Cocher-Cochon, Clocher De Planpra, Les Aiguilles Rouges

Alison heading off into the mist at the beginning of the route

So it rained quite a lot yesterday, but stopped late evening so the rock got a chance to dry overnight and in the morning. We decided to head for the Aiguilles Rouges, and a route neither of us had done before - Cocher- Cochon on Clocher de Plampra. It had 5c and 2 6a pitches, so would be good after yesterday. The weather took us by surprise and we ended up climbing in the mist for the day, and it got pretty cold. The team in front of us had down belay jackets on, and looked snug. We decided, after dressing for the sun, that our method of keeping warm was to keep moving.

The route is great fun with some brilliant climbing. Pitches 4 and 9 were my favourite, although I had to do some determined hand warming by the end of the climb.

We got home for tea and cakes - and the cakes in France are pretty amazing.

Alison working out a sequence on pitch 4

Pitch 4

Alison pulling a move on pitch 4

Alison high on pitch 5

Alison on pitch 7

Alison on pitch 8

Alison found a great belay at the end of pitch 8

Alison on enjoying the final moves of pitch 9 to the top

Red Gendarme, Pointe de Tsalion

Lena Brune and I made our way up to the Tsa Hut (at 2607m), below the W face of the Pt de Tsalion, on the Grands Dents Chain, overlooking the Arolla valley. For the next day we chose as our objective the Red Gendarme (D-), on the West Face. We also decided to extend our day after the climb, to get to the Bertol Hut (at 3311m), at the southern end of the Grands Dents Chain, via the Pointe de Tsalion, Dent de Tsalion, Aiguille de la Tsa, Aiguille glacier, col de la Tsa, Pt de Bertol, Upper Mont Mine glacier and the Col de Bertol. However this meant that we would have to carry crampons, axe, and a few extra things during the climb - hardly a light sac ascent! Above Lena is seen in the prominent steep Red Gendarme chimney.

Just after this section we found a lone peg on the left, in some solid looking rock. This was reassuring because most of the climb seems to be about to fall down - loose massive blocks everywhere.

The 'peg belay' on the 30 degree ledge. The chimney continues for another couple of pitches, before it delivers you to the sun, as you traverse the top of the Gendarme through a little gap. The far side of the gap was in the sun... At last.

Lena climbing on the final pitches before the scree slopes to the summit of the Pt. de Tsalion. The summit of the Red Gendarme can be seen proud in the background (a pile of loose blocks).

After passing the end of the West Ridge of the Dent de Tsalion, we descended to the Aiguille Glacier and the Aiguille de la Tsa. In the photo Lena can be spotted in the shade at the bottom.

The Aiguille de la Tsa.

Now starting our walk down to the Bertol Hut for an evening hut meal. This time in the afternoon, there was nobody else to be seen - anywhere... We had the entire range to ourselves, quite something considering that the Aiguille de la Tsa is probably the most popular rock climb of the Arolla region, and one of the most well known peaks in the western Valais.

Of course the downside of crossing a glacier at this time of day, is that the snow is very soft and the integrity of crevasse snow bridges is doubtful - so we took care over about 10 soft bridges.

The small col W of Pt. 3372m on the ENE ridge of the Pt de Bertol. About to drop down towards to Hut.

The hut was fairly busy, but now for 2011 they have opened their new toilet block, which is VERY impressive and modern except for the processing of men's wee! - It's just fed down a 10m pipe, causing the whole cliff to smell, until for the rain! Above is the West view of the Bertol Hut, the next morning. The hut can only be accessed from the E or W via a series of ladders. The hut stands exposed at 3311m on a shoulder of the Clocher de Bertol.

Pissevache - Bravo Lapp

Alison on pitch 5 of Bravo Lapp, Pissevache, Switzerland

For an extended summer holiday, I came out to Chamonix yesterday to visit Alison and James, to see what the weather would be like for climbing. The weather forecast for today wasn't great, and rain was due around the Chamonix valley by midday. So trying to avoid the rain for a few more hours, Alison and I headed over the border to Switzerland hoping for dry rock until early afternoon, before the rain set in. We chose from the Plaisir West guide book 'Bravo Lapp' in the Pissvache area (Bas Valais) which is 10 pitches with 3 of 5b. The first crux of the day was navigating the tiny narrow steep streets of Les Granges trying to find the parking. The next difficulty was following the approach topo to get to the crag (don't purely rely on the guide book). Eventually we found the start point of the climb, a little later than expected and so the fun started with climbing. The drizzle started in about pitch 3/4 but was only light so we pushed on. We found the tree house half way through the day - but somehow missed the beer (with adjacent honesty box). Maybe this was fortuitous, because if we weren't so quick on the next 2 pitches the rain would have started before the fun 5b pitches and made us start a retreat. I think the team behind us got here a little late, and abandoned their day at the treehouse (probably with the beer) - so did they stop due to the rain, or beer?. Pitches 8 and 9 were the best of the route. Even the route through the cliffs back to the path were an adventure - and so in increasing rain we got to the car happy that we'd made the best of a poor day.

