Winter 2012 - Commence!

Finally the Scottish winter climbing season is upon us. With a few weeks in November the harder stuff was in, but after a solid week of cold temperatures and good snow it's everyman territory. With that, and the St Andrews bank holiday and a few days annual leave I managed to persuade Graham and Gunda from work to meet up with his club (JMCOS) in Aviemore for the weekend.

We headed up Friday night and stayed in the SMC's Mill Cottage near Feshiebridge. My intentions for the weekend were to get on the classic Hidden Chimney II/III in Mess of Pottage Coire an t'Sneachda. Unfortunately this never happened; though nevertheless a good weekend was had climbing and walking.

First thing Saturday we left the hut and got to the Corrie Cas ski road by 8am. Good timing to kick off the first winter route of the year, however it wasn't good enough. An upturned van meant everyone had to queue at the bottom of the road until it could be moved. We eventually got to the top car park around 9am ish and set off into the bleak white yonder to Sneachda. Upon arriving via blind following the footprints in the snow, and passing various people who had turned round and were coming back, we were surprised to have difficulty locating the cliff. Visibility was down to 10m everywhere!

After a spot of lunch and the weather breaking around 11:30 we located the route on the cliff only to find 4 parties of better navigators / keen beans on the route already and a few others on routes. A fair few more were dotted along the base of the cliff looking lost!

Given conditions weren't at their best Gunda was very apprehensive about it all and wanted to head back to the car, though was convinced by Graham and I to romp up Jacobs Ladder. I set off first with the axe in hand and started up the firm ish snow to about 1/4 the way up. After hooking up a block I realised the rest of the route would be vertical swimming up pure powder, so set up a quick anchor to bring Gunda up. We then roped up and swapped gearless pitches between Graham and I. We topped out around 4ish into less than ideal conditions of strong winds, snow and darkness. Graham took a bearing and after some scary walking we located the Ski centre and walked down the ridge to safety. It was on this walk down I realised I love lots of people as seeing footprints is a real confidence booster!
On a plus note it probably was the first ascent of it this winter!

On Sunday the plan was for Graham and I to head back and do hidden chimney, though we couldn't get the car up the small ramp from the cottage in time to make the climb work with the daylight. We therefore joined Gunda and Mark on a Munro (Sgor Gaoith) with cracking views. Cloudless high pressure conditions for climbing! Ideal!

I'll be back for the route!

A Yorkshire Weekend

Gods County

Keith, James and I headed down to Yorkshire this weekend for a bit of Grit action, and to my mums delight stayed at our house. Yes mum I know I look thin but I do eat loads! As the local, despite my terrible directions I was appointed the guide for the weekend. On Saturday morning it was therefore decided that we should head to Caley crag, picking up my good old friend Toby along the way. However as we drove past roadside crag it looked damp so a quick decision to abort to Almscliff was made, which proved to be the right decision, despite the kid coming off his road bike at 40mph on the hill down! (He was alright as pretty much was his bike as we stopped to protect him with the car and get him back up).

The idea of the trip being a bouldering trip quickly fell through as we also brought the racks and were super keen for the trad. Toby and I climbed together on the upper man on routes I've never done despite it being a local crag, leaving James and Keith on the lower man. Dave, Eve and Cien rocked up but were happy bouldering all day.

It was good to be back on the grit, with Toby putting in a stirling effort on Demon Wall (HVS 5a) showing determination after being spat off the top move - as did I! I don't know how I got up the last move, though I do quite fancy going back and leading it one day. I then grunted my way up Traditional Climb (VS 4c) getting pumped due to its awkward nature. An amazing route though. We then stopped for a bit of lunch time bouldering, only to see Keith and James on Square Chimney doing interesting stuff:

Square Chimney getting Keith tied up

Toby looking stretched on the slab

I then lead Pothole Direct with its difficult start. Toby lead a really nice but green and smelly 3 star chimney. We did a few more then ended up bouldering until dusk before the 3 of us and Dave and Eve came back to mine for the mother of all feasts. Stuffed!

