Summit Story of My Climb to Mont Blanc: A Personal Story

“Will We Make It?”

The Push before the Last Shove

Tied to each other with an 8.5 mm rope, we had been ambling through the massive crevasse field in the dead of the night, making slow progress. Much behind a stream of white lights scattered on the trail snaking up on the vertically running slopes of Mont Blanc, we were now the last group that had left from Goûter Hut on our summit attempt of this highest peak in the Alps in the cold and early hours of 31st August, 2022.

“I think we should turn back before it’s too late”, said one of my co-climbers, Imron, in an unhesitant and a strangely certain-sounding tone. It was like he was convinced this is what we need to do but for us it seemed to have come from nowhere because that was the last thought on our minds. He was our designated expedition leader, expedition doctor and the only one who had previous experience of this mountain in all its moods – especially the grouchy ones.

While other groups were accompanied by a local guide to race them through any hardship on to the top of the White Mountain, ours was a three person team composed of friends. For two of us, Nikhil and I, it was our first self-supported climb, which was a pretty huge deal, at least for me. I have climbed a couple of mountains in the Himalayas but never on my own. My climbs, till now, were restricted to just one aspect of climbing - climbing! But climbing mountains is a concert and not a one note symphony – it is so much more than just having to worry about crawling up to the summit. I was to learn to appreciate the sport with a few more of its complexities this time. What better place to start to do that than the mountain range and the mountain which are literally the birthplace of modern mountaineering.

(Unsolicited Advice: All of us had previous experience of high-altitude expeditions with proper qualifications and the required experience. Two of us had crossed the height of 7000M after receiving our certification in mountaineering from reputed institutes in India. And the third member of our team had done multiple self-supported expeditions in the Himalayas and crossed the height of 6000M. If you are someone who does not have technical knowledge and prior experience, I’d recommend not to attempt Mont Blanc on your own.)

A self-supported climb meant we had done everything from planning to ironing out details of the plan over and over to all kinds of bookings. Gathering the right equipment to carrying our loads which ran upwards of 18 kgs to figuring out the route on the mountain. Relying on ourselves in case of any difficulty on the challenging and technical sections of the climb, to only banking on each other for our collective and individual safety. All this is hard (man! I am tired just listing all this out!) and only gets harder, I learnt, when the expedition you are planning is on another continent since it adds more factors to the mix and hence has to be planned months in advance with lesser margin of error.

One of the Many Gifts from the Mountain (Let’s Call it the ‘Present’)

We had just reached the top of Dome du Goûter (4,300M) after a fairly steep climb when Imron quite strongly suggested we must head back. “I don’t like the look of the skies, I can feel something big coming”, he seemed worried.

It was now 5 in the morning and we had only been walking for 2 hours, trying to battle through the cold and the winds. With our chattering teeth and a very real awareness of the 10M rope between each of us, the strain on which was our only way of guessing the position of the other members of the team because it was that dark and the route that slender, we had crossed the first difficult section to get here which was the massive open and hidden crevasses in the snow. I was actually looking forward to the next bit because now we had to go down a slope to reach the Col du Dome. After an uphill climb, the slope down seemed much too appealing for my legs had already begun to hurl complains at me by the way of cramps.

The clouds had started to roll in; the already fierce winds seemed to grow a new set of teeth all in a matter of seconds. The clouds had covered the entire view below us and the fog blocked out what air we could get from above and around. The visibility going down with every passing minute, we were now losing sight of the randomly bunched together string of lights from the groups higher up on the mountain. The massive open space in the air around us was starting to turn into thick walls of white closing in on us. I never thought one could feel claustrophobic even in such a wide landscape but the fog was getting so thick, going into it came with a strange heaviness of walking through nothingness. The urgency in Imron’s voice when he suggested we must turn back to avoid getting stuck in a seemingly bad snow storm which had already started carrying in the weight of the clouds that were now looking menacing, made the setting even more petrifying. A chill ran down my spine and I wondered “Will we make it”?

By now, Will we make it had started to seem like the central theme of our entire expedition for the number of times we ‘almost’ didn’t make it every step of the way.

