Members of our Reservations staff, Natalie and Emily, are in Arolla this week on our Alpine Introduction
Day One: Office girls in the hills – we met Holly at the bus stop in Sion, puzzling over the buses to Arolla. Matt had already made it to the hotel, roughing it in Geneva airport overnight-hardcore! After a slight altercation with our friendly bus driver, we made it to the hotel and chilled over a team bonding drink on the terrace before meeting Pelle, our guide over dinner. An outline of the week ahead, eat and then sleep before a busy day.
Day Two: Early breakfast and then down to the boot room to be suited and booted for the week ahead. Just like shoe shopping! Once everyone was sorted, we piled into Pelle’s car for a scenic journey to the Ecole de Glace. After a walk/scramble to the glacier, we all got confident on our crampons (cowboy legs!), swinging our ice axes and working those ice screws. After a trip down a hole and back out, and a stroll up the ice and a snack, it was back to the hotel for mixed grill.
Day Three: We woke up to rain and so made full use of the discoteque at the Mont Collon practising our ropework, no funky moves here! Once everyone had been rescused from the ‘crevasse’ or dancefloor, we made tracks to the Aigulle Rouge hut, a journey of about 2 and a half hours through beautiful Swiss countryside. We were glad it wasn’t too hot on the ascent. Bowls of tea were needed on arrival at the hut and the best feeling of the day by far: taking off our boots and replacing them with hut provided welly slippers. Bonding well as a team, we even took a trip to the longdrop/shed stylee toliets (loo roll included!) much to Pelle’s amusment! After a stunning meal of stew, potatoes and cabbage, we bedded down in our cosy communal bunk room to get an early night before a 5am start in the morning.
Day Four: Most of us started the day with a bowl of tea, cold muesli porridge and some juice, apart from Natalie who had lovingly carried up boiled eggs in her sunglasses case. A new one for Pelle! Then we were off to the summit of the Pointe de Vouassan. After an hour’s walk through imposing rock, we hit the glacier and crampon time. Roped together, we picked our way over the glacier – the driest Pelle has seen it. After a slight crevasse issue for Holly, we all made it to the summit in one piece to enjoy the view and a snack before heading back down. We reached the hut at around 10:30am and had a nice rest, more tea and another visit to the precarious toilets before heading back to the car – being overtaken by runners along the way!
Day Five: A glorious day with the sun shining, we picked out our rock boots (more shoe shopping!) for rock climbing, ‘working that crack’ and Pelle’s three rules of mountaineering: 1) Look Cool, 2) Stuff Happens, 3) When Stuff Happens Refer To Rule One! Everyone – more or less got up the rock and Emily discovered she liked abseiling down a whole lot more than climbing up! After lunch, we headed off to a big boulder for prussik-ing out of a crevasse and rapelling. Holly was well and truly crowned Rock Queen! Tomorrow, it is off to the Dix Hut before the summit of the Pigne d’Arolla – stay tuned!
