Failure:
I think the title probably describes my feelings towards our last trip into the mountains, at least in part. We failed in our objective which started as the Messner Route (on Aig' du Argentiere's north face) which was then adjusted to either [site both couliors on Aig' Du Chardonnay]. We didn't actually climb anything that day but I think calling it a failure is wrong. True we did fail, and it pissed me off immensly but what we gained was worth the loss of climbing a route.
What we gained was experience. Mr Twight states that failure is par for the course and you should just accept it and learn from it, making the most of what can be a valuable experience. After making it to the base of the route we bailed the main reason being that Andy had a really bad feeling about climbing the route. I wasn't 100% but I'm generally of the opinion that if you don't risk it a little, you could miss out. The route was a bit of a stone schute at the time and it freaked Andy out enough for him to want to go back down. I was happy with this decision and when I said I was pissed off it was with the mountain, the weather, time and everything else under the sun other than Andy. Failing because of bad juju is more than acceptable. The give him some credit after he'd been lowered off and I was waiting for him to more further away and the ropes to pull tight it almost felt like the mountain didn't want me to be there. Rocks and stone of all small sizes started flying down the route, most missing but enough glancing and hitting me. I was stuck in the firing line with nothing to do but sit it out till Andy pulled the ropes tight. It was a dangerous situation and I think we both knew it. You shouldn't put yourself in a position where you need to be lucky, and I just had.
I think the title probably describes my feelings towards our last trip into the mountains, at least in part. We failed in our objective which started as the Messner Route (on Aig' du Argentiere's north face) which was then adjusted to either [site both couliors on Aig' Du Chardonnay]. We didn't actually climb anything that day but I think calling it a failure is wrong. True we did fail, and it pissed me off immensly but what we gained was worth the loss of climbing a route.
What we gained was experience. Mr Twight states that failure is par for the course and you should just accept it and learn from it, making the most of what can be a valuable experience. After making it to the base of the route we bailed the main reason being that Andy had a really bad feeling about climbing the route. I wasn't 100% but I'm generally of the opinion that if you don't risk it a little, you could miss out. The route was a bit of a stone schute at the time and it freaked Andy out enough for him to want to go back down. I was happy with this decision and when I said I was pissed off it was with the mountain, the weather, time and everything else under the sun other than Andy. Failing because of bad juju is more than acceptable. The give him some credit after he'd been lowered off and I was waiting for him to more further away and the ropes to pull tight it almost felt like the mountain didn't want me to be there. Rocks and stone of all small sizes started flying down the route, most missing but enough glancing and hitting me. I was stuck in the firing line with nothing to do but sit it out till Andy pulled the ropes tight. It was a dangerous situation and I think we both knew it. You shouldn't put yourself in a position where you need to be lucky, and I just had.
I
was mainly pissed at myself.
Here are some photos:
Here are some photos:
 |
| Shameless selfshot taken on the walk in |
 |
| Aiguille du Chardonnay |
 |
| Long exposure shot of the mountains when the moon came out |
 |
| Star wars? |
 |
| Some of the debris visible from the bottom of the route |
 |
| Proof that a bedsheet can be transformed into suitable headgear |
No comments:
Post a Comment