Thursday 22 April 2010

Aig D' Argentiere (3909m)



Well after an interesting train journey we made it to Geneva, my car and a short drive to Chamonix. Fortunately we got to Chamonix in time to have a rapid change of clothing and caught a late cable car to Grand Montets where we skied and skinned over to the Refuge Argentiere ( 2723 m). Its was ace to be in the mountains again, and we had hoped for a good nights sleep but unfortunately there was a person staying at the hut who went into a diabetic hypo glyaemic coma! Yep, a serious situation and people were running around like headless chickens. But eventually some one popped their head into the guides room and I said, give him sugar and you will find everything else he needs in his rucksack. Then I heard my clients Mike voice and I new that things would be under control. The correct thing to do was to give the casualty sugar but this was complicated case as the casualty was unconscious and fitting so was unable to take and sugar himself and repulsed any help. However Mike got the job done and the chap was fine, but it took a while. Also it transpired that the chap was not carrying any Glucagon himself so its all a bit strange really as if you are ever in the mountains with a diabetic almost always they are good at checking their blood sugar levels and also carry an emergency supply of Glucagon! So, we have no idea why this chap did not have any!
Anyway, suffice to say that the man recovered and eventually everyone got back to bed. In the morning we were up by 6.00 am and Mike was an obvious hero for all his efforts. We left the hut and on skis skinned to the bergchrund on the Aig D' Argentiers, left the skis there and then roped up and with crampons climbed to the summit. The climb down back to our skis was simple enough and the ski down was ace although there was bit of wet sugary snow around at lower altitudes. An ace day!

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