Today John and I were in the Lake District to break up the journey to Wales. A mountain day was on the cards so we headed down Ullswater Lake to Patterdale and walked up to Pinnacle Ridge on St Sunday Crag which is a great wee scramble. From the summit we continued round to Fairfield and made our way back to the car. A good 7 hour day before our drive down to North Wales. John and I were both in agreement that the Lakes (where I grew up) are lovely, interesting and has fantastic climbing....but its just not Scotland!

After yesterdays big day on the hill, John was keen for some technique coaching and an arm stretch in the climbing wall. As John hasn't climbed anything vertical for awhile, he was keen to see how quickly he would get pumped and in turn will see how his fitness has changed. First off we spent 3 hours (its not what you know, its who you know!) in the ice wall, fine tuning John's technique and we also had a go on the competition routes that were left up after the weekend. After lunch we went through and did some coaching on the rock walls, we identified John's weaknesses and did some exercises to turn them into strengths. After this we hit the dry tooling, something John hasn't done much of. Its great to see how well he's coming along. Last season he climbed two grade V's on consecutive days...maybe grade VI this winter...?

Today I am back out with John and I will be for the next 14 days.  The aim of our time is to get fit both on the hill and on the crags as John has been away for a wee while.  Today we kicked off with a leg stretch around the classic Ring of Steall.  We did this last year and is one of John's favourite rounds as it provides fantastic views over Loch Leven, where John grew up.  We did it in reverse today, starting from Steall falls and finishing at lower falls which gave the legs a good workout.  There was a reasonable amount of snow around, but we didn't need crampons on at any pint.  The turf was still very soft, rocks were still loose and we never really reach a freezing level.  It was good to get out and blow away the cobwebs for John and also get a feel for what the conditions are like.

As expected it was a brilliant weekend of climbing and good laughs.  It turns out I wasn't as weak as a kitten and just missed out on a place in the finals.  Out of 150 possible points, I scored 137, a little behind some of the strong men of winter climbing such as Greg Boswell, Andy Turner and others.  The finals created a very exciting and tense atmosphere with the winners being decided on the times they reached the top.  The whole event raised around £2000 for CAC which is fantastic and it was great to see many enthusiasts and amateurs alike enjoying themselves.  A huge praise and thanks goes to the Ice Factor team and route setters; Kev, Connor, Joe and James who did a brilliant job of making the event run so smoothly.
Simon's talk on winter climbing was very inspiring and left most of us planning our next winter day out!  Following this was the party, we obviously all sat down very quietly sipping a nice glass of wine......yeah right! ;)  Looking forward to next year!

The Festival of Ice is this weekend.  It will be worth a visit.  Ice to suit all tastes.  All forms of ice available.  Ice to climb on and ice for the drinks at the after party.
The event held at The Ice Factor this Saturday will be the home of some of the strongest winter climbers in the country, both above and below the border.  However, don't be put off by the size of their muscles.  There are many mere mortals like myself entering who are there to enjoy the social, the climbing and the impressive falls!  The best thing about this event is that its not just a self profit ordeal.  A large percentage of the takings will be donated to the Climbers Against Cancer charity.  I couldn't not get involved!  Also, don't worry if you haven't pulled on axes before or done any training, there is plenty of climbing for all abilities.  On the Sunday will be some master classes and coaching with Dave MacLeod, one of the best all round climbers in the world.  That's if you can survive the after party.  If there is a good attendance, Kev said he'll do some break dancing at the after party!  Not really worth missing!

Some of the climbers will be as strong as this fella!

Some others, like me, will be as strong as this fella!

Looking over to Tower Ridge

Alan showing his strength...or lack of! ;)

 From the Italian Rivera to Ben Nevis.  Back to work today and our original plan was Tower Ridge.  On arrival to the CIC hut the weather was grim, wet, cold and windy.  The forecast was due to improve as the day went on but the evidence around us was not giving us much hope.  Linda wanted a pleasant experience on Tower Ridge, as we all did so we thought we would save it for another day.  Instead we cruised up Ledge route, a ridge that neither Alan and Linda have never done in summer.  Not another soul in sight or on earshot until we got to the mountain path where there were a few out enjoying the mountain.

Off the gangway

Plenty of snow nearing the top

Bit of rime ice on the cairn

Don't remember this!

Training never stops!

After Ceuse, we arrived in Finale on the Italian Riviera.  I've been here before and I love it.  Great climbing, warm sea, sunshine, nice beaches, good food, nice wine, powerful coffee and very nice locals!  What more could you want!  We did a variety of climbing from single pitch steepness to multi-pitch madness.  Deep water soloing through to deep water-falling-in!  It was a great laugh with Guy and Donald and look forward to more climbing trips with these chaps.

I was creating a waterfall up there!  Pretty warm!

And fell off...

And fell off again...

Multi-pitch action

Guy hanging out

Seconding on of the crux pitches

Two Guy's climbing

Dry at the moment

Guy leading the way

Wet!

View from the campsite

Finally I get to enjoy the sunshine!

After leaving Chamonix and we descended on Ceuse.  One of the best sport climbing crags in the country!?  Best I've been too anyway!  We spent 4 days climbing here in the sun until (story of my life) the snow came.  This didnt affect the climbing too much but climbing in a 3 just means its sooo hard to stay warm as there is a bit of waiting around to get climbing.  After 3 cold morning struggling to get out the tent we decided to head even further south for more sun and a warm sea.  Nest stop Italy, Finale!

Donald testing out the small pockets

The local climbers were very good

Guy (the other one) showing how flexible he is!

Donald getting some airtime!