In poor visibility near the Aiguille du Midi, photo by Simon Abrahams

I’ve been in Chamonix, France for the last three days getting ready for my Mont Blanc attempt in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society.

I’m really glad I did some fitness training over the last couple of months, I feel better prepared (though the South Downs Way was tougher than I remembered). Now the plan is to acclimatise at altitude.

Living virtually at sea level means that climbing above 3,000m can be a shock to the system. Yesterday I did a solo walk to a peak of 2,525m (Le Brévent), and today my guide and I did some mountaineering technique revision off the Aguille du Midi (3,842m). This was all fun stuff but the visibility was rubbish, as you can see in the pic!

I had hoped to post up some video today but my Go Pro camera accidentally turned on in my rucksack and drained the battery. Well, I learned something from that!

I want to say a huge thank-you to many people who have already sponsored me for the Alzheimer’s Society, you’ve raised £1,871.94 so far. If you have not done so already, please consider sponsoring me, there are currently 800,000 people with dementia in the UK which gives you an idea of the enormous impact of the condition.