Tuesday, July 31
Note for later…
So there you go, it’s 2:31 am and I’m burning photo CDs for the campers, so they can have many, many photos to take with them tomorrow…the thing I found out tonight (at about 1am) was that it takes a lot longer to burn 700Mb of photos than it does for 300Mb…I know, it sounds obvious…I’ll know for next time!
Friday, July 20
How much can you pack in 24hrs??
Because we had to get up early to take someone to the station the next day and hence couldn’t do the sunrise climb we’d planned, Caleb and I decided to do it in the evening. Since it was a warm day, we decided to start at 6pm, thus leaving us 4 hours of daylight, which would be enough to climb.
We started at 6:35pm and enjoyed warm, clean rock and easy climbing. The pitches flew by and before we knew it we were onto the 8th and last pitch, which happened to be the crux, almost 200m above where we started. We topped out at 10pm and started to rappel down.
After a few rappels by torch light (and a few extra minutes to find the anchors) we were down on the ground at 12am exactly. A great climb!
So we got back, had some “dinner”, cleaned up and hit the sack.
Up at 5:15am and in the car heading to
We were now faced with a new problem, McD’s only opened at 8am…after driving to another one, near some shops, and waiting, we finally were able to grab some breakkie…
Brenda and I spent time showing our American friends around some shops (where I scored a ski jacket for $15!!!) and touristy streets then headed to the metro warehouse (wholesale) to buy food for camp. On the way to pick the tourists up we were stopped at the lights when a windscreen-washer came and washed ours. I made signs to him and told him that I didn’t have any change but he did it anyway. I gave him some cheese-flavoured corn chips, which he was happy about. His mate turned up and took some too, holding onto the packet, then pulled the packet away…Punk! The light was green by that stage, so I had to drive away! I couldn’t believe that he’d just stolen my packet of chips! Scumbag!! Thankfully I’d eaten about half, so I probably didn’t need anymore…
Monday, July 16
Wrong choice again!
Well we took 70 people on a 3 day hike on the famous Plateau d’ Emparis. 
This hike is part of the “most scenic hike in
I decided to sleep under the stars, as we didn’t have enough tents and cause I hadn’t done it in a while. I decided that, since I’d been too hot in my winter bag last week, I’d take my summer bag…wrong choice!
The walking was excellent, slightly uphill for a couple of hours and then a 40min steep pinch to get to the flat camp spot, on a superb green plateau with flowers and a river. We had some dinner, sang some songs, played some Frisbee and hit the sack.
As I was getting my mat out I noticed ice on it… the rest of the night was pretty cold, esp cause there was ice on my pack, which I was using as a pillow…
I did get some [cold] sleep and got up at 7:45 for a “solo” time (everyone has something to eat then heads out alone for a few hours). It’s a great spot to do this, as there aren’t any cliffs nearby. At lunchtime we all came back together. it’s amazing that I didn’t really see anyone for 4 hours that morning (only at a distance), considering there was 70+ people out there…
We walked to the next camp spot, a lake on the edge of the plateau, across from La Meije, one of the most beautiful peaks in
After a bit of food (we only had a small pack of dehydrated chicken-curry rice each) we sang more songs, 
played some games, chatted and watched the sunset. I woke up the next morning B4 sunrise and just admired the mountain changing colour. It was amazing and, due to warmer temperatures, I was toasty all night!
We all got back to camp (after various car shuffles, due to the diesel van being filled with premium and Tom’s van not starting) 
and enjoyed a luscious meal more than ever before. It’s amazing how the lack of “normal” comforts such as a bed, a pillow, a hot shower, a sit-on toilet and a big-hot meal make you appreciative once you have access to them again…
Thursday, July 5
My choice is you, God, first and only.
And now I find I’m your choice!
Psalm 16:5 (The Message)
Tuesday, July 3
In the blink of an eye…
Last week Marc, Landon, Thomas and I left the car park at Chamforan, crossed the river (alt 1470m), hiked up past the refuge de la Lavey (1797m) and found a spot to bivouac for the night. 
After a few hours of “sleep” (getting to bed at 9pm while the sun only sets at 10:30pm, being too hot and too excited), we got up at 2:15am and left a little while later en route for l’Aiguille de l’Olan (3300m). After 2 hours of walking by headlamp we finally came within sight of the glacier, as it was getting light. An hour later, after a zigzag slog on scree, we were putting our crampons on, grabbing our ice axes, roping up and putting some extra clothes on (lots of ice/snow = cold temperature). The walk/climb on the glacier was great: sun rising over the surrounding peaks, blue sky, hard snow, gentle slope. After about an hour we got to a steep bit of ice (about 60-70 degrees?) that lead to the top of the glacier where we’d start scrambling/climbing up the rock towards the summit. I was roped in with Thomas, Marc was with Landon. You rope in on glaciers to avoid falling too deep down a crevasse). 
Thomas and I let Marc and Landon go first and we were just to the side of them, a bit below. We reached 3100m and Marc started on the rock. As the transition between the ice and rock was real steep, we’d have to do the first section still in crampons. I was still climbing the ice towards Thomas, when there was a loud, deep, scary “CRACK”. I was about to yell “hey, don’t be sending rocks down on me!” when I looked up…
It all went very fast. In the blink of an eye, Marc had pulled off a piece of cliff that looked the size of a fridge and was in air-borne with it, about 10m above the ice, like frozen in mid-air. It was really weird, almost like everything slowed right down, paused and then sped up again.
In the blink of an eye he came crashing down. I yelled “stop him, stop him” to Landon, but there was nothing that he could do he got whipped off the rock perch he was on. Both Marc and Landon and a bunch of rocks tumbled down the steep slope, partly air-borne, partly hitting the snow. It was horrific.
Once they stopped, about 150m below us where the slope eased off, we yelled out “are you ok, are you ok”. 
Eventually they waved, kinda slowly.
It was really weird and totally unexpected that a bloc that size would break off. What was even stranger was that they were both alive and managed to walk back down off the glacier. There we assessed the damage: bad cuts, abrasions and ice (friction) burns. Possible broken thumbs, elbows and wrists, but legs and head were ok. 
After bandaging up the wounds we painfully and slowly walked back down to the bivouac spot. There we had some lunch in the sun and a bit of a laugh, releasing some shock and tension. We eventually made it back to the car by 4:20pm, 8 hours after the incident.
It was a really weird day, we didn’t make the summit (we “stopped” 200m short), which usually would have been disappointing. But in the light of what happened we were content: content to be alive, content to be able to walk away, content to be able to tell of the tale. It’s amazing how events, which may only happen in the blink of an eye, can put things into perspective and make you realise how precious certain things are in life.
I praise God for his protection up there, for both me and my friends, and I thank Him for perspective, which reminds me of all the important and valuable things I have in this life, most of which money can’t buy…
