Palmer and Narg

Winter 09/10 has started in the Ice Break chalet!

2009-12-11T11:28:00.003+01:00

Awesome stuff, since setting up Ice Break (our classic alpine chalet in the Chamonix valley doing group and individual skiing holiday accommodation) things have been going pretty well. We've still got space left for this season around March and early January. In fact just give me a yell by having a look at the website linked above and make us an offer on the weeks! You can find the prices & booking stuff dead easily.

Anyways, lots and lots to do - getting the chalet ready for the first guests arriving. We've been out on the Grands Montets skiing and snowboarding already this year which was great. The Les Houches ski area opens this weekend which might tempt me into having a quick trip down there with a mate or two. Let's see if there's any powder about!

Blog changing and moving!

2008-08-21T19:32:00.001+02:00

I've set up a new blog for the Ice Break business. It's going to be a bit more professional than this one but with loads of good reading about stuff we're up to. You can visit the new blog here and there's an RSS feed to subscribe to drop into your feed readers if you so wish.

I'll be posting up there after as many climbing, skiing, snowboarding and alpinism adventures as possible and should be really good for a read!

Thanks everyone! Please spread the word - we're taking bookings for the winter of 08/09 already.

Seasonnaire holidays in Chamonix

2008-08-06T17:45:00.006+02:00

So we've set up a company called Ice Break that offers awesome weekly to full season seasonnaire and sabbatical skiing and snowboarding holidays in Chamonix.

The website is at http://www.ice-break.co.uk.

The chalet is fully catered with Abi (currently working as a chef in Le Delice in Les Houches) and cleaning and keeping the place homely. I'll be taking people out on the mountain and we'll be doing loads of snowboarding and skiing - powder, pistes, backcountry, hiking and more. We'll be rock climbing and ice climbing when conditions are good and generally having an amazing time.

Give us a shout through the website on the contact page if you're interested in coming out and staying with us!

Taking a break from blogging

2007-12-14T15:15:00.000+01:00

Have decided to take a break from blogging for a wee bit. Just not really getting the time or inclination to document everything. The season is starting to build up in pace and there's less time available for unimportant extras, also Tinks is farther away than before so going to try and use the available time with her.

See ya soon!

Bringing it all up to date

2007-12-03T15:44:00.000+01:00

I've been away in the UK for the past 5 days with Tinks meeting and greeting and getting in a general pre-season family reunion. It was really good - tiring but lots of fun with every night an event and every day filled with something to do. I was really, really pleased to see my Mum and Dad and Tink's family and have such a great time before jumping into the winter.

Before we left I managed to squeeze in a quick day up the mountain with Rosco and Emile, part of the riding fraternity who will be performing synchronized falling this season in our corner of the Alps. Again as before, the snow was good for this time of year. Most of the available powder had been tracked out but there was still only one lift open. Besides we're still finding our feet and it's not surprising that we'd probably butcher it anyway.

The good news is that it's dumping it down here. Like seriously dumping. I had to ease off Merv's snowy covering this morning before whacking his de-misters on full blast. Chris is back in the valley looking fit and well and ready for the rigours of the season. Everyone's beaming and frantically getting ready for the arrival of the tourists and generally stocking up and preparing for the already-arriving winter.

I moved Tinks and Katy this morning from their place in Houches to Servoz a little down the valley. It's an amazing, beautiful place they've got there - part of an old wooden converted barn in picturesque Old Servoz. They've leased it for a year and as it's full of mod cons and they're the first people in since it was done, I know it's going to be an awesome home.

So I'm in a meeting this afternoon, I'm moving house shortly as well and need to get ready for that. I'll stay over with Tinks for a night or two while I get prepared then it's time to call on Merv's carrying skills again.

I've picked up my season ski pass from the Montenvers station today as well and my winter boots are now a permanent fixture on my feet. The heady atmosphere of snow and excitement permeates the air and the mountains grow heavy with the ever-present precipitation. What we've all been waiting for is now arriving.

The Love

2007-11-24T17:16:00.000+01:00

After Friday Frenzy - the traditional end of week gathering of the various boys and girls - of last night, I woke up this morning with a peacefully dozing Tinks. I got up and popped the kettle on for the first fruit tea of the day and sat myself in front of the computer to check up on breaking world events, the latest project developments, if someone had overtaken my iSketch and most importantly, the weather and snow conditions of the mountains in the valley.

The resulting information was good, very good - no natural disasters around the world, no panic emails reporting broken code, sitting atop the iSketch hi-score table and a solid half metre of snow topped with a beautiful layer of fresh on the Grands Montets. Things were shaping up well.

A few texts and phone calls around to the boys resulted in being picked up by Mark from the center of Chamonix and meeting up with various boys and girls up the mountain. We duly set off with Mark a little worse for wear as a result of the exertions the previous night and arrived at Argentiere as hyped up as if we'd consumed a heady cocktail of Red Bull and sugar cubes the entire journey.

No queues at the bottom cable car and small pockets of friends meant that an impromptu meet & greet session followed and with everyone beaming from ear to ear we jumped on the lift and headed up to Lognan. The only open higher lift from there was the Martmottons chairlift so up we went struck dumb by the incredible snow and shifting cloud dominating the passage upwards. There was pretty much full coverage of the mountain - thin off-piste but some really good windblown sections.

We ripped the thicker off-piste to the left-hand side of the piste initially from the top of the Marmottons lift before rejoining the route and riding on some really good soft snow back to the mid-station and then joined a late-arriving Crampons for another few blasts down the same route. It was really good - we all skied like shit, but hey - first full day back, what do you expect? The beauty was that for every bad turn, bad trick, bad jump, there were two great ones. And some of the powder to the side of the piste was really, really good. The summer drought of fresh snow was seized and broken in two and everyone helped themselves again and again.

It's a great feeling to ride on a really quiet mountain where you keep bumping into friends and laughing and smiling and seeing everyone beaming ear-to-ear, all enjoying the situation regardless of any external factors - very pure riding. It's great to be there with your friends who just love to be there. Conversations on chairlifts always conducted with a smile tugging at the corners of the mouth, laughing commiserations for those falling over underneath the lift, cheers ringing out for people on the piste really ripping it up or landing a slick trick. Just awesome.

Crampons and I joined up with another group of friends after a quick coffee at Longnan then had a few more runs before a final run down the Pierre a Ric home run right down to the mountain and onwards for an apres-ski beer in the Elevation bar. Just a perfect day. I'll admit the really low visibility that drifted in and out was like being in a horror film sometimes, some pistes were as lumpy as the mid-Atlantic and there were patches of seriously icy snow ready to catch the edge of the unwary skier. But I had an absolute blast. And all the guys we rode with had a blast too.

We're all going back out tomorrow with snowshoes to get some untracked powder. I can't wait.

Enough! It's time!

2007-11-24T10:06:00.000+01:00

Got up, quick blog post before whacking on the snowboarding gear then head up to the Grands Montets with Mark to meet up with the MountainGoat, Sarah, Crampons, and many more of the local dignitaries and idiots for some communal sliding fun.

Made sure not to get too pissed last night, cup of tea this morning and a check of the interweb this morning (find out what's going on in the world in order to have conversational topics on chairlifts and checking the latest weather reports for the mountains) and we're just about ready to go.

Bring it baby, I'm revved up like a kid with attention deficit disorder. Shame about the unreal low visibility. Time to polish the yellow lenses.

4am revisited

2007-11-22T08:01:00.000+01:00

*bleep* *bleep* *bleep*

Up again at 4am to take the muppet Fred to Geneva airport after the previous fiasco of him ignoring his alarm and missing the flight. He managed to get to the airport bang on time, with enough to spare to pick up a few bits and bobs through duty-free as well. Funky.

Things of note from the journey:

1) Today's trip was sponsored by "Dark Dog" energy drink. Any drink with the words "dark" and "dog" in the name must be seen as dangerous and not to be taken lightly. We didn't take them lightly either - 3 cans apiece to help the journey along. We went from being half-asleep to acting like a pair of ADHD teenagers in just under 0.03 seconds. Conversation flowed thereafter.

2) Fred's first name isn't Fred (I knew this already). In fact his first name is Ahmad. His second name isn't Fred either - it's Ferad. His surname is unpronouncable. This is why he is called Fred.

3) French drivers will drive at exactly the same speed and ferocity despite any one of low visibility, darkness, rain, fog, sleet and wind. They will drive at the same velocity even if all of these factors are present.

4) The Swiss are encouraged to take note of registration numbers of excessively speeding vehicles and report them to the authorities. There's some sort of bonus for doing this apparently. Yes, that was my first thought too - bastards.

5) French motorway toll booth clerks are just as chirpy at 5am as they are at 5pm. For a race of people who sit in cafes sipping their pastis a l'eau whilst muttering "you eenglish peoples make my ass tweetch" they are surprisingly chirpy when it comes to jobs like that.

6) Dark Dog lasts for a long time.

4am and waiting

2007-11-20T16:59:00.000+01:00

I said I'd take Fred to Geneva airport this morning at 5am for his flight to Morocco and his pre-season holiday. I got up at 4am and had a bath and something to eat, struggled into various random items of clothing then set off to pick him up from a centrally agreed point in Les Houches.

I was kicking myself actually, feeling really tired even though I'd gone to bed really early the night before. Anyway I sat in our designated meeting place at 4.50am rubbing the sleep from my eyes. At 5.15am I made my first call to his mobile but no luck. It just rang out. I tried every 10 minutes for the next hour but each time it just went to voicemail. Dangit. By 6am I was starting to get really worried. I'd driven around Houches in the hope of spotting him if his car had broken down on the way in or something. Still no luck.

I ended up driving the long way round to Vaudagne, the small mountain village where he lives - 20 minutes of narrow, winding, snowy mountain road. All the time keeping an eye out for signs of an accident - in case he'd slipped off the road or something. The easy route to his place was roadworked and so had to detour around. I've got to say I was pretty nervous - being tired and with scarily difficult driving conditions all the while worried in case Fred had had an accident. I pitched up to his place but there were no lights on and his car was in the driveway, but there was still no response on his phone and the front door was locked.

By this stage I was shattered. I'd been driving and waiting around for over an hour and a half and I figured that I'd done all I really could have short of breaking into his house. Besides, I'd tried ringing everyone up (his housemates, etc) with no success either. It was at the stage where he'd have missed his flight if we left together and maybe he'd grabbed a lift with someone else or something and put his phone in his hold luggage?

Well I eventually slid back under the sheets at 7am and woke up at 9 with a sleepy, annoyed Fred saying that his phone alarm hadn't woken him up and neither had all the missed calls! At least he was safe and well though! He managed to book another flight for Thursday so I guess we'll go through it all again then!

The boy owes me now though. Big time!

Freezing Cold

2007-11-16T16:46:00.000+01:00

For the past 5 days the temperature in Chamonix hasn't risen above -4°C. In fact it's dropped down to -15°C in the night sometimes. That's pretty nippy by any stretch!

