Gaz & Audrey in Chamonix

So Gaz had mentioned at one of the last team trainings that he wanted to go ice climbing this year. I overheard him, invited myself along and so here we are in balmy Chamonix. Yes, balmy. Nothing is in condition.

Day 1- Val di Cogne. After checking out a few possibilities we decide to try Patinaggio Artistico- a nice looking (mostly) frozen gully. We head across the gully to get to the first anchor point. Just as we're about to start climbing we hear a loud crack and a HUGE block of ice falls down the gully where Gaz was just moments before. So we decide it's probably not a good idea to try this climb today.

Day 2- Chamonix. The only ice is glacier ice so we head out to the Mer de Glace and have a play in some crevasses. We're getting pretty desperate.



Day 3- Chamonix. It's not ice, it's not really rock climbing, it's not even mixed climbing! We've ventured into the obscure world of dry tooling! Ice tools and rock boots usually shouldn't mix, but that's what goes here. Had a good laugh, but I've never been so pumped in my life!



Gaz has got some more photos on his blog- http://www.gazparryclimbing.blogspot.com

Audrey.

Day 3

We awoke to perfect conditions, even after all the rain the day was perfect and all the rocks were looking dry. Just to make sure we headed to Apremont and after warming up we ticked the classic Egoiste Assis (7a+). Over in the next sector the guys ticked the classic of Medaille En Chocolate (7a) and Hyperplomb (7a) and Science Friction (it could be anything). Ryan Pasquill managed both Medaille and Science static and running!!! Also young Tony Musslebrook climbed science without his hands. Gaz Parry managed to tick the classic Onde De Choc (7b), Tailler En Piece Assis (7c) and as the sun went and conditions improved the hard Tarpe Diem (7b+). As the team began to drift away and make the long journey home it was left up to Ryan to make the hardest send of the day with Le Trezieme Travail Direct (7c+) dispatched in a few goes rounding off an excellent weekend . Although there wasn't a great deal of "training" the weekend was an excellent opportunity for the new team members to find their footing and make new friends and also for the Management to plans the next few weeks in the build up to Birmingham 2007.

Day 2

As forecasted the rain came..... all day. With only a few days here for most people there was only one thing to do after drinking coffee and that was to visit the new climbing wall in Arbonne Le Foret. Bloc Age is excellent for a wet day and after a fairly intense 2hr the team hunger to bear down was quenched.

Afterwards we had a treat for them!! So it was off into the forest for fitness and body tension exercises in the rain.

Lucky people.

Forecast for tomorrow looks good.

Day 1

Day 1 started sharp at 10.30 under the Berezina boulder at Bas Cuvier. First up was some entertainment from Andy Earl and Chris Graham. Chris has tried Berezina a few times lately but failed to top out so on Thursday evening he bet Andy he would do the problem on Friday morning first go with NO warm up!!! If he did Andy would have two goes to complete it also as a warm up. The first go in his boxers and if he failed the second go naked. To the delight of the masses Chris promptly dispatched Berezina sans warm up, meaning Andy had to strip off, with him visibly looking under pressure he also managed it saving everyone from a sight worse than death.

The rest of the day was excellent with Carnage and assis (assis flashed by new team member Muscles), Berezina, Carnezina, Infidel, Hypothese, Anthiese, L'Aerodynamite (flashed by new team member Ned), Noir Desire, Eclipse all getting lots of ascents by the men. Audrey Seguy came very close to Berezina and along with the rest of the ladies ticked a good stack of 7a's. Finally at the end of the day Gaz Parry climbed possibly a newish link on the Berezina bloc, starting on the 7a right arete Gaz limbed into and up Berezina to finish as for Carnage at about 7c+.

You can see some font vids through www.andrewearl.co.uk

Just as the light went it began to rain!!!

Font 2007

Welcome to the The British Bouldering Teams Blog. Our first meeting for 2007 will be in Font on the 6th, 7th and 8th of Jan. Hopefully we will have some good stuff for you to read about.

Gaz Parry