Mont Blog

Wengen, Switzerland

2008-03-17T13:02:00.003Z

I've just returned from a week's skiing in Wengen, Switzerland and despite some pretty changeable weather and it was a really good week. Flying direct from Edinburgh to Berne was a big bonus as it cut down on the transfers at both ends. The flight was pleasant enough on a little propeller plane run by Darwin Airlines. Things didn't go so well at Berne airport when we found out that not all the baggage has gone onto the plane because there wasn't enough room. Luckily my skis had made it but David and Rosie lost their board bag. This was all handled really badly by the Crystal/Thompson's reps who didn't have any clue about what was happening and made no apologies for the problems. Things were rubbed in further due to the ridiculous £15 charge which is made for taking skis/boards on the plane, the company knew how big the plane was well in advance so knew how much carriage they should have allowed. David and Rosie ended up having to rent boards for the first couple of days while theirs made their way via Geneva, the travel company eventually coughed up for the rental charge but only after a lot of resistance. Everything was handled really badly by the company and the resort reps.

Putting aside the baggage trouble (I had my skis at least) we made the most of the week. The first day was bright and sunny with decent enough snow conditions and we had a good introduction to the resort skiing in the Männlichen and Kleine Scheidegg areas. The second day was a bit more overcast and windy at the top so we stayed around the Männlichen area before heading down to Grindelwald. Staying over the Grindelwald side was a little bit of a mistake as the winds got stronger and the trains to Kleine Scheidegg stopped, we ended up getting back to Wengen the long way round on the train.

One strange thing about the ski areas, compared to French resorts at least, is the number of walking and sledging runs. I felt a little bad as in previous years I had mocked Gwen about wanting to go on a purely sledging holiday. Feeling that we were missing out we decided to hire some sledges and head out on some of the longer runs. Sledging is incredibly good fun, I think I had a massive grin fixed to my face for the whole day, and incredibly dangerous - at the end of the day I was covered in bruises from falling off at high speed. It was definitely worth missing a day's skiing. Feeling pretty sore the day after we were treated to a pretty miserable day on the mountain. High winds had closed the gondola, lifts and trains to Kleine Scheidegg, it was overcast and raining. Determined to make the most we took the train as far as we could and did a few runs in the wind and rain, on wet snow, using a T-bar as uplift - it was pretty much like skiing in Scotland, not very alpine. After a good number of runs and a couple of trips on the train by lunchtime we gave in to the weather and spent the afternoon wandering around town and in the pubs. At least if it was raining in the town it would be snowing higher up.

Determined to make an early start after missing an afternoon we weren't disappointed when we got to the top the next day. It had been chucking it down all afternoon and night so there was loads of nice fluffy powder; we spend a pretty tiring morning trying to get in as much off-piste runs in as we could before they became tracked. After lunch we spent the remainder of the day travelling round to Kleine Scheidegg and seeing what the Lauberhorn world cup run was like. After an excellent run down (trying the speed trap and baling at about 100 km/h) we decided to do it again, it's a pretty good run. The bottom section was starting to get really slushy and cut up so we stopped for a beer and took the train back.

The last day is always a bit of a downer but we were treated to more fresh powder. After hammering down loads of runs getting in loads of fresh tracks we got up to Kleine Scheidegg were we were meeting Chris before heading up the Jungfraujoch. The train up the mountain through the Eiger is amazing not for its views but for the sheer engineering challenge of building it. The views from the top were pretty amazing. After a few hours we were back at Kleine Scheidegg where we got in some more runs before heading back to Wengen when the lifts stopped.

Skiing in Switzerland made a nice change from the French resorts, things seemed a bit more laid back, but a bit slicker at the same time. I'd say that the food in Switzerland, like Austria, is generally better. The local Veal Bratwurst was pretty tasty, although the massive amount of really salty chips served with everything could get a little stupid sometimes. Wengen itself was a nice little place and with our hotel on the main street it meant that everything was really close. Being in a town with no traffic, was really nice as well as it gave a more relaxed atmosphere. Although travelling on the trains was a little slower, it was quite relaxing as well. My top tip is that it's really worth getting up early and heading up the gondola as soon as possible. The lifts up from Grindelwald take a bit longer so you can get in a lot of nice quite runs first thing.

