The Mountain said 'No'

We always knew we were to be at the mercy of the weather - and despite waiting patiently to find a weather window, it was becoming increasingly obvious that it would be impossible to find flyable conditions on Mont Blanc any time soon.

Irwyn, Jenni and Graham (the paraglider pilots) decided on Thursday that the weather and wind conditions were definitely not going to allow any flying above the Gouter hut at 3,800m and so Jam and I set out alongside our Mountain Guide, Marco Tamponi, to begin our climb on Friday the 13th. Not the best first omen.

After having some dinner in the Gouter Hut - and attempting to get some sleep (in the same dormitory as 125 other climbers) we set off for our final day and summit attempt at 3am on Saturday morning.

We spent 4 hours climbing in the dark - with only a small beam from out headlights showing the way (and the steep drops either side of the ridge!). Despite the recent dumping of around 40cm of fresh snow, we kept up a great pace - catching and overtaking many groups who had set off much earlier than us - and when we got to the Valet Hut we were amongst the leading groups.

The conditions were awful, with 40kph winds creating temperatures of around minus 15 degrees, but with 2 hours to go, we were feeling pretty strong and confident of making our way to the top. We had a short break to take on some food and as we got up to leave, Jam said 'Bloody hell - I think we might actually pull this off'.

The next hour of walking turned out to be one of the toughest that I've faced. As we climbed up and over the Bosses ridge to a height of around 4,500m - we were climbing in a whiteout, with 2 hours until sunrise, battling 50kph winds and a windchill that dropped to minus 27 degrees. We both lost feeling in our fingers and toes and my eyelashes froze my eyes open! With only 300m to go to the summit, Marco stopped us to say that there was no point in continuing and that the cold was reaching dangerous levels. It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, but we had to agree with him, and so we began our descent back down the mountain. I was crushed - a devastating decision, but the correct one. As the sun came up, we got to see the fantastic route that we had covered in the dark and but, if truth be told, my head was down the whole way.

300m from the top! We got so close. And I don't think I'll be able to get over it until I return to re-attempt in better conditions.

We're both back in London now, and back in the office tomorrow.

It's been an incredible adventure - and despite being absolutely devastated about the final outcome, I've had an amazing few weeks with some fantastic people - and once the dust has settled I'll post some final thoughts and thanks on here soon. I'll also be putting together a collection of photos - and hopefully a great video montage of the whole trip - so watch this space.

Thanks a lot for all of your support.

Sam