Read: A Comprehensive Guide to Climbing Mont Blanc

Misadventures Leading Up to the ‘Present’

Let’s begin at the beginning. I started out as a spectator on this grand adventure which was being planned between two of my co-climbers from Mt. Nun (last year) to now friends. For the chronic degree of FOMO that I suffer from (because if I don’t adopt new-age problems, who really am I, pffttt?) I didn’t remain a spectator for long. I would absolutely love to meet those people who can exercise the level of self-control needed to keep out of a plan when two people around you are constantly chatting up about climbing the highest mountain in the Alps, the highest of Western Europe and according to Hackett’s list, the highest in all of Europe.

I had to find a way to gather the money and inject myself slyly into this very exciting-sounding trip which carried the potential of being put somewhere very high up on your list of accomplishments at the end of one’s life (excuse the theatrics)! Plus, it was to be a self-supported climb – my very first – on my very first travel outside the country on my very first climb on a new mountain range on my very first trip to Europe and on to my very first of the Seven Summits! I am nothing if not a collection of the many messy but amusing firsts stuck loosely together with some chewed out sticky gum (that’s probably the most near-accurate description I could come up with to sum up my entire personality but mostly it was my justification for why I absolutely need to go to Mont Blanc!). My company, Bikat Adventures, where I am an on-field writer and a member of the exploration team responsible for hunting out new playgrounds for those who love the outdoors, came through for me by offering me all the equipment I needed in addition to partially funding the trip to explore possibilities of running operations in the mighty Alps. Mont Blanc was now a go!

Misadventure No. 1: You Won’t Give Me the Visa? But…But, Why?

Both of my team mates already had their visas sorted. Since this was the first time I had to do something so overly complicated (it isn’t really all that complicated), I obviously made some mistakes and had my visa rejected the first time around. This would be okay if I wasn’t overly confident about not going wrong with this first step. What’s worse is that I found out about getting rejected (if you must know, I take rejection of any kind very hard!) the day I was starting another gorgeous trek in the Himalayas – what an absolute mood-kill!

(Side Note: Getting a visa to France is a convenient process as compared to some of the other visas which can be quite stressful. The process to obtain France Visa is managed by VFS Global and is fairly straightforward.)

Read: Simplifying the Visa Process for Climbing Mont Blanc

Misadventure No. 2: A Heat Wave? You’ve got to be kidding me!

While I was grappling with Visa issues on trying to reapply and not get re-rejected, my host continent was dealing with issues of its own. The worst heat wave of Europe since the Renaissance! Shucks! Mont Blanc is all rocky with the Grand Couloir as its most daunting section due to constant rockfall in that particular patch. The heat makes the rockfall even worse. Given this and the fact that the Mayor of Saint Gervais was very passionately enraged by the number of climbers who come to the mountain’s foot dressed in shorts and tank tops instead of proper mountaineering gear, he decided to shut the huts on the mountain down. His decision to do this was reinforced by the fact that the guides on Mont Blanc refused to take people up the mountain because it was dangerous to cross the Couloir in the midst of a heat wave. To add insult to injury, the Mayor decided to declare his verdict right on the DAY I received my Visa (after having reapplied!). No huts meant no climb!

(Side Note: Saint Gervais les Bains is a commune in Souteastern France. Mont Blanc falls within its boundaries and hence the Mayor of Saint Gervais has the final say in the management of facilities/ services on the mountain.)

A Sliver of Hope

No huts meant no stay or food or water meaning no climbing the mountain! For 15 days we lived in the confusion of whether or not we need to cancel the trip. Just THE day we were going to cancel our tickets, there was news of the huts reopening (I had obsessively been on a lookout for any updates on the situation almost every hour of every day!). Phew! That was a close shave!

It was then decided (Two Days) before we had to leave that we were actually going. Shifting between cities to get to where my stuff was, last minute arrangements, and truck-loads of packing later (for a self-supported climb meant there was no backup in case we forgot something), we were finally off to catch the 0530AM flight to Istanbul and then to Geneva with the full possibility that the mountain may shut down again by the time we even get there!