After the Sunday morning fry-up we headed to Brimham Rocks which for me was a pretty pottering about day trying lots of boulder problems, but not getting much and taking photos on other peoples cameras. Nothing special to report except Keith's cracking lead on an awkward VS on cracked wall and Keith's lead of Lancet Crack. I can still confirm even on second it's as difficult as the time I lead it a few years back, as is the decent! I don't have a clue how I got up it when I lead it, especially given my poor rack at the time!


Again its another weekend where everyone had a good trip. It was nice to catch up with old friends, climb new stuff, see the parents and get fed to a point where moving is a struggle! Thanks go to the parents for putting up with us all for the weekend!

Keith on Trackside Boulders, Brimham

Eve on a Brimham Jamming Crack

Ticklist was pretty much:

Lancet Crack	VS 5a **	2nd O/S	Keith Lauder	Y	21/Oct/12	Brimham Rocks
B15, P5	V0 4c	Sent		-	21/Oct/12	Brimham Rocks
B15, P6	V0 5a *	Sent		-	21/Oct/12	Brimham Rocks
Flying Arete Slab	V0 5a	Sent O/S	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
Flying Arete Slab Eliminate	V2 5c *	Sent O/S	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
Pigott's Stride	VS 4c **	2nd O/S	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
Matterhorn Arete, P7.	V0 5a *	Sent O/S	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
Whisky Crack	HS 4b	Lead O/S	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
The Zig Zag	HS 4c	2nd O/S	Keith Lauder	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
Demon Wall SW Face - Problem 1	V1 5b	Sent O/S	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
Demon Wall SW Face - Problem 2	V0 5c *	Sent O/S	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
Demon Wall SW Face - Problem 4	V0 4c	Sent O/S	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
Jam Pot	V2 6a **	Sent x	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
Pothole Direct	VS 5b *	Lead O/S	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
The Traditional Climb	VS 4c **	Lead O/S	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
Demon Wall	HVS 5a ***	2nd dog	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff
Long Chimney	HVD ***	2nd O/S	Toby Knights	-	20/Oct/12	Almscliff

Mike's Climbing Stag

Mike's getting married next week, therefore we decided to go on a stag to that notorious venue... Belford (Northumberland)! I caught the train to Perth on Friday and met the Dundee guys, and we set off for 3 days bouldering. First on the list was Bowden Doors, but on our first climb (warm up traverse - 6a) a very heavy localised shower rolled in for ten minutes and drenched us and the rock, with no place to hide. We therefore set off across the moor on the 20min walk to back Bowden. Thankfully everything here was dry. Having not climbed for a while, my lack of fitness showed. Nevertheless I managed to get a few 6a's and 6b's with Keith. Mike went off to crack on some 7's. A cracking day was had by all 8 of us, and after celebratory fish and chips we headed to the interesting campsite.

What makes this interesting is that the campsite in Belford pretty much doubles up as an aivery. Birds everywhere! though sadly not of the female variety. Everywhere you went there was always a swan, dove, pigeon, random bird there, with more exotic birds hidden in cages in the hedgerow. Pretty strange!

Saturday lead to a trip to Shaftoe, dubbed the UK's answer to Font in the guidebook. I can't say it was as good but nevertheless is not far off with some cracking problems. Dave, Simmie and Chris put in a sterling performance on a very highball 7a (especially Simmie given he almost slipped on some moss!) Keith, Jonny and I stuck to the more amenable grades, though I did get a 6c roof and a few others around that grade. Can't remember what the other guys got, though again we all left happy and exhausted. We then 'lived  it large' in the Black Swan... 2 pints and to the tents!

Keith on something at Shaftoe

Something else at Shaftoe.
My phone can do effects!

