A report by Philip Mannus
It has been a very busy year. I passed my Winter ML on 5/2/25. I spent two weeks in Aviemore Area doing some grade 1 routes and practising for the assessment. I also passed my Climbing wall development Instructor qualification in May of this year.
I soloed Marmolada at 3,343metres, the highest mountain in the Dolomites by its Via ferrata. It was challenging because a lot of the Via Ferrata wires were frozen and buried in snow and ice meaning that I had to solo climb over patches without any safety crossing some major drop offs. I climbed the mountain on both the ascent and descent via the VF. The return route took 11hrs. This was following 10 days attempting to climb Mont Blanc via the Grand Mullet arete onto the Dome. We had to turn back at 4,100metres due to a storm. As a result of the weather we travelled to Orpierre and climbed there for 2 days on multi pitch bolted routes.
View of The Mont Blanc Du Tacul from the Cosmiques Hut. The conditions were not in for an ascent and the avalanche in the pic was a further indication that conditions were not in. The guides in the refuge also advised against it.
The walk to the Cosmiques hut from the Aiguille du Midi was interesting as the climb down the arete out of the tunnel was sketchy at best. Much easier coming up than going down.
I returned to Mont Blanc with Séan Convery in September. We took the standard route but there was nothing standard about it. Heavy snow made it pretty tough going, a real slog in 30cm of fresh snow. At one point we were lucky not to have been near an avalanche just up from the Goutier.
Top of Mont Blanc
Séan was fighting a very bad flu, otherwise he would have left me in his trail. Thankfully we made it to the top! The peak was a nightmare, very dicey around the summit, with some guides giving it a miss and staying at the Tete Rousse hut.
Pics of the May/June attempt to climb Mont Blanc from the Grand Mullet Hut. Crossing the series of crevasses and coming down from the hut.
We spent the previous two days looking at Mont Blanc du Tacul from the Cosmiques hut, but the conditions weren’t in and we just went to the hut from the Aiguille du Midi. At least it got us acclimatized. While on the Mont Blanc trip with Séan we also did some local sport climbing and a via ferrata.
During the summer, Sean and I also set up a few new routes in Donegal, one named after my twin brother, who passed away 5yrs ago and it was called “A nod to Davey”.
Had a three-day trip in Glencoe where I guided a very nervous fellow climbing member around the CWD arete, Buachaille Etive Beag and Ben Stava. Fantastic views except for Ben Strava which was covered in mist.
Oh yes, and I am off to climb Aconcagua in Mendoza in Jan.
