Category Archives: Mountaineering

Jolly slushy

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Our annual Cairngorms jolly with expedition friends was the first for years that we haven’t snatched at least one climb (soft, melting snow made the gullies unattractive and meant anything more interesting wasn’t in condition).

Instead we headed onto the plateau, aiming for an unlikely ascent of Macdui amid strong winds and deep slush, more than half expecting to decide not to bother before we got too far into the blanket cloud. Amazingly, another pair of unenthused climbers decided to join us, and we were very grateful for the extra trail-breaking capability! There was a strong headwind on the lower slopes, but even when it started raining and we lost visibility it didn’t really seem bad enough to turn back, so on we went. Actually the snow was reasonably solid up high. Dave thoroughly enjoyed navigating in a whiteout, especially when we found the summit at the first time of asking after several featureless kilometres on the same bearing. Somewhat surprisingly it wasn’t windy at all there, so we enjoyed a sandwich before heading back to the corrie edge, pausing to inspect some palatial snow holes on the way. Less surprisingly, we didn’t see anyone until we reached the top of the climbs and the ski slopes. Back at the car by mid-afternoon, feeling quite pleased with ourselves!

A similar venture the following day didn’t appeal and we opted for a low-level walk up to Loch Eanaich (between Sgor Gaoith and Braeriach). Varied scenery, a good leg stretch and quite spring-like in the lower reaches of the glen.

On Monday there was time for a morning’s outing before heading home. In glorious sunshine we drove towards Schiehallion, only to discover that it appeared to be the only mountain in the Highlands in cloud! Luckily it dissipated before we reached the summit and our main concern was the brilliant reflections off the snow patches (we’d accidentally left our sunglasses in the car)…

Gleann Eanaich (no pictures of the Macdui expedition – although if you look at a blank sheet of paper (preferably wet) you’ll get the idea)
Loch Eaniach
The glen again
Rothiemurchus forest
Way up Schiehallion
Snow 🙂
The summit
The view
The view the other way
The selfie

Finding the snow in Snowdonia

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Along with most of the other climbers based in the south of the UK, the forecast of heavy snow followed by sunny days was too much, so we headed on a last minute trip to Wales.

We joined a number of other vans in a quiet car park for Friday night, before joining the rush out the car park and onto the hills. The snow was plastering most of the hillside and although deep drifts were likely in the gullies, the icy paths and blue sky got us excited for some ridge based winter climbing. However, as we approached our intended ridge (Cneifion Arete), the snow was refusing to crisp up and the rock was looking decidedly black. A close inspection showed unfrozen turf on the crux and no ice or snow, so we passed. Another team decided to give a ‘summer’ ascent a go, and we watched from afar as they made possibly the slowest ascent ever seen.

We headed for objective two, an ascent of Seniors Ridge. However, the 2 inch crust of snow delighted in cracking under any weight, often resulting in sinking to knee depth. Any attempted respite from breaking trail was in vain, as the snow had a wonderful secondary compaction quality. Whenever the second (or indeed the lead, if they stopped and restarted) put weight on compacted snow, it gave way to greater depth. An adventurous spirit, dogged determination and misplaced optimism about better (colder) conditions higher up meant that the tempting looking gullies were sought out, only to be floundered up finding ever more frequent waist deep holes. Packs full of unused winter climbing gear and warm layers (it was quite warm) simply added to the excitement by increasing the chances of toppling over and requiring extra effort to extract limbs from the depths of the snow.

The fun ended too soon, and we were on the top by lunchtime, so after a quick relocation on the summit of Glyder Fawr, we headed over to Glyder Fach.  The wind scoured plateau and a path that was well compacted by the huge crowds meant it was easy going. Until I got bored and attempted the direct route out of the col onto Castell y Gwynt. Once again into the holes and crusty deep snow covering a boulder field. After about 30 minutes of slogging, we came over the top and back onto the path, 200m from where we had left it. A quick jaunt up to see the cantilever, and we were once again tempted off the path towards the top. It soon became apparent that no-one had attempted to reach the summit of Glyder Fach. The summit being a massive boulder field with human sized holes covered in snow, this is hardly surprising and once we remembered this, we also aborted. Some of the most tiring and trickiest conditions we have ever been out in.

Our final excitement for the day was a descent of Y Gribin, which had been heavily compacted over the day, giving compact slippery snow; an excellent complement to the morning’s powder which might have been slightly less interesting had we bothered to put crampons on.