Back to the Alps

2008-03-06T18:42:00.002Z

It seems like I can never keep away for long and on Saturday I'll be going back for a week's skiing. We're heading out to Wengen in Switzerland where after a big dump on Tuesday night the snow conditions are looking not bad. There's a bit of snow forecast while we're there so it could a cloudy week, I guess we just need to wait and see. Apart from a quick day trip down from Avoriaz I've not done any skiing in Switzerland. It'll be a nice change from the big French resorts as Wengen is a fairly small village with no roads and most of the skiing is serviced by trains. It's gonna be good.

Fuck You, Global Warming

2008-01-15T20:02:00.000Z

After some pretty bumper snow fall last week all of the scottish ski centres were open for business at the weekend. Saturday was forecast to be clear blue skies and no wind, and it didn't disappoint. Conditions up at Glenshee were absolutely fantastic. The only downside was that everyone else in the world had also decided to head up so there were a lot of queues. I don't mind queueing too much in good weather and there was a good atmosphere around the resort. We got there pretty early and after sorting out a lift ticket headed up the sunnyside chair and over the back before the queues got too big. Unfortunately the Glas Maol tow was closed after suffering some damage in high winds but there was still plenty of excellent terrain around. After a quick lunch back at the car we headed up the Cairnwell side with some excellent runs down Carn Aosda and Butcharts. The day was finished off with an excellent run down the tiger. Dave and Rosie had to be back in Edinburgh by six so we set off before the lifts shut. We didn't make it back to Edinburgh by six because of the chaos in the car park caused by the sheer volume of people. Folk who had arrived late had parked up both sides of the road, blocking the cars in the car park and turning the road into a single lane road. We spend quite a while waiting to get out the car park, got the car stuck in the snow for a bit (cheers to the guy who helped Dave push us out) and then sat in a queue on the road for ages. There's not really anything that could have been done better due to the massive number of people there.

Who says that it doesn't snow in Scotland and that the ski industry is fucked, pah.

Santa's Grotto

2007-12-28T12:58:00.001Z

After a few lazy days of eating too much over christmas I somehow found myself in Assynt being roped (ho ho) into going down a cave. Not expecting to be doing any outdoor activities I hadn't brought any gear with me so after managing to borrow the bare minimum equipment necessary we set off for the cave. The cave which we were going down was Rana Hole which has slowly been getting deeper and deeper over the past 12 years as cavers attempt to find a 'dry' route to Uamh An Claonaite - the longest cave in Scotland.

The first section of the cave is a massive engineering feat in itself, the entrence to the cave is surrounded by masses of scaffolding, ropes, pulleys and a massive spoil heap. The first couple of sections are pretty much straight down by ladder with a series of safety ropes similar to a via ferrata. After the ladders there's more via ferrata style decent as you traverse across some staples which have been put into the rope, through a small waterfall and down some more ladders. At the bottom of the main pit is where the fun begins.

In recent attempts to find their way through to the bigger cave system a dam has been built to try and reduce the water level in a sump. Unfortunately it was pretty wet, so after a lot of bailing and some ad-hoc adjustments to the wall height the dam was full. If we wanted to keep going we'd need to get a bit wet. After dropping into the cold water and squeezing along the passage you eventually get to small ladder and can climb out of the water. The passages after this were only discovered a couple of months ago and after a bit more squeezing, some crawling up and down over rocks and a final squeeze through the floor you're greeted with a pretty amazing cavern leading down a loose bolder-y slope to the bottom where there are some pretty amazing formations hanging from the roof.

After the large cavern there's another tight squeeze down to a passage which was only discovered the week before on Christmas Eve - the suggested name for this is Santa's Grotto. Not many people have been down into this passage and after squeezing down into it from the chamber I decided to head back up - I wasn't really feeling the need to get stuck somewhere that onlya handful of people had been before. On previous caving trips I've never had a problem with tight squeezes or claustrophobia but for a few seconds I was shitting myself.

