Mont Blanc course 3-8 August

On the glacier du TourOn the glacier du TourBig crevasses on the Glacier du Tour Guide Philippe playing piano in the Albert 1er hut

We had 12 people on Chamonix Experience Mont Blanc course the 3rd to the 8th of August. They headed up to the Albert 1er hut for training and acclimatisation.

Here they are doing crampons and ice axe training on the Glacier du Tour by the hut.

One of Chamonix Experience mountain guides, Philippe Genin, is also a musician and he brought his portable piano up to the refuge for a bit of entertainment…..and he did not stop there. He also brought the piano up to the summit of the Aiguille du Tour and played and sang “Imagine” by John Lennon at 3544m.

Early morning start on Aiguille du Tour Climbing across the bergschrund Climbing on Aiguille du Tour Climbing on Aiguille du Tour Guide Philippe playing piano on Aiguille du Tour Guide Philippe playing piano on Aiguille du Tour

Unfortunately, the weather was not on their side towards the end of the week so we had to relocate the summit attempt to Gran Paradiso (4061m) in Italy. This is a really nice and technically easy summit and a good alternative to Mont Blanc. Our group stayed in the Vittorio Emanuele refuge, which is really nice.

Climbing Grand Paradiso Climbing Grand ParadisoClimbing Grand Paradiso, on the summit Climbing Grand Paradiso, on the summitClimbing Grand Paradiso, on the summit

They had a sunny but cold and windy day and everybody made it up to the summit. Philippe even brought his piano with him and played on the summit. Unfortunately we did not get any photos of that.    

photo-blog Martina Palm 15 Aug 2008