Give it up for Brian!….He has recently conquered a peak in one of the greatest Mountain ranges in the world, the Alps! Here are a few words from the man himself:
“Climbing in the Alps is always demanding – coping with carrying lots of gear, getting used to altitude and doing long days.
Le Rateau is one of the highest peaks in the Ecrins Alps at 3809m. The weather looked good enough last Friday so we set off for the 4 hour walk to an alpine hut at 2600m loaded with rucksacks full with food, ice axes, ropes, crampons. Big peaks surrounded the hut - but the next day we were hoping to look down on them all. After a meal (the huts are quite civilised) we went to bed early.
At 3am the alarm went and we ate breakfast and set out across a rocky path with headtorches lighting our way. It took an hour and a half till we got to the glacier. The night had been cloudy and the snow had not frozen – half the point of setting out early – so it was no surprise to find one leg collapsing through the snow into a crevasse. Thats why we were roped up!
As we crossed the glacier we had more steep climbs t reach the ridges above for 50 metres. It was light now and we had climbed to about 3300m. Already we were gaining some amazing views in the early dawn – but we still had 500m height to climb.
Crossfit training really started to pay off as we got to the snow. What really helps in coping with altitude is setting a slow steady rhythm – but the snow had not frozen and we kept sinking in which was painfully tiring. I was really glad that at least my legs didn’t feel tired – cos the rest of me was so weary. Thanks for all the squats and burpees guys (and Jocelyn)!
It was about 10am when we finally reached the top – but worsening weather meant we stayed for only a minute or so before heading down down down the way we had come. Down the soft snow, the rock ridge, little gully and across the glacier and eventually to the hut. It was 7pm when we finally got down from the hut to the car – 16 hours on the go – 2 tired but very content people.
….I just SO wish my mate hadn’t dropped his phone near the top so I had some pics of me!“
Congratulations Brian!
Workout of the day
30min AMRAP:
Run 160m
4 Thrusters 50/35kg
8 Pull-ups
12 Burpee
Awesome! Thanks for the post Brian… sounds like an amazing experience.