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Had a couple of days climbing at Le Joux near Argentiere dodging the rain and storms.

Had a grim time on Mont Blanc today. Got as far as the Dome du Gouter (4304m) but the wind, spindrift and very cold conditions beat us (we estimated that with windchill the temperature was at least -30C). Not many teams made it to the top today. As usual it was the Grand Couloir that was the most worrying with a lot of stonefall.

A great day and not too busy. Like a lot of others we turned back from about 3/4 of the way up due to steep and icy conditions. It seemed a lot steeper than the last time I was up and a lot less snow. Another day.

We had an early start today from the Albert Premier hut (4.30am - well I suppose it wasn't that early) and made it to the summit by about 8.30. The weather was a bit cloudy and it didn't freeze at the hut last night which made the going difficult. We went via the Col Superior du Tour - the snow was soft all the way. The picture is of me and Dave on the summit this morning.

I've just finished working on a Gold DofE for a school from the Wirral. As usual the students were taking part in a 4 day expedition based in Snowdonia. I was manning checkpoints by Llyn Cowlyd on Friday; Saturday was a very wet and misty checkpoint on the top of Foel Goch (down the ridge from Glyder Fach, Sunday was located at the col of Bwlch Cwm Llan and today was a rather damp Bwlch Maesgwm below Moel Cynghorion. The above photo is of a damp dog - Barti Ddu at Bwlch Maesgwm