We got a tip-off that there was a bouldering festival in a place called Mello Blocco.  So we went.  We bouldered.  We got stickers.  We got freebies.  We met celebrities.  We ate.  We drank.  We partied till the early hours!

More rain

BBQ and beers!

John crushing

Me crushing

The weather was very poor in the mountains so we decided to head south for a spot of sport climbing.  We went to the justifiably popular Finale beautifully situated on the Mediterranean coast.  We met up with John and Paul again who had finished their Grand Paridiso tour.  We climbed for five days at different venues, mainly getting lots of mileage and onsighting routes up to 6c+.  I've lost lot of strength over the winter! :(

Up we go

So, after bailing out of the last ski tour, we decided to climb the Rebuffet Route (6c) on the Aiguille Du Midi.  Amazing granite crack climbing.  A bit of a shock to the system as I hadn't climbed rock for ages but managed to lead the route clean.  An amazing day out followed by a night in the Cosmiques Hut before skiing out down the Vallee Blanche!

Mike coming up the crux pitch

Hanging out on a belay

Room with a view!

About to embark on our second ski tour

After an absolute epic drive from Austria to Italy, Mike and I embarked on our second ski tour.  The Grand Paridiso tour.  We had a casual start as it was only a two hour skin up to the Sella hut where we had organised to meet up with John, Paul and Guy.  The next day we set off early doors and made our way up to a col.  It turned out that it was the wrong col (I wasn't navigating!) and we ended up doing some gnarly down climbing and even gnarlier abseiling.  This got us onto some terrible snow, none of us could turn, it was almost impossible to ski.  From this point Mike and I decided to bail down to Val Savarenche and made our way back to Aosta.  It was a nice little day tour but conditions weren't ideal.

Up to the col we go...

Back down the other side

Unpleasant abseiling

Guy (the other one) keeping well out of the way of falling debris

For the last couple of days Mike and I have been in St Anton brushing up on our (well mainly my) skiing technique.  First day was very much an endurance day - to see how many runs we could do from the top. The second day we found some sweet powder lines that had fallen overnight before hitting the snow park for some jumps!  Two brilliant days of downhill action!

Mike hitting some kickers!

So after a fantastic party at the Original Hofbrau House in Munich, we departed from our friends and made our way to Austria.

Re-hydration before our ski touring

 

From here we made tracks from Ischgl through some absolutly stunning mountain scenery, through some very fancy mountain huts through to Galtur where it was a short journey back to the van.  As this was the first time Mike and I have ski toured we found it a very steep learning curve but we were pretty sure we knew what we were doing by the end of it!

Mike enjoying the blue skies

Well needed rests!  It was getting hot!

Nice gentle ascents

More rests...

We found it hard skiing with a heavy rucksack!

First attempt at a "steep" kick turn....Failed!

 It was a brilliant first ski tour, spent several days in the mountains.  Snow conditions werent perfect but we toured some great mountians and found some good descents.

 

Once again the winter season has come to an end for me.  This has been my best winter ever!  A combination of fantastic conditions, lots of psyched climbing partners, very willing clients and great employers has meant I have completed 82 winter climbs and had over 100 days out.  I just want to say thank you to all my employers for the winter - Martin Moran, Glenmore Lodge, Abacus Mountain Guides, Skye Guides and Tarmachan Mountaineering.  A massive thankyou to all my clients both new and old, especially those who were keen to explore new places and climb routes I'd never done before.  Seeking out new routes is one of the highlights of my work.  Most of all I would like to thank all the climbing partners that came out with me on my days off - Kenny Grant, Murdoch Jamieson, Donald King, Blair Fyffe, Keith Ball, Martin Moran, Al Halewood, Mike Lates, Craig Mackay, John Orr, Guy Buckingham and Ewan Rodgers.  These days I shall remember for a long time.

So I'm going to take a little bit of time off and go skiing and climbing in the Alps.  All this winter fitness will need to be put to good use.  I'll update blog this now and again but I'm not promising anything!  I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the winter and has a great spring.  Get outside, stay healthy and smile!  See you all soon!

 Today was my last day out with John and my final day out this winter season.  After yesterdays grade V John and I were keen to do one more before we finish.  Today we climbed Boomer's Requium (V,5) which is such a brilliant route.  The crux pitch is nice and steep with an option to bridge out if arms are not feeling super strong.  The upper pitches have been catching the sun and softened up quite alot but didnt cause any issues.  On the last section where we moved together, John got hit by a lump of oce on this leg which meant for a slow hobble down the Red Burn as he didnt fancy down climbing Number 4.  It was another stunning day and a brilliant route to wrap up my winter season.