After entertaining us for more than a year with his climbing stories and adventures Cubby has decided to take a break from his column on Scottish Outdoors. However he is leaving on a high note with a two part special on climbing with one of the world's greatest Sir Chris Bonnington in Scotland and in France.
Read part two here
"Come on over," said Rab, "you never know what it might lead to." I call it fate. You see that's my trouble. Outwith my own climbing I'm not forceful enough. Being with executives, the corporate image, talking markets, stocks and shares, it's just not me. It was the annual Berghaus winter get-together, a few days where the design team, marketing and product managers, MD's and sponsored climbers all come together, go climbing and remind themselves what it's all about. Oh and I nearly forgot, the Berghaus patron saint, Sir Chris Bonnington himself would be there.
So I jumped into my executive Fiat Panda, only recently back on the road by the way after a tussle with a wall outside Fort William - poor wee thing! I aquaplaned on what I suppose was no more than a large puddle and took off Bluebird style hitting the only rocky buttress next to the verge. A right off I was convinced. "Not a thing wrong with it sir, two new wheels, that's all."
The emphasis on the weekend was to show willing and take a few pics. But when the weather is this bad I'd rather not bother, but somehow or another, Rab had managed to persuade me to come over. In any case, it would be good to get away for a few days. Our accommodation was excellent, a recently completed Canadian style wooden cabin at the Badaguish Centre, situated above Loch Morlich outside Aviemore. I even had a double room to myself. The forecast for the Friday was awful and we all agreed that if we got out and did something, even the Fiachaill Ridge, it would be worth it.
"Remember," said Lewis Grundy the marketing manager (and well-known rock climber), "we sit behind a desk all week so just getting out is an added bonus for us, this is a working day after all!" But it wasn't too bad in Coire an t'Sneachda, a bit gusty but not cold. So Rab, Adam the product manager and myself headed for Red Gully. Alan Hinkes and another designer, Richard, went off in the direction of The Couloir, while Lewis and team headed for Goat Track Gully. Adam has climbed to a respectable standard and spoke with wide eyes at his memorable experience on Smith's Big Top, a route that epitomises steep rock climbing in Glencoe.
Copious amounts of water flowed over the surface or Red Gully's crux ice pitch. Something of a novelty to Adam but for most of us this winter, it was a familiar sight. Adam climbed sensibly, placing plenty of protection and then brought Rab and I up. Well after that we had more than enough for one day and so all of us retired to Aviemore as the thought of chocolate cake and a cafe latte in the Mountain Man cafe beckoned.
That night, the remainder of the Berghaus team arrived, other sponsored climbers, such as Nick Dixon and Chris Lines, one of the directors, and then of course, Sir Chris himself complete with knighthood, OBE and a never ending bounding enthusiasm. I've always admired Chris, he's a big kid at heart and I think what appealed to him about this weekend most of all was taking on the role of being a mountain guide.
Being with Chris and the Berghaus team really did take me back fifteen years to 1987, and a high powered, over ambitious management, team building exercise. Our goal - to climb Mont Blanc. Chris is supplied with Apple Macs and in return, he would take one of the executives climbing. Only on this occasion, interest among other executives grew out of control. Sixteen of them to be exact! Far too many for Chris to handle and so the services of the late Fred Harper were called upon.
Fred was a mountain guide based in Chamonix and he was employed to direct all operations on the mountain. In addition to Fred there would be a sports psychologist, Alan Fynes, who was there primarily to provide seminars, briefs and de briefs daily. Jess Stock, formerly the owner of Europa Sport, was to be the photographer for the trip. In total there were five international mountain guides that included Marcelle, a local French guide, Fred, Mark Diggins, Paul Aubrey and myself. Making up the sixth guide would be Chris Bonnington. In addition to Fynes, Chris would also provide input, "imagine that this is your Everest," he would say.
In the months leading up to the event, the 16 executives were provided with a training programme. We had seven days to climb Mont Blanc, which would take place over the last week of August and early September. "The money is good," Fred assured me, "but they are going to be very slow." And how right he was! Originally, the event was going to be filmed for TV but the whole exercise got off to a rather inauspicious start when the then managing director pulled out and left the company! Unfortunately the film was cancelled but the event went ahead anyway.
