UKC

Well, we had a wander up to Cirque de Cagateille. When we set of at 10am it was minus 3, when we got to the foot of the climb it must have been plus 3.

So, as you do and being roughty toughty Brit climbers we elected to have a bash at a WI5. It was a nice route, with elements of No 6 Gully, The Wand and a nice Curtain style step out in the middle.

I led the first pitch about 50m to below a nice vertical cigar.

From the bottom all looked fine. As I progressed I heard more and more running water. By the time Sartori joined me on the airy stance we noted that the nice cigar was more like a straw and that water was pissing down. If you have ever climbed Cascade in Canmore in such conditions you will appreciate that it is not fun standing on gossamer thin creaking ice while a torrent rages beneath.

Cue a necky traverse with half arsed pro, to some rocks, a fortuitous thread and a retreat off.


We had gone from climbers to salmon as the water pished down.

So, a good day nonetheless, a recce and attempt at a route pishing with water and thinner than Darren Jackson's hair and sketchier than MT's grasp on reality.


THe moral of the story is, it is getting warm in the Pyrenees and the ice is out of condition.

Now where did I leave that Talisker.......

In reply to Nevis-the-cat:


Er, you drank it :-0

In reply to Nevis-the-cat:

Nice one. The route sounds good if it wasn't melting under you.

In reply to Nevis-the-cat:

well, looks like at the very least a blip in the high pressure system that has been giving us all the blue skies and big minus numbers overnight.

unpleasant little low pressure system is hovering out over the med.

temps are going to be warmer for the next few days a least, but still with sunshine and blue skies - the freeze level will be heading up over 2000m.

possibly better for ice up towards the west of the pyrenees and certainly better in the alps.



i vote for breakfasting late and arriving at the climb just as the sun sets and the ice should be firming up again.

In reply to Nevis-the-cat:
>If you have ever climbed Cascade in Canmore in such conditions you will appreciate that it is not fun standing on gossamer thin creaking ice while a torrent rages beneath.

It is even less fun, having survived the terrifying experience of leading the route with ice screws poking through the other isde of the ice, to crash through it into the waterfall while abseiling the route

In reply to Removed User:


Yes, a really nice route, about 3 full pitches. It was really to thin and reminded me of poo wet Scottish ice as it dinner plated and the clear stuff shattered.

It wil be a nice route in a couple of weeks time as the freeze thaw takes hold.

In reply to Scomuir:


I know what you mean. I climbed in the full running conditions a couple of years back with a guy who climbs with Will Gadd. He reckoned it was one of the most frightening climbs he had ever done.


At the top the ice was so eggshell that I had to torque off the cracks alongside.

In reply to Nevis-the-cat:

Shame - still cold this end of the chain. Glad I didn't drive 4 hours anyway!

Got any photos? What topo did you use? There's a small guide here - http://www.info-pyrenees.com/article.php3?id_article=54 - don't know if you've seen it?

In reply to Dean:

Yup, the one we used. We did the one numbered 4 next to La Belle Vie.

In reply to Dean:

thought it might be.


it would have been worth it just to see rushby and me fall over in amongst the snowed up boulders.


134 snaps. each one of rushby falling over in the snow.

i took a couple of the climb after the retreat. i'll look later to see if anything came out of any use.


found it & printed it off last night. cheers.
forgot to take it with however :o|

In reply to satori:

Trouble is I would have been falling over more than you 2 - further to fall!

If we get good conditions later in the season, I'll drive over and we can have a climb. Or we can meet in the middle.

In reply to Dean:
>

sounds good.

do you ski tour (or snowshoe)?

trying to gain a bit of info about the local ice climbing i was chatting to some of the guys (& gals) at telemark pyrenees in Ax. the word is that some of the approaches to the better ice at this end of the chain are a tad long.

cagateille would have definitely been easier with enough consolidated snow to cover the boulders so that a ski approach could be made, and that's one of the short approaches.

In reply to satori:


couple of photos on penny's blog.

http://pissoupyrenees.blogspot.com/2007/12/ice-well-almost.html

click on each photo for a larger image.

photo on the left is from the base of the route.
photo on the right (whilst walking out) shows the route just to the right of center, with a very incomplete route on the left (all the smears of ice were very separate with wet rock between).

looks like a good steep route if it comes into nick.

In reply to Dean:


You should have seen me trying to ski mountaineer on Saturday.

Going up, no problem, going down some icey skanky head wall relying on all of my 2 hours ski experience was a little differant.

Still, it kept the troops entertained.

In reply to Nevis-the-cat:

Well done in escaping alive.
We had a similar experience in Rjukan last season. An ascent of Bakveien (Rjukan WI4) in particular, will be burnt upon my mind forever more. Had that same eggshell climbing, near-death, fully committed feeling. 3 pitches- 2 of which were absolutely rotten, the middle one was, in contrast briliant.
The sound of my booming axe/ poon placements behind the eggshell on the last pitch will stay with me for some time!

Davie

In reply to Wee Davie: have climbed a few routes whare it is like standing in a shower, its nice to get out.

In reply to Nevis-the-cat:

I climbed in Bohi valley today (spanish side of Pyrenees), and did a nice sustained 3 pitch WI5 called Polaris. It was really cold (avertage of -5) as it has been all week, so there's quite a lot of ice, and loads of routes in nic. But if weather changes, those could be gone soon.

In reply to ramon marin martinez:

If i had more time down here I would take a look. THe Ariege has been cold for the last week, but warmed up in the last 24 hours. The ice was marginal but a few more cold nights and we should be in condition.

Polaris sounds a nice route - will have to look it up.

In reply to satori:

Hi Andy - I ski (piste) pretty well, though pretty inexperienced off piste. If the snow is good I'm fine, but give me crust and I'm hopeless. I've never actually ski toured - fancy a go sometime, especially to get to a climb. I've snowshoed alot .....