Guiding Chamonix local Ollie was a blast. A dedicated and extremely fit ultra runner and ski mountaineer he’s spent the lockdown here in France making his legs even stronger than before. We weren’t going to have any problems making the one day ascent of the Grand Paradiso from the valley floor rather than staying in the hut.

It was still an early start though as we wanted to be up and then off the snow before the heat of the day turned it soft. So despite having to wait thirty minutes to get through the Mont Blanc tunnel we were leaving the car park at 6am and jogging the flat track to get to the start of the hut approach.

With a steady pace and light ‘sacks we gained height quickly and arrived at the quiet Emmanuele hut less than an hour later where I used the water fountain to fill my camelback for the next section.

The awkward rock garden past the hut was thankfully free of snow and we were soon in the upper valley snowfields below the glacier proper. Before the snow fields got too steep we stopped for a gear faff, putting on leggings, harness and crampons and roping together for the glacier above.

The snow was perfect all the way to the summit from here, nicely refrozen after the clear night with no need to follow a track. We got into an excellent groove here just ticking along with the rope strung out between us.

We were passing groups who had started from the hut earlier that morning although our hopes of being at the summit alone weren’t to be due to our unexpected delay at the Mont Blanc tunnel. There were a few teams just lining up for the final summit scramble as we appraoched although the timings worked out well and we managed to go up to the madonna (quick photo) and back down whilst they stayed and enjoyed the view for a while longer.

It had taken three hours to reach the summit (including stops) and it was nice to be on the move again heading back down the track from the summit. Still roped we got a little jog on downhill in the increasing heat of the sun. The snow was  still firm though and we lost height quickly.

Lower down where the slope was steeper and facing the sun the snow had softened and we were punching through a crust into the snow below. There was some danger of getting injured if we kept on running so some slower (but still quick) walking trying to find the best snow got us down to where we had geared up earlier.

It was now unbelievably hot despite wearing some pretty minimal gear. In fact I hadn’t needed gloves all day and had a lightweight softshell on over a t-shirt and arm warmers but I was still overheating. Another stop was required to strip off down to shorts again. The rope and crampons went away and we slithered down the snow fields towards the hut.

It was pretty tempting to stop at the hut for a coffee (and cake) but equally appealing to keep the flow going all the way to the valley. And so we jogged on chatting about future trail running races as well as other fast and light mountaineering possibilities in this stable weather.

Four hours and forty five minutes after leaving we were back at the car and using the water trough in the car park to cool off the legs. It was superb day out and shows what can be achieved by a dedicated and fit trail runner who doesn’t have huge amounts of mountaineering experience.

It is also worth pointing out that although we were “light and fast” we carried plenty of kit, very similar to what I’d take on a normal two day Grand Paradiso climb. Warm jackets, spare gloves, a proper first aid kit, emergency shelter, crampons, axe, rope, crevasse rescue gear etc etc. Speed is acheived through efficiency and fitness rather leaving emergency kit at home. I’ve also learned the hard way when trying fast ascents that not having that extra warm jacket can prevent you from reaching the summit, so it’s worth the extra grammes!