Its been a great season for the local valley water ice. The climbs were coming into condition from early December and continued to be climbable till the last week of March (my last route was the 20th March 09). It wasn't a very cold season, but temperatures were consistently sub-zero for a prolonged period, with only a few (and short-lived) mild patches. A lot of the lower climbs in the valley bottom (e.g. at 750m altitude) were in great nick through Jan and Feb and there were several repeats of awe-inspiring stuff in the Fer a Cheval such as the Cascade de la Lyre (VI, 7).Though I had a slow start, I managed to get out and climb on 16 days and did some fantastic climbing, with some personal bests in March. My top ice climbs for this year were La Dame du Lac (V, 6+) and Ilynx (IV, 6) at Lac de Montriond, La Ligne Verte (IV, 5+, M6) in the Vallee des Fonts sector and Double Cigare (III, 5+) in the Vallon de Sales.
We also had a successful Ice Festival week 17-25th January, with 6 climbers staying with us. Of course they came on a week where we had a relative mild spell and lots of fresh snow, but some good stuff was done all the same!
For photos to wet your appetitie please see my Flickr account - http://www.flickr.com/photos/alpineelephant/ - there are 2 slideshows available, one with photos solely from the ice climbing week, one being a bumper collection of all my best recent local ice climbing photos.
Owing to the success of this years 'ice fest' we're going to run 2 weeks next season, dates TBC. The format will be the same, with catered accommodation and full logistical support e.g. transport to / from the walk ins, providing up to date information on the routes and conditions etc, perhaps even joining in with a bit of climbing if requested!
Regards, Nick
