Retreat, Switzerland

So, battle weary and bowed, we retreated down to Zinal, Ken was still very sore, and it was hard work for him to get down and we all took part of his kit for him.

Back in the valley Ken decided it was not bad enough to go to hospital, but he did not think he would be doing anything else this trip.

We discussed and agreed that we should go on a reconnaissance around to the Zermatt valley, and have a look around understanding the ground. Ken would stay in the valley and look after his ribs.

Hut Day, Switzerland

Today we all awoke with sore heads, and much remorse following the schoolboy errors of the day before, but also the two successful rescues.

Ken had endured a difficult night with pain from his ribs .... we would find out later that he had fractured 2 of them. So we spent the day hanging around the hut, deciding what to do next, and sitting in the sun.

Pointe de Zinal, Switzerland

Another good day is forecast and we had been looking in the book again ... the Pointe de Zinal - described as "one of the best and most popular training peaks".

The start to the day was better as we had learned from the days before. We were out on the glacier early and following the curving line to the head of the glacier.

From here we looked up at the steep ice section above the bergschrund. I was climbing with Ken, and we led off doing the 100m in 3 pitches, without too much difficulty. from here we followed the saddle then the ridge.

The summit ridge to the Pointe was exceedingly loose and it was obvious that this was not very frequented. We found our way to the summit, and paused there looking for the other two .. they had decided to remain on the ice face repeating it.

We started off back down to the saddle, as we got towards the end, Ken grabbed a huge boulder, to swing around, and was shocked to see it start to roll down hill. Ken was OK, but he got caught in the avalanche of rubble behind it. He fell on to his camera which we found out later had broken a couple of ribs. He was OK and could walk, but climbing down the ice face was going to be a problem.

After getting him sorted out and moving again, we made it down to the saddle, and I managed to call out to the others. They came back up to the top, and we started to rig a mechanism to lower Ken down. doubling the ropes up we got a good abseil system working, and to save the anchors, I down climbed .. At the bottom, Graham set off with Ken to get him back before shock got to him, and Jim and I started clearing up the ropes.

Graham and Ken, headed straight back across the glacier .. no ropes and too close together. Jim and I cleared down the face and packed the ropes away ...  MISTAKE .. then set off after the other two.

We chatted about he near miss as we followed their tracks across the glacier. despite several warnings where we both dropped a leg through holes in the ice .. it felt like post holing in soft snow and we were too tired, and preoccupied to realise what it meant ... then we both fell through the ice with both feet, now whether my hole was smaller or Jim's reactions were slower, but he ended up falling through and I was left hanging on my ice axe.

Pulling myself out, I quickly got the rope out and shouted down to Jim ... he was OK, and had landed 15m down. He got clipped into the rope, and I secured it to a couple of ice screws, and shouted to the other two who had just reached the moraine below the hut ...  Ken went on and Graham started back to help us.

I then dropped the other end of the rope down so we could get Jim's rucksack out. he was struggling to get prussik's onto the rope and was getting colder and colder.

Graham arrived to help us out, and then a group of 8-10, as we found out later, guides and aspirants. they had been sunning themselves on the hut terrace after returning from the Obergabelhorn N face, seeing this farce playing out on the glacier they got ready and were out to us within 30 mins. they got to us, checked the rope and just launched Jim through the top of the hole. We packed up and all went "properly" roped back to the moraine and the hut.

Embarrassed, and very chased, we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening buying drinks for the saviours ...  I think we got through 5 or 6 bottles of wine.

I learned so much with this, and now have an obsession with ropes on glaciers, and have been know to have shouting matches with partners who do not behave "properly".

I also determined that I needed to learn to speak French and German better, as our conversations with the guides over the night grew wider and more intreaging as we spoke in a mixture of English and French.

A day to be remembered for a long time

Hut Day, Switzerland

The next day we were all exhausted, and could not get up when the first call came.

After a late breakfast, Jim and I decided that we could not hang around all day, and it would be useful to drop back to the village and bring up some supplies.
We had been talking to the wardens and found out about the rules in the swiss huts... where they will cook guests food (provided it is simple) rather than allow them to have stoves anywhere near the hut.
We would go and get some pasta and other stuff, so we could save money on the daily rate.


Jim and I dropped back to the village, and came back to the hut on the same route as we had used on the first day.

We brought back several baguettes which we gave to the warden, in return we got soup ... in these days helicopter supply flights were once per week at most, so fresh produce was a luxury .. standard fare was sauerkraut and noodles with some meat. They were very grateful for the bagettes.

Tomorrow would be another peak day

Besso, Switzerland

 The next day, we wanted to go for a simple summit .. behind the hut was a rock peak - Besso - the book described it as a "Good training peak". It had two routes, a predominately rocky ridge and a snow route. The first was graded F and the second was PD+. 