I had to do some chores yesterday and needed to dig Merv out of the snow in the morning. 2 feet of snow all over the lad requiring moving. Unfortunately I misplaced my gloves the other day and was in a bit of a hurry so rather than getting some snowboarding gloves, figured just to dig him out with the tools at hand. Bad mojo. I think I got a bit of frostnip in my right hand - after 4 tries of digging away the snow with a broken ice-hockey stick and a scraper the size of a fingernail he was free. A couple of weeks ago he would have been stuck solid but his new snow tires gripped as they should and he was released onto the freedom of the road.

After doing my bits and bobs, I decided to get a new pair of gloves from town and spent a few minutes checking out the vast array of winter handwear in the various shops. I love France and the French have a differing style but there's some seriously hideous fashionistas that obviously choose the clothes for some of the shops here. I actually found a pair of woolen leopard-print gloves, some black leather gloves of the type frequently appearing as part of serial-killer garb on CSI, rubberised (WTF?!) winter gloves for the more deviant man/woman about town. Of course there were some nicer options too. I went for a pair of black woolen fingerless gloves that are convertible to mittens with a fleece inner. Very warm and very funky.

I've got to dig Merv out again tonight to go down to Tinks'. Time to test them out.

Seriously snowing

2007-11-14T02:01:00.001+01:00

It's booting it down with snow at the moment. 15cm forecast today and 15 tommorow. The forecasters have got it wrong though, there's way more than that.

Crampons, Mark and I went for a beer at Chambre Neuf this evening chewing the fat about the snow, winter adventures past and enjoying being in a bar of people smiling infused with the most natural high in the world. Sitting there talking with Mark and watching the snow fall will rest in my mind for a long time. A really long time.

I snapped a quick photo of the snow falling in my garden.

Le Petit Balcon Sud

2007-11-14T01:42:00.000+01:00

On Sunday Tinks and I decided to have a wander through the forest and up to the Petit Balcon Sud (the small southern balcony). It's an area that sits on the southern side of the Aiguilles Rouges - the chain of peaks that rises up as the northern wall of the Chamonix valley but higher up the valley than Chamonix itself.

It was beautiful - snow in the forest and clouds hanging in the valley. It was a spectacular walk meandering through the trees and looking around at the trails of wildlife in the new snow and looking down at the valley. Luckily the clouds cleared as we approached the highest point of the walk and we saw all the way up to the highest peaks of the Mont Blanc Massif on the southern side of the valley.

The most incredible views shifted in and out of view of the clouds and happily I had my camera to snap a couple of photos. One of the most incredible things was to stand there with Tinks and point at and name the various peaks that stood proud and majestic out of the clouds. We were both speechless at points though and just stood there together in the snow looking at the mountains with the awe-inspiring, amazing views sink in. To top it all off, there was high wind at altitude creating spiralling vortices of cloud on the lee side of the peaks.

The Aiguille Vert (left) and Les Drus (right)

The Aiguille d'Argentiere

The First Dump

2007-11-11T15:19:00.000+01:00

It came yesterday and the night before - big soft flakes falling endlessly from the sky. The valley got blanketed in a soft layer of snow plastering everything from the valley floor up to the highest peaks. Walking around at night with snow creaking underfoot for the first time really kicked home that we're moving powerfully and smoothly into winter.

Tinks and I went down to Sallanches to do some jobs yesterday. Unfortunately the garage was closed to get snow tyres for Ka, but we managed to go shopping to the big supermarket there, Carrefour. Loading the bags into the car with the air full of snow was really amazing. We managed to grab a quick hot chocolate in town as well after a really nice walk around, wandering about in a beautiful old French town in the mountains - very romantic.

I managed to grab some thermals and a pair of snow boots from Quetcha - ready for the next big snow. That looks like it's going to happen tomorrow or so. I'll grab Ka and get the snow tyres fitted so at least Tinks will be safe and sound. I'm just pleased we got Merv sorted out beforehand!

Anyways, the love is in the valley in a big way. As Tinks pointed out, everyone's in a great mood and there are big beaming smiles everywhere.

Snow!

2007-11-09T14:14:00.000+01:00

It's snowing! Wahey! Not heavily but there's flakes in the air and the snow line has dropped down to around 1600m. The boys and girls are getting increasingly animated and there's big love in the air due to the falling white goodness.

Mark from All Mountain Performance has just managed to get a new equipment deal from Völkl with skis, poles, bindings, boots, jackets, fleeces, trousers - for all his instructors too. It's a great deal with lots of goodies and so he's now got loads of unusable gear his previous sponsors. I'm going to take a pair of skis off his hands to use this season methinks.

Tignes Roadtrip

2007-11-09T13:44:00.001+01:00

Mark from All Mountain Performance and I shipped off to Tignes on Wednesday to go rip up the high glacier they've got there. It was awesome, damn cold but awesome.

We set off from the center of a very cold Chamonix (registering -4°C on Mark's car's thermometre) at just past 7am. We were loaded up with cold pizza for breakfast and had orange juice and danish pastries to put some energy into our bodies during the 2 1/2 hour drive down. A few detours, getting stuck behind trucks, some extremely hyperactive conversations and a pit stop at a pharmacy to load up on cold medication later we pitched up at the base of the funicular railway at Tignes. One of the good things about Tignes is that you can drive up pretty high. We drove up to somewhere around 8,000 feet before needing to switch transports. It was cold though, damn cold and all manner of fleeces, glove inners, warm socks and thermal undies were employed to stave off the poking bony fingers of chill.

Of course Mark and I looked totally pro falling out of his people carrier (fully badged up with AMP logos, etc) with pizza crusts and cigarettes in our hand. We looked especially pro because the rest of the car park was full with national ski racing team transports from around Europe. They use Tignes as their base for pre-season ski training.

Off we trotted up the the glacier via the awesome funicular railway that runs inside the mountain. Popped out at the top around 12,000 feet and immediately felt the effects of altitude. I've got to admit I was kind of shitting it feeling a touch breathless just walking around to get to our next lift. I hoped I'd acclimatize quickly and be able to get on with the skiing. It was really cold up high, I'd guess around -10°C with high winds and lenticular clouds around the tops of the peaks near and far.

It obviously hadn't snowed for a while, massive sections of the glacier were just plate glass ice with no snow at all. The dark, forbidding depths of the glacier contrasting with the white, groomed runs they sat inside. With more than just a minor concern for proper riding technique hanging over our shoulders we made our way up the T-bar lift to the top of the first run. Small crevasses were to be avoided being dragged up the ski lift, and if you're a snowboarder then being dragged for 800m up a slope by the inside of your thigh by the lift is not a great deal of fun. "Things" can get pinched and that's a killer. Imagine being led around by your gonads - it's a similar feeling.

We clipped and strapped in at the top of the rain and set off, shaking like a shitting dog with being nervous from it being the first run for many months. The high winds were blasting ice chips around the place like freezing daggers and I was pleased to be wearing my snood to cover my face. Slow and easy for the first run - a few slash turns in the cumulated snow on teh piste corner blown their by the wind and we were both feeling a lot better.

We had a roam about the available ski area for a few runs after - keeping the board as flat as possible when going over the sheet ice sections, more slash turns in the soft snow, a few ollies and flatland tricks. Things were really starting to come together. The nervousness had faded away and we were really starting to get into things. All the time of being on the lifts or stopping on the pistes we could watch the most incredible skiers training and they were FAST. Fast like you'd never believe. Because we could ride next to their courses it was pretty special being able to watch these fluid bullets hurtle past at speeds easily over 60mph+

A quick hot chocolate break to warm up and the temperature started to dip as the day wore on. We blasted a few more runs, starting to throw down some backside and frontside 180's and really picking up speed. God it felt good.

Several hours after we arrived, we were done in - tired, happy and with the warm feeling of apres ski. We chipped back down to the transport, peeled off the gear and made our way home. Unfortunately we'd rather underestimated our energy levels and were like zombies initially in the car. 3 cans of Dark Dog energy drink later we were bouncing off the walls, laughing and joking and chatting the whole way back to the Elevation bar in Cham for a traditional apres-ski beer.

All in all a fantastic day. My gear kept me warm, happy and content. Theere was enough snow to keep a smile on our faces the whole day and for ages after and I'm still chuckling and feeling the love as I type.

Both Mark and I are hyper now to get the season underway in just a handful of weeks. He's back to Tignes to do some pre-season race training courses next week and I might just see if I can slip off over there for a day's riding. The body's a little bit weary from the exertions but it feels great to finally be back on a board.

The Godfather in one minute

2007-11-04T12:02:00.000+01:00

Thought this was really clever - very cool. It's a The Godfather Part 1 condensed into a funny play.

Damn damn damn damn damn

2007-11-04T09:03:00.000+01:00

Woke up this morning with my throat red raw coughing and hacking away, nose running and constant sniffing. A couple of hours later and I feel even worse. Attacked by a bloody head cold. I decided to not go to Tignes for a variety of reasons, uppermost was that I don't want to get any worse. So here's the steps taken to cure the cold:

1) Put on thermal underwear, 2 t-shirts, hoodie, winter jacket, hat, gloves, scarf after warming on heater before venturing outside to obtain €50 from the bank

2) Wander down to supermarket and find fresh orange juice

3) Purchase low-preparation healthy foods from supermarket (dried apricots, sultanas, couscous, humous, bread, cucumber)

4) Co-ordinate trip to supermarket with trip to pharmacy to get vitamin C and zinc tablets as well as any other interesting-looking things to kill cold

5) Create comfy video watching environment with excessive duvets and pillows

6) Download Point Break and sit back and watch the cheese

I'll let you know how the treament goes.

Snowboarding Sunday

2007-11-03T15:38:00.000+01:00

Tignes tomorrow.

Yes! Get in.

Tick tock

2007-11-03T13:00:00.000+01:00

I love this clock - it's so geek. Never mind eh, gotta be true to yourself!

Merv's new shoes

2007-11-01T14:52:00.001+01:00

Took Merv down with Tinks to get him sorted out for the winter - getting all his aches and pains fixed as well as getting a new set of snow tyres for him and Ka (Tink's Ford Ka). We went down to Sallanches to a small out-of-the-way garage that was recommended (and cheap!) to get everything.

Phillippe the guy who owns the garage was brilliant. He gave Merv a new set of shoes for a very, very reasonable price and we ordered a new window and whatnot for him. We've also sorted out new shoes for Ka and will get a new exhaust for her too.

What a difference it's made after having a bit of love at the garage! Lots of the small problems Merv had are gone - no crunching gears, good grip in corners, no rolling about, braking is better as is acceleration and fuel economy. It's really made him a new man. I'm really pleased and has reinvigorated my belief in him. A small amount of love goes a long way. I checked his oil and the rest of the stuff I could do and it's all tip-top. Once his new window is in on Monday, he's going to be primed and ready for the winter. Wahey!

I also purchased my ski insurance and heli-rescue insurance the other day as well. Nice to be safe. Tinks keeps reminding me to be safe, as do my folks at home. I will do but it's good to have the insurance anyway.

