Karen's Alps Trip - In memory of Sylvia.
Marcus & I recently returned from a fantastic trip to the Swiss Alps, a trip Sylvia would have loved. About 18 months ago, Sylvia’s adventure fund being the catalyst for this, we booked onto a mountaineering skills course with two of our friends, Zoe & David. If anyone is interested the course was booked through Alan Kimber’s West Coast Guides. We booked a week at the end of August, praying for good weather, and mum & dad were absolute stars & looked after the children for the week!
I can honestly say this was one of the best experiences of my life (bar having the kids of course!) & I am yearning to do more 4000m peaks!
We arrived in Switzerland on Saturday 25th August at the delightful village of Saas Grund. Having met our fellow course goers (there was another course of four people running simultaneously) we established there were no group weirdoes & the social side would be ok! Having said that, the majority of the week was spent as a four (Marcus, Zoe, David and I) with our guide Chris, who is “Mr Man of the Mountains!” I would (& did) trust Chris with my life and felt completely (well almost) immune from the fear I had anticipated whilst crossing crevasse fields, due to his calm manner & obvious expertise. Chris was truly wonderful throughout & we would be keen to enlist his guiding services in the future (he is an independent mountain guide; employed by Alan Kimber on occasions if numbers dictate that more than 1 guide is required (the ratio of client to guides is 1:4).
Day 1 of the holiday saw us prussiking up trees & practising crevasse rescue techniques from the safety of a grassy knoll! This was to instil the skills in a safe environment, which made perfect sense & ended up being great fun!
Day 2 we climbed the Mittaghorn with the help of Via Ferrata, which is something I have always wanted to do. This was an unexpected bonus & I surprised myself by enjoying the exposure (well actually I tried not to look down!). Having reached the summit we then walked off to the Britannia hut, which was to be our base for the next 2 nights. We had been warned there would be no running water & since Chris had advised us to “go light” & sleep in our clothes, Zoe & I felt slightly guilty about the wipes we had secreted in our rucksacks! It was however the only bit of luxury we allowed ourselves & we were to be surprised by how easily we adapted to being the “great unwashed”! The hut was great with lots of character & a homely rustic feel. The food was less inspiring, but the altitude was affecting our appetites, so this wasn’t much of an issue (we made for it on the valley evenings!).
Day 3 saw us up early (around 5am!) & out onto the glacier for skills practise. After an initial stressful start, with Zoe & I in tears before we left the hut (a combination of sleep depravation, nervous anticipation & general hysteria surrounding what kit to pack!) we settled into the day & enjoyed practising crossing glacial fields roped together, setting up ice belays & practising crevasse rescue. We had hoped this would be a purely theoretical exercise but this was not to be the case! Both Zoe & Marcus managed to fall into small crevasses….crisis averted by a quick response in moving in the opposite direction as quickly as possible, enabling them to climb out in haste! Zoe was somewhat distressed by the experience understandably, but she gritted her teeth & got on with it. Marcus responded in his usual chilled way! Bizarrely, I felt unfazed by the idea of falling into a crevasse, probably because of my complete & unstinting belief that Chris would drag me out if I were to fall into one! This faith may have been misplaced but it worked well for me!
Day 4 We were supposed to be summiting the Allalinhorn, but sadly weather conditions prevented this. There were blizzard conditions, with high winds & snow, not to mention sub zero temperatures. It was slightly disconcerting that on heading up from the gondola to attempt an ascent (yes Chris was hoping to try & get us up despite announcing that the weather would be “proper horrid” at the top!!) some workers in a snow plough informed us that the Gondola (our means of getting down afterwards) was shutting down! Determined to give us a mountain experience anyway, Chris arranged a short ice climb for us before we all succumbed to the cold & the lure of Swiss hot chocolate in the revolving café! Spirits revived we headed down to the valley for a well needed shower & some really good pizza!
Day 5 We enjoyed a “rest” day, where we were permitted to lie-in prior to our 11am departure for the Almageller hut (so as you can see not really a rest!). The hut was a 4 hour walk away, uphill but easy walking, including some exciting rope ladders & bits of metal to help us along on our way. I struggled on this day as I was feeling coldy & sleep deprived ( I failed to have one good nights sleep the entire holiday, probably due to altitude). Arriving at the hut was extremely welcome & I had a rest on my bunk in the afternoon. David was also concerned about his physical state as his calves had mysteriously swelled (pitting oedema) the previous day, necessitating a visit to the doctor. We still do not know what caused the swelling but luckily it subsided enough to enable David to summit Weissmies the following day.
Day 6. This has to be one of the best days of my life! We awoke at 4.40am & set off with head torches for our “summit bid”! Please indulge me in this terminology! After a scramble lasting over 2 hours, during which time we moved at a fairly rapid pace whist roped together (I was roped to Chris & Zoe whilst David & Marcus were roped to each other) we emerged onto a snowy ridge & started a steady but slow cramponed walk up to the summit. I assessed the drop on either of the ridge to be fairly precipitous & as the ridge narrowed considerably towards the summit I decided that the best policy would be to focus on the snowy space in front of me; a strategy which helped no end! As we reached the summit I felt completely overwhelmed with emotion, spoiling my enjoyment to a certain extent as my tears leaked sun cream into my eyes which stung somewhat! We were all elated & had a “summit hug” & took the obligatory photos. The view was awesome, as it had been since 5am sunrise, which revealed an incredible panorama of snow covered mountains. We were so lucky with the conditions…perfect sunny alpine day with glorious blue sky. I wrote Sylvia’s name in the snow & thought about how much this trip was in her spirit.
As we headed off for the descent, we couldn’t relax as the going was steep & any fall could have been nasty. We walked with crampons & ice axes & remained roped up. Lower down we were then to cross crevasse fields & had to move quickly while passing huge ice cliffs (Chris was terse with us at this point, insisting we move more quickly until the risk was past). Finally we reached the café & cable car & enjoyed beers all round! Zoe & I were not permitted to relax & head down in the comfort of the cable car however, as the boys had another adrenaline rush planned for us! We hired huge scooters with quad bike tyres & scootered the 6 miles down the hill through woods & countryside. This was a huge amount of fun…for the boys even more so as they predictably went “off piste” & headed off the beaten track. Marcus seemed rather proud of his cuts & bruises afterwards! Zoe & I, being far too sensible, enjoyed coasting down on the track, chatting as we went!
The following day was departure day & it was time to leave the mountains behind. Although we were all keen to see loved ones back home & catch up on sleep, the mountains had cast their spell & I was reluctant to leave them. Whilst being away we had all reflected on a need to get out amongst nature as much as possible & to expose our children to the thrills of the mountains (I wasn’t sure however how this was going to go down with Livi!)… making the most of the “green gym”, to use Chris’s vernacular.
Since returning we have managed this…venturing out with the children at weekends, “wild” camping up Scafell, & climbing some local crags. We have also been setting up crevasse rescues on the hillside, to the bemusement of passers by!
I would highly recommend a trip like this to you all. It has been a real journey of self discovery…..I hope to climb some more 4000m peaks in the future…watch this space!
Karen x
