Colmcille Climbers

My first time in the Alps (in summer) in a while and had a brilliant time. Arrived at end of MI meet and a huge thanks to Anthony and PJ for picking me up from the bus. Alan even had a pizza waiting for me at the Ailefroide campsite and from here on in it just got better and better.Started off with a great Alpine walk in some valley or other up to a couple of stunning lakes with Alan, Mags and Gertrude. Much enjoyable botanising on the way and a great aid to acclimatisation.

Next day my introduction to climbing on bolts – good fun and superb training but … maybe not just the same buzz as the real thing.

The following day Mags et al. left for a mid season breather and Alan and myself set off to La Brerarde, taking in a via ferrata en route – another first for me and a great experience.

Toiled up to Sorreler hut above La Brerarde (blisters!) for a crack at Aguille Dibona(see pic – yes, is really is this pointy on the top). Thrill of a lifetime to achieve success on this beauty the following day. It was never harder than French IV but route find was a bugger. Still, we made it!

After this we had a couple of days respite travelling through Italy and Switzerland before slogging up to the Valsorey hut for a crack at Le Grand Combin (4314m)). Atrocious conditions defeated us on this occasion, but we managed as far as roughly Col de Meitin (3,600m) – hard to tell in white-out –before turning back.( The Germans admitted defeat long before us – ahem).

That was pretty much it for me but the whole Alpine experience was just inspiring and I can’t wait to return next year for 5 or 6 weeks. Huge thanks to Alan and Margaret for all their help and support.