In amongst some work (boo hiss!) I’ve skied a huge amount, climbed an alpine north face, watched some of the World’s best tennis players in Monaco, and rock climbed in the UK and Provence. Unfortunately I’ve been having some bother with my back recently, but after seeing some specialists I’m on the mend and going back for more skiing this week, so hopefully this amazing winter (the second successive one in the Alps) isn’t quite done yet.

There is hopefully going to be some very exciting news for me regarding next winter, so stay tuned…!

Here are some photos from the last few months -

Lindsay Caldwell skiing above the Col de Lauteret, the peaks of La Grave behind.

Matt Livingstone at Le Tour

The final summit ridge of the Quatre Tetes, above Sallanches

Sharon Wray in deep powder on the Vallee Blanche

Monaco Masters

Tom Grant heading for the Monte Rosa Hut, high above Zermatt

Me soloing easy ice on the north face of Les Courtes. Photo Andy Houseman

Tom Moores on the Dartmoor classic “Aviation” at Hay Tor

Tom Moores again, this time finishing “Thin Wall Special” at Bosigran, Cornwall

The perfect limestone of Bellecombe, Provence. Spot the climber!

More Bellecombe. What a place.

Unfortunately this post has to end on a sad note as this spring I said goodbye to my friend and regular ski partner Will Eaton. I wrote a piece about it here, so I’ll say no more, but this is just such a good photo that I had to put it in.

Will about to drop into the SE face of the Aiguille Pourrie, with Chamonix glowing in the evening sun below. Good times.

Steve Sharp and I have been talking about doing a trip together for a while now, and we finally managed it in early February with a great 12 day trip to Morocco.  Starting out in the madness that is Marrakech, we headed off into the mountains and climbed some pretty wild and remote peaks in the Toubkal region before moving over to the Mgoun area, where we climbed Mgoun itself and also contributed our own addition to the guidebook….

Overall a pretty amazing trip to some deserted and stunning peaks. There’s more to Moroccan mountaineering than Toubkal! Thanks Steve for the constant banter and good spirits, even when things got tough.

Street entertainers in Marrakech

Another delicious and disgustingly healthy lunch from our cook, Hassan

Getting dinner ready in the Lepiney Refuge

Steve headed over Tizi Tadhat

Panoramic over the Mgoun chain

Another panoramic, this time from the summit of Mgoun West

Steve on the first ascent of Nixcam Ridge, Tarkeddit

Stunning evening light on our final night in Marrakech

Once back in Cham it was straight back onto skis for me after the weather gods delivered yet more snow. The weather has been unsettled and gloomy for much of the winter, but there has been a huge amount of snow, and the odd bit of good weather to go with it. People are saying that this winter is better than last year and although I don’t think I’d go that far, it is a pretty good one. Long may it last!

A bit of climbing for a change. Pete Waite Shores on the Aiguille du Midi NW face

Sharon Wray in the incredible powder of Bruson, near Verbier

Matt Livingstone skiing the Couloir Pissoir with the Trient Glacier behind

Matt again, this time on the NE face of the Cornes de Loriaz

Unfortunately the weather has now turned mild and muggy, but the forecasters are predicting that winter will be coming back at some stage next week so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some more powder! Whether we get it or not, we’ve already had an amazing winter, and there is still plenty to run.

]]> http://charlieboscoe.com/2013/03/08/majestic-morocco-and-an-amazing-alpine-winter/feed/ 0 charlieboscoe http://charlieboscoe.com/2013/01/19/lots-of-snow-and-a-new-video-blog/ http://charlieboscoe.com/2013/01/19/lots-of-snow-and-a-new-video-blog/#comments Sat, 19 Jan 2013 14:16:36 +0000 charlieboscoe http://charlieboscoe.com/?p=725 Continue reading →]]> Having got back to Chamonix just before the New Year, I’ve been busy with various work, but also plenty of fantastic skiing. The first 10 days or so of 2013 were very warm, and it looked as if we might be in for a dry spell, but then a huge dump of snow arrived and with the weather remaining unsettled I think we are in for plenty more. Here’s some highlights from the past few weeks -

Skiing below the Col de la Gliere, the Chamonix Aiguilles behind.

Tristan Wise skiing at Brevent

Me skiing below the Col Berard. Photo Sharon Wray

Me skiing the W Couloir of Monts Jovet. Photo Phil Ebert.

Me skiing the N couloir of the Breche Praz Torrent. Photo Phil Ebert.

Deep powder at Brevent

The final big bit of news is that I have teamed up with Seven Twenty Productions to produce the first of what will be a weekly Chamonix video blog. Here is episode 1. Enjoy!

I’m back to Cham just before the New Year, and will no doubt have plenty of good skiing to report back on, but in the meantime here’s some shots from the past month.

