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.