Alpine Wanderings

The last couple of weeks I have been over in the Alps. I was due to work leading a Tour du Mont Blanc trek, unfortunately this was cancelled so I took the opportunity of being "on site" to have a spot of different fun. With my good friend Alex we had a grand tour, starting with the Ecrins Alps of southern France, before moving to Chamonix (briefly) and on to the Swiss Alps. We finished in one of our favourite Alpine areas, the Bregaglia (Bergell) Alps, right on the border of southern Switzerland and northern Italy. With it being late in the season, and thus snow/ice and glacial conditions likely to be poor, we decided to just concentrate on long rock routes. This turned out to be a good decision, and we climbed some fantastic routes, helped by the generally great weather. So, a fun time, but lovely to be back in the Scottish Highlands, where it is definitely starting to feel like Autumn. Looking forward to some hiking work starting tomorrow.

View of the Albina cirque, Bregaglia Alps

Punta d'Albigna

NW Ridge, Punta Albigna

Excellent climbing on the Via Meuli, Punta d'Albigna

Beautiful wee church in La Berarde, Ecrins

Alpine ridge scrambling

Standing on the tiny summit, Aiguille de Soreillier

Gorgeous granite climbing on the 12-pitch Palavar des Flots, Ailefroide, Ecrins

Descending from the Soreillier/Dibona cirque, Ecrins

The crux pitch of the South Ridge of Piz Balzet, Bregaglia. First ascent 1922, by local legend Walter Risch---solo!

Almost there.............

Crux pitch, Aiguille de Soreillier, easy but great climbing up cracked granite slabs

Dawn starts mean careful scrambling up verglassed (icy) granite slabs......

Italian Alps

I have recently returned from an excellent, challenging holiday to the Italian Alps. Despite the largest snow-storm in 10 years, which disrupted travel and plans to begin with, we enjoyed some excellent snowshoeing, ice-climbing and ski-touring. Based near historic Aosta, we were able to visit many of the local areas, including the classic ice-climbing venue of Cogne, the lesser known icefalls of Valsaravenche and Valtournenche, as well as enjoying lovely snow at Pila and on the local classic snowshoe/ski Pointe de la Pierre. I have been visiting the Aosta Valley for over a decade know, and enjoy finding new places to explore. As a fully-qualified UIMLA International Mountain Leader (IML) I am well-placed to help you enjoy this and other areas of the Alps safely, whether trekking in summer, or snowshoeing in winter.

Climbing Pointe de la Pierre.....Mont Blanc in the background

Alpine avalanches can have a huge scale, this one almost reached the road!

Cascade de Lillaz, Cogne WI3

...and again

A beautiful afternoon on the snowshoes

When in Rome...........

The Church in Cogne, a beautiful high Alpine village

International Mountain Leader summer assessment

Back in Scotland after some time back out in the French alps. I was back over there to take my International Mountain Leader summer assessment----the UIMLA International Mountain Leader is the highest international award for leading trekking parties in mountainous regions worldwide where climbing techniques are not needed (climbing and alpinism are the preserve of the other internationally recognised award--the IFMGA Mountain Guide), and builds on the UK qualification that I currently hold (UK Mountain Leader). We were thoroughly tested by existing IMLs and Guides on many areas including navigation, party management, emergency rope work, the environment, altitude and emergency procedures, in the context of both the developed and developing world.  I am pleased to say I passed, and now move onto the Winter parts of the syllabus over the next couple of winters! For more information on the IML award see  http://www.baiml.org

More alpine trekking and climbing

Great weather continues in the French Alps, and we have been making the most of it, with some wonderful days out in the hills. The pictures say it all and there is also a video on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/OnHighHills

Cirque de Fer a Cheval

Samoens

Arete de Doigt, Pointe Percee

Descent from Pointe Percee

The end of the world

Spending some time in the sunny French Alps just now, climbing, walking and enjoying the wonderful alpine flowers at this time of year. One of the highlights has been visiting the "le bout du monte" the "end of the world" at the head of the dramatic horseshoe of cliffs at Sixt Fer a Cheval. Really aptly named.