Into July…

June slipped unnoticed into July.
Pete arrived full of beans and ambitions. To acclimatise, we did the traverse of the Aiguille Crochures in a good and rapid time, Pete making lots of decisions, as if he were taking a beginner or pal along the ridge.
Moving up a grade or two was Pete’s hope this season. I was ready to help him.
Taking the first Midi cable car we traversed the twin peaks of the Pointe Lachanel and returned to the Cosmiques Hut. We had intended to stay the night at the refuge and do something harder the next day, after resting and acclimatising in the afternoon. There was a very bad storm in the early evening, blizzards making our plans a little doubtful.
Despite the improvement in the weather, we decided against the proposed Chere Couloir, partly because Pete was not fully acclimatised yet and had had a poor night’s sleep. We escaped via the Cosmiques Ridge, taking a mere two hours to the summit.
Next day was a very wet morning. It continued very wet all day and through the night. There was no chance of going to the Albert Premier hut as we had planned. Rain continued through most of the night and it was damp and overcast at seven am. We decided some good cragging days would have to finish Pete’s trip. La Fayet and Servoz were visited, with Pete doing all the leading.
It was a good forecast for Pete’s last day, so we did the Chappelle de la Gliere in four hours round trip, cable car to cable car. Pete had a great climbing day to finish his trip and felt good about his improvement this season. Who knows, maybe that Ama Dablam trip will come off one day