Not too bad...........................

It's been a couple of great days in the Alps, we have need to be going high, so we did we went to Arolla which to be honest was like going back in a time warp, but most excellent we skinned up to the pass to Chevre in the shade which was great then some great powder back down this is a great way to access some great peaks if you carry on to the Dix Hut (pictured).

Yesterday again getting high was the aim so to the area around the Col de Grand St Bernard another great day, I think many people had the same idea.

 The view from the pass de Chevre above

More great days with the Patersons, thanks guys.

Busy busy busy......................

Well the end of term was busy, reports and all the and of term things that one has to do and a great half day on avalanche transcievers and protocols with two local mountain guides who work with Mammut  and then it just got manic, this time two weeks ago I would'nt have thought I would have got any skiing in, Wot no snow...... and then it came and it came and it came so after finishing on the 16th December I skied my first runs at Villars, there were'nt any pistes just coloured poles.. Awesome. Then last week saw me in Chamonix with Alison Culsaw under taking an Off Piste for mountaineers course ( get on one they are and she is brilliant). Sandy and Laura have joined me for Christmas and more skiing..................Just to put the iceing on the cake my new skis arrived on christmas eve ( thanks Santa) so yesterday, great skiing, great powder, great friends.................. Long may it last. Enjoy the pics

It's coming.................................

It's been a busy few weeks at work, with the on going temptation of the beautiful white gold. It's started. We had a good session with one of the local shops in Villar looking at touring equipment and how to set it up properly............. really interesting. They also had this really cool computer programme that worked everything out for you. Great but no match for experience.

Last week before the Christmas holidays. A number of use are doing a transceiver day on Thursday with a expert from Mammut.......... really looking forwardto that.

Autum

With  little spare time one afternoon John asked me if i would like to go for a fly......... No brainer really. so off we took up and over to Leysin, flying past the Tour d'Ai 2331m, Tour de Mayen 2326m &Tour de Famelon, this is a great way to see the local layout and just a little bit of fun. The weather has closed in a liitle over the last couple of days.The Ski area at Les Diablerets opens this weekend so bring on the skiing

Stunning............... and the climbing was'nt bad

After a very busy few days, driving back to Scotland then down to London and back home yesterday. Today I was  keen to make the most of a stunning autum day I joined Sarah & Emily at Dorenaz, near Martigny after a quick warm up on the first pitch of Ambiance Fitz-Roy 5c, the three of us set off up Y a de la Brume a realy top bannana 3 pich route which gave very interesting climbing above the Rhone river at 4b,5c,5c a great outing.

Another day another.................. crag

After my Freanch lesson Esmond and I headed down the valley for a couple of hours cragging keen to make the most of the time we visited Dorenaz, which is a very accessable crag near Martigny. It was as hot as a snakes tummy so the breeze was very welocome, we climbed Carlo 5c/6a which I  found very hard for the grade and Merci Mo-Lo which you can see in the picture with Es leading. A great quick visit.

The other side..............................

Today I went for another explore over the valley, near Champery, the area is famous for mountain biking but  went to check out a crag, Rocher de Barme, Wow, It's s a little like Wildcat & Hightor, but not at about 1500m it's high and in a stunning location with very easy access from the car (2mins), it's in the shade, I did a little soloing, which was nice. Great for a family day out route from 3 up to 7a and there are two cafe's and a gite to stay over.

How to find the crag & Vineyard cragging.

It's been a great week firstly I met a collaegue at work who fly's the Blue thing in the top picture so we went for a spin on Wednesday, what a way to properly check out where the guide books say the crags are. Secondly on the reccomendation of my landlady Hilary I checked out the crag Yvorne, just above Aigle, she was right, it's smashing I climbed seven routes from 4 to 6a + and it's most excellent, a great venue to head to after work, plus you walk through a beautiful vinyard to reach it.

Here we go.....................

 
A great afternoon (until it persisted it down) with my good mate Phil (Baker) doing the bouldering curcuit on Baslow edge.

The view from the house

 The Mirror d'Argentine

Edllwiess

I've been checking out the local area, there is lots to do around here from big mountain stuff to super hard sports climbing in the valley. I've posted a few pictures of various things since I left scotland. Thanks to all those I managed to catch up with. I'm now open for bookings. Well as promised everything is nearly up and running, I am now officially a Swiss resident,........