Sunday we headed up to Kyole in the Woods and pottered about on some hard stuff. I almost got hitchhikers 7a sit completed though fell from the top and couldn't get it again. Some other time though it would go! As the crag got super busy we shifted down the road to Kyole which was deserted right across the crag. This was my first visit to the crag and I was thoroughly impressed. Shed loads of amenable trad to go at! I'll definitely be back with the rack!


Cracking alternative stag do, and I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say good luck Mike!

The Wheel Fiasco

Stage 1 - Incident

Two weeks back Richard and I hopped on the train to Carron Valley near Croy to do a few of the MTB trails there. We slogged it pretty quick up and over the Tac' me Doon road (which I was looking forwards to crusing down on the way back) and reach Carron Valley pretty quick.

Richard set a cracking pace all day, and I struggled in parts to keep up! We did the runs a few times, helped a guy called Derick out with his kids puncture and did a few more. By this point I was feeling a bit cocky on the top section and tried to jump the full staircase via a new line, as I was jumping most of it on the other runs. Unfortunately this new line, which I thought was better in terms of it's exit around the boulder to the left at the bottom wasn't actually that good! Next thing I knew I was over the handlebar having clipped the boulder at the bottom! I got up sharpish, thankfully only grazed up and with a ripped jersey. My front wheel however was a different story completely! I still don't know how it ended up this battered!


 


This ended up with me pushing the bike down the rest of the run, then down the forestry track to the car park at the bottom. Embarrassingly I tried to take a shortcut across some of the berms and fell over exactly at the same point a lady slowly rolled past and asked if I was ok! The thought of how I would make it back to Glasgow then arose as the bike wasn't ride-able.

Step in hero of the hour, good old Derick! Lend an inner tube and you get a lift back to the station! Karma! If you ever read this I'd just like to thank you again, you saved me a very long ~5 miles push otherwise! This did however lead to another equally embarrassing moment when I had to change trains at Queen Street looking all battered, bleeding and ripped up. I got some funny looks and some concerned looks!


Stage 2 - wheel build
I decided it would be quite a fun idea to try and build up a wheel from scratch, and if it went horribly wrong take it into a bike shop to fix my shoddy workmanship. From the videos on the internet it didn't look too hard!

I ordered in a Mavic 119 rim and then measured my hub (since this was still ok) in order to determine the spoke length I would need, double checking this with Alpine Bikes in town. My calculations were correct and the guys said since it was a front wheel I could do it on one size spoke. I then laced up the wheel, where I realised the wheel rounding was beyond me. On recommendation I cycled it up on the road bike to Big Al at Wheelcraft in Campsie Glen to finish off.

New Wheel

These guys specialise in wheel builds and work in an Aladdin's cave of bike wheels (just look at the picture on their website here). Al took one look at my wheel and said what have done! With a disk wheel you need two spoke lengths due to having a disc brake (drive side and non drive side), which Alpine said I wouldn't need. I stripped my hard work down and replaced the spokes with some he cut to size for me under direction. Al then got to work rounding and truing and two hours later, a  cup of tea and some good chat/banter later we were done. A new sexy wheel.
 
I cannot recommend Al and Wheelcraft enough. They are thoroughly nice guys, who certainly know their stuff and are expert wheel builders. Whats more their prices are fantastic for the service unlike what the big chains were asking, who undoubtedly would have not done as good a job as Al has. If you ever need a wheel send it up to them. I'll be stopping by for a brew and chat every time I'm up that way.

On a side note it seems that since I turned 24 I've just been injured most of the time! It's hard getting old - turns out you are not indestructible!

MTB Coast to Coast

As promised earlier a non-climbing post!

Monday morning text from Nikki, "fancy doing the Fort William - Montrose MTB coast to coast, leaving early Sat and back on Monday?"
I was game, despite not knowing what this entailed other than the obvious, and had no time to find out due to a busy week on Flood Forecasting Duty.

