Dani Pedrosa, Héctor Barberá and Dakar Rally victor Marc Coma united in a hike to the top of Mont Blanc earlier this week, part of the ‘Desafío Extremo’ (Extreme Challenge) project given by Jesús Calleja on Spanish television channel Cuatro TV.

Although winds of up to 70 km/h and a freezing climate of minus 35ºC, the expedition began at 4am on Monday from the Gouter mountain refuge to take on the last 1,000m that allowed them to the summit. The peak was reached following a four and a half hour climb.

The Gouter refuge is located at an altitude of 3,817m where the group spent the night prior to setting off from a short stop at the inhospitable Vallot emergency refuge on the way. The group trekked with ropes connecting them to one anotherand crossed narrow ridges, some only 40cm wide, with sheer winds carrying ice hitting them constantly along the way.

The last ascent was made with three various rope types, Jesús Calleja was leading with Héctor Barberá, Dani Pedrosa, and Enrique Calleja at the back of the group.  Marc Coma was in the second group with cameraman Emilio Valdés, and third was joined with Adolfo López, Jesús López and David Martínez Pato.

Suffering the worst effects of the weather were Pedrosa and Barberá, both of them losing feeling in their hands and feet. The same night only 25% of the 74 people climbing Mont Blanc, were able to reach the 4,810m summit, all of them being mountaineering experts apart from the three sportsmen who continued on bravely, plus the fact that it was their sole ever high mountain trek.

After claiming the summit they had a further two hour descent to Gouter, where they relaxed for an hour before taking on a gorge named ‘The Ravine of Death’, a descent that has added complications of rock avalanches. This descent took them to the Tête Rousse refuge, 3,167m, where they rested for the evening. On Tuesday the hike returned to Chamonix where they spent their last night before flying home.

Pedrosa’s views on the expedition are located on his blog at www.repsol.com.