I’ve put together a new blog for our up and coming trip to the Himalaya’s this autumn. Its not much right now but has a bit of information about my team mates James Clapham and Gavin Pike and the objective. It will have more stories from the other guys on training climbs and past routes together and developments in the run up to trip. Check it out here.
http://talung2012.wordpress.com/
With the end of another action packed week in Cham I’m feeling pretty worked out but also pretty happy with packing so much in. 2 Sport climbing sessions, 2 bouldering sessions, 2 runs up to the Mid station of the Aiguille Du Midi, 1 Mont Blanc “rep” from 2nd Bin at the Midi over the three monts route (in 2h40mins to the summit) and a 550m E2 granite rock route in the Envers Des Aiguilles. Oh yer and 4 days work at Mountain Dropoffs. All in a 7 day period.
Heres some pictures and blurb about Children of the Moon Integrale, a stunning 18 pitch 6a+ in the Envers Des Aiguilles.
Summer alpinism is here!! Long, sweaty approaches, manky snow conditions and rainy afternoons. Still its all good fun and with the longest of days upon us getting out for a classic alpine route seems to good to pass up. My original plan was to solo the Migot Spur but with high temps forecasted I didn’t fancy A) walking across a glacier by myself or B) climbing on a north face. Luckily my good buddy Ben O’Connor Croft (of Petit Dru North Face fame) was able to make it out so we headed up to the Albert Premier hut for a Sunday night bivying on the rocks…..Continue reading
Despite working full time at the moment (well four days a week but still, ugh), I’ve still managed to get out and about climbing some of chamonix’s premier slitter and pocket pulling in the Verdon gorge. The summer is in full swing now and its hot hot hot! Good for climbing granite in the mountains but not so conducive for southern french limestone adventure sport which is where this tale begins…..Continue reading
Just got back from a super fun trip in the Envers des Aiguilles. Despite being shut down by the weather on both our climbing days spirits ran high and many fun pitches of granite climbing was experienced. I’m a big fan of this zone and i’ll be back soon for sure. Maybe with a lighter pack, warmer weather, less snow and a more stable weather forecast!!
Cold Thistle: Climbing pack in Cham?.
A recent gear review of the Blue Ice Warthog for Cold Thistle.
I’ve been hankering after something bigger for a while now and it is with great excitement that I announce my up and coming plans for this October and November. Myself, Gavin Pike and James Clapham (of colton/macintyre brethren) have laid plans to head out to Nepal for a 6 week climbing trip with the main objective being the unclimbed 1800m North Spur of Talung (7,349m) near Kangchenjunga.
We have already received a great deal of support from various climbing grants which are hugely helpful and welcome. The contributors so far include the Mark Clifford Memorial Award, Nick Estcourt Award, Alpine Club, Mount Everest Foundation and the British Mountaineering Council.
We will be setting up a blog for the trip soon so be sure to follow it when it arrives.
Its been a slow few weeks mountains wise. Lots of snow has been falling and lots of leaving party’s to go to. Productivity has been low and therefor stuff to write about has been few and far between. Two days ago the clouds parted and the promise of good conditions saw me getting ready for a big day off the Midi. With my knee feeling good I was very psyched to get up and have a productive day. I meet my Friend Ross Hewitt and Si Christy. Continue reading
Its days like these that remind me why I live in Cham. It feels so good to be back out ripping around the mountains again. Yesterday myself, Rob Stokes, and Lorne Cameron headed up for the Breche du Tacul. This isn’t the first time that I have skied this route but I had such a good day on it last time around I knew it would be a good day again. Its been a week since the last snowfall and its been warm in Cham since so a lot of the snow has been destroyed by the sun. The couloir that you ski on the Breche Du Tacul faces almost directly east so fortunately the sun softens the snow up enough in the morning to make the skiing very pleasant. With an easy skin, bootpack and some fun easy mixed climbing up to the Breche this route is constantly interesting and even held the interest of Rob who has the attention span of a Gnat. When you get to the Breche you need to traverse along the ridge to the left about 20m and the couloir drops down the East face and joins into the Breche Puiseux descent. After skiing the Couloir (45degrees for 350M) we hit the upper Leschaux Glacier and found some weird but fun snow back to montenvers. All in all a great day had by all followed by that special kind of tired and satisfied that only a day in the Mountains can bring.
Pistes are OK, for a bit, but I personally get feed up of them pretty soon. I’ve been hammering about in the resort quite a lot recently trying to build up the muscles in my legs which had all but withered away since my accident. Everything was feeling good this week and with a good snowfall behind us over the past week it was time to take things a step further. Time to go touring!! Me and Michelle Blaydon headed up to Flegere to ski the Glacier Mort on Pointe Alphonse Favre. The first hike up to the Col Des Aiguille Crochues was a sweaty, busy and generally tedious experience which could have been avoided had we got there a slightly earlier. At one point I got wiped out by a punter who decided to fall on top of me whilst I was changing from ski’s to boots becasue my knee couldn’t deal with the slippy kick turns. Apparently it was my fault? I think not buddy . After the second sweaty hike we got to the top of PAV and found some great snow which lead us down to the Berard valley and on to a nice cold beer in Le Buet. Watch out for the cliffs on the descent if you head up there to do it. We had to hike back up 30m or so after we started to ski because we got cliffed-out following a track.
More Info here.
http://www.chamonixtopo.com/glacier-mort-aiguille-rouge