I packed a light bag for the trip consisting of: - 1 change of clothes; 1 jumper; 1 waterproof jacket; repair kit, pump and map; 1 malt loaf; 8 chocolate bars; 1.5l of water; 2 mobiles (my smartphone acting as a replacement camera for the trip); and after catching the last train from Glasgow I turned up in Fort William at 10pm. Here I caught up with Nikki, Neil, Alex and Neil's friends 16 year old son (whom I forget the name of) in the curry house. After a bit of planning (the plan being the route in the MTB Scotland book which usually takes 4-7 days though we were doing it in 3 via nights in Newton Bridge and Ballater - full route here) and chat they all piled into the car to Glen Nevis Youth Hostel, and I raced them through the pitch black on the bike... ultimately loosing after they overtook me with much hollering and light flashing just after the Nevis car park! I also did nearly cycle into two people, but having no lights on them I can't be blamed for this!

Nikki and Alex somewhere near
the start of the Corriearick Pass

We set off at quickly at 7am, after a good breakfast and some pilfered coffee, and ended up in Fort Augustus by 11:30am, just in time for a pub lunch! To get here the route is ~40 miles of fast and flat riding, following much of the canal path the whole way. It was then onto the harder section of the day, the Corriearick Pass. This follows the old (1730's) General Wade’s military road (he did seem to like to build lots of roads!!!) with a big slog up to the top off the pass at 780m. This took us about 3 hours from lunch, and one mis-direction by me to this point and involved some pushing along the way as the ground is soft and sandy for much of it making the going hard, probably even with packs on.

Start of the decent - note the drainage ditch size!

We were all feeling a bit knackered after this (especially the young one) and were running low on water, but thankfully the hardest part of the day was done, with a massive rewarding 20km descent down into Laggan. Don't go too quick down this as the drainage ditches are massive, with quite a few being too big to pull or jump over! One puncture later we had passed over the pass and were into Laggan. The young lads parents picked him up where the road meets the pass and offered to take our bags to the pub in Laggan, where we could meet them and pick them up.

Puncture stop - the young one's first ever puncture
& lesson in bike maintenance

Midge Proof Nikki!

                                                   Tired, but happy


One thing we did learn, was despite however knackered you are don't give away your packs!!! As a result we were all running on empty energy wise only being pulled along by the sadistically pleasurable noise of knobbly tyres on tarmac. We were also caught out in a heavy downpour without our jackets, and had no phones which again proved costly once we finally reached Laggan as we didn't know what pub we were to meet at. Eventually after some inter-pub phone calls and a bit of luck they arrived around 1 hour having gone looking for us thinking we had an accident (we were in the other pub at this point!). A bit of leisurely nosh later and copious amounts of tea we then cycled to Newtonmore to get around 22:30.

Unfortunately by the time we arrived, having cycled the 70miles of the day, my knees were hurting as they had done around 6 months before. This wasn't good though I have now realised it is the angle set up of the SPDs which has caused this! Despite trying to sleep it off by the time we set off on the Saturday to Ballater I only made it as far as Kingussie (not far at all) where I jumped on the train back to Glasgow after pleading my way on by looking miserable. I knew there was a chance he wasn't going to let me on since I hadn't booked a bike on so when the train pulled up I overplayed my injury. Even then he took some convincing!
Some old guy gave me a pork pie though so its not all bad :-) (I must have looked miserable/gutted!)

I'm pretty gutted I didn't manage to get the whole 3 days done, especially given the route through Cairngorm via the lovely Lin of Dee, so I will have to go back and finish it off. I am however happy to report the other 3 did make it despite the washed out bridges on the descent from Mt Keen!


The decision to stop was the right one though given that its one of those injuries which can be exacerbated easily and take even long to heal up. It took a few months last time and sadly probably will do this time too. Plus if I would have carried on it would have slowed them down quite a bit and there is little chance of rescue at points, even without trying to get generously kind friends to come get you! (It would have been one of you Dundee guys though!)

