So it's fair to say it's been a long time since I last put up a post. It's not that I've not been doing nothing, it's that I've done less and then not documented it. My bad! Maybe on the downtime afforded by the social lockdown, I will have time to post a few updates.... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
So it's the end of our first week in El Chorro, and the heavens have opened, leaving me with some time to write up a blog post of what we have been up to so far. In all honesty this first week has been a little up and down. First of all we drove close... Continue Reading →
We have continued our climbing tour through Costa Blanca, with a trip to a crag called Sax, again we were chasing top fifty and three stared routes from the Rockfax book. Sax had a lot of good routes, and looked like a great place to climb although the guidebook did say that the venue was... Continue Reading →
We have been in Costa Blanca for the better part of two weeks and have so far had an absolute blast! My previous two posts have already highlighted some of the fantastic adventures that we have experienced here, such as the Bernia ridge, various quality single pitch crags, climbing on Toix on Christmas Day and... Continue Reading →
There have been some highlights on this trip for me and this day is another to go on that list. I'm not sure why, but this ridge has been on my wantlist for a while, I can't even remember where I first read about it, although at some point it crossed my path and ever... 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Colin and me fancied a trip during the Easter holidays and where better than sunny Wales, you heard me sunny! A fantastic week chasing up some classic routes after a long time away. We drove up in my ever reliable mini and camped on the farmer’s field just off the A5, and for 5 pound... 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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