Alpine Summer 2008
9/10/08 Expedition Advice Article On-line....
| The BMC magazine 'Summit' continues to go from strength to strength and this quarters autumn edition is no exception with more interesting content and engaging photography. I am pleased to be a small part of that with an article offering some advice to less experienced high altitude mountaineers about how to make the most of your expedition. You can read the article, in full with 6 colour photos from various expeditions here. The summer guiding season is well and truly over now but, as predicted, conditions on some alpine North Faces came to autumn fruition recently. Well done to Es Tressider and Tony Stone for making the most of them with a fine ascent of the Grandes Jorasses super classic Colton Mcyntire. Check Es's blog for the inspiring North Face photos. Check out the full summer 2008 season here. |
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| By late september nearly all the campsites, busy with tourists in the summer, have closed and finding shops open to buy food can be a bit of a challenge too. The temperature however was pretty much perfect for climbing and even in the pouring rain we climbed totally dry rock on the Tarn's 'Grand Toit'. |
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| Whilst the brilliant big pitches of The Tarn are rightly famous the highlight of our trip would be a multi pitch route in the Jonte. L' Arete Ouest of La Roche Decolle truly provides that rare combination of purity of line and quality of climbing. The exposed positions on this stunning, soaring arete can be savoured to the full as the quality of the pocketed vertical limestone is impeccable. In a moment of rashness I may have even uttered "this is as good as the Cromlech!" |
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Whilst I have always been keen to keep checking out new and different places I could not help being blown away by this areas remarkable combination of quiet, charming character; fascinating, unspoilt environment and wealth and quality of rock. We will be back!
Thanks to Lyn and Jess for their good hospitality at their Chambre d'Hote in Les Vignes - a great spot to relax after a hard days cragging when the campsites are both cold and closed! |
27/9/08 Autumn Alpinism in Chamonix-Mont Blanc....
| Last weeks heavy snowfalls in the Mont Blanc massif have been consolidating in some superb clear, cold autumn weather here in Chamonix. Various young British Alpinists have been out capitalising on the fine North face conditions on the Grandes Jorasses, Les Courtes and, reportedly Les Droites. |
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| The last 6 days have all been fine and I have enjoyed some classic alpine routes in good snowy conditions. Left Edge Route on Mont Blanc du Tacul; the superb and often underestimated Midi-Plan Traverse; the traverse of the Aiguille des Entreves and the icy but short and friendly West Face of the Aiguille de Toule. The highlight of the week though was a cold and snowy traverse of the Lames Fontaines at the base of the Aiguille de Blaitiere West Face. With a couple of excellent granite crack pitches up to UK HVS this provided some stiff climbing when dusted with snow. Needless to say, it didn't 'go' entirely free and there were some fine 'alpine ethics' on display! |
19/9/08 Snow down to 2000m in The Chamonix Aiguilles.....
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| Heavy rain in the Chamonix valley with overnight temperatures down to 5C left the North faces of the Aguilles plastered in soft wet snow this morning. A return to milder conditions today (17C in the valley) before a further slight cooling into the weekend should continue to improve alpine climbing conditions on the high north faces. |
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Tim and I have been enjoying a week out of the mountains and sampling some of the high quality sport climbing accessible from the Chamonix Valley. We drove down into the Arve Valley to enjoy some steep limestone then across the Swiss border to savour the fine bolted granite walls by the lovely village of Gietroz. Check out Tim's blog for some more action shots (including one of me using a "fishing rod"!) |
14/9/08 Autumn in Les Alpes Suisse
Autumn comes early to the High Alps. Vibrant and flower rich alpine meadows die back and prepare for the ground freezing and the first of the autumn snowfalls. Lifts and huts suddenly become much quieter and breakfasts are delayed giving the weary end of season alpinist a slightly longer lie in! |
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I was working on an Introductory alpine mountaineering course based in Arolla with Kiwi Guide Marty Beare and Verbier based Swiss Guides Richard Michellod and Geoff! The 2 extremely wet days were reserved for valley cragging and training whilst on the clear and cool days the group climbed the Pointe de Vouasson, Pigne d'Arolla, La Luette and enjoyed the decent little 'sport' scramble up the ridge North of the Pas de Chevre. This provides a great short training climb or pleasant distraction on the approach to the Caban de Dix. The weather this weekend has been extremelly wet and fairly cool with snow falling down to 2000m putting many of the the harder high alpine routes out of condition in the short term. The potential for good conditions on the high North Faces remains promising for later in the Autumn.... |
5/9/08 Autumn 2008 Snowdonia Courses....
