In the fourteen years I’ve been in Chamonix I’ve only been pulled off once when my partner broke her leg on the East Face of the Aiguille du Moine. The crew that helped us out were so professional and efficient yet personable it made my head spin. These guys rock.
We're starting to think Fred just has a thing for nurses.
Fred Syverson become an internet phenomenon due to his accidental record-setting huck. Well, the loveable Norwegian charger is back again, this time with a particularly gnarly crash while filming with the Missing Link crew in Tamok for their film Epic Moments. Aptly titled, I’d venture to say.
The good news is that Fred escaped relatively unharmed (total miracle) and will no doubt be shredding again soon. And if you haven’t seen the world record cliff drop you just gotta check this out…
So that makes two of your nine lives, Fred. Seven more to go.
On a cold, dark day at the end of December I lost a close friend and climbing partner, Super Rupert Rosedale, in an avalanche on Ben Nevis. In a story on the traverse of the Chamonix Aiguilles I wrote of him:
Super is a true British alpinist in the finest tradition – nothing like the ones who seem to come over for the sole purpose of hurling themselves down crevasses or freezing to death in previously forecast storms. Nope, Super is fast and talented over both rock and ice, solid with his protection, with an ability to laugh in the face of stuck ropes and spilled brews.
Super was a teacher. He taught people, young and old, how to enjoy life and experience first-hand the overwhelming beauty of nature. Man, he was good at that. He was less than a year from completing his guides’ exam, he was rebuilding a house in Vallorcine with his bare hands, living the dream with his wonderful wife and beautiful children. In going through my photos and climbing books since the day that Mathieu called me with the bad news, through the heart-warming memories and the silent tears, I’ve come to realize that I’ve climbed in Chamonix with Super more than any other partner. It’s just crazy how close you become to someone when you tie into a rope and achieve what seems like the impossible together. How long, intense days followed by cold, endless bivvies bring out the best and worst in a person. Luckily for those whose lives he touched, Super had an overabundance of best. Lord, how I’m going to miss him.
The following guest post is written by a Chamonix-based artist whose skills I greatly respect. All characters are totally fictitious and I have no idea what lussekatter is but I dig the guy’s story, so here you go…
We Swedes celebrate Christmas on the evening of the 24 !! Normally you would give a beloved person a Christmas gift in the early morning hours. If you are lucky and got her the right present as the morning gift there will be endless laughter and joy throughout this very special day,you might even get the chance to escape, even if only for a few minutes, the turbulence of the sometimes very stressed house. Its nice for the two of you to cuddle up in your warm and cosy bed. Then back in to the kitchen, helping out with the usual things only you two can feel the joy of your romance. Every time your eyes meet there is a sparkle.
On the other hand when things go horribly wrong no power is strong enough to hold back the anger of your disappointed little Swedish loved one. She will furiously put her bathrobe on. Belt way to tight around her thin waist, two large steps and she is out of your warm and decorated bedroom. You want to call her name but hestitates since sisters and family are all gathered out there in the kitchen. You get dressed quickly and walk out to join the others. Coffee,gingerbread and lussekatter are all freshly baked,its offcourse grandmothers old recipe. Every body are cheerfull and the room is filled of warmnes,not only from the big fire place. But no contact can be made with your darling. She seems happy though a she speaks and laughs with the others. When you finally manage to get a little eye contact you fetch a glance of a cold hell. The hairs on your back stands right out and a shiver down your spine paralyze any move you would like to do. She turns around to the others and cheers them a happy Christmas morning.
You get an emediate feeling of being alone. You know that no one should feel alone on Christmas day and you realize thats a feeling none the better. You try to shake it of and walk in to the next room where the men are gathered. But there are no one to be found.
Outside through the window you can see the young lads having a snowball fight and on the other side of the yard her brothers are collecting the wood that their father is cutting. What happened, I use to be the one out there throwing snowballs and carrying wood for the fire place,you say to yourself. After alittle while which feels like ages when all old Christmases passes through your head you turn around to walk back into the kitchen almost stumbling over the wheel chair which carries her grand grandfather. You did not see him earlier but he was there all right. With a smile on his old wrinkled face he looks up at you but you are not really sure that he can see you. “Oooohh, boy. I am still sitting out here while grandma is in there cooking,” whispers the old man.
Well, I got so much response from the last Chamonix accident report that I’ve decided to post another to hold us over until either Martial calls me back to fill me in on the Cervin or we get a better picture of the forecast which will determine whether I cover the Ultra Trail or go climbing in the next few days. Come on, sun!
Brrrr...
Tasting the Void
Thursday, 20 August – A 35-year-old man from Bordeaux missed the last lift down from the top of the Grands Montets and, as you do when confronted with hazardous terrain and approaching nightfall, decided to walk down the glacier. Alone. Unsurprisingly the intrepid adventurer fell into a crevasse and broke his leg while descending. Astonishingly, he survived the night in the crevasse and was able to extricate himself on his own. He was spotted the next morning near the 4th pylon by a GM lifty who called PGHM who escorted him the rest of the way down.
