It's been a good weather weekend with Steve in the Peak District. We aimed to tick four classic rock routes at Stanage and Hen Cloud, which we achieved with plenty of time to spare, so squeezed in a couple more including the excellent gritstone climbs of Mississippi Buttress Direct and Robin Hood's Cave Innominate.
Storgalten was a big drive from our lodge but the good skiing and stunning views from the north of the Lyngen peninsula made up for it. After a tiring skin up, Will and I skiied one of the steeper gullies on the face and popped out to meet the others lower down. Another day of perfect weather.
Our first day out in Lyngen and we eased ourselves in with a trip up the 1142m Storhaugen. The weather was absolutely ridiculous and we could never have dreamed that the conditions would be this good. Low avalanche risk, blue skies and good snow.
Myself and Clay decided to finish the week with Papillions Ridge. We caught up with and overtook Steve, Hana and Verity near the start and cruised up some superb rock with the others never far behind. Nearing the top of the final tower a tremendous storm broke with heavy hail and rain. We abb'd down the descent gully slightly scared and were thankful that the others also made it down ok, mostly thanks to Steve's cool head and well-packed rucksack!
Steve took a day off so Will, Clay and I skinned the long approach through the winds in to Storvasstinden. The ridge gradually steepens until we dumped our skis and hiked the traverse towards the final summit. There was poor windslab on the slopes, confirmed by a quick pit, so we beat a retreat back down the mountain before the weather closed in.
1200m of ascent to the summit of Strichkogel, then 500m of steep couloir descent to follow. Final day out with Will Bourne to cap off the best 3 days of touring I’ve had so far in Austria. Good practice for Zermatt in April, and especially good shake down of Will's traversing and steep skinning techniques. Let's hope the Spaghetti tour is all up and down (spoiler: it wasn't...)
