No can do

I´m back from Chamonix and the bad news is I never climbed the 4808 meters up to the Mont Blanc summit. The day I left I had beautiful weather all round and according to the forecast and webcam it was good on the mountain too. I had planned on camping in the forest somewhere in Chamonix the first few days with my semi-waterproof tent. The last stretch by train from Martigny to Chamonix was bloody scarey, hanging in the air on a narrow strip of railway line with a 1000 meter drop off beside me. The view of the snow-capped mountains was incredible and I couldn´t believe how enormous the mountains were and the only thing that didn´t impress me was the millions of school kids on the train argueing about who has the most pubic hair.

I had no idea which way to walk in order to find a camp spot but about 3kms out of town I found a little patch of forest next to the walk way and as I started to set up it began to piss down with rain and the only way to keep dry was to fold my tent over and use it like a tarp. If I was a hungry frenchman I would have been in heaven, with giant frogs and snails all around me, I started to wonder how these creatures became a delicacy.

Before buying anything more for the climb I went to the high mountain office (high because you have to walk up ten flights of stairs until your there). I guess if you don´t make it to the office you really shouldn´t be asking about climbing Mont Blanc. I was told the weather wasn´t going to improve over the next 2 days and to come back tommorrow for an updated forecast.

I looked around the town to pass the time and tried to make conversation with the locals of which many couldn´t speak a word of english or german. One memorable experience was when I went into a shop with my backpack on and the shop keeper pointed her finger and started to curse at me. I told here I had no idea what she was saying and then she grabbed a bottle from the shelf and ran after me. I didn´t realise she was trying to demonstrate an act of theft and thought she wanted to knock my lights out. Eventually I got the point she was making and took my backpack off but it really wasn´t worth the effort as 30 seconds later I was out the door.

Later I caught the train to Les Houches to see where the start of the trail was and what I was in stall for. It was too cloudy to see anything of interest and after a few hours of walking around the deserted town I went back to Chamonix and stayed in the forest another night. The only update at the office was that there was more bad weather on the way so I decided to head back pretty quickly really. It was a big disappointment though I wouldn´t want to be lost in the mountains with a $20 tent.

In my absence the weather in Konstanz had turned from warm sunny days to dark clouds and thunder storms which meant I haven´t been able to make any trips up into the mountains.I would have loved to have climbed the säntis but on thursday or friday I leave for München again to visit Antonia a last time.

I have four weeks left until I come home and I would be lieing if I said I wasn´t missing australia. Will keep you all posted on what happens the next few weeks and I´ll upload some more pictures as soon as I find a decent computer. Hope everyone is going great down under!

Ouvre,Ciao,catch ya,tschüss