As our first route, we chose to go for the easy one.. otherwise know as "ladies' route".. there were other parties going to the same place but we did not think to make use of their experience.

It took us a long time to get going in the morning, and we were not really in tune as we should have been. We took the moraine behind the hut up towards the col, we were very slow on the ascent, and by the time we reached where we believed the col to be we paused for coffee and snacks before descending to the glacier on the other side.

At the foot of the S face we struggled to find the couloir, and ended up making our own way diagonally to the SE ridge. We were trying to move without pitching, but the (in)stability or the rock caused us to resort to it more than we had planned.

Climbing up the ridge was relatively easier, and we reached the top, as everyone else was leaving.. having spent a lot longer on the ascent than we had anticipated.

A long debate followed as we had some snacks and we decided to go back the way we had come, rather than the snow dome of Blanc de Moming. .. BIG MISTAKE ..  descending the Ladies route, it was easier to find from the top than the bottom, but again we spent more time Pitching, as the sun melted the ice holding the rocks together. At the bottom the glacier was really soft, and we waded across to the rise to the ridge. Luckily the glacier was benign and there was no really crevasses, but we did not learn and would find out later in the week.

We eventually arrived back at the hut in time for supper, having taken longer to get back than to make the ascent.

However in later years I would look back on this day, and use it to educate other people.

Montets Hut, Switzerland

Next day, the sun woke us making the tents unbearable to stay in, we started to prepare for several days in the Mountet hut. Amongst all our climbing kit we also had food for several evenings.

The route followed the river up to the end of the dry glacier ...  much further than it seemed on the map, and then as the glacier curved left then right. From here we cut over the dry glacier to the other side and up to the hut, which sat on a promontory looking up the upper part of the glacier.

We were welcomed into the hut and the guardian and his wife recognised we were new to all this and took us under their wing and looked after us, albeit in their half French half English, which matched my schoolboy French.

1981 Summer Mountaineering Tour, Switzerland

We had been talking a lot about having a trip to the alps, we had even done some training on Skye, and Glencoe. We had researched where to go, and I had even bought a guide book (the red colomb guide to the Pennine alps central region), and being in London visited Stanfords to get a couple of maps - this being the old fashioned world where you had to go to a shop and hand over cash in exchange for the goods, and if they were not on the shelf you had to order it from a catalogue behind the counter.

All this research led to the conclusion that we should do a week of preparation and then head for the Matterhorn .. how naive we were in those days. The accepted way to do things has changed over the years, but definitely in those days, guides were for rich people, but the rest of us learned in small steps through experience. This was the next step on our learning curve I am still on to-day.

We had joined the Austrian alpine club for the reciprocal rights in the mountain huts, and read up about the mountain huts and what to expect, so we were prepared and did not carry to much gear (like sleeping bags).

I cant remember whose car we used to get there, but we drove in shifts, through France then Switzerland. The motorway network was not as comprehensive as it is to-day, and the route took a lot longer than more recently. The A26 went to Reims, and then we had to down on the N roads in zigzags to reach Briancon, where we crossed in to Switzerland. No Schengen agreement in place we had to run the gamete of the border guards, who were really interested in how much food we had (the rule was only 2 days to promote local spending). Then a mixture of motorways (I believe they were free in those days) and main roads, round lake Geneva, and up the Rhone Valley. At Sierre we turned up the Zinal valley on the local roads - frequently single track with passing places around the difficult bits. Eventually arriving at the end of the road at Zinal village, and the camp-site on the end, by the big open meadows of the valley head.

Putting up our collection of Vango Mk2 tents we spent the rest of the day getting to know the small village and soaking in the atmosphere. Little prepared us for what was to follow!

Trip Time Line

	|
	|	Arrive Zinal
Montets Hut	|
	|	Besso
Hut Day	|
	|	Pointe de Zinal
Hut Day	|
	|	Retreat
Zermatt	|
	|	Rain Day
Theodulpas Hut	|
	|	Retreat
Go Home	|

Gardom's Edge, Peak district trip

Second day we were at Gardom's edge, Jim and I tackled ..

Brown crack, Traction, Mayer's ?, Garden face direct, Och Aye Wall, Tartan route, Slime crack

then back to London

Birchen's edge, Peak District trip

A university club trip to the peak district .. mainly climbing with Jim, we raided a number of climbs along the edge, Captains bunk, Porthole direct, Blind eye, Nelson's slab, left ladder chimney, sail buttress, topsail, the chain, Camperdown crawl, Trafalgar wall, Copenhagen wall and powder monkey parade.
Not sure where we camped and I assume we went up in the minibus