Mont Blanc, Chamonix, Travel

Bang! The world suddenly turned gold. The sunrise over the eastern peaks ricocheted and spread over the entire landscape, turning the grey-white of dawn to a shimmering gold. Long shadows were cast west by the climbers, pointing toward similarly astonishing views beneath a full moon still high in the sky.

Looking East on the Bosses Ridge. Sunrise over Mont Blanc. (Photo by Michael Kelly)

I was woken from my trance by the guide, impatiently urging me to continue. He was cold. He had already been up this mountain and had seen this view countless times before. For him, the goal was to get people up and down this mountain as quickly as possible and to get it over with. Any enjoyment along the way was superfluous. I felt it was time he got a new job.

I turned southeast toward our remaining route along the Bosses Ridge. It looked as frightening as I had previously read. The ridge is a narrow razorback with long sheer drops on either side, and climbers scramble past each other on ascent and descent. Many climbers are infamous for their lack of manners and concern for their fellow mountaineers in such a dangerous place, making it all the more hazardous. Someone else clearly felt the same as I passed newly formed patches of vomit, outlined starkly against the snow.

Mountaineer urinating off the top of Western Europe! (Photo by Michael Kelly)

Looking sideways off the ridge into yawning mile-deep drops on one side to France and the other side to Italy was very unnerving. I decided to focus on one step at a time and just look straight ahead. Passing the descending climbers was distressing at first, but soon became second nature. Near the top, I was beginning to feel more comfortable on the ridge, and finally, at last I had reached the summit to see.

There, on the highest point of Western Europe, a man was urinating off the side. A surreal sight for me; Europe’s most scenic restroom for him! I didn’t have time to establish whether this was a statement he was making or just the call of nature, for once again, the guide was urging me off the mountaintop. Perhaps he could see his TV from where we stood.

Although I only stood for less than a minute on the summit, the views (with the exception of our urinating friend, of course) were nonetheless fantastic. As my first experience of Alpine climbing on any summit over 4,000m, it was an experience that I will never forget, no matter how hard the guide worked to ruin it. Let’s hope he has a new job now!