Archive - Date

Collected lists

Mont Blanc

Date:
15.07.2009
Characteristic:
Alpine trip

Wednesday, 15th July 2009 Bumming around in the morning and generally not rushing around was quite nice after 2 days of early starts. In fact, 10am actually came round pretty quickly and we were soon met at the apartment by our guides Hannah and Anthony to make the drive over to Chamonix (yes, it became something of a joke that there were actually three Hannahs in a group of 6). The general plan was to have lunch in Argentiere and then continue to the Aiguille du Midi station in Chamonix. Surprisingly it took less time to travel by car than it did when we took the Mont Blanc Express train, despite all the switchbacks in the road which probably made the route longer. It was about midday by the time we parked up in Argentiere and we sat at some park benches to eat our sandwiches. Chamonix was >>>

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Weissmies

Date:
14.07.2009
Characteristic:
Alpine trip

Having a day trip to the Weissmies meant that we could carry relatively light rucksacks and there wasn’t too many things to have to think about packing. So at 6am, we bundled back into Anthony’s Audi and drove down to the Tamoil garage at Sion to meet Hannah, our other guide and also split up into 2 cars which would be a lot more comfortable for the journey up to Saas Grund. It was a dry, slightly overcast morning, which was getting gradually sunnier as we progressed further east and up the valley again. Saas Grund wasn’t particularly high up, and we were going to take the Hohe Saas gondolas up to the station at about 3100m, which would place us quite nicely for the ascent to the top of the Weissmies at 4027m. We left the Hohe Saas station about 20 minutes after jumping on at Saas Grund, >>>

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Pigne d'Arolla

Date:
13.07.2009
Characteristic:
Alpine trip

Sunday, 12th July 2009 It was a nice, fresh morning we woke up to but it looked like it was gradually becoming more overcast as the morning drew on. Anthony, our guide, pulled up at the chalet at about 9.50am and our first stop was a gear hire shop in Les Hauderes, a couple of km down the road. Tobbe needed some proper boots and crampons, and Dan also needed to hire crampons. My chesty cough was still giving me much hassle, so I waited outside while they sorted out all the bits they needed. Once we'd driven to Arolla and parked up we began the walk in to the Dix hut. Mont Collon dominated the views at the top end of the valley, which stayed pretty much to our left. The air was warm but not too intense. At about halfway to the hut we reached a nice grassy plateau and stopped for some lunch. It >>>

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Mont Buet

Date:
10.07.2009
Characteristic:
Hike

Thursday, 9th July 2009 It was a beautiful morning to wake up to. Blue skies, minimal cloud on the mountain tops and fresh air. Hanna and I had the room with the view too, which meant we could step out onto the balcony and look straight up to the Aiguille du Midi – what more could you ask for? We met up with Dan and Tobbe at 8.30am for breakfast, so there was plenty of time for us both to shower before that. Unfortunately the 7.50 Euros breakfast proved a little disappointing. Apart from the fresh bread, croissants and coffee, there wasn’t much else on offer to satisfy our hungry hiker’s stomachs! Nevertheless, after we’d finished up in the dining room, we left a bit of kit behind in the hotel and set off for the train station, via the supermarket, to stock up on some food for lunch >>>

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