Smiler Cuthbertson - Mountain Guide

Pete drove down from Yorkshire and was camping on Les Chosely site in Argentiere for his short course. He was keen for a brief but packed four days with me. His adventurous programme called for a trip down from the Grande Montet to the Argentiere hut, crossing the now notorious Col du Cristeaux and down to the Couvercle Hut. On the third day of four, we intended to traverse Les Courtes and return down that Col du Cristeaux to the Argentiere Hut. His final day would be a traverse of the Tour Noir and descend all the way back to Argentiere. Quite a plan but I was up for it.
The plan misfired on day 1 when the Grande Montet lift was shut on the top section. Giving up my end of course rest day, I allowed the four days to be shunted back a day.
The whole plan went completely pear shaped when, descending the easy snows and icefields to the Argentiere glacier, Pete jumped a small crevasse, the far side being a couple of feet lower than the take off. He landed badly and did untold damage to his left ankle.
We eventually arrived at the hut, Pete keeping quiet about his ankle pain, and we were abruptly and firmly told by the guardian of the refuge,
“No way can you go over the Col du Cristeaux, it’s too dangerous with the lack of snow and the stonefall.”
While suggesting we might instead then go for the Tour Noir instead, a tap on my shoulder came from Pete who quietly said “I may not be able to climb tomorrow”.
His ankle, now swollen, was causing his distress and I called a halt to any climbing. Dosed in pain killers, Pete had an uneventful time descending the glacier back to Argentiere, but next morning, felt a visit to the hospital was called for.
The hospital could not diagnose any broken bones, because of the swelling I guess, so they fitted a cautionary cast. This was on the Friday and with the wonderful efficiency of the BMC rescue and medical assistance, on Monday he was flown home and I believe by Tuesday his car was also with him. Some service that.
Better luck next time Pete, and please learn to land properly!

David arrived full of his usual enthusiasm. We had talked of several big routes in his eight day course. The duration would help to get him acclimatised for sure.
The trusted Traverse of the Crochures had been agreed back home as the route to start with, and a great day it turned out to be! Good weather and superb ridge traversing, moving together as much as possible, we were soon down at Lac Blanc and returning by the familiar track to Le Flegere. A good start.
In order to fulfill one of David’s main objectives, the Traverse of the Aiguille Rochefort and the Dent du Geant on the way back, we decided to walk from the Midi, down onto the Vallee Blanche and climb the east ridge of the Pyramid du Tacul, a great seven-pitch route I’d done several times in earlier alpine seasons (probably twenty years ago!)
To our horror, on reaching the base of the pyramid, we came across about fifteen, maybe more, climbers approaching, and already on the climb.
This was far too many people on the same route for my likening, and so we reluctantly continued to the Torino Hut and acclimatised on the balcony overlooking the south face of Mont Blanc and the stunning Aiguille Noire du Peuterey, the south ridge of which I climbed in an eleven-hour ascent back in the ‘70s.
Up and away by 4am next morning, we successfully avoided the stonefall threat of the one or two parties who had reached the rocky scramble up to the Salamanger (breakfast place) before us. This area is well-known for serious rockfall and, keeping well to the right of the central “pathway”, we had a more difficult, yet very safe scramble and were soon having breakfast under the Dent du Geant.
A couple of parties went past, but we were soon traversing this fabulous snowy arête. One part had drastically changed due to the lack of snow. We climbed down a fixed rope over a steep slab and then continued down some dark looking ice! Much more difficult than in the ‘70s.
The final section to the summit of the Aiguille Rochefort is steeper but on reasonable rock, with fixed anchors to safeguard the stances. We were soon celebrating on the rocky summit along with a couple of Swiss and French parties.
Returning to the descent point I lowered David down the steep sections, in turn roping from the fixed anchors. It was going very well and I pulled the rope down from the second anchor.
David, belayed to an anchor, had already clipped his axe and crampons to his belt, ready for the final scramble of twenty feet or so down to the Rochefort Arête. My tools were still stashed near the stance.
Suddenly we were being rained on with lots of rockfall. Squeezing into the slabby wall was our only choice. We were both hit several times, with small stones and at least two big ones each. My left arm was “dead”, my right leg cut and bleeding. David had been hit on the shoulder, this causing him most pain, and on the helmet, it was cracked, and on the leg. As soon as the dust had settled, I shouted and urged him to move on down to the nearby safer ground. At this point I realised my axe and crampons had been swept away by the rockfall.
Curiously, there were about thirty climbers on, or nearing the summit but no-one came to help us.
I got David moving and although we were both in pain, we got down to the level ground and away from further stonefall danger. At this point, the French couple who had left the summit just before us, came back to assist. I asked for a spare axe, which was provided and we all limped along the crest of this, thankfully, easy ridge. When we came to the steeper ice and the fixed rope, I asked the Frenchman, who I only know as Guy, to cut steps for me up to the fixed rope. I had visions of him having to pull myself and David up the slabby wall, with little help from the fixed rope. He happily accepted the task of step cutting.
In about a quarter of an hour, with Guy having cut big steps and had reached the rope and slab, a helicopter appeared right above us. Its tell-tale movements, back and forth and all around us, told me he was looking for us.
This turned out to be not strictly true but advantageous for us. A French girl climber we met later in the hospital, had seemingly been hit by the same block that had started the debris that engulfed us, and someone had called the helicopter for her. She wasn’t badly hurt. Mistaken identity? I didn’t care at the time!
I quickly decided that David would have an enormously difficult time getting down from the Salamanger and decided a lift-off was the right move. David, at this time had slumped to the ground and was probably still in shock!
I managed to communicate to Guy at the top of the ice slope, and tied his axe onto my rope, which he pulled up and then released the rope back to me. By this time, David was in the air and soon in the helicopter. The rescue guide told me he would deal with the rope and our two sacks, and clipped me on. Soon I too was in the cabin, and we roared away down the Mer de Glace to Le Praz, the landing point for the rescue helicopter.
By the time the helicopter had returned with the rucksacks and the rescue guide, all documentation had been completed and an ambulance was waiting to take us to the hospital. My injuries were now slight, my arm had “woken up” a little by now, so I was pretty much OK, but David was still in pain and needed to check on his shoulder.
An hour later, x rays completed showing no damage, only bruising, David was also starting to feel better! He was discharged and we took a taxi back to the Midi station and collected the car. Soon we were showering the bruises away and talking about picking up the pieces of the course. His shoulder was bruised and painful so for the next two days we could do nothing. A walk from the Brevent to Argentiere was good fun, but the last day of the course proved a great traverse along the superb snow arête from the Midi towards the Plan. We only went as far as the steep descent to the Col du Plan, David still being unable to use his left arm properly. We took lots of ‘photos and returned to the Midi and down to the car.
David flew home the following day and has since e-mailed me saying there is no serious damage to his shoulder and he is already looking forward to next winter in Scotland. Remind me to tread carefully when I pick him up at his home!!

Lee and Lorna are with me now! More stories from the Alps later!