In reply to Gordon Smith:
Very good story Gordon, but there's one bit of your article that's puzzling me:
> Whilst preparing to descend from the Refuge d'Argentiere, defeated in an attempt on the North Face of the Triolet with one of the old hands, the sky being very clear and the weather cold, I happened to notice a very pretty mountain face that really struck my fancy.
>"Wot's that then? Wot's that face over there? Can't we climb that one?", says I champing at the bit because our idleness had robbed me of some climbing.
>"Oh no. That's the North Face of the Courtes. You have to be an expert with years and years of experience to climb that one. It's very hard."
Waitwaitwait - someone first tried to lure you on the NF of Triolet, and then, when seeing the NF of the Courtes, he was all "no, you can't climb THAT one, because of it's too hard and scary" Where did that guy got the topo of the area? From a Monty Python sketch? You were lucky not to climb with him anymore (if you did)! ;=)