Altitude Training

With six weeks to go before departure date, Cat and I are putting more emphasis on altitude acclimatisation. At 6194m, Denali will be the highest of the two mountains we will climb. After this, we should be well acclimatised for the harder route on Mt Foraker. However, due to the high latitude of Denali national park (just below the arctic circle) the barometric pressure is lower than on a mountain of the same height closer to the equator, therefore the altitude will feel more like 7000m.

With this in mind, Cat and I headed up the Aiguille du Midi lift straight after work last sunday. This took us from Chamonix (1030m) to 3842m. Due to the lower barometric pressure, at this height, you are receiving at least 40% less oxygen than at sea level. In order for your body to cope with this, your breathing rate increases, blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries increases and more red blood cells are produced to carry oxygen.

We stayed the night in the Cosmiques refuge (3615m) and could certainly feel the shortness of breath! In order to get the most out of being at this altitude we decided to climb back up to the top of the Midi via 'Cosmiques Arete', a mixed route (ie. snow and rock) graded AD. This also provided some more training in moving together over snow and ice and general ropework. The route was in pretty good condition and we had a beautiful sunny day for it.

We started the up the Arete at 6am and didn't see a single person until we climbed over the viewing platform at the Aiguille de Midi where we got the lift back down to Chamonix. Well done Cat for going straight to a 3 hr off-piste ski lesson afterwards!

Up and coming film stars

Emily: Here is a sample from the Skiing Glaciers Safely film I took part in on the Vallee Blanche.  I'm wearing the blue boots and blue jacket!  We await the complete version......

Adventure touring...

Last Saturday Em and I decided that we would head up and do the Col du Beaugeant tour and return to Le Buet via the Col de L'Encrenaz. Unfortunately winds were pretty strong and the final pommer at Flegere was closed. Undeterred we decided that heading up to the Col de la Floria would provide good training. Conditions were very windblown and we soon exchanged skinning for bootpacking and made good progress up to the col. The views from here were stunning and tucking ourselves over the col, everything was still and very sunny...beautiful! Conditions on the other side of the col were pretty steep and icy and so we decided to 'freestyle' our way back to the Lachenal Bowl and the Lachenal piste at Flegere. From the map this would follow a ridge line and so we decided to forego our chances of any good snow for a bit of an adventure. We stayed just below the ridge line and traversed below the Aiguille de la Floria and headed down and round from there, at first crossing an exposed traverse on foot (more like thigh-deep wading for a while!) and then continuing on skis. The snow was far from great but it was a really great day out, ending with a cold beer at apres in Les Pras, perfect!

The fabulous Col du Belvedere!

Yesterday was a particularly sunny Saturday and so Ru and I set out in search of fresh tracks and a bit of an adventure. After what seemed like a million lifts in a very short space of time, we made our way from Brevent to Flegere and then to the top of the Index lift and the pommer above. From there we traversed around (particularly difficult for Ru on a snowboard) quite a way and began a skin up via Lac Blanc to the Col du Belvedere. It was a totally stunning day and the views across the Mont Blanc Massif were incredible...I took a lot of photos! On reaching the col we brought out the 2 60m ropes that we'd carried up (good training in itself!!) and made two abseils down the steepest part of the col. We were definitely rewarded for our hard work on the way up - there were very few tracks and the powder was amazing - there were many shouts of delight!! The descent took us down to join the Berard Valley under the shadow of Mont Buet (the 'lady's Mont Blanc'!) and down to Le Buet to catch the train back to Les Praz for a well-deserved apres beer with a big smile!

What we get up to in the gym...

As well as getting out and training on the mountain, Cat and I are doing three gym sessions a week in the Chamonix 'Salle de Musculation'. We're very grateful to Rachael Woolston, who is a personal fitness trainer (www.bodybalancefitness.co.uk) for forming a specific training schedule for us.  The gym sessions focus on building strength, particularly in the shoulders, arms, legs and core.  In each of the three sessions we work on just one area to fatigue our muscles faster and give quicker results (it also means we can spend less time each session in the gym!)  So we work on one of the following at a time: Back and shoulders; Core and chest; Legs and bum.

