Blog Posts in Category: Locations

Flèche Rousse – Aiguille d’Argentière

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, France Short Link

After a number of days of unsettled weather we finally had a period of settled weather which allowed us to get up into the mountains and attempt a route. Our objective was the classic AD Arête du Flèche Rousse on the Aiguille d’Argentière, although its condition was unknown as it hadn’t been climbed in a few weeks and since then there has been a lot of snowfall and the nights haven’t been that cold. We set off from the cable car station to start the walk in from the hut in very Scottish weather which included hill fog and rain. After a relatively painless walk in we arrived at the hut with lots of wet kit and were very pleased to be greeted by a happy guardian and news of a proper drying room! We set off early the next morning to a crystal clear sky, although unfortunately despite this it was not a cold night and the snow had not refrozen overnight. We made good time to the start of the route despite having to break trail, however after this the snow slowed us down significantly. The initial snow. Read the full article…

Petite Verte

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, France Short Link

After a long day yesterday and two sleepless nights the thought of an early start in order to catch the first lift of the day wasn’t all that appealing. However, due to only having a brief weather window in the morning before a few stormy days we decided to get up early and head up the Petite Verte. We chose this route due to it being a short day (under 300m ascent!) which would enable us to get high and continue acclimatising before the weather came in. When we arrived at the lift station it became clear that a large number of other people had (unsurprisingly) had the same idea. The weather in the morning was fantastic and upon leaving the lift station we were greeted by fantastic views of the Aiguille d’Argentiere on one side and views towards Mont Blanc on the other side. Thankfully we managed to leave the lift station quickly and were in the initial group of teams heading for the ridge, due to the air temperature being cool the snow was frozen and we were able to make quick progress up to the start of. Read the full article…

Le Buet Traverse

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, France Short Link

After driving through the night to get to Chamonix, we arrived early in the morning to be greeted by heavy rain. Due to the forecast saying that the weather would improve as the evening approached, we headed off on our pre planned acclimatisation route. Our plan was to head up the valley from Le Buet to a few hundred meters above the Refuge de la Pierre a Berard where we were going to wild camp before heading up to Le Buet the following day before descending via Le Cheval Blanc and the Col de la Terrasse. The weather had started to look bright so we headed up the valley, but unfortunately the rain hadn’t finished and we got hit by another heavy shower on the way up. Eventually we reached an excellent bivi spot with flat ground, plenty of access to water and a stunning view. It started raining very heavily just before we headed to bed, and I learnt the hard way that getting into a bivi bag in the rain without getting everything wet is a tad awkward, but I was very pleased to end up in a. Read the full article…

Climbing & Wild Camping on Cloggy

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Rock Climbing Short Link

In order to make the most of the brilliant weather we are currently experiencing, myself and Nick took some impromptu holiday and headed up to North Wales for two days of mid week climbing. Online reports were suggesting that the eternally wet Cloggy (Clogwyn Du’r Arddu) was dry, so we decided to head up for two days of wild camping and climbing on Cloggy. We left Llanberis early in the morning with ridiculously heavy rucksacks, it turns out that climbing and wild camping gear combined are pretty heavy and we were both pretty glad to get to where we were going to camp. After relaxing in the sun for a bit while we put the tent up and boiled some water to rehydrate we headed up to the base of the cliff. The first route we climbed was an E2 called Jelly Role, the first pitch of which is always wet and the guidebook description made it sound awful, and it didn’t look any better while we were there. I was supposed to be leading this wide, wet, slimy crack but I couldn’t sum up the courage to leave the. Read the full article…

Classic climbing in the Lake District

Alastair BegleyLake District, Rock Climbing Short Link

Both of the previous bank holiday weekends have involved good weather and very little traffic, both of these rare events had to come to an end at some point. On the journey up, while stationary in yet another traffic jam, I was pondering why I was bothering heading up to the Lakes for the weekend due to the awful forecast. After what seemed like a very long drive we eventually arrived at the campsite, and we arrived in between the showers which was great. Shepherds Crag The first day was supposed to have a weather window in the morning before the rain arrived, so I headed to Shepherds Crag with Rich to get some early climbing in. The first route we jumped on was The Bludgeon, a two pitch E1. Rich headed up the first pitch which has some straightforward but rather bold climbing, which wasn’t helped by the damp rock. Once I arrived at the belay I wasn’t feeling too psyched due to the start of the route being soaking wet litchen covered rock, which means it has no grip. After traversing away from the belay I ended up. Read the full article…

Classic Climbing in North Wales

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Rock Climbing Short Link

I have just returned from an absolutely fantastic weekend in North Wales with the Avon Mountaineering Club. I spent the weekend climbing with Andrew, and we made the most of the dry weather by spending two days climbing in the Pass and one day climbing at Tremadog. Having never climbed in the Pass before, I never quite understood the hype about it, however having climbed there it is an utterly inspiring place, with great lines, on good rock, in a fantastic setting, what more could you want! Over the weekend we successfully climbed 6 routes, of which 5 were Rockfax top 50 lines, and I also got spanked by an E2 at Tremadog. The final ticklist for the weekend was: We woke up on the first morning expecting it to be freezing due to a frost being forecast, however it was surprisingly warm. After a quick breakfast we headed out of the campsite early to ensure we got a parking space at the boulders before all the spaces were pinched by walkers. After a short walk and scramble we were soon at the small ledge at the base of Cenotaph Corner,. Read the full article…

Central Gully on Lurcher’s Crag

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

Another good weather forecast meant we could get another day out winter climbing, however due to the avalanche risk it was necessary to chose a route carefully. We decided to head to Lurcher’s crag to climb Central Gully as it was west-south-west facing and we knew that it had been climbed recently. After my big day yesterday I was feeling very tired this morning when I woke up and wasn’t feeling too optimistic due to cloud cover and drizzle. However, as we drove over to the Caingorms it began to clear and we had a fantastic walk in with beautiful scenery. Snow conditions under foot were great due to having refrozen, however the route through the Chalamain Gap was awkward with iced up rock and lots of wind and spindrift being funnelled through the gap. The view down the Lairig Ghru as we traversed around to Lurcher’s crag was fantastic as it was lit up in the sunlight, however it was an awkward traverse with more icy rocks. We were expecting to be following others up due to the footprints in front of us but thankfully everyone else headed up. Read the full article…

Ledge Route & Carn Mor Dearg Arete

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

With a good weather forecast and still not much in condition for climbing due to loaded slopes I decided to have a big day out mountaineering on the Ben. My plan was to head up to the CIC hut and solo Ledge Route before heading up to the summit of Ben Nevis and then descend via the classic Carn Mor Dearg Arete. It became clear on the drive over that the weather wasn’t as nice it was was forecast to be, but I was up and driving so I carried on. On the walk up through the forest it started raining fairly heavily which soon turned to snow once I exited the forest, this made the walk up to the CIC hut a fairly damp affair. I made good time and was at the CIC hut in 1hr20mins despite headwinds and snow below the hut, there were a number of other parties out heading for objectives such as waterfall gully and one party was planning on heading to the Minus Face. I was grateful of the party heading to Waterfall gully as it meant that I could use their footprints. Read the full article…