Ok, its from the Daily Mail but even so, perhaps a tad foolish from the guy
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11278347/British-man-26-left-hypot...
Glad he was rescued and all back safely.
Why did he have a bed sheet with him (assuming it was indeed a bed sheet).
Granted it probably kept him alive but if he thought he was going to need it why did he..? Nevermind.
>"assuming it was indeed a bed sheet"
The article suggests it was a tent fly sheet or some sort bivi tarp. You know the type that you use walking poles to prop up...
Thanks Willie, much more helpful than Daily Mail nonsense, Google translated text from your link. What daily mail implies is a sheet a tracksuit and an having no "ice pick" (presumably breaking a big block into chunks to serve cocktails?) sounds more like hiking/outdoor clothes a tarp and no ice axe or crampons!
"...When the technicians of the Aosta Valley Mountain Rescue (Sav) recovered him by arriving on site by helicopter, his body temperature was between 25 and 27 degrees. After admission, yesterday afternoon, it had risen to 33 degrees.
Undocumented with him, he only had a credit card, not his. He wore hiking clothing (overalls and boots) and had no harness, ice ax and crampons despite being on a glacier. To shelter he used a tarp, in the face of temperatures dropped to that altitude below zero..."
That's some top quality idiocy right there
curious to know what this was: 'I can do a vertical mountain climb and descent for 32 hours straight with no rest.'
I'm curious what previous experience he had the led him to believe it would be ok.
Was there a real previous outing that he was referring to when he boasted, "I can do a vertical mountain climb and descent for 32 hours straight with no rest."
Does anyone know the route well enough to say whether he had some sort of chance of "getting away with it" had he got lucky with weather and snow conditions? He looks like a big strong fit lad.
As foolish as it was, part of me admires his balls to try. Proper golden age Victorian mountaineering.
Me to.
I thought the same.....hard to see it as anything but BS given the story of where he was rescued from and his kit!
He's lucky to be alive......or not lost parts of his body to frostbite.....thanks to his rescuers!
Mr Hussein, 26, a graduate aerospace engineer from Portsmouth, flew to Turin last Thursday and made his way towards the mountains by train and bus.
His plan was to celebrate his 26th birthday, on Saturday, by reaching the summit of Mt Blanc.
“I was fully prepared,” he said, dismissing reports in the Italian press that he had embarked on the climb in a tracksuit. “I had wet weather gear, an ice axe, crampons and ropes. My backpack weighed 25kg.”
After sleeping in his tent on Friday night he resumed his climb on Saturday, but soon got into difficulty after getting lost and straying from the path to the summit.
He stumbled into an area of crevasses and after several hours of walking, fell into one which he estimated as being 15m to 20m deep, badly injuring his leg. “I thought, that’s it, I’m dead.” But using his ice axe and crampons he managed to climb out of it. “It took all my strength to get out of it. My leg was twisted really badly and I couldn’t walk anymore.”
As darkness fell, he put up his tent, crawled inside his sleeping bag and called the emergency number. “Alpine rescue said that because of the bad weather they wouldn’t be able to reach me until the morning. It was snowing hard, really windy. I told them I don’t think I’ll survive that long, that I’m going to die, but that they shouldn’t worry because it was not their fault.
He said he got out of the tent at some point and then passed out face down on the ice. “I felt that was my last moment. I was really, really cold.”
The next thing he remembers is waking up in hospital, having been rescued by a helicopter on Sunday morning. He spent the next two days in intensive care and was given oxygen to breathe.
On the mountainside his body temperature had dropped to just 25 degrees Celsius – more than 10 degrees less than normal.
His backpack weighed 25kg, what on earth was he carrying?
Not surprised he got into difficulties carrying that much.
>"I was fully prepared,” he said, dismissing reports in the Italian press that he had embarked on the climb in a tracksuit. “I had wet weather gear, an ice axe, crampons and ropes. My backpack weighed 25kg.”
So who are we to believe?