Peace!

2007-10-29T13:29:00.000+01:00

Blue sky ...... check
Lunch ......... check
Music ......... check
Mountains ..... check
No builders ... check

They've gone. Finally gone. It feels so calm, so peaceful, so relaxing, so mountainy. No builders outside. Total heaven. By the distant sounds, someone else is dealing with the 7am power drill wake-up alarm. I feel bad for them, but not that bad.

Monkey/arse/firework warning

2007-10-28T00:22:00.000+02:00

Really not sure what this sign is supposed to mean. It's from a zoo (fairly obvious) but apparently it's warning of the dangers of setting off fireworks igniting the arses of the housed monkeys (not so obvious).

Click for full-size photo.
The monkey really doesn't look happy either.

The best way to watch F1 with no tv

2007-10-25T21:28:00.000+02:00

Had a bit of a problem this weekend. I wanted to watch the Formula 1 final race of the season - Lewis Hamilton perhaps being the first rookie to win the driver's championship. With British pride at stake, the culmination of millions of pounds and hours of work, a three-way battle for the title between Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikonnen - it was the pinnacle of a years battle on the track.

The problem came about with no-where showing the race and me not owning a tv. Of course option 2 came along with the BBC motorsport website giving updates but it was a bit bland. All right, but not very interactive reading a few sentences every couple of laps on what was happening. I dug around on the internet and found a website that had the contract for the real-time data going to the commentators that was streamed over the web. Seriously cool! So duly signed up for a free account and then had the power of the internet bring the action to my very home. All the split times, fastest laps, positions, pit stops. The lot in super-geeky stats dynamically updating format.

Sweet.

How regular are you?

2007-10-25T20:28:00.000+02:00

I've been looking through my posting history on the blog and found out that there are less postings the less I'm doing. So when I'm really busy I post more. Weird inverse proportionality there.

It's still cold here in Chamonix, interseason continues to march on with us all stretching out fingers at the wintery light at the end of the tunnel. There's nothing even remotely interesting to report at the moment. I've decided to give up drinking for a while (or until the pubs open again), I'm about to share a bath with Pluck the yellow duck, I've been watching 8 out of 10 cats and Have I Got News For You on youtube of an evening after work. These are not interesting facts, but true ones.

The good news is that I'm walking around constantly grinning at everything. Awesome. I'm hoping this is down to being excited about the imminent arrival of the wonderous powdery snow. Metres of the white stuff to ride. I hope it's not interseason madness clouding the mind.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

2007-10-23T18:09:00.000+02:00

We're knee-deep in interseason now. The madness has arrived to all in the valley and Chamonix's in a catatonic, zombie state. Guys are walking around with no less than 4 days growth on their chins, girls are not colour co-ordinated. People wear dirty clothes and there's a kind of air of Nirvana (the Seattle-based grunge/rock band, not the Buddhist state of enlightenment) about the place. Simply put no-one gives a fuck.

The seasonal affective disorder that keeps getting mentioned in the UK press is magnified. The British media should come out here and really see just how deep the rabbit hole goes. The other day I felt it was appropriate to nip to the bakers in the morning in my dressing gown and trainers. Bearing in mind that I live in the middle of Chamonix this was probably not exactly what people were expecting to see. The good news was that the only other people around were zombies and there was another chap in a dressing gown too so we positively looked like the norm. I'll be honest though, I totally felt like "The Dude" out of The Big Lebowski.

The best good news is that we're currently coming out of the madness as the recession of autumn marches on into the sparkling, sprinkling, twinkling winter with all the snow and adventures it brings.

Well I'm off to go and join the other like-minded monkeys who live in the valley to celebrate a birthday. Unlike them however I will be shaved, fresh haircut and wearing clean clothes. This is because I'm english By Jove! And we dress for dinner, no matter the circumstance.

Tis Cold!

2007-10-21T15:03:00.000+02:00

It's cold, like really cold. England lost the World Cup last night and walking back from the game there was a very very crisp feel to the air feeling like the anhydrous clean smell of an imminent snowfall. I had to scrape ice off the car on Friday night as well - apparently it was -3°C. We've not had any precipitation for a few weeks now, it's almost like the mountains and clouds are saving it all up for one massive dump pre-season. Get the base layer really deep and thick before the lifts open.

Right now I just want the pre-season to end and we can all get involved in the winter. There's loads to do and loads to look forward to. Chamonix town center is dead with the town taking a collective deep breath before the tourists come back with skis and poles in tow. The boys are getting fidgety and there's a sort of nervous tension amongst the locals waiting for the fun to kick off again.

I've even started looking at all my gear, wiping it down and getting it sorted out and fixing small things. I've spoken to Shaun about when we're opening up the transfer business full-time and put together some riding playlists to listen to on the mountain.

I can't believe how nervous I am, at least we're all in the same boat out here!

Beautiful day

2007-10-18T13:13:00.000+02:00

The mountains just look amazing today - clear blue skies and some high turbulent cloud around the peaks like an unruly mop of hair in the wind. It's days like this where I'm working away and feeling content that I really, really love my life.

I'm really looking to give one of my old boards its first wax ready for the season and I'm even thinking to bring out an old board, the silver dart (Burton Special 57 tricks board) and give it a bit of a slide at Tignes. Awesome.

(In)appropriate ski lift behaviour

2007-10-17T14:46:00.000+02:00

Why would you need a sign to say this is dangerous?

Pre-pre-season training at Tignes

2007-10-15T17:54:00.000+02:00

Aaah Tignes. That godawful resort. It's a shocker, architecturally and skiing-wise. I guess it fulfils a purpose but it's not what I'd like. There's not much soul there but there is fresh snow, and it's all-year round high altitude skiing accessible from lifts.

I went out for a beer with Mark from All Mountain Performance yesterday and he asked me to do a two-man roadtrip for the day to Tignes to get in a bit of pre-pre-season riding in. He's running some pre-season advanced skiing courses there in a couple of weeks and wanted to get a quick slide in before we hit the time when we're all supposed to look a bit more professional on the mountain. Actually I don't have to look pro, he does, but any chance to go snowboarding right?

Mark ripping it up.

I've purchased a pair of MacDaddy Bling Bling goggles as well. They're on discount discount (last years model and discounted further). A pair of Von Zipper Feenom's with a spare lens. I love them. They will make me a better snowboarder and they're so beautiful probably a better man too.

Feel the Bling.

The Southern Alps

2007-10-15T17:38:00.000+02:00

Just come back from a wicked break in the Southern Alps. Nipped down to near Gap (apparently NOT where they make the clothes) with Abi and Katy for a few days. It was awesome - we stayed at Katy's aunt's place which is an old place high up in the middle of nowhere that's recently been refurbished.

We tootled off down there going the scenic route going around Grenoble, slowly winding our way through the various valleys and passes before reaching our destination, some 4 hours away.

We all got rather heavily involved with the Sky TV and gin and tonics on offer (none of us have TV at home) and slept a lot and splashed about where appropriate. Abi put her skills as a masseuse to good use, we had a mini-adventure to a big hypermarket in Gap (my sort of fun!) and generally relaxed getting ready for the season.

Here's some photos.

The view from in front of the house looking at the mountains.

The garden and HOT TUB, woohoo!

The living room with accompanying very cool arched ceiling.

The girls very excitedly (and drunkly) dancing around the kitchen.

The right-hand side of the house (kitchen).

The left-hand side of the house (living room).

All in all a really good mini break. And a much-needed one as well. I was starting to go a little crazy from work and it was brilliant to get away and chill. The temperature has dropped considerably in the Chamonix valley now. The same snow has sat up higher for a few weeks and the leaves on the trees are dropping and littering the pathways around town and in the woods. Everywhere has taken on a golden hue with reds and oranges and yellows bursting from the different variety of trees. We're deep in the grip of Autumn with its kaleidescope of colours pushing their way into the visual senses.

The air is starting to smell like snow now as well. Everyone's got a slightly manic, disturbed grin tugging at the corner of their mouths in gleeful anticipation of the winter. People are starting to put skiing videos on and the winter hat collections are making an appearance around town. How cool? Very cool.

The Godfather

2007-10-07T14:10:00.000+02:00

Over the past few days during free time I've watched the Godfather trilogy and read up all about the films on Wikipedia. The first of the trilogy still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, it's that good. The second is brilliant, and the third kind of rounds everything off nicely.

Admittedly The Godfather Part III isn't as good as the preceding two, it was filmed some 16 years after the Part II in 1990. After reading about the films individually and collectively I found out that Francis Ford Coppola actually didn't want to make Part III, it was just that he was in a financial crisis after a big-budget movie flopped. Paramount had a long-standing offer to make a third film and he eventually relented.

Insofar as favourite films, this does rank highly - very highly. I think I've got the next series of films lined up to watch over the coming days and weeks of an evening too: The Big Lebowski, Get Shorty, The Three Amigos, The Usual Suspects. Quality shining through the whole lot.

Bloody nose

2007-10-07T12:29:00.000+02:00

Got clocked by a cyclist in Les Houches this morning walking across the road. Luckily she wasn't going at Mach 9 and didn't fall off. Unfortunately came off the collision worse with a bit of a bloody nose. Was thinking tho, it's been ages since I got a bloody nose.

Of course I was terribly manly about the whole thing and staunched the flow of blood and just got on with things. I'm so hard.

reCAPTCHA

2007-10-05T18:22:00.000+02:00

A CAPTCHA image:

I read about this amazing bit of technology today. It's to do with CAPTCHA, the challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether the user is human. Classically the CAPTCHA image text is entered into a form when signing up for a website (to prevent spammers, etc, using computers to sign up millions of accounts automatically).

A CAPTCHA image being used signing up for Google:

Essentially there's a problem in the academic world with converting current physical texts (books, papers, scrolls, etc) into digital media. The most advanced text-scanning software is called Optical Character Recognition (OCR) but still can only accurately read about 90% of the words. Around one word in ten is mis-read by OCR. As there are around 100 million books waiting to be digitized and the only way to accurately decipher these words is with human intervention, this is a big problem.

OCR mis-reading words:

The ingenious solution the guys at OCR have come up with is called reCAPTCHA. It puts the undecipherable words into CAPTCHA images for website sign-ups. To double-check the authenticity of the response to the CAPTCHA check they put the image out to two different people and if both the responses match - bingo.

A reCAPTCHA image:

With this solution the guys using OCR are able to decipher around one million words per day - saving around three thousand man hours per day. And that's awesome.

Original article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7023627.stm
CAPTCHA on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha

Nose to the grindstone

2007-10-04T16:13:00.000+02:00

Got so much work on it's untrue. It's great to be a busy little squirrel hoarding nuts for the winter, this is exactly the position I want and need to be in. I've written a list of things that I need for this winter season and am ticking items off as I earn the money to buy them.

Essentials
Year's lift pass

The big one - just under €700 this time round. Expensive isn't even the word. Still unless I suddenly turn into a combination of Spiderman and Superman we're going to need one.

