Black Diamond On-line Catalogue - Alpinism 2012

Back in the autumn when I was out in Chamonix I spent a few days out with Jon Griffith to get some photos and footage for an new on-line catalogue project that Black Diamond and Jon were working on.  It was the first time I'd ever done any filming or been interviewed (as you can probably tell!) and to be honest I found it pretty difficult to start with but we had some really good days out and it was fun to be involved in a small part of the project.  


As usual Jon produced some outstanding photography and you can see all his work here
http://catalog.blackdiamondequipment.com/

Central Grooves

I eventually made it up to Scotland at the weekend for the first time since the wash out at New Year, unfortunately the rubbish forecast for Saturday turned it into a shorter weekend than planned and a one day hit on Sunday to Glen Coe.  Malcolm and I were both really keen to do the mega classic Central Grooves, VII 7, in Stob coire nan Lochan so route choice wasn't going to be a problem and an early start had us arriving in the coire under beautiful early morning sunlight with no wind.


Central Grooves lived up to its reputation of great climbing and sustained right from the word go.  After a technical first pitch and a steep second pitch Malcolm dispatched the crux third pitch with bold moves on cruddy ice off the belay and then a long fun final pitch up easy ground finished it off.  A quality route well worth the five hour drive each way and good to blow the cobwebs off the tools at last!

Beautiful early morning light as we enter the coire

Malcolm starting up the first pitch

Pitch 2

Pitch 2

Pitch 2

Malcolm on pitch 3 after the tricky moves off the belay

Pitch 3

Pitch 3

 Pitch 3

Looking across at a climber on Tilt

Chris Walker Memorial Trust Grant

The North Face of Chamlang, 7319m - we hope to attempt the obvious 

spur/ridge just to the left of the centre of the photo (photo - Cory Richards)

In October I'll be heading back to Nepal with Nick Bullock and into the Hongu Valley where  
we hope to try a new route on the North Face of Chamlang, 7319m.  The face itself is just under 2000m vertical (its big!) and we've got our eyes set on the obvious and stunning spur that tops out just to the east of the summit.  


We recently received the great news that we've been awarded the first expedition grant from the Chris Walker Memorial Trust, which was set up to remember Chris after he tragically lost his life in 2010.  I only had the pleasure of meeting Chris once back in 2008, Nick and I had just arrived back in Lukla after having our base camp stolen and Chris was just setting off with a group to climb Baruntse in the Hongu.  He was working as a guide on that trip but even with a hard few weeks ahead of him it was obvious, whether working or playing, he had true passion for the mountains and the adventure they bring. 


A big thank you to all those involved in the Chris Walker Memorial Trust for awarding our expedition the grant.  For more information on Chris, the memorial trust and how to apply for the grant visit http://www.chriswalkertrust.co.uk/

Thailand

As usual I'm a bit late with this post but at the start of February Cat and I got back from three weeks travelling around Thailand, climbing, sightseeing and enjoying the local cuisine.  We started off with a few days up in Chaing Mai in northern Thailand, the unofficial capital of Northern Thailand is an old university city and after a day and a half speeding round Bangkok in tuk tuk's the chilled atmosphere and quiet streets were a nice change.

As well as getting a feel for old Thailand, eating some great food, visiting temples and elephants and wandering around the weekend night markets there's also some great climbing on the nearby Crazy Horse buttress.  About a 45 minute ride out of town the crag gives everything from technical face routes to steep tufa fun and is a really well set up and managed area, well worth a visit for a few days.  We used the bus service provided by the local climbing shop to get to and from the crag, its by far the easiest way and they even bring you a hot lunch to the crag at lunch time!  

Next up we headed down to Ko Phi Phi which after Chiang Mai was a massive culture shock and not quite what we’d expected and more like the Costa Blanca than Thailand.  Still the scenery was spectacular and we spent a lot of time in the water exploring the reefs and many exotic fish.

After two days on Phi Phi we jumped on the ferry to the climbing mecca of Ton Sai and Railay.  I’d gone a bit sceptical of what the climbing was going to be like after many stories of sweaty and polished rock but figured the setting would make up for it.  Ok it was pretty sweaty and fairly polished but for me this didn’t detract from the quality of climbing and spectacular views.  Ton Sai itself though was unfortunately a different story, garbage everywhere, smell of sewage and stories of people getting sick, a real shame that its suffering from its own popularity.  After a brief look around Ton Sai we ended up staying in Railay East which wasn’t that much more expensive but much cleaner although did lack the atmosphere and vibe of Ton Sai.  As expected 7 days there was far from enough and we only visit a fraction of the crags but were both really getting into the climbing by the end of it.

