Steve and I had had our eye on Moss Gill Grooves on Scafell Crag all weekend. Optimistically hoping it would be dry, we hiked up early on Sunday to be greeted by a very drippy rockface. Switching to Pisgah Buttress instead, I got into a bit of a fight with a sketchy, mossy face on the first pitch, after which the climbing significantly improved and we hauled ourselves to the misty summit.
In between an off-piste ski training course with BASS Chamonix there was opportunity to spend time exploring the other pisted areas in the valley, including a run down the icy hard slope behind the GM lift.
SLAB EUPHORIA! A sweaty, two and a half hour morning approach to Hoher Nock was totally worth it for these incredible water-worn runnels. Bridging to glory for 180m with Al, Platteneuphorie fully delivered on its name.
One final outing with Will, this time some multi-pitch sport climbing on the mighty Plombergstein above St. Gilgen.
Surely a route that is on every climber's ticklist in the world? Ross and I had seen it was in condition and I was feeling confident after the previous two days climbing. The route proved to be everything I had hoped and the two big middle pitches were superb. A brilliant way to end probably my best days of winter climbing ever.
Will missed his flight to Munich, because he's an idiot, but we managed to salvage the rest of the first day with a very fast lap of the Postalm Klettersteig. It winds a course up a very aesthetic and moody gorge, quite different to most other routes I've done to date.
