Struck by lightning on the Aiguille du Chardonnet - 12546ft (3824m) | ||||||||||||
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Introduction | ||||||||||||
-The couloir | ||||||||||||
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I don't think we were far past the rock tower when we spotted the top of an icy couloir. The couloir dropped away with intimidating steepness. There was no way of knowing exactly where it went. The cloud restricted our visibility to about 100ft (30m) and the couloir's gradient showed no sign of easing as it faded into the cloud. To climb down we would have to face in to the slope and front point. I hesitated at the top. This could be our way down but I was worried. It looked even harder than La Bosse and I couldn't see any obvious signs that it had been used by climbers at all. Maybe the correct couloir was a little further down the west ridge, out of sight in the mist. Perhaps we should check this possibility out? I shared my thoughts with JC. He was very clear. He wanted to go down and as far away as possible from the very real threat of another lightning strike. The couloir offered our first chance to lose height. I wasn't sure. If it wasn't the right couloir we might get a long way down only to find sheer cliffs blocking further progress. We could be forced to climb back up to the ridge. We could end up benighted in a horrendously exposed spot right in the middle of the storm. I reached for my compass and checked the direction of the couloir. It did seem to be heading in the direction of the high snowy shoulder that we needed to find. JC ended my pondering by reiterating his feeling that we should go down and take our chances. I stared down the ridge as it disappeared into the mist but there were no clues. Reluctant to spend any more time on the exposed ridge crest I agreed and down we went. I turned my attention to the slope. It was old, hard snow-ice. It was black from the accumulation of grit from the rock walls at the sides. Our crampons wouldn't get much purchase on the hard ice. If either of us slipped we would both come off and fall fast. JC and I exchanged a few words, we couldn't afford the time to try and place protection. We would move together. JC turned round to face in to the slope and set off carefully down the ice. He made steady progress and when the slack rope between us was nearly gone I too moved onto the ice. I concentrated absolutely on planting every ice axe and crampon securely. I must not fall off. I sincerely hoped that JC was paying equal attention to his placements. I prayed JC could feel more in his leg because the chances of me holding a real slip were slim. I could not get enough metal into the ice to do much more than support my own weight. We'd moved about 80ft (25m) down the slope when suddenly I felt a strong tug on the rope. I tensed and hunched over my tools bracing myself for what was coming. Then the rope went slack again. I looked down to see JC gazing up at me. The rope was tight between us. To my surprise he had been climbing down quicker than me and had simply removed the slight slack between us. His leg was obviously working well enough and I stopped worrying about JC's ability to climb with it. As we lost height the angle eased and eventually we could turn around and face out from the slope. Facing out we were able to lose height rapidly. Unfortunately the intermittent holes in the grey cloud never revealed enough for us to see where we were. We began to encounter some unavoidable rocky buttresses. I would give JC a tightish rope as he picked his way down the rock. With our crampons still on it was precarious work. With my heart racing I climbed down unprotected. Somewhere on this part of the descent we overtook the Dutch. They were OK but were moving slowly. The weaker of the two was looking very worn and tired. We said very little to them but I felt quite a bond between us. They understood exactly what we were going through and we them. | ||||||||||||
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