The last few days have been spent shooting an ice catalogue for Cotswold and a couple of days of climbing with Ueli again. We are still waiting for good weather to get on something bigger but given the high winds and cold temps we opted for a crack at Jedi Master in Cogne. It’s an old multi-pitch M11 put up back in the days when hard sport mixed was just beginning. Ueli had done the neighbouring route, The Empire Strikes Back, 12 years ago so when I suggested it he was psyched. It was all nostalgic for him; for me it was a brutal lesson in tenuous and technical hard mixed climbing. Sport mixed is something totally new to me and I can see how watching Ueli cruise his way up it, it really helps him push himself hard in the mountains. I on the other hand got my ass handed to me but it was a fun day out nevertheless…

The Mountain Hardware Academy is in Cogne as well for the moment so lots of good folk out…

Jack ‘Smasher’ Geldard on Jumelles de Gauche

We warmed up on the classic grade 5 of the Chamonix valley in Les Houches (Ueli on lead)

The first pitch of Jedi Master, steep as f***

Myself boxed out of my mind seconding, © Ueli Steck

The beta for the second pitch is as follows:

It starts off really steep…

…it gets even steeper requiring some funky moves…

…and then gets even steeper.