Simon's fortnight off work
At last a well deserved holiday!
My friend Jez and I caught a late ferry and drove out to the alps in search of some steep ice, by about 4am we had made it as far as Chamonix before we had to stop in a lay by and get a few hours kip in the car. Feeling refreshed, we drove through the Mont Blanc tunnel and pretty soon we were in the small Italian town of Cogne. We spent 3 days climbing here, sleeping in the car at -20 and generally living like bums. Neither of us had been out to the alps for ages but we managed to do some fantastic routes including the fantastic Patri Droite (a magnificent WI4+ pillar) and pretty soon we were back into the swing of things.
On the evening of the third day after another great day on the ice, we drove through Italy via Turin and then back into France and by nightfall we were at our chalet in Vallouise in the Ecrins. We had another 5 days fantastic ice climbing in the Valloiuse area, highlights including; Beating the Retreat (supposed to be 300m, turned out to be 550!!), Sexy Gully (pretty narrow in places, 4 inches wide!), Davidoff (amazing 2nd pitch), Lingerie Fine (minging crappy chossy ice but fun in hindsight!) and Captain Courageaux (amazing final pitch).
After many adventures, a few close shaves with avalanches, loads of laughs, a lot of falling ice blocks, minor blood loss, major sweat loss and an entire body of aching muscles it was time to head home.
On the drive back we decided to break up the journey with a few hours bouldering at Bas Cuvier in Fontainebleau (possibly the worlds most famous bouldering destination?) we didnt to anything too hard, we didnt have any pads so we just pottered around ticking a few easy classics.
Back up north I still had a couple of days holiday left so managed to squeeze in a cheeky night bouldering session with Dan at Wimberry where we both ticked the brilliant Coarse Traverse.
I then just had time to head over to Burbage North for a fun session repeating a load of boulder problems before it was time to head back to work.
It was a fantastic time off work, but now its back to route setting, competition planning and centre running.
Love it!
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