Phil Broughton organised a trip hiking in the Vanoise area in July 1985. The final weekend coincided with the Live Aid concert in London and Philadelphia. The group consisted of Phil, Colin Skelton, Brian Saville, Paul Saville (Brian’s son) and me.
In the pictures below I have taken guesses at the locations.
Everyone apart from me was traveling from Manchester in Colin’s Ford Granada, a car large enough to carry five people and equipment. I was traveling from Hampshire, so I took the train to London, then another train to Dover for the night Ferry. I arranged to meet the group at the station, but I waited and waited and nobody showed up, so in the end I parked myself at the gates to the ferry terminal and eventually the car appeared just before the security people started to get suspicious about me. They claimed that they had waited from me at the station, but…
The plan was that we would share the driving and the non-drivers could sleep if necessary, We stayed with the main routes and at the end of the first day we had arrived a gîte in Terrignon where we spent the first night.
The next day we took the cable car and then walked to the “Chalet Refuge Entre Deux Eaux” where we spent several nights and did a number of walks.
The first hike was to attempt “Grand Roc Noir”. A good walk, but the final summit push was too much for us mortals.
I remember several things about this refuge. My fairly new boots started to fall apart. I was proud of them, they were steel reinforced for crampons, but the right sole came away at the toe. The people at the hut lent me a screwdriver and gave me some wood screws. I was able to make a temporary repair that lasted for a while, but I swore never to buy this brand of boot again. That company (Meindl) is still in business and I see them for sale here in the USA sometimes.
A second memory of the refuge was that we stayed in the bunkhouse on wooden shelves; nothing unusual about that, but the other occupants were a band of hyperactive French teenagers (boys and girls). I think that they were on a school trip. Of course this meant little sleep for the rest of us.
Several days of hiking followed including a trip for a few nights at “Refuge du Col de la Vanois” where we had two or three memorable hikes. Notably an ascent of the highest point in the area; La Grande Casse (3149 metres). We shared the bunkhouse with a guided party that was also headed for this same mountain. After an alpine start (3:00 am, in the dark) Phil, Paul and I had one of those splendid days that will stay with me forever.
A second memorable day was the ascent of La Grande Motte (3032 metres). Phil and I did this by ourselves; we had seen it along the ridge from La Grande Casse. The ridge walk was too much for me; I don’t know about Phil because he was far more adventurous than I. We had met another party at the refuge that had gone this way and they were happy enough. Anyway, Phil and I made our second trip from a different direction.
We hiked by a nearby valley and “Refuge de la Leisse”.
Our route took us by the summer skiing area of Tignes which had not opened when Phil’s guidebook had been published. We realised this as we walked through a quiet area and suddenly saw many people on the hillside opposite us. In exactly the place that the guidebook said should be our route. Frankly there were so many people crowding the hill that we decided to use the cable car when we reached it.
There were more hikes, one in particular sticks in my mind. It was an early morning hike – nothing too serious, but the sunrise was spectacular.
This was an excellent week. Phil and I walked out together. I cannot remember the route taken by the others (they might have used the cable-car), but we all met back at Colin’s Ford Granada.
The drive back took us close to Paris and the we used the Boulevard Périphérique at rush hour – deadly! Boston has a rival!.
After the ferry I was dropped at Dover station to take the train back to London and then a second train to Hampshire. I was going through London at the same time as people were leaving Wembley Stadium after the Live Aid Concert, needless to say it was very busy and everybody was talking about what they had seen.