Day 1 was about getting to Geneva

Some last minute shopping in regions which could be labelled the homeland of Decathalon, some major swooning over all the climbing equipment and very hot shoes there and some deep (read: heated) discussions. We planned our final plans, we fought our last fights, we hurled our last curses at each other and we had our final debates. Once we were out of here, it was the real deal; we needed to be a team. Even the slightest disagreements or residual annoyances with each other could prove to be fatal on the mountain especially since we were on our own. All in all a sleepless but overall productive day.

Day 2: Geneva to La Fayet: Where are all the people of this town?

Now that we had our feet dug into Europe, things were looking up for the first time on this trip. Day 2 landed us straight into the gorgeous-est town I could imagine. After a one and a half hour bus ride which started from Geneva and drove us out on the smoothest roads through the most beautiful settlements - massive chunks of green land laid out in front of each of the massive houses neatly forming groups of 4 and 5 against the backdrop of massive rock faces - some crowded with alpine trees and some naked, dressed only in many shades of brown and gray.

As soothing as this ride was, we zoomed past this gorgeousness to land into the most dreamy town - Le Fayet. By the time we got there by what I believe was early evening, the town was already empty - no one on the streets. Where did all the people go?

The most beautiful street corners, the vintage-looking street lamps, the most perfect little tram station and a tiny railway station with a clocktower, gorgeous looking houses, insanely beautiful sunsets and the very empty streets with only a few people at 2 of the cafes that were still open for the day. It was a town straight out of a fairytale - a sleepy town. It's one of those places which when you put on a true crime series documenting a crime from a place you couldn't point to on a map and the people from the neighborhood which are interviewed most shockingly state that they couldn't imagine a crime take place in their idyllic and peaceful town where everything always goes right. I imagine those places look something like this!

We spent our evening shuttling around the empty lanes of this very 'idyllic and peaceful town' and stuffing ourselves silly with whatever little food we could find in this empty town. When you’ve lived all your life in as crowded a city as Bombay, this place feels in part ridiculous but in a good way - like what are they doing with all this space and time! I could get used to all this ridiculous calm and quiet.

Day 3 - First Half: La Fayet to Nid d’Aigle: Getting out of town in style!

Everything in this town is at a 5 minute walking distance; so is the quaint little tram station which is one strip of land to line up the passengers and one tiny cabin coloured the brightest blue.

So after checking, rechecking and rerechecking all my gears, equipment and essentials and packing, repacking and rerepacking my sack (because of course I always forgot something each time!), we left to take a tram to get out of town and make our way to the first of the three huts on the mountain - Nid d'Aigle - which is a gorgeous spaceship-like looking structure filled with all kinds of luxury (which is basically a clean, warm room and clean warm bed with clean warm sheets and a very clean toilet, hot food made to order AND a choice of desserts AND beer (which we of course didn't have!) - stuff I have never seen on a mountain!

(Side Note: Camping on Mont Blanc is forbidden. There are three huts along the route that provide accommodation and meals, the first of which is Nid d’Aigle).

Coming back to the ride, never have I ever taken a tram that steams noiselessly, tirelessly and very uncomplainingly up 60 degree slopes to get you from 600M to 2400M in an hour’s time! If you haven't guessed by now, the theme of this entire expedition is mind-absofreakin-lutely-blown-jaw-somewhere-on-the-floor kinda beauty on every turn.

First Impression of Mont Blanc

On the way, in the tram, we got our first glimpse of our target mountain standing all ragged, proud, cold and white in an otherwise green, alive and welcoming valley thick with alpine trees, colourful houses on the slopes and a bright blue river underneath. Its face mangled with broken ice, crevasses like deep, bloody scars and vertical rock walls with cracks and fissures grossly disproportionate to the size of the mountain gave it a badass appearance much like Gregor Clegane without his helmet - a mountain that means business. The dramatic clouds just over the crown of Mont Blanc didn't do much to clear its fearful image.

Ah well! We had a few more days before we needed to worry about that, however! For now, it was okay to dip into all the gorgeousness at our behest!

Day 3 - Second Half: Nid d’Aigle: Will the sun ever go down?