A pub meal followed by another night in a friendly car park meant we were raring to go on Sunday morning, and an ascent of Snowdon from Rhyd Ddu was chosen as a new route up an old mountain. The final ridge was airy (but cloudy) and good fun. We didn’t stay long up high due to excess people, but descended over slippy grass, slippy rock and slippy snow before making a quick ascent of Y Garn and heading home via the usual chippy.

Gearing up in the car park – along with all the other optimistic climbers
Llyn Idwal – Snow!
Hard going on the approach – Cneifion Arete behind
Demonstrating floundering technique
From Seniors Ridge down to Llyn Idwal (left) and Cneifion Arete (black stripe on right)
First dig feet into snowdrift, then attempt to get out, any direction is good, up is slightly advantageous but harder to achieve
Well earned rest on a rock
Surveying the route down (Y Gribin)
Australia lake (upside down, obviously)
More ridgy than expected on Snowdon
Slipping down to Y Garn

 

 

New Year road trip

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Ascending Win Hill on a glorious morning, with Hope and Bradwell in the background
Win Hill summit scarp
Enjoying the sun
Dark Peak scenery – looking onto Kinder
View back to Sgurr nan Conbhairean from Sail Chaorainn
Improving conditions
Gorm Lochan and Loch Cluanie
Drochaid an Tuill Easaich
A gloomy (well named) Meall Dubh
Turbines looming out of the mist
Party on ascent of Carn na Caim
Snowy tracks and hints of blue sky
Meagaidh and Coire Ardair – on the windy ridge from Carn Liath to Stob Poite Coire Ardair
Meagaidh summit plateau
Descending to Aberarder and Loch Laggan

Here are a few pictures from our travels around the country over Christmas and New Year. None from the first part of the trip in Surrey – we did manage a couple of muddy walks in the North Downs in between the showers, but didn’t take the camera. Heading north, a brief sojourn in the Peak District provided the opportunity for a sunny wander up Win Hill before we continued on to Scotland.

Although we were van-based, it was a more sociable trip than the last time we took the van to Scotland over New Year as we spent time with groups of friends in Shiel Bridge and Kingussie on most evenings, and joined them for several walks. The weather was better in the west, so we headed there first and walked up Carn Ghluasaid and neighbours north of Loch Cluanie. Quite windy but still enjoyable, especially when the clouds cleared for the third Munro and descent. The following day Storm Frank hit the Highlands, but with some careful planning and a bit of bloody-mindedness we found a suitable Corbett – Meall Dubh from Glen Moriston – that we could walk up the lee side of, partly on wind farm tracks. It was pretty wet and breezy and steep heather away from the tracks made hard going, but still good to get out.

Our next plan (to park at the bottom of Geal Charn near Glen Markie) was thwarted when we drove into the River Spey on the approach road. Hastily retreating, we arrived instead in Kingussie to find flood warnings and sandbags – but the waters were already receding and they weren’t needed. We joined a mass New Year’s Eve ascent of Carn na Caim and A’Bhuidheanach Bheag, which were quite snowy and almost sunny, despite being in the cloud. An excellent forecast for the 1st led us to a repeat round of the Creag Meagaidh hills, which we had previously done in blizzard conditions. Although the visibility was significantly better this time, there were also very strong winds and spindrift, so it wasn’t entirely dissimilar!

After a cold night in the van in the Meagaidh car park, we were uninspired by the options for the last day of the trip and enjoyed a lazy few hours pottering around Loch Morlich and Rothiemurchus Forest, before returning to Kingussie to help deal with an excess of wine and an underused snooker table…

Torridon

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After our sailing antics (see post below), Dave spent a month in Perth interning at a wind analysis company. We managed to meet up in the middle (Teesdale) for a weekend, mostly spent slobbing in the van, battling through heather on some obscure moor, drinking wine by Cow Green Reservoir, and walking along the Pennine Way in what appeared (judging by everyone else) to be the wrong direction. It was a good weekend, but not really deserving of its own blog post.

However, at the end of Dave’s internship we had a proper trip, courtesy of a Farrow family wedding in Torridon. Our first mountain fix on the long trip north was Glencoe, where the sun was out – along with the tourist coaches and bagpipers. We soon left the crowds behind as we headed up Bidean via the zig zags onto Gearr Aonach, and Stob Coire nan Lochan. From “zig zags” I was expecting a beneath-an-alpine-lift-style slog, but they turned out to be significantly more fun in an unlikey-secret-passage kind of way. It was absurdly hot and we found ourselves sheltering in the shade of every suitable rock for a drink. At the summit we watched a mountain rescue helicopter collecting a search team from the next top, then descended down the Lost Valley (we had been contemplating adding Sgreamhach to the day, but we’d only started at 11 having driven up from Glasgow, and still had a 4-hour drive to Torridon to go).

