Smiler Cuthbertson - Mountain Guide

Next was the proposed Big Three continuation for Mark and Kathy, but desperately, the recent snowfalls and poor weather had put the Matterhorn and the Eiger completely out for a week or longer at least, and that was all the time Mark and Kathy had left to complete their programme.
The first of the remaining days was very wet, so the indoor climbing wall was our best option. The steep fingery climbing suited Mark who had had some experience on indoor walls, but not so for Kathy. Soon, tired fingers called a halt for coffee and cakes.
Due to same bad news from home, Mark reluctantly called it a day, leaving Kathy and I to venture onto the Aiguille Rouge for some good rock climbing. Together with some friends from the Climbers’ Club, we all did the Goedfrey Perroux route on the Index, and the later, the Chappelle de la Gliere. It is undoubtedly a great rock route.
More routes were climbed on the Flegere in the remaining couple of days. I climbed Athena on the Dalles du Floria with Kathy, again accompanied by several Climbers’ Club friends. Kathy and I went on to do a rapid ascent of the Index with Terry. Kathy was disappointed with not achieving the Big Three this time, but really enjoyed the rock climbing and the club company.
With the course over, she carried on to Zermatt to view the peak she so nearly climbed. Another year with better weather perhaps?

This season, I had planned only one Mont Blanc nine-day course, with Kathy, Mark, Nick, Steve and Rick. My French guides were ready and waiting to assist.
At the Guides Crag we had some excellent crevasse rescue training. An excellent day with a good group.
It was to be just me with the team the following day. The real thing, on the Mer de Glace for rope work, ice axe and crampon training, moving along ice ridges and crevasse training. Good sunny weather made the ice a little soft, needing careful ice screw placements for the top roping into and out of these crevasses.
The next day, with my two trusted French guides,  took us along the traverse of the Aiguille Crochures , Alex and Henri and the team of five. A great way to gain height for acclimatisation and warming up.

The following morning we walked up to the Albert Premier hut and descended onto the glacier for crevasse rescue training, before introducing the team to hut life.
The ascent of the Aiguille du Tour went smoothly and enjoyably.
We had all planned to climb the Petite Verte with Alex & Henri assisting again. Very bad luck on Steve, he had to return from only just reaching the top of the initial steep snow slope because of agonizing heel blisters. I brought Steve back down the icy slope and we watched the team vanish upwards into the mist.
Next, the plan was to do the Cosmiques Arete, but Steve did not come again today as his heels were hurting him so much with the blisters. It was so bad he realised Mont Blanc would not happen for him this year, so he called it a day and went home. The climb was however arguably the best route the team did on the course. Mont Blanc was on the cards though, and now Henri and Alex, and I decided that as I wasn’t needed with only four clients left with Steve gone, they would take two clients each and go from the Midi and back in one day.

This was a great idea with the one day good weather forecast and totally successful. In glorious weather, a twelve hour return trip was achieved, and all clients made it back by seven pm to the Midi. However, because of the good weather, and the queues of tourists waiting to descend to Chamonix, it took the team until nine pm to get on a cable car, with an estimated five thousand three hundred people using the lifts that day. Ian Cleaver of the cable car company, an old friend of mine, told me approximately one hundred and sixty one thousand Euros was collected in fares by the cable car company that day alone.
Now we a day off for everyone. The Mont Blanc course over and very successful.