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.

Ski Touring!

Today has been an amazingly sunny and beautiful day in the Chamonix Valley and we took full advantage of it by heading out for a tour. We caught the lift up Flegere and then the pommer to the top of the Index before skinning up (500m ascent) and over the col next to the Aiguille de la Floria. A descending traverse took us beneath the Aiguille du Belvedere and we then bootpacked (350m ascent) up the narrowing couloir which had a pretty steep section just before the top. I wasn't expecting it to be quite so sunny and warm...after using lots of suncream on my face I felt like it was more like summer in the Alps than February - awesome!! After a quick bit to eat we headed down to a small col and on to the top of the Mort Glacier (great name...hmmm!) for an amazing powder descent down the Berard Valley that just seemed to go on and on - a glorious 1550m of it! There were many, many smiles as we arrived in Le Buet and caught the train home to Chamonix with a glass of vin chaude - I'm not sure that days get much better than that!!