The Arrival of Winter

Having not been out in the mountains since getting back from the Alps it was great to spend a weekend in North Wales. This was made even better by the arrival of winter and a good cosmetic covering of snow. There was a strong wind in the morning as we headed up out of Ogwen, but the air was clear and the sun was shining. We decided to head up towards the Carneddau and ended up having a fantastic day out in excellent conditions.

Salbitschijen Rock Climbing

Prior to my trip out to the alps I started doing some research into alternative plans due to the poor alpine conditions. During this research I stumbled across the Salbit, a peak in central Switzerland which has three major ridges which all provide excellent climbs of varying difficultly. In addition to the major ridges, there are numerous other multi pitch routes. Due to a week of poor weather dumping a considerable amount of snow on the high alpine peaks, we decided to stay low and do some multi-pitch rock climbing instead. The obvious destination was to head to the Salbit and attempt the classic Sudgrat, a 600m long granite ridge, and top out on the summit needle. Due to the weather window we had we decided to walk up to the Salbit hut early in the morning before heading out to climb a 13 pitch ridge which is above the hut, called the Hüttengrat. Hüttengrat, Gemsplanggenstock We competed the walk in very quickly, shaving an hour off the 2h30 book time. While we were walking in there were fantastic atmospheric views, unfortunately the atmospheric views did not continue and shortly. Read the full article…

Aiguille d’Orny Rock Climbing

After a last minute change of plan due to an excessive amount of snow in the mountains we decided to head up to the Cabane d’Orny for two days of rock climbing. There is an easy walk in to the hut which is surrounded by excellent rock. The walk in to the hut went quickly, but we were unsure if we would be able to climb due to drizzle and being in the cloud. When we arrived at the hut it was still cloudy but the rock was mostly dry so we decided to head out and climb the Aiguille de la Cabane. When we left the hut we had good time to complete the route before dinner. However due to a route finding screw up by me, we managed to lose an hour by walking 30mins in the wrong direction… Eventually we arrived at the base of the route and set off. The climbing was immediately interesting with the crux being on the first pitch, a steep and juggy corner. After this the climbing eased off and was much easier and we made quick progress up the fantastically exposed. Read the full article…

Multi Pitch Sport Climbing in the Rhône Valley

After descending from the Mönch we sat through a few days of bad weather in Grindelwald, as the forecast was looking better to the south west we decided to head down into the Valais and stay in the Rhône valley. We were expecting Sunday to be fairly wet all day, but when the rain stopped in the morning we decided to make the most of the unexpected good weather and head to one of the low level crags in the Rhône valley. We decided to head to Bramios which is next to Sion as it had multi pitch sport routes which appealed to both of us more than the single pitch alternatives, the multi pitch routes also had the advantage of being in the shade as it was boiling in the sun. We decided to climb Arete Sud, a five pitch f5c+. After a surprisingly tough start to the first pitch, the first few pitches were all enjoyable climbing with an excellent arete at the top of the second pitch. The third pitch wasn’t very clear from the guidebook as there were three lines from the belay. We decided to head. Read the full article…