We have been having a superb winter for skiing so far in Chamonix and surrounding areas. The waterfall ice climbing season began slowly but turned out brilliantly and there are still amazing conditions in Cogne right now.

I've had two weeks in Cogne this winter and the place never fails to disappoint with unparalleled reliability of conditions, stunning scenery, the finest cafes + coffee, and a huge array of quality routes at all grades. I also had a top day climbing a route called 'ILynx' which is next to the famous 'La Dame du Lac' over in Montriond. At the end of January I had a quick hit down to Provence to escape bad weather in the Alps. It was amazing to be on the sunkissed limestone in the middle of winter at Orpierre and Buis-les-Barronais.

My highlights from February include an memorable week stayng in Sainte Foy en Tarentaise, and skiing lots of first class descents in Les Arcs, Val d'Isere, Les Tignes and St Foy. I also had three days exploring some new areas in the Aosta valley for ski touring and un-earthed some classic trips.

I've also been doing the usual training for ski alpinism, but my form isn't great after three week off with a bout of the manflu! I'm entered for the Mezzlama Race at the end of April, which goes from Cervinia to Gressoney via a 4000m peak Castor! Better get off my arse!!

Here is a link to all the climbs shortlisted for the Piolet d'Or if your interested:

http://pioletsdor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=261&Itemid=359&lang=fr

After a hectic trip back to the UK for Christmas visiting family it was very relaxing to get back home to Les Houches and get out enjoyng the fab snow we have at the moment.

Today I was up skiing from the Aiguille du Midi with a group of skiers and boarders, and we had exeptional powder from top to bottom. The glaciers are well filled after the very snowy December, so make the most of the sunny weather over the next week and get yourselves up there if your lucky enough to be near Chamonix....

Tomorrow I'm off to Cogne for some ice climbing, which is the only spot with good conditions close to here at the moment. Then its over to Kandersteg for the Black Diamond sponsored ice climbing festival, although I hear the ice is rather thin on the ground over there......!!

Matt's been out making the most of the Pila and Courmayeur off-piste these last few days, while I've been out training for ski alpinism racing as the World Championships are in early February.

Today we went for a tour just over the boarder into Switzerland and found pristine cold smoke in the trees over a 900m descent- top draw action!

In the evenings we've been getting down the climbing wall which is a great way to stretch out after skiing aswell as trying to keep the rock climbing fitness together!

Today’s alpinists can only dream of what it must have been like as a pioneer in the Alps during the ‘Golden Age of Alpinism’ when many of the high peaks received their first ascents. Most would be quite content with rewinding the clock 30 years to the 1980’s when the likes of young Patrick Gabarrou bounced from one amazing first ascent to the next. In the Mont Blanc massif alone ‘Gab’ at his last count five years ago, had done over 300 new routes.

Fast-forward to late November 2012, Jon Bracey and Matt Helliker head up on a recce mission to check out conditions on the unrepeated 1986 Charlton/Silvester creation Corecrazion on the north face of Mont Grouvetta. Due to avalanche hazard they didn’t even make it to the Dalmazzi hut, but it wasn’t to be a wasted trip. On the opposite side of the valley the striking looking Northeast face of the Mont Rouge de Grouvetta (3477m) had caught their eyes. Inspection of the guidebook revealed not a single climb on this 900 metre high face!…Surely an error or maybe Gabarrou had done the line in recent years since publication of the topo…

On their return ten days later, a recent storm had brought significant snow down to the valley bottoms, especially on the Italian side of the massif. The ever-keen Italian cross-country skiers had profited and managed to piste the Val ferret tracks, which meant that the road was closed and an extra 8km of walking for the boys. Undeterred the motivated team were not to be put off. Early in the crisp frosty morning upon arriving at the barriers clearly indicating the closed road, the opportunistic Helliker glanced around to see not a soul about. A swift manoeuvre saw Matt testing his 4x4 driving skills to save the teams energy for the adventures ahead.

“It’s fine, I’ve got my off-road driving ticket!” commented Matt.

Following chamois tracks they snow shoed up towards the head of the tranquil Val Ferret, before veering north-westerly with the graceful twin summits of the Mont Rouge du Triolet dominating the views. After finding a good bivi spot amongst the old lateral glacial moraines the team deposited their packs here before heading on to put in a track up to the base of the face. Things didn’t go to plan though, as the obvious approach was too avalanche prone. Plan B was conjured up, but would involve a pitch of difficult mixed climbing to access the snow cone.

The morning alarm sounded, far too early as always, but the team were eager for the adventure. After two hours of effort the they made it to the base and their headlamp beams illuminated the ominous steep cliffs above, but no sign of a weakness. Finally the first rays of morning light showed the way thankfully and Matt took on the early pitches with some tasty footless M6 to get round a steep overhang.

Any doubts about conditions were soon silenced as their ice axes bit into the pristine neve runnels, which led up the fault line above. More steepness on perfect granite provided top notch mixed climbing on thin hooks. However, at midday the team had worryingly only got to about a third height on the face. A gambling man would surely have placed a large bet on them shivering away a cold night without bivi kit at this point!

Then from nowhere a hidden runnel of ice appeared where the team had expected more difficult mixed climbing which enabled the easier half to be gained via a chimney system. More steep thin ice without protection and some good intuitive route finding from the boys saw them in sight of the summit ridge just as the sun went down. Now progress slowed into a methodical approach up the two pitches of rock climbing, bypassing a gendarme on the way, to the elusive summit.

The team then abseiled back down the line, via more than 20 rappels, which took them a long 7 hours.

‘Eyes Wide Shut’, NE face of Mont Rouge de Grouvetta. 900m, ED1, M6, AO, UIAA IV+. (20thNovember 2012)

The slight catch was having to stand up on stage in front of 3000 people and answer questions in french, an awesome challenge and opportunity! Luckily it was none other than the complete legend of all things ice climbing, Francois Damilano who was asking the questions.

Matt did his best impression of a lemon, while I had a great chance to slag him off in front of the massive crowd as he did'nt understand a thing!! It was a fun night and we got to see the latest film 'Jungle Jamming' from Nico Favresse, Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll, and co. which was a blast.

We then crossed the col and worked our way through some slab! to end up in the T.Armina valley, where we skied, finding patches of good (and bad) snow all the way back to the Val Ferret and the SKi du Font tracks back to the car. Jess decided to stayin the pack for the descent! Snow cover is good, but there is quite a bit of windslab around so route choice is very important at the mo! 

With some good conditions this autumn motivation for some action has been sky high, especially after we cancelled our planned trip to Patagonia. Finally some time off, along with a good high pressure system arrived last week. Frustratingly I was booked in on a first aid course during the first half of the week and was tough concentrating at times as I glimpsed the perfect sunshine up in the high mountains!

