My vertical world: and Cogne again

Last week we have been to Cogne again…. There are so much interesting lines to climb and the ice conditions are usually very good from early december until march. Last week it was a bit warm. The night from Thursday to Friday it was above 0 degrees. Instead of climbing we used Friday to spot a few routes like Erfaulet and Repentance in the back of the Valnontey. We wittnessed a wet snow avalanche crossing the path we walked a minute before – no conditions for climbing though.

But all the other days were great – soft and solid ice in most of the routes. This season I saw a few lines that had’nt build the last two winters like Sentinel Ice (WI 5), memoire de bouquetin (WI 5+) and pattinagio artistico direct (WI5+).

The first day Jeroen and I climbed Tuborg (WI 4+/5) and Tutto Relativo (WI 4). I climbed both routes several times but every time conditions are different. For example, the ascent of Tutto Relativo in december was quite demanding because of all the small icicles of early season ice. Now in january, the ice was very solid and had good holds and steps after many ascents…. It is nice to learn more about the changing conditions in the same waterfall within and between seasons.

Tuborg, WI 4+/5

in the steep pitch

Jeroen attacking the second wall

first pitch of Tutto Relativo (WI 4)

nice climbing on the pillar

Next day we went to the memoire du bouquetin…. A very steep pillar with 25m between 85 and 90 degrees. The ice was soft and offered good holds for hooking. After 20 m climbing I crossed a horizontal crack covering the whole pillar –ehhmmm…. The crack was not visible from below but retreat was not really an option. I carefully climbed to the top of the pillar and made the traverse to the left to reach the well bolted belay – pffff…. The start of the second pitch looked very thin and we decided to rappel down and to check Stella Artice to the left.

Stella and Bouquetin

start of bouquetin, WI 5+

abseil

We climbed the first pitch of Stella Artice (WI 5). At the start of the second pitch behind the pillar we saw some major daggers coming down and we decided to leave this spot…. We would return a few days later to finish this project. It was 12.00h and it was around 0 degrees in the valley. I expected the waterfalls at the start of the valley to be safer and so we walked to the stalatito di cristallo. A really nice WI 4+ route. We climbed that thing a few times and finished that day like all other climbing days with some cappucino research in Cogne…

Jeroen in the stalatitto di cristallo, WI 4+

In the bar licone we read some info about Repentance (WI 6). That ice monster had been climbed a few times the days before… I’m dreaming about this route quite a while but never thought that it would be possible for me to climb it. But now I felt that together with Jeroen it could be possible to climb the whole route. We made a plan how to attack…. I really got nervous, it is steep for three long pitches and I knew that the first pitch would be very delicate. We decided to start climbing at dawn. We would have to wake up at 4.15h and start to walk in at 5.30h. In this kind of routes you definiteley want to be the first party. Next morning – when we woke up – I felt bad. I had some headache, I felt tired and most of all I was nervous. I did not felt ready to go. So we made an alternative plan: today only a short route and tomorrow Repentance.

We made an easier day and went to Sentinel Ice in the Valnontey… Jeroen climbed the first steeper pitch, I climbed the second easier one and in the end I killed the strange free standing cigar with the horizontal crack at the bottom of the cigar. It was quite exciting, the ice was thin and I wanted to place the first screw high – between 6-8 metres after the start. The climbing was very cool, soft ice, carefully hooking and assessing the foot steps for my monopoints… real climbing. After 8 metres I thought that it is ok to place protection. It felt really really good to climb a thing like that! In the Damilano guide the route is covered in 2 pitches. I think it is better to climb the first pitch in two. There is one belay to the right after 25 metres. Belays are bolted and after our second pitch we made belay on the tree to the right. There is also a bolted belay on the rock to the right of the pillar. To reach the last belay you have to go through the snow for 10 or 15 metres. That last belay is on the right as well.

Jeroen in the first pitch of Sentinel ice

second pitch of sentinel ice

at the belay...

start of the third pitch...

pfff, first ice screw...

nice climbing

yeah...

Next day was repentance day. We started to walk in at 5.30h, and indeed we were the first on route that day… a big route… we discussed the line we would have to climb in the lower part. I started climbing the first pitch, but it was far more difficult than I expected, protection was’nt that easy and I was not sure if I could trust my ice axes in that cauliflouwer ice…. In the meantime to Italian teams arrived and that made me nervous. After the first pitch we decided to retreat… big route, not enough routine to cover this kind of ice and people pushing from below. But we learnt a lot that day. It was good to be in a big ice route like Repentance, it was good to see other climbers tackling this kind of conditions.

Repentance WI 6

cauliflower fight...

Unfortunately the next day brought some snow… but wait, there was our unfinished project Stella Artice…

We went into the Valleile. There was one party already climbing the first pitch. So we took some time and waited before we started climbing… the second pitch was very steep and the ice quality was not too good. So for me it was a pretty demanding lead and a nice finish of our ice climbing week. We climbed a lot of steep ice and two new routes for me. Repentance is possible next time. The pillar of pattinagio artistico direct was gone in the last days of our trip. A lot of people had climbed that pillar despite the enormous crack at the top of the pillar…. Now the whole thing was down…