Perran Tennis Conquers New Heights!
Perran Tennis Conquers New Heights!
Perran Tennis committee members Sancos and Xavier Boland scale new heights. Here they are seen at the summit of Mont Blanc, showing their Perran Tennis T-Shirt!
Sancos and Xavier not only climbed Mont Blanc, but having done so proceeded to ski down it. A real achievement.
In their words, "It was a four man operation. We were joined by two Finnish friends currently living in Norway (Bjorn and Chris) both of whom are experienced skiers and mountaineers. We gave ourselves a three day window in which to complete to climb which is not much considering how variable the weather can be up top. Our acclimatisation schedule was rapid by most standards; Starting from Geneva at 400m, we spent our first night at 3000m in the refuge des Grand Mulets (read: big mullets) before our attempt on the summit (4810m). Consequently, in the last 400m, we all fell victim to the thin mountain air and were reduced to advancing at a snails pace."
"We were very fortunate with the weather with not a cloud to be seen during both days of the climb. On the second day however, after leaving in the dead of night (3am) and walking uphill for 4 hours to 4000m meters, we were greeted by strong winds. Whereas most of the climbing is done on skis, the final approach involves roping up, donning crampons, and walking along narrow aretes to the summit. Consequently, the wind is the biggest hazard at this stage. Nevertheless, we pushed on and following a short 3 minute spell on Mt Blanc’s summit were rewarded with a ski down the breath taking North face."