Quad Rocks

I've been a bit lapse with the blog recently, with my only excuse being that the things I've been up to not being climbing related and therefore I don't have to do write it up. I do think that writing up helps when I look back on what I've been up to when people ask me! I'm therefore going to start writing up what else I get up to on the road and mountain bikes and stuff as well... well that's the theory!

So on that note the parents and Adam came up and stayed in Callender for the week. I therefore took long weekends both this and last weekend. The weather conditions were fluctuating all week but they still had a good time, where we went to the Fringe in Edinburgh on the Monday as well as doing quite a few walks and a bit of late evening  MTB around Callender Crags with Adam. They drove home yesterday, dropping me off around midday. By mid afternoon I was in Balloch with Rosie for a brisk walk as it was a super day, which ended up like all good days should with ice cream down by the Loch.

This afternoon Andy and Nathan picked me up after they finished work, and we headed to Quad Rocks in Largs via a scenic detour through Prestwick (we missed the turning!). I have to say I wasn't expecting much from the place having heard everything was super easy, however I found a few harder things (for me) to have a crack on. Plus there is a cracking view over to Arran, which was complemented by the moody weather we had at points. (free guide here)

Arran at the back with Cumbre and Largs in the foreground

Nathan happy after
his first HVS second

Andy wasn't up for leading as it had been a while and he still isn't too confident with trad yet, so I ended up leading all day which I didn't mind at all.We started on the Severe 'Big Corner', before moving onto Flake Wall (HVS), where I guessed the route and from the description it could be said I did a slight variant but at the grade climbing between the wall and the grassy crack, though not using this. Nathan put in an excellent performance following me up this before Andy stripped it.




I finished the day by doing the Severe 'Slab and Corner' and an arête on the lower crag on the way out before mideageddon! Anything on this lower crag would give some good easy solo's to go at, with everything in the guide being below VDiff or thereabouts.

The only other people at the crag on  Big Corner

                   Flake Wall - easy start good climbing further up

Quad Rocks Main Crag. Big Corner in centre picture

An Evening at Dumby

The weather this week has been unusually tropical for Glasgow, so I was eager to get out and get something done after work despite having a slightly sprained wrist from climbing too much at the wall the previous week...I think!

Billy from the wall informed me about his climbing club - "Scottish Hillwalking and Activities Group" (SHAG?!?!) - and sent me a text saying a group were heading up to Dumbarton after work today. Unfortunately his knee was playing up so couldn't make it. I still went up and after traversing and doing a few easy solos I met three folk from the club and got going sharing their pad. Even bumped into Mike and a few others and a guy from Chorley. Good to get a bit of Northern England again!

I should mention that despite living in Glasgow a year now this was my first trip climbing there! I'd cycled past three or four times, but being in the SPDs I'd just had a nosey around. 
 
Ticklist for the evening:

Rankin's Bajin	VB 4a	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
Soixante Neuf	font 3+ *	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
Pas Mal	font 3 *	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
No.1 Route	font 3+ *	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
The Blue Meanie	font 5 ***	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
PTO	font 5 *	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
Left Edge	font 3 *	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
Fridays Fill	font 3 *	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
Friar's Mantle	font 4+ ***	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
Ungava	font 4+	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
Right Edge	font 3+	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
Warmup Wall Low Traverse	font 5	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
Hard Cheddar	font 5+ ***	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
Hard Cheddar SS	font 6a	Sent		-	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock
Gorilla	font 6b ***	Sent dnf		Y	08/Aug/12	Dumbarton Rock

The bouldering at Dumby certainly lives up to its reputation of hard climbing on super compact rock which can get you super strong or dishearten you beyond belief! Thankfully I managed to get on relatively well by my standards, and have lots left to go at. I'll definitely be back to finish of the super cool "Gorilla" which involves a big pull off one good foot over a roof, into a side-pull match then lunge to the lip on the left. I fell at the last stage of this but didn't rest long enough to give it another good going, instead jumping on too quick and getting to this same point before running out of juice. Besides the Dumby 'locals' playing their old school dance tunes wasn't the most inspiring thing ever.

