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I climbed with David Horwood on the second week – enjoy the pics. Cheers again to David, Jim and Bent for the hospitality, great climbing and patience with the weather, as always…!
Category Archives: Icefalls
Senja Island – Ice and Mixed Climbing in Arctic Norway
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Just back from a very memorable 2 weeks climbing with Jim and David on the magical Senja island in Arctic Norway. Senja is just south of Tromso and a little way north of the Lofoten islands, and is a truly spectacular land of deep fjords and jagged mountains rising from the shoreline – mostly of modest scottish altitude, but with an impressive scale and its fair share of very gnarly weather! We stayed with local guide Bent as we did last year – Bent is the man behind Senja Lodge and Mountainguides, and big thanks again for making us so welcome and sharing your knowledge of the island (although you didn’t tell us everything I guess??). Its tricky to get info for this area but after chatting to Bent and one or two of his climbing friends we were persuaded that most of the routes we did were first ascents… but who knows! What was for sure was the quality and variety on offer – pure cascade ice, Ben style icy slabs, deep crack and chimney lines, turfy grooves – just brilliant climbing. Bent will be producing a guide to the ski touring, mountaineering and technical climbing around the island so route details will go to him, but here are some pics of the routes I climbed during week one with Jim.
New Routing in Arctic Norway
Rich is up on Senja Island in Arctic Norway at the moment, climbing with Jim Bird for the past week and Dave Horewood this coming week - I asked him how he’s getting on the other day and received the following:
“Awesome weather today. Did a mega new route – 250m corner on ice and overhanging chimneys. totally wild!” – so pretty good then…
More news and a proper report when they’re back.
2012 Winter Ice Climbing Program now online
- Mini Moulin – La Grave Ice Climbing Course
Yes, yes I know it’s boiling hot and the middle of summer – but we’re getting next winters program up and running already…
The 2012 Ice Climbing Course dates and prices are now up online – as usual we’re running our range of ice courses and pirivate guiding during Jan and Feb in La Grave, Cogne and Kandersteg – plus Rich’s private guiding adventures on Senja Island in Arctic Norway during March (places are very limited – have a word with Rich for more info).
From late March into April, attention switches to Alpine Couloir Climbing around Chamonix, for some full on high mountain adventure.
Courses are suitable for complete beginners right through to experts, so if you’re keen for a bit of ice climbing action next winter, just drop us a line and we’ll fill you in on the details.
Senja
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Just back from a brilliant weeks work on Senja Island in northern Norway. Some rain, snow, wind – just like scotland really but thats all part of the charm. The standout feature of this place is the strong Norwegian flavour ie no guidebook, little info - just pick a line..!
Cheers David for a very memorable trip, and many thanks to Bent at Senja Lodge for the help with everything.
Rich
Ice climbing – Italy and Switzerland
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Some pics from Jan/Feb in Cogne, Val Savarenche and Valpelline. Great couple of weeks – thanks to Ashwin, Ju, Pat and Jim. Great conditions in Italy this year with many of the classics in great shape early in the season.
Rich
La Grave Ski and Climb Week
Just finished a massive week down in here in La Grave skiing and climbing with Pete and Andy – thanks guys! Martin and Esther have been swinging tools with Jon down here this week too – the ice is holding up well on the shady side of the valley, with good conditions on the classics up in the Vallon du Diable, Ceillac, Fournel etc.
On the snow front, it hasn’t snowed in La Grave for a long time as in much of the Alps - but there’s a lot of nice powder over near the Italian border in the Queyras where we went for an excellent long day tour earlier this week, so it’s looking good over there for next weeks Queyras Ski Tour.
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La Grave Ice Climbing
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Just a few shots from this weekends ice climbing in La Grave with Ashwin - most of the readily formed classics are in nick, with plenty to go at. The avalanche risk is also very low at the moment, so mountain venues like the Vallon du Diable are a good bet.
La Grave Ice Climbing Conditions 11-02-10
Team on the Grand Clot today
Swingin’ tools on a La Grave Ice Climbing Course with Chris and Andy this week – so here’s a quick rundown on current La Grave ice climbing conditions: The Icefalls formed relatively late this season, but are now in excellent condition with all the big classics still in good nick. Low temperatures are keeping the ice in good condition and several teams have been in action on Orgasme, Phantasme, Adrenalin Rush, Chacal, Moulin, Caturgeas, Alea Jacta Est, Le Pylone, Croup de Poufias etc – ie conditions are good.
Yesterday we went over to Ceillac and enjoyed Formes du Chaos, which is well formed this year and today we did Supreme Dimension, with other teams nearby on the Grand Clot and Un Etrange Affair.
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- Supreme Dimension – 11-02-10
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- Fire!
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- Aim…
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- Andy on Caturgeas
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- Team on the Grand Clot today
Cogne Ice Climbing Conditions
Just a quick work update further to my last post a couple of weeks ago. From 3rd Jan I had a top week around Cogne Ice Climbing with Jim Bird. Over the first few days we climbed Patri, Cascade Lillaz and Tuborg, then on thurday we ramped it up and climbed the valleys mega classic – Repentance. It was in good shape with a featured blobby first pitch with plenty of rests, then a sustained but (reasonably) dry and fat top pitch. We finished the week with Lau Bij which was also in good shape.
Alastair MacColl came out for the weekend of 9-10 Jan in the middle of some pretty severe snowy weather (around 60cm over 1.5 days!). Cogne is a bit of a nightmare during heavy snow, due to the huge catchments above many of the routes, so after a snowy (but safe) Cacade Lillaz we bailed to Lys Balma in Gressoney. This gave some brilliant steep ice clipping bolts for pro, with bolted lower offs, all with zero avalanche risk and a 2min approach – our kinda climbing! Cheers to Pete Benson for the tipoff – and more info at http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=37160
Finally Margaret best joined me for a week back in Cogne, which we kicked off with avalanche paranoia and a trip to ‘Castello Incantato’. The Enchanted Castle is a brill spot – a twisting multi-branched cascade tucked away above Verres in the Aosta valley. Its only 15 mins from the car on a densely forested hillside, so quite safe and with a steady stroll off at the top. Great! Things seemed to settle down in Cogne, with several other guided teams out reporting little observed avalanche activity - in the sustained low temps nothing was moving. Andy Perkins kindly put a track in to Lillaz Gully (cheers Andy) so that was our next objective, followed by Cascade Lillaz and Patri – all in great shape. Finally we finished with a change of scene and headed to Valsavaranche and the brilliant Rovenaud – this was in great condition and has a brilliant ambiance set in a deep gorge. All in all a top 2 weeks climbing, thanks for the great company and great days on the hill guys!
David Horwood has just today finished 5 days guided by Jonny Baird, also around Cogne. They climbed Lillaz Gully, Candelabro Del Coyote, Patri Right and Left, Lau Bij and Rovenaud – all still in great condition. The legendary Christophe Profit was at hand to take some photos of David on the top of Patri, so will get those on the blog shortly!
Thanks to Luca on UKC for his useful roundup of Italian ice conditions. Other useful sites for Euro ice conditions include www.gulliver.it, www.camptocamp.org, www.ice-fall.com, www.ohm-chamonix.com, www.cascades-infos.com
Rich
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- Rovenaud
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- Patri
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- Jim Bird
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- Cascade Lillaz
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- Alastair MacColl
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- Repentance
