The West Arete - L'Arete Ouest

What a line! Straight up the edge of the block - three stunning pitches. If you look closely, you can even see us climbing...

... and our view of the route, from the second belay. An awesome route.

Les femmes et les grimpeurs d'abord ... or, women and climbers first!

Jen leading and Mark on belay on the third and final pitch of "Les femmes et les grimpeurs d'abord" in the Cirque des Vases, Gorges de la Jonte - 5c, 5b, 5c+. Absolutely brilliant climbing, in a stunning setting with great weather. Photo by Al.

... where are we now?

So we've been a bit busy the last month, moving from here to there, seeing family and old friends, doing some climbing, doing some admin and (as usual) having a good time. As a consequence, the blog has suffered ... whoops.

But we're now settled in the Gorges du Tarn and Jonte - with fantastic weather and loads of climbing, and unreliable internet connections too. So surely, the blog will be updated with our stories soon?! We shall see!

A Van Haircut

Step 1: Hack at excess hair with old kitchen scissors.

Step 2: Consider leaving it like this, and risk being mistaken for a Spanish / Italian climber.

Step 3: Use beard trimmers to even it out. Worry about hypothermia.

Back in the Dam

So for a short time only, we swung through Amsterdam with exciting things like our tax returns and the registration on Fred to do ... but of course there was enough time left over for catching up with many old friends and hanging out with our gracious hosts, Em and Kees, in their beautiful apartment.

On Saturday night, all four of us - Em, Kees, Mark and Jen - put together a dinner party ... starting with fresh artichokes with garlic butter and champagne, then pear and gorgonzola risotto with an Australian red and followed by fresh blueberries with a crisp dessert wine. Delicious!

A scenic drive ...

To travel from Livigno to Bolzano, a distance of less than 200km, it is most likely easier to drive back to Switzerland through the one-way tunnel and around on flatter roads... but it's much more interesting to head over the Passo Stelvio.


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The aeriel view provided by Google Maps does not do the road justice - sure, it looks more like a scribble than a road, but this still doesn't show the avalanche tunnels only wide enough for one car that curve around the mountainside (sound your horn, and hope a bus doesn't beep back ... it's not much fun reversing around and down), or the constant hairpin bends back and forth across the steep terrain. It also doesn't show the masochistic cyclists, working their way slowly up the turns through wind and rain ... why?!

And whilst Fred is fabulous ... next time we do this drive, it's going to be a sunny day and we're going to be in something a little lower to the ground, with a few more horses to pull it and perhaps no roof ...

Livigno ...?

So, hands up if you've heard of a place called Livigno?

With the weather less-than-optimal for climbing, we decided to take the scenic route from Basel to Bolzano - and this took us through the tiny valley of Livigno, squished up against Switzerland, right at the top of Italy. The wiki page describes a history of poverty, smuggling and inaccessibility during the winter months, and even now there are only three roads which head into the region (and one is a long, narrow tunnel).


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We were pleasantly surprised to find out on arrival that Livigno has no goods tax. NONE! In fact it has been exempt from paying a variety of taxes since the Middle Ages.

So everything is much cheaper ... we left the valley the proud owners of new Grivel crampons and with a full tank of premium diesel - bought for under a Euro a litre! Bargain!