After waiting around in the cavern for a little while I decided to head back to the surface and after working my way back through the passages and having another short swim I was back at the dam and the bottom of the main shaft. I eventually got back to the top after finding out that climbing a ladder with wellies full of water is a lot harder than you'd think. On the final ladder I was greeted with a face full of hail every time I looked up but pretty much as soon as I poked my head out the cave it stopped. Everyone else who was at the top of the cave - most people didn't fancy the swim and turned back - had decided to head for shelter when the hail started. Soon enough the others were out and we headed back down to the car park.

Not your usual christmas activity but really good fun none the less.

Quinag

2007-12-18T21:07:00.000Z

The weather on Sunday was really too nice to do anything except get up a hill, especially seeing as we were up in Elphin, Assynt. I've wanted to take a wander up Quinag for a while so we decided to set off up. We had been warned that the route would be a bit muddy but as the ground was frozen solid and the temperature didn't seem to make it about zero it wasn't a problem. We had a really nice walk in with the frozen landscape being cast a mixture of icey blues and warm reds from the low sun. I've not really been out walking for a few months so it felt good to stretch the legs and get out somewhere, although I was feeling it the next day.

Nevisport Going Under?

2007-10-01T18:45:00.000Z

The Nevisport in Edinburgh seems to be closing down; there's massive sale on all stock with at least 20% off. What's weird is that everything is reduced, usually when shops close down any stock which can be moved to other stores isn't reduced. Everything from OS maps to GPS seems to be on sale. It'd be a shame to see another outdoor shop have difficulties (I seem to remember Blacks closing a lot of stores last year) but since they moved along to the East End of Rose Street I've not been that impressed by their stock. The truth is that for a good range of things (even just small stuff) you need a lot of space and Tiso or online shops are going to win every time. That said I got my skis from them earlier in the year and they were the cheapest on and offline, the service was pretty ace as well.

It's not all bad news though because I picked up a cheap harness. Hopefully we'll be heading out to Ratho one day this week and I can try it out then. From trying it on it's a lot more padded and comfy that the ones you can rent out there.

Unsurprising

2007-09-28T12:19:00.000Z

Unsurprisingly we headed out to Ratho again on Wednesday night to go climbing. Adrian and Emma also came along (Adrian seems to know half the people there despite never having been before). I had a really good night completing another couple of 6as and a 5+ that I hadn't made it to the top of last time. I think to improve my climbing I need to slow down a little and think about when I need to go and where my feet need to be.

There was also some talk this week about the possibility of heading out to Chamonix again next summer. We shall see.

More and More Climbing

2007-09-19T21:59:00.000Z

Been heading out to Ratho every week now which is cool, having a good time trying som increasingly difficult routes. I still wouldn't mind doing some other stuff though, once I get my boots back from being fixed I think I'm going to try and get some walking in, not been on a long walk in ages.

More Climbing

2007-09-03T11:55:00.000Z

Been out at the EICA a few more times over the past couple of weeks and have been enjoying being able to tackle some harder routes. I think that we're going to start heading out regularly once a week which would be cool.

Climbing

2007-08-13T12:13:00.000Z

On Saturday morning I headed out to the EICA at Ratho. It's been a while since I've done any (indoor) climbing so was a bit apprehensive about remembering what I was supposed to be doing. Luckly it all seemed to come flooding back and the rope/harness/belay stuff that I relearned for Mont Blanc carried over nicely. I think that I'm going to try and start heading along for some climbing once a week.

My lower body strength seems to be fine from all the cycling and walking but my upper body strength is rubbish. After about an hour and a half my arms and fingers where killing me. I don't really want to push my arms too much as I'm still worried about overworking my knackered right arm. Even 2 years after it was sliced and diced it still gets sore the first.