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| Rock Climbing & Scrambling - Training and Guiding.... Autumn is a great time to consolidate your rock climbing skills or to get those late season classic routes ticked. Cool dry days with the rock still warm and good friction can make routes feel a grade easier. We can offer training and guiding in all aspects of scrambling, mountaineering & climbing. |
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Experience the thrill of a challenging high mountain scramble and take in the summit of one of Snowdonia's classic peaks along the way. Improve your technical, rope work and movement skills with some rock climbing instruction at one of Snowdonia's many fine multi pitch crags. Or simply book a guide so you can enjoy some of the brilliant classic, hard or extreme rock climbs of North Wales. |
| Perhaps you need some training for an NGB award or a forthcoming expedition, we have experience of providing these too - check out our testimonials here. Browse some further course details and ideas and get in touch for further details and to discuss availability. email contact here or call: +44 (0) 791 777 3995 |
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| Congratulations to Sam and Alex on summiting Alaska's Mt. Mckinley (Denali), 6194m this summer. Denali's normal route is a long and cold snow journey with several camps along the way. It's far northerly latitude (63N) means the air is even thinner - having only 42% of the oxygen that would be available at sea level at the equator. Sam and Alex attended a Highland Guides expedition training course in the Highlands last April where we completed a superb winter traverse of the Grey Corries, Aonachs and Ben Nevis - more details here. |
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| 1/9/08 Overland in The Bernese Alps.... |
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| The scale of the Bernese Oberland's vast glaciers and 4000m peaks can give an impression that feels more Arctic than Alpine. The hut walk-ins are generally significant (a considerable 6 hours in total to the Finsteraarhorn hut) but the rewards are great. Unlike the Chamonix Valley the Oberland has numerous 4000m peaks whose normal routes provide high class outings at the classic alpinists grade of Peu Difficile (PD). |
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with British Guide Andy Owen, for Jagged Globe, our group of 6 climbed
the Gruneghorn (3860m); Finsteraarhorn (at 4274m the highest peak
of the Oberland); Jungfrau (4158m) and Monch (4099m). All these
routes included a fine glacial approach, steep snow, pleasant easy
mixed ground and rocky scrambling. Conditions were generally perfect
with lots of stiff well frozen snow and dry rock. |
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From
the Finsteraarhorn Hut we avoided the obvious and aesthetically
pleasing route to the Monchsjoch Hut via the Fiescherhorn due to
the threat of unstable seracs. The week finished with a short, sharp
treat on the Monch's super summit ridge. The combination of narrow
snow arete, exposure and a perfect frozen track allowing this classic
alpine experience to be savoured before the nearby jungfraujoch
train station facilitates a rapid descent to the relative hedonsim
of Grindlewald. |
1/8/08 Postcards from the Frontier....
Many
thanks to Jon Griffith of Alpine
Exposures for sending in this shot, 'Guiding on The Frontier
Ridge', see next article below. Jon and Will were on the Kuffner
Arete on the same perfect day as us, and being a little faster (!)
were able to get this fine shot looking back down. |
22/8/08 On the Frontier and Up The Voie Normale....
2 Classic Alpine Outings in the Mont Blanc Massif
| A quiet breakfast with thoughts of the day ahead. It's a big route this - challenging for both clients and Guides alike. Four of us on the rope. A full moon. The metronomic crunch of crampons on a well frozen glacier. The Tour Ronde North Face looms above. Neil, Vicki and Keith will climb it later. A shooting star sails across the sky. I chuckle out loud that my wish is somewhat less frivolous than it would have been when I started my alpine climbing career 14 years ago. On the other side of Cirque Maudit - The Grand Capucin, a fantastic slender pillar of granite, rises proudly out of the gleaming glacier below. |
| Another shooting star sails above. A star-spangled sky and three hours untill sunset. What a place! Hold-on.....Concentrate Man! You're supposed to be route finding and there are 3 people following on the rope behind..... The Bergschrund looks friendly. The first swing of the axe into the snow above says it all. "Thwunkl!" Conditions are perfect..... |
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| Mont
Maudit's SW Ridge is the Frontier between France and Italy and is
more commonly known by European Alpinists as the Arete Kuffner after
the first ascensionist in 1887. It remains a superb alpine outing
with no great technical difficulty but a feeling of exposure and
commitment. It also offers fine views over the wild Italian side
of Mont Blanc. |
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| Earlier in the week Eddie, Marie, Richard, Martin and I made an ascent of Mont Blanc from the Tette Rousse Hut. Weather and conditions were both perfect and even the masses of people making the same climb did not spoil the fine alpine atmosphere. It was so busy on our return to the Gouter Hut that it felt like human gridlock in the boot room. Not being able to bend down to take my crampons off reminded me of standing on the terraces at a Forest v. Celtic European cup match and not being able to get the Mars bar out of my pocket! I was working with Strathcarron based Guide, Martin Moran; Strathspey based Guide John Lyall and Val d'Herens based Guide Graham Frost. Check out Graham's blog entry here. |
15/8/08 Lagginhorn, Weissmeis & Pigne d'Arolla
With
heavy rain and snow settling down to 2000m it is perfect conditions
for eating cake and watching the Olympics in the Val d'Herens today.