Here we go......................

I've made it to Switzerland. I promise when my PC arrives I'll up date with some photos of the last few weeks road trip. Well I walked up to the Miroir d'Argentine and wow that has got to be done it's awesome............ then the inevitable thunder and lightening so off I popped back to the car before the pea size hail statred.  There are many crags around where I now live in a small village of Antagnes  in the Vaud canton of Switzerland it's just off the bottom of lake Geneva. More adventures await I feel........

The Shire

I haven't been able to post for a while as I am on route to Switzerland. I have come to staying with my folks on the southern end of the Peak District with the intention of catching up with family and friends and to climb.

I had a great morning at Harbrough Rocks a small dolomitic limestone crag I began my climbing career on over 30 years ago, the weather was smashing clear sky's and a slight breeze, top banana. Much better than Friday when was rained off of Burbage North after an hour and then the weather goods did the same to me at Harbrough rocks, but I got a couple of hours climbing in.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with my olsd mate Phil Baker for what I suspect will be some full on sports climbing action......

The Mound is Creag Bheag

John and I set off this morning for the tidal conglomerate crag know as The Mound near Dornock, it's actually called Creag Bheag on the UKC . We had a fantastic day and great weather completing nine routes for F5 to F6b which was most excellent the highlight being Jailbird F6b **.

The conglomerate takes a bit of getting used to and is steep so its a really good work out. Picture is John on Crazy House F6a+*

Great Day at Logie Head

With my time as a resident in Scotland fast running out. Louise and headed for Logie Head in light of an indifferent forecast. This was reinforced by two guys from the support staff at Glenmore Lodge who had come to the coast due to cold damp and cloudy conditions in the mountains. Louise has not climbed for a while and was keen to get some mileage in which we certainly did, Mouse Hole (S) 4b, Sea Mouse (HS) 4b, Bladder Wrack (S)4b, Sea Urchin (HS) 4b, Sea Link* (VD), Poacher** (VS) 4b. A great day out lots of mileage.

Mid life crisis

Having read Percy Bishton's article in Climb magazine about getting older and how many of us try different sports from surfing to road biking/mountain biking I went into my garage to try and dispel the idea and quickly discovered I must have been having a mid life crisis since I was about 12. Anyway after a very solid session on the road bike and the some bouldering. Life is good and it's not a mid life crisis but enjoying what the world has to offer.

My family have been up from London for the past couple of days my twin nieces Inara & Sefia have been having climbing lessons on an indoor wall in Swiss Cottage so the were desperate to climbing outside for the first time. We had a fantastic time this morning on Gorse Route (S) & Sunshine Groove (S), at Cummingston they were brilliant. I don't thing that it will be too long before the are taking Uncle Chris up routes, not bad for 8 year old.

A picture says a thousand words

McDuff and I set of early yesterday morning to do the Aonach Eagach Ridge in Glencoe this is the longest ridge in mainland UK. The conditions could not have been better. With most excellent views in all directions. McDuff looks rightly pleased as he has been wanting to to the Aonach Eagach for over 20 years. A great day with a great mate. Doesn't get much better than this. Thanks Duff.

Great Weather

The weather is great up here on the Moray Coast. Quick bolder this morning then off to Glencoe later today for a traverse of the Aonach Eagach with McDuff lets hope the wheather holds as McDuff has been wanting to do the ridge for a while.

A great morning Bouldering down at cummingston. The friction in the majority of areas was great with a Northerly yesterday and a westerly today. I have had my own project for the last wee while about 5c/6a with the difficulty at the end. The traverse comes in from the right down the into the cave. I managed the first 40ft and the humidity in the cave changed so I slipped off the final moves. It will be climbed soon Oh yes it will be climbed.

Home

Have a look at the link below it's all on my homee rock of grit stone. Brings back some great memeories. I needing a fix before heading to switzerland in August.

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/25111021?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/groups/54664/videos/25111021">The Grit Approach</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user5822162">HD Rock</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Climbing outside

Great climbing at Pinnicle crag with Nicola, on an indoors to outdoors coarse, cool and windy a great day doing many of the easy routes. We looked at gear selection and transferring skills to the outside environment

Great weekend in the Eastern caingaorms wall to wall sunshine