Ice thrills at first European youth ice climbing championship in Saas Grund

Ok so I was away again.. This time on assignment with the UIAA doing some interviews and images in Switzerland. Here is a copy of part of the article:

President of the UIAA Youth Commission, Anne Arran, interviewed three key people involved with the first ever UIAA European Youth Ice Climbing Championship which took place from January 16 to 17 in Saas Grund, Switzerland.

Liubov Mikryukova Age 16 – Ice climber – winner of the first UIAA European youth Ice climbing Cup
Liubov, aged 16, grew up in chilly Kirov and started rock climbing six years ago when she was just ten. It wasn’t until the age of fourteen she started ice climbing, ‘ Ice is my favourite. I was inspired by seeing an ice world cup and thought I’d like to try it. It’s incredible, it’s mine, I have unusual feelings for it!’ I asked Luibov a few questions about how she is able to thrive in this harsher sporting environment and about the first European Youth Ice climbing cup in Saas Grund on 16th – 17th January.
What about the competition here – how was it?
‘Here in Saas Grund I like all the routes, rock and Ice but my hands are like ice when I clip so it’s hard. But the comp is amazing, very exciting good routes on ice and the rocks.’
Have you led any ice falls outside?
So far I have only done routes with bolts or preplaced ice screws. We only do ice in the winter, at home there is a wall where we can climb all year and it has holds for climbing with ice tools. I have only done one route outside, I don’t think it was very hard. In the finals of the competition it was my second mixed M route on rock ever! I have only a small experience of it.
What do your friends think of it?
I have many climbing friends in Russia but many don’t like ice climbing because it’s dangerous and cold. But I like it, it’s my addiction!
What advice would you give to other young climbers if they wanted to try ice climbing?
This is not just a hobby, it’s a way of life. It’s risky but an amazing feeling after you climb – must be tried! It is hard to express how it is. Our youngest team member is 15 years old.
What are your future ambitions
I want to visit Italy, France and Romania. I want to see different types of ice – I want to learn all about it - I am a very curious person. Oh and I want to become a famous sports person and get the gold!

Urs Odermatt – 35 years old, former World Cup winner in Norway –UIAA Youth “Coaching with the Stars”
Urs started climbing in 1990 so there was only primitive coaching then, ‘You just had to survive!. ‘But then we had some serious training in the gym. I won a world cup in Norway but think my best achievement was coming second in the Russian speed climbing championships’.
Top tips from Urs
‘Beginners should climb as much ice as possible. If you have a good axe it knows what to do. Hold it in a relaxed way and give a swing with the hand, almost as if you were throwing it. When it bites into the ice grip it and lock. Hang on a straight arm’. Making it only a short time that you are gripping the axe hard uses less energy. ‘These days you need to be a world class an climbing competition to be top class in ice climbing, to have the repertoire of moves’.
‘On rock, mixed climbing, if you have a hook, don’t replace the axe once it’s in. On rock you can really feel the hold so its possible to move your hand, but with the ice axe you only have visual control of seeing where the axe should go’.
‘Climbing on ice is similar to rock but it’s less dynamic and you use the figure of 4 move a lot more. There are many lock in moves so you need to be strong at this, but training on the campus board can ruin the elbows!’
‘It’s necessary to be able to cope with very cold temperatures, down to - 30 degrees in Kirov. Those who weren’t used to it didn’t do so well’.
Future ambitions? ‘At the moment I like very long ice lines with as many pitches as possible! You can have nightmares before them but when you survive you think it’s OK. I never talk about planned trips. My next target is about 1 hour from Zurich. It is the biggest waterfall in Europe – 1800m of ice fall. It has no name – I’m not going to tell you where it is’, he laughs. ‘We have tried it before but the conditions on the top are either too cold or avalanching so it’s difficult’.
More information on Urs and some amazing images of and his outdoor climbing can be found on http://www.eisklettern.ch

powder galore at Ax

Just had a great day at Ax....

Deep powder and loads of off piste fun. Only extreme moment was when I had to throw my board down and hand over hand down steep ground between trees. Lots of swoosh, swoosh - got to get better at this - so check the pics

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I now know what snowshoeing is all about.

When I was a kid it was walking with tennis rackets on your feet! Then more recently it seemed like a good way to get in to snowy crags. But it snowed here a lot this weekend, dumping a foot of snow even down at Chez Arran, at 550m altitude near the base of the main Ariège valley. I took the opportunity to try out my new snowshoes and found out why the activity (the French call it 'Raquettes') is so popular - so much so that there are numerous guidebooks, marked snowshoe trails and professional guided snowshoe walks seemingly everywhere you look around here.

