It was an ambitious plan. We planned to take the first ride up the Aiguille du Midi and walk quickly, like an old lady with weights in her hands, up to Tucal, over Mont Maudit and up to the summit of Mont Blanc. On paper it looked possible. However, it turned out that no one had been summiting Blanc from that direction recently. The guiding trench we were relying on was nonexistent. The fixed lines were frozen under a thick layer of ice. And we were not prepared for the giant, gaping burgschrund. It was at this point we came across Andreas. He had been sitting at this frozen obstacle for hours. Too afraid to go on and too afraid to return to the Refuge Cosmic. He begged, in broken english, to join us. We have no rescue training. It is by providences good graces and thousands of hours of experience that we manage to bring ourselves home everyday. Tying him to us both figuratively and metaphorically was a risk for all involved. Also, there was the fact that the tram was closing soon and Andreas was very, very cautiously descending. The stakes couldn't be higher.