Prior to packing away in Morzine I got chatting to Nick and his wife. They are a really nice couple who I have got to know a little over the last couple of days. I had a post breakfast chat and we discussed my plans for an attempt on Mont Blanc. Nick is a fell runner and also expressed an interest in climbing it with the same philosophical approach as I had. That is to try and do it in one continuous effort from the valley floor to the summit and back down, with no guides (they are seriously expensive). So we loosely made plans to meet in a weeks’ time in Chamonix. I look forward to the prospect of tackling this with someone else. Maybe bringing that 2nd ice axe was a good idea after all, as he has no winter kit. I think the minimum you need for Mont Blanc is Kahtoola spikes and an ice axe.
Nick also warned me about how expensive Switzerland was, so I decided to go to the supermarket on the way. I missed the planned supermarket Just outside Morzine, don’t know how, but managed to find a huge one about 10 miles from the Swiss border and it was the cheapest place since Andorra, so I struck it lucky. I also managed to get a canister of Camping gaz so this will see me through to mid-July. I think the amount of food I bought will last me almost until the end as well. I could almost feel the car groaning at all the extra weight. She is a true work horse.
Grindelwald is an impressive place, steep high cliffs jut up in front of the campsite and less daunting terrain surrounds the rest of the village. A river provides a soothing back ground noise. The only thing that has took me by surprise; although I knew Switzerland has French, Italian and German as its languages; is that this is a German speaking region of the country. My learning of French has just come to a screeching halt.
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