Each guide was given three clients to look after, in my case, Jessica - a big Jewish women from New York, Steve - a Canadian skier, fit and quite strong, and Ian - typically British, no fashion sense but the only outdoor enthusiast and climber amongst all the groups. With the exception of Chris, all of the mountain guides had been working in the Alps for the last two and half to three months. We were tired mentally but super fit and our week with the Apple executives would be an interesting job to round off the season. All of us were fired up and ready to go.
What impressed me most of all during our morning seminars, was the way in which each member of all the groups worked together. I was intrigued however, to see if the stronger members would be prepared to sacrifice an ascent of Mont Blanc to stay with the group as a whole? I was also curious to see if Alan's psychology input would stand up at altitude when every one was tired and feeling below par. As guides I think we knew what the answer would be!
The doors of the La Flegere telepherique opened and a babble of Japanese tourists erupted onto the slopes on the Aguille Rouge. We grouped together and started out along the well-marked track towards Lac Blanc, above which our plan was to conduct an "ecole de glace", or to practice crampon and ice axe technique. I was happily waddling along the track, making polite conversation and getting to know the team, when I suddenly became aware that the conversation was a little one sided. I stopped to turn around - I had been talking to myself for the last couple of minutes! Physically, it was almost impossible to walk much slower! Fred was right!
The day went well however. We were not that high up, about 8,000 feet but high enough to feel the effects of altitude as we walked up to the snow line. As for the general ability and fitness of the various teams, it was going to be hard work! It was a good induction day though and it was good for everybody to get used to the sun, to wear crampons and to acclimatise in a general sense. On the next day, the Tuesday, we did our first training climb - the Petite Aguille Vert above the Grand Montet telepherique station. Technically speaking, this would be harder than anything on Mont Blanc and it was a logical step up in terms of altitude, the summit being above 12,000 feet.
In many respects, the Petite Aguille Vert, the first climb in Gaston Rebuffet's best seller, "One Hundred routes in the Mont Blanc Massif", would have been a worthy challenge in its own right, especially for a team of such inexperience. Our ascent was completed in a thunder and lightning storm and falling snow. As guides, we were all pleased with the way in which we executed the day, especially as most of us had come together for the first time. Chris meanwhile was loving every minute of it.
On the third day we had planned to consolidate at altitude by going up on the telepherique to the Aguille de Midi. Only Marcelle, the French guide, climbed the Arete des Cosmiques, which was really far too ambitious for most and I recall Fred giving him a bit of a ticking off. "I am only doing my job. I get paid to take my clients to the top of the mountain!" replied Marcelle. It was after that incident, I noticed a competitive element creeping in with one or two of the groups. A sort of "why did we not do the Arete des Cosmiques as well?"
Four days now remained. The meteo at the Maison de Montagne in Chamonix, suggested that storms would hit the Mont Blanc Massif on the fourth day. So instead of having a complete rest day, we commenced immediately with our three-day assault of Mont Blanc. We took the familiar route from Les Houches, first by the Belle Vue cable car, and then by the Mont Blanc tramway. We did everything we could to minimise effort. From the top of the tramway, Jessica struggled to the Tete Rousse hut, which is situated near the foot of the cliffs of the Aguille de Gouter, at an altitude of 3,176 metres. Hopefully, this would give people the chance to acclimatise gently, rather than rushing up to the Gouter.
Ian and Steve were in good shape and very supportive towards Jessica. I was confident that unless altitude problems developed, both would get to the summit. I didn't hold out much hope for Jessica however and my own feeling was that it would be a difficult enough task getting her to the Gouter Hut. Crossing the Grand Couloir was certainly going to be interesting!
We had a very relaxed night at the Tete Rousse. No one was feeling particularly bad with altitude and I kept everyone amused with some Cosmic Dave stories. As ever, Chris was buzzing with excitement. At every opportune moment he would wander off the beaten track and practise his guiding skills. We soon learnt that he had a habit of forgetting where he had put things, so each morning we would hide his axe and crampons. Of course he would never ask us because he was so aware of his forgetfulness, much to our amusement!
Cubby
21/3/2002
