Glacial Exhumation

It was not until 1865, after 6 previous failed attempts at the summit of the Matterhorn, the Englishman, Edward Whymper and his climbing party of Charles Hudson, Lord Francis Douglas, and Douglas Hadow, with Michel Croz and the father and son pair, the Peters Taugwalders successfully climbed the summit.

On the descent however, Hadow slipped and knocked Croz, and then dragged Hudson and Douglas with him down the mountain. The rope that connected them all broke and so saved the other 3 climbers, the four fell to their deaths on the Matterhorn Glacier 1,400 metres below. The bodies of all but Douglas were later found. In Wympers book he reveals a nightmarish account of the moment the others fell:

"Every night, do you understand, I see my comrades of the Matterhorn slipping on their backs, their arms outstretched, one after the other, in perfect order at equal distances—Croz the guide, first, then Hadow, then Hudson, and lastly Douglas. Yes, I shall always see them…"

While discussing this story with Luigi, I was reminded of a passage I read from Sir Chris Bonnington’s climb of Everest, when he described coming across a woman frozen in the glacier on his descent from the summit, buried upto her waist in the ice, half clothed and hair blowing in the wind but her body completely frozen. It was as though as the glacier retreated or melted, she had been exhumed from the ice.

I commented to Luigi that maybe Douglas would eventually be exhumed from the Matterhorn Glacier as we are in such a rapid phase of global warming and the glaciers around the mountain are the smallest they have been for years. He said that bodies have been found many times in the surrounding glaciers trapped from unsuccessful attempts of the local peaks. as the ice retreats.

The most famous 'Glacial Exhumation' was from the thawing of the Similaun glacier, on the Austro-Italian border in 1991 of Otzi, a nomadic hunter who had lived about 5300 years ago.

Nathan referred to this phenomenon as “Body Popping”, which I rather prefer to the macbre title of this entry.

Second injury of the tour

I have new skis, these are carving skis, which means they are a piece of p**s to turn, if you look at them face on they have a really wide tip and thin waist and then a thick tail, which means they will turn as soon as you lean on an edge. Nobody told me though that when you schuss at high speed (tucked down as aerodynamically as you can, with the skis parallel) that carving skis are at their most unstable. If they are short skis like mine are, then once they start to flap about, you are in trouble.

This is where I came unstuck at very high speed during my ski lesson. I have no idea how fast I was going so wont even attempt to exaggerate it, but all I will say is, I haven't been that fast since it happened. The photos will attest to the end result, both skis off, head and shoulders in the snow, winded to the point where I couldn't breath and lots of snow stuffed down my neck and back. No help from either Nathan or Luigi – Nathan did manage to photo the aftermath though. The sore neck and shoulder problems I have been having the last few months now seems fixed from this crash-chiropody which is a good thing.

Cool runnings

Don't read this unless you are a fitness freak - its boring!

As skiing is not that cardiovascular 'fittening' (is that a word?), a days moderate skiing burns less calories than a good hike/walk for 5 hours. Nathan and I calculated that over the 2 weeks we have skied or boarded over 700kms (about the same distance as here to Calais) and that doesn't include sitting on the lift, which is why you don't burn too many calories skiing as you spend more than half your day on sat down.

These snowsports do however make your legs very strong but don't make you fitter, so in order to ensure that we don't loose fitness over the 2 weeks (Nathan has lots of cycle races to do this year and I have to start cycling to Iceland in less than a month) we have decided to fit in as many runs as we can. We had 3 in Montgenevre and have completed 3 more in Cervinia, the key difference being that these last runs started at 2050m and went upto 2600m – this is very different to the ones we did last week. My heart rate was way higher than when running at home, over 170 bpm which is nearing my maximum (185bpm) – my average on the 35 minute circuit was 172bpm, this is ridiculous and puts me in an anaerobic state and not at a fat burning endurance building pace that I need (so instead of burning fat to fuel my muscles, I am using the energy stored in my muscles, once used it is replaced with lactic acid (which you can feel as sore muscles) and not very good for skiing the next day when you need strong legs.)

Now back in Switzerland and staying at 1000m I have just been out for a 2hr run (approx 14 miles) and have felt fine and strong the whole distance (can't help but think the runs at higher altitudes have helped but without proper laboratory conditions we wont know!) the valley I ran up wasn't steep but was uphill for the first 7 miles and then downhill on the way back. The way back was run in a complete blizzard and I looked like a snowman on my return.

Anyway enough running now until I am down in the south of Italy. 4 weeks of skiing and boarding and running, I think my legs need a week or so off to recover.

I don't like heights

Sorry to go on about all this altitude stuff on the blog, but it is very interesting how altitude affects your body, and I am particularly interested (paranoid actually as you will see with the running entries) as I seem to feel the effects of altitude more than my peers and this means that I am usually slower in ascending mountains and still get nervous with the possible onset of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) which I suffered from in Nepal in 1988 and don't really want to get it again. I struggled around Base camp at 5500m and suffered quite badly at the summit of Kilimanjaro at 5895m. For those not familiar with relative heights of mountains, in the UK, Ben Nevis is 1344m so the summit of the Little Matterhorn 3883m (the highest I have been on this trip so far) is 3 times higher. Less fit and seemingly more deserving people in my groups have not felt the effects as badly as I have, I have been known to struggle with it above 2500m more or less instantly!

Having been at between 1500m and 3883m now for 3 weeks, I do feel as though I have acclimatised (no longer feeling breathless walking up 3 steps) but the air is still so dry, so we all still wake up with dry mouths and throats and feel as though we all have a cold.

Cervinia - All you can eat skiing!

Well what a contrast to MG, we have had more or less 6 solid days of sunshine and fantastic snow conditions. Nathan and I picked up Rachel (his wife) and Shamus (an old work colleague of mine) from Turin airport and then we sped up the Aosta valley to one of Italy's best ski resorts; Cervinia.

"If your bag is to speed 13 miles down a mountain with a 7,000 feet vertical drop, then Cervinia is the place for you, baby!" I think it was Austin Powers that said this!

One of the highest ski towns in Europe at 2050m with the possibility to ski down from 3883m on a 13 mile run top to bottom, not only one of the highest commercial ski points in Europe but also one of the longest pisted runs.

Getting out of the lift at the “Klein Matterhorn” you really feel breathless and lightheaded, bending down to tighten your boots is to be done carefully!

In my opinion the most incredible thing about this resort is that it lies in the shadow of the Matterhorn. What an awesome looking mountain, it dominates the skyline more or less everywhere you look in the valley, it is so huge that it even develops its own weather, as the photos on my album will contest. It is not particularly high at 4478m, considering Everest at nearly twice the height at 8848m, but it certainly looks imposing and it is deadly, as many a climber has fallen to their death off this 'cursed' mountain. See the entry on “The Matterhorn and Glacial Exhumation!” for more.

We have had a fantastic week of more or less limitless sunshine, food and snow. Most days were full ski days, we even ventured down into Zermat on the Swiss side for a day and on a few days went over into the smaller linked resort of Valtourneche (a much improved resort thanks to the new high speed lifts.)

I wanted to list all the amazing places we had dinner in true blogjourno style but canbeassed so here are the highlights, Le Blazon (you must have the Chateaubriand) and the Le Vieux Grenier (anything off the menu but ask for the fizzy water with the small bubbles just to wind up the waiters!) both just off the main street in the centre of town.