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When we eventually got some fine weather we seized the opportunity to complete one of the routes I'd fancied the idea of for a long while, the Papillons Ridge.
We flew into a village called Narsarsuaq (population 190) and within 30 mins were in a vehicle (with only 2nd gear – they were awaiting a part) and off to the port (1 mile away!). We were dropped off down the coast at a sheep farm and walked to a village called Igaliku (pop. 60). …
We had planned to leave Ailfroide and head over to Courmayeur (to climb the North Face of Tour Ronde) and then on to Cervinia (to climb the Italian - Lion - ridge of the Matterhorn). However, these were thwarted by (yes, you guessed it) the wet weather.
Finally we did get some dry weather. Ailefroide is a bona-fide alpine destination, with stuff like the Meije traverse (next year?) and the Dauphine classic South Pillar of the Barre des Ecrins. But it also offers some amazing rock climbing less than the 15 minutes from the camp site.
Of course the dry weather didn't stick around. It never seems to stay that dry in the Alps, in fact I've decided that the Alps are actually a lot wetter than the Lakes! True or not, this August has been particularly wet...
Ian, Anna, Andy and Sabiene snatched a gap in the weather to dash to Shepherds for tea at the caff and a quick route.
After leaving Spain (see AFF here) we headed to the Alps for our summer holiday proper (I consider myself a climber first and foremost, even to the extent that when someone - anyone - asks me what I do, I answer "climb", not "work in IT").
I've decided that I'm not very good at skydiving! Watching the DVD of my AFF jumps again after getting back from my second session trying to pass the AFF course (check here for the first), it is clear that when my instructor (Andy) passed me and wrote the following in my log book...
Ian, Anna, Andy and Sabiene braved overcast skies and headed for the South crag on Castle Rock for a pootle about on some easy routes.