So not quite as foolhardy as we were led to believe. Perhaps a tab ambitious. The undertaking proving to be beyond his capabilities...
Hope he recovers well.
>"Not surprised he got into difficulties carrying that much."
I suspect it was more down to navigation than the weight.
Sounds like he was reasonably well equipped, well enough that he survived. Maybe just a bit too ambitious.
> My backpack weighed 25kg.
Impressive that he got so far with that weight. I categorically know I couldn't cope with less than half that weight. I think I do most of my training with about 20kg and it feels like a ridiculous amount of weight and it's tough on my joints and muscles. I think I would cry if I had to take that weight up an Alpine peak.
> I had wet weather gear, an ice axe, crampons and ropes.
I know nothing about solo Alpine mountaineering so maybe a daft assumptions but surely you wouldn't carry a rope unless you were planning on doing an abseil? Just a harness, screw and a bit of tatt I would have thought.
Something else I don't understand about this story. All the articles say he was found on the Italian side, but a few also say he was found on the Bionnassay glacier. Isn't this glacier on the French side?
>"All the articles say he was found on the Italian side, but a few also say he was found on the Bionnassay glacier. Isn't this glacier on the French side?"
Being unfamiliar with the route I had a look on Google Earth the other day. His navigation error is fairly obvious. Presumably due to bad weather, he missed a turn-off for the hut he was heading for. Carrying on too far NW he ended up on the Bionnassay glacier, the head of which would have taken him into France.
> Proper golden age Victorian mountaineering.
he looks like a graduate of the Ant Middleton school of mountainteering
On the Italian side of the Col de Bionnassay there is the Glacier de Bionnassay Italien and, on the French side, the Glacier de Bionnassay.
However, I think the usual way back to the Gonella refuge is by way of the Glacier du Dome..
> His backpack weighed 25kg, what on earth was he carrying?
Agreed, Mine weighed 22kg when I packed it for a week's unsupported mountain walking in Norway. Rope, and climbing stuff would have put quite a bit of weight on, but his food / water / fuel / clothing should have been minimal.
> Not surprised he got into difficulties carrying that much.
Isn't the 'normal' route up simply a snow plod? If so, doable but tough with a big pack.
Fruit Loop.
Obviously went into an outdoors shop, bought suggested kit and set of, probably loosing kit on the "ascent", but absolutely no idea at all.
Mont Blanc can be a tough mountain walk, then again it can as easily kill you.
Definite Fruit Loop.
Nahh... he's part of a new movement "ultra heavy backpacking". This is his style, the true connoisseur of this mode will be carrying a traditional canvas and wooden pole patrol tent at all times... and more if an overnight is anticipated.
I'm puzzled how he got to the Bionnassay glacier. There is quite a steep ascent up to the Gonnella refuge which in bad weather I could imagine being hard to find (I've been over the the Grise ridge before).
But to get way over to the Bionnassay would take some effort and a lot of time being way off course. Glad to hear he's ok.
>"Isn't the 'normal' route up simply a snow plod? If so, doable but tough with a big pack."
Thanks for that. I forgot about acclimatising, looks like he did none of that either!
"I'm puzzled how he got to the Bionnassay glacier."
I've never been there but looking on the map it appears the path to Gonnella almost doubles back on itself from the route up the Glacier du Miage. I reckon he's just continued NW leading him to where he was found around 1.5km off route.
Edit: Getting lost on the walk-in to the hut didn't bode well for the actual climb...
> >"I was fully prepared,” he said, dismissing reports in the Italian press that he had embarked on the climb in a tracksuit. “I had wet weather gear, an ice axe, crampons and ropes. My backpack weighed 25kg.”
> So who are we to believe?
It seems that articles are still being released, Independent just yesterday, stating that he didn't have crampons etc.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/british-man-rescue-mont-bla...
Perhaps everyone is correct.....
To speculate:
Hypothermia messes your thoughts up and it is quite possible that when he was found he had 'disposed' of them.....