Trek 5:00:00 [2]
Up at 4h30 and managed to start our trek up to Pointe Percee, the highest peak in our little region of France (2,750m), by 5h45. Once atop the first ridgeline, the sun was just coming up over Mt. Blanc to our direct east. It was about as incredible a view as you can get of the alps. We could see as far north as the Matterhorn and Eiger and as far south as Parc des Ecrins. Just awesome and well worth the very early start to the day. We weren't done, however, as we still had to gain the peak. It was incredibly steep and was what my buddy Darin coins "no fall climbing". Translation = you really, really don't want to fall. I was testing out my new Arc'teryx Acrux FLs and I was very pleased that they worked. If they didn't, I would have been in serious trouble. I've climbed stuff like that before but there was always vegetation around, too. This time, we were well above the treeline and you had to be on your game. All of those nights at Rock Oasis with Hansel paid off nicely! We geared up with helmets and harnesses but never had to use the rope in the end. On the downclimb, however, I was very close to needing it. I got stuck at one crux move and couldn't quite execute what needed to be done. Darin is much smaller than I am (and a very experienced alpinist) and was able to tuck into a small space to get down. There's too much of me to do the same thing and I couldn't figure out a different way...until I was able to use a nicely placed bolt to my right to swing down.
Awesome experience and I really get the fascinatation that more and more trail runners are having with adventuring above the treeline!
