If the goal is easy to achieve, is it worth setting in the first place? If you know the outcome is inevitable, is it still a challenge?
Altitude dreams
Mountaineering
First wingsuit flight from Aconcagua
Below the tip of my toes is a 300-metre drop onto the glacier below. My foot is curled over the edge of the rock. Gaining maximum purchase as I push off at a perfect angle, pre-determined by a thousand other jumps. Ingrained into my muscle memory. Practice doesn’t necessarily make perfect, but it does make permanent so I’ve made sure to practice perfectly.
The Fault Line
Some times I think to myself why the fuck do we do this. I sat in the helicopter swooping around the sharp valley ridges. The pilot would drop me in Saas fee so I could pick up my car and drive to the hospital. Although everything was now ok, this is when the flood of thoughts and emotions hit.
Live to fail another day. Matterhorn North face.
Attempt 1
On route to the Dolomites we took a short detour to the Italian side of the Matterhorn. The weather and conditions gave us slight hope of a quick ascent and even quicker descent with our wingsuits. Covid restrictions meant that the hut was now booked at full capacity even this late in the season. We started from the valley floor and went for the summit in one continuous push.
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DAY 1
We drove for 5 hours over rough tracks, through rivers and over makeshift bridges. Heading deeper into the valleys of the Tien Shan mountains. Each valley led to another, branching off again and again until finally a wide river stood between us and our base camp. We had driven hundreds of kilometres but as the crow flies we were only 50km from our hostel.
Mount Kenya First Wingsuit Flight in Kenya.
Three years ago, a single picture took me halfway around the world. It was a picture of the cliffs surrounding Lake Michaelson on Mount Kenya. A lone figure stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down to the dark inky lake. Aptly named ‘The Temple’, these towering yellow cliffs became my fixation, and I wanted to make the pilgrimage there. I managed to BASE jump from the same spot in the photo. After the jump I looked further up the mountain to the great peaks of Batian and Nelion. This would be my new goal. Two years later i returned. The goal was to be the first person to wingsuit in Kenya; but the experience soon became about much more than just the jump. I got to know my team, explore the grand massif, and learn about the community and my own limits.
Mount Kenya; Point John 4883m. Topo & Guide
The southern gully of Point John is equal in quality and aesthetics to any mountaineering route in my more local playground of Mont Blanc. The fact that it is in equatorial Africa, looking down onto a glacier just adds to this spectacular route.
Under the Ice
Autumn is a strange time of the year for me. Motivation for wingsuit and BASE jumping is low. It’s the end of the jumping season and wet valleys create low lying clouds. Damp fields and cold morning temperatures disparage me from committing to long hikes for the jumps. The higher mountains are also in between seasons. Gondolas are closed and the snow isn’t quite there for complete ski descents. Alpine ice is not yet formed.
The Swiss list
It’s fair to say lock down has effected us all. The most important lesson I learnt while serving in the Royal Marines is to adapt, improvise and overcome. My international travel plans and work had been cancelled for the year. I was fortunate to be stuck in Switzerland with it’s lax lock down rules. It was time to focus on the climbs and flights I had my eye on for years but had been too distracted before.
Work hard and Smart: North Face of the Dru
I drove into Chamonix past the familiar branded roundabout. Two alpinists had their heads down, fully kitted up and clearly just finished some adventure. I secretly wished I was them, having just finished their objective; worn out but content. When they freshen up with a burger in their stomachs they will revel in what they have just achieved. But for now they walked slumped, tired and hungry with a heavy pack digging into their shoulders. In 48 hours I would still be on the mountain wishing I was back down in the valley .
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