The large amounts of fresh snow at the start of the week here in the Chamonix valley gave some difficult mountain conditions with only those willing to break trail and navigate getting anywhere.

James, Gareth, Louis, Rob and I had an unusually tough Mont Blanc training period over on the Tour and Trient Glaciers. This prepared us well for an unusually tough Mont Blanc ascent which took 7 hours from the Gouter Hut instead of the more normal 4.5. Breaking trail in untracked breakable crust with soft powder snow underneath and poor visibility provided a memorable, if not entirely pleasant experience, getting to the Vallot Hut at 4362m.

We were welcomed here (by the 25 overnight residents pinned down by bad weather the previous day) as if visitors from another planet and many questions of the weather forecast were asked. As predicted by various Chamonix weather forecasts, the clouds parted and wind died down enabling us to enjoy better snow conditions on the Bosses Ridge and a superb feeling of isolation as we had the upper mountain to ourselves.

The fleshpots of Chamonix beckoned and a long sustained descent took us down to the top station on the Mont Blanc tramway and what would prove to be a big night only in terms of the amount of sleep required to recover from a pretty physical day on the hill!

More photos from our Mont Blanc ascent.