Grenadier wrote:

Not sure what happened there.

Living in the Alps, I guess it was an echo………

Kubrick1978 wrote:

I'm super jealous of you. I tried to climb Mont Blanc a couple of years ago but a storm moved in and all the guides advised against going beyond the first hut (the couloire was just a large waterfall!). I will return.

I’m glad they did. OT. You might be describing the ‘Death Couloir’. It’s bloody brutal. We know quite a few guides and not one has anything other than a massive respect for it.



We live under the flight path between the Helipad in Cham where the rescue helo is based and the main local hospital. At this time of year it passes overhead 2-3 times a day. Sometimes from the break of dawn and throughout the day. The couple of valleys that are alongside Mont Blanc on the French side (the aforementioned Cham Valley and where I live, St Gervais valley) experience over 100 deaths a year on average, almost all in summer and almost all climbing related. Competition amongst guides is so high they can be pressed by clients (who would otherwise go elsewhere) to climb when they’d normally not want to and this so often leads to serious accidents or deaths. Indeed a mate (British qualified high mountain guide) told me that a few years ago standards in the French Alpine Guides association got so bad, and all evidenced by the rising injury and death rates year on year, that the French government shut them down for a year and invited the Italian association to rewrite the syllabus and protocols. Imagine the ignominy.

And we’re surrounded by these injuries and deaths. Everyone knows ‘someone’ who’s been killed. Indeed Mrs Grenadier has a friend who came to Cham 30 years ago to train as a French guide and met her husband, also a guide. He died shortly after the birth of their son. She then met another guide and he died about five years ago. A double widow by the age of 40. She refuses to date guides or extreme sportsmen anymore. Tough to do in Chamonix.

Anyway, well done them for advising against pushing on. So difficult for guide and client alike. But better safe than sorry and as you say, hopefully you will be back.  Monsieur Le Grenadier

I've not been everywhere, but it's on my list.....

2011 Puma 110DC - Corris Grey

Supacat wrote:

"Car dealers are putting up used car prices as top 20 models soaring in value are revealed.

Used car prices have continued to rise for the 57th consecutive week on Auto Trader, up an incredible 9.7 per cent year-on-year.

The highest price increase, year-on-year, seen last week was for the Land Rover Defender 90. Prices recorded were up more than a third of the price last year, by 37 per cent to £64,852."

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/ca...led/226221

Not sure if that's as crude an escalation as it sounds as there's no explanation as to model/badge/specification mix.

Grenadier wrote:

Kubrick1978 wrote:

I'm super jealous of you. I tried to climb Mont Blanc a couple of years ago but a storm moved in and all the guides advised against going beyond the first hut (the couloire was just a large waterfall!). I will return.

I’m glad they did. OT. You might be describing the ‘Death Couloir’. It’s bloody brutal. We know quite a few guides and not one has anything other than a massive respect for it.