On Thursday we made the long approach from Val Ferret up the hillside to the complex Pra Sec Glacier which provided a bit of exitement. It took us about seven hours to reach the bottom of the climb and all the while we were'nt sure if the bottom of the climb was in condition as it's obscured until the last possible moment! We found a good bivi spot for our tiny tent and observed an amzing sunset from one of the most tranquil spots of the Mont Blanc massif. 

Sleep was brought to an abrupt end at the sound of our alarm clocks at 2.30am- ouch! We needed to climb the bottom half of the route before the sun was up as it's south facing and this went to plan. 

The upper half of the climb enters the most amazing deep fault line with vast vertical walls either side. Thin ice, delicate mixed, and some gloves off rock climbing led us higher and higher. The Tronchey ridge wasn't far above but the rock quality was turning into uber choss. After reaching where we think the first ascensionists turned around, we tried all the tricks in the box to continue on. However we finally gave in after trundeling a significant volume of unstable rock!

Thanks to the first ascent team for providing us with a fun adventure- Sergio De Leo, Michel Coranotte, Marcello Sanguineti, Marco Appino

Plein Sud (22 May 2010), 900m, Grade VI, WI4+/5R, M6+

With the unstable weather patterns we waited until a couple of days beforehand to book in for a three day good weather window. David grabbed a last minute flight and was super motivated for some big mixed routes as always.

The last time we had climbed together must have been five years ago in Norway, when David clocked in some big grade 6 ice routes including the Hemsedal classic 'Hydnefossen'. It was great to be climbing together agian.

The day before David arrived, I went up to the Plan d'Aiguille as the snowstorm began to wane and put a trail, through the 50cm of fresh snow, up towards the NE face of Les Pelerins.

On the Monday we decided to leave the recent snow a day to settle before climbing. Instead we broke a trail up to the start of Fil a Plomb on the north face of the Rognon du Plan, before heading back to the Plan d'Aiguille Refuge. Luckily the guardian was still insitu so we settled in for a delicous dinner. This hut is more akin to a quality hotel!

At 5am we headed up to climb the Rebuffat/Terray (often and incorrectly referred to as the Carrington/Rouse) on the NE face of Les Pelerins. Conditions were simply amazing with superb ice all the way to the top. We topped out just after midday and made a swift abseil thanks to the abundant rappel stations. It was great to be back at the hut early to get rested ready for a pop at Fil a Plomb the next day. As long as the weather held....

The forecast was good apart from an increasing feohn wind, so we set off full of optimism! After 15ft of overhanging ice to cross the rimaye we were well warmed up. As we climbed the initial gully the spindrift started with great amplitude and was to continue so forth all day which made for exciting times. Conditions were good apart from the start of the crux pitch which was a bit thin and hollow. The main difficulty was batteling the spindrift avalanches and David climbed most of the route completly blind as his spectacles were completely encrusted in ice. Bloody good effort chap! Infact the experience was almost identical to the misserable suffer fest Matt Helliker and I experienced high on the north buttress of Mount Hunter while completing the 'Cartwright Connection'. 

Having finally hit the Midi-Plan ridge at the Rognon, we now had a long flog back to the Aiguille du Midi station in the full force of 70kph winds in our faces. The things we do for fun...! Luckily we made the last cable-car down and rewarded ourselves with beers and fine pizza from Casa-Valerio's.

With all the good conditions about lets hope for some more good weather to get on some big projects!

In Nick's words:

"The Soviet Union collapsed. I threw myself into its chaos for the sake of adventure and survived a nightmare beyond my imagination. This was a story I could not tell, but keeping it secret paralysed me. For 19 years the events of one long summer haunted my waking hours, while the horror nagged at my subconscious. Slowly, I came round to the idea that writing it down might be the only way out…

Jagged Red Line is set in the former USSR in 1993. A British student with a passion for climbing meets like-minded locals. They plan an expedition, not caring that the infrastructure is broken and there are rumours of war – the steep north faces of the Caucasus are calling. The trip is everything it was promised to be until someone makes a mistake. Suddenly, life will never be the same again."

Check it out here: http://www.nickwilliams.org/books/jaggedredline/

On rainy days I've been out running and dry-tooling, and catching up on paperwork after a long summer season of guiding. The Chamonix Ski Alpinism Club also had their first training session of the winter, with a time trial run up to the Plan d'Aiguille. I mamaged to beat my PB with a time of 1:01 so its great to know I've a little bit of residuel fitness before starting some serious training over the next two months. My motivation levels are crazy high, but I just wish our son Joshua would sleep more than a couple of hours per night as sleep-deprivation isn't great for recovery!!

I also managed to get out climbing to Bionassay crag for some fun sport. My shoulder and finger injuries are still holding me back a lot but it felt great to be out cragging with mates. I even managed to get a F7b+ clean which was very pleasing considering the amount of actual climbing I've done in the last 18 months.

I'm off back to the UK now for Matt Dickinson's wedding and to catch up with family. Fingers crossed for some high pressure when I get back so we can get into the high mountains.

Matt hates early starts and after a gallon of coffee he finally got out of his sleeping bag and we were moving by 7.15am- not your normal alpine start for October! The glacier is in good condition so we made quick progress crossing the rimaye at 8am, and I led up to the start of the Nomine crack in a 300metre pitch. This was only possible due to perfect neve conditions. Matt then got some fine therapy for his torn finger tendon on the classic aid pitch which is pretty steep. The next pitch was covered in a layer of perfect plastic-like ice, making fun climbing. Although the trade of was minimal protection. Matt then lead a long 60metre pitch all the way to the ice of the actual couloir coming down form the Breche des Drus. This is a sustained bit of tricky mixed climbing in the present snowy conditions and required a steady head.

From here it's about another 300metres of ice climbing to the summit of the Petit Dru and my calf muscles were burning hard all the way!

After a late lunch on the summit, about 14 abseils saw us back at the base of the climb. We quickly packed up our bivi kit and began the loooong trudge back to Chamonix.

October is such a brilliant time to be climbing in the Alps with the most beautiful autumnal colours, nobody else around, and perfect conditions for mixed climbing.

British guides Matt Helliker and Andy Perkins have made the autumn season’s first ascent of Beyond Good and Evil on the north face of the Pelerins above Chamonix. First climbed by Andy Parkin and Mark Twight in 1992 after 2 previous attempts, Helliker and Perkins climbed the complete route free and rated it as “one of the best routes either of us has ever done”.

Setting off from the first cable car to the Plan de l’Aiguille on October 3rd, the two guides arrived at the foot of the route at 10am and found the route to be in good shape. “I’d been watching the diagonal ice streak develop from my kitchen window for the last few weeks” said Matt. “I figured it would be in good nick and sent Andy a text. He didn’t need much persuading!”

