Mt Blanc Massif - Final Prep (2019)

Back in Chamonix and approaching the Albert 1:er Hut

Refamiliarising myself with moving on the glacier before we take on the mountains tomorrow

The Albert 1:er hut

Our approach to Aiguille du Tour (3,450m). Global warming appears to be taking its toll as we had to go the long way round due to unstable rockfall in a gully.

The final scramble of Aiguille du Tour

Summit - a very fast time up and down from the hut

Day 3 - Aiguille du Midi Arete - much easier this time round vs. expedition 2.

Some scrambling near the Cosmique hut - it's a 1 hour scramble that ends on the balcony of the hut where you can grab a beer with a great view...

There is, however, this crux move that we have to complete before you can earn that beer - you go left to right with your hands in the crack by my left knee, lowering your feet down the vertical shelf in the middle of the picture. It's then a big (and blind) step up and to the right and there's a sizeable drop below

Setting off for Mt Blanc du Tacul. With hindsight, we should have just done Mt Blanc, but we were again very speedy, reaching the summit in under 2 hours from the hut

As the weather wasn't brilliant, we spent the rest of our week covering additional skills, here scrambling and climbing around Le Brevent and the Aiguille Rouges range