Bike Ride

2007-08-06T17:08:00.000Z

It's been a while since I've been back and I have to say that I've not really been keeping things going as much as I had planned. Moving into a new flat and having my walking boots away getting repaired are two good excuses. Last Thursday I headed out for a cycle with Chris around Arthur's Seat. It's a route which we both used to do quite often but I've not been up in ages. Cycling to work and 'training' for Mont Blanc seemed to help and I think for the first time ever I made it up way ahead of Chris. Going up the hill didn't seem nearly as hard as I remember. I'd like to keep heading up there regularly because it's a nice route.

I'm also planning on going climbing with my brother out at EICA at Ratho at the weekend.

Good News and Bad News

2007-07-03T18:35:00.000Z

I'm now back home from Chamonix after a long and boring journey with delayed planes and slow buses. Unfortunately on the trip I didn't get a chance to make an attempt on Mont Blanc. There were a few factors acting against us; weather, the Tramway du Mont Blanc being closed for maintenance, the arrival and departure times of others in the group and some pre-existing injuries to others in the group. Despite realising early on that we probably weren't going to get an attempt on Mont Blanc we still got out up hills, onto glaciers and completed a lot of the high altitude training and acclimatisation required for a successful trip up Mont Blanc.

I did however manage to reach my first alpine peak after climbing Mont Blanc du Tacul with one of the other group members. One of the main reasons for not getting up Mont Blanc was that we didn't have enough time for a two day assent, Mont Blanc du Tacul is very handily close to the Aiguille du Midi cable car station making it easy enough to complete in a single day. At 4,248m Mont Blanc du Tacul isn't exactly a small mountain and I'm pretty chuffed to have made it up the face across crevasses and scrambled onto the submit in good time; especially considering that until a few days earlier I hadn't ever used crampons or an ice axe.

By all accounts Mont Blanc du Tacul is actually a more technical climb than Mont Blanc itself, all be it, much shorter. I'm pretty happy to have made it up and it I think that had we been able to make an attempt on Mont Blanc I would have made it to the summit. I've come back from the Alps with a new found love for alpine climbing and would definitely like to return soon to complete more peaks and finally get up the big one. Mont Blanc du Tacul might not have been my original goal but I'm in no way disappointed about any of the walks and climbing which we did. I'm still young, and Mont Blanc will still be there for years to come.

Off to Chamonix

2007-06-21T20:14:00.001Z

Well, the plane leaves for Geneva first thing tomorrow morning. The two and a half months is up. Hopefully the next entry in this blog is going to be confirmation that I reached the top. If the weather's good during the week then I think we stand a good chance.

Munro Challenge

2007-06-11T12:19:00.000Z

Took part in the Munro Challenge on Saturday. Instead of a team of four doing a single munro, two of us did the first and then I did another on my own. As a whole I think they were quite a few peaks short of getting them all done.

The two hills which I did were Sgurr nan Each and Sgurr nan Clach Geala. It was pretty bloody roasting and climb up the second one was pretty tiring but enjoyable all the same. As a day out it seemed like a pretty good indication that I should be physically capable of making it up Mont Blanc. Hopefully.

At the weekend I also got some more of my gear sorted out, checking that the crampons fitted my boots fine and picking up a climbing harness. I did however lose yet another eyelet off my boots, this one in quite an important place as well. I'll need to see if I can get them fixed before we head out.

Pentlands Walk

2007-05-28T12:17:00.000Z

Headed up into the Pentlands yesterday afternoon to enjoy some of the sunshine. We had initially planned to just do a short walk before heading to the shops but decided once we were out to take a longer route, I think in all we were out for about two and a half hours. The walk was pretty good but after coming back I managed to lock my keys in the car... After a couple of more short walks and some bus journeys I was reunited with the inside of my car and able to go shopping.

Canal Cycle

2007-05-27T13:45:00.000Z

Back along the canal again on Saturday, but this time on a bike. Headed out to Ratho then along a little further to the newly re-opened Edinburgh International Climbing Arena to have a look about. After that it was back home. 18 mile round trip.

Canal Walk

2007-05-25T12:48:00.000Z

Went for a walk along the canal on Wednesday night. Was only out for an hour or so but I guess every little helps.

