After a late finish on Lucky Streak the night before, Kris Munckel, a talented young climber from Florida, and I headed for a dash up Cathedral Peak and the subsidiary summit, Eichorn's Pinnacle. Classic low grade alpine rock climbing that we could run up in Scarpa approach shoes with a light rack and one rope.

Matt and Kris Munckel on the summit of Cathedral Peak
 

This past October was my first time in Yosemite, so I had both a lot to do and learn.  After a summer of UK trad climbing and expedition work in East Greenland (and next to no time clipping bolts on sport routes), my head was in the right space for run-outs and complex ropework but the big unknown was always going to be the infamous jamming and offwidth cracks of the Valley.  First up was the moderate classic Central Pillar of Frenzy with my good friends Michiel and Rixt - bit of a change of scene since our last climbing together, huh Michiel?!  Pitch upon pitch of magic cracks, from fingers up to offwidth.  Loved it!  Next up was one of the most monumental rain/thunderstorms I've ever experienced; it seemed to travel in a tight circle above our campsite...

Lucky Streak, Fairview Dome

 There are currently bands of rain heading for Britain's West Coast, reaching North Wales first.  A change of plan and a quick trip to visit Alun Richardson and climb on the awesome limestone sea cliffs of Pembrokeshire.  It's been sunny today but crazily windy - it paid to take care in the top few metres!  

The forecasts look a little better tomorrow, so we're off early tomorrow for North Wales...

 Bad weather after Al's and my trip to Hoy saw us first head for Aviemore only to then find a bad forecast there too.  After fish & chips, back on the road again, this time to Skye.  A couple of nice days there, one on the cracks of Neist Point (memories of belaying on the top whilst looking out to the Outer Hebrides all whilst a minke whale cruised back and forth, occasionally breaking the surface) and then a dash up Pinnacle Ridge on.... 

 
Matt on the tyrollean over to the Old Man of Stoer

One long road trip, 4 ferries, 3 days of intense rain, enough midgies to lose all your blood (twice-over), and a great adventure with a good friend in an utterly beautiful part of the World....  The Old Man of Hoy.

  A couple of seriously BUSY months of skiing, climbing and lots on in Greenland - so much so that I've not had a chance to put up anything on the bog - sorry about the radio silence!  I'll get some reports up soon on what has been a really cool season up north.

But for now, I got back to the Alps 12 days ago and have spent lots of time clipping bolts to get back some kind of climbing fitness.  We've had a load of bad weather - rain in the valleys and LOTS of snow up high - so it's mostly been the overhangs of a local crag called Lammi.  The forecast for the weekend just past was looking hopeful for the south side of the Alps, so after a quick call to Adi Brunner, we left a rainy Berner Oberland behind and headed to the valley of Aosta, Italy.  700 vertical metres and a slightly childish race with 2 Italian ski alpinists (full racing suits, thin skis and all - we won, ha ha!) later, we reached the Chabod hut for a very tasty meal and a warm welcome - a big difference to some huts I can think of!

A morning in the office working together with Lorenz over detailed location plans for this summer's mountaineering expeditions, then an afternoon freeriding in Hasliberg - a magic couple of hours spent charging around the mountain in the lightest powder (what my US friends would call 'Blower!' I guess).  It's such days, when I expect little and get so much, that remain with me after the season has passed.

Unbelievably (more on that later), I climbed the mixed project first go!  My last post now seems staged, but 12 hours ago, I really didn't expect to be clipping the chain later in the day.  What a contrast to last week when I found every move extremely powerful.  Today, it seemed to go easily, and I was able to all-the-while enjoy the impressive scenery, especially once in amongst the fringe of 8-metre long icicles.

Dres Abegglen also came close, climbing the main roof in 2 sections.  It'll go the next time.

As for a name and grade, I've no clue on the former and can only make a guess at the latter; it's gonna be a guess in that I can only compare the ascent to others made several years ago when I was still using spurs.  Without hanging around from my heels, grading must take account of the loss of all of the rest points, calling for a great deal more burly power endurance.   I reckon something like M10; certainly not cutting-edge but a huge pleasure to climb and a route that has set the fires burning brighter to find further beautiful lines.

 6 years ago, when I first moved the van that I called home at the time out to Switzerland, I found a cave near Meiringen with huge potential for very hard mixed routes.  Together with some friends, I bolted a number of lines, all of which proved seriously difficult (and all of which also repelled any attempts to redpoint them).  When my focus moved on to other things (like long ski expeditions), I stopped making the pilgrimage up through the winter-clad forest and the routes lay dormant for a few seasons. 

Last week, a friend and I returned to find the ice in great condition (a factor that makes all the difference for me now; modern mixed climbing should be just that - rock and ice).  Since my last visit those seasons ago, the heel spurs have gone (and with all this skiing, my legs have grown a bit heavier too!) and so I return to explore a different game.  Gone are the days when I could hang like a bat for half an hour at a time, and in place I found intensely physical moves that involve a lot of body tension and multiple figure-4s/8s.  In a season I'm dedicating to skiing, it's exciting to find something new. 

We're heading back up today.  I really don't know how long this project will take, but I'm looking forwards to finding out...