Kandersteg today

We had another great day climbing in & around Kandersteg today.

-10 degrees first thing again this morning & a lot of the routes getting fatter & others starting to form. It won't be long at this rate that routes like Arbonium which at the start of the week weren't touching down are actually climbable!

Colin led Eggeschendfall grade 4+ this morning. 

E

Colin leading Eggeschendfall grade 4+, 2 pitches - Kandersteg

The route today had formed a lot thinner than in previous years, having been only formed during the past week. 
The single thin layer of ice gave us some great steep & technical climbing. 
The route felt safe to climb, as the ice was very relaxed giving many first time axe placements in soft & sometimes wet ice - the icefall gets plenty of mid-day sun. 
Opposite to that, if we'd have got there and the ice was very dry, super cold & under a lot of tension then we'd have probably have walked away as the thickness of the ice was to thin & wouldn't have coped with those temperatures & somebody climbing on it........

In the afternoon we headed back to climb on the main wall above the village.

Colin leading the 1st pitch of Grimm Haizahine - Kandersteg

Me leading the upper wall on Grimm Haizahine grade 6 - Kandersteg

Very steep, very thin technical climbing on newly formed thin fragile pillars & hanging bobs of ice!

The line at the moment (which is for-shortened) on the upper wall of Grimm Haizahine grade 6 - Kandersteg

We did some great climbing today. Our rest day yesterday consisted of us heading over to Brunnital to try & find some ice there. 2 hours of driving & 2 hours of walking up & down the main valley there....... we couldn't find any ice routes formed enough for us to climb! so we spun around & headed back to Kandersteg!

The journey was definitely worth while though, as I'd heard so much about the place...........

I took this amazing shot of a fantastic looking line - Hydrophobia grade 6 - which when it fully forms & touches down - awesome!

This beautiful 4 pitch route alone, will get me back there at some point in the near future!

Hydrophobia grade 6, Brunnital - Uri

Safe climbing

Ade

Crack Baby!

Had an awesome day yesterday climbing up on the Brietwanflue high above Kandersteg.

Crack Baby was in fantastic condition.

The awesome Crack Baby grade 6 & 8 pitches

Brietwanflue, Kandersteg

Me tackling the crux pillar, very technical climbing on very fragile ice

Crack Baby - Kandersteg

A fantastic day on a route which doesn't always form - this year it's in great early season condition.

You've gotta love the ice!

Stay safe

Ade

Happy New Year!

Happy New year!

Sorry it's a little belated.....I've had a few problems with logging into site, which has been very frustrating to say the least! Hence the lack of posts over the past few weeks.

Anyway, over in the Alps Icefall climbing at the moment - had a great day today climbing 'Pingu' a steep 5 pitch route in Kandersteg on the Oeschinen Wall just above the village.

'Pingu' grade 5+, 180m - Kandersteg

The Alps was going through a very warm period leading into the week when I arrived from the UK. Up until that point, Kandersteg being relatively low (around 1100m altitude) didn't have any ice formed at all. A week of colder weather & the routes are starting to take shape.

Pingu today was 'all there' climbing thin & fragile newly formed ice, which made the route steeper & more technical than maybe later in the reason when the routes filled out a little more.

A thin & newly formed 'Arbonium' not quite touching down & formed enough in the lower section to climb yet.

The temperatures in Kandersteg are for it to stay cold all week & routes like Arbonium will continue to fill out & form as we go through the week.

'Rattenpisoir' grade 5, 160m - Kandersteg

All the routes here are thinner than normal as the ice has all formed during the past week, even so 'Rattenpisoir' was climbed today. The route looks in similar condition to 'Pingu' which we climbed. It's been cold & the ice feels well bonded & with a little care these routes offer some great climbing.

Grimm Haizahne grade 5+, 160m - Kandersteg

The first pitch is thin grade 4/4+, but the upper pitches (on the upper wall, top right of picture) look disconnected & unformed still.

The upper pitches of Namelos grade 4/4+ - Kandersteg

We climbed 'Namelos' yesterday, it's a little further up the track but all fully formed but just a little thin in places. It was a warmer day yesterday & the ice was wet. Today it would have been better bonded to the rock & in great condition if not still a little thin & fragile in places.........

Namelos grade 4/4+, 180m - Kandersteg

The upper steep pitches of 'Pingu' today

Colin pulling around onto the belay at the top of the 4th pitch on 'Pingu' today.

You can just see down & left the steep pillar which is the 2nd pitch of 'Rattenpisoir'

'Blue Magic' grade 5+ also looks complete, but I guess just a little thin....we'll check it out later in the week & let you know how we get on.

Well I hope that helps, if you're thinking of heading over this way & brings you a little up to date with what I've been doing.

I've also been over in Cogne, Chamonix & Megeve climbing & will let you know what the conditions there are like when I next log on.

Very happy to have sorted my logging on issues & feel connected again!

Anyway take care on the ice & stay safe

Ade

Lakes today

Sunny weather here in the Lakes today.

The warmer weather that passed through Friday afternoon/evening continued over the weekend, with heavy rain Saturday night all at levels.

As the clouds cleared on Sunday it was obvious that a lot of the snow had been striped.

Lovely sunny weather here today & still a lot of warmth in the sun - I know of some people out rock climbing today & making the most of it!

