Chamonix ve etrafinda donem tatili / Spring Break in Chamonix and around

Verbier Kayak Merkezi - Isvicre'de en tepeden manzara / View from the top of Verbier Ski Resort - Switzerland

Courmayeur Kayak Merkezi - Italya / Courmayeur Ski Resort - Italy

Arkadasim Kat ile harika bir donem tatili! Bu tatilde Chamonix’den Zermatt’a meshur Haute route uzerinden kayaklarla gitmeyi dusunuyorduk ama baska bir zamana ertelemeye ve Chamonix’de kalmaya karar verdik. Chamonix gercekten harika bir dag kasabasi. Turistiyle, yerlisiyle her tur insan var. Cok meshur biryer olmasina ragmen hicbir zaman cig hissettirmiyor kendisini, ve de herkes cok sakin ve huzurlu genel olarak. Ayrica, buradaki ve etrafindaki kayak merkezlerinde kayak yapmak cok asiri pahali degil (Tahoe’dakileri ya da Amerika’daki benzer sekilde meshur kayak merkezlerini dusununce). Birgun Alplerin Isvicre tarafindaki Verbier kayak merkezine, bir baska gun ise Italya tarafindaki Courmayeur kayak merkezine gittik. Cografya her mekanda bir degisik, yeme icme daha degisik, ve genel olarak ortamin havasi bile degisik! Kayak disinda, cok sicak olan birkac gun Chamonix vadisinde kosular da yaptik. Bir taraftan da Kat, Kathmandu’ya Lhotse ekspedisyonu icin gitmek uzere hazirliklarini yapiyordu. Son dakika alisverisleri, ekipman kontrolu, ve canta hazirlama ile ugrastik ara ara. Bu hazirlik kisminin parcasi olmak da cok guzel ve heyecanliydi. Ve tabi ki bir dolu tirmanis ve kosu plani da yapildi! Bu arada Kat, daha yakin zamanda, Guney Kutbu’na 4 kisilik bir ekibin parcasi olarak desteksiz!!! 6.5 hafta suren bir ekspedisyon ile kizaklarla ulasan ilk Ingiliz kadin! 915km/560 mil ucsuz bucaksiz sastrugi denen dalgalanmis buz uzerinden kayak/kizakla! (Genelde insanlar son enlemi -89.cudan 90.ya kadar- kayak/kizaklarla gecerek Guney Kutbu’na ulasiyorlar, Antartika’nin bir kiyisindan baslayip butun yolu gecerek degil!). Harika bir ilham kaynagi ve cok sevdigim bir arkadasim olan bu kadinin Lhotse ekspedisyonunu ve gelecekteki maceralarini Instagram hesabindan takip edebilirsiniz: @k2koolkat.

Grand Montets Kayak Merkezi - Chamonix / Grand Montets Ski Resort - Chamonix

Spring break well spent with Kat! We were thinking about skiing from Chamonix to Zermatt – the infamous Haute route but postponed that plan to another year and stayed in town. Chamonix is such a cool mountain town with all kinds of people including tourists and locals. Despite being a very famous touristic spot, I find this place to be very chill and normal. And it is not super expensive to ski around there (compared to what you’d pay in Tahoe or in some other very touristic places). One day we went to ski at Verbier in Switzerland, another day we were skiing in Courmayeur in Italy! Each about 45 min drive away! Yet the terrain is different, the food is different, and the overall vibe is different! A few days were very warm so we also opted for some runs in the Chamonix Valley. Kat was also getting ready to leave for Kathmandu for her Lhotse expedition so there was some last minute shopping, gear-checks, and packing involved. It was so good to be part of the excitement and it was a great time overall – as always with Kat! including lots of planning for future running and climbing expeditions together. She actually very recently got back from South Pole where she became the first British woman to reach South Pole fully unsupported!!! in 6.5 weeks as part of a 4-person team that she did skied/sled all the way of 915kms/560 miles on endless sastrugi from the coast to the pole! (Usually people chose to ski/sled the last degree –from 89th to 90th- in a week or so to get to South Pole). She is such an inspiration and such a great friend! Follow her Lhotse expedition (and future adventures) on Instagram: @k2koolkat.

