I was skiing with Andy and Kat Congleton this week bring joined by various friends ok different days. Andy and Kat have an 18mth old baby so were doing day about. We started on Sunday with Andy and friends skiing the Col du Passon we managed to time the day to get great spring snow on the descent to La Tour. On Mon I was back with Kat and Kate on the Passon for more spring snow. On Monday Andy and I took the first Midi then climbed the Chere couloir which was in great condition. Footsteps filled with neve. We then skied down the Vallee Blanche. I was Kat and friends on wed we planned to ski from the midi the skin to the Italian side of the VB. The weather didn't behave with lots of cloud on the otalian side so we skiied down to the Requin hut for lunch. We then skinned up the Periads glacier before enjoying some spring snow. The lift to Momtenvers wasn't running due to the wind so we climbed the ladders to the train. That was the end of my ski season, I'm off to Spain now with Andy and Kat for some sun kissed rock.

I was out on La Tour on Tuesday with Susie and Howard looking at some touring skill, they are joining me in Poland next month and wanted a skills refresher. On Thursday I headed through to Gressoney for the day where some friends were staying for the week. The Val d'Aosta has great ski conditions this year with some of the best snow cover I have seen for years, we had a couple of runs off the lift then skinned over the Pass Zupo and skied all the way to Alagna over 1800m of descent. Kate and I climber the ice fall next to the crag in Servoz I have watched this almost form for years but it has never formed when I have been around. The route is a really nice 2 pitch 3+ with some great ice formations and is so close to the road you could belay from the car.

They have finally cleared the road to Cogne, the avalanche debris is really impressive with huge trees sticking out, there didn't seem to be much damage to buildings but street lamps were bent and lights broken in Lillaz. Theres was a bit of team of us headed for cacade de lillaz with kate wanting to try some leading. She did a great job leading the 2nd pitch placing screws then the steeper grade 4 3rd pitch where we had left her a few screws for security. The last main pitch had a lot of water running down the centre but the ice on the left was good and fat kate made short work of this. Check out the conditions on the video.

I have just had a couple of days over in Kandersteg climbing with Graeme Ettle and Neil Stevenson.

We met in Martigny and went round to Evolene and tried the Cascade du Couloir unfortunatley the top pitch was a bit thin and detached looking so we ran away and drove through the kandersteg. I hadn't climbed there before and was blown away by the scale of the routes, who need Canada. We checked out conditions on Wed afternoon then climbed Rattinpissoir with the groll finish which is superb a long intro 4+ pitch then a pitch of 5 up a pilar which graeme made look far to easy. If you finish up Groll you get another 2 great pitches of climbing in. the next day we went to have alook at Lurking Fear in Adelboden the route has a big bowl above it which due to the change in wind direction was filling with snow quickly sending spindrift avalanches down the route so we ran away but will definitley be back.

Happy New year Folks

The good start to the winter has continued with a long cold spell and some snow to top things up. We have had to move about a bit to get the best skiing conditions as a Fohn wind in Chamonix has meant that the best conditions have been on the Italian side of the tunnel until Sunday.

Since the last update I went through to Zinal to climb with Graeme Ettle, I hadn't climbed there before and was really impressed, there are about 8 routes in condition, we climbed the Cascade Pas de Chasseur which is a great grade 4. If you are thinking of visiting the area the valley gets closed by the village if there is much new snow after a bad avalanche accident on one of the cascades a few years ago. I was touring in the Italian Val Ferret just before Hogmannay skiinng up Mont de la Saxe which had an excellent North facing descent, on Hognamannay we skinned up to the Gd St Bernard Monastry. New Years day was quite mellow then I climbed the cascade de Lillaz with Kat Congleton on the 2nd. After that the weather wasn't to great in Chamonix being a bit warm and cloudy but there was fresh snow in Courmayeaur so I have had three days through there enjoying some of the long off piste runs. There was about a metre of fresh snow there on Sunday but the weather changed early in the day warming up dramatically creating heavy wet snow and making the avalanche risk increase significantly. The weather doesn't look to cold for the next couple of days but the trend is to cool off again towards the end of the week.

I was climbing with Mark Dearnley this week we started the week climbing at the Cremerie to see how an injured achilles was behaving, luckily all was well with mark leading a coupe of pitches, the most exciting part of the day was getting up the road which required chains to get any where. We headed through the Mont Blanc tunnel on Tuesday to the Cascade Roveneu which we had failed on a couple of years before so it was really nice to clear up some unfinished buisness. We were back in Italy the next day climbing a route near Cogne which crosses an avalanche tunnel then gives another couple of great pitches higher up. All the better for the short walk in. On Thursday we headed through to Zinal to climb the Cascade du Pont, 15m up I placed my axe which gave a huge crack, moving my tool the ice did the same again, after the worlds fastest V thread we were heading for the bar. We finished the week in Arolla climbing the Cascade de l'Usine Electrique, after a spot of luch we climbed an unnamed pillar next to one of the road tunnels.