Avalanche transceiver

A fairly necessary bit of kit, my one's not looking very healthy at all and it's nice to have one to stay alive. I have a feeling it blips when it should blap and vice-versa. This isn't good.

Avalanche shovel/probe

Important for keeping mates alive. My shovel is cracked and I don't really want to be finding out it's not up to the task whilst digging out one of the lads. Better get one in advance. My probe is wonky (it bends to the left by about 8", vicar) and so this requires attention as all the riding buddies are stick thin and this would miss 'em.

Goggles

After having gone through 4 pairs last year (well technically 3 but the last pair have a cracked lens) these need replacing. Also I remember swearing a lot when they fogged up. We'll be trying to avoid hitting trees, dogs, other skiiers, chairlift supports this year with a pair of crystal-clear goggles.

Gimme gimme gimme
iPod nano

After an unfortunate incident slamming into a quarterpipe at the end of last season, my long-loved iPod screen got cracked. It still works but only plays tracks in artist alphabet order. I listen to A LOT of AC/DC and Aerosmith and The Animals these days. It's not essential to have a new one, but I'm going to miss listening to music whilst riding. I've got a backup plan for this tho which involves going to Carrefour and buying a cheapy mp3 player.

Riding trousers

It's generally acknowledged that I have a pair of the coolest snowboarding trousers in the whole of the Alps but unfortunately they're starting to be built of more gaffer tape than material these days. I do have a spare pair, but they're old. Hmmm, I can get another half-season out of the pair of them I reckon. Just wear an extra pair of long johns and deal with the frostbite on my giblets by soaking in a nice warm bath at the end of the day.

Snow booties

Need some footwear for the winter. Last year I missed out on purchasing a pair of insulated wellington boot type snow booties. This year we're gonna have 'em to keep the feet dry and the toes toastie. They don't look stylish but then neither do I, mind you I don't particularly care!

Snowboarding boots

Yeah mine are missing some essential bits. I'm going to try to fix them but to be honest they need replacing at some stage soon. Going to see if I can find a pair of last years model on sale. Something bling baby.

Snowboard

Rodney the Rocket (my main board) and I had a wee bit of an accident last year and we cracked his tail rail. This isn't good but I did ride him for a while after without any serious repercussions. He needs to man up and take the punishment for the first part of the season until I switch to my other board (which I've a feeling I'll snap as it's very spinney) or purchase a new one. I predict I'll be blogging about purchasing a new board 6 weeks into the new season!

That's pretty much it for the gear. Merv needs a service and some snow tires and whatnot but that's going to get done shortly.

Who's looking for what.

2007-09-30T14:41:00.001+02:00

Was looking through my web statistics for the blog and came across a few highly amusing search engine phrases that people have arrived at the blog through:

"chris's friction burn"
- I do have a friend called Chris, but I've not given him a friction burn. He's not that sort of friend.

"dogs crampons"
- Is that animal cruelty? Or is it making sure you're dog's acclimatizing to altitude properly. Whichever way it's very very weird.

"snowboards as shelves"
- A nice idea, albeit expensive. I can't see Ikea introducing this for the 07/08 range.

"people looking at dead whale"
- I've got to say, I do prefer hobbies with more exercise.

"1970's tennis headbands"
- A beautiful look, now and then.

"rum punch made in london"
- It might be best just to refer you to someone based in London with extended culinary experience to be honest.

"once more again with feeling"
- Well quite.

Sixty-beer binge leads to four-week hangover

2007-09-28T15:17:00.000+02:00

This came into my blog feed this morning:

IT may be the longest hangover in the history of binge beer drinking.
When a 37-year old man walked into a hospital emergency room in Glasgow, Scotland last October complaining of "wavy" vision and a non-stop headache that had lasted four weeks, doctors were at first stumped, the British journal The Lancet reported today.

The unnamed patient "had no history of head injury or loss of consciousness; his past medical record was unremarkable, and he was taking no medications," Zia Carrim and two other physicians from Southern General Hospital said in a case report.

Body temperature and blood pressure were both normal, and a neurological exam scanned negative.

But when an eye specialist was called in, the fog began to clear, at least for the doctors.

The patient, said the ophthalmologist, had swollen optical discs, greatly enlarged blind spots and what eye doctors call "flame haemorrhages," or bleeding nerve fibres.

"We sought a more detailed history" from the patient, noted one named Zia.

This is when the man revealed he had consumed 60 pints - roughly 35 litres - of beer over a four day period, following a domestic crisis.

Doctors believe severe dehydration, caused by the alcohol, led to a rare condition called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). A scan of the brain's blood vessels confirmed the diagnosis.

CVST - which can cause seizures, impaired consciousness, loss of vision and neurological damage - strikes three or four people per million, mainly children, every year in Britain. The cause is generally unknown.

It took more than six months of long-term blood-thinning treatment to restore the man's normal vision - and to get rid of the headache, the doctors reported.

OSS vs MS

2007-09-25T11:37:00.000+02:00

I know what the problem is - connecting to my databases is unbelievably slow and then hangs when performing any tasks. The problem is that everything is proprietary Microsoft software.

The PC is running a version of Windows that I now know is not legit (it will be soon, but isn't right now). I'm in the process of getting it all sorted but I inherited this computer and it came with a dodgy install that I wasn't initially aware of.

This means that I can't run the latest version of the Microsoft database software (SQL Server 2005) and the previous version is buggy and causing this problem. This is really annoying. I've patched and updated the computer as best I can (in fact the latest update I can make is being installed now) but I'm not sure this will solve the problem. It's really getting on my tits and slowing down my work spending a day getting everything sorted.

I'm building a workaround on another computer but this is all woefully convoluted and a real pain in the arse. To have the separate pieces of software reliant on each other in this way is really annoying and frankly not good on behalf of the software builders.

What's more frustrating is that I've been playing with my new Ubuntu Linux computer and none of this is an issue. Everything's so open and easily updated as well as being free from any costs. Plus I'm not trying to get tied down into any sort of agreements on how (or how not) I'm supposed to use my own computer. There's definitely change afoot in the world of computers in a big way and it's manifesting itself in only 1/4 of the screens in our office now showing Microsoft products (and I'm a MS developer!). The majority are Macs but to be honest I've been looking at them and thinking about installing Ubuntu on one of those as well.

Yesterday I set Windows file sharing on the Macs so now I can switch files between OS X, Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux machines at the click of a button. Happily all the computers are fully integrated now and getting all this sorted has been in the most part really easy. Ubuntu was the easiest, then the Macs a close second but a way distant third was the PC. (Ubuntu uses Samba to share which comes pre-installed and pre-configured, Mac OS X uses its Windows File Sharing utility that you just switch on, with Windows you have to go crawling around network connections and user accounts to get it working as you want). I'm a happy geek.

So now it's time to put the plan to get my Microsoft workaround in place, it's not massively elegant but I've gone past caring - it just needs to work frankly. Hopefully soon the OSS (Open Source Software) guys will build a module that translates proprieatary MS SQL databases into MySQL (OSS) and also a query analyzer that translates MS SQL queries into MySQL queries. This should mean that I can run an ASP emulator like ChiliSoft as well as the proposed module and move all the code and projects onto a non-Microsoft platform. That'll save everyone an immense amount of money frankly.

I hope it gets rid of this rising tension too.

YEAH! (kinda)

2007-09-23T23:55:00.000+02:00

Awesome, the money from the last contract has just eased gently into the business account and is sitting there glowing like the little pile of gold it is. My beady eyes glisten with moisture as I apportion it to the various bills that need paying, a nice big food shopping spree and a load for saving for the winter. Life is peachy surely?

Well sort of. The contract was for a US company paying in dollars. I live in France and I live in Euros. The recent history of the exchange rate between dollars and euros looks like this:

I just re-read my GCSE Maths text book to confirm this next statement and therefore feel it has been independently verified: graphs that point down are not good.

This graph points down. This is not good. In fact it's really shit news. Not only can I hear the impending thunderclap of doom, but somewhere within the din I can make out the delicate pop of a tube of lube being opened.

It may be time for a think on how to do this without getting pumped by every currency dealer between Chamonix and New York. Maybe holding onto it for a few weeks to catch a spike when the dollar gets stronger for a day or two. More likely is that it may be time to bite the bullet and wonder if maybe Northern Rock had more customers like me, they might not be broke.

P.S. I really feel sorry for any of the customers caught in the crossfire of this Northern Rock fiasco. I only hope one of the big city banks steps up to the mark and takes an initial hit to get the company back on track.

Chirpy Days

2007-09-22T15:05:00.000+02:00

It's amazing what a bit of willpower can do.

Sister came over for a great couple of days and we managed to get in a meal at Katy's restaurant Le Delice in Les Houches which was fantastic as always. Then a trip into Chamonix with a few friends for some cheeky beers at Chambre Neuf followed by a few later drinks rounding the evening off in the Monkey Bar.

We had a stroll up the Gorges des Diosaz the following morning from Servoz then up to Vaudagne for a brief mooch around and back to Cham for Jen to have an afternoon nap while I boshed out some work. Italian dinner compliments of Casa Valerio and then a movie and a snooze.

Really ideal couple of days to spend together and have a natter and a bit of a wander around the valley - I was really stoked to be able to sort out the free transfers from and to Geneva for her as well as introducing her to my friends out here. All in all it was a great couple of days. My brain was resetting itself quickly - much quicker than normal and really think I might have beaten this thing, at least for the time being.

After an early-morning transfer I managed to get some nice time with Abi too and we loafed around the house eating and having a giggle and watching CSI before crashing out early. We set off from Abi's place this morning to go hike up the Tete de Balme at Le Tour but it was blazing hot and conditions weren't ideal to get to the very top so we stopped midway and admired the valley before coming back down. The view from up there is fantastic and although I mention it a lot - still never tire of it.

The brilliant thing about walking around ski areas in the summer is you get to see all the different hidden gullies and tucked-away routes and interesting features of the mountain. Many of these little beauties were duly filed away in the memory banks, including a rocking alternative option to the Le Tour home run consisting of a really steep, wooded section with a great narrow path. With blue skies and only the sound of crickets chirping us along the walk home it was a beautiful way to spend Saturday.

Well I've made a load of progress with my next contract over the past day or two as well now and am feeling so much better about it all. I hope that I can polish off the old contract this weekend - draw a line underneath it, put in the final invoice and move on. There's a load of work to be cracking on with that's piqued my curiosity and got me back into wanting to program and create and develop and build the project. Awesome.

Amusing little story

2007-09-19T10:37:00.000+02:00

Feeling better this morning. Been out and had a run and just about to have a bath at home and crack on with work again. It's pretty cold here and last night's rain prompting a fresh snowy offering on the tops of the mountains.

Was just catching up with my RSS feeds and came across this light-hearted little anecdote in an interview with Josh Lewsey, an England rugby player who played in the last World Cup and collected a winner's medal.

