A mixed week in the Alps

Unbelievable weather in the Alps this week.

We sat in Chamonix on Friday drinking a beer in the sun & it was 16degrees, too hot to wear anything more than just a t-shirt! Down in Martigney in the Rhone Valley you were looking for shady routes on the rock as it was a blistering 20degrees!

Unbelievably hot for the end of February & the beginning of March & too hot for any steep ice routes, or any ice routes come to that which get any sun and are below 2000m & aren’t threatened by sunny slopes above & are still there! & as we also found out, just too hot on Friday to climb a big mountain route.

Having seen Crack Baby back in January & noting that it looked in pretty good shape, also hearing that since then conditions in February had improved considerably with most routes low down forming well with some routes forming which rarely do, I felt that Crack Baby was a sure bet & a great option in warmer weather being at 2000m. It’s better to have the steep ice & pillars which form on the warmer side of cold relaxing the ice making it safer & more enjoyable to climb.

We warmed up on Namenlos in the afternoon which was wet but felt pretty safe in the warm conditions

Namenlos 170m grade 4+ Kandersteg

Anyway I was wrong! I can only imagine that the super cold spell in February with temps of around -24degrees in kandersteg formed up all the lower level routes, but must have been too cold for the higher routes such as Crack Baby which must have just cinched up & not changed at all.

This coupled with a warm week leading into this one now the lower pitches looked a little thin & patchy but the crux was a section I was looking at in the middle of the route which hadn’t formed well at all.

Crack Baby 340m grade 6 Breitwangflue, Kandersteg

The very thin middle section of Crack Baby, Kandersteg

The fringe coming down wasn’t connecting with the ice below. At first glance it looks all there but on close up the ice underneath the fringe is just plastered to the back wall & isn’t touching at all.

In general the route looked thin & grey in places & generally hadn’t formed well & with this section highlighted above we decided to head back down the 1000m climb from the valley to look for other options.

Circled is the area that wasn't formed enough for us to jump on it & give it a go

A thin looking Rubezahl 215m grade 6, Kandersteg

It was scorching when we got back down the Valley but we headed up to take a look at Rubezahl & Blue Magic up in Oeschinenwald, just above Kandersteg.

Blue Magic was formed but thin, as was Rubezahl a little higher up the Valley. These routes are steep & coupled with the fact they haven’t formed as fat as in previous years (they formed over a 2/3 week period) so any warm weather will affect them a lot quicker. It was too hot for these steep routes today, they were absolutely steaming with water, you’d have needed a snorkel & mask just to see where you were going on Rubezahl!

Great conditions on Namenlos 80m grade 4, higher up the valley, Kandersteg 

We ran away & found a great 2 pitch route which get only a little run further up the valley of an easier grade where a lot more of the weight is being supported by the ground under the ice. It was a great route which felt safe in these difficult & super warm conditions.

The beautiful mountains & icefalls of Adelboden nr Kandersteg

The following day was warmer again but we took a look over in Adelboden where the ice is around 1600m in altitude thinking that some way in the middle of Crack Baby which isn’t formed & the routes in Kandersteg which are but are just too wet & dangerous in this warmer weather we’d find the routes formed & in reasonable shape. Wrong! It was colder but the routes weren’t formed or even close to – the route we wanted to climb was North Shore.

The icefalls of Adelboden in the Bernese Oberland close to Kandersteg

Left is Lurking Fear 120m grade 3+, then North Shore 275m grade 6 which isn’t formed, then Stundlich Grusst Die Staublawine 70m grade 5+ which is also unformed & furthest right is Glucksritter 230m grade 5

So we turned tail & headed over to Cogne which has routes around 2000m & one which we wanted to climb which was Cold Couloir a classic 600m ice route of grade 4+ which I felt would still be in good shape.

The top pitches of Patri 250m grade 3+ to 5+, Valnontey, Cogne

We arrived late into Cogne but raced up Valnontey & climbed Patri as it was getting dark walking back to La Barme with our headlamps on but feeling much better for getting on some good ice.

A view of the last pitches of Patri, they all have the same pitches to start then take independent lines for the final pitches with Patri a Gauche grade 3+, in the middle Patri Direct grade 5+ & Patri a Droite grade 4+

The following day we headed up Valeille & had a fantastic day climbing Cold Couloir.

Colin on the 1st pitch of Cold Couloir 600m grade 4+, Valeille, Cogne

Me leading the 2nd long pitch on Cold Couloir

Me leading pitch 7 on Cold Couloir

Colin seconding the final pitch of Cold Couloir, Cogne

But I felt that this also was the last day of ice in the Valeille, everything else was falling down & sun affected & it was 14degrees in Cogne when we got down.

