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Conquering the White Mountain
On the 4th July 2009, Mike Essex and 3 friends set off to climb Mont Blanc which, at 4,808m, is the highest mountain in Western Europe. He has raised over £2,700 for Compton Hospice and this is his story:
It has been 10 years since my Mum (Angela Essex) died of ovarian cancer and I wanted to be able to mark the occasion with a significant event that would allow me to raise money for Compton Hospice. A plan to climb Mont Blanc had been in place for 18 months so it seemed like a great opportunity. 18 months flashed by and before I knew, it the flight to Geneva was only two weeks away and I had only managed to buy 20% of the equipment and clothing needed!
We arrived in Chamonix and, after two days training where I suffered a serious bout of altitude sickness, we woke up the next day at 6am feeling apprehensive as this was it; the next 2 days would be spent attempting Mont Blanc! We all packed our kit and drove to the start point where were met our two Italian guides. The route starts easily enough with a 20 minute rickety old train journey which winds itself up the mountain to a start point of 2,200m. The plan was simple; climb up until we reached the refuge hut at 1-2pm where we would eat, rest and get to bed at 8pm before waking up at 1am to push for the summit the following day.
The climb began very slowly with the guides labouring the point that to have a chance of success, we walk slowly but steadily. After a couple of hours of walking we reached the snowline, put on crampons, helmets and roped ourselves together preparing for the first big obstacle; the couloir. The couloir was an extremely steep corridor that was approximately 25m wide with a single path across the snow. The biggest danger here was rock fall from above but it was pretty hard to ignore the second biggest danger that was falling about 500m down the valley! We crossed it nervously and then began tackling the 700m steep ridge to the refuge. This was a little technical and was great fun if you could block out the serious drops to either side; fortunately there was some cloud around to assist us in that respect. We broke through the cloud to reach the refuge (3,800m) in full sunshine feeling tired but looking forward to some rest.
It was at this point the guides suggested that as the weather was much better than forecast, we could actually attempt the summit that afternoon. We looked at each other and weighed up the odds. Hundreds of attempts every year are thwarted on Mont Blanc due to the bad weather making it too dangerous. The forecast for the next day was not great, we were feeling fairly strong so we decided to go for it; a decision that proved to be the wrong one for two of our party of four.
I popped a couple more paracetamol to try and stave off altitude sickness, slung on the rucksack and strapped on the crampons again. It sounded reasonable to finish off the remaining 1000m of ascent in 4 hours but two hours into the ascent, I started to feel pretty weary. We had by now split up into two groups with myself and Al roped to one guide and Jonny and Paul roped to the other guide. Al and I had overtaken the other two about an hour ago and suddenly our guide’s radio crackled into life. It was the other guide saying that Jonny and Paul had decided to return to the refuge as they were too tired to continue. It was a bit of a blow, but at the time, my mind was starting to become starved of oxygen and I could not process normal thoughts properly and the news did not really register. Whilst all around me were beautiful snow ridges with stunning views, all I could think about was putting one foot in front of the other. “How long to go?” I asked our guide. “About 45 minutes” and it just seemed like an eternity. Every step was becoming laboured and for the last 100m of ascent, I was stepping one foot and then taking a deep breath, I just could not even string two steps together. I took one look at Al; he had an icicle about 2 inches long from his nose to his chin reminding me that it was -20’C. I didn’t have the energy to make a joke about it.
Finally, we reached the top – we had made it!! It was a fantastic feeling and it was brilliant being on the top with no other climbers around. It was difficult to take it all in as we were so tired but took some photos before turning round to make the return journey. I had left no energy at all to make the descent, but there was no choice, we had to make it and then celebrated with a couple of beers in the refuge after arriving at 9pm. After a terrible night’s sleep in a dormitory with 50 other climbers, we met Jonny and Paul who magnanimously offered their congratulations and we all made the descent back to the start point together.
Some people (including my wife!!) have said to me what is the point of climbing mountains? It is very simple. I pushed my body to the absolute limits of what it was capable of achieving to make a successful ascent and never once thought about giving up. It has confirmed to me how much we are able to do if we really put our minds to it and the sense of achievement afterwards is a really positive feeling. And of course, it was great to be able to raise over £2,700 for the very worthwhile cause of Compton Hospice who did such a good job with my Mum. Very many thanks to all who contributed so generously.
Compton Hospice would like to congratulate Mike on summiting Mont Blanc and would also like to thank him for raising such a large amount of money.
If you have any further questions about Compton Hospice and Fundraising, please call 0845 225 5497 or contact us. We will do our utmost to help with your enquiry.
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