Wings Over White
Wednesday, 19 August – For the first time since the epic summer of 2003, paragliders landed on the summit of Mont Blanc (4810m). After taking off at 13:52 Denis Cortella and Max Jeanpierre took one-and-a-half hours to fly from Planpraz to the summit of Mont Blanc. Although some were claiming this amazing feat to be a new record for summitting MB without mechanical means this seems to be a case of comparing apples to oranges when compared to the guy who took four hours to run from the centre ville to the top. I mean, we’re not 100% sure but we’re guessing the pilots used the lift – yeah, the big mechanical one – to get up to Planpraz at 2000m, right?
Anyway, congrats to the 11 paragliders who touched down on the summit. The crew included what I’ve been led to believe is the first tandem pilot Olivier Laugero as well as the first female pilot, former world-ranked pilot and Chamonix tandem instructor Caroline Brille, to paraglide to the summit.
The video I saw from this feat is pretty dull so instead of that here’s a great bit o’ footy of Steve Waining early August 2003, his first year flying, flipping out as he sails over the Dru. For those who wonder about the whole parapente thing, Steve-o’s voice pretty much says it all.
ParapenteStevo_sept8-2003
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Accidental Tourists
photo: Guy Martin-Ravel
Wednesday, 19 August – Busy season for the PGHM as they began the day by rescuing a victim of acute mountain sickness at the Col des Dômes. Around 17:00, they assisted an apparent heart attack victim at the ice cave on the Mer de Glace (and cruelly ignored my own heart palpitations as I raced across the glacier to barely catch the last Montenvers train down). The boys in blue rounded out the day by evacuating two exhausted hikers, one older than 80, from the trail between Brévent and Flégère.
Japanese Death Rappel
Monday, 17 August – A 59-year-old Japanese man, accompanied by a guide from the Compagnie de Chamonix, died while rappelling from Point Gaspard in the Aiguilles Rouges. Initial reports indicate the guide had already descended when the client fell and early speculation is centered around the client’s daisy chain. To learn more about the dangers of daisy chains, check out this vid. Or just bring up the subject with Stian. Believe me, you’ll get an earful.
Guide Down
Sunday, 16 August – Alberto Noraz, a 53-year-old Courmayeur guide and member of the Val d’Aoste mountain rescue team, was killed on the Bernezat Spur of the Tour Ronde. Reports indicate he fell 200m as a result of ‘rupture du becquet rocheux’ (broken hold?). His Italian client received minor rope burns but was otherwise uninjured. Our sympathies go to the Noraz family.
Butts Afire
Sunday, 16 August – A fire broke out beneath the 10th and 11th pylons of the Brévent–Planpraz gondola at around 11:15. Firemen originally planned to rappel from the gondolas but changed their minds when confronted by the wind-driven flames and toxic fumes. Plan B? Call Pascal Brun of CMBH and ask him to bring his extraordinarily large, 900-liter bucket. 38 trips were needed to dump 34 cubic meters of Lake Champraz water, extinguishing the flames in 13 hours. Four fire trucks from Chamonix, Saint-Gervais, Sallanches and Cluses were also used to secure the area and thoroughly extinguish the fire.
Many tourists who found themselves stuck at the mid-station simply walked down while around 200 others, who were unable or uninterested in walking, were evacuated by 4×4.
Firefighters believe the wildfire was started by a cigarette butt. Or a cigarette arse, as the case may be.
No Picnic at the Dining Room
Week of 10-16 August – A group of aspirant guides were on a training exercise to Dent du Geant with instructors and clients
Dent du Géant
when disaster struck. One of the aspirants was moving with his client across the ‘dining room’, the snowy mixed saddle that accesses the Geant, when a loose block caused him to fall pulling his protection and his client with him. The aspirant fell about 50 meters when, despite a fractured wrist, he was able to arrest his fall and that of the client who was suspended in air after falling over a rock wall. The 29-year-old Chambery woman suffered a fractured sternum and several fractured ribs. The ENSA professor overseeing the group called a rescue, which due to their location, was answered by the Italian rescue service who took two-and-a-half hours to make it to the scene of the accident.
Sunday, 16 August – A fire broke out beneath the 10th and 11th pylons of the Brévent–Planpraz gondola at around 11:15. Firemen originally planned to rappel from the gondolas but changed their minds when confronted by the wind-driven flames and toxic fumes. Plan B? Call Pascal Brun of CMBH and ask him to bring his extraordinarily large, 900-liter bucket. 38 trips were needed to dump 34 cubic meters of Lake Champraz water, extinguishing the flames in 13 hours. Four fire trucks from Chamonix, Saint-Gervais, Sallanches and Cluses were also used to secure the area and thoroughly extinguish the fire.
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