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Sunday.

Bursting with enthusiasm we up suited and booted, racked and packed, locked and loaded by 7AM for an assault on the Mecca of steep Ice, Fournel.

Upon arrival and after a short prayer of thanks at having survived the drive, we set off to do some climbing. Rocketman recced the valley to establish the conditions while Krusher and Dave went off to Sourire Kabile 3+ and Super Goulotte 3, Mark and Dither went to do Damocles 4+, Mark bellowing "4:30! 4:30!" as the agreed rendezvous time for leaving. Meanwhile Nick and Tony went to warm up on an anonymous piece of vertical ice, later described as "rather like having a gentle sparring session with Mike Tyson". Bruised but with ears intact, they then went off to climb Iznogood (sic) with only one rope. This ploy was entirely successful until it came to the point where they had to abseil down.

Four-thirty came and went with no sign of Dither and Mark. They eventually turned up an hour late for Mark's own rendezvous time.

Alix, Helen and Andy went skiing.

Monday

Back to Fournel. Tony and Nick climbed a route next to Mais je Reve which had a spectacularly unsafe belay at the top, improvised out of two axes buried in the snow and a snow bollard. Luckily Nick had set it up as a direct belay and Tony couldn't see it. They then climbed the first two pitches of Mais Je Reve, which had previously been climbed by Dave and Krusher. Andy had been prised off his skis for the day and seconded Rocket man up the short yet horrendously steep Calin Solein 5+. Definitely one of the best leads of the trip.

Alix, Helen, Dither, Mark, John and Henry went skiing.

Tuesday

Mark took John and Henry to Fournel to climb. In the course of this day they got the car stuck, left a rope behind and most critically of all went off without their lunch.

Krusher and Rocketman went off to Ceillac to climb Vermicelle 5+. On the way down Rocketman decided that the car would have ample clearance to pass over a rock in the road. It didn't. Having inspected the damage and noted the oil gushing out they decided to continue as far as they could until the engine seized. Thereafter they had to get a taxi all the way to Grenoble airport where Hertz reluctantly provided them with a further car.

Alix, Helen, Dither, Mark, Andy, Nick and Tony went skiing. Nick was reluctantly enticed onto skis and despite a fair amount of howling (due to an old climbing injury) he persevered and flapped around the pistes like a broken umbrella.

Wednesday.

The weather was looking fairly iffy. Nevertheless Dave, Krusher, Rocket and Tony went to Ceillac , where Dave and Rocket repeated Vermicelle. Meanwhile Tony and Krusher climbed Holiday on Ice (Right Branch). With a reputation to uphold they managed to have a puncture on the way home. Helen, Mark, Nick, John, Andy and Henry went skiing in somewhat crappy conditions. Stiff winds, wet snow and virtual zero visibility in places. Nick still complained about his feet.

Thursday

The weather was really quite poor so Rocketman and Tony set off to recce Fournel and Cervieres to see if there were any routes worth doing. Meanwhile Dither, Mark, Krusher and Dave rented snowboards and a Swede in the rain. The Swede ensured that after two hours they came back with thoroughly bruised arses. Allegedly this was due to the snowboarding.

Helen, John, Henry and Andy went skiing.

Friday

turned out to be a beautiful day and Tony and Rocket headed off early to Cervieres. Cervieres is and absolutely idyllic spot that requires a stiff 1 1/2 hour walk in. Dither, Nick, Dave and Krusher followed a little later. Upon arrival the later party espied Rocketman completing 'Aux Lames Citoyens', a tough 5+ route which he then re-climbed a three times on a top rope. He then set up a rope above 'Changement de Slip', a route that requires dry tooling (i.e. rock climbing with axes and crampons): eyewitnesses claim his technique was more akin to Peter Pan than Stevie Haston. Meanwhile Nick and Krusher had climbed 'Ancharage de Dent' 5. Dither then led the route taking an inordinate amount of time, seconded by Steve. Nick then led 'Cascade de Bourget' 4 which was quickly seconded by both Krusher and Dither.

Helen, John, Henry, Alix, Mark and Andy went skiing in probably the best conditions that they'd experienced in years. Blue skies and more than one foot of fresh powder allowing unlimited off-piste skiing.

Saturday

dawned with a thickening of the snow on the ground. Rocket and Tony set off early to Fournel and contrived to put the replacement hire car in a ditch. Alas their efforts were ultimately in vain because the final approach road to Fournel turned out to be impassable and closed. Undaunted they headed off to Cervieres. Meanwhile Mark, Krusher, Nick and Andy had followed them up to Fournel (without driving off the road) and then encountered the closed road. Sadly they were made of weaker stuff and decided to investigate the climbing around La Grave rather than face the walk in to Cervieres, or the drive to Ceillac, which held bad memories for Krusher. Unfortunately the snow had partially closed the road to La Grave as well. Rather than wait for the traffic to clear they decided to return to the valley for breakfast and an undemanding day gear shopping in Briancon.

Dither went snowboarding again (without the benefit of a Swede). John and Henry went home.

The evening drive into Torini proved interesting. If they filmed the Italian job there today no one would turn a hair at their antics. Indeed it would appear to be perfectly acceptable and even courteous. Apparently the whole economy of Turin is underwritten by Fiat and there is probably a feeling that if the lifespan of a car can be shortened it will boost the local economy.

After a few settling beers in the hotel it was time for dinner. A pleasant meal followed accompanied by a refreshing amount of post-prandial arithmetic and then a few hard core individuals headed off to sample the delights of Turin nightlife.

All in all it was a fun trip with plenty of variety in terms of weather and activity. Piolet D'Or must go to Rocketman for his steep routes and a valiant attempt at dry tooling. Piolet De Plombe, step forward Rocketman once more for trashing one car and then putting the replacement in a ditch.

Many thanks to David and Alix for organisition

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