Steve and I were originally headed for Abenteuerland, a long multipitch on Göll in Berchtesgaden. The VI route is famous for two pitches climbed through a cave in the mountain, but early season snow had filled them with a large ice pitch! So we opted for Sommer Sonne Sonnenschein next to it, dodging the snow patches up 450m of limestone runnels.
A three week expedition to Pakistan with Clay, Ross, Steve and Karim, climbing in the Gunj-e Dur Valley north of Shimshal. Two new routes on previously unclimbed peaks.
For more photos, please see: https://www.flickr.com/photos/67hours/sets/72157685753210772/
I'd want to do some self-rescue training for a long time, so Clay sorted us out with a guide for day to run through the fundamentals of escaping the system and rescuing hapless seconds. All Will needs to do now is learn to climb again!
Our last day of the tour and there was just enough time for one last adventure. We had heard almost by chance of the Tälligrattunnel, a kilometre long shortcut beneath the mountain which would take us to the ski resort and town below. The hut had barely enough signal to allow us to retrieve a likely GPS co-ordinate, but we arrived at the hillside and dug in good faith. Our work was rewarded and soon the entrance revealed itself. The shortcut was ours!
Another day of very challenging weather and navigation as we crossed to Konkordia over the Grünhornlücke. I led the route uphill in near zero-visibility, using a rope on the pole to look for terrain changes in the landscape ahead. We roped up for the ski down, which was equally exciting!
A thick white-out enveloped the whole glacier all day, forcing us to abandon our trip up the Wyssnollen. Instead, we resorted to my second favourite winter activity, digging!
