For the first time on this trip we have a visitor!out friend Colin flew over and met us in Cham, we put him up in the five star spare room in the van, also known as the front seats, and decided on a few places to visit. We first took a trip to Les Gaillands,... Continue Reading →
For years I have come to Chamonix in the summer for rock climbing and mountaineering adventures. I’ve always looked up at these beautiful mountains and wondered what they would look like with their winter coat on and now I have had the chance! We arrived in Chamonix at the start of the month after three... Continue Reading →
In my last post I described our trip to Montserrat, where we walked and climbed in the mountains above the Monastery. The views in this place were out of this world, towers of rock stood atop of a huge mound, and from a distance it looks like a hedgehog. We enjoyed our time there, although... Continue Reading →
This is the most common question we have been asked when we meet friends, each time it is asked, we mumble for a while between ourselves as we try to break down ten months of continuous travel, adventure and van life. It’s too difficult to pick one experience that has outdone the others, as... Continue Reading →
After leaving Croatia due to cold weather, we thought we would entertain even colder climates in Slovenia, and see how both the van and us would fair. On crossing the border we headed straight for Bled, and stopped at a service station for the night. In Croatia we had already given into the cold at... Continue Reading →
It feels like half the time, which can only be a good thing! When we set out we planned on a years trip and so far it is all going to plan. Of course there have been a few problems on the way ( no one mention getting stuck and wedging the van under a... Continue Reading →
So far Slovenia has been a beautiful place, we have only a few places on which to base this opinion, but so far we have had a blast. The classic sights of Bled coupled with some Gorge and waterfall walks have been fantastic, however we still feel the need to itch the climbing addicts within... Continue Reading →
In all honesty this second outing to the Dolomites has been one long hard week of fun! In eight days we have had seven of them out in the mountains, with one off in the middle, my body is feeling sore, but it has been worth it. Last time I left the area feeling disappointed... Continue Reading →
This is one of the classic Via Ferrata in the Dolomites, add to this fact that there is a bridge, we just had to have a go! Sometimes classic means ruined by the passage and polish of many climbers and although it did have lots of polish the route, it was still a really good... Continue Reading →
Or so my guidebook says, Magnifici Quattro (The magnificent Four) is a grade grade 6BVF, and is named in honour of four members of mountain rescue who tragically died whilst on a rescue mission. Jess and me both felt as though we had the ability to climb this route and so set our alarms early... Continue Reading →
This climb was our fourth day on the bounce and it's fair to say I am feeling a little bit fragile after it all, it's time for a day off, however before that I will write a short piece on this climb. It's fair to say that the great weather we are having is the... Continue Reading →
After a couple of tough days on the Col dei Bos, we decided that we would continue with a third day, this time on the Via Ferrata Michielli Strobel on Punta Fiames. This is close to where we have parked and seems to have a smaller approach time, as Jess does not like long approach... Continue Reading →
Finally we have made it back to the mountains, oh how much I have missed being here! It sounds weird to have been travelling, climbing and diving across Italy and Sardinia, and the whole time I felt like there was something missing, and I've not realised it was this, hills, mountains, towering rock faces, amazing... Continue Reading →
As I have said in the previous posts the Dolomites one of the most beautiful places I have visited, however beneath this veil is the scared history of war. The approach and descent from Sass de Stria, and the climbing around Cinque Torri enabled us to walk through many trenches, look out points and cave... Continue Reading →
Whilst climbing on the South Arête of Sass de Stria, we could see in the distance a skyline broken by a hedge hog effect of rock. Sticking out in all angles and all shapes and sizes was the Cinque Torri (the five towers). This was one of the places on my climbing hit list in... Continue Reading →
We knew on completing our climb on the Vajolet Towers that the weather was changing for the worse! As it turned out, we moved to a new location, Canazai, which had a parking bay on the other side of town that had running water, toilets and bins, all useful when stopping somewhere! As I said,... Continue Reading →
We have been planning on getting to the Dolomites for quite a few months now, and finally we are here. Another outdoor playground to set out on a bunch of adventures! First off we have started the trip in the Catinaccio area, also known as the Rosegarten area. Local legend say that Catinaccio was ruled... Continue Reading →
Many years ago, I was climbing in North Wales and me and my partner decided to pop into Plas Y Brenin as there is a bar there and an adventure presentation/talk on the Alps. Whilst enjoying a pint of local ale I watched and listened as the presenter (an instructor at the centre) talked through... Continue Reading →
By Christ the weather has been a big load of manure for a few days, and this time it’s was wet, cold and just plain horrible for days on end. As we are tighter than tight, we can very rarely do anything, as everything here costs money, so we spent a good period of time... Continue Reading →
It must appear to some that each of these climbs/posts are starting to roll into one another, however this could not be further from the truth. Each of these experiences is unique to one another. Sure, there are similarities, but each adventure has its own personalities, its own take on a similar story, and todays... Continue Reading →
In my last post In Descent Proposal, Voie Ravanel (D, 5b), Pointes de Bayere, I finished by mentioning that the descent had been hampered somewhat by a pain in my ankle. Although this pain was not so acute to stop, it was enough to keep me aware that it might get worse, especially on the scree... Continue Reading →
For a while now I have moaned about the weather here in Cham, it’s been okay, however I’ve always wanted it to be better! So the other day we got a window of what looked like good weather and we were going to take it! I started looking into routes in the mid mountains, as... Continue Reading →
