Late season powder in Chamonix

I managed to sneak in a long weekend out in Chamonix last weekend, heading out with Cat and Nigel to catch up with Chris and Kat who were finishing off their Euro road trip with a ski season.  The light weight touring skis were all set to go in anticipation of a social few days with some nice spring time ski touring up high in the mountains but at the last minute with big late season snow falls it was the fat skis that got chucked on the aeroplane at Liverpool.

After three days of skiing great powder with fresh tracks off the Midi and Grand Montet I had actually for once made the right kit choice!  The viability wasn't the best all the time  but it did clear up to give us blue skies and sun for a great descent in untracked powder down the Valley Blanch, we decided to go down the Gros Rognon and although not the steepest of pitches gives some great wide open slopes that you can let rip on.

It was great to be in the mountains and back on skis for the first time in over a year and thanks to Chris and Kat for arranging some great conditions!  It was also the first chance I had to try out my Scarpa Mobes on a pair of big ski's to see how they performed.  I've been after a pair of 'do it all' ski boots for a while and was really impressed with how these handled a pair of fat and stiff skis in heavy chopped up snow as well as light powder, pretty much felt I could ski them the same as if I'd had proper stiff pair of freeride boots on.  

The skiing was too good to get the camera out much but here's a few shots form last weekend.

Enjoying the great snow conditions on the Gros Rognon (photo - Nigel Pick)

Cat heading down the Gross Rognon with the Dent du Geant poking out of the clouds

Nigel taking a 'rest' while Michelle enjoying the snow

Alaska psyche

March was pretty quite on the climbing front with just a few nice days out on the grit but lots of running and road biking trying to get the legs working for Alaska.  After been not too sure if the trip would happen for a while flights are booked and I'll ll be heading out with Nick towards the end of May to hopefully have a go at the Slovak Direct.


Since getting into alpine climbing the Slovak Direct up the massive South face of Denali is a route, like many other climbers, I have had on my dream tick list.  As far as I know the it has had five ascents so far and each team has come back raving about the quality of climbing, the situations and the size of it.  To see what its all about check out this great little video that Mark Westman and Jesse Huey made after their 2010 ascent:

BD grassroots athlete Jesse Huey reports on his ascent of Denali's Slovak Direct route 

from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

A BIG thank you to The North Face for stepping in and making this trip happen.  I'll be using all the new Meru Kit on the trip which has some great key alpine pieces in it and looks like it should perform really well.  No better place to test it all out and get a true honest opinion of it!


With no exciting pics from the last month here are a few from my first trip to Alaska back in 2007 when Jon Bracey and I made the second ascent of the Grison-Tedeschi (French Route) on the Moonflower buttress of Mt Hunter.  We had a great quick hit onto the Kahiltna Glacier then and hopefully we'll get the same good weather and conditions this time.  

The approach to base camp on the Kahiltna Glacier with Mount Hunter
and the Moonflower in the background

Early morning light on Mt Foraker

Heading into the couloir that defines the route and the
 main feature of the Moonflower buttress (photo - Jon Bracey) 

Jon following up the couloir

One of the many amazing ice runnels on the route

Jon leading steep ice on the headwall

Following a hard mixed pitch on the headwall (photo - Jon Bracey)

The final slopes leading to the top of the Moonflower buttress
with the south face of Denali in the background

The nearly 3000m south face of Denali.  The Slovak Direct takes the steep buttresses to the right of the central, Cassin, ridge, originally finishing up the large snowfields most teams now finish up Cassin Ridge

Still a long way to go to the summit of Mount Hunter

Jon stamping out a tent platform for the
final (3rd) night  before descending the West ridge

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)