The Piolets d'Or 2010

Congratulations to Mountain Equipment Pro partner Andy Houseman and Nick Bullock on making it to the last 5 for the much coveted Piolets d'Or award 2010, for their first acsent of the North Face of Chang Himal, Nepal last November.

Other earlier short list contenders for this years award included ME Pro partner Martin Moran who was part of a British/Indian team who bagged the first ascent of Changuch, India.

The Piolets d’Or event gathers together alpinists from many countries; active participants in the most remarkable ascents of the past year on every summit of the globe. Previous winners include Mountain Equipment Pro Partner Andy Parkin and his ascent of Pass of Hope ,Cerro Torre, Patagonia in 1994.

The winner will be announced on the 10th April'10 at the ceremony held in Chamonix, France

For more information checkout http://www.pioletsdor.com/

Photos : Houseman/Bullock collection

Never-never land

Just back from a brilliant 5 weeks in "never-never land" on the ski-alpinisme race circuit in the Alps. Ben Bardsley, Jon Morgan, Nick Wallis and I had an extended trip out there, mixing some coaching with racing, and culminating in the world championships in Andorra and the famous stage-race the Pierramenta, in Areches-Beaufort.

This is only my second season racing, and my fourth since learning to ski in 2007, so the progression is still at the very exciting, steep part of the improvement curve! Every day in the Pierramenta Ben and I seemed to get stronger, until the final day when I came down with a lurgy and had to be towed on the lead. Every dog has his day and that was mine! We didn't lose too many places that day though, since it was a much shorter stage than previous days, and we ended up a respectable 63rd out of 151 teams. Jon Bracey and Carron Scrimgeour did very well to finish 25th overall, and the other British team competing, Rick Marchant and Jon Morgan, came in shortly after us in 77th, which was impressive seeing as Rick was nursing a nasty cold all week.

More details and some pics on my site at http://es-on-ice.co.uk/

North couloir of the Capucin

The North couloir of the Capucin off the Col du Tacul is one of the many classic moderate couloirs around the Mont Blanc massif. Easily accessed off the Midi by a quick ski down the Vallee Blanche to the bottom of the Geant Icefall and then a 900m skin up the Glacier des Periades. A final boot up a couloir leads to the Col du Tacul and a view down the line to the Leschaux Glacier 1000m below.

Guy skinning up towards the Col du Tacul (centre of picture)

The final boot pack up to the Col, Mont Blanc in the background

Three 30m abseils from the col gets you over the rocky ground to the remaining 250m of the 48^o couloir. It was the first time on anything relatively steep for me this season so rather than getting straight into the turns it was a bit more like skis on, stand there, stand there some more, side slip a couple of meters and eventually put the first turn in...

Guy contemplating his first turn

Once over the bergshrund and onto the lower angled Capucin Glacier we'd hoped for nice powder and big fast turns. Unfortunately like everywhere else in the Mont Blanc massif at the moment the slopes had been hammered by the strong winds over the last few weeks so hard wind blown snow lead down to an exit onto the Leschaux Glacier.