Training for the Alps
Well it’s that time of year again, the annual migration to Chamonix for a spot of alpine climbing. Well, for some it’s that time anyway, for me this year the trip is coming later in the season in the hope that the weather will be somewhat more stable than it was last year.
Our trip last summer was a complete disaster. The weather and climbing conditions were so atrocious (and dangerous) many of the huts were closed for a prolonged period, including the week that we happened to be there. So our attempt to climb Mont Blanc had to be postponed until this year.
As this years trip will be in September I have the majority of the summer to get some serious training in. So far this year my “training” has been fairly casual, mainly just the odd walk out in the hills, the weekly climb at the local climbing centre and the rather rare run. These last few weeks though things have had to step up. With about 12 weeks to go until the attempt on Mont Blanc training has to take a significant step up!
This last weekend I managed to get some time to head out to the Brecon Beacons to give the legs a good work out and to test some new kit. The trip started in fantastic weather on the Friday evening, however that soon descended into intermittent heavy rain and strong winds on the Friday evening, thankfully clearing to give a relatively dry night and just an overcast Saturday morning. I hadn’t wild camped in the Pen y Fan area before, I’d been somewhat reluctant to camp in an area that is quite so heavily walked, but the need to get a lot of ascent in with out having to walk huge distances meant Pen y Fan was really the only decent place to go. The other perk to this area is that you can take public transport straight to the start of the walk. It is so frustrating to have to have a seriously long walk in from other public transport drop offs like Merthyr or Abergavenny. I realised on this trip that you can also use your bus pass (if you have one) which means that the trip is also free!
The three main peaks from the Story Arms car park going up Corn Du, Pen y Fan, Crybyn and Fan y Big makes for a really good training walk. In total the route comes in at around 1000m ascent which by my books is a good starting place for getting ready for the alps. The route provides no test of navigation but does burn the legs, especially if you decide to carry an expedition weight burgan. Was a good step change in the training regime for the summer though, and I think a few repetitions of Jacobs ladder would put anyone ion a good place ahead of a trip to the Alps.
So 12 weeks to go (ish) hopefully a lot more trips to the hills to come!
some pics from the trip below, these were shot just using my phone so not the best quality, but was the first time in a while that I’ve actually had a view from Pen y Fan, normally its covered in clouds when I’m up there!
Blurred Adventure 