We have been based in Chamonix for the best part of a month and have so far had some great adventures in the mountains. That said, there have often been down days where rest is required and there have been as many, if not more, bad weather days where restlessness is acquired. The past few... Continue Reading →
As the title says this is a rematch against this route as a few weeks ago, both Jess and me retreated from the route, the whole story is here, and involved lots of tiredness, rudeness, dysentery and a stuck abseil rope. All in all, its fair to say that we hated that day and did... Continue Reading →
We have had a barren spell of getting into the mountains recently, mostly due to the weather. That’s not to say we have not missed a couple of average days, when getting up at 6am, looking through the curtains and seeing nothing but cloud or rain, and on those days my bed is more inviting.... Continue Reading →
The weather here has been a bit poor recently and has kept us rooted to the valley floor, with rain, wind and cloud. However all this bad weather has enabled me to write a few more blog posts about climbing in the valley that I will publish later. That said, the days of sitting in the... Continue Reading →
Sometimes a post does not need a title, as the name of the climb is so cool! That’s the first thing that drew me to this climb, the second was its vicinity to the Index chair lift, only 20 minutes to walk in, and thirdly was the 6a pitch, as I’m hoping to climb bolts... Continue Reading →
Just a short one as it was a short day! After such a long day spent on the Aiguille Purtscheller, me and Jess fancied an easier day with less approach and lower graded climbing, but still keeping to traditional climbing, so the South East Ridge on the index was an ideal choice. It has a... Continue Reading →
Before I begin going on about the to and fro that took place on this trip, I will state in a phrase that I have read I the past, “… we humans often experience happiness without recognizing it, later we realize that at such and such a moment we were happy”, Re reading this recently... Continue Reading →
It seems that everyone who has been mountaineering in Chamonix has done the Arête des Cosmiques, well not me, until today that is! It's a classic route that is a short walk from the lift station, and after a few ups and downs ends back at the station. So it is obvious why it's popular,... Continue Reading →
After a couple of day’s downtime, we finally struck up a plan to get back up in the mountains for a day. We chose this route, as the North West Ridge is in nearly every guidebook for the area, so it must be worth a spin! We then looked into the Rockfax guidebook and found... Continue Reading →
Ever since the beginning of this trip I have had one dream, the Alps. To get stuck into the mountains for no other reasons than I absolutely love it. I don’t know why and I have no answer as to why, it just is amazing. I have been flicking though the Chamonix guide book for... Continue Reading →
So on here I have posted much about the days when there is lots going on, I have talked about life in the van a little and although there are adventures taking place pretty regularly out here, there are also days where the sun does not shine and life is put on hold, such as... Continue Reading →
To start this entry I am going to try and paraphrase a definition I learnt at University, it was a definition of adventure, something along the lines of ‘Taking part in an activity or journey with an unknown outcome’, this next entry has this in a vast quantity. Everything that we set out for was... Continue Reading →
After a few weeks in the burgundy region of France, we made the snap decision for a change of scenery and hit the road, bound for Chamonix. Once we arrived, we had a day off to rest, and managed to sort out some admin in the van and around town. By the end of the... Continue Reading →
After a hard months climbing in and around the Chamonix area, we were beginning to run out of steam, there was some still left in the tank, so we chose to have a crack at some routes in the Aiguille Rouges. The entire trip we had not used lifts as we were on a massive budget, so going up the Index lift was a luxury and my feet were happy for the relief of not having to hike to the base of the climbs.
This was the second route that I completed in the Aiguille Rouges range in Chamonix. The first route, a day before was on the Aiguille L'Index, which you literally see as soon as you come off the Index cable car. However both routes command amazing panorama views across the Mont Blanc Range opposite. We bivied... Continue Reading →
This climb was completed in the summer of 2015, during a somewhat turbulent trip to the Alps, we had been somewhat unlucky with the weather and also with other climbs that were left without topping out. All this had led to tensions within the group, and when a weather window showed its head we jumped at... Continue Reading →
So during a rally from London to Mongolia, Phil and myself split from the other two in our car, and headed to Kyrgyzstan by ourselves. We had an amazing time from the first time we entered Kyrgyzstan, with a couple of relaxing days in Osh, before driving up the Karakol highway over a couple of... Continue Reading →
After sleeping night on the airport floor, I was awoken by George at about 4.30 ready for the flight. After a short while packing up we were all ready and waiting in the Ryan Air queue. For once we were luckily enough all sat in the emergency exits and had ample leg room which was... Continue Reading →
So not much to say on the general trip that built up to this climb, as it was a pretty dismal couple of weeks, with bad weather and bad moods not helping during the time spent in the Alps. We had failed on a route on Montagne des Agneaux in Ecrins and the weather had... Continue Reading →
For once I decided to book a trip to Scotland in advance, a stupid idea, which is regularly rewarded with sitting in whatever accommodation I have paid for looking out to the not so pretty weather! This time was nearly of the same old song… We spent 2 days toiling with boredom and a... Continue Reading →
So I have not seen Mike since we were in the Alps the summer 13' but as he lives up north he makes the perfect winter climbing partner, apart from the fact that he had never done any winter climbing before, however that was all to change! After a long coach journey up to Aberdeen,... Continue Reading →
This is a trip that happened on my second Alpine trip, we had just had a successful trip to the summits of Tete Blanche and Petit Fouche! Unfortunately it had rained like never before and we got pretty wet, so by the time we were back in the valley we had a day off to... Continue Reading →
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