Chamonix Dreaming

The town of Chamonix has played a fairly big role in my life over the years. I first visited in 1965 as a 17 year old hitch-hiker. I was impressed by the scale of the mountains and went for a short walk on the Bossons Glacier, which came much nearer to the valley in those days (no gear of course, I just walked out onto the ice). Later, having served my mountaineering apprenticeship on less demanding hills in Norway, Austria and Switzerland, I came back as an Alpinist and spent a couple of weeks or so in the valley every summer for many years. Family holidays grew out of this, then as the children grew older we all came back for skiing many times. I walked the "Tour du Mont Blanc" with Jan in 2005 and since then have returned most years for the races at the end of August.

When I was in the town last summer I speculated that it must be near my 50th visit. When I got home I looked through diaries and photo collections and discovered that it was in fact my 55th. We've taken photos over the years, sometimes more enthusiastically than others, but enough to bring back memories. In the few I've posted below, although other climbing partners appear, the main people you see (apart from me) are my wife Jan, children John and Julia, and my friend Malcolm with whom I shared most of the climbing.

First visit to Chamonix in 1965

The Midi telepherique station in 1965

On the summit ridge of the Aiguille du Chardonnet 1977

The Brasserie Nationale in 1977  -  not the smooth restaurant it is now but a scruffy bar patronised by British climbers

On the Frendo Spur of the Aiguille du Midi (the one underneath the cable car wires) in 1977

South Ridge of the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey - one of 

the longest rock climbs in the Mt Blanc range 1977

Looking down one of the abseils on the Noire 1977

Camping on the Pierre d'Orthaz field (the one by the big boulder in Les Praz) in 1978

Bivvy by the Argentiere Glacier in 1978

On the summit of the Aiguille du Moine 1978

Climbing the famous "Fissure Brown" (first climbed by Joe Brown) on the Aiguille du Blaitiere in 1979

The Frontier Ridge on Mont Maudit in 1979

The Brenva Face of Mt Blanc from a bivi at the Col de Fourche 1979

At a belay on the Walker Spur on the Grands Jorasses in 1981  (note the state of repair of average British climber's equipment!)

The Midi-Plan traverse 1983

On the North Spur of Les Courtes in 1984

Low tech camping in the Vallee Blanche in 1984

Bivvy on the traverse of the Chamonix Aiguilles 1984

In the Coutourier Couloir on the Aiguille Vert in 1985

Near the summit of the Aiguille Verte 1985

With John and Julia at the Chosalets campsite in Argentiere (the "sloping field") in 1985

On the Route Major on the Brenva Face of Mont Blanc in 1986

Summit of Mont Blanc with Malcolm 1986

Damp weather in Orthaz Field 1986

By the Lac Bleu 1987

The old Midi Cable Car  1988

Julia & John on the Midi 1988

Leaving the Midi for the Vallee Blanche with Julia and Malcolm  1994

Vallee Blanche 1994

Vallee Blanche 1994

Descending to the Mer de Glace with John 1994

Balcon, Easter 1995

Climbing "Children of the Moon" 1995

John and Julia, Easter 1996

Vallee Blanche team with Julia and John 1996

Skiing the Vallee Blanche, 1996

Climbing the Aiguille de l'Index with Julia, summer 1996

Julia descending from the Index 1996

Descending from the Couvercle Hut with John and Julia 1997

Walking up to the Petit Charmoz with John and Julia 1997

On the Summit of Mt Blanc du Tacul  with Malcolm1997

Walking the Bisse du Ro with Jan, John & Julia 1998

Skiing to the Grand St Bernard Monastery 1999

On the Grands Montets 2000

Great snow at the Grands Montets 2001

Ready to ski the Vallee Blanche with Laura (niece) and Julia 2001

Walking with bag, Julia and Jan 2006

Othaz field, no campers now in 2007. The town has been cleaned up!

Julia and John at the Grands Montets 2008

UTMB Finish 2010 (course shortened due to bad weather)

After UTMB 2010

Start of the Waiters' Race 2010

The Bonhomme Hut in daylight 2011 (always dark on the UTMB)

 With Jan at Plan de l'Aigulle 2013

 Near the Brevent 2016

Never tire of this view, 2016

Exmoor Coast Ultra - improving but still no cigar.

After getting back from skiing I'd tried to manage a long day out each week, so that I could at least get some miles and height gain in the bag even if I couldn't really run. Two weeks ago I had the usual sociable day sweeping on the Lakeland 100 recce from Buttermere to Dalemain (33 miles and 5300 ft) followed a week later by a trip from Keswick to Wasdale via Walla Crag, Watendlath and Scafell Pike, returning via Black Sail, Kirk Fell and Cat Bells terrace (34 miles and 9000ft). But these were at scarcely more than walking pace; the Exmoor Coast Ultra, while in the same general scope of distance and climb at 33 miles and 6500ft, would have to be done at a slightly faster clip to beat the the fairly challenging cutoffs. Still, it would be a good test of whether I could actually run (or more accurately, shuffle) on what I believed was a slowly improving knee.