There wasn’t much else for us in Cogne & with the weather getting hotter by the day we decided to sack the ice & head into the mountains.

We organised ourselves on Thursday & bought bivi food, packed sleeping bags, stove & planned to head up onto the Argentiere glacier & head up to climb the Ginat route on the North Face of Les Droites.

A fantastic view up the Argentiere Glacier with Aiguille du Chardonnet 3824m on the left, Aiguille d’Argentiere 3902m in the middle & the striking pointed summit of Mont Dolent 3823m at the head of the valley.

We walked into the Argentiere hut as the winter room is open year round. The hut was full of ski tourers & we were the only climbers which surprised us as the forecast was sunshine & blue skies where else would you be?

The Classic 1200m North Face of Les Droites 4000m

With little sleep & not even needing a sleeping bag it was so warm, we headed over the glacier in the dark up to the bergshrund/rimaye at the base of the Ginat. I didn’t even have gloves on travelling over the glacier it was that warm.

Just below the rimaye the white snow was being peppered with stones released from above. We stood underneath the steep overhanging wall of the rimaye which stood between us & the start of the route & the stones where ricocheting down & clearing over our heads. It was still dark & I thought it will only get worse as the day warms up. The freezing level was around 3600m. The rimaye was like a wave of soft snow, steep at the bottom & overhanging at the top with layers peeling off it also looking like thin waves within the big wall of the wave. It was a wave of about 10m which I needed to climb to exit out left onto easier angle snow & the gulley above.

A close up & foreshortened view of the 1200m La Ginat ice route grade IV 5 on the North Face of Les Droites, Argentiere, Chamonix

I stepped up onto the white wave of snow curling up above me & I was immediately arching my back trying to weight my feet as my axes where just slicing through the soft snow with no purchase to take any weight, the snow under my feet kept breaking away. I looked for a screw placement & then smiled at the ridiculousness of my thoughts. I could see where I needed to go & if it had frozen overnight I’d have been in with a fighting chance. It was the only way up & over, every other way looked even worse.

The sun was coming up & more stones ricocheted down from above.

The soft snow mean’t that even if I was to be able to inch my way up to the overhanging lip of the wave, it would have been far too serious pulling over the top to get to the easier angled snow above.

My mind switched back to the stonefall which may only get worse, then to the heat of the day, then back to the steep overhanging soft snow at the rimaye, then onto the long descent of the sunny south side & the potential hazard that was going to be.................

Disappointingly we turned around & headed back down the glacier.

Some great morning light catching the Grande Rocheuse 4102m below the Aiguille Vert & the super classic 1200m  North Face of Les Droites on the left still in shade.

We hung out for a while watching the sun come up hitting the tops of the peaks & felt good again!

Looking back up the Argentiere Valley, Chamonix

Back down in Chamonix it was 16degrees in the sun! it was too hot for this route today.

Next time.

Ade

  

Slovenijan Ice

I arrived back from Slovenija yesterday, after a very inspiring trip into the Julian Alps. We landed in Ljubljana & then spent the night with a friend in Kamnik just NW of the city close to the airport.

Marko greeted us with his familiar smile & endless energy giving us as much help as he could to make the trip a great experience. 

The next morning Twid & I headed up into a hut in the mountains of the Julian Alps, only to wake up to 45cm of fresh snow which had settled quietly outside.

Fresh snow in the Triglav National Park, Julian Alps, Slovenija

The forecast had mentioned snow but nowhere near this much, it had also talked about warmer temperatures & sunshine for the rest of the week. We didn’t need to say much, we just packed up our things, gave the hut a good brush through & headed out. We again connected the haul bag using slings & old tat constructing a make shift harness around our ruc-sacs & just started dragging the bag back down the valley we’d dragged it up the previous day!

I’m sure below is the smile from Twid who's been sat on the bag & taking a ride while my back's been turned! well it felt like it anyway! Come to think of it, I did wonder why he wanted to drag the bag in series with me in front!

Twid enjoying the hard slog, as we bailed out of the mountains after very heavy snowfall.

So we had a change of plan & went icefall climbing, exploring the surrounding valley’s & mountains while having a great time.

The cirque of Cljov- Slap Pod Bavhom, Val Koritnica, Log Pod Manartom

Icefall Psihoanaliza on the left, Psiho Direct in the middle & Desni Cljov on the right

Twid heading up easier ground to the start of Psihoanaliza,Val Koritnica

Me heading up the 2nd pitch of Psihoanaliza, Val Koritnica

Twid leaving the belay at the start of pitch 3 with the beautiful Pk Mangart on the other side of the valley just poking out of the clouds.

