Day 3 And 33 Degrees!

The groups had a night out under a fantastic clear sky at over 2000m. It was a little cold for them however, so they were zipped up inside their tents early. So they didn't see all the shooting stars and satellites that we saw.. Some of them had a difficult night, with upset stomachs (!), and some of them had their first wild toilet experience! Most of them appreciated the beauty all around them. Here you can see Phil carrying the mini poo shovel on the outside of his rucsac, for fast access! After they descended from their camp they had to get through the town of le Monetier les Bains - on market day! So I made sure none of them bought the rotisserie chickens or ice creams on offer! Just pitta bread and peperami for lunch!

Whilst waiting I was watching all the other activities going on, on such a hot day!

Team Awesome managed to find something they were allowed for 2 minutes... They had to check the picture to work out what suitable face to pull! Phil wins!!

With all the teams safely through the town (sans poulet!) I had time for a little diversion.. I found a cheeky via ferrata set in my van and set off to use it... I headed for 'des Mines du Grand Clot' close to our basecamp. The route is 2000m long with altitude gain of 775m. The photos here show the fun little chimney section. Awesome...

I wanted to test my fitness because I'll be climbing with Matt Leggett in a couple of days, and he's always mega fit, so I ran up it in 75mins, and back to the van in under 3 hours.

Via ferrata quickly gets you to some stunning positions. However, I was doing this in the full heat of the day.. Phew! (luckily I never sweat!)

The view of la Meije from the top.

A great little village I had to pass though on the way down - le Chazelet.

On the way back to the van I was checking out potential for winter ice climbing in the valley! Here is 'Cascade de La Pucelle' - winter grade?

The groups all got to their night 3 campsite alright, although some of them are really suffering with their feet unfortunately. Generally spirits are high, and success is round the corner (quite a lot of corners!) for them all. The bags must be a lot lighter now, now that all that food (and tins!) have been eaten.

Let's hope tomorrow isn't as hot for them. They still have over 500m height gain to do in the heat of the day!