Suffer practice!

Last week saw Emily and I head out for another night of bivvying up high for some sleeping at altitude and general suffering in the name of training! We picked a good night for the latter...unfortunately our first choice of the Aiguille du Midi was shut due to high winds and so we headed to Grand Montets armed with big rucksacks, skis and a very lightweight tent. Unfortunately again, the top Grand Montets lift was shut and so we were left with taking the last chair lift of the day up the Hearse run. From the top of the Hearse we traversed and found a place to set up our 'camp' for the night. The cable car stopping winds were soon apparent when we tried to put up the tent and once up it looked pretty deformed with each gust of wind that buffeted it. There was only one thing for a good nights sleep...wall building. I think Em may have missed her true vocation as a dry stone waller: I was happy cutting out blocks and she arranged them into a very neat, strudy wall. This made for a very nice nights sleep, followed by unearthing the tent from under fresh snow when we crawled out in the morning and a ski down to the bottom to start work.