Climbing in contrasting regions of Italy

The weather around Chamonix had been unsettled , plus the backstory of conditions being shot to bits due to the heat wave of June, Charles Sherwood and I decided to head to the Dolomites. We had not been there together since 2011 when we managed to climb the Comici route on the North Face of the Cima Grande. One of the 6 classic alpine north faces . The weather in the Dolomites was also unsettled but I felt that if we choose slightly less ambitious routes we could get a lot of climbing under our belts. Monday 4th September . We drove from Chamonix to Cortina in about 7 hours. We stayed in the in the Hotel de la Poste bang slap in the center of the town. Tuesday 5th September. The Hotel thought itself as quite posh. So much so that at breakfast the Maître d'hôtel took issue with me turning up to breakfast in flip-flops. I was quite indignant. Especially when a bunch of middle America Americans turned up for breakfast making me look the height of sophistication. Anyway the weather forecast wasn't particularly good so Charles and I choose a climb that was straight forward with bad weather escape options yet it was indisputably a Dolomitic classic . Torre Di Falzarego 2500m first climbed by non other than Emilio Comici the original superstar of Dolomitic climbing was to be our choice. It is a brilliant rock climb but it is one of those routes that falls into the category of a climb which states . "No matter how badly you are climbing it is certain that there will be someone worse than you." It was busy. Wednesday 6th. Again the forecast was not good enough to attempt a route of massive commitment. We headed up to the Rifugio Fonda-Savio Hutte. We were greeted by women dressed in "Heidi kit." Plus they were all speaking German not Italian.Still a grudge toward the First world war which tore the region apart. After an indifferent cappuccino [ clearly not made by a true Italian] we headed out and climbed the Torre Wundt 2517 via the south face IV. The actual climbing wasn't the best but the arrival on the summit was impressive. We munched our picnic while having a debate as how to actually get off the top because it wasn't totally obvious. Five rappels later we were back on the path and moments later drinking beer back at the "Hutte." Thursday 7th. A rather late Hut breakfast at 7,30 and we were away.

We climbed the superbly named Il Gobbo 2560m. The smallest of the trio towers that also include Torre Leo and Torre del Diavolo. This was not our original plan. We climbed the wrong tower. Hind sight is a wonderful thing , but peering up at the towers through the mist it wasn't "blinding obvious which one was which. Yet it was fantastic in its own right and whats more it set up the possibility of climbing all three famous towers. Il Leo , Il Gobbo and Diavolo. We decided to stay with the Heidi women another night and try again the next day. Friday 8th. This was to be the climb of the week: Torre Del Diavolo. The Devils Tower. Immortalized by Hans Dulfer and his crazy step from Torre Leo to actually make the 1st ascent of Torre Diavolo. Our plan [which was yesterdays plan] was to do follow this iconic climb. The weather wasn't ideal , it was very cold and we suffered from numb fingers . It wasn't until I launched my self onto the 3rd pitch of Torre Leo that we ended up in the sun. The pitch is utterly spectacular and one of the best pitches I have climbed in a long while. It finished on the summit of Torre Leo. Now was the challenge of the step over to the Torre Diavolo. I climbed down to attempt to make the stemming move. It was very clear, pretty quickly that it wasn't going to happen. At least until I grew new legs. I gave up and climbed back up to Charles to have a rethink. I then rappelled off the top of the tower and jumped across the gap and lunged for for what I hoped was a good hold. Charles shouted a congratulatory well done. This was my que to find out that the hold wasn't fit for purpose and consequently for me to go spinning into the Void between the two towers. I tried again after giving myself an "I can do this" pep talk. I also suggested that Charles save the congratulations until I was at the belay and tied in. 2nd time lucky. I Climbed up to the anchor sorted the ropes and set myself up to help Charles across.