What is the funniest thing you have heard while playing for England? (Tom Pick, 15, Banbury)

It was probably during the 2003 World Cup final. The referee, Andre Watson, said: "I won't give a penalty at a scrum unless I can put my mortgage on it." After the fifth penalty against us, our hooker Steve Thompson turned round to Watson and said: "You must have a s*** house!"

Darken Days

2007-09-18T18:19:00.000+02:00

Damnit, it's going to happen again. I can feel it. In about a day or two my brain's going to close down and spend a day kicking my soul and heart around before coming back to life. Fucking hate it. Just make it stop. It's like knowing the train is going to crash into a huge burning pile of twisted metal and watching the terrible drama unfold but still not having the will to pull the brake lever.

Nothing anyone can say will make it better. Sleep will be something to dream of - a way out for just a few blessed hours. But it will be like trying to catch mist in your fingers - clawing away with bony hands frantically with futile results. When it does finally arrive as the sun starts to come up they will be fitful, harsh dreams, a cloying and vicious surreal kaleidoscope of colour and images. When you wake from the frozen state you'll regret the time you spent there, just wishing you could just get your body back to a regular cycle. Guilty of the time you should have spent elsewhere.

It's been a while since I've slipped down and had a really dark patch. It was a few months ago now and when it happened it was only for 2 days. 2 days of having a voice in your head telling you over and over every bad thing you've ever done. Telling you that everything you cherish and value is worth nothing and worst of all taking away your hope.

I know medically why this happens - imbalances of serotonin levels in the brain. There's a reason for it that isn't just that you're "feeling a bit down" or that it's "just how life is". But it has got easier since I've been here. The dark days space themselves more and more, with hard exercise and bright sunlight being the keys to unlocking the mental turbulence. The lows aren't as low but the highs remain lifting and ethereal. I'm getting better - 31 years of this crap and I'm getting better. But it's still there in fits and starts, clawing away at your neck threatening to press your self-destruct button.

But this time it's different. I'm not going down easily. I'm going to fight this with everything I've got starting with getting up early tomorrow and go out for a run, then work for a few hours and finally go to meet my sister. The voices can get stuffed frankly - I don't need them and they don't need me. Go pester someone else, make someone else doubt themselves. I'm going to release the voices high up into the mountains where they can stay for an eternity as a dark cloud looming over a forbidden peak. I'm going to keep the skies clear above my head. It's medical, and I can heal my body of anything with enough effort. I can push myself further than others, I can force myself to the absolute limit. This is no different at all. I can force myself rid of this minor problem, this small glitch in my body, this bug. Just like any computer bug I can code a fix for it, rework it, push logic at it and it will go away, dissipate into nothingness.

Ubuntu Update

2007-09-18T14:34:00.000+02:00

I've dragged everything off the Windows bit of the hard drive - Ubuntu let me browse to it automatically. Genius. I can even automatically connect to both the Macs and the PC's in the office. I've got everything I need off the Windows bit so wanted to free up the space. After a brief thought I figure just to install Ubuntu again and use the whole hard drive. No worries there.

I have come across a problem though. The sound isn't currently working and I need to look at that. Still, insofar as what could have potentially gone wrong it's pretty minimal so far.
Edit: It's because I didn't plug in the speakers. Dickhead.

Enjoying fiddling around with it to be honest.

Installing Ubuntu instead of Windows

2007-09-17T15:35:00.000+02:00

I need a server on the network - one that can run Apache and MySQL and just sit there as a development box. Also it would be handy to have a spare computer for people to use who drop by looking for internet access. I've got an old(ish) computer (Dell P4) that ran Windows ME until it decided enough was enough and started to hang on boot. It needs a rebuild from the ground up and certainly needs an entire fresh install of an operating system for starters.

Options
1) Mac OS X. Since Apple started using Intel processors it's meant that you can run Mac OS's on PC's and Windows on Apple Macs. Hmm, interesting and I love the two Macs I use. Still either got to pay for it or *ahem* "acquire" a copy to install. It's not overly expensive (I found a few offers on Amazon from around $74.99). Possibly worth a purchase I reckon.

2) Windows. A search on dabs.com shows that I can buy the Pro version of Windows XP I'd need for £239.67 and am suggested to buy Microsoft Office 2007 for £358.98. You are fucking kidding aren't you. Not a chance I'm buying Office (I'll come to that later) but £239.67 for a copy of XP? That's 6 1/2 times the price of OS X! I need another option.

3) Ubuntu Linux. An Open Source (code is non proprietary) operating system. Cost is free, or more accurately the cost of any old blank CD I've got laying around the place. Sounding good already. Found one stuffed between a load of old paper and downloaded it in around 15 minutes from the Ubuntu website then spent a couple of minutes burning it to CD on my iMac.

The Choice

OK. It's got to be option 3. The OS X option takes too long to buy the copy off the net and get delivered. Windows is just too expensive to consider. Plus there are security issues there that can be overcome by using another operating system. But what about having someone else using the computer? What about the random people that drop in to quickly check mail and the net? What if they need to open up Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc) files they get sent through email?

Well Open Office is the answer. It's basically an Open Source, free version of Microsoft Office. I've used it before and it reads and writes MS Office files and works pretty damn well on any of the operating systems mentioned so far.

Internet is accessed through the Firefox web browser, included in the standard Ubuntu install. I find out Open Office is included with Ubuntu too as standard. Nice.

The Install
So I've just chucked in the CD I burned and it's led me through a very easy interface asking me where I live and what username and password I'd like to log onto the computer with. This already looks more secure than Windows - asking me for a password to start the install. Plus the graphics are fluffy and look very cool. I've left it to do its thing and install. Its saved the hard drive holding the install of Windows ME that I couldn't even log into before (I'm hoping to get the films that are buried somewhere on the hard drive from years gone by).

A Hitch
So it's all installed now and booting up for the first time. It's found a load of errors on the hard drive. Damn, that'll be why Windows wasn't booting up. Ubuntu takes one look and fixes the errors before telling me what it's done and that if I just wait a few seconds please, it'll reboot itself.

I wait with baited breath but everything's gone through without a hitch. The machine reboots and loads up to the Ubuntu login screen. I duly enter my username and password and I'm presented with the Ubuntu desktop. Very slick. I plug in a network cable to the computer hooking it to my internal network ready to configure internet access.

Updates
As soon as the machine (surprisingly quickly) is ready it tells me there's 180MB of updates ready to install. It's automatically detected my network card and connected to the internet. Sweet, but 180MB, that's going to take forever. Actually less than 2 minutes apparently judging by the high speed download - these boys have put some serious thought into upgrades. Windows Update sits in the background and hogs huge resources and time slowing my XP box down to a crawl sometimes when I'm updating that. These 29 updates whistle down and install with 2 clicks (after asking me for my admin password to make sure I'm not anyone naughty). I really liking this more and more. I even like the soft colours and flowing graphics of the desktop. Relaxing and peaceful.

It's taken quite a while to install these updates, and I'm a bit apprehensive that my DVD drive and CD writer won't be working. I'm very nervous in fact. Might have to test it out once the updates have done installing.

Looking through the list of updates, it appears Open Office and Firefox have been updated automatically. Awesome. Saves me a job. Now that all that's finished, it's asked me to reboot and I'm starting to get a bit excited about my new toy. There's always something cool about bringing and old computer back to life.

Finishing Up
A brief reboot and we're ready to go. Everything looks fine. I can access the files in the Windows partition directly from Ubuntu, the CD burner works without needing any other software, internet access works straight away. Basically there's no need for fiddling around!

Impressions
I'm loving it, what a bit of kit. Beautiful, fast, easy to install, easy to use. Free (woohoo!) and clean. Tinks even dropped into the office and just started using it to check her email. Tinks isn't massively technologically literate and just opened up Firefox and logged into Hotmail without any probs at all. Class.

I've actually installed Ubuntu once before on another computer but that was a long time ago. They've done a load of work on this bit of software in the mean time and done it well. After my experience today I'd recommend it to anyone as a genuine alternative for standard home users.

American Football jumpers

2007-09-15T23:20:00.000+02:00

Got to love it. They should have realised what it would spell...

Come on!

2007-09-14T12:24:00.000+02:00

Waiting, just waiting... Come on, let's be having you. Snowy adventures are coming.

But beforehand...

Tinks and I have decided to go on a road trip over the interseason for a short while. Really looking forward to going away together and seeing a bit more of the country we live in. We're thinking about going through the Dordogne and then down to the Basque Country and then back in a round trip to Chamonix possibly via the Mediterranean coast. Funky stuff!

I intend on using my French to it's full use by being able to talk to people who live by the sea about how regularly they wax their skis, which mountain they climbed yesterday and how come humous is so bloody expensive in the local supermarket. Vital stuff. We're going to be haut de la gorge de la merde sans palette (up shit creek with no paddle) if anything goes wrong with the car because I know virtually no French vocabularly that is pertinent to motor vehicles.

Spain might have differing language problems. I only know very basic Spanish really. I can say "I have fleas" (tengo pulgas), "some ice please" (hielo por favor), and "don't shoot me, shoot the hairy one" (no me tire, tiran el melenudo). This last one is damn useless as I am, in fact, the hairy one. Not good. Might have to take my laptop and hook it up permanently to Altavista's online translation tool Babelfish.

To be honest, I'm actually really pleased how my French is coming along and am learning more every day. It feels good to be able to crack the odd joke with someone in a foreign language and feel pretty comfortable day-to-day. I've never been fluent in another language and it's something I'm really looking forward to at some stage in the future.

Speeding Ticket: €45

2007-09-12T14:06:00.000+02:00

Got pinged on the 1st September doing a transfer from Chamonix to Geneva. Allegedly doing 108kph through a 90kph zone between Chamonix and St Gervais. It's a static €45.00 fine if payed within 15 days going up to something like €180 after that - I'll be elbowing grannies out of the way at the Post Office to pay it tomorrow then. No points on the license though which is the only good thing. Bastards. If only they'd accept mitigating circumstances...

1) I'd just picked up 7 girls who managed to be 45 minutes late. (Yes, 45 minutes). They'd managed to make me late for picking up clients on the way back from Geneva.

2) I'd not been driving the transfer bus very much beforehand so wasn't as experienced as now.

3) These girls were really getting on my tits. They'd been out downing Lambrini the night before and kept asking for me to stop so they could throw up. This really wasn't improving my chirpy demeanour.

4) It was downhill and with all 8 of us in the van gravity was having considerable effect.

Of course any one of these arguments would hold up in a court of law as the judge would have seen my plight and made a judgment in my favour. There may have even been some form of compensation heading my way for the untold misery suffered during that trip. Unluckily I chose just to swallow it down and take it on the chin when I spoke to Shaun (the transfers boss) about it. He was really good to be fair and appreciated that I wasn't coming up with any bullshit excuses (note: reasons for speeding given in this posting are blatantly NOT bullshit excuses, I just chose not to raise them with him).

Anyways, got me thinking. If the clients are late for the transfer then that's their problem - not mine. The transfer takes 1 1/4 hours and we stick to the speed limits. I know it sounds daft, but it was a good lesson to learn early on.

