UKC

Can anyone recommend somewhere to go ice climbing in February that fulfils the following requests:

Easy grades
Relatively cheap accommodation
Has nearby entertainment such as bars and things

I've done a bit in Scotland but looking at somewhere in the Alps or thereabouts preferably!

In reply to Kid Spatula:

Ceillac ?
http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=3484
(although I'm sure the list of routes isn't complete)

http://www.ice-fall.com/Page_Secteur.aspx?IdSecteur=3

In reply to Doug:

What's Ceillac like for accommodation price wise?

In reply to Kid Spatula:

What do you call easy and what do you call cheap? We're opening a climbers and skiers lodge 5 minutes away from Sottoguda in the Dolomites. Very reliable ice, 2 hours drive from venice which you can do on ryanair or easyjet, and grades from uiaa ii through to v+, although mainly around iii+/iv. But most water ice venues will be in that sort of range. Can send you the details if you like.

In reply to mike kann:

About WI II to IV would be ideal. Looking at it Sottoguda looks pretty much perfect to be honest. When are you looking at being open? Any idea of price?

In reply to Kid Spatula:

We're opening our doors on Jan 3rd. The house is in Col di Rocca. We will have a 2 bed apartment, a 4 berth bunkroom apartment and a twin room and a 2 berth bunkroom apartment. All with their own shower room, and a decent size livingroom/kitchen dinner. Each apartment will also have a sofa bed in the living room if you really want to squeeze in. The bunk room is ideal for climbers as it's more mountain hut style with seperate bunks and a kit room to store all your gubbins in. The website is going live over the next few days, although unfortunately we don't have photo's of it finished as we're still working on it, but we're due to be fitting kitchens at the beginning of November and fitting it out. It should be reasonably plush. The week in feb which runs saturday to saturday (fits in with flights from smaller airports) is £575 for the bunk room or the twin/bunk apartment however many you decide to squeeze in, whilst the 2 bed apartment is £500. If 6 of you used the bunk apartment, that's £95 each for the week, which we reckon ain't bad! Even as a four its £144 and would be nice and comfy. Mail me if you want more details...

In reply to Kid Spatula:


See http://www.ceillac.com/hotels_gite_ref.htm#refuge for options & prices

I've stayed at Refuge "La Cime" which was good but maybe not the best placed for the icefalls

In reply to Kid Spatula:

Kranska Gora

In reply to iksander:

An interesting suggestion which is worth considering. Have you climbed there?

I can see that Kranjska Gora would fit the last two of the OP's criteria but I'm not so sure about 'easy routes' though. I've researched the Julian alps for a future ice climbing trip and AIR there's very little in the Kranjska Gora area < WI4. I remember reading somewhere that it was like a mini Canada - which I interpreted as meaning a bit steep!

Perhaps this might be what the OP means by 'easy grades', I don't know.

Just in case though, there's a good overview here: http://www.climbandmore.com/climbing,26,0,1,regions.html

In reply to Kid Spatula:

Hang on? Didn't I start a thread very similar to this a couple of months back?!

Sottoguda did appear to be a good possibility from the info on that thread... but it appears if a trip does happen for me, the team will probably want Rjukan!

PP.

In reply to Dave Williams:

Yes I have climbed there, and you're right there are routes in the WI3 range, but not enough for a week solely at that grade. More stuff nearby at Maltatal over the border in Austria though. NB Slovenians are double hard bastards and seemingly happy to climb WI7 in poor conditions on homemade gear - may be part of the mystique!