Next was a steep loose pitch. Followed by another steep loose pitch which gently overhung but ultimately ended on the summit of the Devils Tower. The descent route wasn't blindingly obvious. The obvious rappel point was apparently there as some sort of cruel joke. Fortunately we employed the "measure twice cut once" technique and double checked. Two 50 meter rappels put us at the foot of the route. An hour and a bit later we were back at the car. We headed up the Passo Falzarego and stayed in the Albergo La Locanda del Cantoniere. This was an excellent location other than it was run by a Schizophrenic nutcase. [Update in the next Blog...]

Saturday 9th. Weather was indifferent so we climbed some single pitch bolted climbs at Cinque Torre, then in the afternoon headed for the Messner Museum. It is quirky. For starters it is made as difficult to get to as possibly any museum in the world. Firstly it involves driving up this endless alpine pass where at the top you dump the car and then have the option of taking a shuttle bus/ taxi, up to the actual museum which is an old Fort. Anybody who doesn't opt to take the shuttle bus is in for a mind numbing walk up a track for at least 2 hours. ( Thank god we took the bus.] Basically the museum is a very inaccessible art gallery. Interesting, BUT, neither Charles nor I would be rushing back anytime soon.

We drove to Belluno for no particular reason other than it was on the way and looked interesting. We found a hotel which was a wedding venue extraordinaire because of its beautiful situation. Although perhaps not the night we choose to be there because there were now biblical quantities of rain. Sunday 10th Finale Liguria here we come. Five hours after leaving Belluno we were climbing in Finale complaining about being too hot. Sunday 11th There was the inevitable thrashing around in the trees trying to follow the instructions in the guide book on how to locate the crag but eventually we did. The climbing grades are quite stiff! We stayed in the ultimate B&B , with a world class view. We then eat dinner in the village below which was so beautiful it was like something out of a film set. Monday 13th After an impressive breakfast on the terrace presented by our host Kostas we went climbing on the crag nearest to the B&B. We returned late afternoon then in the evening walked up to the church on the hill. Conveniently the church also doubles as a restaurant with a view. In fact if there is a restaurant with a better view show me it.

Tuesday 14th Charles had to fly home. We drove from to Finale to Geneva airport in 4 hours.

Completing The Iconic Swiss Trilogy: The Jungfrau 4158m

About eleven years ago Chris Dovell and I climbed the Eiger and the Monch but we failed to climb the Jungfrau due to high winds and bad weather and therefore the classic Bernese Trilogy. Chris then got distracted and went off to climb the "Seven Summits." So now having got this out of his system he returned with his wife, Lia ,to try the Jungfrau one more time. We left the Monchjoch Hut at about 4.00am and made our way down the glacier. This was all quite straight forward .Yet getting from the glacier and established on the buttress was far from straight forward. There was a steep 40 meter traverse on hard black ice. Lia was having issues with her crampons and we lost time. In addition the previous days weather had been extremely hot and we had not had a good solid freeze. Thus conditions were deteriorating and I could see that things were running away from us. At the col we elected to turn around for safety's sake. We decided that we would try again the next day. Lia was who was still recovering from a major knee injury felt she would leave Chris and I to try alone. We headed back to the Monchjoch Hut. The Hut could be an okay place apart from the fact that it is run by a man who is defiantly in the wrong job. The guardian is the most unwelcoming , unhelpful, mean spirited git I have had the misfortune to cross in a very long time. 3.30Am We choose to have an early a breakfast as we could so that we would have the maximum chance of it being cold. In addition the previous day we had sussed out the direct descent from the col. It is rarely feasible , but when conditions are good it cuts the time of the route by half. There were some big deep "tower block" swallowing crevasses to negotiate but we sped up the route taking of advantage of our earlier start and the better freeze. We arrived at yesterdays high point some two hours quicker . From here the route goes out onto a steep face which has metal posts in place to belay around. We motored up the final section. But contrived to arrive on the summit in thick mist at 9.00am. It was only on the way down that we got the view back.

We were back at the Jungfraujoch Station about 2 hours from leaving the summit.