Les Gorges de la Diosaz, Servoz

2007-09-12T13:12:00.000+02:00

Mini adventures totally rock around here. There's all sorts of things to do for an afternoon's mooching around and Abi and I took the opportunity to delve off into the nooks and cracks of the valley the other day to explore the Gorges de la Diosaz - a narrow, steep fissure in the rocky cliffs around Servoz.

Wooden pathways have been built onto the sheer walls to gain access to the upper reaches of the gorge meaning a really interesting walk and the whole place is a heritage site due to really old shale mines dug into some of the cliffs. It's something that takes a couple of hours and looks really interesting, outdoorsy and generally a bit of a giggle so off we trotted.

It gets more interesting the more you walk up the gorge. Down at the bottom (I guess because we live in the valley and see small gorges on a daily basis) it wasn't manically interesting - a path through a forest. As we went on though, we started to climb onto the walkways and ascend up gaining altitude and it became more and more beautiful, really eye catching with sheer rock faces rising up on each side and the gorge crack getting narrower.

Walking up the Gorges de la Diosaz

The walkways were classically French - not exactly high spec with much wobbling of hand rails and generally giving off a "rustic" air. It did give it a real charm though. One of the bridges was made by a guy called Louis Lachenal a local total hero who was the first man (along with Maurice Herzog) to climb an 8000m mountain (Annapurna in case you were wondering). It was a small suspension bridge, the cables for the suspension being the old ones from the Brevent cable car. Very cool.

Tinks on the bridge - straight out of Jurassic Park

The whole place had this air of peace and tranquility about it, there were plenty of little signs telling you which rock pools were called what and pointing out the old mine workings. Of course I made sure to read each and every one of these signs and try and digest the information, Tinks was more enamoured with the romantic setting of it all methinks. And it was too. Like a mini Jurassic Park, mildly claustrophobic at times, and both of us looking at the sheer walls for cracks and weaknesses that could be a potential climbing route!

Amazing rock pools

Wicked waterfalls cutting down through the rock

All the way through there were staggering views both looking up and down the gorge, it was really beautiful and I'd thoroughly recommend anyone going there for a couple of hours peace and adventuring.

Rickety looking walkways, pretty though. Lachenal's suspension bridge crossing the gorge.

Japanese Scientists' James Bond Moment

2007-09-10T13:30:00.000+02:00

Endgadget in all their glory are reporting on a story that takes mankind one step closer to Moonraker.

Japanese scientists make breakthrough in space-based laser power
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Osaka University have been working together to develop a device which converts sunlight into laser-light with four times the efficiency of previous attempts. According to a report out of Tokyo, the team is working on Space-based solar power systems which can collect sunlight in space and convert it into laser light, which is then transmitted to Earth and used for electricity... or to power a massive Death-Ray. The project works by storing sunlight-based energy in plate made from a sintered powder of metals like chromium and neodymium. When weak laser light is shined onto the plate, the stored energy is transferred to the laser where its strength is amplified by a factor of four. In one test, a 0.5-watt laser was amplified to 180-watts by the plates. Scientists have thus far been able to garner 40-percent of the solar energy produced, and they hope to have a system ready for satellite mounting by the not-too-distant year 2030. Huzzah!

Discuss.

Bish, bash, bosh

2007-09-08T12:09:00.001+02:00

Dropped Chris off at the airport last night, felt a bit tearful as he was going away and gave him a hug and waved him off. The weather was perfect and as he mentioned in his blog it was a great way to be heading off with a memory of the valley in all its glory.

So....
Bish:
Moved all my stuff from the farm to the office today. Going to get everything sorted to turn it into a proper apartment and move desks/etc so that they become more of a small living area and somewhere I can chillax (a new word I learned recently that is a combination of "chill" and "relax" - I'm so hip and trendy).

Bash
Going to finish off one of my contracts this weekend. They've already started to pay (wahey!) and so going to polish it all off and hand them the thing of beauty we've been working on for the past couple of months. This will then mean I can focus on my new contract as well as make upgrades to another ongoing project. Basically it means I'm not going to be bitching and whining on my blog about work, and let's be honest I'm pretty bloody disorganized generally - having 3 computer contracts on the go is a blatant recipe for disaster.

Bosh
Going to go food shopping today. This is the big shop, you know the one you always need to do when you move into somewhere new? I love it. Gonna buy some cool stuff.

Seasons Changing in the Chamonix Valley

2007-09-07T15:38:00.000+02:00

Two days ago, overnight, the temperature dropped like a lead duck into a pond. Hats, gloves and some hideous neon 80's skiing jackets emerged from the various hotels and residences to be sported around town. The heat of summer is officially waving its last good bye and being replaced with the chillier climes of autumn.

Siberian winds pushing a giant cold-weather system from the north-east.

I'm bouncing off the fucking walls with excitement - snow's coming, I can smell it. Other members of the Narg household are not as enthusiastic and are starting to burn incense, chant melodic ancient parchments and sacrifice live chickens to try and lengthen the hot weather. These people are fighting nature and will not win (with or without my moral support)!

Cold and clear around Mont Blanc (latest webcam image)

There's still the sun and blue skies but instead of the deep azure lustre of recent months, it's a paler more powdery hue. Anyone venturing up high should be prepared with thermal undies and more than just a cheeky grin to fend of cold's frosty fingers. The boys have started talking about the upcoming winter, reminiscing about adventures past and stories of deep powder days are flowing like the house rose in Le Delice.

The frosted tips of the Aiguille du Midi (latest webcam image)

Chris is leaving today to go back to London to work on a contract and we had a bit of send-off last night. Fred and I texted everyone in our phones and the glorious man even put on a promotion of McCrampons - a favoured beverage amongst the Les Houches Royalty (fresh lime juice, ice, Jameson's whiskey and Canada Dry). Loads of friends turned up to send Chris off in style with a great blend of people chirpy and cheerful having a bite to eat and washing it down with plenty of booze. A really good night.

The recent madness of working on contracts when I've not been driving transfers recently is starting to get much easier. I've gotten into a good routine and there's regular additions to the company coffers which is very cool. Shaun (the guy who owns Transfer2TheAlps, whom I am driving for) is away at the moment so I'm doing everything and it's going very well. In fact I built his website and have built a very cool admin section which I've been adding to and generally tweaking. He's very pleased and so am I - the more work he gets the better it is for me!

So I'll pick Chris up from Les Houches late afternoon after grabbing some other clients from Cham then off to Geneva. Dinner and a video - a bit of Indiana Jones no less - will follow upon arrival back into the valley. Who knows, might even be able to squeeze in a bit more work this evening. Life's pretty full at the moment but it's great that it is. I'm enjoying it more and more these days and it always makes me smile to get a wave from a passing friend as I'm zipping around the valley in my magic blue bus. I've even managed to start whisking through iTunes and burning CD's to play in the van on the way back. I've even got a crap 80's collection CD for the tourists so they feel they're on a proper cheesy French holiday.

Untidy workspace

2007-09-05T21:28:00.000+02:00

This is my current workspace looking extremely untidy. Note the Calvin & Hobbes desktop on the iMac and the Chamonix extreme skiing video enabling more focus during the evening's contract work.

I think I might just take 2 minutes out to tidy up a bit...

A bluebird transfer from Geneva

2007-09-05T21:23:00.000+02:00

This was the view of Mont Blanc coming into the valley from Geneva the other day on a transfer. I love it - it's like the perfect start to a holiday and it makes me smile to hear the excited chattering and people asking the endless questions. I guess if I can make the start of their break as perfect as possible then hopefully it'll be something they remember for years to come and smile.

Going mental

2007-09-05T13:05:00.000+02:00

Am going mental, can feel it. Just spent half an hour looking for something I then realised I'd put under a keyboard for safekeeping. A keyboard I ask you, what sort of storage device for important things is that?

The good news is that I've managed to set up SQL Server in the office development environment to add to the already long list of supported database formats. Also now my email works seamlessly with all relevant project emails are going into their proper folders. I've got server access sorted out to the new project stuff and am more than halfway finished getting the new development set up.

Just a shame it's meant I can't go out climbing today. Too many emails that need attending to, too many problems that need fixing. Never mind, always tomorrow ... hopefully.

Mad Busy

2007-09-05T10:00:00.000+02:00

Just been manically busy for the past week or so and it doesn't look like it's going to let up for a few days more at least. Going slightly mad but I guess I was always slightly mad anyway. In a few more days or a week or so I hope peace will return and I'll be able to go climbing for a few days in some clear skies. I might even try to squeeze in a couple of hours with the newly married Mark from All Mountain Performance today up at Coupeau on the gnarly crag there. I've never climbed there before but it's dead close to Cham and there's some pretty stiff pitches it so should be fun. Plus I've not climbed for a few more than a few weeks now due to the endless tourists in August and I think the exercise is really, really needed.

Moving house has gone relatively well. On the 31st I packed up all of my gear (and Andy's) and put it into storage temporarily until the 6th/7th where I can get it out and move into the office and make it home. I stayed for a couple of days with a friend at her chalet and have done a couple of nights in the bed in the office. Chris is off on the 7th and so will get the final move done then. Looking forward to having a more permanent place to rest my head and I sleep like a log here so tis all good. Plus I know have ... a BATH! Yes! All I need now is a little rubber ducky to play and splash around with.

Contracts are my main stress. I'm finishing up the old one and starting a new one and they've managed to overlap by a few days. The old contract is inches from completion and as ever the end of it is a little more mad than the start. The new contract is in two parts - the reskin/upgrade of a large site and the support for another large site. This is good because it's ongoing and will keep ticking over. I'm just getting my head around what's going on with the technicalities of the site - luckily it was originally built by a mate I used to work with, so know my way around his code which is a major bonus!

Driving transfers is going dead well. I've been taking over from Shaun driving quite a lot recently and have been zipping in and out of Geneva lots. Even managed to get a few hours in between transfers yesterday to go into a shopping mall in Geneva and have a root around. The Swiss are so organised man! They had little green lights above the parking slots in the multi-storey parking that turned red when a car is parked in the slot. How groovy is that! Plus Swiss rush hour is like the least rushed rush hour in the world. Everyone's polite and casually let other cars cross lanes and stuff. It's really trippy after being in London where people would kill for that last place on the tube. These guys are just so ... nice ...

All in all, I think I'm preparing well for the interseason and ready for the winter. Over the next month or so things should solidify and all this hard work will be rewarded by powder days and beautiful snowy adventures.

Feel like shit

2007-09-03T16:38:00.000+02:00

Got a hangover. Feel like shit. Ugh.

Think I might give up drinking for a month again.

Great music video from Ok Go

2007-08-30T23:40:00.000+02:00

One of my favourite bands of the past year or so has been Ok Go an Chicago based rock band. I really like a lot of their stuff - pretty good riding music too. Anyway, they released an awesome video to go along with their single "Here it Goes Again" that really made me chuckle. It reminded me a bit of the Fatboy Slim "Praise You" video from a few years back.

