Photos above.
Top A local French lass making short work of a 7B at the crag
Bottom Neil looking happy after sending only his 2nd ever 7C
Cold and Crisp
While the UK experienced a cold snap which brought snow and skiing to Scotland last week, here in the Alps we had a few days of cold clear weather, totally ideal for rock climbing. The really good thing about the Alps is that there is normally something that can been done whatever the weather and after last weeks snow falls climbing in the mountains was off so a few of us hit the crags.
Sunday saw myself and Neil Brodie climb at Bionassey, this relatively newly developed crag faces south and is a great winter venue, and in fact Sunday may have seen some shirt off action it was that warm. Neil was on form and fired his 7C project first time and while I had a play I was more interested in another route, but the red point was not to be that day.
Monday I was back for more of the same with Johnny Baird only this time the road was shut so it was a rather more strenuous walk in of about 1hr steeply up hill. The walk must have been the ideal warm up because I fired my route ‘Nas Du 24’ pretty easily on my 2nd go of the day. Meanwhile Johnny did battle with a 7b there, which is meant to be the best of the grade in the area and from where I was watching it certainly look good.
Tuesday was going to be my final day free for a while so again I hit the crags, this time at Le Suet with Neil. The crag was rather damp but we started work on a 7C ‘Carpe Diem’ on the left of the crag. 3 days of climbing and a couple of weights sessions meant there was little left in the arms and it didn’t take long until I could hold even the jugs. It was a pretty good day though and I felt satisfied with 3 great days of cragging.
Then last night (Thurs) saw myself and Ian Parnell give a presentation as part of the Vertigo tour. We were in N Wales for this part of the tour and it was a sell out audience which is great and there was a good atmosphere so a huge thanks to all those who turned up.
I fly back to France Saturday and I’m hoping to be able to get up into the hills and swing an ice axe but as ever this is kinda in the hands of the weather Gods. So I’ll have to wait and see.
Meanwhile Guy has been cranking in Thailand and although he has been reporting rather sweaty conditions he has been busy ticking the routes off (albeit with some impressive leg shaking by all accounts). He is also busy with the new Dream Guides website which is due to go live very soon so keep an eye open on that!
Finally our roving reporter this week is Matt Helliker who is in Scotland and can give us up to the minute conditions reports and its……. wet and warm. The initial dump of snow and good conditions has turned to black buttresses and no ice, but its due to get cold again so we’ll keep you posted.
That’s it for right now more info next week
Stay cool
Kenton
Photos above.
Top A local French lass making short work of a 7B at the crag
Bottom Neil looking happy after sending only his 2nd ever 7C
Cold and Crisp
While the UK experienced a cold snap which brought snow and skiing to Scotland last week, here in the Alps we had a few days of cold clear weather, totally ideal for rock climbing. The really good thing about the Alps is that there is normally something that can been done whatever the weather and after last weeks snow falls climbing in the mountains was off so a few of us hit the crags.
Sunday saw myself and Neil Brodie climb at Bionassey, this relatively newly developed crag faces south and is a great winter venue, and in fact Sunday may have seen some shirt off action it was that warm. Neil was on form and fired his 7C project first time and while I had a play I was more interested in another route, but the red point was not to be that day.
Monday I was back for more of the same with Johnny Baird only this time the road was shut so it was a rather more strenuous walk in of about 1hr steeply up hill. The walk must have been the ideal warm up because I fired my route ‘Nas Du 24’ pretty easily on my 2nd go of the day. Meanwhile Johnny did battle with a 7b there, which is meant to be the best of the grade in the area and from where I was watching it certainly look good.
Tuesday was going to be my final day free for a while so again I hit the crags, this time at Le Suet with Neil. The crag was rather damp but we started work on a 7C ‘Carpe Diem’ on the left of the crag. 3 days of climbing and a couple of weights sessions meant there was little left in the arms and it didn’t take long until I could hold even the jugs. It was a pretty good day though and I felt satisfied with 3 great days of cragging.
Then last night (Thurs) saw myself and Ian Parnell give a presentation as part of the Vertigo tour. We were in N Wales for this part of the tour and it was a sell out audience which is great and there was a good atmosphere so a huge thanks to all those who turned up.
I fly back to France Saturday and I’m hoping to be able to get up into the hills and swing an ice axe but as ever this is kinda in the hands of the weather Gods. So I’ll have to wait and see.
Meanwhile Guy has been cranking in Thailand and although he has been reporting rather sweaty conditions he has been busy ticking the routes off (albeit with some impressive leg shaking by all accounts). He is also busy with the new Dream Guides website which is due to go live very soon so keep an eye open on that!
Finally our roving reporter this week is Matt Helliker who is in Scotland and can give us up to the minute conditions reports and its……. wet and warm. The initial dump of snow and good conditions has turned to black buttresses and no ice, but its due to get cold again so we’ll keep you posted.
That’s it for right now more info next week
Stay cool
Kenton
