4th of July on the Grandes Jorasses
The 4th was great up here. It fell on the peak of the summer sporting season. There was the second stage of the tour de France, Wimbledon, French Formula 1 GP, Brazilian Moto GP, and the final game of the European Cup soccer championship between Greece and Portugal (Greece won)! We celebrated in form and to make it even more authentic I was not the only American. By chance another American showed up to solo the Jorasses (the mountain behind Rifugio Boccalatte). His name was Tracy; originally from Louisiana now resident of Holland. He comes often to the Alps to climb and chose the Grandes Jorasses for this trip. The climb is not particularly kind to soloist so he returned to the hut early and we spent the 4th climbing around the glacial tongue in an area I had never been to before. I got some pictures of the hut from a unique perspective. See if you can find it. It is very difficult if not impossible to get a picture of the front of the hut without a helicopter so the hut only shows up in the picture as the south wall with two solar panels on it.
Since we had no reservations we invited Tracey to stay for a 4th of July barbecue. Luci and I flew up a rack of ribs and we found some Heinz BBQ sauce to accompany it. We bought a color TV this year but we discovered that our old 5” B&W gets better reception so we watched the races it instead. We rarely have reservations on Sundays but there are always stragglers who arrive unannounced; usually on descent from a climb that originated at another hut down the Mt Blanc range or from France. People very often underestimate the length of time it takes to do these climbs and can show up any time of the night wanting refuge.
Last night there was a group of climbers who started climbing here early in the morning but returned late from their climb. One of their friends who finished ahead of them waited for them here most of the day and partook in the rib feed. I don’t have any pictures because ribs and photographic equipment don’t go well together. Just as we were elbow deep in BBQ sauce 3 Frenchman arrived from the Rochfort Traverse, hungry and wanting dinner, soon followed by the 2 awaited Italian climbers, tired and not so hungry but still wanting dinner. So, I put the last of the sausages on the grill and whipped up some mashed potatoes. After feeding all of them, the groups kept arriving. There was a pair of Slovaks who were just coming to the hut to sleep for the night, 2 Genovese Italians, 2 more French who also arrived from the Traverse and just stopped for a drink before continuing to the valley. Word was that there was another group of 3 French who might either arrive at night or the next morning (they arrived this morning at about 9).
Some people stuck around to watch the Greece v. Portugal game which finished 1-0; a huge surprise to soccer fans around the world.
Tags: Rifugio Boccalatte
Luke
We give up!! Where is it? Is it the railroad-looking tracks in the lower left corner? What about the two dots in the snow in upper middle? It is great to read of your excitment about your work. You and Luci are great to share these experiences from around the world with the rest of us. Makes me wish I were 50 years younger!
Hi Guys!
Glad you decided to keep the blog up and running–great to see what you’re up to. Keep it up! I’m especially liking all the links to the various photos. So far my favorite entry was the lonboarding through Geneva…reminded me of the ol’ Cadillac days. Glad to hear all is well. Everything is hunky-dory here in Nova Scotia. Just got back from a trip to Newfoundland, partying in St. John’s and camping on the Avalon Peninsula. What a place! And the people…far and away the most friendly and open I have met anywhere in the world. Got to get back to work. All the best!
It took a while to find the blog URL but there could only be ONE Antarctica Blog….first, THANKS for the great time on the 4th. That was huge, ribs with sauce, beers, frutti di cappero (can’t find anywhere), delicious parmasian cheese and the great variety of personalities we unexpectedly had thru the evening. Not to be forgotten.
Since the weather was forcasted to be so blahh from Monday onwards, I decided to head back home for a recharging and will then come back out to deliver the 8mm socket, 1/4 inch drive ok? couldn’t find 3/8. Will call before starting up so should be able to fit a few more essentials into the bag. Interested in any books from home? Will bring a few… Ciao!
It took a while to find the blog URL but there could only be ONE Antarctica Blog….first, THANKS for the great time on the 4th. That was huge, ribs with sauce, beers, frutti di cappero (can’t find anywhere), delicious parmasian cheese and the great variety of personalities we unexpectedly had thru the evening. Not to be forgotten.
Since the weather was forcasted to be so blahh from Monday onwards, I decided to head back home for a recharging and will then come back out to deliver the 8mm socket, 1/4 inch drive ok? couldn’t find 3/8. Will call before starting up so should be able to fit a few more essentials into the bag. Interested in any books from home? Will bring a few… Ciao!
Hello Betty and Jim,
You can find the hut a little left of center in the photo. Look for the trail that zig-zigs through the lower middle part of the photo and follow it up.