Unfortunately, by the time we’d washed all the sweat off, most of the drive was in the dark, but we did have dinner watching a spectacular sunset over the Grey Corries from the Spean Bridge Commando Memorial, and the full moon lit up the landscapes (and deer) around Glen Shiel and Lochcarron as we passed through.

The next day we did the classic traverse of Liathach – a complete contrast to our previous ascent, which had been unrelentingly grey and drizzly. It was very warm and windless again, but much of the steep ascent was in mist as we climbed through the cloud that had shrouded the mountainside after sunrise. As we gained the ridge we just rose above the cloud into the sunshine, and watched as it all gradually cleared below us over the course of an hour or so. We had fun scrambling over the pinnacles and managed to descend with our knees just about intact. The walk finished with a refreshing dip in the river Torridon, followed by drying off on a sunny slab of gneiss while eating haggis-flavoured crisps (then hastily retreating to escape the evening midges).

Normal service resumed on Friday as we completed a damp, misty and viewless round of Ben Alligin – much the same as the previous time we climbed it, only in the other direction and incorporating a less-frequented nose ascent route (Na Fasreidhnean).

On the day of the wedding itself there was only time for a morning “stroll” – on a somewhat deceptive coastal path from Inveralligin to Diabeg. Although we’d only really intended to go halfway and then reverse, the groom was having so much fun that we carried on – over countless lumps and bumps, through a squally shower, down a cliff face, and finally back along a road containing no fewer than seven up arrows and seven down arrows, all at a pace that was more of a run than a walk. A decent warm-up for the evening’s ceilidh!

The Three Sisters in Glencoe, and the van, in the sun
Up the zig zags
No shade, and still lots of up
Not too hazy on top – looking East
Just one more ascent to the actual top
The new rescue helicopter, giving a lift to the MRT.
Back at the van – still great weather
Up through the clouds on Liathach
Glen Torridon below
Liathach above
Good scrambling
Beinn Eighe
Beinn Dearg and Beinn Alligin
Liathach again
More scrambling
Scrambling over, just a long way down
Still going down
Cup of tea with a view
Alpenglow in Scotland??
Beinn Alligin – wetter scrambling
Speedy walk in some fantastic coastal terrain with great views

Bank holiday backpacking

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The observant among you will note that we’re a little behind with our blogging – but bear with us; we’ve accumulated a few trips to write about.  First up, a little trip to Scotland over the late May bank holiday (and slightly beyond).

We started the trip with a few days by Loch Lomond to see friends and help Ruth climb her last Munro. After a warm up (very hot, humid and hazy) on the Cobbler and Beinn Narnain on Saturday, we successfully climbed Ben Lomond in increasingly wet and windy weather on the Sunday. This did mean we had the summit to ourselves (although a group of ~20 would have been enough to put everyone else off anyway), and we did get some views.  A great weekend, followed by a tasty dinner in the oldest pub in Drymen.

We had a few extra days off and an urge to do some proper wild camping (i.e. in a tent, not a van), so on Monday morning we headed to Glen Nevis for some backpacking. A late start simply meant a late finish in the long daylight, so we set off up the Glen, ascending to Sgurr Connich Beag and continuing along the Grey Corries ridge. The weather was good, with some strange wind patterns and excellent visibility below the cloud that was just covering the Aonachs and Nevis tops. Snow was abundant for the time of year, but fortunately only blocked the path on the descents (mainly East facing slopes), leaving the rocky ascending ridges clear. We made good time and got to the bealach between Stob Coire Claurigh and Stob Ban in time for dinner and a campsite.  Although windy, it was warm enough to sit in the tent with a view across to Sgurr Innse, the Loch Trieg hills, Loch Laggan and the hills beyond.

The following day we made short work of Stob Ban before a massive descent, river crossing and re-ascent south to Sgurr Elide Mor. We then nipped round to bag Binnein Beag while the cloud and rain came in. It was good to be back in the Mamores, but snow on the high ridges combined with the rain setting in and ever decreasing cloud levels meant that ascending Binnein Mor and continuing along the ridge was far less appealing than a cosy night in the van. We’ve done walking and camping in the rain without a view plenty of times before, so we headed out. A classic Morrisons breakfast while watching the rain in Fort William rounded off the trip before heading home, via a driving tour of Edinburgh.

