Athol Whimp a true legend lost

The sad news of Athol Whimp death is hart breaking. For me the team Lindblade- Whimp was pure inspiration. I have to admit I not only have huge respect for them. I admire them. To me they are all I think alpinism is about. The book Expeditions is one of the best climbing books I have ever read. The number of stunning lines they climbed and the visionary style in witch they approach there objectives in remains a benchmark for every aspiring alpinist to follow.

The attempt on the North Face of Janu was one of the coolest failures of modern alpinism. Sadly the line was later exploited in a national project to climb all imposing big walls in the Himalayas.

But for me I think the route they established on Thalaysagar is one of the climbing stories that has captured my attention the most. That and the Norwegian route on Trango established in 1984 is what have largely driven me to be so captivated by the mountains. Its a sad month for cutting edge alpinism.

R.I.P

Athol

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10788098

The ice season is finito!

From the looks of things the ice climbing season is over. The warm weather is fast destroying the good ice. This season was good but not great in terms of routes done. I have had 15 days of ice climbing in January and February and covered about 4000 meters of ice.

Not too bad. Still Iwanted to do two routes that was in condition but I did not manage to climb them... Well that's life I guess. There is a new winter next year. Now it looks like the sport climbing season is really kicking off and the last two days on rock have been super fun.Motivation is on top, skin needs to adjust to the new reality of sharp holds and now gloves.

The last ice route of the season was the fantastic Cascade des Viollins a 150 meters WI5. It was great fun to finish off the season bringing along Camilla on the route given that this winter was her first real winter ice climbing. So for her it was a big route and some thing she really wanted to do. Not hard to understand when you look at the route.

Haston and Bergman are well worth reading!

Janet Bergman Wilkinson

http://splitterville.blogspot.com/2012/02/wanted-alpinistas.html

And then this one by Stivie Haston

http://steviehaston.blogspot.com/2012/02/biased-news-and-stuffy-stuff-by-stevie.html

Life snippet of today

Life snippet of today, My friend Simon is attending a reception at 10 Downing Street, my friend Roland is pissed with Top Model Sweden, fellow alpinists are suffering through a storm on a winter attempt on the Gasheberums in Pakistan, I'm having tee and a cookie... Life sure is unreal.

In vain I carried a hual bag up the hill but its too hot, to late. Next winter!

More Ice but not nearly enough!

This week was much less productive than I had originally hopped but I did manage to climb the 300 meter, Direct de l'arc de cercle in Fressinieres, a nice WI5. It was bitter cold at the parking with minus 17 degrees Celsius.