On reaching Nid d’Aigle, the first thing we noticed were the colourful Nepali prayer flags fluttering in the winds all around the hut which gave character to this otherwise bare structure. We all looked at the flags and looked at each other with the same question in our minds but no one said anything to the other. We had to first focus on figuring out our day here before we could get ourselves busy with solving such mysteries.

After we were all settled in to our room at the hut (if there's such a thing as 'too much luxury', you can expect it here!), we did A LOT of stuff. We lazed around, played cards, went for an acclimatisation walk and saw hordes of ibex out on an evening walk with their respective families too. We even made self-designed safety anchors for the next day (a task Imron took upon himself to educate us on - knots, anchors and jugaad on the mountain - a customised course on methods you can use with the equipment available at hand to keep yourself alive in any situation!), oh! And most importantly, stuffed ourselves full - all this and the sun still was high up, shining all bright and silly!

The days here are crazy long. Well, at least that gave us a chance to get fully prepped for the first actual day of the expedition tomorrow. We were packed and ready to go in the morning - not! We were in the heart of extreme luxury and I for one was in no mood to do anything as unpleasant as packing to ruin the vibe. It would just have to wait till the next morning!

The highlight of the day was a chance meeting. As Nikhil sat outside on one of the benches, he thought he heard Hindi. He jumped out of his seat and turned around to Maya sitting taut but calm in a chair, sipping her coffee. “Aap India se ho? Hindi samajhte ho?”, she asked him again and thence followed a pleasantly long conversation where we learnt that Maya is originally from Nepal, manages this hut, her very intriguing reasons for taking up this job and so much more.

The one with Maya and the soul-fulfilling home-cooked meal

We had now solved the mystery of the Nepali prayer flags fluttering in Europe skies and earned a fully desi hand-cooked meal of dal chawal and aaloo ki sabzi with the spicy tadka of chilli aachar which had come straight from Nepal, as a prize! No matter how self-secure you are as a person there’s nothing better than familiar sounds and familiar taste in foreign land!

Day 4: Nid d’Aigle to Tête Rousse: A comfortable start!

After 3 days of chilling, we left the first hut, Nid d'Aigle, all it's comforts and the comings and goings of scores of people who take the tram to get to this altitude, feast themselves on the food, beer and the beauty and then head back down to the city by evening.

Nid d'Aigle to Tête Rousse is fairly straightforward - broad and marked trails - much like a day-hike. We found all kinds of people ranging from ages between 2 years and 80 years old on this trail doing all kinds of things - climbing with heavy equipment, hiking with no weight, and the trail runners who zoomed past us as we pant our way slowly up.

The challenge is not so much the trail itself but the fact that our bags weighed between 16-18 kgs and I for one had never carried so much on my back uphill at this altitude. We were to make a total ascent of over 700 meters which was a continuous and rocky climb. The only thing to be wary about are the rocks and boulders where it's very easy to injure yourself. It took us close to 4 hours to get to the top. The last 350M is a continuous ascent which gets narrower and narrower as you go up. In the end is a checkpoint and then a small glacier crossing with Tête Rousse waiting on the other end.

The view of the valley is open and magnanimous all throughout. It's absolutely spellbinding.

At Nid d'Aigle, we'd heard news that a climber injured his foot with a rock in the Grand Couloir - also called the Death Couloir for the flying rocks in that section. He had to be rescued by a chopper. We met a group of people on our climb today who turned back from the Grand Couloir because they saw the incident and thought it too risky to cross the section and decided to abandon their climb. Will we have to turn back this soon too? Did we come all this way for only this much, I wondered.

After having reached the hut, we stood and looked up from the balcony of Tête Rousse to spot the many helicopters that do the rounds to drop supplies at these huts. From where we stood, we could see the rock we were to climb tomorrow. The rock face ran vertically up and there stood Goûter like a tiny speck to the right at the end of this vertical face. One of the washed out sections on this daunting looking rock was the Grand Couloir. From where we stood, the climb looked impossible. How can one climb straight up like that?