Solid ice runnels in the back of the grooves made for excellent progress, though the ice was neither wide nor thick in many places, with unconsolidated snow keeping both climbers on their toes. By 3pm after 10 pitches of top quality climbing, the pair arrived at the junction with the classic Carrington-Rouse route. At this point, many teams have either abseiled off or finished up the easier last 2 pitches of the Carrington-Rouse. However, to quote Mark Twight from his book “Kiss or Kill”:"Although conditions improved drastically from when the first ascent was made, they were not good enough to tempt anyone onto the last four pitches, which are the most dangerous ones on this climb, so despite numerous claimed 'ascents' they all traverse off after the 10th pitch".

Andy Perkins takes up the story: “We knew the route had been freed by Marko Prezelj and Steve Koch, so it was certainly feasible but the conditions weren’t ideal by any means. Thin ice smeared the left walls of the crux corners, covered with odd blobs of powder. Matt had the bit between his teeth, and while I might have had a bash at it 20 years ago, it definitely looked like terrain suitable for the man in our party with the largest arms. He laced the lower crack and then fought his way up this and the sketchy slabs above, giving himself the occasional talking to. 20 m up the pitch, a key reach rightwards with the gear a reasonable way below him took him to the first good ice placement. Massive relief for both leader and belayer!”

Above this crux pitch, another full 60m ropelength on thin ice and creaky blocks led to the ridge and the top of the route at 6.30pm. They abseiled the Carrington-Rouse, being overtaken by darkness about 4 pitches from the base of the route, and then walked back down to Chamonix, arriving back at their cars just before midnight.

Andy Perkins rated the route as similar in quality and difficulty to his route with Brendan Murphy on Cerro Kishtwar. “My alpine mojo has been missing for a while. Beyond Good and Evil has been a perfect way to finish off a difficult alpine summer season. Thanks to Matt for the text while I was sport climbing down the valley, and for leading all the hard pitches”.

The landscape is breathtaking, the approaches almost non-existant and the climbing is out of this world! Plus the benefits of amazing Italian coffee and pizza make the Dolomoites a must visit destination whether your into walking or climbing.

We headed to the Tre Cime di Lavaredo to climb the 'Directissima' or more often refered to as the 'Brandler/Hasse' on the North face of the Cima Grande (Lothar Brandler, Dieter Hasse, Jörg Lehne, Sigfries Löw, June 1958). The climb is a remarkable journey up an immmense wall of highly featured limestone. Upon first aquaintance the rock bears close resemblance to crumbly cheese but it's actually pretty solid and you soon start pulling on even the most suspect looking holds.

We cant' wait to head back and have a pop at the nieghbouring 'Phantom der Zinne' which goes at F7c. Better get back to the fingerboard then!!

It won the Best Climbing Film at the International Mountain Film Festival in the Czech Republic.

Copy and paste this link.....

http://vimeo.com/epictvadventure/review/46260818/349feac30c

After a day or so of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to focus on some stretching and lots of aerobic training until I can climb again. To kick start things I enetered the Chamonix Vertical Kilometer race. I totally got my arse kicked, which although initially quite depressing was exactlly the impetous I needed to get motivated for training.

I've been trying to fit in three, 1000m uphill runs a week around guiding which has quickly got the fitness levels boosted. I have set myself a goal to try and run up Mont Blanc from my house in Les Houches(3810m on uphill). Although this is probably a mellow recovery run for Kilian Jornet Burgada, it's a fairly tough challenge for most mortals.

On Tuesday this week I had a day off from guiding and so decided to run up to the Gouter hut from Les Houches which entails about 2800m of ascent. It took me 2:55 hours which I was fairly happy with especially as it was pretty snowy and icy above the Tete Rousse which was'nt ideal in trainers. I was feeling quite strong at the top too, so might have to give it a go all the way to the summit soon....

On Monday we battled blizzard conditions on the Aiguille d'Entreves before navigating back to the welcome warmth of the bar in the Refugio du Torino. The next day we awoke to pristine sunshine and headed across to climb the most brilliant East ridge of the Pyramide du Tacul. Ten pitches of climbing later and Liam was converted into the ways of the Chamonix granite! After an abseil descent and stroll back to the lift station, it was time for Italian coffee and ice cream before heading back to Chamonix.

With a good overnight freeze forecast it was time for some ice climbing in the form of the Chere Couloir on the Triangle du Tacul next. After of few good pitches we had Liam's calf muscles on fire and the poor soul was begging for mercy.... A slick abseil back down, followed by a quick refuel in Cafe Elevation and we finished the day with six pitches of rock climbing at Les Gaillands.

Day four in the Chamonix valley now and the signs of fatigue were starting to show...however it was time to put all Liam's new rock climbing skills to test on the classic Frison/Roche at le Brevent. Pure luck (or perfect timing from the guide!) saw us topping out just as a torrential rain storm kicked in.

Today was our last day and with more depressing weather forecasts it was a tough call to make this morning as to where to head. The satellite images showed a slight break in the weather for late morning, coupled with a bit of brightness in the sky on the Index webcam and so a plan was made. La Flegere was in thick mist but amazingly we just broke throught the cloud at the top of the Index chairlift. The SE ridge of the Index provided a perfect end to the week and we had the climb to ourselves. Finally in the afternoon it was Maddy's, Liam's 13 year old daughter, turn to climb. She quickly polished off six routes at Les Gaillands and was a complete natural on the rock. What a star!

With some changeable weather at times we have been lucky to get two teams onto the summit of Mont Blanc. In ealry June we still had cold enough temperatures for some perfect ice climbing conditions on the North face of the Triangle du Tacul. More recently it's been really warm and time to get out rock climbing on the granite which Chamonix is so famous for. We've had some memorable days on the Dent du Geant, the Rebuffat routes on the Eperon du Cosmiques and on the south face of the Aiguille du Midi, plus some great days in the Aiguilles Rouges.

A big thanks to all our clients so far this summer and I look forward to tonnes more great climbing over the upcoming months.  

We have mixed weather here at the moment so on day one we headed up to La Flegere for a traverse of the Index and a 5 pitch rock route. It was amazing as we had the place to ourselves! Yesterday it was raining in Chamonix all day so we drove through the Mont Blanc tunnel to Italy to find 30c temps and great rock climbing at Machaby! Shirts off climbing all day helped Justin and Jed build on the 'London tans'!

Today we headed back up to La Flegere and did the traverse of the l'Aiguille des Crochues in minging weather, but the ridge is in great condition, and the descent is super fun, with Bracey getting Jed stuck into the Bum Slide descents back down to Lac Blanc for a Hot Chocy at the hut. Good day boys.

https://vimeo.com/44517905

Today we are flying off to Anchorage for a three week trip into the Ruth Gorge. The Great Gorge is a unique landscape with it's mile wide glacier and mile high big walls. We were there two years ago and can't wait to get back in there.

