UKC

Hi

Does anybody know of destinations that currently have well formed ice in Europe with optimistic weather forecast. We were planning to head to Scotland on Feb 1st for 12 days but stormy weather looks to persist so now thinking we could head further afield... Cogne, Ecrins or anywhere else? Everywhere looks warm!

Thanks

Luke

In reply to Lukeva:


Scandinavia isn't. After a crappy start to the winter in the south of Finland we've now had 2 weeks of high pressure, temperature between -10 and -20 since two fridays back.

The forecast for the North looks perfect currently:
http://www.yr.no/place/Norway/Troms/Troms%C3%B8/Troms%C3%B8/long.html
http://www.yr.no/place/Norway/Troms/Lyngen/Lyngseidet/long.html
http://www.yr.no/place/Norway/Nordland/Narvik/Narvik/long.html

Gatwick to Tromso flights start at around 90 quid each way with Norwegian. More ice than you could possible imagine. http://northnorwayice.blogspot.fi/

In reply to TobyA:

Put perhaps not really Euro Ice... if you're expecting nice muchy *hero* ice, bolted anchors, drinkin' beer/cappucino in a nice cafeteria in sunshine and so on... Good stuff though, just best not to try to claim FA, as pretty much everything below WI6+ has been climbed numerous times already by the locals or semi-locals...

In reply to TobyA:

Thanks very much for this. I'll look into it now

In reply to HeMa:

It looks good, think I read about it in Climb, not sure if I kept the mag... Just ice would be nice- (FA are not high on the agenda), or any winter ideas that does not involve gales, zero viz, avalanche prone slopes and little ice!

In reply to Lukeva:

Yep - Ian Parnell and Co were there last year this time, and had a good trip. Ian's article was in the last Climb, the one with Houlding on the front cover in close up.

In reply to Lukeva:

High Tatra looks amazing just now with little snow but stonking routes- http://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/author.html?id=54656
Christian has been very helpful in past so probably worth asking his opinion.
Cheap, great huts, and I'd guess possible to walk approaches rather than ski.
Probably cheapest & easiest is to fly to Krakow then either bus or train. I prefer Slovak side (so aim for Poprad) but Polish side probably just as good so head for Zakopane

In reply to TobyA:

I have that copy. It would appear that some stuff is being done in the Ecrins, according to their website... not much though

In reply to Lukeva: The High Tatra are indeed in good climbing conditon. There has been very little snow for this time of year , and there are good ice and mixed conditions high in the mountains.
Walk in times have been almost like summer , there has been so little snow.
The more easy access icefalls are not in at all.
I have been in Dolina Javorova the last 2 weekends , and the ice has been amazing.

http://www.tatry.nfo.sk/lady.php?lad=2:Javorov%E1-dolina:17:

Bratislavsky lad ,Komin Navrotov and Cigansk Hracka are all in great conditon...
Downside is , there is not a hut in this valley...walk in is around 3.5hrs , and long descent.
The stuff at the end of Dolina Bialej Wody is in good nice as well , you can camp there at Polana pod wysoka.

http://www.lodospady.pl/index.php/topo-lodospadow/tatry-slowackie/dolina-bi...

Most of the climbing here has long walk ins , depends what your looking for.
Cant promise no gales , zero vis or avalanche prone slope though!....there are good climbing condtions though.
If it dumps snow , at least there is some nice piste skiing.
Email me if you want more details.

In reply to Chris Beck:

Thanks. I'll email you

In reply to Lukeva:
cogne has some very fat routes just now but overall conditions are stil a bit sub par on many routes (either not formed or thin or swamped with snow) We did padri gauche and droite day before yesterday in great nick and you can see monday money from over a mile away. Plenty of stuff to go at for a trip.....

Gressonay the day before had hardly anything in but we got a route done.

Valtournenche has some lovely looking routes but it would be very challenging getting there in the meter of powder and the avalanche risk is still considerable. in general forget routes much under 2000 meters just now but things are getting colder.

stevo

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Thanks for this, and the other comments really helpful. Currently considering; Ecrins, Cogne, High Tatra or Scotland (which appears very unappealing).

Word has it Senja is fat with ice too. N Norway would be your best bet for near-as-dammit guaranteed conditions.

In reply to Chris Beck:

Wow! Amazing.
I've only rock climbed here so I'd never thought about the ice potential
Looks fantastic but the big walk in is a bit of a bind for feeble folk like me

In reply to Nick Harvey:

I see that may be the case, it's just not easy to plan a trip there in a week. France or Italy is much easier, fly to Turin etc. TBH honest I'd go but by buddies seem less keen on Norway at such short notice, cost is the main issue I think. It looks so good though

In reply to Lukeva:
I know what you mean. We plan months ahead and to excessive detail - but really the accom is all empty as its winter, as are the car hire places, so it's just flights that can be a pain. Cheap it is not.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

Just looking at AccuWeather for Cogne, it has been warm, getting colder? looks like it could be promising...

In reply to Babika:

Ha .... The Tatra in general have long walk ins , but they are worth the effort...you do have to like - suffer the walk ins though!
In general they are more of a mixed venue , but they do have some great ice.
Scottish style climbing , steep turf , crap weather...surprised its not more popular...guess the lack of english topo,s and long walk ins puts people off.
Shame , as such a great mixed venue.

In reply to Chris Beck:

After much umming and arring we have gone for the High Atlas in south west Morocco it's looks fantastic nick with a well positioned hut. The Tatra is well on the list so thanks for introducing us to this venue, maybe needed more than a week to plan the trip

In reply to Lukeva:

I've still to upload a number of climbing and skiing photos but a few pics from Alp D'Huez and La Grave are on my facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.445209372246282.1073741843.124310...
As we left it was getting a lot colder (-9)and routes were starting to rebuild quickly.

In reply to Ron Walker:

Great shots thanks Ron.

Toby