Paul pack hauling on the Aiguille du Midi

Paul (corday) and I hooked up for a couple days climbing in Chamonix in the beginning of September. We bumped into each other in the maison de montagne looking for partners, futzed around for a few hours packing and shopping, and then caught a late cable car full of elder hostel climber-groupies. When every other climber was shuffling in, we were shuffling out, intending to fire a route on the side of the needle and finish on the cosmique ridge. This picture is Paul hitting one of the top belays on the steep lower route (whose name I can't remember. It was four or five pitches: up a gully below a face, traverse right on ledges, pull a short roof, then straight up for a pitch or two to the cosmique ridge). The dots behind his head are the basecamp tents for the numerous Mont Blanc climbers. As you can see, it's getting late. We climbed the entire ridge at night and slept a peaceful night on the observation deck after retrieving our stashed gear from the visitor center. Cheese and chocolate never tasted so good. Great climb, and a funny picture. And I think Paul is still out there.