Each session starts with 5 min warm up on the cross-trainer/bike and then for each exercise we do 3 sets of 12 repetitions.  In order to get the right weight/resistance, Rachael told us the last 2 reps of every set should be very difficult....... so it's just down to our own judgement to make sure we're not slacking on the weights! The exercises are very varied, ranging from familiar ones such as push ups to completely new ideas which took a bit of practice at first, for example the Swiss ball.  Having previously only played with a Swiss ball to see if I can kneel on it, I've been really impressed by how easily you can target specific muscle groups if you know what you're doing.  In the photo above I'm working on the hamstrings by rolling the ball away and towards me whilst keeping my hips raised.  Another favourite of mine is the 'kneel to standing' exercise.  Pretty simple: kneeling down, holding dumbells, you stand up and then kneel back down.  After a few reps this soon becomes surprisingly hard and you can feel the strain in all the leg muscles - a great exercise for simulating the sort of horrendous muscle fatigue we'll encounter in Alaska!   Rachael has updated our schedule each month to make sure we are progressing. But with only 7 weeks left before we go, as I had expected, I can't help wishing we had more time to train.....!

Springtime!

It definitely feels like Spring has arrived in Chamonix this week. We've had a couple of days of snow showers followed by beautiful blue skies and some great snow and so we have been taking the opportunity to make the most of the conditions. Yesterday, after spending the morning at Brevent and Flegere trying to improve my off piste technique, I caught the cable car up the Aiguille du Midi with Neil and Garth and we headed down the Vallee Blanche via the Grand Envers. The snow at the top was great powder and pretty deep - the cold temperatures up there after a couple of clear days and nights had kept the snow in great condition. There had obviously been a lot of wind and movement of snow too. Lower down the snow was a little heavier with a bit of a crust that I found harder going. However, the sun was shining, there weren't very many people about and Neil managed to make the run in between driving two airport transfers to Geneva airport...not a bad 'lunch break'!!

Training, training, training!

An integral part of our training schedule has been a 'mountain phase' which involves replicating some of the work that we will have to do in order to climb Denali and Foraker in Alaska. Therefore we have been hard at work skinning and snowshoeing uphill several times a week. The most easy and accessible areas are the home runs of the pistes around Chamonix and it means that we can do this before work. They generally take between an hour/hour and a half, depending on where we go and how much we are carrying. A few days ago we decided to snowshoe and take our snowboards up the Flegere home run. It was a warm day but really poor visability and there was a constant drizzle (reminiscent of UK weather!!). This morning we again snowshoed and took boards but this time up the Grand Montets home run which is a little longer. About an hour and twenty minutes of snowshoeing through new snow (it was still snowing when we got to the top!) ensured a good workout and also a pretty cool descent back down again!

Yellow Berghaus rucksack still going strong!

Last summer I undertook a trip to Canada with the aim of climbing the remote and beautiful Lotus Flower Tower and paddling the Nahanni River back to civilisation. When I say remote, it truly was: three long days of driving North from Vancouver, a short ferry ride, a 2.5 hour float plane ride from Fort Simpson and then a 14 hour walk-in from hell left brought us and our climbing gear to the Cirque of the Unclimbables and the base of the Lotus Flower Tower. After 11 days in the Cirque 10 days of paddling with all of our kit saw us back in Fort Simpson, tired but very happy! The kit that we took determined not only our comfort during nearly 4 weeks out of civilisation but also our success. We were lucky enough to be supported with kit by Berghaus. The Phantom 37 rucksack (pictured in use) proved to be my favourite piece of kit on the trip. After chopping off a few bits that I didn't need, it proved to be comfortable when worn on long multi-pitch ascents, was incredibly light and even made a good foot warmer for Pete and I when we bivvied on a ledge with minimal gear! I have had some comments about the colour...all I can say is that you'll never lose me on the hill (you decide whether that's a good or bad thing!!).

Emily and Cat featured in February Trail Magazine

After hearing about our plans for Alaska and training schedule over the winter in Chamonix, Trail magazine interviewed us for their 'Fit for Adventure' column. The article is on Page 41 of the February edition and gives some information on our training and preparation in the Alps this winter.