We would love to try a new route on the 1400m high East face of Mt Dickey if conditions and weather allow. Another possible objective is the still unclimbed east ridge of Mt Johnston. This has been tried many climbing legends including Yvon Chouinard, Mugs Stump, Doug Chabod, aswell other American hardnuts!

Follow our progress on the expedition blog:

www.thegreatgorge.blogspot.com

Last Saturday I was out with James for a ski tour day hit trying to make the most of the last bit of good weather. we heading up and over Col Autannues to the summit of Pointe Grande, we had a great ski down to Trient. Sunday I took Vicky and Family down the Vallee Blanche which was 11 year old Rosy's birthday present, a great day in sunny weather. Monday I was out with Jonathan and Clare Bell where again I headed to Col Autannues due to the fact the snow was so good a few days before. Tuesday and Wednesday has been a Patagonia Ski Press event where myself and Jon guided the Patagonia team from the States, Anncey and Press from the ski magazines from around the world for off Piste skiing in the chamonix valley, all members where great skiers and boarder so we had a wicked few days blasting around La tour's  spring snow and Grand Mottet powder, not to mention the great evenings meals out at Munchies, Yes Patagonia look after us! Im now skiing with Alex who is out for 4 days of interesting ski touring, and he's defo getting that! yesterday we skied off the midi and skinned to italy to get great fresh tracks down the Vierge today the weather has been nasty we had fresh snow over night, with thick cloud and bad vis we headed up Flegare up and over the cols des Crochues then up to Pnte Alph Favre to ski the Glacier Mort. the snow on the Mort was deep and untracked, but skiing in a white out made the descent very adventurous, route choice being important due to the fact we came across alot of windslab, so be very careful back there folks! thanks to Alex for a top effort in poor, and at times scary conditions!!

The Argentiere hut was fully booked so we dossed down in the top cable car station of Les Grands Montets on Sunday night. As the clocks had just gone forward there was no point in getting up too early and so we left at about 3.45am. It took a couple of hours to walk down to the Argentiere Glacier and up to the bottom of the face . We crossed the bergshrund just after 6am and headed up towards the Messner ramp which is probably the only way to access the lower icefield at the moment. Conditions were ideally with only small sections of hard grey ice to cross and we made steady progress. The weather was perfect with no wind and it was a joy to be climbing on this most amazing face in near perfect conditions. It's easier to climb when there is more neve, but at the moment there is good ice all the way so much easier to protect- which is what you want when guiding!

Front pointing up 1000 metres of ice is always hard work though and luckily we had a good supply of energy gels to keep Lawrence fuelled up whenever the fatigue started to kick in!

After just under 9 hours it was a really special moment stepping onto the breche and into the sunshine. Great to see a huge smile of Lawrence's face as he reached the top and completed a long help dream of climbing the North face of Les Droites.

Ten abseils down the south side and an hour or so's walk , saw us down at the Couvercle hut. A pristine evening gave brilliant views of the Grandes Jorasses and time for the achievements of the day to sink in.

We skied off the midi down a tricky icy Petit Enver to the "salle a manger", which we crossed and then skinned up the Glacier des Periades heading up and east towards the "Pointe Sisyphe" at around 3000m the SW coulior becomes visible. at this point we carried the skis, cramponed and rope up, with axe in head and climbed the Coulior to the Breche Puiseux. 1040m Vertical. At the Breche we did a 55m lower to the Mont Mallet Glacier, here we stepped back into the skis and skied the Mallet Glacier and made a untracked traverse onto the Leschaux Glacier, to avoid the very icey exit couliors! We skied roped up to find a track across as the slots where bottomless!! We then skied under the North Face off the Grand Jorasses down the Glacier and all the way back down into Chamonix, giving us over 3000m vertical. a great day out, top effort to Si and Caroline for keeping a good pace! speed and good route choice is the key at the moment with these crazy warm tempertures.

This year was my 5th time competing and I was signed up with my regular racing partner Carron Scrimgeour. The weather was amazing and we had perfect snow conditions for the descents. We finished in 38th place after 4 grouling days, especially for Carron who was'nt on top form and did more than his fair shair of suffering. After each stage he was white as a ghost and spent about an hour vomitting! 

This year the Italian dominated with Lorenzo Holzknecht and Manfred Reichegger winning, and Denis Trento and Matteo Eydallyn in second.

Jon as headed out off town to beast himself on the Pierra Menta, 4 days racing off 3000m ascent per day!! Best off luck to Jon, Im sure he will tell us all about it on his return. Iv got a few days off to, and have my sights set on some steep ski lines iv been waiting to do for years. happy days.

We had a warm up day at le Tour wtih lots of new skills to take on board and some fun spring snow skiing. Day 2 was a baptism by fire as the team took on the 'Col du Tour Noire' in the Argentiere basin- 1000 metres of ascent at altitude! The guys helped each other out and it was very satisfying to see the whole team make it to the col and enjoy some fun turns on the way down. With tired legs the following day we took the Aiguille du Midi cable car up to 3842m before skiing down the upper section of the Vallee Blanche. It was then skins back on and a section of skinning roped up through the icefall before onwards to cappucinos at the Punta Hellbroner cafe. Brilliant conditions all the way down the VB saw the team enjoying well earned beers back in 'Elevation' down town.

After 30cm of fresh snow overnight we chose to have an off-piste day at the Grands Montets and lucked out with a quiet morning and amazing powder skiing.

Then on Tuesday night it was my local uphill only ski alpinism race the 'Verte a L'Envers. With the Pierra Menta four day stage race coming up next week I was out training in the morning before the race and was feeling knackered so did'nt expect to have a good race. However I felt pretty strong as the race progressed and hit the accelerator hard in the last third smashing my PB by almost 4 minutes. I came home 6th senior male in a time fo 38:33 minutes. World Champion Kilian Jornet destroyed the old course record finishing in 33:55!! Complete Monster.......!

Day 1 we headed up the Midi and skinned over to the Col d'Entreves on the italian side. we reached the col in good time and in high cold winds we left our skis at the col, cramponed up and climbed the ridge to the top off Aiguille d'Entreves, a beautiful and exposed summit, we then down climbed the ridge back to our skis and skied great snow back to join the classic VB and into Chamonix a wild day out. Day 2 we headed up the Flegare lift and skinned over the Col de Crochues and up and over the La Breche de Berard (keyhole) which gives you access into the Combe de Berard inbetween the col de Berard and the col de Salenton, this little bit off extra effort gives an amazing descent, again skiing fresh lines knee deep pitch after pitch, the forecast was for snow that evening and for the following day so we headed to a empty La Tour for Day 3, once the cloud lifted we headed into the back bowls skiing fantastic fresh snow in the sunshine with a great ski down to the car park at the end off the day from Aig des Posettes. Today was the last day with Phil before he had to catch his transfer back to the airport at 4.30, we headed over the boarder to switzerland and to Finhaut we skinned over 1000m up the Bel Oiseau and had the most amazing descent on perfect snow, in Phil's own words 'iv never skied anything like that in my life' with a massive smile on his face. We had to earn our turns but it was well worth it, even with the snowless field at the bottom to ski through! Top effort Phil over the last 4 days, wicked fun as always skiing with you and very much looking forward to next year.