Big Classic Alpine Climbing : East Ridge of Beitschhorn 3934m

The Alpine Club Guide book states

Beitschhorn Viewed from almost any angle it is a magnificent sight, standing proud of all the adjacent peaks. It has three principal ridges, each of which is quite narrow … None of the routes are easy

… The East ridge is probably the hardest of them . Naturally this is the route that John Young and I decided to attempt. Yet before the attempt there is the herculean task of actually getting to the hut: The walk in from the highest road point is a formidable five and half hours. The longest walk in in the western alps. Fortunately it is also the most beautiful once you have negotiated the 1600 meter long tunnel which is a "new" Bise a water irrigation system. The original was built in the 1400's and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The route passes through fabulous terrain , plus a sort of summer village come hippy retreat, before eventually arriving at the Baltschiederklause Hut. [Not before time.] Having invested all this effort in actually getting to the hut we felt we should perhaps climb another peak while we were there and so choose the west ridge of the Jagihorn. The ridge was good and quite hard, with some thought provoking rock climbing. The descent was relatively short although probably a little longer day than we would have wanted considering the task we had set for the next day. Just before dinner I was invited to "Cocktails" by the Guardian . It was a chance to meet other Guides. No one else was planning to climb the Beitschhorn the next day. The Guardian gave us the weather forecast. It was stellar. 21st August 3.00am Breakfast . Then we were off up the path following the reflective markers. These ran out just when they would have been really useful but we still randomly found the toe of the glacier. We trudged up the dry glacier and after about an hour we had a debate about where we should leave the glacier and start on the lower part of the ridge. The options looked difficult although in the end the correct choice was made and it was a lot less difficult than it looked. Once we were established on the ridge things went well. It is very long , mostly on good rock and the route finding is on the whole straight forward. If in doubt stick to the ridge. After about 7 hours since leaving the hut we arrived on the summit feeling we had made a good account of ourselves.

The plan was then to traverse the mountain and descend to the Beitschhorn Hut. This is where the plan went awry. The cloud behind John in the photo was not as benign as the forecast had predicted . Soon we were enveloped in thick mist. Then the wind got up. It then started to rain. John's glasses steamed up and he could see his feet. Then the wind started to really blow. We now couldn't see further than an out stretched hand and the only way we could communicate was to yell into each others ears. In addition this side of the mountain was plastered in thick unconsolidated snow where as the east ridge , our route of ascent was dry. So strong was the wind that we could not climb down the ridge for fear of being blown off. The whole outing was turning into a bit of a challenge. Eventually we got forced into descending a steep couloir on the north side of the mountain just in an attempt to get out of the wind. We were making very slow progress because John could not see through his misted up glasses. It was now raining hard and we were getting very cold . Again we were forced onto some more unpleasant loose ground . Eventually I spotted an escape route and a rappel point. We rappelled onto the glacier out out of the mist. We were feeling mightily relieved even though the glacier was soft and there were lots of holes to navigate around it was a thousand times better than what we had had to endure. Eventually at about 9.00 pm we arrived back at the Baltschiederklause Hut. Drenched through. The first thing we did was get the Guardian to call the Beitschhorn Hut to inform them we would not be coming. Then we both sat down while the Hut Staff prepared lots of food for us and some large beers. A big day. The next day we awoke to a leisurely breakfast. The main topic of conversation was how could the weather forecast be so wrong? A local Swiss Guide who had been on an adjacent mountain told me that when the storm came in he called Geneva Airport to ask them what was happening in real time. Apparently they denied there was any bad weather!

