Trail Run | Hathersage 10 Mile Loop

After months of shopping for the right pair of Trail Running Shoes I finally got a bargain in a pair of Merrell All Out Crush. These, along with the new Vango Swift 10L Hydration Pack meant it was time to get out especially as we have plans to run up to the Mer de Glace while we are in Chamonix, as well as the Yorkshire Three Peaks later in the year.

Besides this, I had an urge for some sort of physically draining day out and have done since the New Year, and BG was yet to try out the route/navigation setting on his Suunto Ambit3 Peak I got him for Christmas. We found this route on Suunto's Movescount website which was rich in trail running routes all over the Peak District.

Planning the Tour du Mont Blanc

The Tour du Mont Blanc Route

For those of you that have seen the endless posts on Instagram or read about last year's trip to the Alps on here you'll know how much Chamonix and the Mont Blanc Massif stole my heart. Shortly after we got home the UTMB started popping up in my Instagram feeds on accounts I had recently started following. As the pictures came in thick and fast of stunning scenes, vast Alpine valleys and enormous mountains I decided I wanted in on the action.

Birthday Wild Camping

Sunrise over Coniston Water 

2016 is drawing to a close and unlike last year I am really enjoying December and the build up to Christmas and, part of the build up includes a birthday for me. Birthday parties have never really interested me, mainly due to the fact that when I was a child everything was booked up months in advance due to Christmas parties, and as this year has just been full of epic, happy outdoor adventures what better than to revisit the Lake District where 2016 began.

Mont Blanc du Tacul

Mont Blanc du Tacul (4248m) from Aguille du Midi

When we were planning what to do in the Alps and BG said 'let's get you your first 4000m peak' we planned it to be the Weissmies in Switzerland. It would be a week into the trip by the time we planned to do the Weissmies which meant I would have had a week to acclimatise and get my head around it. And technically it should be an easy first 4000er.

The week of leaving for the Alps BG was reading through guide books and said something along the lines of 'how do you fancy Mont Blanc du Tacul?' Innocent, naive and with a craving for adventure I said 'yeah'.

Around ten days later I found myself putting crampons on in the ice tunnel at Aguille du Midi about to rope up and head down the Aguille du Midi ridge and on to the Col before attempting 4248m of mountain.

This is what happened.

Mer de Glace

The best view in the Alps on the Mer de Glace

Last year in June me and BG went on our first date to the local indoor climbing wall. I admitted there and then that I didn't like heights, that I wasn't a climber but that I did have an idealistic sense of adventure.

Just over one year later I was very glad to get out of a car that we'd been sat in for over 24 hours and into an apartment in Chamonix unaware of what the next two weeks was going to throw at me.

That evening, four bleary eyed experienced mountaineers/climbers and two (including me) novices, also bleary eyed, shared a massive pot of bolognese and some very welcome red wine and agreed a day on the Mer de Glace was the order of the next day. This was to be the start of a trip that became the most rewarding, most challenging two weeks of my life.

Mont Buet

Sunrise over the Mont Blanc massif from 2700m

This summer we went to the Alps for two weeks and while climbing Mont Buet was not the first thing we did it has been one of the things I have been looking forward to writing about the most.

Earlier on in the year when researching what to do in Chamonix that didn't involve crevasse crossing, serac passing or activities that had a high risk of potential death I came across a blog (I can no longer find it) that a couple had written about Mont Buet. They had climbed it and wild camped near the summit. Various other websites claimed it was one of the best things to see around Chamonix. It therefore became the one thing I had wanted to do while we were staying in Chamonix.

Amphitheatre Buttress

Wild camping the night before the climb

Back in March I went to Burbage Edge in the Peak District for my first outdoor climbing experience. 

It went well.

Three months later in June I found myself at the base of my first 330m climb. This was my third day out climbing.

The night before we wild camped by the Ffynnon Llugwy Resevoir under a tarpaulin. Yes, a tarpaulin, to save weight when climbing the next day. Speaking of weight, when we set off the next morning carrying all the weight in yet another backpack that felt bigger than I did, I spent most of the walk to the climb wondering how on earth I was going to climb with so much weight attached to me. It was strenuous enough lugging it over the Carnedd Llewellyn rage and down to the base of the climb never mind attempting to climb 330m metres of rock with it attached to me.

Wild Camping Virginity

Waking up surrounded by mountains in the Lake District

As it is now the final day in October there is a lot to catch up on from the 2016 so I thought I'd best start at the very beginning, all the way back in January.

January seems like a very very long time ago. Not just because it is, not just because of how much I've done and achieved since then, but because of how I felt back then. I was fresh off the back of Christmas. I didn't want last Christmas, the thought of it looming just stressed me out. I didn't want to see anybody, I just wanted to stay in some sort of cocoon. The usual winter 'sads' seemed to be highlighted by the fresh clouds of insecurity which had started in November and I was about to start with some really attractive anxiety in February. So yes, January is a very long time ago.