go for the top, rather than abseiling down the couloir as the other group did. The steep, deep fresh snow made it a bit of a slog to the top of the peak, coming out near the summit of Mont Blanc du Tacul. Phew, yet again I was breathing like a steam engine with the pace and continual effort of pushing hard at that altitude, but yet again, turning downhill did wonders for allowing the lungs to recover.

We came down the same serac and crevasse - laden snow field of Mont Blanc du Tacul as Monday. After fresh snow-falls in the previous couple of days, and a warm, sunny day beckoning, the risk of avalanche was high, and increasing as the sun rose during the morning. No time for sunbathing yet. Once past the crevasses and seracs, we were able to practise a classic mountaineering technique on the last part of the downhill, known as taking huge lunging steps down the soft powder snow. Happy days. Very happy days indeed actually, as it turned out the party who set off to the same couloir as us in the morning were just arriving back at the col at the same time as us, but had only climbed half the route that we had done. That was very satisfying not so much to beat the other team, but to know that we were a strong party capable of tackling hard routes quickly and effectively if needed.

Of course I knew from Monday's exertions that we still had to force ourselves back up to the Aiguille du Midi cable car station, 300m up the arete; plodding through the snow, with the last section on the steep knife-edge. After pushing really hard for the earlier peak, and 8 hours into a day of hard exercise, this always hurts, and I was soon sucking in all the air I could, and just concentrating on keeping on plodding at a steady pace. Whilst I probably had a grimace showing at the time, there was also a bit of a satisfied smile underneath, as I was nearing completion of a great day's adventure in the mountains, and a suitable climax to a couple of weeks of mountaineering.

Thanks to Mark for an amazing week's alpine climbing. 1st August 2012 then for the Matterhorn?!