Like in 2021, I had to go to Switzerland for work early december. After fnishing there 3 days of working, Jeroen came by train, I picked him up in Bern and we drove to Cogne - unsure if we would find climbable conditions. We did! Some ice in the Loie icefall above Lillaz and in the afternoon some dry tooling at the Cretaz crag.
Enough ice ...
Obligatory cappucini in the bar de Cogne
Enough rock...
I had to work in Switzerland for a few days and Bernd and I were very eager to climb something despite the bad weather forecast. we only had a few days and finally it had more coffee and wine than that we actually climbed something. We hoped to go somewhere up in the higher mountains but we ended with some base climbs in Orco.
Nice week of ice climbing in Cogne with Bernd. It was generally cold (around -13 degrees when we started). Not so much climbers anymore, as the week before we assume. Although, one day we wanted to climb Repentance, but one rope team arrived 20 minutes before us. So we decided to go to Monday Money first, but when we rapped down again 4 other rope teams were climbing on the same route, pretty weired.
Other cool routes we climbed were Candelabro de Coyote, Chandelle Levure and Tuborg. Especially Tuborg will keep in our mind, I climbed that route 5 or 6 times before but it had never been that steep and thin. Furthermore, the ice had a lot of tension and the pillar had not been worked well by other parties. I really had to work hard to climb this pitch.
Last day we climbed the Cold Couloir all the way to the top. Long day, with deep snow in the upper part. We had planned to be on the summit around 15.00h but it was finally 17.00h. The descent got a kind of deception. Around 19.00h we reached the area of the waterfalls close to Lillaz. We could see the village and the parking lot but we could nog exactly locate how to get down. Several steep slopes down climbing leading into dead ends, climbing back up again finally let us decide to call for assistance. We are very grateful for the help from the 2 guides and also the staff in the valley.
Steep pitch of Tuborg, difficult climbing this year
Chandelle Levure, lower part
Lower part of Candelabro del Coyote
On Candelabro del Coyote, we got really wet.
First pitch of the Cold Couloir, first part thin
Second pitch, really nice
5th pitch
6/7pitch
upper part, last part of ice
Summit and views to Cogne and Epinel