Cirque Cljov seen here on the side of Val Kortnica with the huge & impressive faces of Pk Plesivec & Pk Bavh Towering above

The Cirque Pichico, Val Dogna, Dogna

Cirque Pichico in Val Dogna

Icefall Prerok on the left, Pichico in the middle & our route on the right finishing up the top pitch of Pichico

Twid leading the 1st pitch of our route in the Cirque Pichico, Val Dogna

Twid high on the 1st pitch of our route in the Cirque Pichico, Val Dogna

Me leading the top pitch of Pichico in the Cirque Pichico, Val Dogna

The Cirque Agrro in Val Dogna, Dogna

Icefall Agrro on the left, then Ronin, A New Hope & The Fly on the right

The beautiful steep pillar of Nosorog in Val Dogna

Twid leading the steep pillar Nosorog in Val Dogna

Twid having a great time high on Nosorog in Val Dogna

The icefalls of Lucifer,near Kranjska Gora

 An unknown climber on Lucifer left

Twid heading up the 1st main pitch climbing Lucifer right

Many thanks for the doss Marko, I enjoyed the local vino & great conversation!

Very inspiring, I'm already making plans for my next trip!

Safe climbing

Ade

Red-Pointing

Red-Pointing on bolts

Definition –

A Red-Point ascent is one where you climb the route from bottom to top cleanly without any artificial rests such as sitting on the rope, but the quickdraws are already pre clipped into the bolts & you will have worked & practiced every move on the route beforehand.

Some thoughts on Red-Pointing -

Choose a route harder than your on sight grade but realistic in the time you have to complete the route. If you’re away on holiday, then you may have a number of days to work the route to finally Red-Point it, so you may choose a route 2 or even 3 grades harder than your on sight grade. If you’ve only got a day then you may choose a route just a grade harder than your on sight grade.

Once you’ve chosen your route, warm up by clipping climbing the route in short sections bolt to bolt resting at each bolt. Try & do this using as little energy as possible, warming up at the same time. The best way to do this is by making just enough moves up to each bolt then clipping the bolt with the quickdraw as soon as possible. Keep hold of the quickdraw pulling most of your weight onto it & then with the other hand, clip the rope into the other end of the quickdraw. Immediately get your partner to take in the rope tight so that you can sit on the rope & rest. Repeat this process all the way to the top of the route. It’s a great way to warm up & also get the clips in.

Now after some rest & if it isn’t super steep & overhanging, top-rope the route in short sections working the moves between each bolt. If you’re at a crux try it a few times then pull on the quickdraw or rope to get past it & onto other moves & sections higher up.

Take your time & work the route slowly without getting totally pumped taking plenty of rest between each top-rope try.

Once you’ve worked out all the moves between the bolts & have them wired, you can then move onto the most important part of the process which is the Links.

Now split the route into roughly 4 sections (around 3 or 4 bolts in length)

Link all the moves together in the first section including & most importantly how you’d clip each bolt, making a clean ascent of this section, then rest.

Now do the same climbing the second section cleanly including how you’d clip the bolts in that section.

Now lower down & rest, then pull up on the rope to get to your high point half way up the route & repeat the process of linking up the top two sections of the route.

The Links is just such an important part of working the route & learning ALL the moves including clipping the bolts & moving through to the next section.

After more rest, pull your rope down, tie in & lead the route in two sections firstly by leading to half height, rest & then continue to the top.

This process will have worked all the moves, sequences & how, when & what holds to clip the bolts from. It’s also built up familiarity & a mental strength to you being able to climb the route.

Me Red-Pointing Warlock 7c+, Cueva Pechina, Costa Blanca, Spain.

Drink & take plenty of rest.

Then with plenty of Chilli in the Engine & when you really Want It, go for the Re-Point!

Enjoy

Ade

Kalymnos photo's taken by Andy Teasdale

Giving the legs a spin out yesterday

I had a great cyclocross ride out from home yesterday, a circuit which takes me straight up onto Frostrow Fell just south of Sedbergh. Frostrow splits the Garsdale valley & Sedbergh from Dentdale where the ride drops down, linking up lanes & bridleways to loop back again via a different high point.

It's tough going in both summer & winter, as your either in summer fighting to keep the wheels turning over long tussocky grass & bog up hill or you're carry the bike!
Where as yesterday the ground was bullet hard & although I surprised myself on sections of up hill I could ride, on the whole I was either carrying over flat, pan hard ice where I had no grip or fighting the long grass & bog to the side of the path which I couldn't ride because it was so icy!

Great ride all the same.

Fantastic views as well back across to the Howgills to the North of Sedbergh, which still had snow on the tops & down to Sedbergh itself with the Howgills behind.

Another world today - low cloud & hard ice over all the roads & pavements, freezing fog & rain............