Just to check that I could at least jog, I tried 4 miles along the canal on the Thursday evening. I managed just slower than 12 minute mile pace, at which the knee felt that it had been used but had no real pain or swelling. Good enough.

It's a fairly long drive down to North Devon from Chester, but the weather delivered a beautiful evening; it held through until Saturday morning and even as I left the hotel in Lynmouth it was clear we were in for a stunning day by the sea. The car parking field was about half a mile from the start at Hunter's Inn (no problem) but also several hundred feet vertically above it, so a potential problem for after the finish.....

Registration and briefing was all very smooth, and we were off onto the course shortly after 8am. I'd run this event before back in 2013 but I couldn't remember a lot about it except that there were a few steepish climbs but with a lot of cruisy territory in between. It's billed as the most "extreme" of the Endurancelife Coastal series but none of the races are particularly gnarly; not too much climbing and the ground underfoot normally easy going. But they are stressed as running events, the total time allowed for the 33 miles at Exmoor is eight and a quarter hours with proportional cut-offs along the way, so although you can walk the steeper climbs you need to get along a bit in between them. My aim for the day was to get around comfortably within the cut-offs but to finish with no significant damage to my knee.

As we crossed the Heddon Valley a half mile after the start to begin the first climb, I was in last place. It was a long crocodile up the single track path with too much effort required to pull out onto the much lumpier ground to the side and pass, so I settled in for an easy walk to the clifftop and the start of a beautiful undulating track along the cliff edges. This gradually gained height then cut inland for a few hundred yards to the summit of Holdstone Down, the high point of the course about four miles after the start. We were up into the sunshine now, away from the north-facing cliffs, and the day was really starting to warm up. I had generally just gone along with the flow up until here, passing the occasional tail-ender, and by the time we reached the first checkpoint a short way after the summit my watch showed an average pace approaching 15 minute miles. Not really good enough.

From here it was a steady 3 mile descent down an inland valley back to the start area at Hunter's Inn. A nice gradient but plenty of places with stones and tree roots so I took it very carefully, however at least the average pace was going up slightly.

The Endurancelife Coastal events follow a common formula, with at least four races on the day over the same ground. Usually there is a "10k" route with a loop back to the start, then a longer loop which when added to the 10k makes a trail marathon. A short-cut part way along the second loop affords a half marathon, while the ultra comprises the marathon course plus a second lap of the 10k loop. So we had now completed the first lap of the 10k (in the Exmoor event actually about seven and a half miles) and were about to set off on the second longer loop eastwards along the coast.

The climb up to cliff level in this direction was a long easy gradient for maybe a mile or so. Everyone in my bit of the field (ie the back!) was walking up the hill, but it was easily runnable so I settled into a steady jog. I passed at least 20 runners but as soon as we got to the level or slightly descending ground over the top around half of them came past me again. This was to be the pattern of the day, I would gain places on the climbs then lose them again on the long cruisy downhills. Uninjured I would normally take these at the speed of the slope, ie with no braking applied, but I had warned myself severely before the start that this would be a really bad idea today; the continuous loading on the knee was bound to cause swelling and any bad landing could put my recuperation back several weeks. When fit I would expect to cover ground like this at eight or nine minute mile pace, but my watch at the end revealed that my fastest mile had been 11 minutes and 30 seconds  -  just what the doctor ordered.

We carried on eastwards along fine cliff paths to the next checkpoint at Woody Bay, then another stiff climb and a long gentle descent into the top end of Lynton, from where a traversing track led along the valley side above the town and eventually down to a checkpoint at Watersmeet. One thing that I had remembered from my previous visit was the long descent of Countisbury Hill, but I couldn't remember how you got up there. I soon found out, I had obviously blanked from my memory probably the toughest climb of the day, directly up a hot, sheltered and grassy coombe. It felt good though to pass quite a few other runners on the way up. The downs were starting to hurt a bit more so I took a couple of painkillers in the knowledge that I was now over half way through the course as it turned back westward at the top of Countisbury. On the plus side my average pace had improved to around 13 and a half minute miles.

Down the hill and along the short Lynmouth seafront led to the next climb back to the cliff top, this time a much gentler one which could be taken at a better speed. A gently undulating stretch along a lower cliff route than the one we had come out on got us back to Woody Bay, from where it was just a three mile up and over back to Hunter's Inn. Although we now had the full heat of the day there was a gentle breeze along the cliffs so it never felt like an unbearably hot event (though I suppose setting off up the 3000ft climb from Courmayeur with the needle at 35 degrees last summer may have redefined what I think of as "hot"....). All that was left was to repeat the seven mile loop we had done first thing that morning.

The ups felt maybe a little steeper but I still felt I was going strongly enought and the high point soon arrived. So close to the end I permitted myself a bit more speed on the descent than first time round (this is where my staggeringly swift eleven and a half minute mile came in!) while still remaining careful. I told myself all the slowing down would be good quad excercise. Then we were back to base and through the finishing flags to a cup of tea and a laze in the sunshine. No significant soreness so job done.