This weeks alpine weather has favoured the strategist prepared to
walk in to the hut in the rain or take a high lift to maximise the
good days. Working with British Guide Walter Phipps and 6 clients
we climbed the Pigne d'Arolla, Lagginhorn and Weissmeis. The latter
provide 2 excellent alpine outings up PD routes on small 4000m peaks. |
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Further west and high above the Chamonix Valley British Guides Martin Moran, Andy Teasdale and clients climbed the Frontier Ridge on Mont Maudit and reported excellent conditions.
Further details on all these routes are described in Martin's fine new Guide to the Alpine 4000m peaks which contains a wealth of information and inspiration.
8/8/08 Le Ticket, Le Blanc et La Lune
It's been a week of both mixed weather and mixed climbing styles here in the Chamonix Valley. Tim Blakemore and I had a day off the guiding work and enjoyed some thin granite slab climbing on the North West Face of the Aguille du Peigne. Low down on the Chamonix Aguilles and accessible in less than an hour from the Plan station these superb quality slabs represented the mecca for advancing standards in sport style mountain rock climbing in the 80's. A movement led by the prolific Michel Piola. His route 'Le Ticket, Le Carre, Le Rond et La Lune' was so named because of the shapes of the hole punches used to validate tickets on the Midi telepherique.
The route has two contrasting styles, thin slabs protected by sparingly placed bolts and steep cracks amply protected by medium - large cams....if you have taken them! Check out Tim's blog for the other side of the story!
Over on the Envers side of the Aguilles, Welsh aspirant Guide Mark Thomas climbed a much more modern Michel Piola creation. "Le soleil a rendez-vous avec la lune" was first climbed in 2003 and, for a modern 'sport style' mountain route, is an extraordinarily long 25 pitches and 850m of climbing (and rapping!). Mark enthused about the quality of the climbing so if you fancy a big mountain rock route in the F5c - 6b category get yourself over to the Envers Hut and check it out....
Later in the week, in poorer weather, I was working with British Guide Jonathon Preston and his father and son clients, Roger and Jamie. We climbed Mont Blanc from the Tette Rousse Hut. With stormy weather forecast to arrive at lunchtime on summit day we took an early breakfast of 0015, summited at around 7 in a murkily atmospheric dawn light, and were back down at the hut before the worst of the weather kicked in.
2/8/2008 Into the Saas Taal, Swiss Alps.....
Traversing the superb final section of the South Ridge of the Weissmies above the Saas Valley......
15 of us, including British Guides Alan Kimber and Mark Seaton, finished an introductory Alpine mountaineering course on the Weissmies today. It was a grand finale to the week completing the superb traverse between the Almageller and Hosaas Huts in perfect weather. The stormy night before, on Swiss national day, resulted in a bit of a damp squib for the hut firework display and a lot of verglass on the rocks below the rain / snow limit of about 3500m.
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Earlier in the week we had completed some good glacier and crampon training near the Brittania hut and made an ascent of one of the easiest 4000m peaks, the Allalinhorn. We'd also enjoyed the pleasant, easy and long Via Ferrata on the Mitaghorn. Check out more details on Alan's blog at West Coast Mountain Guides.....
27/7/2008 Mediterranean Sport Climbing Finale (Ligure).....
For those seeking a break from wet weather in the Alps or simply a break from the big mountain scene Finale Ligure offers a perfect holiday sport climbing atmosphere. In less than 4 hours drive from Chamonix you can be enjoying a dip in the Med, Italian cuisine, coffee and ice cream that is as good as you would hope and, if you get past that lot, the limestone sport climbing is pretty good too!
