Sorry, a little wordy. Kept the photos down to <100! Click on a photo to make bigger, slideshow and skip text. Merci. http://boodoir.blogspot.fr
great work, I'm sure that took you ages to create. Can I offer a suggestion? change the text colour to say red. the white text is quite difficult to read on the picture backgound.
Loved the write up and the background to your epic ascent. It read as if it was almost overwhelmingly personal and emotional for you to climb that mountain.
Just read it again. I too want to be an unrepentant phoquer. My French is also effluent so I am on my way.
Magnifique! Both the physical achievement and the philosophical musing which accompanies that are worthy of great respect.
In retrospect.... can this qualify as post of the year? Not strictly posted here but linked. But seriously inspirational stuff.
Meanwhile on the Chamonix FB page the Mont Blanc speed record has just been broken by Killian Jornet, to the summit from the church and back, 4h57m. Nuts.
His achievements are astonishing. I loved his climb from Courmayeur, via the Innominata Ridge to the Mt Blanc summit, and then down to Chamonix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh_dvyJXJwc The fact he runs down the Bosses ridge is crazy.
Simply incredible, beautifully written. Makes my standing up top of Meribel 2 years ago gazing over at Mt Blanc seem a little sedate! But what a beautiful part of the world...
yeah beautifully written boodoir im feeling the 3 way pull of family-work-fun big time today, so it was nice to see someone getting out there, but also keeping all the risks and important bits in mind
Congratulations on a great ascent and ski. The photos of the peaks at dawn and the last photo are particularly beautiful. I hope you find opportunities to take more of both.
A sensational story line and achievement. Thank you for sharing. I passed it on to a couple of young blokes to have a read for inspiration.
Boodwah. excellent. Kilian Jornet - for anyone that hasnt read about him: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/magazine/creating-the-all-terrain-human
Awesome writeup. I had arranged to do the same thing in 2011 but ended up coming home to live in Australia. But it is still a dream of mine. You would have to be a robot if the Mt Blanc Massif didn't stir up something inside you. When I first took my wife to Cham we arrived after dark. The next morning when she awoke I opened the curtains and told her to look out and up. She was blown away and suddenly understood my need to be in those mountains for two weeks every January. I would hang out with a guide and flick through my copy of Anselme Baud's "Mt Blanc & the Aiguilles Rouges" highlighting potential peaks to bag and lines to ski. There really is nothing more thrilling than taking calculated risks and being so close to potential death. As Stefano de Benedetti summarises “In the perfect moment, I was so concentrated. There was no space for other thoughts. When you want to make a turn and you are at the top of a steep vertical wall. I mean when you are in the situation that if you fall you die, everything changes. You think very much about turning. You think very much about where to turn, and you do all this in a very special way. You act like a different person, you act with all yourself. You are making a completely different experience and in some way you are discovering yourself. This is the magic of the mountain. You can accept to die for this, you don’t want to die, but to live so close to the possibility of dying you understand what is really important, and what is not. And this makes you a better person. It’s probably the highest moment of my life, because in the perfect moment I was, or I felt to be, a little superman.†My life insurance specifically excludes mountaineering, and I would take out special insurance just for my weeks there.
i assume thats via la jonction, the original direct route? i walked up to the top of the glacier junction there and back from the township and maybe it took 4 hrs. He must have sprinted this bit.....
Never mind those speed records Team Beams have a vacancy for Wipper Snipper Team Leader for many hours of work over the summer months.. They would be happy to receive a CV from Killian..... Bears are sounding enthusiastic....they think they can put these physical attributes towards better track maintenance.... Team Bears like the pics and travel log of Mt Blanc adventure. Some nice reflections on self here....
Thanks all, some kind words. Looking forward to catching some of you down under this season (if it ever snows...)
Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere in other forums - but its pretty cool. http://www.in2white.com/
Good view of the construction crane on Pointe Helbronner. Crane operator would have one of the best jobs on a clear still day....and very entertaining with any breeze.
