George Cave

Peak Cracks

A weekend at Bamford & Millstone with WillB, removing the skin from the backs of our hands on routes which we could lead with ease a decade ago.

Drachenwand Klettersteig

After the excitement of yesterday's tour, Will & I had hoped for some steeper gully skiing on the edge of Berchtesgaden. But the mid-season thaw was well underway and the warmer weather had stripped most of the snow on the lower summits.

So we returned home and re-packed for klettersteiging, finishing our long weekend with a lap of the Drachenwand. Next time we'll take shorts!

Imbachhorn

With 1700m of ascent, this tour on the Imbachhorn with Will Bourne is the biggest vertical we've done so far. Superb isolation on the top with views down the valley to Zell am See and beyond. Followed by a very tired ski back down.

Kreuzeck Tour

Warm-up tour with Will Bourne in perfect cold, fresh powder to the summit of Kreuzeck.

Grandlspitz Kletterski

One final adventure to finish of a week with the boys, and so I returned to the Grandlspitz klettersteig for my first proper kletterski combo. We were a little nervous about the continuity of the late season snow patches, so climbed the route in crampons and ski boots but left our skis below - a wise decision given the huge gaps in the snowfield on the descent. However, the walk down was still the most dangerous part of the route, with a huge runout below. It would be probably been much safer on skis after all!

Attersee Klettersteig

Back to Attersee for a second consecutive day, this time for a lap of the 1.2km long klettersteig on the huge north facing wall of Mahdlgupf. A long, sweaty workout pulling on metal pegs, admiring climbing lines on the adjacent faces that are way too hard for us.