Oooooooo - a little pocket of heaven.

 A little jaunt up the Col du Font Froide with Jim. We did suffer a bit, having to do a reasonably lengthy ski carry up through the woods to start....maybe this was why we were the only people on the hill?

 A day out with Mark and Jim up the Col de la Grande Clausis (this involved a carry of about 100m - heaven). Once again, a quiet day on the hill with only one other person sighted. Fantastic views with some rather scrumptious spring-like snow on the way down.

 Jim above the Col de Vars. A particularly busy day on the hill, with at least 6 other folk around...and a rather interesting ski off :-)

Hmmm - there's a lot to be said for getting away from the more crowded hotspots!

Touring Daahn Saaf

Aaah -  the little yellow peril made it all the way across to Seyne- les- Alpes, which to be honest is the arse end of nowhere.

However...after 4 days of wandering up some fine peaks, and even getting a spot of cragging in, I have to admit that this is a little pocket of heaven that I shall have to visit again.

Interenet connection is a bit slow, hence only one photo for now...but team Saga of myself, Mark B and Jim S had a particularly fine day out today, managing to crawl up to Ste Anne in said yellow peril, then hoofing up to the Col de la Grande Clausis. Some rather fine snow on the way down...woof woof!

Pretty Pics

  Had a little jaunt up Mont Colmet in Italy today - hardly saw a soul all day and had some excellent snow on the way down - magic!

Have now had 4 days of mainly skinning up hills in gorgeous spring sunshine. Not complaining or anything, but have to admit that I might be feeling a bit like this little fella on the left :-)         

Upload pixie isn't playing ball this eve...so that's all the pics you're going to get for now!



Alpine Update

The little yellow 205 has made it down to Chamonix - yeehaaaa.

Afraid there are no pics yet, but progress is as follows:

Skinned up the Col d'Argentierre (altitude training - might just have puked a few times..)

Took part in the Lenk Night Race - the debut performance of the gimp suit (no puking but not for lack of trying). The gimp suit did well, although not too sure about it's contents. Leanne however put in a stirling effort and came 3rd - ninja!

Mellow skin up to the Col des Autannes in oh-so-perfect weather. It had to be mellow cause me old legs were done in...

A little bit of ice climbing action at the Cremerie followed by a particularly fine vin chaud.

And..the Vallee Blanche this morning followed by a couple of great runs off the top of the Grand Montets...wheeeeeee!

Extreme Chainsawing...

So for those of you who responded to my previous posting and have supported the British Women's Ski Mountaineering Team, may I say a HUGE thankyou, and provide this little gem of a pic as a starter...

I'm not sure the suit would count as suitable PPE, but it seemed to do the job and more importantly, co-ordinated quite nicely with the chainsaw.

For those of you having a bit of a chuckle at my expense, feel free to add to the cause and help us on our way.

Muchos gracias amigos!

Ooo - A little bit of leg!

Hmmm -  the gimp suit arrived today...so this will give you a little taster. It's shiny and it's lycra, and it's not going to leave a whole heap to the imagination.

For an explanation - go onto Facebook and look for the British Women's Ski Mountaineering Team - that should make things a bit clearer.

For those of you who know myself and Di, then this might be the opportunity to help us out a little bit. It has proved to be a whole heap more costly than we expected, so if any of you lovely souls would like to contribute we would REALLY appreciate it.

In return for any contribution, we agree to go for public humiliation and post a pic of our very souls in our one-piece lycra numbers (not just a bit of leg) as a way of saying thanks.

Any contributions can be made via a cheque to "British Women's Ski Mountaineering Team" - and sent to either Di (address at digilbert.co.uk) or myself. Alternately ping us an email or gis a bell and we can give you bank details to do it over the internet. Any left over monies will go to charity.

Hate to grovel and all that, but for those of you who know us, it's got to be worth at least a tenner to see us all lycra'd up ;-)

Any questions - just ping me a missive  at catrin64@hotmail.com

Mainly skinning for me....

I

This weekend I got to play out with Vicky, Helen and Dee. Had a very fine Saturday schlepping up on to the tops to be rewarded with mighty fine views.

It has to be said - them there Northern Corries are plastered at the mo...


There are no photo's of Sunday, cause it was a suffer-fest! Ended up on a Corbett over near the Lecht...no visibility and blowing like bygerry. The question "why are we here" did cross my mind on more than one occasion. Character building I suppose, although I would feel that I have enough character to be getting on with without having to endure that sort of nonsense...

 Rant over. Had a great day today. Took meself up the hill and did some of the interval training malarky -  so more of the sucking wind and trying not to barf. Ended up a lesser shade of beetrooot as evidenced in the pic, but luckily twas pea soup so no-one could see me - phew.

And then...met up with Di, Derek and Heather - and a bag or two of jelly snakes - to ski into Sneachda for a late ascent of Aladdins Mirror Direct...Heather and
Derek did a stirling effort on it while Di and I offered moral support and looked after Millie...the best behaved dog in the world.

Came out in the dark with the most amazing moon...aaaah, brilliant!