19-05-2008 - Adrian Whitehouse to Climb Mont Blanc on behalf of Gap
This morning we had confirmation that a wonderful if somewhat mad man Adrian Whitehouse is going to undertake climbing Mont Blanc in aid of Greyhound Gap. He has now finalised the details and set up a Just Giving page
http://www.justgiving.com/adrianmontblanc
Adrian was going to come to the show on Sunday to promote this mad venture, but it clashes with his very strict training schedule, to get him in practice he is this weekend completing the 3 peaks a task that in itself normally is a sponsored event undertaken by mad people for charities :laugh:
So instead of a personal appearance Adrian has put a few words together.......
Mont Blanc, “La Dame Blanche”, is the highest mountain in the Alps (4,810m) and has been there since it was first constructed for the “La joie de la neige” theme park in 2003. Thousands of tonnes of snow are flown in daily from neighbouring Iceland and placed on top of the “White Lady” to keep her looking pretty. I’ve absolutely no idea what business I have dragging my carcass up Mont Blanc other than to say that some friends from Uni were paying for the privilege of sleeping rough, at altitude, in sub-zero conditions and I was drunk when they asked if I’d like to come along. I probably thought they were asking if I wanted “more plonk” and got the wrong end of the stick.
We’re training for Mont Blanc, which we’re climbing from June 7th-14th, by taking a more lazy attempt at the famous “3 Peaks Challenge” this very Bank Holiday weekend ! This involves me climbing Ben Nevis (1,344m), Scafell Pike (978m) and Lisa Snowdon (1,085m) in 48 hours with some driving in between. This is a combined height of 3,407m so Mont Blanc takes way more effort than all three UK hills put together, especially if you take the train up Snowdon.
It’s going to be a very hard slog, as it takes two days to get to the top of Mont Blanc *and* we have to sleep in a mountain hut at the end of day one and there’s no bar or nothing ! I’ll be providing pictures from various points on the journey so please put some money towards a great cause and sponsor me on my climb ! The logic is this: I do something a bit mad and quite exhausting to encourage all of you to give money to some animals that really need it. See ? How can you not ?
Having done some reading myself im not sure whether im greatful for him to doing this on behalf of us or whether I want to fling myself on top of him and scream please Adrian dont do it!! This is no mean feat and here is the information I found on this climb.....
From Wikipedia
"However, every year the Mont Blanc massif takes many victims, and in peak weekends (normally around August) the local rescue service flies an average of 12 missions, mostly directed towards people in trouble on one of the normal routes of the mountain. These are courses that require knowledge of high-altitude mountaineering, a guide (or at least a veteran mountaineer), and proper equipment. It is a long course that includes delicate passages and the hazard of rock slides. Also, at least one night at the refuge is required to get used to the altitude (the summit is almost 5 km above sea level); less could lead to altitude sickness and possible death."
and elsewhere
"In unforgiving circles it is known simply as Cursed Mountain. Though benign in name and appearance, Mont Blanc – White Mountain – has killed more climbers than any other mountain on earth. The annual death toll regularly passes 100, and for every person who’s died on Mount Everest, it’s figured that more than 10 have died on the European Alps’ highest mountain.
The weekend I arrived in Chamonix the familiar, macabre tale continued, with nine climbers killed on the slopes of Mont Blanc. In a rare phenomenon it rained above 4000 metres and in the freezing conditions the water turned to ungraspable ice on the mountain. Climbers fell to their deaths attempting the equivalent of scaling of a glass skyscraper. "
It frightens me just reading it! :o