Chilling in Italy

After our big day out, we went to Italy for some chilled out cragging followed by pizza and ice cream. Great day!

Goats make better boulderers

After meeting Adam we headed to a land of huge rock pinnacles (Tenailles) to climb a 10 pitch 6b route but immediately regretted our leisurely start as we encountered a queue at the base of the climb. To avoid waiting we decided to do the harder route next to it instead. And it was tough!! 6c crux at the start on slab with no holds, levitation required. Followed by a few more 6b and 6b+ pitches, some delicate and some more thuggy. Luckily Adam and I managed to lead our preferred styles with Adam breaking out up the steep stuff and me taking over on the more delicate stuff. We topped out amongst more pinnacles and threaded our way down between them on foot and back to the base of the climb. The highlight of the day was catching up with a HUGE flock of sheep and goats being driven down the hill at speed!

The route I came back for...

Finally, La vie devant soi (6b) up the face of Palavar. 13 pitches of incredible rock, mostly on slab. Fantastic! Highlights were the harder pitches with delicate face climbing on tiny holds, crimps and tidy footwork definitely required. Absolutely shattered afterwards but well worth it. Great day out!

Heart of Briançon

Great to be back in the Ecrins. Had a fabulous day climbing with Robin followed by a tour of old Briançon and an amazing lightshow bivvying outside so as not to miss anything – no less than 13 shooting stars and a weird flickering that lit up the sky sporadically. So glad I’m only climbing 13 pitches tomorrow and didn’t need much sleep at all.

Return to the sunshine

The van only stopped a few times on the way to France, it has started to randomly cut out whilst driving which is quite exciting! 

The first time I got out the emergency triangle thinking it was the beginning of the end but a few minutes later it started like a dream. 

Had a few ducks over to dinner in my overnight stop at Reims. 

Climbing Prohibited

Well it might as well be at the moment, given the shite weather! When will it stop showering and give us just one completely dry day to enjoy some climbing?

I'm off to find some sort of sacrificial lamb to appease the weather gods!

Fighting the panic

It's dark, there's not much air, you're squeezing your body through the smallest gaps imaginable and you're way underground. Well what else would you do on a rainy afternoon? I was beginning to regret saying yes to the caving adventure and was fantasising about sitting on the sofa and watching crap TV for the rest of the day.

However, Adam was as enthusiastic as ever as were my pals from London - so off we went.

It isn't a glamorous hobby, overalls, wellies, helmets and torches...crawling around in the mud on your hands and knees. On one occassion I do have to say I felt the onset of a little panic come over me as I started to think about the roof caving in on us or running out of air down there. Breathe and relax and try to enjoy it, I kept telling myself. However, I soon forgot about the rising fear as I was busy watching Adam contort and squeeze his way through the tiny gaps. All the time thinking if he can get through then I definitely know I can and please god don't tell me we have to come back this way - isn't there any easier way out?

A couple of hours was enough for us so Heidi, Chris and I headed back out. Adam gave us strict instructions not to get lost and off we went. Well we didn't get lost but I had an anxious few moments while we were trying to figure out where the exit was. Good skills Chris for finding it for us. Never again will I take for granted fresh air, space and being able to actually stand upright!!

Caving - a great adventure but probably a one off, as groping around in the dark in tiny confined spaces definitely isn't for me.

Hard Limestone

I had promised a weekend of sport routes on Limestone - so off we headed to Cheedale. What a fabulous setting; lovely river, green green fields and trees and good quality rock. The only problem is that it is very hard and technical. You can't fudge your way through these routes, you need to use your feet well and all the technique you can muster or you will be spat off quickly.

The routes were certainly hard and I had to fight my way up a 6c on top rope - every hold had to be used a certain way and I learnt a huge amount about twisting and body placement. Thanks to my fantastic climbing coaches with far superior skills. I even managed to get up a third of the 7a+ they were working on, well the easy delicate fingery bit at the bottom anyway. The top looked horrific so I stopped there.

I'll be back to Cheedale for more rock lessons as soon as I can.

Back to Grit

After two months it was back to beloved gritstone to tick some long term projects. Three routes at Froggatt have been on the wish list for some time. Chequer's Buttress HVS, Tody's Wall HVS and Brown's Eliminate at E2. We started out on Chequer's Buttress to warm up!

I thought that would be the easiest tick of the day...however, the reachy moves around the corner to establish yourself on the arete took a while to committ to. After much debate and trying out a few possible moves I kept retreating back down to a rest - desperate to climb it cleanly I was determined not to rest on my gear. I was soon sweating as I realised I had climbed past the point of no return and couldn't downclimb. I was committed to making the moves or taking a big fall round the corner onto my 'bomber?' nut. Breathe slowly, concentrate and reach up up up for the good hold. Fantastic!! I was super nervous and almost lost it but held it together for the most rewarding tick. Well worth the wait.


Tody's wall was a breeze in comparison - one big move followed by easy slab and crack climbing above.

By this time I had already talked myself out of the biggest tick of the day - Brown's Eliminate. It was quite windy and I didn't fancy being blown off route onto dodgy gear at less than half height. It will wait for me...but I need to get the timing and my confidence right first.

So what next? I decided on CMC slab at HVS which was pretty terrifying with two pieces of dodgy protection behind a small flake that moved as I seated the gear. The moves weren't too bad but the gear was purely psychological.

By this time I wanted to test my nerve even further and chose Motorcade at E1. I had seen other climbers back off this route and knew that gear wouldn't be too good but it looked so tempting. At least I knew I could retreat to safety if I needed to. With our pals watching on, one lashed to a tree to take good pictures - the pressure was on. Needless to say it was another 'you don't want to fall off from there' type of route. Absolutely loved it. Got plenty of gear in a break way beneath me and then went for it. The final move was committing but felt great and having a friend nearby for encouragement helped me nail it quickly.

Chris and Heidi both ended the perfect day leading Three Pebble Slab - E1 that might as well be a solo for all the protection it offers. The beer tasted sweet after a great day out. SOOO pleased to be back on grit.

Thanks Marielle for more photos of Dibona

When I reached the top of Dibona I saw the couple who had climbed above us, sitting in the sunshine from the descent path looking up at us. They very kindly took a few summit shots and I received them by email today.

Unfortunately the clouds came in so they didn't get one of Sari and I both together but it is great to have another few pictures of this incredible day out.

Merci Marielle!

My right arm gone to Kyrgysztan

My van mate and climbing buddy of 6 weeks has now left for Kyrgysztan. She'll be climbing Peak Lenin in July and exploring new mountains in August.
Good luck Sari! Hope it all goes well.
Her exped blog is http://karagakarexped09.blogspot.com/

Fitness training with the wonder dog

I think the dog needs it more than me at the moment, we had to stop after just 2 laps of our local hill as he was lagging behind me!! I guess being black and furry and having to run fast uphill probably isn't the best on super hot days.

Limestone at home

It isn't 400 meters high and there are no mountains surrounding us.

But it's still great quality climbing and the sun is shining.

Sari and I had a really chilled out day and learnt how to climb again without bolts!!

We climbed:
Conclusor HVS - Ravensdale
Froth VS - Stoney Middleton (been on my tick list for ages, hooray)
Gabriel & Pearly Gates VS - Stoney
Aurora Arete HVS - Stoney.
Thanks to Adam for bringing fun and refreshments at the end of the day.