Mhhh Gusto...

Chamonix 09:
Hm, where to start... maybe at the end. Oh yeah, it was a massive party! We celebrated the whole Mountain Academy adventure at the most awesome bar in Chamonix with a delicious buffet and booze; lots of booze. Everyone danced till the break of dawn and we watched Bertrand’s movies and David’s pictures from the academy on a big screen…
All great memories when you see this overwhelming stuff!
From sport climbing in Austria to ice climbing in la Argentiere; from ski mountaineering on the Mount Blanc Massive to trad climbing in Morocco…
Yes, we did a lot, we learned a lot and we collected unique experiences.
As well in this last stage at Chamonix:
One day, better to say one early morning, Jerome and I took the first cable car to reach Aiguilles du Midi. Our mission that day: an about 200m long icey gully which ends on the half way of the Cosmique ridge.
And the best was that you don’t have any meter of approach, because exactly when you exit the Midi station you start abseiling down to reach the starting point of the climb. Which is funny, because two third of all people who arrive with the cable car are Japanese. Japanese who have never been in the mountains before and who are dressed up like being on the beach, with sandals and short tops. And we, well, we were equipped for any kind of weather change and to climb in ice… Big boots, gore-tex wear, even a down jacket, a helmet and goggles. That was a funny picture…
However, we started to rappel and just after the first one you really feel like being in high mountains, in a wild terrain: Once in a wile rock and snowfall or a cold wind breeze.
Nice, I like ;-) . And then the climb…Ahh it was simply great and in perfect ice conditions. A narrow, quite steep line, very various to protect; once we set ice screws, once a nut or a friend. That’s what it makes so interesting for me. Every part was different to climb and to protect .
Pitch after pitch led us towards the sunny Cosmique ridge, which then led us back to our starting point, the Aiguilles du Midi station.
That’s fast food climbing, which suited perfectly this day, because Jerome and I had to leave for one day the academy, Jerome to be at a meeting and I, to write my final exam at school.
And so the story ends…for this time, but we meet and climb again! That is for sure!!!!
Cheers…