Struck by lightning on the Aiguille du Chardonnet - 12546ft (3824m) | ||||||||||||
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Introduction | ||||||||||||
-The snowy cwm | ||||||||||||
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Despite our unplanned detour we'd made good time on the frozen ice and it was still dark when we arrived at the base of the Chardonnet. It's great north wall loomed over us. My stomach tightened as we turned into the snowy cwm that marked the beginning of the climbing. The broken ice was trapped between two steep rock walls about 150m apart. The ice rose steeply for a few hundred feet. The many crevasses got much worse as we gained height. Higher in the cwm, as it appeared to narrow, we reached a section that was so broken it was hard work finding any way through the random maze of deep slots. The ice had formed in impossibly thin blades which reared up out of the darkness. These narrow fins of ice curved back and fore like a kind of giant coral. We were forced to wander all over the place in our efforts to gain height, jumping over the gaps from one blade of ice to the next. When the gaps were too large to jump we had to trust ourselves to some tiny ribbons of frozen snow that bridged the fins of ice. Crevasses have always held a macabre fascination for me and as I gingerly eased my way over the slender snow bridges I would shine my headtorch into the black spaces beneath my feet. The light vanished into the dark and the gleaming ice of the crevasse walls seemingly dropped away forever. The most badly crevassed section appeared to be more air than ice. I could've been scared stiff but in fact I loved it. It was still extremely cold and the snow bridges were deeply frozen. I think I made some enthusiastic remark to JC about how I was enjoying myself. His short reply suggested that he'd prefer something more substantial underfoot. Anyway, I found I was looking forward to the icy ridge above and thought the route felt like a good choice. | ||||||||||||
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