“Casualties” on the Wilderness First Responder course

Chamonix in winter

Me in the powder at Les Houches. Photo Sharon Wray.

Bjarne Sahlen going big in Courmayeur

Sunset at Cervinia

On top of the Pain de Sucre, Valais, Switzerland

Tom Grant prostrate before the majesty of it all

Panoramic from the Cairngorm Plateau

Gang solo of Forked Gully Right Hand

Sergei on Scabbard Chimney, Stob Coire nan Lochan

  And finally, I managed to catch a game at Ewood Park, and saw my beloved Blackburn Rovers held to a 1-1 draw against Birmingham City!

My trip started with a long journey from Geneva, through Manchester, Doha and Kathmandu, and then on to Pokhara in the foothills of the Annapurna region, where my group and I were going to attempt to climb Tharpa Chuli/Tent Peak (5663m), in the heart of the Annapurna sanctuary. A few things made me pretty positive about our chances – firstly we had a very strong team, and secondly we were being accompanied by my friend Pasang Sherpa, a fully qualified IFMGA Mountain Guide, and surely the only man ever who says (without even a hint of irony) that the toughest bit about spending 3 hours on top of Everest waiting for his clients is that, “it is very difficult to light my cigarettes”. He’s given up the fags now, but his fondness for Royal Stag whiskey remains undiminished….

The walk into the Annapurna Sanctuary begins with 5 hot and sweaty days in the jungle, but the views are still pretty good -

Looking into the Annapurna range from the foothills

Local kid in Chhomrong, Annapurna foothills

“SWEET!!!” About to be accosted for more sweets and chocolate

Ian looking understandably unimpressed with the mugs at a lunch break!

Once in the Annapurna Sanctuary, things get REALLY impressive – Machapuchare is as stunning a mountain as I have seen, but for sheer scale it is dwarfed by the S face of Annapurna, which at nearly 2000 metres high, makes most of the Alpine north faces look like molehills.

Annapurna Base Camp, with Machapuchare behind.

Annapurna South Face

After a couple of days preparation at Annapurna Base Camp we moved up through Tent Peak base camp and on to high camp, at around 5000m. Unfortunately we had a lot of snow at both camps, but we decided to have a go at the climb anyway, and thanks to a huge effort from Pasang and Dawa Sherpa, we made it onto Tent Peak’s summit ridge. Although this left us only 200m to the summit, the waist deep snow we had been climbing/swimming up, and the dangerously unstable ridge above us convinced us that we’d got high enough. Everyone was slightly disappointed not to top out, but the views more than made up for our lack of a summit.

Tent Peak Base Camp under fresh snow

Steep climbing on Tent Peak

Tina, Ian & Scott in the steep gully just below the summit ridge

Our summit – the high point we reached about 200m below the top. The view wasn’t too shabby.

Heading home

The walk out was another sweaty affair, but only took 3 days in reverse, and we were soon enjoying the sights and sounds of Pokhara and Kathmandu. Thanks to Ian, Karen, Tina, Scott, Pasang, Dawa and Pemba for the excellent company and for  destroying me at cards every night! Reunion in Cham anyone?

Back in Kathmandu, and enjoying the view from the back of Pasang’s motorbike.

Next up was a trip into the Langtang region, an area that has long been on my list of places to go. A day long drive saw us back in the jungle, but this time we were up and into the big hills within a couple of days. The Langtang is pretty quiet, which I’m guessing is because it doesn’t have any famous summits, but it is absolutely stunning despite it’s highest peak being a “mere” 7200m.

Our goal was an ascent of Naya Kanga (5846m), a peak which seems to have a low summit success rate, but which is a pretty appealing objective as it is right in the heart of the Langtang massif and is pretty tough looking from any angle – something which always stokes the ego!

School time in the Langtang foothills

Sunset from the village of Kyanjin Gompa

Learning the ropes at Naya Kanga base camp

Richard and Pasang enjoying one of the many good boulders at base camp

Naya Kanga with Italian base camp in the foreground. I’m not sure I’d choose to camp under an enourmous serac, but each to his own.

The peak itself did indeed prove pretty tough, but after a huge 9 hour effort, Alan, Chris, Pasang and I found ourselves on top and looking out across to the Everest region into Tibet and across to the huge bulk of Shishapangma (8013m). The descent went on a bit, to say the least, but 14 hours after leaving high camp everyone was safely back and enjoying soup and biscuits.

