Laurent
Photo © Yannick Flugi

Check out Laurent bottom right in picture....
Photo © Yannick Flugi

The refuge below summit
Photo © Yannick Flugi

Laurent on his way up Europes second largest Mountain
Photo © Yannick Flugi

Photo © Yannick Flugi

Photo © Yannick Flugi

Below the serac section
Photo © Yannick Flugi

Antoine Launches his Ozone Paraglider from Mont Blanc summit
Photo © Yannick Flugi

Kiting up the Mont Blanc >> By Laurent Benamon

Monday 10 July early in the morning, Antoine Boisselier (Paraglider, Cameraman), Yannick Flugi (Alpine Guide, Photographer) and myself, meet at les Houches to begin the ascent of the Mont Blanc.

We prepare our rucksacks. In mine there is, 2 Ozone Frenzy 06 ( 10 and 7m), an ice axe, crampons, a climbing harness, poles, warm clothes, 2 liters of water, some cereal bars… and my snow board strapped on top… It nearly weighs 25kg!…

We start the ascent to the refuge le Gouter. We walk 5hr around massive rocks. We sometimes have to climb and more importantly have to make sure we miss the rocks falling down the slope. My bag is heavy, to heavy. It is unbalanced from the snow board which makes it a pain to carry, even more so whilst climbing.

We arrive at the refuge. The spot is magnificent and the wind is blowing at 25 knots in the gusts! We are at around 3800m. I eat two cereal bars to recuperate and decide to get my kite out. The ascent of the Dome du Gouter isn’t simple.

The wind is slightly down hill but more importantly there are crevasses and enormous seracs. I overtake some guys walking up who can’t believe it. I can’t get over the summit of the dome because the wind is being blocked by a big serac. I pack my kite and finish the last 100m on foot, i’m starting to suffer from the altitude.

At the top of the Dome (4100m) I find a new spot which is enormous! I eat another couple of cereal bars… I unpack my kite again to continue the ascent. I go to the refuge de Valot (4400). I kite for more than an hour and a half! The view is magnificent! I can’t kite anymore…I’ve no more strength left, I’m looking forward to some good food and a good night’s sleep! Surprise, the refuge is closed!! Impossible to move from here, we are to tired to go back on our tracks and fancy even less the idea of going to the next refuge which is on the other side of the summit…We decide to go into a small hut which is next to the refuge. There are massive holes in the floor leading directly outside, no insulation, the windows are broken… We unpack the kites and the paraglider to sleep in. We share or evening meal, one cereal bar per person, 2 squares of chocolate and a drink of water.

The night is hard! I’ve a bad headache and am really cold…At 4 o’clock, we get up. No break fast, we don’t have anything more to eat… I’m still as cold as i was last night and i’m hungry. Out side there is no wind. As you can’t kite higher than the refuge du Valot because it is to dangerous ( the limit is around 4500m), I decide to go back slowly. It’s now Antoine’s turn to have fun, he climbs the 400m remaining and launches his paraglider at 7 am from the summit of Mont Blanc. During that time I continue to descent which I find even more technical than the ascent. The snowboard keeps on hitting rocks and throws me off balance a couple of times. The bag is still as heavy! I arrive at 1pm at aux Houches. That’s it it’s finished! I’ll have some really good memories of this trip! Thank you to Antoine and Yannick. Thanks to my sponsors >> Ozone, Weps, Peak performance, Rossignol

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