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Jenny and I climbed at Boragni and Monte Cucco with the former being blissfully shaded from the sun. The grades also seemed to be a lot more reasonable at Boragni with Monte Cucco throwing in some 'tough' little numbers that certainly proved a point about hard grading at Finale! The Photo shows one of the superb long pitches in the Grotta Della Strapatente - "Sonica", a superb and wild pitch! I'm back in the Swiss Valais Alps now where the start of the week ahead looks like Beau Temps.....Bon Escelade!
12/7/2008 Carry on up the Val d'Herens...
Slightly more mixed weather in the Alps this week demonstrated once again how quickly alpine routes can come back into condition after stormy weather. Based out of Evolene in the Swiss Alps, working for Martin Moran, a large group of us managed a fine high level circuit above the Val d' Herens.
Starting with the fine 640m rock ridge of the Dent de Tsalion West Ridge we accessed the high level glacier plateau at the head of the valley and stayed at the spectacularly positioned Bertol Hut. The next day dawned clear but cold and windy and it took only a few hours, making the best of the crisp snow on the glacier, to traverse the Tete Blanche and reach the Caban de la Dent Blanche.
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The South Ridge of the Dent Blanche is an absolute alpine classic. Long, exposed, on good rock and leading to one of the most shapely peaks in the Alps. All 12 of us reached the summit and enjoyed the long but pretty walk back down to Ferpecle and further down the Val d'Herens....
5/7/2008 'Technical Alpine Ascents'....
Another fine week of summer Alpine weather gave good conditions for both mountain rock and North Face Ice. I was working for ISM and we managed a bit of both starting with the lesser know gem of the South Ridge of the Grand Muveran high above Martigny in the Swiss Alps. This gives a full alpine rock ridge feel with pitches up to UK VS and lots of high quality exposed scrambling to the summit of a 3000m peak.
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Taking advantage of the still good early season snow and ice conditions we then went over to Italy to climb the North Face of the Gran Paradiso. With some stiff neve, exposed ice and a fitting summit ridge this gives a great small north face and excellent overall alpine outing. We finished the week with a long limestone rock climb on the Mirroir de Argentine. 14 pitches of quality rock with bolted belays and spaced bolt runners. An excellent week of technical alpine ascents and thanks to Steve and Keirnan for their enthusiasm and effort! |
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27/6/2008 A Traverse of the Gran Paradiso....
Perfect weather with very snowy conditions high on the glaciers and faces continue to give excellent mountaineering conditions in the Alps. British Guide Kathy Murphy and I took a group of 8 'KE' clients on a traverse of the highest peak entirely in Italy - The Gran Paradiso. On the slightly harder routes Steve Monks and ISM clients climbed the Ciarforon N. Face and an Italian team climbed the Paradiso N. Face.
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From the Rifugio Chabod, instead of descending directly into the Valsavaranche, we traversed the impressively engineered 'footpath' crossing the passage Grand Neyron and descended the fixed chains (buried in snow) on the far side. Despite the 1600m of descent to the valley the walk out was a pure pleasure and bombardment of wild flowers, Ibex, Chamois, Marmots and fine views across the Paradiso National Park.
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Last week I completed my IFMGA Guides alpine training course. We had mixed weather and conditions with the fist day in the Aguilles Rouges feeling distinctly like a bad January day in the Northern Cairngoms! We still completed the fine small alpine ridge that leads to the summit of the Aguille Crocheus from the Flegere lift station. Leaving Chamonix in search of less snowy hills we found better conditions on the superb traverse of the Jaggigrat above Saas Grund. Accessed from the excellent new Hosaas Hut this gives a fine AD ridge traverse - all on the crest on good rock and is accessed by an enjoyable 10 pitch Diff / V.Diff giving a great alpine outing. Back in the Chamonix Valley the sun has returned and good summer alpine conditions prevail. Yesterday we completed the traverse of Pointe Lachenal and the Arete de Cosmiques in perfect weather and snow conditions. |
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The snowy start to the alpine summer has kept most teams out of the high hills and searching for low level valley alternatives to their mountaineering plans. Via Ferrata provides an easily accessible yet often spectacular and fun alternative when the mountains are out of condition.....
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We
thoroughly enjoyed the steep and 'juggy' via ferrata at Thonon,
near Bonneville in the French Alps which offers the steepest Via
Ferrata pitch in France - most find this a fairly pumpy undertaking
although of course it is not 'unethical' to rest on the equipment
in this sport! Mat impressed a large crowd of onlookers by 'freeing'
this pitch sans pied....as the photo shows! |