Swimming and Walking

2007-05-23T12:07:00.000Z

Fear not, although I haven't updated this blog in a while I have been doing a small amount of exercise and training. As well as cycling to work most days I've also been doing some walking on a couple of short weekend breaks over the past month. I'm not going to include these on here as most of the time the walks were for the purpose of going somewhere to have a BBQ and drink beer.

Last night I did however go to the swimming pool. Although I used to swim a lot and was a lifeguard for 6 years I haven't been swimming for ages. It was good to get back in the pool and do some exercise. I'm planning on keeping up the swimming to help a bit with breathing and making sure I don't get too knackered at altitude.

It's about one month now until I head off to France to tackle Mont Blanc so I'm really planning on stepping things up. Provided the rain stays off this evening I'm planning on going for a bit of wander around the Pentlands.

Ben Chonzie

2007-04-15T14:50:00.000Z

The original plan was to get up fairly early, dive over to Crianlarich adn climb An Caisteal and Beinn a' Chroin. Unfortunately a mate's birthday a Judas Priest tribute band and several pints put that plan to bed, literally. Getting up late meant that we had to adjust our plans. We were having a look for a closer and shorter walk, the Forth Road Bridge was close to one lane so it had to be west rather than north. Looking at an online map of Munros we noticed Ben Chonzie sitting a little north-east of Loch Earn; a short walk in and not that high at 931m meant it matched our criteria.

The sun was shining and after a quick stop for petrol and some food we were on our way just after mid day. The sun continued to shine and we got a glorious, if not a bit hot at times, day out in the hills. When we had quickly read up about Ben Chonzie it was suggested that it's probably the dullest Munro, they were probably right, it's not a lot to look at. The hill itself is a pretty big featureless lump with a huge flat ridge leading up (just) to the summit, the walk in is pretty straight forward following land rover track for about half before turning off and up the hill. We didn't mind, the sun was out and it was a nice walk. We hadn't done much walking for a while so it was a good one to get us back into it. It might be a nice walk to do again in the winter sometime. It's pretty straight forward and apparently hold snow quite well, there were still a few small patches clinging on despite the high temperatures.

Day One, as it were...

2007-04-03T20:59:00.000Z

Headed out after work down to Hollyrood Park with the kite - a 3.5m Peter Lynn Pepper. There wasn't a whole lot of wind so I feel bad about counting it as doing some exercise, on a windy day kitting can be pretty knackering. We've not had the kite out for a while so it was quite good to get it up on a fairly light day and practice controlling it without having to worry about staying on your feet, or on the ground.

Hello

2007-04-03T19:32:00.000Z

Hello, and welcome to a my new blog. A couple of weeks ago I was invited to head out to Chamonix with some of my girlfriend's family for a holiday and some walking. I've been out to Chamonix and done some walking before, I also generally do a small amount of hill walking here in Scotland (maybe 3 or 4 Munro's and a few other walks per year). What makes this holiday different is that I've been offered the chance to climb Mont Blanc: (western) Europe's highest mountain.

I'm not really what you'd call a fitness freak, but don't get me wrong I'm not a fat oaf either. Physically I'm probably not in too bad shape and the small amount of exercise that I do helps: cycling a couple of miles to work each day, going for the odd walk at weekends, some power kitting and generally walking about. The biggest problem probably is that I tend to eat a lot, and drink a fair amount of beer...

Mont Blanc's not too technical a mountain and the hill walking experience I have means that I have no problems with navigation, preparation for unexpected problems and combined with my experience working as a lifeguard while at school/university means I reckon that I cope well when problems do arise. I'm also a fairly keen skier with quite a bit of experience in the Alps and at altitude as well as in Scotland and in bad weather.

If I'm going to stand a chance of making it to the top of Mont Blanc then I'm going to have to get of my arse and get a bit fitter. Strength wise I'm okay but I really need to put some work in to build up stamina and improve my aerobic fitness. The purpose of this blog is as a kind of training diary for myself so that I can monitor how well I'm doing and help me plan out what I need to do.