Guy Anne, Chamonix
amonixOur main objective for the week was the route Guy Anne, a 12 pitch TD+ with almost every pitch 6a or 6a+. It takes the skyline of the most prominent […]
Bramcrag Quarry
Up to the Lakes and an overnight stop under Skidaw, in a car park used by BG support teams. I hadn’t been anywhere near the BG route in the two […]
Erboristeria
This is the dark, gloomy north facing crag that dominates the entrance to the valley – very reminiscent of a shady Malham. We’d avoided it on our previous two visits, […]
The Ruins
Things brightened up and we had a couple of great days at The Ruins. For a change we had company at the crag – Jeanne chaperoned us one day (plus […]
Tashy’s first BigWall
Topped out in fine style yesterday and were back in Camp 4 for 6 pm and in the shower soon after. Monster pizza and even bigger Margarita followed before a […]
Salathe Wall on El Cap
Jake and I topped out on “The Captain” at noon on Monday having hauled to Heart Ledge on Friday. Three memorable days on the Big Stone. Day 1 – easy […]
Matterhorn and Monte Rosa
No, we haven’t packed big boots and crampons for this trip. The Aosta guide is a huge tome, organised into sections according to area, and the valleys leading up to […]
La Ravoire and Leverogne
The Aosta Valley runs for almost 100km from just north of our campsite (Camping Mombarone) … up to Courmayeur and the Mont Blanc tunnel. There’s a tonne of rock (140 […]
Gruviera and Montestrutto – into Val d’Aosta
We’re taking advantage of a weather window to explore the climbing around Grand Paradiso and the Aosta Valley, starting in the lower valley whilst things perk up and dry out […]
Weathering Storm Alex
Alex, the first named storm of the year, was forecasted to dump about 6 inches of the wet stuff on Val Penneveire on Friday, threatening to put a major dampener […]
Rocca dell’Arma – up into the clouds
With Jake and Leah having a rest day, we took the opportunity to explore the top end of Val Penneveire. Rocca dell’Arma sits at around 1,400m near Colle di Carpauna […]
Euskal – Colosseo – Rocca de Basura; a three crag day
A couple of kilometres further up the Pennavaire valley from Colletta, these three crags line the sunny south-facing flank. They’re only a few hundred metres from the road, but two […]
La Galera – “Go Directly to Jail…”
“The Jail” isn’t a particularly appealing name, but this is a very pleasant crag, if a bit of a hike up hill. All the routes are named after prisons (I […]
Benvenuto in Val Pennavaire
A number of factors conspired to see us leaving Germany and heading into Italy (dashing through Switzerland en route without a “Transit Stop” to avoid falling foul of any quarantine […]
Donautal
Unlike many of the other climbing areas we’ve visited in Southern Germany, the crags are pretty obvious in Donautal (or the Danube Valley) – there are major High Tor sized […]
Blautal
Blautal is another extensive area of crags in southern Germany, in the Schwabisch Alps, near Ulm. Despite the name, it’s neither blue nor very obviously a valley, with rolling green […]
Neues Tiefenbach and Grauer Stein – two more sides of Allgäu Limestone
Neues Tiefenbach is another impressive crag hidden from view, this time above a picture-postcard chapel framed by distant Alps. Just a few hundred metres from the van you can just […]
Iseler – Kühgund ridge traverse and Salewa Klettersteig
We were looking for a climbing rest-day and a chance to get a bit higher up into the mountains, and spotted a leaflet for the Salewa Klettersteig on the Iseler. […]
Seltmans – German pudding!
French climbers have a name for conglomerate: Poudinage vividly captures the random collection of glued-together cobbles, stirred together in ancient rivers or perhaps in some Giant’s mixing bowl. If Spain […]
Into Allgäu – Weihar
Allgäu (with feedback from a couple of nit-pickers I’ve even managed the umlaut over the second “a”) is the southernmost region in Bavaria, from about an hour’s drive south of […]
Kraftwerk Wand – not just a 70s electropop band
Not just a 70s electropop band… but also another 4* limestone crag in the Allgau (though this one is actually a couple of miles into Austria). It’s another impressive chunk […]
Roter Fels – 40m Frankenjura Fun
Frankenjura climbing is renowned for its profusion (almost a thousand crags), steepness (neck-aching) and pockets (Swiss cheese!) but not generally its height. For the most part, the Fels here tend […]
Rodenstein …and beer!
Rodenstein is a bit of an outlier in Frankenjura – the most westerly in the area and given its own chapter in the guidebook. The crag occupies pride of place […]
Back on the road for climbing and cake!
The RockAroundTheWorld Trip-Planning Algorithm has been overhauled over the last few weeks, with rock quality and sunshine databases now supplemented with infection rate data and the latest quarantine regulations. We […]
Gordale take 2 – Light and Deliverance
After celebrating my last birthday in Eldorado Canyon, https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2019/09/01/outer-space-eldorado-canyon-and-a-memorable-birthday/ the current travel situation was only ever going to make it harder to come up with an appropriate follow-up Anniversary Adventure […]
Craig y Forwen
The coat tails of Storm Ellen were flapping around Britain, bringing lashing rain, as Andy and I set off for the crag on Saturday morning. The wipers were still on […]
