In September 2005, we successfully summitted Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in western Europe.

Although the climb itself was relatively short, waiting for clear weather in Chamonix took some time.  After we arrived, we sat through 5 days of solid rain - which meant solid snow up higher.  By the time the weather cleared, an enormous amount of snow had fallen and we were concerned about the increased risk of avalanches, so we decided to reshuffle our plans and hired a car to visit northern Italy.  After a week of great pasta, gelati, and more architecture and galleries than we could possibly absorb, we were back in Chamonix - and thankfully the weather was looking great. 

We chose not to climb the "normal route" - partly due to difficulties booking the hut that you need to stay in (Aiguille du Goûter) and partly due to the increased risk of avalanches on this route.  So instead we climbed via Aiguille du Midi (the cable-car that gets you onto the mountain) and through Mont-Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit.  This route is longer and includes one steep section.

The hut is about an hour's climb from the chair lift and we spent 2 nights there to try to acclimatise.  (Two nights was possibly not quite enough as Fiona experienced some nausea towards the top).

On summit day, we woke at 1:00am for "breakfast" and headed off left about 1:30am using head torches to light the way.  Most of the route was very straight-forward (although a bit exposed in sections), with one almost vertical section where a fixed rope is used.  We used ice-axes and climbed roped up to each other the whole way.

Watching the sunrise over the Alps in the morning was a spectacular site as we steadily moved up the mountain.  The last section seemed to go on forever but we finally made it to the summit at around 8:30am.  The weather was great and the views from there were unbelievable.  We were amazed to see some of the climbers (climbing from the other side) had brought up paragliders and we enviously watched them sailing off the mountain (they'd take only around 20 minutes to get down, while we still had another 6 hours or so ahead of us!).

We arrived back at the hut at around 3pm, rested for a while and then climbed the final leg to the cable-car in time to catch the last one back to Chamonix.  That night we were back in civilisation, staying in a hotel and eating at a restaurant - what a luxury European climbing is!

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