After a long drive with little sleep we arrived in Vallouise which has a nice old village centre, we found the gite and Dave P and met the others.
Sunday, we headed to Fournel and Nik and of climbed Davidoff 4+ to 5, with Dan and Will following in another pair. Nik and I then went for another walk to see what else looked interesting for later in the week. More about that later.
Monday we (Dan, Will, Nik, Tommy, Paul and myself) headed to Cervieres. The long approach allowing for a good test of skining in on our skis and getting use to skiing in powder (only a little way) with a heavy pack. The climbing for me here was a lead on an unnamed 90 degree pillar with a thin curtain start, having a proper moment at the top, which after a lot of yelling at myself to ward of my fear I pulled through to the belay. I then followed Will up Cascade du Bourget, 4 to 5. The ski out after the initial crashes under the crag in the tracked powder proved to be fun and easy and encouraging for Denali.
Today (Tuesday), we headed for Ceillac, a longer drive on some impressive winding roads and reading a list of great Tour de France climbs on the road signs bought us to the car park and easy acces. Will, Dan and myself headed for Sombre Heros, 5. Dan making a great lead on the crux pitch and Will on the next tricky little pillar. I was doing my best to get film and photo footage.
Next we went to climb Le formes du chaos. After 3 pitches (about 120ms) on some interesting and thin and wet ice, we decided to call it a day as the light was fading fast and we didn't fancy negotiating the melting ice in the dark, we retreated happily with a descent days climbing under the belt. I also managed to knock some large chunks off on my ab. :)
More to come, some photos and film to follow as well.
S
Sunday, we headed to Fournel and Nik and of climbed Davidoff 4+ to 5, with Dan and Will following in another pair. Nik and I then went for another walk to see what else looked interesting for later in the week. More about that later.
Monday we (Dan, Will, Nik, Tommy, Paul and myself) headed to Cervieres. The long approach allowing for a good test of skining in on our skis and getting use to skiing in powder (only a little way) with a heavy pack. The climbing for me here was a lead on an unnamed 90 degree pillar with a thin curtain start, having a proper moment at the top, which after a lot of yelling at myself to ward of my fear I pulled through to the belay. I then followed Will up Cascade du Bourget, 4 to 5. The ski out after the initial crashes under the crag in the tracked powder proved to be fun and easy and encouraging for Denali.
Today (Tuesday), we headed for Ceillac, a longer drive on some impressive winding roads and reading a list of great Tour de France climbs on the road signs bought us to the car park and easy acces. Will, Dan and myself headed for Sombre Heros, 5. Dan making a great lead on the crux pitch and Will on the next tricky little pillar. I was doing my best to get film and photo footage.
Next we went to climb Le formes du chaos. After 3 pitches (about 120ms) on some interesting and thin and wet ice, we decided to call it a day as the light was fading fast and we didn't fancy negotiating the melting ice in the dark, we retreated happily with a descent days climbing under the belt. I also managed to knock some large chunks off on my ab. :)
More to come, some photos and film to follow as well.
S
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