Chris and Richard just after first light on summit morning

Richard, Pasang, Alan, Elen and Chris just before the steeper climbing

Chris on the final summit ridge

Looking down at base camp from high on the peak

Me and Pasang on top

An incredible sunset from high camp after a tough summit day

The following day we had to raise ourselves again in order to cross the Ganja La pass (5200m), and it was a tired team who made it into camp after the second hard day in a row. The rest of the trip passed in a blur of farming villages and ever increasing temperatures, and we were soon at the roadhead, over indulging on beer and whiskey and dancing by the camp fire.

Steep and exposed climbing just below the Ganja La

Once again Pasang, Dawa and Pemba were fantastic, so thanks to them, and big thanks too to Chris, Elen, Richard, Gil, Rod, Cherry, Alan, Phil and Richard 2 for a really fun trip, and for staying chirpy even when things were tough.

So that’s my Himalayan season done for this year and as ever I’m both happy and sad to be back in Europe. I’ll be back next year though, so stay posted here for my plans, which could be pretty interesting….!

For now, Scotland beckons, and then the ski season will be underway in Cham. Can’t wait!

I’m off to Nepal now, and will be leading trips to Tent Peak in the Annapurna region, and Naya Kanga in the Langtang area.  It will be great to get into the Himalayas again, but right now I’m looking forward to nothing more than a bit of sunshine in Kathmandu! I’ll be back in early November, and will be putting a report on here. Until then, here are some photos from the last few weeks -

John Vincent scrambling on the Grand Perron, Switzerland.

Me skiing of the Allallinhorn, Saas Fee, Switzerland. Photo Tom Grant

Sharon Wray on the Via Ferrata above Passy

Me leading at Gietroz crag. Photo Gary Houston.

The heavy snow arrived at the start of September, so the month began with a trip up the Midi with Matt Livingstone to go and ski a few laps of the slope below the Cosmiques hut. It might not be the most exciting run in the Valley, but it’s always worth a bit of effort to get some turns in. Matt and I were especially pleased as we skied the last weekend of June, and the first weekend of September, meaning that our “off season” was 9 weeks!

Matt at the top of the Aiguille du Midi

Matt skiing below the Cosmiques hut

The late summer heat soon burned off most of the snow, so a couple of days later Peter Riley and I slogged up to Jacchia bivouac hut and then climbed the wild and remote Tronchey Ridge on the Grandes Jorasses. It was a pretty full on adventure (!), and there’s more detail here

The Jacchia hut at sunset. 

Me on the Tronchey Ridge at sunrise. Photo Peter Riley.

Me below the 3rd tower of the Tronchey Ridge. Photo Peter Riley.

Me arriving on top of the Grandes Jorasses summit. Tired and yet only half way…. Photo Peter Riley.

After a tough few days on the Grandes Jorasses, I was glad to see some rain arrive and provide me with an excuse to slow down. It couldn’t last though, and after a couple of relaxing days I went to the Institut Internationale de Lancy – an international school in Geneva – and gave a talk to the year 6 kids there who are just starting their latest geography topic – mountains. I’d been told that the kids at the school were incredibly intelligent and enthusiastic, but I really wasn’t prepared for just how switched on and interested they were. They’ll all be running the World in a decade or two, I’m sure of that! I had a great time talking with them, and answering as many of their questions as we had time for, and hopefully I’ll be back next year to do the same thing again. Thanks everyone for a fun, crazy morning!

Enthusing the next generation of mountaineers – not that they could have been much more enthusiastic!

Health and Safety is alive and well in Switzerland!!! The ice axes were particularly popular.

I’ve now got 2 weeks or so before I head off to Nepal, and I’m hoping to do some climbing and maybe even a bit more skiing. September is without a doubt my favourite month of the summer, and it is as fun as ever this year so let’s hope it stays sunny I can make the most of my last few weeks in the Alps.

Straight after getting back from India I had some days out climbing in Chamonix, and then headed down to the Cote d’Azur for a family holiday. Pool, beers, frisbee, family and plenty of food and wine – it wasn’t rubbish! I also managed to sneak in a few days on the famous limestone of Provence and the south coast

Since getting back to Cham I’ve had a few great days out, mainly in the Aiguilles Rouges, on the north side of the Valley. The weather remains slightly unsettled, as it seems to have been all summer, but hopefully things will clear up soon and September will be epic!

Final thing, I recently reviewed some Red Chili rockboots, and the review can be found here - http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=4845

Tom Grant emerging from a chimney, just below the summit of the Dent du Crocodile

Sunrise from a bivi above the Mer de Glace

Looking down from the top of the cave at La Turbie crag

Tyrolean traverse on the Aiguillette d’Argentiere. Photo Sharon Wray.

Nick Taylor crushing La Trinite crag, Cote d’Azur

Rope swing, with Monaco harbour below. Photo Sharon Wray.

