ALPINE CLUB TRIPOLIS

ALPINISME MONT BLANC 4807m - SUMMER 2003

PHOTO GALLERY

MONT BLANC 4807m Mont Blanc is the highest peak of the Alps. There every climber meets large height differences, for example from CHAMONIX to the top we need to cover 4000 miters. The vigorous bas- relief of the mountain and its compact bulk, with the glaciers which are surrounded from the highest peaks and the famous face DRU to be raised over the MER DE GLACE glacier, are competing to beauty each other. So that is a temptation for every climber from all over the world. We were satisfied with the peak of MONT BLANC from the classical way. The summer of 2002 we tried to climb to the top but we failed in because of our bad equipment (gloves). Instead the summer of 2003 we succeeded our target. Both times we decided to visit the Alps with Panagioti Kotronaro who is a famous Himalaya person and belongs to the first climbers who managed to climb Everest in the first succeeded Hellenic mission. He organized BASE CAMP, a kind of a school for high peaks. In order for someone to get there, he has to travel by plane to Geneva and then travel by bus to Chamonix. Otherwise he may pass the tunnel of MONT BLANC from Italy. We traveled by plane. CHAMONIX is the Mecca of the alpinism and there are a lot of choices for staying. There are camping areas and glamorous hotels. We chose the «Les Arolles» camping which is inside town. The school started with an introduction on ice climbing in the MER DE GLACE glacier, rescuing techniques on crevasse, pulleys etc. That afternoon we rested, chose our equipment and checked all the necessary things for the climbing. The next morning we traveled by bus from Chamonix to Les Houches. From there we took the cable car to Bellevue 1800m and then we traveled by a little train to Nid D’ Aigle. From there starts a path to the first resort which is called Tete Rousse at 3110m. There we spend our night in order to be acclimated. The next day we continued to the next resort GOUTER at 3817m. In order to get there we had to climb in a ridge which was 2-3 degree. We were laky because that night it was snowing and that helped us the next morning to pass a couloir were many pieces of rocks are falling. But the rocks were sliding dangerously and we had to put the crampons for safety. In the end of the ridge before the resort someone may use VIA FERATA (steady wire ropes were you are secured). There is loss in the resort from 300 climbers at least. We forget the sleep in the bed as we are crowded in the floor. The service from the responsible people is irreproachable and the food good enough. We start for the top at 2 in the night, the weather is wonderful, and we are tied to each other with ropes in teams of 4 persons and begin climbing. There are hundreds of lights (head lens) in series in front of and behind us which light the way to the top. We are crossing for hours the eternal ices until the sun shines and then we make a stop outside the emergency resort which is called Vallot at 4362m. From this spot to the top things become difficult. We are crossing the frozen ridge, there is no fresh snow and so the crevasses have been revealed. We pass them with difficulty. In the ridge no mistake mast be done, the crampons and the ice axes should be used in the right way and good physical condition is needed. We feel weird, the spectacle is unique, the height differences are huge and under your feet there is chaos. In a while we reach the peak of Mont Blanc at 4807m. We unroll the flag of our town‘s climbing society with the name SAOO and take the indispensable photos. Around us a fantastic bas- relief is extended. There is view in the peaks of Europe (Matterhorn, Eiger etc). The sun is shining and that help us to see the peaks. But the radiation is intense and so we need protection. We return from the same route until Tete Rouse without staying at Gouter. We pass carefully the rocks in the descent because its afternoon and pieces of rocks are falling all the time, either from others who climb or by itself. Before Tete Rousse there is only a couloir to cross where pieces of rocks fall in great frequency. We pass one by one very carefully because danger is watching for us. The next day we follow a path until the little train of Mont Blanc. With that we reach the cable car and with that we reach our base to CHAMONIX. The new day finds us crossing the Valle Blance from France to Italy until the resort TORINO. We return by cable car to CHAMONIX. The school finishes with ice climbing on crevasse in the BOSSONS glacier. It worth’s for someone to try since the experiences he will live, will raise the adrenaline. No one can experience something like that in Greece because there aren’t so high mountains with that kind of conditions.