Last of the ice

The exceptionally warm weather and some new snow has accelerated the end of the ice this season. My last day out was with Lucy Creamer, one of Britain’s most accomplished female climbers, to try a long route in Fressineres. The valley is beautiful and the ice routes, well what was left of them looked fantastic. It was just a shame that everything, literally everything was falling down. So we headed to another venue for some roadside ice cragging. It was great to get out and climb with Lucy, who led a route with a sustained ice pillar. The placements felt good but the quality of the ice was like sugar and we were dubious about the security of our ice screw placements.

Holiday on ice

February was a great month for getting out climbing with pals on ice. Judi was over from Ireland and our friend Richard from Reading. Richard led his first ice route in great style and really took to ice climbing. To start we went to the cascade artificielle in Aiguilles, a perfect location to practice on steep ice in a lovely location, just one minute from the car! We then went to try Canyon de Prareboul but the ice routes we’re in great condition so we did the first pitch of a 4+ route and lowered off a huge pillar. The lead felt scary as the ice formations made placing ice screws difficult but it was good to get on something, as the day was fast becoming a washout. Thanks to Richard & Judi for a great climbing holiday out here.

More ice adventures

Resting is so boring, I hate being injured. So we headed off into the mountains for some intense ice climbing physio.

Ice Climbing Ecrins

A visit from a pal in the UK was a great excuse to get out ice climbing. Well it's not skiing, so am sure the knee will be fine, much less likely to fall over and hurt myself. I didn't realise that skiing would be more hazardous to my well being than the climbing. Natalie and I had a fantastic few days out on the ice, her first time. I've got the bug now, couldn't stop smiling all the way up each route. I LOVE IT!

4 days, 2000 kms, 2 girlies

6 hot dawgs, 6 Viking beers, 1 giant Coke can, 31 hours driving, 5 guest houses, 2 pick and mix, 3 blocks of halva, 9 petrol stations, 17 snow ploughs, 0 hot springs, 6 sagas, 3 reindeer herds, hundreds of ponies and even more dead hanging fish. Iceland rocks!

Bless Bless Iceland

More of the same today, amazing driving but still no sign of ice so we decided to  join the tourist trail. Just as we had given up our search we found an ice line on the way to the tourist attraction of Geysir. So after ticking off the sights we headed back for the route. We think it is a new route at WI4 and have chosen to name it Bless Bless which means Bye Bye in Icelandic (a phrase we learnt off our friends Peter and Konnie), a fitting name as we were on our way home.

Keep on truckin'

Day 3 was all about the mileage. And survival...trying to negotiate mountain roads, whiteouts and snow drifts in Ruby our little 1L 2WD Hyundai!! For hundreds of kms we passed only a few 4x4 trucks/pick ups but everyone stopped to chat and laugh with us (or at us). 

The scenery was wonderful (when you could actually see it), driving round fjords and glaciers with snowy peaks going right out to the sea. We were on the home stretch heading out east and then south. None of the ice venues we passed were in condition but we were loving our journey. Fingers crossed we would find one last patch of ice before the airport tomorrow.

Blizzards, beaches and fruit buns

Wow, today will take some beating. We drove out to the beach at Bjorg in search of seaside icefalls and weren't disappointed. After a warm welcome from Konnie with a fabulous breakfast, Peter took us out to the ice by Skidoo which was very exciting (three people, two climbing rucksacks with spiky axes on the outside and a small seat). Rosie liked it so much she decided to try launching herself off the back! 

The location is absolutely spectacular with ice falls stretching right down and out to the ocean. Climbing above the snow covered beach with black sand in a blizzard has to be the most amazing climbing experience ever. Peter very kindly collected us and we spent the rest of the day happily chatting and eating with our new friends. 

Thanks very much to Konnie and Peter for making our day so memorable. 

Check out http://www.bjorgum.is/icebjorg

Iceland's tallest Slush Puppie

Our masterplan was to drive round the entire country in the 4 days we had, going clockwise, taking in as many climbing venues as we could en-route.

Super excited to finally get out of Reykjavik we headed to Glymur, Iceland's largest waterfall at 200m in height. Once we eventually found it (maps are for girls), we were suitably impressed. In a very dramatic setting with steep cliffs, swooping birds and roaring water. However the ice on closer inspection turned out to be of the slushy variety and we hadn't bought any crazy flavourings or colourings with us! So instead we soaked up the view and had a photoshoot at the top of the fall. Only 500kms til bedtime.