January 8th 2010

Home Wet Home

Its been an interesting few days with lots going on. Two days ago I headed up with Ben to check out conditions in the Argentiere basin. Things arent great but the Droites is not actually looking all that bad. The Messner Ramp is in which is always a good sign. There is black ice on the snowfield but some of the ice lines are all ‘in’. The Ginat is looking ok for example. I cant vouch for any of the ice there as really no one has any idea what has been going on up above 3000m but it’s promising.

On the other hand the end of the Basin is totally bone dry. The Charlet Ghilini, Madness tres Mince, and Petit Viking are all looking very poorly right now.

The GM ridge is under lots of snow so it was hard to see whether lines such as the Frendo-Ravnel are in

I do have high res images of all these areas and if you are really keen on heading over that way then you can drop me an email and I’ll send them over

Yesterday saw myeslf, Kenton Cool, and Nick Bullock head over to Home wet Home. This is an A2 route on the Rive Gauche of the Argentiere Glacier that I’d never even heard of before. Nick lead it free in superb style and it was quite terrifying to watch at times on the static line taking shots.



Nick Bullock on Home wet Home




Nick Bullock on Home wet Home


Kenton and myself nipped over to Nuit Blanche to get a quick ascent in but I got hosed when the water cannons released above a few mweters from the top. Big thanks to nick for missioning it back up and saving us with a static line.

The Alpine Exposures coffee table photo book