Of course, nothing beats Johnny Cash singing Nine Inch Nail's song "Hurt" just before he died. It's a classic tune, an amazingly shot video and the most amazing tribute to the Man in Black. If you've not seen it before - click on the link below. It's just amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go

My New Home

2007-08-30T20:09:00.000+02:00

Wahey! Sorted out somewhere to live. Chris is going back to the UK for a few months so going to live in the office - it's an apartment anyway so no need to do any work to it!

Looking forward to being in the middle of town, the tourists are dying away and there's amazing views of the Aiguille du Midi to wake up to every morning.

Turned out nice again.

Bank Holiday weekend

2007-08-30T19:07:00.000+02:00

Hello!

Apologies for the absence - been on this trip back to the UK recently and have just managed to sort everything out here in Cham now to a level where things are resembling normality. So, in order the events of the weekend were - wedding, london, home.

The wedding was awesome. Out in the west country it was a beautiful location - sculpted victorian gardens with all the family out. The ceremony was awesome, the bride looked amazing and then everyone got pissed. I've missed out a lot in between but it's personal family stuff and not really for public consumption. My lil newphew Dusty was in attendance and as usual was a cheery, beautiful focal point for the family Narg. It's wicked watching him grow up.

After the wedding, I trained it back to London where I immediately got involved with getting an oyster card again. Just a pay-as-you-go one but it saved me a great deal than buying individual tickets, plus anyone with a single journey ticket is a blatant tourist and after the summer and the tourist hell of Chamonix I didn't fancy looking like a dick in shorts wandering around London.

So onwards to Baker Street on the Jubilee Line to meet up with my mate Kuntesh. We wandered down the very posh Marylebone High Street and had a few drinks and laughed and caught up and then slipped into a little middle-eastern cafe for snack. It was really good to see him and great to be able to sit down and get back to exactly how it always was without skipping a beat.

I found myself winging my way across to Shoreditch shortly after watching the schweaty schweaty tourists on the circle line tube dripping sun cream everywhere and then wondering why they kept sliding off the handrails on the train. I pissed myself laughing at this. Cruel but funny. I met up with Wardo and went back to his place where I was going to stay. Met his housemate Ed and his missus Tavy and got involved with a few glasses of wine and pizza and some welcome relief on the feet. Tubing and skating around London (got my longboard skateboard back from my folk's house!) is always a giggle but after skating for 4 miles around the city it's nice to site down!

So the famous Pizza Hut Super Supreme - the object of dribbling and drooling beauty that Wardo and I talked about endlessly during those long weeks and months of the interseason. Wanting, needing, aching for a slice of the cheezy goodness as the weather prevented us from foraging outside - the prize eluded from our grasp. We tucked in heartily and the pizza goodness rolled around like the wine in our stomachs - all was well in the world.

A deep sleep then out again for the full english. Wardo and I back having breakfast again! Things turning the full circle it seems. Was good tho - found a proper greasy spoon and tucked into bacon, eggs, tomatoes, beans and sausages! A heavenly way to start the day. We wandered back home after a careful jaunt to balance the digestive system and then I left Andy to a day of peace and tranquility with the TV while I went off to the Notting Hill Carnival with Ipek, Derek, Gill and Jem.

Fantastic, just fantastic. Colours, sounds, lights, dancing in the streets, endless rum punch and the smell of spicy jerk chicken and marijuana in the air. We wandered about with happy abandon chatting and laughing watching the kaleidoscope of brightly clothed (and often very minimally clothed) dancers and floats working their way through the streets. We found more punch, then some whistles, then some more rum punch, then more dancing, more punch, more dancing and yet more punch. It was truly awesome and it simply couldn't have been better.

We wound our way out of the festivities with hundreds of thousands of other revelers and made our way on the bus and on foot to Ping Pong - my favourite restaurant. With the hot weather in mind we managed to get a table next to the open front of the restaurant quiet street just north of Oxford Street and with the pleasant nighttime temperature it felt like the Mediterranean. We stomped into the amazing cocktails they had on offer with everyone sampling each other's drinks and gleefully tucking into the endless dim sum in small bamboo baskets that were being provided in an endless stream. It really was a great finish to a fantastic day and it felt like I'd had a long holiday rather than just a couple of days. I left the boys and girls with a touch of sadness of not seeing them for a few months and made my way back to Andy's.

The next morning I was due to fly back early afternoon so stopped into my old work at IG and saw a load of old work colleagues and friends I'd not seen for a while. It was truly humbling to see everyone again and it was really nice to see everyone looking well. We managed to squeeze in a quick drink at our old local before I had to make the slide down to Gatwick to fly home.

All in all it was one of the best weekend's I've ever had - a combination of family and friends - some adventure and some peaceful moments. It really kicked in that there's loads of these amazingly wicked people in my life and I should make more effort to see them in the future and keep in contact. It'll be my early New Year's resolution.

Waiting in the airport

2007-08-23T13:34:00.000+02:00

On one of the internet booth thingies in Terminal 1 at London Heathrow waiting for my connecting flight up to Manchester from Geneva. Everyone looks dead unhealthy and the whole place is grey skies and dirty. Feels rank.

At least I'll get to see sunny skies up north though, and am looking forward to seeing me Ma when she picks me up from the airport. Funky stuff!

Better go, my flight's just being called...

Knocking it on the head

2007-08-21T13:11:00.000+02:00

The other day Crampons, Chris, Fred and myself all agreed that this morning - Tuesday - we were to all give up smoking together. €25 each went into the pot - the one with the most staying power gets €100. I've got to say it's a cool communal decision that was made - we all want to quit for different reasons and each one of us has somewhat differing tactics to achieve the goal.

The rules for giving up extend to no cigarettes, roll-ups, cigars, joints with tobacco (for those who indulge in that sort of thing), herbal cigarettes (like the clove cigarettes), no pipes. Basically no smoking at all at all.

The various strategies employed for quitting:
Crampons - Patches, gum, anything that looks like it'll give a nicotine hit without actually smoking.
Chris - An array of "quit smoking" books, cd's and hypnotherapy paraphenalia.
Fred - Laughing in the face of temptation, being as he runs a smoking restaurant.
Martin - Cold turkey (possibly assisted by normal chewing gum - not that nicarette shit, it tastes awful).

I gave up for about a year and a half a while ago and didn't find it too bad before slipping back into smoking the odd cigar, then many cigars then finally back onto cigarettes. It's only been a paltry few hours since I got up and I'm already feeling edgy and cackling away at obscure stuff and being generally mental.

Family planning

2007-08-20T14:10:00.000+02:00

Going back to the UK on Thursday! WoooOoooOOooo!

My baby cousin's getting hitched! Then having a couple of days seeing friends in London.

Getting quite excited about the whole thing. I'm pumped about seeing my little nephew Dusty. Really looking forward to seeing the family as well - mum and dad, my sister and brother-in-law, the rest of the cousins, aunts and uncles, my grandmother. Plus as my cousin and I went to school together there will be a whole load of school friends at the wedding as well.

Then there's a couple of days in London. Going to see a whole host of friends and head off to the Notting Hill Carnival and see everyone and grab a drink and catch up. I'm really stoked to be seeing everyone and catching up and sharing a laugh and a drink.

This whole thing's come at the perfect time and I'm really looking forward to a bit of recharge of the batteries out of the valley to see everyone. So tonight Crampons, Fred, George and Ian and I are all having a bite to eat together and I'll shave my beard and head ready for the trip back and start getting my stuff together - washing clothes and the like.

Passy Lake with Mont Blanc in the background

I'm feeling pretty good after swimming the mile-long lake at Passy yesterday with Chris. Was good of him to drag me out of the office for a couple of hours into the hot sun and go for a splash. Not sure why in God's name whilst we were supposed to be sitting on towels next to a mile-long lake carefully not looking at the topless French girls the only thing running through my mind was "I wonder if I can swim the whole lake without stopping". Muppet. Still - did it and feel healthy for it.

Right! Time to get the flat sorted out, the place could do with a clean.

Climbing delayed!

2007-08-18T14:00:00.001+02:00

No Frison Roche the other day - put off by a combination of cloud and work. Stayed in the office last night to get more of this project finished - deadline is Monday and we will be ready! I'm just going to be pleased when all the manic rush is over.

The good news is that we can see the finishing line and it's pretty damn close. I'm driving a few airport transfers on Monday to get a bit of extra cash and then on Tuesday will go out and hopefully do this nemesis climb. The rest of the week I've got a few viewings set up for apartments - Taconnaz, Gaillands and Chamonix Centre are all on the cards.

Bring it on baby.

Driving in the Chamonix Valley

2007-08-16T16:46:00.000+02:00

There appears to be a few unwritten rules for driving around Cham and the valley that I thought I'd jot down as a useful reference for anyone coming here and choosing to take to the road.

Headlights
These should be left on full beam all the time, day and night. You can't be too careful now can you. Some may argue that getting blinded by a set of halogen beams burning directly into your retina whilst negotiating narrow, winding mountain roads could be construed as dangerous. These people obviously do not take the appropriate measures of closing your eyes and driving by instinct until the oncoming dazzling array of light has passed. Yellow headlights are de rigour for any French car built pre 1988 and show that not only are you a local, but you are also hardcore in your choice of transport and not swayed by modern advertising encouraging the purchase of some nasty plastic car to motor around in.

Indicators
The use of these is purely optional. Sudden violent swerving of your car down a turn-off should serve as sufficient notice for all other road users of your intention of changing direction. Pedestrians, cyclists, scooters, motorbikers and invalid carriage drivers should retain a third eye for any sudden movement in their peripheral vision warning of this. Indicators can also be used to signify potential future intent of other activities - a shopping stop, flying into the bank quickly, handbrake turn, sliding on ice.

Roundabouts
These should be renamed "free-for-alls". Don't hesitate about stopping on them, and for god's sake don't indicate - that's a public sign of weakness. The general philosophy is to approach cautiously and then gun the motor aiming for a gap as wide as a midgets arse between two cars currently riding the concrete carousel. Screeching tires mean that you're really using the roundabout and not just mincing around it as part of some stupid traffic control system.

Tailgating
The ideal driving position you should be aiming for is sat somewhere on the rear seats of the car in front. Don't worry a jot about being so close that the other driver feels like you're a colonic parasite, go ahead and get your full beams on for the best effect. Bumpers are there to be used, not ignored.

Speed
Corners and narrow mountain roads should be attempted at warp factor 9. Straight pieces of road around 0.08 km/h. You should alternate between your highest and lowest speeds in the shortest amount of time. Whilst driving through town try to stop occasionally to peruse the latest sales in the shops and wave a casual hand at the trail of traffic behind to let them know you're only going to move when you're good and ready. Show them who's boss.

