Scotch on the Rocks and Fantasia per a Ghiacciatore (Alpine climbing)

Monday 25 February 2008 05:09PM

The fantastic weather has continued in the Alps, and I’ve been trying to make the most of it, exhaustion levels permitting. The day after getting down from the Dent du Requin (we had to bivi below it as Ian didn’t fancy the ski down in the dark) Ian and I went back up to climb the classic Stevie Haston test piece Scotch on the Rocks (IV, 7) on the east face of Mont Blanc du Tacul. There isn’t so much ice around this winter, so the route was a bit drier and looser than we would have liked, but still provided lots of fun icy mixed climbing.

Arriving in my flat in the morning after another bivi to avoid a nightime ski, I found Andy keen to get back on a route. We’d heard that the rarely in condition Fantasia per a Ghiacciatore (V, 5+ 6a) was “in” on Mont Maudit, a mountain neither of us had climbed on before, so headed up that afternoon for the ski into the wonderful col de la fourche bivouac hut. The next day saw us at the base of a very obviously dry gully, but deciing to push on and climb the route anyway.

The lack of ice (I placed one ice screw at a belay and none while leading!) meant the climbing was harder, looser and much more time consuming than we would have liked, but still entertaining, although sometimes only in the retrospective sense. Our slowness saw us climb much of the upper section in the dark, and a careful slow abseil descent down the neighbouring Filo di Arianna deposited us back at our skis shortly before our second dawn…

Photos here.

Also added a few of my climbing partners’ pics to this gallery.