Back from my first time being dropped into – and climbing out of – a crevasse. 3 days of crevasse rescue training up at just under 4,000m, below the summit of Mont Blanc. This is part of the training Ben Weber and I have to do to get approved and get our permit to cross Antarctica for our Polar Dogs Antarctica Expedition next year.

We had 2 days of sliding and jumping off steep slopes and being lowered into crevasses and learning how to pull each other out and how to climb ourselves out.

It’s hard. At massive sudden elevation gain (I flew in from sea level), it’s harder. Plus dangling off a rope in an icy crevasse meters below the surface isn’t stress free.

We learnt rope techniques, knots, and mostly how to use the tools we’ll need to carry to climb up a rope to get ourselves out should we fall in one.

Crevasses on our route

There’s a few areas on our route known to be crevassed. So in those areas we’ll have to be roped together, carry ice axes and all the kit to be able to get ourselves out if we do fall in one. They often get snowed over so you can’t see them from the surface. And can be deep…

We also had a day going through the maps of our 2,100km planned route to see exactly where the known crevassed areas are. We’ve tweaked our route at the end to go down a different glacier after the South Pole after seeing how many continuous crevasses there were on our planned route. New route is relatively much safer.

All with the brilliant Simon Abrahams, Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions’ crevasse expert and a total pro.

Back for more in September

We’ll head back next September for a refresher training with Simon and a few days of being lowered into and climbing out of crevasses ad infinitum until we can do the techniques more on autopilot and make it less stressful. We’ll also need to practice climbing out with skis on (this time was easier with hiking boots and crampons which help A LOT). And what to do if both one of us and a sled fall in.

Though I did accidentally shred my new Rab salopettes before I realised quite how sharp my new crampons were…

But. The Alps were stunning. Woke up to perfect views of the summit of Mont Blanc. The weather was lush. And Chamonix is just the dream.