Sometimes in life you meet people who have really decided to go after their dreams. A few years ago I met such a person, a fantastic personal trainer and triathlete called Adam Kelly. Well in 2009 Adam decided to go after one of his dreams by snowboarding down the highest mountain in Western Europe, Mont Blanc (4,810m / 15,782 ft – source wikipedia). Adam is also the triathlon editor Ireland’s Outsider Magazine and this is part of his story.

“Even though I knew that climbing Mt Blanc and snowboarding off it was a serious undertaking, it was really brought home to me when I got a call from Wilderplaces, the adventure company that was helping me organise everything. My guide had been changed. The original guide had just got caught in an avalanche and had torn his cruciate ligament. I am sure he was delighted to only come away with that injury as well as his life. And so when I arrived at my hotel in the  centre of Chamonix I met my new guide an American called Farmer. He did a gear and equipment check and all was in order. Just as well, I thought as my snowboard bag had weighed 30kg at Dublin airport and it had taken a fair bit of sweet talk to avoid being charged.

It was at this point that I got some bad news. It was looking doubtful that we would make it to the summit of Mt Blanc with the snowboard. Rather we would have to leave it two hours down the mountain on the shoulder and walk to and from the summit. Apparently it is extremely rare that people can actually ski from the summit. Conditions have to be absolutely perfect and some locals have been waiting years for that special chance! I felt like a bit of an idiot. Why didn’t I do more research before telling everybody at home that I was going to snowboard off the summit and  raised sponsorship on the back of the claim.

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And here’s a video of Adams adventure. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMczr4OHABc&feature=emb_logo