Cuts and crampons: the IML journey continues

Sophie Nicholson    trekkingholidays     Alps, climbing, France, IML, International Mountain Leader, mountaineering, trekking

It’s been quite a month in the Alps! After a July dominated by rainfall only previously seen on the West Coast of Scotland, August finally stepped up to the mark in terms of weather and the sun and rock lizards came out to play once more. Normal service has been resumed and it’s been a full-on month in terms of outdoor activity in the mountains .

Climbing skills, essential for an IML

Peppered with some serious road biking involving numerous ascents of the notorious Col de Joux Plane, most of the fun has been had on the rock and ice here in the Haute Savoie. August has revaled a whole host of firsts for me in terms of mountaineering experience – my first ‘girls only’ climbing day on the Chamonix crag of Les Gaillands in France, my first total meltdown on the multipitch Vipere au Pied at Barberine, and now I am the proud owner of my first set of stitches as a result of a crampon/leg combo whilst descending the Petite Aiguille Verte last week.

All have been fantastic learning experiences and I have loved every bit of  them all. Ok, ok…. perhaps losing my composure at altitude wasn’t exactly my proudest hour but what it did teach me is that I’m really going to have to work on my steep rock climbing technique if I’m ever going to be a complete climber! Some guy called Einstein did once say ‘in the midst of difficulty lies opportunity’ and as he’s considered to be quite clever, I think I’ll take his advice.

The thread that has tied all of these ‘firsts’ together has been the theme of friendship and support. In the past I’ve been prone to going out on the hill and trekking on my own. It was my choice. I found that the solitude really allowed me to disconnect from the mundane and totally immerse myself in my immediate environment. With no need to force conversation and with no external expectation, I could be myself, breathe and be free.

It takes teamwork, every time.

Climbing and mountaineering are completely different beasts however. You need others to reach the goal. You need to work together as a team as to be frank, you hold someone’s life in your hands. You need to accept your weaknesses and step up when others are revealing theirs. You need to challenge yourself and inspire others to push their limits as you work towards the joint and/or individual objective.

When I lost it on the 5^th pitch high above the valley floor, I got to the top thanks to the calm, reassuring manner of manfriend, my climbing partner-in-crime. Despite the fact there were tears rolling down my sun scorched face, I didn’t want to let him down so together we hauled me up the steep overhanging pitch that was too much for my spindly girl arms and all was well once more.

So I guess I was pretty well prepared to payback the support last week while traversing the Petite Aiguille Verte. When my friend was struggling and cries of ‘I can’t do it’ were heard from down below, they were always met with the encouraging yet utterly firm response: ‘Yes. You Can.’

In my opinion, the other ingredient in the successful mountain day mix is laughter. ‘Serious’ mountaineers might not rate it as entirely necessary but for me, it absolutely is. Climbing with the girls at Les Gaillands was one of the best days I’ve had on the rock because we were laughing, having fun, and yes….stereotypically talking about blokes!!

The atmosphere was such that I felt no pressure to perform, yet totally comfortable to push myself. The ideal combination. A day with no pressure actually ended up with me leading routes that perhaps I would have backed away from in another climbing environment.

Ouch! Crampon leaves its mark.

So, as we head into September and the clock ticks down on the climbing season, I am not worried if my leg injury limits the remaining rock days before the snow appears.

Of course I hope to climb more but essentially I am happy if it doesn’t happen in abundance. I may not have a guidebook checked with as many routes as I’d anticipated back in the spring, but what I do have is a whole host of life punctuating memories, stories to tell, and friendships formed. ‘Laughter and Scars’…..now there’s a name for an autobiography!

About the author

Sophie Nicholson wrote 9 articles on this blog.

Sophie left the real world for a life of adventures in the world's high places. She is passionate about the vertical wilderness, hiking, backcountry skiing, mountaineering, biking, rock climbing and ice climbing. She writes for a number of leading outdoor/adventure publications and websites and is supported by Faction Skis, Arcteryx, Go-Pro, and Mammut. She is also studying to be an International Mountain Leader and has an incurable weakness for Cadbury's Creme Eggs.

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