First Time on Crampons

The brief was to find somewhere high and spectacular where someone who had no previous alpine mountaineering experience could spend a week in an incredible environment. This was a challenge I accepted with Bob & Annie Taylor. Saturday 5th August. We met at the sports shop , Stamos Sports in Argentiere where Bob and Annie were kitted out with alpine climbing boots, crampons etc. We then headed up Les Grands Montets cable car for an initiation day. Annie had never worn crampons and the whole climbing thing was new to her. Meanwhile Bob was coming back to alpine climbing after a 30 year break. He was shocked that his new boots weighed virtually nothing while his boots of 30 years ago were more like deep sea diving boots. A lot of kit has changed in the last 30 years. We spent the morning learning the fundamentals of proper safe crampon technique. In the afternoon descended onto the glacier des Rognans. In the last 30 years it is not only the equipment has changed but the flip side is that so have the glaciers . It is utterly shocking to see the devastation reaked by global warming. What should have been a simple walk down a steepish snow slope turned into a baptism by fire of negotiating very intimidating open crevasses. What is the start of the ski piste in winter had become a very serious descent in the summer: The three of us headed down the "ski piste" before steeping over some eye wateringly huge crevasses. Next we turned left and climbed up the aiguille de Grands Montets eventually following the rocky ridge to the top. Sunday 6th August. We drove through the Mt Blanc tunnel down past Aosta then took the turning to Gressoney. We dumped the car at the road head at Staffel ,jumped on the cable car which conveniently put us at just over 3000 meters. We then walked and scambled to the Refugio Mantova for our first night at a very respectable 3500m. The sunset and view of Mt Blanc some 70 km was impressive: Monday 7th August. We left the Mantova at about 7.30 am , threaded our way through the the glacial rocks and then headed up the glacier negotiating some very photogenic crevasses. We made very good progress and were very happy to pass the magic 4000 meter mark. We continued on and reached the summit of Vincent Piramid 4200meters. We walked back down to the Gnifeti Hut slightly higher than the previous night. We sat on the terrace and Annie had the inspired idea of opening a bottle of Prosecco. It was all very fine , my only issue was it was just too hot. Tuesday 8th. Being too hot was not the issue the next day. The weather was not good for much as it snowed all day, Yet for us it gave us valuable further acclimatization which was going to be all important for aim of staying in the Margherita Hut. Wednesday 9th. The day started bright. The over night snow made everything look beautiful. We were careful not to be away too early so that other teams could break trail. Although we couldn't really afford to relaxed because the forecast was for storms in the afternoon. We enjoyed a wonderful ascent to the Margherita Hut at 4554meters , the highest building in Western Europe. We arrived at the Margherita at about 11.30am. Just before the weather turned bad . It started to snow and then the hut was hit by lightening knocking out the power for a while. Lightening strikes on the hut are a big deal. Recently according to the Hut Guardian someone had been fatally hit by lightening while taking a photo out of the window during a lightening storm. Although not fatal someone had also been hit by lightening which came through the air vent in the squatter toilet. Thursday 10th August. The last time I awoke in the Margerherita hut had been the Friday 24th June. The morning the Old , the Poor and the Stupid killed off the next generations future by voting for Brexit. [Why wouldn't you want your children to have the opportunities that a European passport provides?] Unfortunately I will always have this association with the Margherita. However on this morning I had the more practical issue of how we were going to get down in what was 30cm fresh snow and zero visibility. There was only one other Guide and party in the Hut that night. A very personable and very competent Grindlewald Guide named Patrick. We agreed to team up and work together. We didn't see much for the first couple of hours but once we got back to the Gnifeti Hut we were just below the cloud base. We stopped at the Mantova Hut for a cappuccino before sauntering back to the top of the lift syatem ending very good week.

Uninspiring and really dangerous alpine conditions.

Another unwelcome heat wave hit the western Alps. The result is that all the snow has been stripped from the glaciers [there wasn't much anyway] The snow that glued all the rocks in place has melted, resulting in massive stone-fall issues. For example , the Gouter route on Mt Blanc is closed for business on the advice of the Préfet de la Haute Savoie: We are into new territory in the sense of alpine conditions in late June. Over the last 10 years the Alps have seen conditions similar to the present ones , BUT they have tended to be at the end of the season. Not at the beginning of the season. Anyway you can charge on blindly with your fixed agenda , pretending that the above letter is just scaremongering , or you can adapt your climbing aspirations. So bearing all this in mind Steve Woollard and I choose to climb long rock climbs which were made of solid rock and objectively safe. On Monday 26th June we drove up to the Emosson Dam and climbed the superb 10 pitch route the Acqua Concert. Tuesday 27th. The weather forecast suggested that this would be our last good day of weather for the week. We headed around to Verbier , drove through the town and then up through the Savoleyres pistes finally parking the Land Rover Defender at 2370 meters. From there it was half an hours walk to the Pierre Avoi where we climbed L'Arete. Once we arrived at the top Steve said that he thought, situationaly , it was one of the best climbs he had ever done. [Steve had done a lot of climbing!]

