Tuesday 26 March 2013

The Long Climb Finish

No gear in there...

Looks like today is going to be my last day winter climbing on my days off as for the next wee while I'm working and then off to the Alps.  Today was a perfect finish to a great season of winter climbing.  My first route of the season was back in October with Kenny so it was great to be doing the last route of the season with him too.  We had lots of options in mind but we thought a quick route up the Orion Face would do us just fine.  We soloed up Orion Direct (V,5) to the snow basin, chucked the ropes on and climbed The Long Climb Finish (VI,5).  Kenny made a great lead up the crux pitch, not really bothering with protection to the belay which took a while to dig out.  Its a really cool slab of thin ice which was in great condition, good axes and good feet for a thinly iced slab.  The mountain is still in great condition with loads of routes to go for.  All the Minus Gullies were getting climbed today and they looked great.  The main gully lines are really fat and the thin face ice routes are well worth getting stuck into.  With several patches of wind slab around, care is required with route choice.  We were able to safely get onto Orion and come down Coire Leis.  A great day which has got me super psyched for the next 10 days of climbing classic grade IV and V ice routes!

Absolutely ace picking up there!

'Putting a screw in'...'ok'....'it's shit'....'ok'

Airy climbing


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