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Martina at the Col du Montets, as we are just setting off. In the background the route is marked out. |
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Taking off the rope and crampons after having crossed the glacier. The Argentiere hut is just behind us and behind that is the Tour Noir. |
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A bit of rope coiling. The snow covered peak in the distance is Mt Dolent. |
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At 6AM we have reached the base of the couloir to the Col superior du Tour Noire. In the background is the Aiguille d'Argentier with the Fleche Rousses ridge running off rightwards |
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We reach the col at 7AM, behind Martina is the last 140m to the summit up the broken and rocky N Ridge. |
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Bad weather had started to appear during the last half hour and now it was starting to snow quite heavily, time to turn back. |
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Hours later, having descended back to the hut, then down the glacier and over the ladders below the Rognon we get caught in a patch of sunlight. Earlier Martina fell through a snow bridge and we had to put into action our crevasse rescue abilities both for the first time. |
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During the last 500m march to Lognan we were caught in the most tremendous hail storm, yet all the time we could see that Argentiere was in the sun. We dried out a bit in the sun before heading back down to Cham. |