The northerly winds this wind have scoured a lot of snow away and it's quite spicing taking the high traverse from the Grands Montets top station across to Les Droites so this took a bit more time than expected. We then had a bit of a mare getting over the bergshrund and it was about 11.30am by the time we'd both crossed the 'shrund! Not your usual 'alpine start' for a big north face....

Anyways we put the pedal down for a bit and soon made good progress despite the challenging conditions with plenty of hard grey mountain ice. We did bits of moving together but often took a belay to get a rest from the relentless front pointing on the hard ice. Matt was suffering quite a lot from his unshakable flu he's had over the last 2 weeks, but just got on with the job.

Finally at about 4:30pm we topped out and had brilliant views across to the north face of Les Grandes Jorasses. 

We then started the long abseil back down the face to our skis. We only found 1 abseil anchor on the entire descent so it was a rather slow process especially when it soon got dark on us! 22 abseils later we made it back to the skis at about 9:30pm.

Check out this wee video clip I put together from the climb:

Lawrence was along with his daughter Kate and friend David. Despite Kate's inability to get out of bed in the morning we managed to get the first 'bin up to the Aiguille. Luckily for us there was a nice cool breeze so the long skin up the Periards glaciers was'nt too hot and the climb up the couloir to the breche was in perfect condition. A 50 metre abseil got us down to the Mont Mallet glacier and there was time for a quick bite to eat before the amazing ski down.

The views of the north face of the Grandes Jorasses from here are outstanding and definately get you excited about getting strapped onto the cliff! 

We had some great powder snow and good conditions in the bottom couloir which takes you onto the Leschaux glacier. From here it's a fun cruise down to the Mer de Glace and with good snow all the way to Chamonix we were soon back in town.

Happy days!

Check out this link if you want to see what its like to make the first ascent of a gnarly new route on the north buttress of Mt Hunter:

http://www.posingproductions.com/product.php?form_action=detail&product_id=248

The conditions in the Aiguille Rouge have been great with the Berard valley holding quality pow throughout. We've been over the Col des Crochues, the Col du Beaugeant, and the Col de Belvedere. I also had a good day out trainging for ski-alpinism on last Saturday doing the Crochues-Berard traverse from carpark in les Praz to le Buet in 2.15 hours- not bad for a part-timer!

Yesterday Matt and I took a regular clients on a brilliant trip starting from Finhaut just over the boarder in Switzerland. We started by skinning up over the Col de Fenestral and had an amazing ski down to Les Marecottes via Emaney and a completely untracked descent! Amazing considering its not snowed in a week...

Then we went up Les Marecottes lift system and made the short climb up to La Golette. More endless champagne powder all the way down the far side to the lake, before the fun ski down the Vallon de Van back to Les Marecottes. 

Today Matt and I had planned to climb a route on the north face of les Droites but Matt has the manflu! So Jess (the Jack Russel) and I went over to the Col des Forclaz and ski toured up to Pointe Ronde. This is an amazing view point and the descent directly down from the summit via the north face is magic. Jess definately prefers hard pack to powder though!

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=4449

I've been out ice climbing most days this week and with the baltic temperatures we've had over the last three weeks conditions are top-draw. Across from Les Houches I climbed the classic 'Cascade Sainte-Maire' with Adam Parrot and then finished off the day climbing seldom formed 'Cascade de la Faune' at Servoz.

With Tony Lowe we headed over to Montriond (near Morzine/Avoriaz) to climb the Nant du Lapiaz which is located next to 'La Dame Blanche' but with heavy snowfall and rather large spindrift avalanches went for plan B and headed up to Ardent. We climbed a couple of interesting technical lines and hopefully got Tony's confidence going so he can get on the sharp end over the rest of the winter.

And finally today I had a fun trip down the Valle Blanche via the Envers glacier with David Backsby and team. Look forward to skiing with you guys again in the future.

After the race I drove straight to Cogne and had five action packed and fun days ice climbing with Dmitry. We stayed at the beautiful hotel 'La Balme' where we had first class food and hospitality all week as always. Dmitry hadn't done any climbing since he was 17 years old and despite having an office job got stuck in and we got some brilliant climbs done. Over the week we did: Cascade de Lillaz 3, Acheronte 3, E Tutto Relativo 4, Chandelle Levure 4+, and Tuborg 4+/5. Awesome effort Dmitry and hope you can make it back next year!

I could probably have done with a rest day of Thursday, but I went climbing with a regular client, Lawrence. We skied down from the Aiguille du Midi and climbed the classic Albinoni/Gabarrou on the east face of Mont Blanc du Tacul. It was -15 degrees all day and the ice is a bit grey at the moment making for tough conditions. But perfect training for bigger fish we hope to fry later in the season hopefully! Watch out if you head up there-some of the abseil anchors have taken a battering this summer so we drilled abalokov's in the upper goulotte. 

I ended the week off-piste ski guiding over in Villars, Switzerland with the annual Hiscox trip. We had great powder snow and some wicked tree skiing on Saturday.

Next off I was working on part two of a TV advert for 'SportLife' chewing gum with Tim Emmet which was a laugh. We climbed on some large crevasse walls/seracs part way down the Envers du plan glacier. Super photogenic and some cool ice features.

Then last week I was back in Cogne with Ashwin and we stayed at the Hotel Balme which is a top place. Many thanks to Natalie and Alexandro for the hospitality! Ashwin had done a couple fo weeks ice climbing before and was keen to break into the grade 5's. He'd been training hard down the climbing walls in London which helped massively. For a warm up on day 1 we climbed the full 600metres of Cold Couloir which was ace and perfect to get the tools swinging loads after a while away from ice climbing. Next up we chose Erfaulet, a mega grade 5 in the Valnontey valley. The crux pitch had Ashwin's arms pumping hard, but thats what he'd come for! Luckily afternoon pizzas and hot chocolates in Bar Licone in Cogne offer a perfect recovery formula for the next day!

Day 3 and we fancied a shorter walk-in so we opted for Candelabro del Coyote followed by Tuborg, both given grade 4+/5. These are both must do routes for anyone climbing at the grade. With tired arms Chandelle Levure gave us a perfect climb to enjoy on the last day. Thanks for a fun time and have a cool trip to Norway next month Ashwin.

