A Year of Adenture
Part2

by Eleanor Lampard

In Part 1 (NL 240) Eleanor described her climbing exploits in Italy, France, Spain and Morocco, much of it with her partner Fred. Here, she concludes her year of adventure before returning to a “normal” life at 78° North in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, training to become an Arctic Nature Guide.

France
Having come off a pretty wild week in Chamonix with my brother in-law on a “Ioan Doyle introduction to ice climbing”, we rented splitboards (having both never done this before). Putting the skins on the wrong way didn’t help ease me into it as I continually slid down the slope. But after some hours of skinning, sliding, trudging through snow, we reached the infamous Rive Gauche and began our epic climbing. Luckily, I only had to second the WI4. The week consisted of some scary slopes, off-piste boarding with a 20kg backpack through forests, black mogul slopes and dodging cliffs. We ended the week in Chamonix by completing my first winter alpine ridge, the classic Cosmiques Arête, on a beautiful sunny day; a route which will stay with me for a long time I think!

Bulgaria
I’d decided that the snow-covered pinewood forest beneath the gondola in the ski village of Bankso, Bulgaria, was the perfect place to learn how to ski again. As I tried to recall my childhood ski lessons in Scotland, I was impatient to be flying down through the beautiful forest rather than wobbling down the blues, as I’d switched from a snowboard to a pair of skis. The lively ski scene and affordable prices of Bulgaria kept us entertained for several weeks, the low snowfall just added to the challenge of finding new routes and provided good emergency brake turn practice. We also managed to get in some climbing despite the cold.

After three weeks of snow-chasing and leg-aching skiing in Bulgaria we travelled to Istanbul via the very comfortable overnight train. After a few days’ climbing we took a plane from here to Kathmandu to end our “year of adventure”. We spent three months in total in Nepal.

Nepal
We tackled first our big trek, Mera Peak, 6476m altitude and 19 days in total. We opted for an additional four days acclimatisation where we started up the Everest Base Camp route to Namche Bazaar at 4500m and back down to Lukla to walk over Zatrawala Pass. Unfortunately for us, one week before starting the trek we picked up the parasite Giardia; without being too graphic this is the worst thing we had ever had, not being able to eat anything fresh - only plain pasta and tentatively sipping Coca Cola for about two weeks. The first day I was able to eat three small meals without vomiting was day seven of the trek. Then we had unprecedented snowfall in April which filled the pass. The lodge on the far side of the pass wanted the business so told us that another group was breaking trail on the other side, so if we did our side then we would be fine… this took us 11 hours (should have been four), with myself and my partner Fred breaking trail at the front gaining elevation to 4500m. It was a gruelling couple of days. We reached the summit of Mera Peak at 07.30 on April 9th, with a clear blue sky and Everest standing tall in the distance. We then began our seven-day trek back to Lukla.

To end my time in Nepal my mother, Rhona, came out to join me and we embarked on an 11-day trek on the Manaslu Circuit – Larke Pass (5106m). My mum increasingly got annoyed as all the guides and villagers referred to her as “the strongest woman on the trek – the strong grandma”. “But you are technically a grandma” I told her. What an amazing experience for me to walk through the foothills of the Himalayas having grown up on stories of my mum’s adventures there, and to be there together was fantastic.

Nepal’s Himalayas are amazing, beautiful, rich in culture, but they are a playground now – helicopters in and out, mules and porters carrying £50k climbers’ bags (not our trip price, this was £1.6k each) while suffering physical abuse. Were we part of that problem? I like to think we were aware, giving additional gear, snacks, and a good tip to our porters, carrying out our own rubbish, not getting a helicopter etc but were we still engaging in a form of mountaineering which negatively affected the mountains…? It’s a question which I’ll continue to work on.

Switzerland
After a lovely month back in Wales in June, I headed out on the annual Womens’ Alpine Adventure Club meet in Saas Fee, Switzerland. I spent two weeks with amazing women tackling my first unguided alpine route – the Hohlaubgrat route PD2+ on the Allalinhorn (4027m) with Lucy, Elouise, and Maddie. Then the 13-pitch infamous climb Alpendurst on the Jegihorn (3206m) and the Nadelhorn (4327m) PD 2+, mixed in with some climbing, lots of cake and a whole load of laughing.

Ice climbing in Rive Gauche(left) and Summit of Allalinhorn (right)

Eleanor and mum at Larke Pass (left) and Mera Peak team Lakpa, Lakdan, Pemba Sherpa, Eleanor, Fred (right)

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