Be safe

Ade

On-Sighting

On-Sighting on bolts –

Definition –

To climb a route that you’ve not climbed before, leading it from bottom to top without resting or falling off & placing your own quickdraws as you climb.

Some thoughts -

Apart from having your head in the right place & a familiarity with the rock you’re climbing on, the most important part of climbing a route high in your On-Sight grade is warming up.

If you’re top on-sight grade is 6b+ then you need to start On-Sighting a route graded 5+, then work steadily through the grades, 6a, 6a+ & then 6b to get both warmed up & also to get your head in the right place. Some people need to get a fairly good pump on before their fully warmed up. If you struggle on 6b then it’s a gauge of how you’re going on that particular day. Have plenty of rest between each route, take your time & don’t leave your main objective till the Friday when you’re heading home from a week’s holiday on the Saturday & have been cranking out the routes all week! Spend a couple of days warming up & getting a feel for the rock & then nail it mid-week.

On a couple of the routes during the warm up, climb them again to a section where the ground is steep enough to fall off & just let go! (Easier said than done!). This really helps get your head around the fact that firstly it’s ok to fall off & you won’t hurt yourself & secondly it gives you more confidence in the belayer & the knowledge that they can comfortably hold you if you were to fall.

This means that when you go for your On-Sight, all you should be thinking about is making the moves, clipping & getting to the top. You need to be totally focused on the route & not looking down on a difficult move & worrying about falling off.

Remember to be Dynamic in your belaying & that doesn’t mean have lots of rope out. Give your mate enough rope to clip & then take the excess back in, giving them just enough to make the moves without pulling on the rope. The job of the belayer if to focus (which can be really hard to do at a busy crag or indoor wall!) & try to anticipate their moves, giving them rope when they need it.

No, Dynamic belaying is to lock off the belay plate when the person falls & allow yourself to make a few steps forward toward the wall allowing the climber to come to a gradual stop. Don’t just lock the belay plate off, stand still & lean back, this just stops the fall too suddenly which generally means they’ll swing hard into the wall. By locking off & stepping forward, being dynamic in your belaying even on a vertical wall the climber doesn’t smack into the boards, they have a much softer landing.

Note, the belayer needs to have a clean area in front of them to be able to move forward & be dynamic, so don’t have your rope flaked out in front of the belayer have it to the side. Climbing outside look for a flat area with no boulders to fall over or trip on when you do step forwards to hold a fall.

It is something you need to practice & it amazing how much more confidence it gives the climber having fallen & held in this way.

On-Sighting feels a very pure way to climb a route & climbing on bolts allows you to push the grade a little, more so than more traditional climbing where you place your own protection in the form of wires & cams.

You can use different evenings at your local climbing wall to try this process of On-Sighting & see how you go.

Go on, you might surprise yourself!

Enjoy

Ade

Photo's taken by Andy Teasdale of me On-Sighting in Kalymnos

The Fly Cave

Snow here in the Lakes over the weekend, Kendal had a good covering & the central fells looked very white. We spent most of the weekend tobogganing with plenty of folk out doing the same! Very mild though all weekend & I woke up today with most of the snow now gone & even the fells looking less white - it must have been 6 or 7 degrees in the sun today, the freezing level would have been above he summits.
It's a shame, as ice was just starting to form as we did have a reasonably cold week here last week & another 3/4 days of cold weather & the icefalls would have started to come into condition.
Even so, if it does go cold now then it would have been a good cycle to consolidate the snow pack & make for some good gully climbing & some mixed action - fingers crossed

Anyway I'm enjoying some time at home & have been locking myself in the Fly Cave & getting myself fit!

The back end of last summer Leo built a small bouldering wall near to his home in Staveley. It's not for profit or open to the public, but a scene for local climbers to meet up & get strong.  Leo's done an amazing job creating such a varied 3D wall in a relatively small space.

Volumes, roofs, leaning walls & overlaps create a fantastic bouldering room with the main aim of getting you fit & strong.

There aren't any 'up' problems like many walls, but circuit style problems. Problems starting from one side of the room & either finishing at the other side of doubling back & finishing up where you first started up making 2 laps of the wall.

Not one for being that into bouldering but the wall has really inspired me - the problems are long and encourage good holds for the hands & not so good holds for the feet, meaning that your less likely to get any finger injuries & more likely to just get climbing fit & super strong. It really helped leading up till Christmas & I've already noticed a big difference in my climbing fitness & strength by just getting stuck into Leo's circuits.

It's taken me back to my roots, when all I ever did was circuits when we used to traverse up & down corridors & under motorway bridges before climbing walls ever took off & I'm really enjoying it. 

I needed a change climbing wise, something different to get stuck into through the winter here at home which gets me super fit for when the sun shines again & warms the rock up.

It's great & I'm very inspired.

Stay safe

Ade