Alpine summer adventures – mobile phone blog update!
After a brief stop in Chamonix after our journey through France we set off for Ailefroide for some sunny rock climbing on beautiful, multi-pitch, bolted, granite slabs – Palavar Les Flots, La Snoopy, Little Palavar, Chaud Biz, Sueurs de Boucs and shorter routes on the crags just minutes from the campsite. The abseils off the multi-pitch routes were quite an experience in themselves. We also went on an expedition up to the Ecrins Hut to climb the Dome des Ecrins as we found it was a bit too windy for the climb along to the Barre des Ecrins.
Ailefroide is such a lovely area with so many routes to climb and paths to walk, we’ll be going back again that’s for sure. The weather was good with some rain and storms but the rock seemed to dry quickly. The village is really just one big campsite and a friendly place.
We left Ailefroide to return to Chamonix for the first Mont Blanc course. The first week we spent walking, exploring and acclimatising in the Mont Blanc area then Stephen and Julie joined Jonathan, their Guide, for a week of Alpine training and the ascent of Mont Blanc. This all went very well and they successfully reached the summit on a blue sky morning with views across Europe! Much more and photos here on Stephen’s Blog www.stephenmcallister.blogspot.com/
After Chamonix, we packed up the van and moved on to Vicosporano in the Bregaglia area of Switzerland. More fantastic rock climbing and more granite with a mix of slabs, chimneys and cracks. All these routes and the climbs in Ailefroide have been two to four hundred metres in length so we’re going to find the routes back home short in comparison! From the Albigna cable car we climbed Via Miki, Via Felici, Dente par Dente, Piz dal Pal Tower and Vergine and the Bugeleisen from the Sciora Hut. We met up with Lara and Robin, our friends from Holland who were visiting Bregaglia for the first time. They found some local crags too which gave good cragging days.
Again the weather was changeable but at least it was predictable so it was possible to climb early on in the day then hide away when the evening thunder storms attacked the valley!
So back to Chamonix for the next Mont Blanc course, some more adventures and a more reliable and cheaper (Free in Chamonix...!) wireless internet connection so some great pictures and more info to follow.
After a brief stop in Chamonix after our journey through France we set off for Ailefroide for some sunny rock climbing on beautiful, multi-pitch, bolted, granite slabs – Palavar Les Flots, La Snoopy, Little Palavar, Chaud Biz, Sueurs de Boucs and shorter routes on the crags just minutes from the campsite. The abseils off the multi-pitch routes were quite an experience in themselves. We also went on an expedition up to the Ecrins Hut to climb the Dome des Ecrins as we found it was a bit too windy for the climb along to the Barre des Ecrins.
Ailefroide is such a lovely area with so many routes to climb and paths to walk, we’ll be going back again that’s for sure. The weather was good with some rain and storms but the rock seemed to dry quickly. The village is really just one big campsite and a friendly place.
We left Ailefroide to return to Chamonix for the first Mont Blanc course. The first week we spent walking, exploring and acclimatising in the Mont Blanc area then Stephen and Julie joined Jonathan, their Guide, for a week of Alpine training and the ascent of Mont Blanc. This all went very well and they successfully reached the summit on a blue sky morning with views across Europe! Much more and photos here on Stephen’s Blog www.stephenmcallister.blogspot.com/
After Chamonix, we packed up the van and moved on to Vicosporano in the Bregaglia area of Switzerland. More fantastic rock climbing and more granite with a mix of slabs, chimneys and cracks. All these routes and the climbs in Ailefroide have been two to four hundred metres in length so we’re going to find the routes back home short in comparison! From the Albigna cable car we climbed Via Miki, Via Felici, Dente par Dente, Piz dal Pal Tower and Vergine and the Bugeleisen from the Sciora Hut. We met up with Lara and Robin, our friends from Holland who were visiting Bregaglia for the first time. They found some local crags too which gave good cragging days.
Again the weather was changeable but at least it was predictable so it was possible to climb early on in the day then hide away when the evening thunder storms attacked the valley!
So back to Chamonix for the next Mont Blanc course, some more adventures and a more reliable and cheaper (Free in Chamonix...!) wireless internet connection so some great pictures and more info to follow.
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