all right, i m coming up this rope. i probably shouldn t be up here. taking out the screw. i probably should tell my guide i lost one of his ice screws and can no longer feel my feet. this is a good way to find out how weak your left arm is compared to your right. oh, man. but no turning back now. i asked for this, asked to hang with real alpine adventurists. asked to taste their days of thin air and adrenaline, their nights of wine and glory, because some of them wonder how long this will last. they see the signs of a warming planet written in the glaciers
two guys came here for the first time using this route like we ve done. and most importantly, they had nothing connecting them. they had an ice ax. all they could use, basically is their body weight to stop the fall. if you were falling on the left, they would be jumping on the left. they invented these ice screws. look at that, brilliant. man, you re like the french macgyver. [ speaking in french ]