Gritstone Classics with Lucy

Lucy has been getting some early season Griststone action in this week at Chatsworth Edge in the Peak District.

Lucy can be seen above making light work of Don Whillans classic route 'Sentinal Crack' E3 5c which is a route to very much be respected. Most people who attempt this route normally end up with a distinct lack of flesh left on their hands afterwards. You have been warned!

A big thanks goes out to Tim Glasby for allowing us to use this image only 3 hours after it was taken.

Will Sim: Alps Update

After bailing from part way up the "Desecures -Robach" on the right hand side of the Jorasses north face due to warm temperatures, Jon and I were doubtful as to what to get on next. The ice on the route was a another freeze-thaw away from becoming useable, but when walking underneath the Croz spur to start the long walk back to chamonix we noticed good looking white stuff snaking up the Slovenian start and in to the top icefield.

Two days later we found ourselves digging out a bivi ledge near the bottom of the north face and at 3.30 the next morning we were busy melting snow and packing up to be over the schrund of the Croz by 5am. 10 hours and 1000 metres of toffee-like ice and interesting mixed climbing later we were on the summit ridge. The hellish descent in to Italy was made extra time consuming due to poor conditions on the glacier which required careful navigation in the dark and some dicy downclimbing.

By midnight we were at the Boccalatte winter hut forcing litres of water in to our dehydrated bodies and enjoying the view over a moonlit northern Italy.
Check out the shots on-

http://www.alpineexposures.com/blogs/chamonix-conditions

Cheers,
Will

Neil Mawson: Cry Freedom 8b+

Cry Freedom was always one of those routes at Malham that I thought I'd never do. The old yorkshire limestone book that I had when 1st started climbing had it as the hardest route in the book! I got on it for the 1st time earlier this year at the start of the summer. I made quick progress and managed to redpoint upto the top boulder problem crux on about my 3rd day, probably hard 8b to here. But then made no more progress over the next few days so decided to leave it as it was getting warm and wait for cooler conditions in the Autumn.

About two months later after spending another couple of days on it refreshing the moves I managed a good link from the half height shake out to the top, pretty much all the hard climbing. Psychologically this was a massive boost to my confidence that I could do it. After two more days falling so close to the top I postponed my trip to Spain for two days to get one more chance. I was lucky and got perfect conditions, clear and cold and did it. By far the hardest route I've done and I'm now looking forward to my 3 month trip to Spain.