On a wider note there has been some debate recently in the national press about removing the graffiti off the boulders as it is an eyesore for the town. I agree the graffiti being removed, since it is unsightly, but I also agree that some should be left due to its being pretty cool and also significant in the climbs based around it and Scottish history (i.e. the home rule boulder/poem). One thing I don't get however it can be unsightly for the town as you can't see it from anywhere, even from the castle. The only way you could would be walk around to the boulders themselves or the river bank opposite. Nobody other than climbers and local youths would venture here anyway. If it does get removed it will be interesting to see how long the rock remains graffiti free. I hope I'm being pessimistic in expecting only a few weeks.

In all I had a great evening out, made friends with a few people and will more than likely be heading out with SHAG some more in the future. Dumby will be getting a fair few more visits too!

Chamonix

Argentière campsite

The time has come! My coccyx has thankfully all healed, we have packed (19kg each! phew!), braved Easyjet and made it to Chamonix! Excitement was brewing from the moment we touched down, with heads out of the window all the way from Geneva looking in awe at the majestic limestone cliffs of the valley the road cuts though wondering whether these have ever been climbed (as of yet I am still none the wiser!). We then entered the valley. The sun was shining and both Adam and I were looking at all the peaks and trying to name the few we knew/remembered from when we were MTBing here when we were younger with the parents. Peaks were blurring in and out of view, though the unmistakeable Dru was a prominent landmark throughout the way to the Argentière campsite where we pitched camp, grabbed a very overpriced pizza and caught up with James, Alisdair and Owen with what they had been up to be arrived (James = conville, Alisdair = Mont Blanc, Owen = everything between!). We then bedded down eager to make the most of our time in the valley.


Day 1 = Errands and Wet Sport Climbs

After a disruptive nights sleep - who puts alpine cows with bells on in a field next to a campsite!!!! - we rose to lovely morning sunrise over the Aiguilles Rouges. Unfortunately we had to spend the morning in Chamonix spending lots of lovely Euro on food and un baguettes si vu plait.

Unfortunately by the time we got back early afternoon it started spitting. Not put off we packed everything away, grabbed sport climbing gear and headed to La Joux.

(Note if you are in Argentière the quickest way is to walk along the river or road to La Grassonet then head up the signed path. Much quicker than the 20 min walk from the La Lavacher crossroad).

Adam seconding a route pre heavy rain!

The climbing was good, though was undoubtedly better in the dry (day 9), relying on many undercuts for hands and smeary feet on the wet holds. I lead a 5+ and a 5b and Adam a scary 4+ wet padding slab. A fine effort (I found it hard to second, whilst Adam was fine). The rain got worse as we climbed though until it was really heavy. No coincidence then that it was only Adam and I at the crag... until  an equally desperate Swedish couple rocked up desperate to get some climbing in also.







Day 2 = Conville Day 1

Adam looking a bit apprehensive!

After meeting at 08.30 and meeting the rest of the course we were separated into three groups of three. Adam and I were split on the basis of experience (though we all did the same routes anyway!), with myself being grouped with Seth and Matt. We then headed up La Flegere cable car and Index chairlift for a day of skill training. This covered some ground I already knew from Scottish Winter such as ice axe arresting and snow belays, though also covered moving together over mixed ground, roping up and taking coils, glassaiding, and crevasse walking (5-7m in a group of 3 and 6-10m in a pair) and rescue. This was a productive day in scorchio weather in a setting looking right over at the Dru and the Blanc. 


We did look a bit stupid in the campsite that night though practising these skills.

