Sep’ 2019
What a trip!
After every BAM trip we say ”How can we top it?”
This time will be actually hard to top it, having climbed quite high…
We started 7, than 6, than 4-but it was always a blast.
We have been in 3 countries, and have under our belt now three 4,000 m peaks -and for 4 of us-we have been on the highest mountain in the Alps and highest in Western Europe.
All of you performed amazingly.
We all worked well as team, transmitting positive energy and encouraging each other.
We were lucky with the weather and blessed with an All Star team of mountain guides.
We all reached all the summits that we were supposed to, and we all came down in one piece.
And for this we should be extremely thankful!
Sir Edmund Hillary said *“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves“.*
I am sure we all agree.
Here is a summary of what we did:
Day 1: Mt.Chetif Ferrata., out of Courmayeour -1, 000 m vertical gain-Italy
Day 2: Aiguille des Marbres out of Pointe Helbrooner (Arete des Entreves for Marc G.) Italy/France border
Day 3: Arete Des Cosmiques out of Aiguille des Midi (our 15 min of fame climbing the ladder to the observation deck ..having our pics taken…) France
Day 4: Rock climbing the “Egg“ route on the Rifflehorn -Egg route .230 m’ , grade II-with the Matterhorn in the background -Switzerland
Day 5: Breithorn – 4,164 m, with its narrow Arete. Italy/Switzerland border
Day 6: Jagihorn Ferrata, and the: ”swinging“ bridge (right out the Lord of the Rings )-Switzerland
Day 7: Weissmies -4,017 m. Spent the night at the Hochsaas hut.. this is where I jumped over the crevasse and pulled Woody -flying above me and landing with a Karate roll. Albi descended in a cr_evasse _to get my pole…
Day 8: Rest day in Chamonix , France and paragliding over _the Chamonix valley. (from Plan de l’Aiguille, _2,317 m) _- fling for 40 min 1,300 m above and across the valley_.
Day 9: Climb to Gouter Hut , 3,835 m. Started at Nid d’Aigle 2,372 m. Crossed the infamous Gouter Couloir.
Day 10: Summited Mt.Blanc, 4,808m -and climbed down to Nid d’Aigle. We left at 3:30 am and were down by 2:30 pm. Essentially we climbed up that day 1,000m vertical and climbed down 2,500 m vertical!
4:00 pm -Celebratory burgers at “Elevation 1904“ bar, per tradition! (while viewing the summit of Mt Blanc)-surreal!
Thank you Alberto, Carlo and Alessandro (and Dave for 2 days)