I've been training hard for ski-alpinism racing and thankfully last night finished a really tough 3 week period of complete overload- It's been a hard journey back after missing last season but the body is slowly learning to deal with the pain and suffeirng! Oh interval training is so much fun... It was also the French National Ski Alpinism Championships last weekend in Areches, which I entered and was happy with my 21st place after going down with a gastro bug the night before and spending all night vomitting!!

The skiing conditions have been absolutely amazing with great snow down to valley level. We've had some really memorable days skiing the couloirs up at Brevent, the Pas de Chevre, and runs down the Envers glacier form the Aiguille du Midi.

Despite all the snow its been quite warm in the valleys and so ice climbing conditions have been slow to get going apart from in Cogne where things are pretty good. Up on the rive gauche side of the argentiere glacier I had an exciting day helping to film a chewing gum advert for a Dutch TV production company. I climbed Nuit Blanche with Tim Emmet and then Tim was hoping to BASE jump from the top....complete nutter! Luckily conditions were sub optimal and we went down to Tete Luis Phillipe the next day and filmed Tim Base jumping there, which is exciting enough if you ask me!

Just back tonight from a fun day in Cogne- Matt and I were climbing with John and Stuart and we had a top time climbing E Tutto Relativo, Cascade de Lillaz, and Sentiero del Troll. Rich Cross was also over guiding Olly up the grade 6 classic of Cogne, 'Repentance'. Nice one boys!

Today was my first day off for a while, so myself, Jon and Stu skied off Brevent in the morning where we skied the Allais Couloir and a line to the right off the ENSA Coulior, 40deg off pow in a narrow coulior opening up into trees and yet more steep couliors all the way to the valley floor, Iv never seen this line in condition before, a amazing ski, but get in there early, we where pleased to be out off there by 12.30 as things where warming up!! after a coffee break we switched aspects and skied off the Aig du Midi mid station, down the north facing Pre du Rocher, still in very good condition. Bring it on.

I have spent most of the last two months training hard for ski-alpinism racing with tonnes of running and more recently many 1000's of meters of acent on skis(4000m yesterday alone!!). We also had some old steeple-jack friends out from the UK for a bit of climbing in November. Fuelled by a healthy diet of lager, Guiness, and Marlboro reds we went ice climbing and ascended the Breithorn from Cervinia.

Matt and myslef went back to the UK for the Kendal Mountain Film Festival for the premiere of the 'Moonflower' film which was a blast. Brilliant social and booze fest as expected- not to be missed! If you did'nt make it to Kendal you can buy or rent the 'Moonflower' film from the 'Posing Productions Website'.

Since them Matt has been down in Spain for some sport climbing and I have been starting bits of easy climbing training again after damaging a finger pulley back in August. It's feels so good to be climbing again!!

My old team mate from Ski-Alpinism racing has also managed to twist my arm and persuade me to race the Pierra Menta again. In 2010 we came 25th so the pressure is on to do even better!! After a couple of hours of getting very excited the reality started to sink in as i remembered all the hours of training that are I will need to do over the next four months! So this week it's been a painful return back in the deep-end on the training front!! Several laps from Chamonix up to the Plan d'Aiguille, and a painful interval session at Les Planards with the Chamonix Ski-Alpinisme Club.

Check out this youtube video from the 2009 Pierra Menta: 

With the Montenvers railway shut for annual maintenance we started from the Plan d'Aiguille on Thursday morning. The walk up to the bottom of the face was longer than I remembered and we finally reached the Bergshrund at 4pm. It was Karoline's (my wife) Birthday on Saturday and the deal was I had to be back for Friday night..... Hence we started climbing straight away and we made it to the 2nd icefield by 6.30pm and decided to bivi there. After about 2 hours of exhausting hacking away at the ice we had a kinda acceptable sitting bivi and hunkered down for the night. Somehow we had foolishly sent Matt off to do the food shop for the climb and thus went to bed with rather empty stomachs!!

We got going in the morning by 7.30am and made good progress up the narrows and across the 3rd iceband. With good conditions on the whole we were making good time and I was already starting to image the sunshine on the south side and beautiful Italian capuccinos! After rock climbing up the spur we reached the final tower and followed track out right only to find the right hand exit rather dry. Matt did a great job climbing this delicate and unprotected pitch, and as always it was a great feeling hitting the summit ridge and the sun!!

Six quick abseils later and we hit the glacier. After an exciting jump across the bergshrund it was looking like we should make the valley in ok time. However we suddenly found ourselves in the most horrendous 3 ft deep breakable crusted snow! Oh dear!! The descent took for ever and the Boccalate Hut was going to have to be our home for the night, sans repas!!

Here a quick vid that Johnny Baker has put together:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8sRYZ4nuo8&feature=channel_video_title??

The premiere will be at Kendal Mountain Film Festival on Friday 18th November at 7pm, so hopefully see some of you there! Matt and I will also be doing a short lecture about the climb on Saturday too.

Check out this link below with some more info and pics:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=4119??

www.planetfear.com/news/Bracey_and_Helliker__The_Cartwright_Connection_2720.html??

Last Thursday it was raining in Chamonix so we nipped through the Mont Blanc tunnel and headed up Valgrisenche to a crag called Gare Est. A brilliant overhanging wall of good schist with plenty to go at from F5c to F7c. We had a good mileage session with a bunch of F6c's and F7a's.

Next up we went down to the limestone mountains of Les Aravis and to a brilliant overhanging south facing crag called 'Les Rochers de la Forclaz'. There was a bit of seepage after the last two weeks of non-stop rain, but we found plenty of dry stuff to get a workout. After a good few warm ups, Matt and I redpointed an amazing route 'Enleves tes Tongues' which the guidebook describes well: "8 metres en 7c exeptionellement aleatoire, technique, complexe et tout ca en dalle". It well worth the 4 stars it gets!

And to finish us off on Saturday we went to the steep limestone crag 'Foron' over in the Chablais. The top section was wet so no projects got done, but we got a good burn on all the F7a's on the lower section of the cliff, and John was loving the sporting run outs!!!

For any normal folk this would be plenty of exercise, but Matt's been beasting John and me every evening too with massive weights and finger board sessions, plus long runs!!!!!!!

A light finger board session for Matt lasts about 1 hour and typically involves a couple of hundred pull-ups! Enough said.....

Luckily Matt went for work for a few days which gave us a little bit of a rest....Matt in the last few days has been on the Chamonix granite doing routes on the Grand Capucin, Roi du Siam and Pointe Lachenal.

Today we were back on the limestone at Balme in the Arve valley in the full sunshine and we got baked! We climbed the mega classic 'Y'a de l'Urgo dans l'air', 180m, 6c+, 5c, 6b+, 7a+, 6c, 7a+. What a route, totally psyched for more of that!