The Dru (minus the Bonatti Pillar after the early 2000's rockfall)

Index chairlift

Day 3 = Conville Day 2

Approach snow slope

After learning the skills on day 1 we were all immediately ushered onto the PD rock ridge Traversée des Crochues back on the Aiguilles Rouges to put these skills into practice. Today's main take home message though was the need to move quick, place only necessary gear, move appropriately (together, distances or pitch) and keep one step ahead of all other parties (even if you only get to eat half your lunch)! We caught the first Index lift up and moved pretty quickly over the snow slopes to stay ahead of another large group behind us.


 On the ridge itself my group steamed off ahead moving well in our mountain boots, leaving Adam's group about 5 minutes behind by lunch due to a certain bumbly party member. Nevertheless despite going well our guide Simon was always pushing us to move faster in his sarcastic ways. To this day though I still don't know why I screwed up that screwgate - I won't do it again!

Adam leading Alex and Fran up to the peak

Big exposure round the corner

Simon probably telling us to move faster!!!

Alpine Adam

Day 4 = Conville Day 4
On our final day we took the Midi lift up to get on another PD ridge, but this time within a more mixed alpine environment. The route chosen was the L'arete A Laurence on the Aiguille du Midi, which rather nicely/weirdly ends in the Cosmiques hut! To get to the route we had to descend the arête from the station, an arête which first instilled a desire when I first laid eyes on it at 16 years old to get into alpine climbing (we were in Cham on a family MTB holiday). I should also admit I was scared in equal measures due to the incredible exposure! Whilst descending and in hindsight it seems that these feelings still remain in equal measure.

Midi Arête

Pointe Lachenal

Matt leading off on the Aguille du Plan

The ridge itself takes a while to get going and although pretty short is worth a potter on with a nice well protected hand traverse or foot traverse. This could be done when the weather isn't brilliant - especially if you are staying in the hut overnight. It was also my first time moving over so much rock in crampons on a route which was good practice for me. Today Adam's group were ahead of us this time as we stopped on the way up for a practice crevasse rescue on the glacier.

Cosmique hut on the route and Adam's group at the end of the ridge. The Midi station is seen in the distance

Midi Lift

Matt and Seth decided to spend the night on the midi plan in the tent, so we left them and Simon and I raced back up the Midi Arête to the teleferique where I thanked him and drew an end to the thoroughly enjoyable and informative Conville. I should mention since Adam only had a 2 season sleeping bag we weren't overly keen on a bivvi and didn't want to waste 2 days on the lift passes.







Day 5 = Sunny Sport Climbing
Adam and I took the bus down to Les Gaillands (aka. the gaylands) where roadside sport climbing is in abundance to everyone. The day again was another scorcher, with temperatures in the dizzying heights of 32 degrees! Positively tropical! Adam lead a route on the main sector which was nice, though we immediately decided the next lot should be in more shade, so we headed to the forested sector. Here although the routes were still in the sun they are lower and shade can easily be retreated to between routes.

Les Gaillands main sector

We climbed here until the heat became unbearable and took a siesta trying to guess the name of a French dog. The owner wasn't impressed though and removed the dog away from us :-( I can confirm that it isn't caused Pierre, Jean Claude, Phillipe, Woof or Barkers. James then turned up after getting back from the Midi and we went for an ice cream in town.


Day 6 = Wet!
Today was very wet. It was still dry in the morning, so James, Owen, Adam and I, along with a group from Bristol University got an early bus back down to the Galliands.

Two routes later (two 5's I think) the rain started to come down, at first lightly - enough that all the French people left, leaving only the English behind - then heavy so we all got soaked. We pottered about under a tree and did a bit of no-hand climbing waiting for it to stop though it never did. No amount of English spirit could stop this rain from falling.

Equally non content, the Bristol lot set up a slackline and then a highline! Its no surprise that I'm terrible after not being on one for 2 years!

Highline and opportunistic climbing in rain breaks!

Wet!

Rain Love!

Loving it!