We spent the final 5 days of the trip on the small island of Koh Loaliang.  This was definitely the highlight of the trip for me, with only 25 people on the island when we were there and a short 30m stroll to the climbing from the tent, paradise.  We met some really nice people, spent chilled evenings with cold beers round the bar and quality climbing that comes into the shade late morning, perfect for those lazy mornings!  I even managed to surpass my own expectation and finished off the trip by flashing a 7b+, quite a personal achievement for me and it’s got me fully psyched for to put some proper time in and try to get fit on the rock this summer, would love to climb 8a one day...

For info on Crazy Horse at Chaing Mai there is a great article here about the crag and all the logistics http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=3677 If you don’t end up using the bus provided by the climbing shop maybe think about dropping a small donation in with them, it’s a really impressive set up they’ve got going but need all the help they can get.

Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok

Maya Bay 'The Beach', Ko Phi-Phi - a bit busier than in the film!

(photo Cat Freeman)

local taxi heading home for the day

Cat enjoying the amazing setting of the classic 

multi-pitch route Humanality, Ton Sai

 End of a days climbing at Happy Island, Phra-Nang Beach

 Koh Loaliang - tents on the left, climbing on the right!

Golden a 6c on Loaliang, possibly one 

of the best routes at its grade? (photo Cat Freeman)

Buckingham Palace to Kandersteg

Back in December I some how found myself in the very surreal situation of wearing a suit and drinking champagne with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.  I had been lucky enough to be invited down to a reception to celebrate the centenary of Captain Scotts South Pole expedition.  Along with many much more accomplished 'adventurers and explorers' we got the royal hand shake, met a lot of interesting people and a few true legends.  Definitely a once in the life time experience.

Leaving Buckingham Palace with Mr Yates to finish the evening off 
with a pint (or two) of Her Majesties finest (photo - Nick Bullock)

Since then my Scottish season doesn't seem to have properly started yet, I managed to miss the good December conditions and time a New Years trip up north with the arrival of the melt down.  Cat and I are off to Thailand for a few weeks so fingers crossed conditions and psyche will have returned by February, although after bolt clipping on the beach the thought of climbing in the lovely Scottish weather isn't the most appealing!

 A rather dry looking competition wall at the BD Kandersteg Ice Festival (Photo - Jack Geldard)

But at least it's not only Scotland that seems to be suffering from the mild temperatures, whilst Europe is having an epic snow year the warm temperatures have meant the ice is looking a bit thin.  I had a quick trip to Kandersteg last weekend for Black Diamonds yearly ice festival there.  Unfortunately there wasn't any ice about in the valley so all climbing plans had to be scrapped, even the competition wall was bare and the event had to be changed to a 'speed climbing dry tooling competition'!  Climbing or no climbing it was a really good weekend and great to catch up and party with friends so big thanks to Black Diamond and look forward to next year.

The flood lit finals (photo -Jack Geldard)

COLD, Kendal and weddings

During a busy weekend of Kendal film festival and weddings I managed to get down to the final stop of The North Face speaker series to see Cory Richards and Simone Moro chat about their winter ascent of Gasherbrum II.  After a very inspiring talk -  you felt you got as close as you can to understanding their motivations, friendships and the lows that culminated in the first winter ascent of an 8000m peak in Pakistan, we got to see COLD, the film made about the ascent.


I'm yet to see a mountaineering film that gets me properly gripped and is watchable for the full length, lets face it it's not the most enthralling sport to watch.  COLD was something else though a very different take on the whole mountain film, powerful, honest and raw, more about the story and emotions than the mountain and it really works.  Considering the environment Cory was filming in the footage he has captured is amazing.  Well worth a watch if you get chance to see the full version.