It's forecast to get colder this week, which will freeze the turf again & start building up some more ice........ but we need some snow build up to give us some more great mixed conditions..........

Today in Langdale -

Lake Windermere & the Langdale pikes

Langdale Pikes

Top of Great Langdale - with the Band in the centre, The Crinkles on the left & Bowfell in the cloud on the right

Looking back up Great Langdale with Harrison Stickle on the right

Looking across Lake Windermere & over to the Old Man of Coniston........

As you can see a lot of snow's been striped from the hills, although high up some of the easier gullies may still be in condition eg Great End, Helvelyn, Dollywagon........

Safe climbing

Ade

Great Lakes winter conditions

Great Lakes, winter conditions again today.

We headed back into the Eastern Fells today & climbed a great new mixed route which is the obvious central feature of the crag.

It was a fantastic line & was in great winter mixed condition.

Strong westerly winds, cold temperatures & heavy snow last night had blasted the crag leaving in places a thin layer of firm snow on the otherwise featureless smooth rock. Ice had formed in the thin, seam like cracks which offered little protection & difficult tool placements. The blasted on snow did however help with some otherwise very difficult & tenuous foot placements & in places crucial pick placements

Great climbing

Me low down on the route today

Awkward & strenuous mixed climbing low down

Me enjoying the steep lower section of the route today

Great climbing but hard won pick placements & protection, which was difficult to find in the thin shallow seams

Me enjoying a relative rest half way up the new mixed route I climbed today

A fantastic line & great mixed climbing - 60m

We graded the route an overall grade of 7 with a technical grade of 7

You've got to just love the Lakes!

Safe climbing

Ade

Mixed action in the Lakes & conditions

Winter's arrived!

It's been super cold here in the Lakes this past week & now there's a good amount of snow in the hills.

We headed out into the Eastern Fells today & had a great day climbing a superb new mixed line on a crag I discovered last winter.

Dean leading the initial corner/groove

Dean working up into the steeper upper section

The pitch had good frozen turf where you needed it, steep cracks which at times you could hook into & at other times trust a shallow placement in frozen turf deep inside the cracks, torquing......& all requiring good footwork, as it's steep & the rock is smooth & featureless outside of the cracks & turf sections, so quite balancy & delicate  at times............. a great line.

Steep & awkward mixed climbing through the upper cracks

A great line & new route today - grade 5/6, 60m

A mixed bag of weather today though - low cloud, light winds & snowing a little in the early part of the morning, which quickly turned to heavy snow & strong winds by mid-morning which then lasted for the rest of the day, bringing the snow levels down to the valley bottoms.

As we descended there was a rapid rise in temperature & the snow at around 400m was turning to rain & the ground under foot was quickly thawing. Back at the car it was 4 degrees & raining heavily.

Its been persistent heavy rain here in Kendal all evening.

A word of caution guys!

A climber triggered & was caught up in a wind slab avalanche today on a North Easterly slope!

He was one of a team of 3 that had walked up the Band in Great Langdale & was traversing North West from the Band towards the Bowfell Buttress & Flat Crags areas. It's a traverse that climbers take to access many of the routes in that area, but it does traverse across some steep & craggy ground, crossing numerous gulley's as it contours the hillside.

The strong winds over the past few days, have blown in a substantial amount of snow on this aspect of slope and at this altitude.

The wind blown snow had formed into wind slab sitting on a hard & icy surface/layer below - the climber weighted the wind slab by walking across it, triggering the slab avalanche which hadn't bonded to the layer below.

The warmer temperatures will help conditions if it rises above the summits & penetrates the snow pack, helping with the bonding of layers, but every area will be different, so take care.

Interestingly the forecast had talked about snow accumulations on South & South Easterly slopes with  the danger of slab avalanches....!!!

So from today it's obvious that the winds have been swirling around & loading a number of different aspects of slopes.........so take care.

Safe climbing

Ade 

Kendal Mountain Festival

It's that time of year again - Kendal hosts the Kendal Mountain Film festival celebrating mountain culture & adventure in film, lectures, art & literature.

It's a huge event over 4 days based in & around Kendal with the main focus around the Kendal Brewery Arts Centre.

I'll be introducing films throughout the weekend from 'Bongo Bar' a film documenting the first free ascent of Bongo Bar in Arctic Norway by Scottish Climber Dave MacLeod,  'Hardest in the Alps' a film following Iker & Enou Pou repeating some of the iconic routes in the history of Big Wall climbing, La Dura Dura a film of Chris Sharma & Adam Ondra battling it out to establish the worlds first 5.15c to The Kyrgyzstan Project where 3 climbers climbing a big granite wall in 2000 got caught up in a kidnapping by militants & held at gun point for six days & La Voie de Bonatti a documentary film of 2 french climbers paying tribute to the most famous Italian Mountaineer Walter Bonatti........& another 15 films throughout the festival weekend which should be great.

It's always a great social, so swing by if you're around, it'd be great to catch up.

Have a cheeky look at the trailer for all the films - very inspiring

http://vimeo.com/52096291

PS managed 3 laps on the white circuit back to back & the same for the blue & yellow at the Fly Cave today, which I was pretty stoked about!! - getting fitter & seeing progress:)

Stay strong

Ade