Jon, Matt, and a very tired John Baker

ps It's alright John, we'll let you go back home soon!

Matt

http://4-seasons.tv/de/film/interview-matt-helliker

Matt and Jon

Matt

With a return to sunshine we then headed across to Zermatt and climbed the Breithorn before wandering down to the Ayas Guides Hut on the Italian side. There is always a warm welcome at this great hut, along with superb food, and even WIFI!!!!! Perfect for me to catch up with the latest from the Tour de France... On our last day we made an early start to beat any crowds and had a fine finale to the week by climbing the short but technical Pollux, a good one for your first AD route. 

After a couple of days off, I had three fun days climbing with Matt's clients Marius and Christina. We dodged the rain in Chamonix with a day hit down to the 9 pitch granite slabs at Machaby and climb 'Diedre Jaccob'. We followed this with a traverse of the Aiguilles Entreves and the Pointes du Lachenal. The week had a very exciting end as Marius proposed to Christina on the Midi-Plan traverse on the last days. Congratulations guys! and lets hope for good weather next year for a pop on the Hornli ridge on the Matterhorn.....

Watch this space.

Matt

Matt

With heavy rain the guys had a well earned rest with a bit of valley cragging on Wednesday. Fine weather returned for the end of the week luckily and after enjoying one of the big multi-pitch routes at Bramois they headed up to the Almagella Hutte. From there they climbed the brilliant traverse of the Dri Horlini on immaculate rock in the sunshine- what a week!!

Meanwhile last week I was running a Mont Blanc course. The first half of the week is all about acclimatization and skills training. After some big boot rock climbing, ecole de glace, and some steep ice climbing around the Cabane d'Orny we made our way to the Trient hut. An early start the next morning ensured we were the first team on the summit of the Aiguille du Tour before walking back to le Tour and enjoying a slap up lunch in Chamonix. 

With high winds and unstable weather half of the team did an amazing job on making the summit of Mt Blanc. The rest of the team enjoyed climbing Pointe Lachenal, the Cosmiques Arete, and some 'via ferrata' at Plateaux d'Assy.

On Wednesday we escaped the worst of the showers down at Macaby in the Aosta valley and enjoyed 8 pitches of perfect granite rock climbing. With more rain on Thursday we went exploring some ice caves. A wild 60 meter free-hanging abseil took us into an amazing cave system which is full of ice year round. In complete darkness the team enjoyed their first experiences of ice climbing- what a crazy adventure!

With a return to full sunshine for the end of the week we completed a traverse of the Aiguille Marbree, and the Tour Ronde. Mark also climbed the Midi-Plan traverse and Aubrey did an amazing job on an ascent of the Rebuffat route on the south face of the Aiguille du Midi! Good effort and we look forward to climbing together next summer!!!

People often stay at the Gramusset Refuge which is meant to be a superb hut with delicious food but we did'nt have that luxury. We left Chamonix shortly after 7am and finally arrived at a very damp car-park at the Col des Annes having been stuck behind lorries, buses, and tractors for much of the drive. The sun broke through the clouds and we were greeted to a glorious day with not a single other person about.

The 12 pitch route up this amazing ridge is mainly grade F4b with a pitch of F5c near the top which meant we were able to move fast with the ever present threat of heavy afternoon thunderstorms! We made the summit by 2pm and scampered down the descent path before the showers started on the walk out. Unfortunately the hut guardian was back in the valley so we missed out on tea and cakes- maybe next time I'll stay at the hut!

Thanks to Lawrence for a brilliant weeks climbing and hoping for perfect weather next trip so we can climb the Greppon Mer de Glace and the traverse of Les Drus!

We had a brilliant time on Mount Hunter and I am immensely happy having realised a long-held dream to complete a new route on this iconic buttress. Alasdair Lee from 'Posing Productions' sent out Dave 'Pap' Reeves with us to Alaska to do some filming and is now working on producing a short film. On this front they have just released a short 'teaser' which you can see here:  http://www.posingproductions.com/video.php?form_action=play&video_id=218

On returning I had a fab ten days hanging out with my wife Karoline and our little boy Joshua before the summer guiding season. Mind you I was so tired I could have done with a rest!!

My first weeks work was for Mont Blanc Guides and we had a really fun team. After acclimatisation over in Italy on a very snowy Gran Paradiso we had a perfect weather window for Mt Blanc. Conditions were very good and seven out of eight people made it to the top- good effort!

This week I've been with a regular client Lawrence and we've had a superb few days up at the Envers des Aiguilles hut. On Tuesday we climbed the 12 pitch 'Bienvenue au George V' on the 1ere Pointe des Nantillons which must be one of the best granite routes in the Mont Blanc massif. With sore toes the following day we headed across to the Tour Rouge and climbed the amazing 'Le Marchand de Sable'. This is another must do route if your ever in the area......

Today was a rest day which meant a short spin on my bike and then playing/looking after Joshua as Karoline went off on a 'hen do'!

 www.moonflower-expedition.blogspot.com

At the start of March I enjoyed a fun three days ice climbing with Ciaran and Myriam up at the Col des Montets, le Reposoir, and rive gauche of the Argentiere glacier. Le Reposoir is such a beautiful spot over in the Aravis and never disappoints. 

Next up a group of Canadians came over to sample the delights of the off-piste action of the Mont Blanc massif....with Canada experiencing a winter of record snowfalls I had my work cut out, but the team went away impressed and keen for more- hopefully with more powder next time!

A regular client, Lawrence Smoker was over for some climbing action in the hills in mid March. After a great day on the brilliant Clare-Chazal, III 4+ and a fun days skiing at the Grands Montets, we went off to try Madness Tres Mince. Unfortunately we were scuppered by the foehn winds blowing a consistent spindrift over from Italy!!

Will Cecil and team were next up , and keen for more ski touring after a fun fews days in the Gran Paradiso region last winter. With 30cm of fresh snow and cat. 3 avalanche conditions we headed over to the Lammeren Hutte in the Western Oberland. On the way to the hut we headed up towards the Daubenhorn to check out the powder on a glorious sunny day. More snow overnight and the next day limited options but got lucky with our timing and had a fun ski from the Rote Totx lucke. The afternoon was spend practicing avalanche transciever searches and building a snow hole in which Will and Andrew enjoyed a chilled pre-dinner beer!!! The following day we had  perfect ski off the Wildstrubel before everyone headed home.

A good friend Ian Parnell was over in Chamonix for a few days on a mini-break last week. We teamed up together with Steve Su from the USA and had a superb day climbing the West Face Direct on the Aiguille du Plan (Gabarrou/Picard-Deyme, V 5, 6a, A1/2).