Wednesday 28th . The weather forecast was correct it rained and we agreed to take the day off. Thursday 29th The forecast was poor for Chamonix the temperature had plummeted . We had a good look at all the forecasts and it seemed that there was a possibility of clear weather in the morning , but only south of Aosta. So I scooped Steve up at 6.45am and we drove down to Arnad. We were at the foot of the route ,the famous and sought after, Bucce d"Arnancia. All was good apart from the fact that it was running with streaks of water which made it much much harder than we would have wanted it to be. At least the water in the cracks was warm. We walked off the top of the crag and stopped in the mystical village of Machaby at the Fort for a cappuccino. This proved to be a minor mistake because we got caught in the afternoon thunderstorm. Friday 30th . The overnight storms had put down unseasonable snow on the peaks around Chamonix. We drove through to Switzerland this time heading down the Rhone valley to Lavey Les Bains. Here there is the little known , but utterly spectacular pillar de la Pissechevre. Eight pitches of steep atmospheric climbing which culminates with the intimidatingly steep final pitch.

Mixed weather for the start of the summer alpine mountaineering season.

Brett and Sacha only had four days. The first two days were forecast to be very good. The forecast for the final two days was anything but. So if we were going to make the most of the good weather we needed to hit the ground running. In addition we were still very early in the season and a lot of the necessary infrastructure such as cable cars , mountain huts etc were all closed. On our first day we drove up to the Emosson Dam . We parked the car and headed of up the Aiguille Van.2578m. Being early in the season meant that there was still a lot of snow around. More than I had ever encountered on this route. The path up to the start of the climbing was buried and it made finding the start far from simple. Nevertheless Brett and Sacha climbed quickly . So quickly ,that when we arrived at the col between the two summits of the Aiguille Van I suggested that we might push on to the higher and more spectacular Grands Perrons.2578m. The most remote and sought after summit in the area. On the Saturday the plan was to get the 1st cable car up from the Italian side and ride the Skyway lift in order that we might attempt La Tour Ronde.3793m. Yet as we approached the start of the route it became blindingly obvious that this wasn't going to happen. Even this early in the season the route had lost its snow cover and was now a death trap full of falling rocks. So we had to resort to Plan B. We climbed the north west face of the Aiguille de Toule. 3534m, arriving on the summit just in time to see absolutely nothing. On the Sunday it was lashing it down. I looked at the weather maps in an attempt to find us some good weather. Surprisingly I found some good weather in the last place I expected. The Grand St Bernard. Normally if you are looking for bad weather you can be sure to find it at the Grand St Bernard , but apparently not on the 4th of June. so that is where we headed and sure enough the weather was good. We climbed Mt Fourchon,2902m wishing we had skis with us as there was plenty of snow . We arrived on the summit just as the mist came in and once again we saw absolutely nothing. On the descent we made good use of the snow and practiced Ice axe arrests. An essential skill for any would be mountaineer. We practiced the entire set of scenarios , sliding feet first, head first , on your back head first. On the Monday it continued to rain in Chamonix. We decided on a technical day: Tricks of the trade -climbing up ropes using prussiks rope-man etc. In the afternoon it stopped raining so we went to the crag in Les Houches and completed some multiple Rappels and looked at what was necessary to do this safely in the Alps. Brett and Sacha finished up by leading some of the routes in their big alpine boots.