After that it was back up to Kendal for a social night at the film festival (and a quick visit to The North Face office and sneak peek at next winters kit - some very exciting pieces on their way for autumn 2012!), down to the Cotswolds to join Phil and Rowan tying the knot and then back up to Kendal.  All a bit hectic but a very enjoyable weekend and good to catch up with a lot of friend, as always with Kendal I some how managed not to actually see any films or lectures, next time... but a big congratulations to Andy Turner and the rest of The Longhope team for winning The Peoples choice! Looking forward to seeing the film soon.

Alpine Jollies

I’ve just got back home (yes Yorkshire is now home, more on that later...) from spending three weeks out in the alps.  For the past 3 years I’ve spent the autumn out in the Himalayas but after coming away from the last two trips empty handed I was pretty keen to get some guaranteed climbing in so Chamonix bound it was.

First up was a trip over to Zermatt with Guy Robertson.  We’d had plans on the Bonatti Direct on the North face of the Matterhorn but standing under the face at 4.30am with a temperature of only -0.5oC wasn’t the most confidence inspiring so up the Schmid it was instead.  Conditions were pretty good on the first two thirds of the face with great neve leading up the ramp.  A slight navigational error and a lot more hours later than expected we eventually arrived on the top.  The Matterhorn is surrounded by rumours of choss and bad or nonexistent gear, was it that bad? Yes there’s a lot of loose rock but if you’re careful there’s enough gear to make it acceptable, small cams being the most useful beta.  

Was the climbing good? Well it wasn’t amazing, far from it really but it is the Matterhorn so that more than makes up for it!

 Probably the most recognisable mountain in the alps?

Guy coming up the ramp

 Heading up perfect neve on the ramp

After a slight navigation error from me, Guy starts a big traverse rightwards to get us back on route 

(note: at the top of the ramp don't follow the obvious icy couloir leftwards, had we had a guide book it mentions this!)

 Following Guy's long traverse pitch

 The endless low angled headwall

 Exiting onto the Zmutt ridge about 100m below the summit

Next up was a week of photos for BD with Jon Griffith and French climber Alex Chabot.  Jon had had a sunset serac climbing shot he’d been after shooting for ages so after bagging that it was over to Point Lachenal for some mixed shots.  Back in the valley and with the autumn high pressure still working it’s magic we were soon heading up to the Grandes Jorasses to try the Gousseault- Desmaison on the left side of the walk spur.  Due to one reason or another, including a dropped axe we ended up bailing up the Shroud instead.  With Alex only having one axe we tied both 70m ropes together to run it out in 140m pitches with Jon soloing alongside taking photos.  Climbing the Shroud this way definitely isn’t the quickest... but it did mean we finished up the Hirondelles ridge to an amazing sunset on the top of Point Walker before a chill bivi a few hundred meters below.

As ever Jon came away with some amazing photo's so thanks for the following.

Alex enjoy the steep seracs

 Andy catching the sunset a bit later 

Andy on the Shroud

 The final section up the Hirondelles ridge to the top

 Sunset on the summit of the Grandes Jorasses

We were treated to an amazing sunrise and cloud inversion over Italy the following morning

After a bit too briefer rest day back in Chamonix Rob somehow managed to twist my arm and persuade a rather reluctant and un-psyched me to head back up to the Grandes Jorasses with the mega classic Croz spur in mind.  Last time up there had been a motorway leading through the glacier to the base of the route however the Foehn wind had put quite a bit of snow down on the frontier so after leaving the Leshaux hut at 2.30am we spent the next 5 hours trotting about completely lost, post holing up to our waists trying to find a way through the crevasse riddled glacier.  I think the getting lost was definitely a joint effort but the trail breaking was definitely mainly down to Rob, well he’s a fell runner with legs twice the size of mine and was definitely feeling the psyche a lot more than me!  

Eventually after and hours brew stop and quick power nap (the psyche had returned to both members by now...) we crossed the bergschrund at 08.30 and started up the Slovenian start.  After the approach the route was really enjoyable, with great ice runnels linking the snow fields leading to and exposed pitch up the crest of the spur to just below the summit.  From here there’s two options, either the original finish to the left or the more commonly followed right hand finish.  This year the right hand finish has a couple of spicy pitches which Rob dispatched in fine style and we were starting the raps down the Italian side just before darkness set in.  

The lack of photos from the Croz is due to me leaving my camera at the hut, but a big thanks to the Aussies who bumped into some friends at the train station and asked them if they knew an English climber who drives trucks... not too many of them about so the camera founds it way back, thank you!