Finally, as some of you will know (apologies to those we haven’t got round to telling yet – we’re finding it rather tricky to do in person in any sort of timely manner), we also got engaged on this trip while admiring the view from our tent.  No plans have been made yet, but we’re thinking of getting married in the autumn of 2016 – probably somewhere with mountains.  But don’t worry – we’ve no intention of letting wedding planning get in the way of adventuring!

The Cobbler
Near the summit
Beinn Narnain
Ptarmigan Ridge and Loch Lomond
Olivia and Ruth
282!
Summit mob
Escaping the wind
Ascending from Glen Nevis
Sgurr Choinnich Beag
The Grey Corries
Last summit of the day
Stob Ban and our campsite for the night
Heading for the Mamores

Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso

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We spent 10 days in the Alps recently, shortly after I submitted a little thesis I had been working on.

The first few days were spent in Chamonix. We bought ski boots, got excited by the amazing range of colours and outdoor kit, skied in awful weather (including rain). We also skied some great off piste, although high winds meant everyone was constricted to lower, shorter slopes. Jo and I also managed to ski a closed run by accident, and half way down, I broke a ski while side stepping up a powder embankment. The ski snapped just behind the heel and was left flapping, making side stepping in powder impossible, and skiing difficult.  I am officially not part of the social media generation as I didn’t instantly post about this, and I didn’t even get a photo. Luckily the hire shop didn’t seem surprised, and gave us more ‘robust’ kit, that was more suitable for ski touring…

Anyway, we then met with James (www.jamesthacker-mountaineering.co.uk) for some proper touring. We headed into the Benevolo hut for a night and attempted Punta Galisia, turning back as the mist rolled in and the thought of skiing in the white didn’t appeal. We then headed around to the Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele II and attempted Gran Paradiso, which we were literally blown off at around 3700m. We then had a huge traverse and descent the next day, finally finding some great powder and long descents.

Our trip into the Parco was great fun as it was covered in snow and felt very remote. Would be interesting to return in summer. It was great to be away from the crowds and on mountains again, and we got some great skiing in too.

I’ll let pictures tell the full story (more here and here), and there is a video on the way…

Skinning into the Benevolo
Exercising the legs after being stuck in Mont Blanc tunnel queue for 3 hours.
The hut at last
Day 2 – Ascending the Punta Galisia
Up the valley – up and down in undulating terrain
We’re heading for one on the left
Simon taking a breather.
Day 3: Ascent to the Vittorio Emanuele II
Day 4: Sunrise as we start the ascent of Gran Paradiso
Zig-Zags!
Good plumes of spindrift off the tops
Looking West, with shadows of Gran Paradiso and surrounding mountains
Cold, windy, spindrift – challenging but atmospheric near our high point
Looking warmer on the descent
Quick break now we’re out the wind and in the sun
The hut
Tin shed of a hut
Skins and Skis
inner boots
axes
rocks
Day 5:Traversing out
lots of drops and jumps to get over
descending from the Col du Grand Etret
Back into the woods.

Climbing or writing?

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So, as I’m in the throes of frantically finishing writing a thesis, we took a long weekend in Cairngorm.

Accommodation was in the very nice Badaguish lodges, where the best part is the lively company of ex and current British Exploring Leaders. Some three vans turned up; although we didn’t have ours this time, it was clear where the inspiration for our van came from.

Saturday had a good forecast, so we headed into Coire an t-Sneachda with Richard. Richard has a 12 week old girl and was on a rare day off so we had volunteered to take him on his first real winter climb. We haven’t climbed much recently, so thought that Spiral Gully would provide a long and easy acclimatisation for everyone. After some confusion about what other people were doing, we ended up with 4 other teams in the gully. Luckily, where other climbers saw the easy right hand variation, I saw the more interesting left hand variation. Unfortunately, part way through this interesting section the ropes decided to become unbelievably tangled. This put a stop to our overtaking manoeuvres, but did remind us of the tight rope work needed in winter to keep everything moving smoothly. By the time we escaped the knot, we threaded our way back through other teams on the route to find the direct finish was already occupied, so we were forced to take the easy way home. A couple of windy tacks east across the plateau and we escaped down the goat track for a late lunch.

