UKC

Barre des Écrins, French AlpsFri Night Vid

© UKC News

Tonight's Friday Night Video comes from UKC user Dave Linnett aka BALD EAGLE, documenting his trip with a group of friends to the Écrins National Park in the French Alps last summer.

The beautifully-shot video shows their two-day adventure and features butterflies, marmots and even a rarely seen Brocken spectre as they attempt an ascent of the Barre des Écrins and the Dôme de Neige.

Dave describes the climb below:

"Our group had very little acclimatisation and a predicted short weather window, so decided to take a gamble on the magnificent Barre des Ecrins 4102m which we really wanted to climb. So after a beautiful walk-in to the excellent Refuge des Ecrins on the first day, we had the usual alpine start at 4am the following morning where I found the slog up the steep North East face of the Barre very tough going, with ominous over-hanging seracs just to add to the excitement. By the time our team reached the Brèche Lory at about 4000m I was sick a number of times, the weather was deteriorating and the final West Ridge looked in pretty poor condition so a difficult decision had to be made. I guess it was the classic mountaineering dilemma after investing a lot of time, money and effort on whether to push on in poor conditions and deteriorating weather after being ill. Or stop because it is probably the sensible thing to do and the mountain will always be there..."


This post has been read 12,489 times

Return to Latest News


20 Feb, 2015
Enjoyed that Dave, very professional. It's not a destination I know much about but this has got me interested.
20 Feb, 2015
Brought back happy memories.
20 Feb, 2015
lovely vid.
20 Feb, 2015
Nice vid. Makes me want to go there.
20 Feb, 2015
Seems like you've answered your own question but, just in case you still have doubts, sunk cost (time, money, effort) is... sunk. You can't have it back. If the desire to justify it clouds your decision making, it's a fool's game with, in the mountains, sooner or later, the same old sad conclusion. You made the right decision. The graveyards are full of my mates who pressed on. RBJ said it best: 'Come back. Come back friends. Top out.' Sounds like you got two out of three - and a lovely, lovely video. (Thanks!) Where I come from, that's a pretty good result. Mick
More Comments
Loading Notifications...
Facebook Twitter Copy Email