There is a lesson here... when the French leave, so should you!


Day 7 = L'Index SE Ridge, Aiguilles Rouges
Heading up the Index chairlift with Adam and Owen, we started to wonder whether we should have braved the cloud and come up to climb SSE Arête of the Index. As we went higher the cloud never cleared. It was like we were heading into the lost world of Jurassic Park. At the top of the lift we decided to go for the SE Arête. We were first up the route and I lead off behind the block and up the route, taking in the enjoyable 4b/c crux move. Adam and Owen then followed up simultaneously and we continued up the route in a similar fashion swapping leads.

Atmospheric

Welcome to Jurassic Park!

The route itself is pretty easy and steady, though with the cloud rolling in and out we all had a great atmospheric experience as you glimpsed the route and surroundings as we went. Much like climbing on Skye! A point on this route to note is that if you don't look close you'll climb past many good pegs and the belays - well at least we did!

 The Ridge and Owen and Adam on Pitch 1










An English couple followed us up, and by the time we were down (after an eventful abseil involving sorting the ropes out half way down on a swinging traverse, Adam having to ice axe arrest in the gulley, and some major good bumslide action) multiple parties could be seen on the route. Always nice to beat the crowds! Adam and I then went for a bit of sightseeing with the lift passes and went up the Monitvers train to the Mer de Glace. Nice!

Tourists Delight

Day 8 = North-West Ridge, Petite Aiguille Verte

Route goes up and down the rocky band on the right

Adam and Justina coming up

Adam, Justina (who just finished her conville) and I tackled the Petite Aiguille Verte this morning before the forecast heavy clouds of the afternoon rolled in. This was the first time each of us were alone and had to make the decisions on how to move across the terrain appropriately. There were a few teething problems, and it would be a lie to say that everything was smooth, but we figured it out in the end. On the approach glacier we got the distances and ropework right and moved pretty quickly to the upper slopes as the snow had a lovely hard crust on.

Traffic Jam, including the Glasgow granddads

We then adjusted the rope coils out to allow me to lead off more effectively, with rope lengths of ~12m between us with hand coils being taken as necessary. The upper slopes were pretty much just ice in places, so some good old fashioned ice bashing with the axes was required. I belayed Justina up this part as she was a bit nervous.

These slopes lead to the upper rock ridge which we moved across in crampons. A few sections were pitched along the ridge (though if I was just climbing with Adam we would probably not have!). By the time we were at the top the guides who were on the cable car after us had caught us up and a traffic queue was forming. We had to wait around ten minutes before we could get to the top due to traffic on the decent abseil. However this did mean we met two lovely old boys from Glasgow who were 61 and 75 and still going strong. We descended the ridge back down with them with more than a fair bit of banter along the way. The did pull away from us on the two abseils sections as there were 3 of us and we weren't moving as quick as I would have liked, especially down the mid to low snow slopes and were at the teleferique about ten minutes ahead of us. On a plus note we did beat the clouds though only just!
I'm sure more experience will get us faster, especially when only climbing as a pair.

Summit with beards

James and Owen left today, although Adam's university mates had arrived.

Day 9 = La Joux
Last day in Chamonix :-( Lift passes all used up :-( Only one thing to do then - head back to La Joux for some more sport climbing. Adam and I climbed a few worthwhile routes (5+ and 6a's) though we didn't push it, and Justina a few easier ones within her capacity. The grades here seem to be round about though not consistent across the crag and in some sections there are some hairy runouts to the chains at the top!
It started showering in the afternoon so we decided to get a bit of food at Midnight Express in Cham, where we were joined by a bird with impeccable table manners.

We got picked up at 18:00, transferred to Geneva and were back to the usual life by Friday morning :-(
On a plus the weather was pants for the next few days so there were only a few feelings of what if we stayed longer.

All in all, an amazing trip was had and we will definitely be continuing with Alpine climbing and mountaineering in the future!