Struck by lightning on the Aiguille du Chardonnet - 12546ft (3824m) | ||||||||||||
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Introduction | ||||||||||||
-The rimaye | ||||||||||||
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There was no great relief upon reaching the shoulder. It was an exposed spot and the side of the mountain we would be descending was icy and continued to fall away very sharply. The weather was worsening and the clouds swirling around us blocked our view of the way off. We were still high at about 11,500ft up. A notorious rimaye, a giant rift in the steep ice that we had to cross, lay somewhere below. Everything we did was lent great urgency by the growing frequency of the lightning strikes. The storm was spreading and more frequent distant rumbles accompanied the huge bangs that were direct hits on the ridge by us. We started off down the slope immediately and although steep we were at least able to face outwards while we descended. I was slightly in front of the others when I felt a great space ahead. The snow slope steepened up for a bit and then stopped abruptly, apparently in mid air. Maybe this was the rimaye. There was obviously a huge break in the slope as the ground immediately beyond looked like it was way below us. Scared that I might be moving onto an overhanging cornice of snow I crept very slowly towards the edge for a better look. I didn't dare move right up to the edge for fear of it collapsing under my weight. I was close enough to see what was happening on our right. I was shocked by what I saw. There was a giant fringe of enormous icicles hanging down from an overhanging snow and ice lip. Maybe 10ft behind the icicles was a sheer concave wall of blue ice. The drop from the roof to which the icicles clung to an ominous looking dip in the snow directly below them was about 40ft. I felt another surge of adrenalin kick in and my heart rate increase. No wonder this route was little used in ascent any more. I worried that the Dutch rope may not be long enough to get us down this icy cliff. We would have to abseil hanging in free space and there was absolutely nowhere solid to anchor a rope on our snow slope. We didn't have snow stakes or deadman anchors. We would have to fashion a snow bollard to hang the rope off. I'd never abseiled off a snow bollard before and I guessed that noone else had either. It was a bad time to learn. It would take us ages to fashion a bollard in which we'd feel confident and if we wasted much more time we'd be caught on the mountain by the night. I remembered the guide book suggestion that an heroic jump might be an alternative to abseiling over this rimaye. Perhaps there was a spot where the upper and lower slopes came closer together. With my heart thumping I moved closer to the edge for a better look. The ice cliff seemed to cross the entire slope, from sheer rock on our right to an enormous drop on the left. I moved gingerly from side to side scanning the slope below. About 8ft from the edge I knew that I could be on overhanging snow. I fervently hoped that it was well consolidated and stuck to the ice below. Yes! There was a spot where the lower slope pushed a tongue of snow covered ice up towards us. I moved towards this spot and crept closer still to the edge for a look. I could see a narrow, level piece of snow that was closer. It looked too big to jump from where I was but if we could get right to the edge without the overhanging lip collapsing it might be possible. JC came over and checked it out. He was ready to try it. The drop was definitely on the limit for a jump. I had two fully working legs and would jump first. Just beyond the narrow landing platform the slope rushed steeply downhill again. To overshoot would put me on a very fast tumbling slide down the slope. To fall short might mean dropping between the icy walls of the rimaye. I had to get it right. I kept my crampons on and hoped they survived the landing. I inched my way towards the edge ready to push off in case the overhang gave way. I found myself right on the lip and still it bore my weight. I stared at the narrow landing spot, hoped it was a solid platform and jumped. My crampons bit deep as I crunched into the snow below. My legs gave and I rolled to a stop. I was down. I was fine and stood up. My crampons were intact and I hadn't lost my ice axe. Great. I moved to give JC a bit of room to land. He too eased himself to the edge of the lip and launched himself. He piled into the snow beside me just as I had done and stood up. He and his leg were doing well. We were both over the rimaye. I was so relieved, I wanted the adventure to be over. I looked across at the rimaye. It really was spectacularly big. Up above the Dutch pair must have decided the jump was too risky. They had stayed away from the overhanging snow and had moved up the slope slightly. They were both busy fashioning some sort of anchor in the snow. I guessed it would be some time before they abseiled over the rimaye. I was disappointed the Dutch weren't jumping. We would have to wait for them to share their rope on the glacier later. However I couldn't blame them for preparing an abseil because the rimaye looked pretty hairy from above. | ||||||||||||
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