Well, interesting things on the mountain awaited us! We would find out the next day if we can cross the couloir or not and make it to Goûter Hut or not. For now some hot soup on reaching the hut was prize enough and the sunset which literally set the skies on fire only a toast to the magical evening on this fantastical mountain.

Day 5: Tête Rousse to Goûter Hut: Time for the mountain to have some fun at our expense!

It's been a fairly chilled out ride till Tête Rousse which is the second of the three huts but the mountain had started to seem menacing now. Time for some pain and misery! Tête Rousse to Goûter is a straight climb on loose rocks which suddenly and unendingly turn to massive boulders running vertically up. And also, today is the day we find out if we would cross the Grand Couloir or not!

The biggest challenge, at least for me, on Mont Blanc was that due to its mixed terrain we needed to carry 'all kinds of equipment ' - that suited for a rocky terrain and that for an icy terrain!

Crossing the Grand Couloir, also ‘lovingly’ called The Death Couloir

The couloir is best crossed in the early hours of the morning. As it gets hotter, the rock fall in the section gets proportionately worse. I had watched videos of people stuck in the middle with a shower of rocks from above and they were petrifying. The speed at which the rocks come flying, even the smallest one could slice off body parts like they were semi-melted butter. The sound of a rock coming was enough to send one in a state of panic.

Watch this video of the Couloir by Petzl Foundation

We left the hut after breakfast in our trekking shoes with everything else on our backs. We had some of our gear on, like the helmet – because its rockfall prone area, harness and our self-designed safety anchors. Some of the very steep and precarious sections on the route are fixed with thick metal wires for assisted climbing. However, they are not overly reliable since they are unhinged at places, and at others they are so worn out, you are at a risk of injury from its sharp ends.

The entire route is a giant game of connect the dots. There are orange blobs painted on the rocks to mark the route that runs vertically up one big boulder after another. The scramble up on this section mandates 3 point climbing. A slight misstep and you would go flying hundreds of meters down on the glacier right next to Tête Rousse Refuge. With the difficulty level between YDS 5.1 and 5.4, this section would be a rock climber’s paradise. Climbing it wasn’t as physically exhausting as trying to find the right holds on each move.

At the end of the vertical section, we reached an abandoned hut from where we needed to put on our snow boots. There was a small steep incline of hard ice after which we got onto a narrow platform that was the ridge which led us straight to the hut. Because the ridge is slender, there is already a rope fixed through the length of the traverse.

In the total of 4 hours that we took between the huts, we heard the shower of rock fall in the couloir at least 18 times.

The sunset from Goûter Hut is worth all the pain, however.

Misadventure No. 4: Ice Wall – the Turnaround Point:

We were originally planning to head out for our summit push the same night since booking the hut for more than two nights in a row is not allowed. However, the weather forecast and the staff at the hut warned us against it – the weather tonight and all day tomorrow was to be unstable.

We spent the evening in the common area listening to stories of those who had just come back from their summit push which they left for on the night before – some stories of success and some of reluctant turnbacks without having made it to the top. The most common turnaround point for climbers was the extremely slippery 65 degree ice wall which provided for no sure footing and a straight drop into the warm valley thousands of meters below. Since we hadn’t read anything about this indecent ice wall in question during our research, we wondered how it had suddenly built itself up overnight. We learnt that the snow on the regular route had sunk breaking the trail and forcing climbers to reroute through the ice wall as the only other route available to reach the top.

All the confidence we had gathered from making it up till here was slowly starting to wean out. We did have our equipment though, ice screws, an extra rope, carabineers etc. to get us across the wall which was a bit of a solace. We had to regroup, reassess and re-plan our next move carefully!

We were going to give our summit push for today a miss. We decided to use our day tomorrow to go explore the route we would be crossing in the dark and figure out the placement of the many open crevasses so that if we stray off track, we are aware of the risks we might run into. Climbing higher and coming back down for the night also gave us a chance to be better acclimatized on our summit push since it is an elevation gain of 1000M in one go.

Day 6: Goûter putting the Blanc in Mont Blanc!