In the company of two marathon finishers I made my way up the hardest climb of the day  -  the one back up to the car park after we had relaxed for a while; the day was still good enough to drive the majority of the 200-odd miles back to Chester with the top down.

My finishing time was 7 hours 36 minutes, which put me in 61st place out of 99 starters. I would have been happy to accept that if offered it at the start. I'd had a day out which needed a bit more than walking pace. But I can't help feeling that it was a bit of a contrast to the same event 4 years earlier, when my finish in about an hour less (6:35) got me an 18th place (incidentally, that time would still have got 19th place this year). If you assume that to attempt the Dragon's Back you really need to be in the best shape of your life, then I'm still way off the pace. But at least it's progress with no setbacks.  So far, not great but still in the game.

Knees and Dragons

Well I thought I ought to get at least one post on the board during March. I've been a bit quiet. But that's because things haven't really been going to plan.

It started back in February. After a month off over Christmas and New Year due to a bad cold I was up and running again until a careless foot placement during the South Devon Coast Ultra on the first weekend of the month over-rotated a knee which has been missing its ACL for nearly 20 years now. It hurt at the time but I expected to be back in action after a week or two. The same thing had happened before and it hadn't caused too much disruption. I was along to the physio two days after the event and came out hopeful and with a plan of action to get going again.

After a week the swelling had gone down and I was jogging round the block at 10 minute mile pace. Then I did a few repeats on my local hill; I felt a twinge or two on the downhills but nothing untoward, until the following morning when the pain and swelling were back worse than before, and this time they didn't want to shift. By the end of February I seemed to be no better off than when I'd first caused the problem; every time I tried to start running again I was back to square one. My year's programme of races seemed to be an impossible project; I wondered if this time it actually was the end of the road. I have enough friends who can still get around the hills but because of chronic injuries can't run a step.

As February blended into March I made a decision. I needed to keep fit so I would just go out walking over the hills, at whatever speed I could. Uphills get your heart rate up at any speed.When and if I was able to contemplate races again, that could take care of itself. I have two local hills that I go to regularly; Eddisbury Hill at Delamere which is about a 300ft climb and Moel Famau in the Clwyds which is nearer to a 1000ft rise. I decided that I would go to each once a week and gradually build up the laps, then go for a longer outing over other hills once a week as well. I decided to forget about distance and just think of building up time. 

My knee still hurts with pretty well every movement, but my criterion for progress has been swelling. If it swells after an outing I take it easy until it goes down again. Touch wood, the amount I can do, if I treat things carefully is steadily going up. By 18th March, I clearly wasn't in a fit state to attempt the Hardmoors 55 which I had entered, but I managed 27 miles along Offa's Dyke with a climb of over 5000ft. Not much above a 3mph average and sore at the end but recovered overnight, which was just as well as I was going skiing the next day. A week in Tignes was no problem, I guess because there is no real impact from skiing and the exercise probably did the joint some good anyway. A day after my return I did my normal sweeping job at the Lakeland 100 recce, this time from Buttermere to Dalemain, 33 miles and another 5000ft of ascent. The speed of the back of the field presented no problems and it was another 9 hours or so on the feet without too much damage.

Looking at my log it's been a strange year so far. At (almost) the end of March I've covered far fewer miles than in any recent year (313 compared with over 400 in the next worst year) but more feet of ascent (62,000 compared with just over 50,000 next best). I'm up to jogging a bit now but this isn't running. I haven't attempted even a 10 minute mile trip along the canal yet as I'm not ready for it.

I had entered the Exmoor Coastal "Ultra Plus" which is in about 10 days time. At 45 miles and over 10,000ft of ascent, when I planned it I felt it would be a perfect workout 6 weeks ahead of the Dragon's Back. Now it's too much. It requires 4mph to meet the cut-offs and I suspect that I either wouldn't make that, or if I did I might do damage which would put me back weeks again. I've transferred to the standard "Ultra" on the same course (33 miles and 6,000ft); I'll try this a little faster than I've been moving to date (if I don't I won't finish!) and see how it goes.

Which brings us back to the Dragon's Back, which was my main target for the year, and which kicks off on 22 May, less than two months away now. I had decided that I had to travel faster than on my previous attempt in 2015, to give more cushion against the cutoff times and I clearly won't be able to do that now whatever happens. Several times over the past six weeks I've been on the point of pulling out of the race. But it's a big commitment already and I won't be any younger in two years time; this year may well be my last shot.

On the other hand, the DB doesn't need great speed. It needs the ability to climb hills all day, navigate over difficult ground and keep going for what amounts to an ultra a day for five days. And having made a previous attempt I've learned a lot about how to best manage participation in the event, both during the running time and the overnight stops. So at the moment I'm still hoping to make the start line. If I can do a big back-to-back over some DB or similar territory without resulting in too much knee swelling sometime in the next 4 weeks, I think I'll be good to go.

Here's hoping anyway.