Sunday started with quite a bit of lethargy. Luckily Tom was keen to do something harder, and I foolishly said I would help. Leaving everyone else to a lazy breakfast we headed into the corrie again. This time looking for either Broken Gully or Aladdin’s Mirror Direct. Deciding that short and steep would be preferred over the longer Broken Gully, we headed to the base of Aladdin’s Mirror Direct. A fun time ensued as I learnt to lead ice. Luckily Rob had provided some vital info about number of ice screws needed. He had also told us the crux was in the first section, but I found the second section more imposing, which didn’t help morale. Unfortunately, once we’d all learnt to climb ice, the pitch was over and only steep snow / spindrift was left. Amazingly, despite the forecast, we topped out into the sun – my favourite moment of any mountaineering day.

Having re-learnt how to climb and bettered our grade in the first two days, we tried to squeeze another climb in on the Monday before driving home. Unfortunately, Red Gully was already taken by another pair, and despite our attempts to overtake, we couldn’t find a belay point quick enough. A quick discussion followed where we decided that it would be better to leave it rather than follow behind a slow party, and there wasn’t too much else in the corrie that was tempting. We played in the broken ground near the goat track then headed back over the top and drove home, getting back at a sensible time for once. It was nice not to mess with ropes yet still play around with two axes, having fun in the mountains, knowing the next day we would be back chained to a desk in the middle of nowhere. The sun was also out, but not quite enough to give Jo her first few of the plateau (still waiting after six years of visits).

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Lakes Camping January

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So it’s been a while since we went winter wild camping in the Lakes, and we thought it would be good to do again.

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The aims for the weekend were to find some snow, walk a long way over many hills and use our expensive tent, rucksacks, sleeping bags that are lying around not doing much. The van was also designed to make such wild camping trips easier, but we haven’t got around to doing this.

What we found was:
The majority of the snow had melted. There was still enough, and we did use crampons once, but not the bucketfuls I was hoping for.
The winds were much stronger than expected, from a different direction, and with heavy bags on a narrow snowy ridge, this provided much needed entertainment and some potential nasty knee problems. We were almost reduced to a crawl, which is something I haven’t done for a very long time. Luckily the knee seems to be holding up and getting better.

We did manage 12 Wainwrights near Braithwaite for those that count such things, including Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head, Whiteside, Grasmoor, Whiteless Pike, Wandope, Eel Crag, Sail, Scar Crags, Causey Pike, Outerside, Barrow. Since we were in the cloud all weekend, I still need to do them again to get a view.

We also managed to forget about using the gas canister for a weekend in the autumn, meaning we took a nearly empty one. We just about scraped by; melting snow and getting it just hot enough for the dehydrated meals. The lack of food and drink made the night colder and longer, with an interruption by some mad mountain bikers coming nearby around 8pm. In the morning we dashed back to the van to avoid the rain and find some water. The van then came into its own by providing endless hot drinks and hot lunch and snacks, although it took me until mid Monday to get back to normal. I’ll triple check the gas next time.

Looks like we still have some things to learn about winter camping, so will give it another shot in a few years time. Maybe earlier if we use something cosier like a bothy or snowhole.

New Year in Glen Shiel

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Links to more Photos:
Dave’s Photos (trying flickr out)
Jo’s Photos (still struggling with picasa/google)

The most fresh snow we saw over our New Year trip to the Highlands was in Bradwell on the night before we left. Dave had arrived earlier that day to discover that the forecasts he had been using to deduce that we would be fine getting out in the morning unfortunately did not refer to the Bradwell in the Peak District, where in fact we were and where heavy snow was now falling. However, some pre-emptive action (leaving the car at the bottom of the hill) and some efficient gritting meant that we successfully escaped. In fact we were rather surprised to arrive first at Shiel Lodge, after narrowly avoiding being tempted out by a snowy, sunny Glencoe.

Luckily, that wasn’t quite all the sun and snow for the trip. We had a couple of great winter days out on part of the South Shiel Ridge and on the Three Brothers of Kintail, with snow-covered tops, some interesting ridgy bits and a whole day of alpine views. Best winter walking days for ages, and finally proof that the winter photos in the Munro book might actually not have been faked… It was also a good chance to practice a bit of snow examination and avalanche awareness without a howling gale for once, not to mention some boot skiing on the way down.

Inevitably, the snow all but disappeared and the rain and gales returned, but we managed to get up A’Ghlas-bheinn near Morvich and then Beinn a’ Chapuill near Glenelg on the two subsequent days. Both pretty wild but with surprisingly good views, and a splendid way to work up an appetite for DC and Mary’s excellent New Year’s Eve dinner! Even worse weather the next day encouraged us to get up late, enjoy a brunch of bacon, eggs and waffles, and later make a token effort by wandering along Loch Duich to the cemetery beyond Ratagan and going to visit the local llamas. We still got soaked.