Goûter is the third hut from where you head for the summit. And on reaching here is when we FINALLY were out of rocks and boulders which were replaced by miles and miles of snowy terrain full of deep fissures and wide cracks.

We got roped up and went on a stint to map out all the open and hidden crevasses we would find on our way to the summit tonight. While we were aware that we couldn’t control the uncontrollable, we were not going to let anything else stop us from making a successful attempt. We came back from our acclimatization routine to the sanctuary of the hut right in time before the storm broke out in full force.

We checked the updated weather report again in the evening. While it wasn’t completely clear with an indication of high speed winds, snow storm and no sun whatsoever, the weather looked suitable to make an attempt towards the summit tonight.

We still didn’t have any beds for the night because this would be our third night at Goûter. We decided to worry about that after we returned from our summit push.

Day 7: Up, Up and Onto the Top

We planned to wake up at 0130 AM - woke up at 2. Breakfast was to be at 0230. The dining area was filled with everyone who was attempting the summit today.

Misadventure No. 5: Back to the ‘Present’

After two hours of wading through the snow, the three of us found ourselves in a tough spot as the weather started to take a turn for the worst and at great speed! We had to come to a quick decision about what we wanted to do. We had come only 20% and had a long way to get to the summit. There is a halfway hut called Vallot Hut which was roughly 1.5 hours away from where we were having this discussion. Vallot Hut is basically an abandoned metal shelter with no amenities other than a few blankets and a platform to sit. It could be our sanctuary out of the storm, but we also had to worry about how we would get back down in case the weather didn’t clear out or only got worse through the day. There was a real possibility we would be stuck inside the hut for the better part of the day and face a struggled descent afterwards.

Nikhil and I were of the opinion that we should brave the storm and head on to Vallot Hut to wait it out. The weather forecast predicted rocky weather early in the day with the possibility of getting better as the sun came up. We thought we ought to take the chance and also getting to the hut was a shorter distance than going back down to Goûter. The lesser time we spent in the storm, the better our chances of going back down in good health. Imron gave in to our suggestion and we continued on. The weather was now at its worst behavior. Wind speed had started to pick up, the soft pellets of snow had now turned to steel and were raining down on us without mercy. Every step forward was a battle against the stubborn winds. The storm was coming on so strong, I could barely keep my eyes open, not that keeping them open would help since we were literally walking blind in the thick of the fog – visibility was now zero. The tug on the rope was my only indication that Imron and Nikhil were still in front of and behind me.

Soon after this photo was taken, the visibility went down to zero

We reached Vallot hut extremely exhausted and shivering from the cold. Everything including our sacks and the clothes we had on us were frozen solid from the temperature we had just spent over an hour in. We used the blankets to thaw ourselves and our belongings out. I got some shuteye as Nikhil made rounds every fifteen minutes to check the condition outside. We were the only ones in the hut and we couldn’t stop thinking about what the climbers higher up must be going through.

After waiting it out till 9 AM, we started to see some sunlight drain into the hut and decided this was the right time to head out towards the summit. I and Imron left our sacks in the hut, we carried some water and some food in Nikhil’s bag and made a run for it. We were moving slower than we’d have liked but the storm had brought in inches of soft snow which made it hard to walk on. While the sky was looking a bit better, the wind was still blowing the powdery snow like million pellets into our faces causing any exposed skin to burn like it was on fire.

We met a few climbers on our way, some of which didn’t make it to the top because of the storm and were now heading down. Some who had made it despite and were now heading down. Timing and luck are such important factors in mountaineering, I feel so glad that we were hit by the storm when we were. I am sure if we didn’t have the sanctuary of Vallot Hut, we would have decided to abandon our push. If we would have been hit by the storm when we were lower than we were, we would have headed down for sure. And if we would have been higher than we were, beyond Vallot Hut, we would have been stuck for hours for sure.

However, we were now feeling a lot more confident. Extremely exhausted still, but we knew we would now not turn back. When we reached the ice wall, Imron made a free climb up to fix the one ice screw we had between us half way to the top of the wall while I and Nikhil stood in position to break his fall in case of a slip. We crossed the wall with some fear but complete determination to finish. Then came the many knife ridges which were broad enough only to place one foot in front of the other. With a massive drop on each side, and the winds pushing us in all directions, the occasional tug on the 10M rope between me and Nikhil was my only indication of his position since there was no way for me to turn back and look at whether he was okay.