The freedom it gives you to have fun in the snow is brilliant. I checked out a new path from the house up to the ruined church in the remote abandoned village of Lujat, only about 2 hours away even in deep snow. Keeping to the path was tricky at times, but ducking and diving through tunnels of trees and bushes definitely brought out the explorer instinct. Much more fun than following someone else's tracks on a popular trail.

Then today I tried driving up to the wonderfully named village of Appy, up a little valley just behind the house, but the road was too deep with uncleared snow so our poor car couldn't make it. I got as far as the village of Cazenave and walked up a path from there. The snow was up to 2 feet deep but with snowshoes it was about as hard to walk on as a typical sandy beach. Amazing really. Covered in animal tracks too but I could only guess at what kind of animals they were; some tracks were big enough to be deer, but I didn't see any bear prints - that would have been nice!
Forgive the slightly 'Blair Witch' video clip - not sure how else I could film it by myself  ;-)


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Christmas Eve - chez Arran's first birthday!

This day last year we were driving down from Calais in an overloaded estate car, heading for hard work and adventure. This time we went climbing!
It's been a tough year getting plenty of accommodation ready, but very satisfying seeing people really enjoy themselves. It's a great buzz to read the complimentary things people have posted on various websites, and we're keener than ever to make as much progress this year as we can, so that even more of you can enjoy this wonderful place.
For my part I still can't quite believe how good it is here virtually every month of the year. I have to keep pinching myself to make sure I'm not just dreaming it all!
Today's climbing was at Calamès, one of the best crags for midwinter as it gets any sun that's going. There wasn't much sun today but it did show its face occasionally and because the day was quite warm it was a great temperature for climbing. The photo is of me on Homo Plombus, probably the best 7b on the crag, even though it's given 7a+!
Back out on Boxing day for more (possibly hungover by then) climbing fun. Have a great Christmas everyone.

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Merry X mas and happy 2010

This year has involved lots of changes since first turning up on my friend Ruth's doorstep in France on Christmas eve last year. The alternative was a warm house with many clashing brown patterned wall paper and no friends. We opted for the basement party in Loubiere :)

This year it will be much the same really except we have the house upstairs and will take along some tasty fish for Christmas dinner. Now sitting in the apartment it feels like a million miles away from the corridor it was last year. Luca, Ruth's son taught me the perfect pronnunciation of 'pere noel' - which was much better than any of the rest of us could muster!

Both of the major ski resorts are now open and our guests are having a great time on the slopes. Here is a Christmas dog present from the Plateau de Beille. Wishing you wonderful x mas and a fun New Year, Anne x

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A little later than usual the winter finally arrived last week ... and did so in spectacular fashion, with plenty of snow and temperatures down to -12.

We took advantage by heading up to the Plateau de Beille, one of France's premier Nordic Skiing resorts and only 20 minutes away by car, for a bit of much needed practice. There was a festival atmosphere there as it was the resort's 20-year anniversary, so access to all the pistes was free for the day, which we weren't about to argue with! There were plenty of other fun things laid on for the day too, like live music and magic shows, excursions on the piste-basher and a huge floating inflatable dragon which was determined to eat the candles from the 4m-wide snow-cake built specially for the resort's birthday.

The husky dogs were out too, seemingly raring to go for another season of haring across the snow-covered plateau with gleeful people in tow.

Then today the sun came out again and with perfect blue skies and dead calm it would have been a great day for climbing, but we missed out this time. Never mind, the forecast for tomorrow is quite good too.

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Genat - winter sun crag focus

One of the finest crags in the area for people climbing grades 7a and 8, although there are some very good easier routes too. The main crag is extremely overhanging in its central section, generally on good but sometimes improved holds and stunning tufas. Notably there are some slab routes which stay dry even after long periods of rain, including routes of 6a-6c. Rock, orange and grey limestone.

Leave the main Tarascon to Vicdessos road (D8) at Niaux. Cross the river, pass through Alliat village and continue a further 5 minutes up zigzags before taking a turnoff to the left shortly before reaching Génat village. 400m later the road ends at a gate where there is parking space for about 6 cars. To the right of the main gate is a footpath; follow this through a smaller gate and up right to the crag. 5 minutes walk.

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