Wednesday 23 October 2013

A successful summer...

So...the summer has drawn to a close, and the bad weather seems to be starting. Luckily in two months I will be off to Spain for the winter for some sending!

Overall I have had a pretty good summer. I've been working and saving a lot, so haven't got out as much as I would have liked to, but the days I have had have been pretty darn awesome!

My favourite area to climb in Chamonix has to be the Envers des Aguilles, it is amazing granite, amazing views, and being a good 3hrs walk in tends to put a few people off so is less busy than other places. On this trip, me and Jonny climbed a 25pitch 6a called 'Le soleil rendezvous avec la lune'. Originally we had intended to climb the Republique Bananiere, but changed our minds as we didn't really fancy loads of rapping in the dark. the route we did do was amazing, there was only one other party on the route, and we raced up the snowslope approach to be first on the route! The climbing was fantastic, here are some pictures to attest to that:




After arriving at the summit, we spent another 3hrs rapping down and finally re found our bivvy just as the night descended.


Another fantastic trip was to the Petit Portalet de Clocher. This seems to have been a trendy crag in Champnix over this summer, and lots of people seem to have headed over. We climbed 'esprit de choc', in our guide a 6c, in the modern topo 7a.  Thank god for that! I haven't pure crack climbed in a while and the extra grade was a commiseration for how hard I found it. Still, as it tends to be around here, the granite was top notch and we had an amazing day, despite Jonny having nightmares the night before about 'the cow that picks stuff up'. Crazy boy.

That one!






Ive also been doing a fair bit of sport climbing at a variety of venues, although my niggly shoulder injury is holding me back. Two recent trips to Finale ( amazing ice cream and coffee), the Aosta valley and local dragging have all provided plenty of exploring. Switzerland also provided two cool crags in the Spain esque Rawyl, and the bolted crack climbing venue of Medji. Crazy stuff!


Medji

Rawyl

OltraFinale


Anyway I'm back to the UK next week, hoping to get a bit of good old British trad in amongst the rain showers and see lots of friends!