Heading west, Reluctant retreat from the alps

Reluctantly as it becomes clearer that autumn is coming (week of rain and snow higher) we leave chamonix and begin our retreat from summer in the alps.

We take a beautiful short trip in the Ecrins (first time) staying near Ailefroide doing a few 250m granite routes in the valley and walking up to Glacier Blanc

Then continuing west, with a pit stop in Verdon for a few routes Gros Lard & Deux doigts dans le Nez.

Pictures explain best!!

Valley life

Off to chamonix, only our forth ever visit and very different this time. On this trip we are time-rich and money-poor, usually (relatively) it's the other way round. In past trips we arrive with mountain gear (boots, crampons, axe) and have the money for the valley lift systems to midi, montenvers, index etc. Loads of amazing memories climbing on south face of the midi, above the ever hut, blatiere, brevent and index, and Montenegro Blanc.

This time it's a little different, no mountain gear, and lifts are too expensive for our budget, yet we spend a brilliant month here living cheap and simple in the van exploring the lower valley on foot walking and climbinh and find out there are loads of other brilliant things to do.

From Praz where we found a great free van overnight spot with spectacular views of Les Drus and Aig Verde and access to the Mer de Glace.

Argentiere and access to Aig Rouge, fun slab climbing in le Chezerys, and near Mer design Glace at le chapeau.

Col design Monet and another good overnight spot and some classic bouldering on gneiss.

Vallorcine with easy access to Valloracine de Berard and Mont Oreb with nice 200-300m multi pitch on gneiss.

And to the Swiss border at Barberine with some brilliant granite multi-pitch 250m viper and piola.

Also stretching back into Switzerland at Dorenaz with some fun road side Craggie and a brilliant Remy brothers multi-pitch in sektor Tichodrome.

We did indulge ourselves with one lift pass to climb on Brevent climbing a longer 200m+ route in the morning on the south face and a few pitches on les plaques du Brevent  in the afternoon.

We hung around for an extra week to catch up with a few British friends who were over for a week walking Le Tour, then started our movement west slowly retreating from the alps.

"no-holds" Grimsel, scary, brilliant & beautiful

Oh man!! Where have all (any!) of the holds gone.... #swiss #slabs #granitedomes

Getting out of our comfort zone on the amazing Eldorado, 500m / 14 pitches of granite dome swooping down to the Grimselee in Switzerland. Motorhead (the route name) felt sustained and hard for us, not so much the grade but the style (physical with strenuous laybacking), and when not strenuous then run-out and mentally taxing, plus some tricky to protect flared cracks all adds up to a brilliant challenge on stellar granite (a Remy brothers classic). Took a decent fall (7m) too, as a foot popped whilst trying to place some gear, a trusty yellow alien cam below holding me. Cracking route and memories, thanks to my partner Paula for taking up the adventure, our learning curve continues...

woohoo the dollies!!!!! (Dolomites)

Ever since Paula & I started to develop the skills and experience to climb in more adventurous environments (mountains, multi pitch) the Dollies appeared on our radar and took our hearts, with its mixture of beautiful settings, familiar limestone like rock, and endless possibilities from moderate to extreme.

It feels a bit like returning, well not quite home, but somewhere cherised as we returned for our third time. This time without a deadline for a return flight home and also planning to meet up with some friends from the UK (Pilar & Julian) who were coming out for a week.

Both Paula and I were psyched to come back and meet up with some friends after 3 months in the van together ;-)

We started in some familiar areas at Cinque Torri, then Sella Towers and Piz Ciavazes, initially seeming to spend our days with our heads in the clouds, a little more altitude and the mountain weather.

Some memorable routes included Finlandia at Cinque Torri, Vintanzer on Sella Tower 3, Schubert and then Roberta 83 on Piz.

Clear crisp skies after days of storms, moon out views from our wild camp spot at Cinque torri

Finlandia

Brilliant to see Julian and Pilar for a week

ciao ciao Valle dell’Orco, missing you already!!!

As a climber I've always dreamed of travelling to the US and climbing on the amazing granite in Yosemite and Tuolumne. The closest I've got to this is probably the Granite in Chamonix like the South face of the Aig du Midi and areas around the Envers Hut. But most of the climbing I did there was not (yet) on splitter cracks.

We kind of new we didn't have the skills yet when we were there, but our climbing has developed well albeit slowly and after trying some classics in Millstone in the Peak District last year and having some moderate success, the idea of going to Valle dell'Orco for some proper granite splitters was enticing.

It's a beautiful valley in northwestern Italy in the Gran Paradiso National Park. A beautiful alpine valley with snow capped 4000m range at one end, thick forest, gushing waterfalls, a noisy river, and of course some fabulous Granite feeding us a daily diet of natural lines, mainly some proper jamming Cracks, beautiful Dihedrals, and run-out friction climbing, all making me admire those masters dancing up the granite walls of yosemite even more.

The valley was blissfully quiet,…and stunning,...and full of interesting routes, and you can wild camp easily near the cool glacier fed river, having not climbed in the US yet this was a great way to develop our skills for this style.

We will be back for more...Sergent & Caporal...

I read this blog before travelling, rather than repeat similar content have a read if your planning a trip

http://travelswithrockboots.blogspot.ch/2014/07/orco.html