Dancing Fall!

Yes, it's named for the Frank Zappa song ... 

Heading up the first pitch ... 

... and Mark leading up the second.

And just one more shot of the line ...

Another day out at Ceillac

Ah, Ceillac - the shortest walk-ins we've seen, and some reliable ice too! So once again we managed to knock off two routes in a day ...

The first was Formes du Chaos, where we were followed by a French father / son team (Son doing all the leading; Dad enjoying a day out for his birthday) who lamented the shape of the ice fall this year: it was, like everything else in the Alps, a little on the thin side.

Apparently there isn't usually this gaping hole ...

But there was enough good ice to climb, or the gorge was narrow enough to bridge between the rock and ice (funky moves required - particularly to avoid the bloody streak a previous party had left behind ...!)

 

But thankfully the very top pitch was a bit more solid, giving Jen a chance to jump on lead.

As the day was still young, we headed across to the one-pitch wonder of Sombre Heroes (or as we keep calling it, Sober Heroes). We soloed up the first easy bit before Mark headed up the amazing pillar ...

An awesome pitch

The Dogs!

Waiting.

On Saturday 21st January, Cogne was home to the Italian national dog sledding championships - and the quiet cross-country ski piste was over-run with dogs and their owners. This sport leaves climbing of all varieties in the dust when it comes to being an expensive and time-consuming hobby: how are these teams of animals fed and exercised, not to mention trained?! And each team came in their specially kitted-out van, too.

Once in the harness, they had to be restrained by their owners to stop them charging off at full pelt: they knew what they needed to do, and couldn't wait to get running.

And ...

... they're off!

This was no Iditarod - the circuits were only 10km or so - and being a time trial with a number of categories (different dogs, different numbers of dogs and even a guy with only one dog, who skied behind him), we sadly couldn't place any bets on the teams. Still, a crazy sport to watch!

 

The last two days in Cogne ...

Mark on the mega 55m WI5 penultimate pitch of Erfaulet - it's a lot steeper than it looks! And distressingly hollow in parts.

... and here on the final pitch: great cauliflower formations, that we didn't quite catch on camera.

And the next day, we headed up Stella Artice - the Artic Star - another WI5, but this one felt a wee bit harder. Can't quite see the freestanding cigar from here, though ...

Here it is! This shot, taken from the belay at the back of the cave by Jen, shows the start of the super steep and airy second pitch up the pillar. Yep, that's Mark about to climb.

Rappeling back down we had the leisure to photograph the drips: at least the pillar is getting fatter?

And lastly, again on rappel and looking straight up into it. A very impressive pitch.

Cogne ... more of the same, and all of it great

We had no idea Cogne was ever more than a sleepy town ... until we were here during Italian school holidays. Thankfully, the vans have now all packed up and gone home - but as this is the spot for good ice in Europe at the moment, we still need to start very early to beat the rush of ice climbers and be first on the route.

Crowds or no crowds, the hot chocolate in this part of the world is still the best. Their secret? Potato. Yep, it's really just chocolate flavoured, creamy mash. Knowing this does not deplete its deliciousness.

We've splashed out and stayed in a studio apartment for a few nights, to dry everything out - and take a break from our normal cuisine to have something from the oven: roast beef, roast potatoes and one night, stuffed capsicum.

 

Jen on Pattinaggio artistico ...

... enjoying a great day out climbing.

And Mark on the easier (and drier!) second pitch of Tuborg - another fun route.

Cogne

After lots of time in the Ecrins with marginal conditions - we gave in and headed back to Cogne. Why did we wait so long?

Random climber on Patri (Left)

An Alpine Club member warming up on Thoule (which at a supposed 3+ showed how variable ice grades can be!).

Jen waiting around for our turn Thoule

Jen making like a triangle on some steep ground on Cascade Lillaz

Jen leading on Acheronte

Conveniently, Acheronte drops you a short walk from the top of Patri (Right) - Perfect for an extra lap at the end of the day, especially in friendly stepped out conditions

Cold Couloir Attempt 1: Winter 2010/11 - Busy before we got there, people queueing, and the brittle ice was plating off in concerning head-sized chunks... we found something else to do. Vertigine Porcellana I think.

Cold Couloir Attempt 2: Winter 2010/11 - Same story except our back up was Chandelle Levure I think.

Spot the difference

Cold Couloir Attempt 3: Winter 2011/12 - Get up at stupid o'clock, walk in in the dark - first on route. Woohoo! Until 45 m into the first pitch, Mark breaks a pick. We bail after the first 60m pitch (to the delight of those queueing)

Cold Couloir, Pitch 1 (and 2 further back)

Cold Couloir Attempt 4: Winter 2011/12 - Get up at stupid o'clock, walk in in the dark - Only to be third on route, following the 2 teams of rescue services apparently getting paid to learn/practice ice climbing... They don't seem to be bringing down much ice, so we give them some space, then start on up.

Jen popping over the steep section of P2

The somewhat crusty P4 (not counting the snow plods as a pitch)

There's plenty more to be done here despite the non-ideal conditions... we just need to keep getting up early enough to beat the crowds...