The scenery in Ladakh is mind blowing, and whilst the mountains are not as high as in Nepal, they are perhaps even more photogenic as they rise from long flat plateaus rather than steep sided valleys. The contrast of the green valleys, the brown foothills and the snowy, high summits is amazing, so there is no shortage of photos with this post!

On the way through London before the trip I went and checked out the Natural History Museum. This quote on the right (from the Captain Scott exhibition) summarises how I feel when I have a chippie after a few months in France!

The view from the plane as we descended into Leh

Leh Airport

Leh as seen from the Monastery above the town.

Stok Kangri (6153m) as seen from Leh. I climbed this peak when I was 16. Good times.

We passed a couple of enjoyable days doing the tourist thing in Leh and then headed into the wilderness to start the trekking stage of our trip.

The meeting place of the Indus and Zanskar Rivers

Health and safety is alive and well in Ladakh.

Me and Pete Croudace pulling some yoga moves at the Khardung La, the World’s highest road.

The trekking phase began at the tiny village of Rumtse, and from there we headed into the hills of Ladakh, and barely saw anyone once underway. There are some busy trekking areas in the Himalayas but this is definitely not one of them!

Random dog in Rumtse

A local kid in Rumtse

Our cook, Lal, preparing dinner.

Barren scenery at our 3rd camp

A nomad village, where we camped on the 4th night. The village was deserted as the nomads only spend the 3 coldest months of the year there.

On our 5th night we camped next to a nomad family, and spent an amazing afternoon seeing how they live – definitely one of the best experiences I’ve had in the mountains.

Sean teaching a nomad girl to juggle

Rigzin (our sirdar) and me with the Tso Morari lake behind.

Me above Tso Morari, shortly before we got our first glimpse of Lungser Kangri.

Looking into Tibet from the edge of Tso Morari.

Having reached the Tso Morari lake we finally saw Lungser Kangri and got stuck into the climbing phase of the trip.

The team with Lungser Kangri behind.

We set up our base camp at a headache inducing 5600m, and had a rest day followed by a load carry. On the day that everybody else did the load carry, Rigzin (sirdar) and I went all the way to the summit – quite a beasting with 1000m of ascent and descent in a 7.5 hour round trip!

Base camp bouldering

Rigzin heading for the summit

Looking down towards base camp (situated at the far end of the long, flat area in the centre of the photo), with Tso Morari behind.

Me on the summit. Knackered!

Rigzin and me on the summit

Having got back to base camp, all that was left was to climb the mountain again, this time with the rest of the team. We climbed up to the high camp, and the benefit of having had 3 nights at base camp was obvious when nobody had a headache or any ill effects from the altitude, despite high camp being at a whopping 6200m. Unfortunately the wind took its toll though, being strong enough to snap a tent pole! Luckily the tent survived the rest of the night, and we were away at 4am the next morning heading for the top.

High camp, Lungser Kangri behind.

Looking out from our tent at sunset

Jack, Sean, Alex and Dorjee heading up on summit morning

Lee, Kristoff and Olivia early on summit morning

Unfortunately the weather closed in on summit morning so we didn’t get any views, but you’ll have to trust me that 11 of the team made it to the top, a fantastic effort. From the top we descended all the way to base camp, and then the following day down to the roadhead, and finally back to Leh. After a welcome shower and a meal in a local restaurant, we headed back to Delhi, which provided quite a culture shock after the solitude we’d had for the previous few weeks!

Back in Delhi, and enjoying the combination of 38 degree heat and heavy rain!

After a final night together we all made our way back to Europe, and real life. This was definitely one of the most enjoyable trips I’ve done, with amazing views, a great crew and some excellent company provided by our very international group!

Thanks to Pete, Sean, Jack, Alex, Lee, Kristoff, Cordula, Andre, Heinrich, Michael, Marina and Olivia for all the banter, and to Rigzin, Lal, Dorjee et al for being the best crew I’ve had in the mountains.

Safely back in London, enjoying bacon and eggs butties with Sharon and Caroline. Bliss!

Chamonix beckons again now, and I see on various blogs that people have been getting out and doing some good routes recently, so hopefully the weather will hold and I’ll be able to make the most of this acclimatisation!

I’m off to India at the end of this week, where I’ll be leading a group on an attempt to climb Lungser Kangri (the so called “magic mountain” at exactly 6666 metres), and hopefully getting to see as much as possible of Ladakh in the process. I can’t wait!

Me on the Allalinhorn, Switzerland, about to ski down from the summit (in the final weekend of June!)

The Weissmies as seen from the summit of the Lagginhorn, Saas Grund, Switzerland.

Me on pitch 24 (!) of “Le Soleil Rendez-Vous avec la Lune”, Aiguille du Grepon. Photo Peter Riley.

Sharon Wray on “Manque un Metre”, a great 7 pitch route at the Col de la Colombiere, Aravis.