Oct
10
Posted by:
Matt Spenceley
10 October 2009
It seems like a season's climbing in the mountains is over. As the first snows cover the rock faces we were planning to climb this month, it doesn't look likely they'll dry again before winter starts in earnest. Thoughts turn back to 5 months of the most fantastic climbing and adventure with some great partners.....
After a couple of years with the focus firmly on long expeditions up north, mostly on skis, I realised last September that the time felt right to again concentrate on more technical climbing. Whilst I guess it's possible to do both well, the fitness required to cross 800km of icecap and haul a sledge through 50km long icefalls doesn't lend itself to crimping tiny edges on some steep granite face. Come the end of last winter, I followed the snow's retreat up into the mountains, ski touring into June. Back down in the valley, most often with Michiel Engelsman, I started laying down a foundation of sport-climbing fitness, working away day-by-day at routes that seasons before I'd cruised up.
With some heard-earned climbing fitness in place, combined with ski touring legs, I headed back into the mountains. The Inwyler Bielmeier on the Tällistock; the Kingspitz north face; Salbit's west ridge in a day; fast ascents, together with Lori, of a snowy Gervasuti pillar and the Via Cassin on the Piz Badile; the Dru north wall with an unplanned bivy on the way down. Some of the highlights in a summer where I climbed pretty much every day.
So much of the experience for me comes down to the friends I've shared these experiences with and I've been lucky to have some great partners; particularly Michiel and Lorenz. Thanks fellas!