Saturday saw kate and I on an early train to Zermatt to meet John and Fiona Fells, the plan was to Heli ski Monte Rosa which we had climbed a few years before. The flight was fantastic taking us past all the big Zermatt peaks dropping us at just over 4000m, the ski down was best described as variable with some great snow and lots of wind pack. The exit off the Gorner gletscher is the easiest I have seen as the glacier has retreated. On Sunday Kate and I were back in Zermatt this time skiing the Schwarz Glatscher which we had completely to ourselves. Monday we headed to the small resort of Kippel in Lotschental witha short hike we skied to the Lochenpass hut for lunch then did a huge off piste descent into the valley. After skiing we headed through to Kandersteg we started early on Tuesday as the last time I climbed in Kandersteg there were loads of team out climbing sods law stated that having go up early the only other people we saw all day were some mates from Scotland. Spider and his wife were climbing Rattenpissoir while Kate and I climbed Arbonium which was in superb condition. I;m off to Norway this afternoon so fingers crossed for lots of ice.

I have been in Rjukan in Norway this week climbing with Andy and Kat Congleton, we were joined by there 6 month old daughter Ellen. The plan was that Andy and Kat would alternate climbing with me and looking after Ellen, this worked really well for them getting a rest every other day but my arms were a bit tired by the end of the week. Rjukan has loads of really accessible ice falls at all grades most of the routes are only 1 or 2 pitches so you can climb a few in a day. The temperature during our stay was unseasonably mild making for damp but soft friendly ice conditions we just had to make sure we chose big stable structures to climb. Andy and I started the week at the ice cragging venue of Kroken we climbed a number of variations on Bullen then the steeper Gaustaspokelse before heading to ultra roadside route Svingfoss. On Mon Kat and I headed into the gorge climbing superb Nye Vemorkfoss Kat’s first WI5 we also climbed the left variant Bakveinen. The temperature was so warm that some of the snow bridge we had crossed on the way into the gorge had melted so we climbed Lattvann in 2 rope stretch pitches to escape. Tue Andy and I headed o the outlying area of Kong Vitner we climbed the classic of the crag Kong Vitner, Andy wasn’t feeling to great so we headed back to the ranch for a change of partner Kat and I headed out and climbed Svingfoss. Wed kat and I started with Vemork Ost then drove up to Kroken where we climbed a couple of variations on Jomfrua then the superb Fyrstikka. Thursday Andy and I climbed Vemork Ost then abseiled into Nye Vemorkfossen climbing the left variant as well. Still feeling really keen we went o Kroken where Andy discovered the problem with leash less tools if you fall off and let them go you may struggle to climb back up to them luckily there was a handy Spaniard to through up a spare. Kat and I went back to Kong Vitner on Fri climbing Kong Vitner and Silikon, andy and I climbed the classic Trapfoss on Sat which was a bit wet but great. Kat and I had a quick morning at Kroken before we headed for the plane.

Just back from Scotland having had an epic journey back it took 2 ½ hours to get from the Forth bridge to Edinburgh Airport so missed my flight. The lovely people at Easy Jet looked after me and sent me home via Amsterdam any way on to the mountaineering. Conditions have been variable as usual in Scotland with some great conditions at times, I met up with Mark Dearnley in Fort William and headed up the Ben on Thursday, as usual we had lots of plans but the weather was a really wild by the time we reached the hut so we headed into Coire Na Ciste and climbed Number 3 gully buttress which was in great condition with fantastic Neve all the way. Friday was so bad we decide discretion was the better part of valour so Mark headed home and I went over to Aviemore to work on the guides tests. We started with the induction course for those looking to join the guides training scheme I headed into the Northern Coires and climbed Pot of Gold and Opening break in good wintry conditions. Sunday was the start of the test we started with general mountaineering skills in and around the Northern Coires then navigated across the Cairngorm Plateau to a night in a snow hole then night navigation and more mountaineering before heading back to the valley on Monday afternoon. Tuesday was the personal climbing mixed day which was in the Northern Cairngorms, we climbed Honey Pot and The Message both in great condition. Wed was the ice climbing day, we headed up the Ben with rain wind and a high avalanche risk the troops chose probably the safest bit of ice on the Ben that day – Ruddy Rocks below the first platform on NE buttress. On a good day this would have been a great route but was a good adventure in the conditions.

I have been climbing with Ian and Steve this week, with a good forecast we headed up the Midi on Sunday morning and snow shoed round to Pointe Lachenal and climbed Pellissier Gully a brilliant mixed route we thought about Scottish V,6. The route starts with some ice then becomes mixed higher up. We spend the night at the Midi then climbed the Cosmiques Arete on Monday morning. Tuesday we drove through to Cogne and climbed Cascade de Lillaz the boys lead some pitches and lead some of the steeper variations. Today we were back in Italy in the Val Savarenche where we climbed Antares in perfect toffee ice. We are going to have a look at Le Reposoir tomorrow before I head for Verbier for the weekend where I am running an intro to ski touring course for the Ski Club of GB.