I wanted an evening with my family the day before the climb so set off from Chamonix at 2.30am and ran up to the Plan d'aiguille to meet the guys at 4am,who had spent the night in the Plan d'aiguille refuge. This proved a good warm up with 1300m of ascent in 1.40 hrs, half of which was in knee deep snow!! arg...all good fitness training I guess! The routes has tonnes of fun and memorable climbing with a couple of spicy pitches on thin ice. The long flog back along the midi-plan traverse was less fun! - probably best to just wander down to the Requin hut instead!!!!!

Then, finally it started snowing for the first time in over a month!!!

Craig and his son Lloyd from South Wales came of for three days ski touring in preparation for the Haute Route this spring. We had superb powder skiing every day plus some classic touring action up to the Col du Tour Noire above the Argentiere glacier, and on the Crochues-Berard traverse to le Buet. Good luck for the Haute Route trip guys!

Day one was spent getting technique sussed out up at Les Chazalets, and then after coffee in the glorious sunshine, an ascent of Le Pylone. Next day we decided to take on the ultra classic 300m long 'La Colere du Ciel' II 3+ which is  a fabulous and varied climb full of character.

On Wednesday we drove East over the Col de Lautaret and went to Ceillac in the pristine mountains of Les Queyras. This is a brilliant little area and often useful when there is high avalanche risk. We climbed the superb Le Y (branche de droite) 250m, 3+ and the first couple of pitches of the Les Formes du Chaos 4, which is amazing and as the guidebook states 'a faire absolument'.

Any ice climbing trip to La Grave wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Vallon du Diable above St Christophe-en-Oisans. So on Thursday we had a early start to make sure to have the pick of the routes. Conditions are still perfect of the north facing side of the valley and we headed for the stunningly beautiful grade 4, 'Les Larmes de Chaos'. 4 pitches of great climbing later we abseiled down, and enjoyed the beauty of the solitude and wilderness of this unspoiled valley as we walked out in the sunshine.

On our final day we stayed local and climbed 'La Nuit sera Fraiche' in the morning before Ester did her first ever leads on ice at a secret little location in the afternoon.

The abseils on the south side are well equipped and after strapping on the snow-shoes they were back in the Couvercle hut shortly after sunset!

Good effort Steve!!

On Monday we were joined by Peter and headed over to La Thuile is the search for some fresh snow. The south easterly winds had deposited about 20cm of light powder and more in sheltered spots. We had to pick our descents carefully to find the best snow and managed to get a few good lines.

Fingers crossed for some more more snow soon for the skiers amongst you! 

This last week we've still been finding great skiing up high from the Aiguille du Midi, particularly on the Petit Envers descent. 

Matt and I have also been enjoying the delights of a bit of winter alpinism with Steve Potter, Lawrence Smoker, and Nick Gee. The Gabarrou/Albinoni and Modica/Nouri on the East face of Mont Blanc du Tacul are in superb condition at present.

Lawrence, Nick and myself also headed over to Cogne last week for a memorable day on the brilliant 'Stella Artice" II 5. Conditions don't get any better than present so get yourselves over there!

Conditions don't get any better for winter alpinism than at present- very stable snow, easy galcier travel, warm temperatures, and some brilliant ice and neve on lots of faces.

The following routes look in great condition:

Ginat (Droites N face), Gabarrou/Albinoni, Modica/Noury, Pinochio, Goulotte Lafaille, Goulotte Valeria, Carrington/Rouse, Frendo/Ravanel, Fil a Plomb, SuperCouloir (direct start very dry),

and the Grand Pilier d'Angle looks amazing too.  

I started last week with a great days ski-touring from the Col du Pillon in Switzerland. We had first tracks from the summits of La Palette and Stuedelistand in 30cm of powder and despite all the warm temperatures were able to ski all the way down to Gsteig. We then had a couple of superb days skiing off the Courmayeur lift system, after the Aosta valley received a good 40cm of fresh. With hardly anyone about we scored fresh lines down the Arp and Youla all day long, plus found great conditions off the Zerrota chairlift all the way down to Val Veny. 

Later in the week I was over at Les Diablerets 3000 on an avalanche awareness training course, while Matt had an adventure dropping into a completely untracked Cosmiques Couloir.

Other info:

Despite the warmer weather the ice climbing in Cogne is still in amazing condition. The Ginat on the north face of Les Droites is in perfect nick. Great snow still on the ski tours opposite La Tuile and other north facing stuff in Aosta valley. Ok conditions on the Vallee Blanche although the 'salle a manger' is still very open and everyone is avoiding it by the exit couloir across from the Requin hut.

Happy climbing and skiing, Jon

I first set up Vertigo Mountain Guides with a very good friend and climbing partner Jules Cartwright back in 2002. Jules was without doubt Britain's most talented and driven alpinists of his generation, but he also had the most fun and certainly knew how to enjoy life. It has given me great pleasure to get Vertigo Guides off the ground again in 2010 along with Matt Helliker. Please take a moment to remember our friends lost but not forgotten. 

We hope you have an excellent 2011 full of rewarding and fun adventures! 

Thanks Jon, Karoline, Joshua, and Jess(the Jack Russell) 

Stories on the grapevine of plenty of early season action happening up in Scotland got me thinking though... I had'nt climbed in Scotland for over 5 years and the last climb I did was a brilliant new route up in Torridon. Having clearly forgotten all the miserable bits about Scottish winter climbing, I managed to negotiate with my wife to escape north of the boarder with an old climbing partner Rich Cross. Despite the wild weather and difficult driving conditions we arrived at the Bridge of Orchy not long after midnight and settled down in the boot of the car- oh the joys of Scotland return! Especially for me with a dog-eared and threadbare sleeping bag that I found in my mothers loft. Saturday gave a fine day and we climbed the southern highlands classic 'Messiah',  VII 7. This was a great warm up and short day enabling us to drive on up to Torridon in the afternoon.

The following day we headed into Bhein Bhan to try the Moran/Tattersall 2002 testpiece 'The Godfather' weighing in at a might grade of VIII 8. We left the car at 4am in arcitc temperatures for the long two and a half hour walk-in. Having finally decided on the line, all was going well until when half way up leading the secong pitch Rich snapped one of his axes. How frustrating having come so far and to have the route in condition along with good weather an able partner!! Initially we thought we would have to abseil off, but then decided to try and carry on with the second making do with one and a half ice axes.... somehow it worked. The climb gives a magnificent journey up one of the biggest and most intimidating cliffs Scotland has to offer.

A little tired we awoke on Monday morning in Glencoe with tired arms but keen to make the most of the continued good weather and fine conditions. We opted for Central Buttress in Stob corrie nan Lochan and thoroughly enjoyed this magnificent route. Probably one of the best grade VII climbs in the UK.... 

Check out there blog at: www.britishannapurnna3expedition.blogspot.com