On the final full day we ignored the predicted risk of whiteouts and thunder for a really quite pleasant ascent of Sgurr Airgid near Morvich. Increasingly windy and icy underfoot, but also wonderful winter light and snow-dusted views (at least when it wasn’t hailing), and all the better for being so unexpected. The light was so good that we went out again to inspect Eilean Donan – by which time, of course, it was dull and drizzly again, but we had fun nosing around the shore and the brightly-painted village of Dornie.

We bagged a final bonus Corbett on the way home: another glorious day, so we stopped at Kinlochleven to run up Garbh Bheinn and salivate over the Mamores. Another marvellous ridge (even if the steep nose was a little reminiscent of our scree-running-on-ice experience in Kyrgyzstan), and great to be among the mountains for a little longer.

So, some reward for the past three years of miserable Scottish winter weather – but hopefully that’s not it for another three…

Saas Alpine Adventure

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Been quite busy moving house and starting to finish a degree, but we did go to the Alps around a month and a half ago.

Our aims for the couple of weeks were to play around with some multi day routes, traverses, bivvies – basically enjoy the relative security and safety of the Alps compared with more remote places.

Our aims dropped slowly through the week, passing ‘a couple more one day routes’, ‘some valley climbing’, to end up with us appreciating the couple of hours of sun we eventually found on the way home.

After a brief warm up we headed up the Alphubel. Followed the guides’ recommendations and did it in a day from the lift station. Excellent little ridge over the Feechopf to start the mountain proper. Given the large amount of snow, the rest  was just a slog. A lack of acclimatisation and heat of the day made it a struggle, one that was only just made worth it with the cloudy views from the top.

After consigning the next day as a rest, we headed up in the afternoon rain to the Mischabel hut. A good hour’s walk up relentless zig-zags, followed by 2 hours of ladders, chains and staples. Eventually the hut appeared out the mist and we dried off in the fantastic hut.

The next day was clear, so we set off (with everyone else) up the hill. We soon found ourselves towards the front of the groups. Jo then led a storming pace up the ridge (following a very speedy UK guide). We didn’t realise we were leaving everyone behind for a while, but it was fun chasing the guide. Also meant that we had the top to ourselves, before the 8 groups behind us converged on the tiny summit of the Nadelhorn.

We found the guides very helpful, and it was fun to be on the mountain with other people after a few years of remote mountaineering.

After zooming down the ridge (Jo in front again), we took in the Ulrichshorn and headed down into the cloud and the 2 hour descent past the staples and chains.

The next few days were spent at lower level. We spent Saturday night in a hut – great fun over dinner, but a bit busy for sleeping. Unfortunately the next day was raining despite everyone’s predictions. We spent a day on a blumenweg learning alpine flowers instead. Over the next couple of days we managed the Joderhorn and the Mittaghorn in the cloud and snow.

Having effectively given up on mountaineering for the trip, we then found an SAC guidebook with the Stellihorn, and thought we might be able to squeeze this under-appreciated peak in on the last day. This started by alarming everyone at 3am by revving the van out of the ruts it had established over 2 weeks and driving to Mattmark. While walking up past what would be an incredible bivvy site, we got very confused by silent flashes illuminating the night sky. Eventually as daylight broke we saw the most enormous thunderstorm heading our way from the Italian border. We decided to turn back if it started raining. We took a wrong turn and ended up in a large boulder field, at which point it started raining. We decided to keep going. Eventually we found the remains of the glacier, and (as usual) the top was still an hour away, despite looking so close. The summit pitch even provided some icy fun and our decisions paid off – we just managed to get a view from the top.

Writing our names in the summit book, it seemed that the mountain was only summitted once every 10 days or so. On the way back down, we found a party of three following us up.

It was good to be out in the Alps again, but the weather was disappointing – I think everyone found that this year. Maybe next year we’ll get the chance to do something more interesting without having to guess the weather every few minutes.

I almost forgot to write about the van – because it worked so well that it felt like our home from home. It was a really good thing to have with the weather this year, and our friends with small tents appreciated the tarp and outside chairs. The best thing was we didn’t come back with too many alterations, additions or repairs to implement in the near future.

Links to photos – Dave’s and Jo’s