Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In the summer of 1973, we headed out to the Alps. Well supplied with tinned
food from Leeds, there was so much weight that the vans kept overheating and as a
though we habitually based ourselves in Snell's Field outside Chamonix, members
would travel to many other areas over the summer, usually in search of better
weather and better conditions. Despite this, the Mont Blanc range drew us back
year after year and it was there that we did most of our most notable ascents and
suffered our many epics.
[7]
That year was my third season in the Alps. I had climbed in Chamonix in 1967,
doing a hard rock route with the rising Scottish star, Jimmy MacCartney, on the
Pointe Albert and some moderate snow climbs on higher peaks. (MacCartney, who
Tom Patey described 'as large as life and radiating enthusiasm like an open fur-
nace', was tragically killed in an avalanche on
Italian Climb
on the Ben in 1968.) I
returned to Chamonix in 1969, completing a number of routes with various part-
ners I met at the old Biolay campsite up in the woods above the Montenvers rail-
way station.
I suffered several forced bivouacs, including one very serious one in the Peigne
couloir after climbing the north ridge. Getting back to camp, I discovered the gen-
darmes had finally cleared the Brits off the unlicensed and unhealthy but free Bi-
olay site. With unexpected compassion, the well-known owner of Snell's Sports -
the climbing shop in town - acted swiftly to allowed the Brits and the Eastern
Europeans to move to a field he owned a mile or so up the road at Les Praz. That's
where my tent had been taken. It was the start of the era that made Snell's Field a
legendary hive of British Alpine activity for decades.
Climbing conditions in 1973 were not good. After a first week of good weather in
early July it began to rain with snow reaching right down to the valley bottom. We
doggedly stuck it out, walking several times up to the Plan de l'Aiguille to stay in a
woodcutters' hut in hopes of improving weather. We also climbed on the valley
crags, practised ice-climbing technique on the Bossons glacier and spent after-
noons in the Bar Nash or the hotel in Les Praz, drinking wine and playing cards.
We were typical, easy-to-please students with few cares in the world and a pen-
chant for jokes in bad taste.
In late July, a morning visit to the metéo office revealed a period of beau temps
lasting at least three days. I was in the Alps with John Bouchard and at the begin-
ning of the season in the short periods of good weather we had managed a couple
of ED rock climbs. But he had promised to do a route with Steve Arsenault, anoth-
er old friend on a flying visit, and everyone else was fixed up. That left Alex and I
to make arrangements.