Vadideki kosularimizdan / From one of our runs in the valley

CHAMONIX

Everest 2014 takim arkadaslarimdan biri olan Kat Follows, Chamonix’de yasiyor. Everest sonrasi surekli beni yanina davet ediyordu en azindan yazin kalanini daglarda gecirmek icin. Alp’leri daha once hic gormemistim ve bu teklif bana cok cazip geldi. Chamonix’de gecirdigim 16 gunun 14'unde ya dag patikalarinda saatlerce kostuk, ya da tirmanis yaptik. Sadece 2 gunu dinlenmeye ayirdik, onlardan birini de jaz festivalinde gecirdik. Patikalarin ve buzul manzaralarinin guzelligine diyecek yoktu gercekten (Bir de bir aksam Kat’a Kackar’lardan bir fotograf gosterdim, Isvicre sandi ☺ o ayri). En guzeli de etrafta buzullar gormekti!!! Kat nasil mutlu oldugumu gorunce yanina tasinmam icin baya bir israr etti, bakalim belki ilerde. Kat’in evi Killian Jornet’in evine cok yakin, hatta ortak arkadaslariyla bir aksam yemek yedik, Killian sehir disinda imis tanisamadim ama kopegiyle tanistik koklastik ☺ 

Planimizda Mount Blanc, Eiger, ve Matterhorn vardi fakat Temmuz ayi boyunca bu bolgede hava baya kotuymus/kotuydu. Her aksam detayli hava tahminlerine bakip plan yapmaya calistik. En sonunda bir gun 5-6 saatlik bir aciklik bulduk. Kotu kosullarda Mount Blanc tirmanisina basladik ve Gouter siginagina kadar ciktik ki havanin guzel olacagi saatlerin hepsini zirve icin kullanalim. Cok keyifli bir tirmanistan sonra inise gectigimizde hava yine bozmaya baslamisti bile. Daha sonraki gunlerde de kotulemeye devam etti ama tabi ki kotu ve yagisli hava bizim icin kosmaya engel degildi. Daha sonra Alplerin Italya tarafinda havanin daha kuru oldugunu ogrendigimizde (Matterhorn ve Eiger olasilik disindaydi artik), tirmanis cantalarimizi hazirladigimiz gibi Mount Blanc’in altindan gecen ve Fransa’yi Italya’ya baglayan tunelden 2.5 saatte Italya’ya gectik (Bu tuneli belki yillar once bir yakit tankerinin icerde patlamasi/yanmasi ile ilgili haberden hatirlayabilirsiniz) ve Italya sinirlari icindeki en yuksek dag olan sahane Gran Paradiso’yu tirmandik. 

Alplerde gecirdigim gunler boyunca en cok hosuma giden seylerden biri, birgun bir kayak teleferigi ile yukarilara cikarken teleferiktekilere soyle bir baktigimda gorduklerim… Iki tane 80 kusur yaslarinda yasli bir cift ellerinde batonlariyla, bir baba ve emekleme asamasinda olan cocugu sirtinda, bir tane dag-inis bisikletcisi, dirsek ve dizlerindeki korumalarini duzeltirken sisman lastikli ve oturaksiz inis bisikletiyle, bir de sirt cantalarinda kramponlari ve buz kazmalari ile biz… ve hepimiz ayni yere gidiyoruz… herkesi davet eden ve farkli hedefleri olan herkesin erisebilecegi sekilde tasarlanmis bir zaman ve mekan… bundan guzeli var mi.

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One of my Everest teammates, Kat Follows, lives in Chamonix and she has been inviting me to go spend some time with her. I have never been there before so was very tempted. When I finally made it there, we spent 14 of the 16 days either on the mountain trails running or climbing. One of the rest days, we checked out the jazz festival in town. I loved the Alps! (on a side note, I showed Kat a photo from Kackar mountains and she thought it was Swiss Alps :)). The best part for me was the glaciers around! They were visible almost from everywhere and so dramatic. Such a contrast. When she saw how happy I was there, she insisted that I should eventually move. We shall see. She lives close to Killian Jornet and actually we had dinner with all their friends but he wasn't there - I only got to meet his dog :)

In addition to trail running, we planned to climb MtBlanc, Matterhorn, and Eiger - the three mythical mountains of Europe. However the weather in July was very stormy and not very stable. When we finally saw a weather window of 5-6 hours, we made our way up to Goute hut in bad weather and managed to summit MtBlanc during those nice hours. Then again it was snowing on the way back down. Bad weather changed our climbing plans but didn’t stop us from running. When it looked drier on the other side of the Alps, we packed our packs, got in the car and drove to the Italian side in 2.5 hours through the tunnel underneath the MtBlanc massif (This is the tunnel that made the news a few years back when an oil tanker exploded inside). We drove straight to the base of Gran Paradiso, the highest mountain within Italian territory and made a super fun climb to the summit. There is just so much to do in the Alps! One thing I loved the most was a scene I could not forget: in a ski tram at one of the resorts, going up, surrounded by an 80 year old couple with their poles, going hiking; a father with his toddler on his back, a downhill mountain biker adjusting his knee and elbow pads next to his fat downhill bike without a seat, and us with ice axes and crampons sticking out of our packs as we were going ice climbing - all of us at the same time going to the same place, a place that invites and accommodates all kinds of people with all kinds of goals!