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.
Cascade de Lillaz from Bruce Goodlad on Vimeo.
I was in Cogne yeaterday with Jon Bracey and Jonny Baird. For early December conditions were excellent, we managed to climb Sentinal Ice II,5 and Patri left hand III,4 both were in excellent condition. Lots of other routes look like they are forming well with Valmiana looking climbable and reports that Canelabro del Coyote and Lau Bij had been climbed.
Merry Christmas
Alexy in great snow
Most of the ski resorts in the Alps are now open with the best start to the season for years I have managed to get out on the hill for the last 6 days with some great skiing and climbing. We started just before Christmas touring over the Col du Cicle in Les Contamines, the snow on the descent was hard wind pack but really smooth and fun to ski. On Christmas Eve we skied the Crochu, Berard traverse which was in great condition. The Berard valley had recieved no sun or wind so we enjoyed great untracked powder on the descent. On Christmas day we cruised round the piste in St Gervais in perfect sun shine then skiied some off piste from the top of Mont Joly which had softened nicely in the sun.
On Boxing day we had a great descent on the back side of Le Tour skiing the East Couloir of the Pointe du Van we found great powder (video online soon) even though it hasn't snowed for 10 days. Yesterday we went though to Cogne where the ice has been building really well, we climbed the cascade de Lillaz which is in superb conditions.
To summarise conditions for anyone coming out over the new year all the ski areas are now open the touring is good with some soft snow still to be found low down, high up the snow is very wind blown. The Vallee Blanche is in good condition but the arete has not been equiped yet. The ice fall conditions are good for the time of year with 20 routes in condition in cogne, the Argentiere ice falls are in if you want to brave the walk under the serac. I could see the top of the routes in trient the other day and they looked in. Antares in the Val Savaranche is climbable as a re a couple of other routes lower down the valley. Routes are also coming in in Zinal and Arolla.
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.
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.