Wot i did on my 17th birthday!

Sleeping next to tall - or should I say short - mountaineers, blocked toilets, waking up at one o'clock in the morning, climbing Mont Blanc on your 17^th birthday...sounds pretty good to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the 28^th of July Dad and I cruised up to Chamonix to meet Dad'sclients and to start the expedition. They were called James and cathy and were really cool and looking forward to the challenge! We did our final gear checks at the bottom of the midi lift and then we were off.

For the next day and a half we lived in the Cosmiques Hut (aka the cosmic hut) just below the Aiguille de Midi, whilst there we became acclimatized and trained for the gruelling ascent. We practised on the glacier and also climbed the Cosmic (sic) Arete, which was an interesting and exciting climb up to the top of the Aiguille. When arriving at the top: tired, sweating and feeling thoroughly pleased with our efforts we were attacked from all sides by insane Japanese and Chinese tourists asking "Hallo, you beeeeeen climbinggggggg the Mant Blanc, you like picture, picture??!!" After that we returned to the hut and rested, ate and psyched ourselves up for the main event. Rupert Rosedale, a long-time friend and trainee mountain guide was to take me up the hill, whilst Dad took James and Cathy. We wolfed down our meals and ran straight off to bed so that we were full of energy for the 1:00 o'clock wakeup call....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

"Wake up, wake up", came Dads croaky voice from three bunks below "it's 1:00 o'clock and we've Mont Blanc to climb". The team clambered downstairs, had a small breakfast whilst gazing out in to the dark mountains. We emerged from the hut onto the glacier first with only the lights from our head torches for comfort and the uncomfortable feeling in our stomachs that could have only been vertigo from thinking of how far we had to walk.

We set off ploughing towards our first major peak, Mont Blanc du Tacul. Rupe and I were at the front cracking a blistering pace, with Dad, James and Cathy following in our wake. We walked solidly for around two and a half hours, twisting and turning up the steep face and finally jumping a few giant crevasses. We reached the top were we could begin to picture the outline of the mountains through the night sky. Phew...we had conquered our first peak.....only another nine hours up and down to go.

Our next mission was the ascent of the extremely steep face of Mont Maudit. This was where the work started to get extremely tough. This face needed a very slow plod and a more cautious approach due to its steepness. It took much longer than Mont Blanc du Tacul and was a lot more taxing because of the altitude. Below us the lights of other climbers were scattered across the mountain...cool! Five minutes from the top of Mont Maudit came the steepest part of the climb yet where we had to clamber up a sheer wall of ice..., it was great fun and good that the darkness hid the fall!

From the top of Mont Maudit it was now a long slog were tiredness and altitude took their toll. After walking for what felt like ages we finally reached the summit where the visibility was poor but it was still an amazing feeling...wow, it was brilliant!!

Overall it took us twelve hours up and down, it was a great experience, the team was great and I cant wait to ski it next...!

Words by Archie Parks (17 and a bit!)