Cristopher Climbs The Alps

The last moves of the climb, with Chamonix far below. Photo by Silas Rossi. 

Thursday, July 12. Via Corda Alpina, PD+ 3C

(See here for the previous day’s climb.)

My son Cristopher is ten years old. When he was three, he walked all the way up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, Maine, wearing Crocs. To him, it was a giant granite playground. Since then we’ve done lots of hiking and cross-country skiing. The first few times I took him to the climbing gym, he was mostly interested at throwing himself at the padded floors.

But this year we managed to do some actual bouldering at the gym, and a few weeks before the trip I finally got belay-certified, and Cristopher climbed some real indoor routes. He was a bit concerned at first, and would often “test” me by jumping off near the bottom to make sure I could hold him. But by our second trip to the gym, he cruised a 5.5 and then a 5.6, showing real determination. Some of these climbs aren’t easy when you’re not very tall!

The Arve River

I’d been thinking for a long time about having Cristopher climb something when we were in Chamonix. But what to do? Walk around on a glacier? Go rock climbing at Les Gaillands? But Silas and Matt knew just the thing—the Via Corda Alpina. A steep, forested ridge that leads from the valley to near Montenvers has a lot of exposed rock slabs, and a bolted route climbs the slabs, with occasional walking in the forest to get from rock to rock. Like everything in Chamonix, it’s big, gaining 2000 feet in elevation. And it ends not far from a magical outdoor cafe. Big mountains plus civilization is a lovely combination, as we’ve already seen.

After getting up at 4:45 the day before, meeting at 8:00 seems very civilized. We drive up the valley and park at the trailhead. We walk through the forest and cross the Arve river. We’re on cross-country ski trails—we go by the shooting range for Biathlon. Soon enough we’re at the start of our climb. Matt shows Cristopher how to tie a figure-eight knot. Once Cristopher is tied in, Matt tells him to run across the field. Cristopher starts sprinting, only to be stopped by the rope!

Silas and Cristopher ready to climb

We form two rope teams—Silas leading me, and Matt leading Cristopher. It’s lovely! We climb these smoothish rock slabs with bolts—somewhat reminiscent of my climbing in the Flatirons of Boulder, Colorado a few weeks earlier. I’m of course worried about Cristopher, who has never climbed outdoors before. But Matt and Silas are brilliant with him, and Cristopher is delighted at the movement, the setting, and how proud everyone is of him.

Silas leads the way. 

The crux pitches are around halfway up. On one of them, I get a little too far to the left, and am looking at a very sketchy traverse back to the better line. Silas always knows what I need better than I do, and so he tells me to fall off! I practice a few falls, and feel better about life.

Walking between rock sections

Team selfie during a snack break. Photo by Silas Rossi. 

And then Silas is telling me to go first! I haven’t led anything since the late 1970s. But the climbing is easy, and I just have to clip a bolt with a quickdraw every once in a while. We work a bit on clipping technique. At the top of one section I have to figure out how to belay Silas, and finally my 1970s training pays off, and I remember how to do a sitting hip belay! After adjusting my stance a bit, I even hold Silas’s weight with no anchor but my body.

Dave on the sharp end!

Too soon we’re near the top. Cristopher and Matt arrive with big smiles, Cristopher probably having an easier time on the crux than I did! Silas tries to teach me to do a Kiwi coil, which is doubtless frustrating for him given my new-found learning disability. But we figure it out, and Cristopher ties into my rope and I short-rope him a few feet to the top of the climb! What a glorious experience! Cristopher knows he’s at the summit, and suddenly starts to untie, but we stop him until we can get him to safer ground.

Matt leads Cristopher. Photo by Silas Rossi. 

High Five with Matt. 

High five with dad.

Short-roping Cristopher, which I’m pretty sure is outside my scope of practice. 

Then it’s a short walk to the Buvette, where we sit in the shade, drink Cokes and Orangina, and marvel at the views of the Drus and the Verte towering above.

The Petite Dru and Aiguille Verte. 

At the Buvette

Big smiles all day

Never ask a group of guides to remove a splinter.

It’s a long walk back down to the valley, but spirits are high (even if Cristopher’s feet hurt after the first day in new rock shoes), and then we play by the Arve River for a while, skipping rocks, until it’s time to go home.

The descent. Cristopher only carried my pack for a minute. 

The next day Cristopher goes paragliding, while the rest of us return to the Alpine.

Postscript

Six weeks later, I went climbing with Matt at Ragged Mountain, CT. When I got home I told Cristopher about it:

Me: I went climbing with Matt today.

Cristopher: That's pretty cool.

Me: He said you were awesome when we were all climbing in Chamonix.

Cristopher: Yeah, I was pretty awesome that day.