After two false summits which were the two humps before the actual summit on Tournette Ridge, we finally made it to the summit of the highest peak in the Alps at 4,810M at 1200 PM with no one around but us. We owned the top of the Alps for those 30 minutes we spent there and we were so glad for it. I wondered if the joy would have been any lesser if this journey would have been one bit less difficult and one bit less uncertain. It didn’t matter because we did make it in the end – I was on the top of my first mountain in the Alps – my first of the Seven Summits.

Coming down was a tedious affair after the happenings of the morning and the nature of the route. Since the last couple of hours to the summit is only knife ridges, the narrow paths require high coordination between climbers going up and climbers coming down to give each other way since it's a single path. Got through the knife ridges we did, climbed back down the ice wall we did, and make it to Goûter Hut we did! Phew! The staff at the hut were kind enough to give us three beds for the third night – and crashed into our beds we did! Celebrations can wait until we are off the mountain, at least for me!

Day 8: I can feel my feet again!

It is commonly believed that reaching the top brings with it extreme elation! While it is true but for my crooked head, after a fleeting second of joy, it goes into an overdrive calculating how long the journey back down to the plains is. Also, if those boulders were so hard coming up, how the hell were we going to get down? When would I be blessed with a shower? Argh! I can't wait to get out of these stinky clothes - not the most glorious thoughts on the summit, well, but what's one to do! I love mountains, but every once in a while, one needs to feel clean so that one's smell does not overpower the scent of the entire valley.

We came back down to Nid d'Aigle today. My vote was to go further down to Le Fayet but it would be too much to go hotel hunting after an entire day of climbing down. I was already dreaming about all the places I would visit in Geneva and all the food I would eat with all the money I didn’t have left!

The sun outside our window on our last day on the mountain

Nikhil said after the climb, Mont Blanc has a great sense of humor and I couldn’t agree more for the way it toyed with us all the way through, right from the beginning. It wasn't the most perfect year to explore the Alps because of global disturbances, it wasn't the most perfect time of the year to climb Mont Blanc because of restrictions imposed by the local authorities and it wasn't the most perfect night for a summit push because of the weather which had been on and off for days and went completely berserk when we reached half way to the top. We didn't have the perfect conditions but things kept taking a turn for the better at each step and we did make it to the top of Western Europe nonetheless on 31st August, 2022 - now with a fair understanding of all that goes into planning an expedition on foreign soil. Cheers to a new height on a new continent and a new region to explore endless possibilities in! We couldn't be more excited!

Introducing the team

Imron Subhan: Expedition Leader and Expedition Doctor (Official Titles). Planner, Trainer and Photographer (Unofficial Titles)

Nikhil Sangwan: Risky Motivator (for his appetite for risk-taking and his powers of convincing people to keep moving forward - with safety - even when things are looking bad)

Neeti Singhal (yours truly): Philosophical Advisor (for me saying vague things and holding a very difficult job of being a mediator between the two extremes of Imron - factory of cautiousness and planning - and Nikhil - high appetite for calculated risk-taking and not deterred to move forward in the face of adversity). If I may say so myself, I had the most difficult job on the mountain trying to find a middle ground each time these two had completely opposite opinions on how to proceed.

I have done my mountaineering courses and learnt all the skills required and know of all the tools and equipment and how they work but I realised when having to do everything on my own (without the help of local guides or any kind of local support) that my knowledge was limited only to theory even after climbing so many mountains! There's no better learning of the know-hows of climbing than to do a self-supported climb on one of the deadliest mountains in the world. AND there's no better way to connect to the mountain than to be in it on your own - to be able to think on your feet, come up with quick solutions to every challenge the mountain throws at you - it definitely forms a deeper bond with the process of climbing and the mountain itself! I now get the argument of the purists.

I felt so small standing on the summit of this grand mountain after the experiences that took us there. I hope the feeling persists ☺