Definitely go and do it.

Alison on pitch 7

The 'tree house' that we passed along the route.

I still can't spot the beer and honesty box

The upper section of pitch 8, just below the belay

Pitch 8

Gold In The Lakes

Team 'Awesome'. Kate, Kerry, Olivia, Adam (aka Kevin), Raj

This week I was working for Adventure Expeditions, on an Open Gold in the Lake District, starting and finishing in Keswick. After initial preparations, the team set off on day 1 from Keswick on Wednesday morning. Everybody left the Youth Hostel happy, but 9 hours later when the 2 groups arrived at the wild camp, people were less happy with their saturated boots - it had been wet and boggy to say the least. At this point the twins, Sarah and Erica, pulled out the genius card - newspaper - and so by the next morning their boots were dry again - they've learnt form their previous expeditions with wet boots!

Sarah, Erica, Martin and Dean

The next morning turned out to be a low point of the week for many, as the hill ascent was long and slow, and even this early in the exped, people had experienced emotional highs and lows. This long day was rewarded with a real campsite at the end with the best of all features - a shower... The weather for the entire week was showery, some heavy downpours, low cloud and fog, but warm and light winds. So it was a wet week, but not 'too' awful (easy for me to say - I was assessing and not walking for the 4 days!).

'We're happy on the inside!'

By the end of day 3, when they had completed the long climb up to the second wild camp, the team were in good spirits - and even the approaching ominous black clouds didn't stop the laughter. Adam found a good solution for wet boots (below). Kerry and co. managed to find something to laugh at, at every campsite. On the last night, the object of humour was Kerry's dish - a Roasting Chicken dish!

Modelling his new footwear, which is very OTM, colour coordinating with his outfit

Kerry showing us her chicken roasting dish - 'Why have you brought that to eat from?' - 'Cause it folds!'.

Grisedale Tarn

Photo for the Adventure Expeditions website. Kate, Olivia, Kerry, Dean, Martin, Raj, Sarah, Erica (sorry if it's the wrong way round), Adam (Kev)

Photo for fun - look excited!

'Look upset' - wow - Kerry looks really upset - acting career ahead of you Kerry...

I cycled down from Grisedale Tarn - but soon found myself flying through the air separated from my bike - my bike had clearly pressed the 'eject' button. I landed somewhere on the floor, and looked round at my bike in disgust (and wished I had better suspension and brakes!). One of my first thoughts was - this is going to ruin my climbing holiday next week. 36 hours later now, and my arm is a lot better, and mobility is improving - but the bike is still in the dog house! Climbing is clearly a safer sport!

The last day was 18km down from the wild camp, off the hills, and back into Keswick to the Youth Hostel. The weather did not co-operate, and it rained for the entire journey. Upon completion at the hostel there were lots of tired legs and rotten feet - but all 9 have successfully completed their gruelling Gold Qualifying Expedition. Congratualtions everybody - I've sent all these photos and more to Cat.

Satarma Needle

We had a couple of hours to kill, so we went looking for the Satarma Needle near Arolla. It was easy but entertaining. The guide book says you need a couple of slings and some nuts, but there are 5 bolts en route and a mass of bolts at the top, so little is needed.

Here is Lena Brune hanging about in the sun, on the ab down. After this we packed bags for a bigger climb, out of Arolla, and some more fun in the sun - the weather was set to hold for a couple more days...

Left Edge, Contamine -Grisolle, Mont Blanc du Tacul

Matt, Lena and I headed up the Aiguille du Midi telepherique with the intention of climbing the Left Edge on Mont Blanc du Tacul, our second climb as a rope of 3. As usual it was CRAZY busy in the bins to the top, and there was all the normal madness on the snow ridge heading down to the Vallee Blanche.

We timed our descent down the ridge to miss most of the groups.

This wasn't the clear and bright weather day that we were forecast! Clouds!

Trails of ants leading off in all directions.

Vallee Blanche with the normal 'campsite' seen on the right hand side. Our objective just left of centre in the photo - the 'Left Edge'.

Ahead of us 2 teams of 2 high on the route, and a guided team on 3 just started on the route. We're about an hour behind the last team - the penalty for missing the first bin!

Lena having fun on the first mixed section of the route.

After a while the weather started to close in and the clouds were lowering, we made the difficult decision to ab off before we lost all vis on the Tacul. That's me above.

Matt abseiling down the mixed slot. As we started to walk across the Vallee Blanche, the cloud hit us and vis went down to 40m. Lena led the team into, and across the white. After lots of walking in the white room, we popped out on the other side of the Vallee, converging with other teams of ants appearing from the cloud and took our place on the ridge to the summit. As it turned out we weren't the only team to turn back due to the poor weather. I was glad that we made a timely decision. It was a great day. This was the end of Matt's holiday as he had to get a flight at 7.30am the next day..

La Joux

We headed for this small crag near Argentiere for a chilled afternoon in the sun. Unfortunately lots of other people had the same idea and it turned out to be very busy. Above Matt Leggett is crusing one of the Diamant routes. Despite the crouds we had a great social sport afternoon.