Parking
Should be attempted anywhere regardless of signage or road markings. The middle of the road is acceptable so long as you put your hazard warning lights on. With hazard lights on you are truly free to experiment with where you can leave your car. Pavements can be used at any time of the day or night for any length of time. No need for hazard lights as these are officially recognized slots. When approaching a potential car parking slot, make sure to look over and appraise the potential site extremely thoroughly. Parking is a an art form and should never be rushed.

I hope this helps with your road-goings in the valley.

Work and getting ready for Frison Roche

2007-08-16T16:26:00.001+02:00

Time taken up recently has been basically working as much as possible (the earliest I've finished this week was 8.13pm and had several 1am-ers). But this is pretty good as it means we've really cracked on through our side of the project. The client are looking and talking about taking Listingslab on as their development team for a long time in the future, a new area of business has opened up and best of all we've generated a load of cash.

It's been really hard work mentally a lot of the time and both Chris and I have really felt it, but it's also been great to be so deeply embedded into work talking to the clients and solving big problems. The deadline's Monday for delivery and in fact Chris and I are now quite well ahead of schedule on our side of things so the client's asking us to help out with other areas of the site.

As I've been working every day for a while now I'm taking the day off tomorrow to go climb Frison Roche - the 1000 foot rock face under the cable car at Brevent. Louise and I will team up to make the rope and as she's done it a load of times before we know who's going to lead which pitches. I'm really looking forward to getting some exercise and some sun and being out in the fresh air. Going to make some sandwiches and polish my helmet tonight (in a non Benny Hill way) and get my gear together all ready for the big push. Bring it on!

White water rafting on the Arve

2007-08-13T18:03:00.000+02:00

Splashy splashy

Saw some people white water rafting on the Arve between Chamonix and Les Bossons today when coming into work. Looked like quite a giggle and was thinking about getting a few people together to give it a crack. The trouble is that it's glacial water - you'd end up with testicles the size and texture of raisins after 5 minutes in that river. It's bloody cold. Still, looks like an entertaining way to spend an afternoon.

One of the cool things is that you get to go through Chamonix town centre itself.

Boshing through Cham past Le Terrasse

The Beast lives!

2007-08-12T00:51:00.000+02:00

We've got a computer in the office called "The Beast". It's been broken for like 8 months or something and I've just managed to fix it. It's 00:52 according to the system clock and I'm bouncing off the walls with happiness. It's just a thing of beauty now - clean, fast, powerful.

I feel like such a hero but in reality I know I'm a total dork.

Never mind tho eh.

New Lease of Life

2007-08-10T21:55:00.000+02:00

Good solid day of work done today and finishing up now - about 10pm. Will come in tomorrow and bosh out a load more but really humming along with this project now. Churned out a load of good stuff earlier and going to try and complete loads of it this weekend ready to jump into next week with a big cheesy grin. Chris has chipped off back to the Fatherland to see family this weekend so going to try and cream through the work while he's away so he can come back to something cool.

Feeling loads better after a real low point mid-week. Going to try and get out for a run this weekend too - might even run from the farm to work tomorrow. I'm becoming more and more of a fan of being fit and healthy making a difference mentally. Hopefully in my case even watching sport has the same effect but who knows - I'm not a scientist.

After the 24 festival that occurred when it was pissing it down with rain a few weekends ago, it looks like Sunday evening might promote a bit of a Lethal Weapon festival. Frankly the weather looks like it's going to be shocking. Saturday should be pretty nice though - I'll just slip on my green flash, skin-tight 1970's tennis shorts, headband and my ipod (it's at times like this I wish I had a cassette walkman) and go running around being generally healthy.

Oh! ... and it snowed this week! It's August for god's sake! There was a serious drop in temperature (one that made the log pile deplete in size) and it dumped above 1800m. Go figure - the weather here is weirder than a bucket of soapy frogs sometimes.

Elevated Terror Threats

2007-08-08T14:23:00.001+02:00

More email spam from this morning:

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist
threats and have raised their security level from "Miffed" to
"Peeved". Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to
"Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross". Londoners have not been "A Bit
Cross" since the blitz began in 1940 and tea supplies all but ran
out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody
Nuisance". The last time the British issued "A Bloody Nuisance"
warning level was during the great fire of 1666.

Also, the French government announced yesterday that it has raised
its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher
levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was
precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag
factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.

It's not only the English and French who are on a heightened level of
alert. Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout loudly and
excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain:
"Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans also increased their alert state from "Disdainful
Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also
have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbor" and "Lose".

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the
only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to
deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new
Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

The Hoff Soap dispenser

2007-08-08T11:20:00.001+02:00

An oldie but an absolute classic.

Climbing the Aiguillette d'Argentiere [Photos]

2007-08-08T02:33:00.000+02:00

As promised, here are some photos from climbing the Aiguillette d'Argentiere last weekend. Click on the photos for larger versions.

Reaching the top of the Aiguillette:

Chris belaying me on the first pitch with Les Grands Montets and Les Drus in the background:

Chris about to tackle the knife-edge ridge:

Success! Chris and I sorting out the ropes to abseil down. The Aiguille d'Argentiere is the peak in the background:

A friendly ibex wandering around the rocks as we climbed:

Shooting the demons

2007-08-07T22:26:00.000+02:00

Feeling chirpy now. Spoken to me ma which is always cool. Now eating banana sandwiches and watching Groundhog Day. Amazing what quality food and educating theater can do for the spirits.

We've dug into the work, come up trumps right at the end of the day and have cleared the decks ready for tomorrow. Got a few apartment ideas and hopefully going to get something sorted out soon so it'll be a good base for the foreseeable future. Time to rock n roll back into society after the cabin fever years at the farm!

Dealing with the demons

2007-08-07T13:35:00.000+02:00

Feeling pretty low today. Got lots on my mind.

Crampons has decided to use my place at the farm as accommodation for staff over the winter season. We had agreed that I'd stay there with Chris over the winter but hey, things change and it's not a surprise - it's something we've talked about several times over the past few months. It's no bad thing really - I love it up there but some pretty big problems were looming up on the horizon with regards to the winter. Heating and transport and internet access being the three main ones.

Ironically the weather's turned over the past 24 hours, the recent days of blue skies and baking sun have been replaced with the Jurassic Park look. Thunderstorms broke up the peace of the night and this morning misty cloud was rising from the woods on each side of the valley. The cloud is hanging low and heavy over Chamonix and Les Houches has taken on a darker hue.

Work's going well however but some seriously long days are needed before the end of the week to meet the first deadline. We're cracking on with it now and dropping it into the main development environment with several degrees of success.

I know in my mind that things are going to be good - the card deck is shuffled. Time to deal a hand and see what happens.

The Sequence

2007-08-04T16:50:00.000+02:00

Current activity sequence looks something like this:
Work --> climb -->
alpine activity --> work -->
work --> climb -->
beer --> work -->
work --> climb.

Got picked up by Chris and Phil this morning to go up to the Aiguillette d'Argentiere for a spot of climbing (I've climbed it before - here's the previous blog post).

An hour and a half hike up the ridge then a couple of hours climbing, hike back down to the car and now I'm in the office working on our current contract (the deadline's a bit pressing at the moment).

The walk up to the aiguillette was its usual blend of a bit of effort and lots of stunning views. You feel like a condor with the thermals casting a hot wind rushing up the slope, it's just amazing. It makes also makes it all the more worthwhile to be putting graft into getting to the climb. Everyone's friendly that you pass on the rocky paths and there's only the sound of laughter you hear intermittently breaking up the continual scrunching beat of your feet on the loose stone. It reminds me of walking around the Austrian Alps as a kid with my mum, dad and sister. It brings up the same memory of walking down a mountain path above the Ossiacher Zee with a huge dock leaf hat on for some reason!

Chris and I were pretty shocked at how much better we were climbing than the last time we were there. Looking good boys - improvement! We even tried a double-pitch variant route along a sharp knife-edge corner leading up the north-eastern quadrant and then along an extremely exposed traverse across a little shelf before pushing on upwards over a slab with lots of lovely holds to the very top.

I loved it, Chris was beaming and smiley but unfortunately Phil picked up a stomach bug yesterday and spent the day snoozing on the rocks with the chamois mountain goats wandering around him. Chris and I tried a variety of pitches with overhangs, roofs, corners, ridges and some really nice crack climbing all featuring whilst he dozed in the beaming sun.

The views up there are amazing and I still never tire - winter or summer - of the way the valley looks. It's feels as though the whole place is a living entity with glaciers growing and receding in the same way as clipping a beard and mountains hanging heavy with snow in the winter and heavy with lush vegetation in the summer sporting different costumes for each season.

I look up and down the mountains and the valley and have this weird personal relationship with many of the features that can be seen. Looking at the big bouldery cliffs in the Lavencher bowl reminds me riding backcountry through there dodging avalanches. Further east on the Grands Montets at the top there's the Petit Vert - and remembering climbing it late season with Mark and dropping first down the hug open face cutting a single flowing line down the hanging glacier. Then there's the rounded double peak at the Swiss end of the valley - the Tete de Balme and hiking it with friends old and new. Shooting down the gulley that runs down the face of the Domaine du Balme is one of my favourite things to do - ever. Riding through the tiny village of Le Tour on my snowboard after fresh snow this winter - leaving a solitary trail in the snow through people's gardens and by the church graveyard wall. Then there's Flegere and Brevent - jumping the huge natural kicker called "The Tit" with Fred from Le Delice and also riding kilometer after kilometer of untracked powder with Kevin one major snow day. Then there are the times spent looking upwards - yearning to climb Frison Roche at Brevent; the huge daunting wall visible from Chamonix and something I'm finally going to achieve with the experienced Louise soon.

Then there's the Aiguille du Midi - start of the Vallee Blanche and of course Mont Blanc and all it means and stands for in the valley. We know and talk about its individual features and bumps and gullies as we see them every day. Crampons and I are going climb that big dome of snow and ice this winter ... and ride it down. Then of course there's looking across to Les Houches further west - the village I live in and the endless memories of there. The whole valley is filled with thousands of sparks of memory, triggered by each slow glance across the immense terrain and the subsequent empathetic rapport with what you see. This is my home, I feel it in my body.

In other news I've just paid my rent for the month, there's a load of money clearing and coming in, the business is growing, the farm is clean, I've got a tan, have met a funky girl. Things are cool now. Things are looking cool for the future.

And to top it off, Led Zeppelin are releasing a new album on iTunes. Unfortunately it's a compilation album of previous songs picked by the band, and as I've actually got every album they've ever previously released I've already got the tracks elsewhere. Still, always good to get a new toy.

Photos from the day to follow.

Bits, bobs and bastards

2007-08-02T10:11:00.000+02:00

Bits
Work is all-encompassing at the moment. Days are long and am going to bed and getting up way earlier than normal. We're doing a contract with a pretty tight series of deadlines for a company based in the states so combined with getting into the office at unreasonable o'clock, we're also doing project meetings on skype that start at 6pm and then finishing up work afterwards.

It's all going very well and they're very happy with what we've currently done and already talking about more work and subsequent phases of the project. Chris and I are learning loads about a new sector of trendy business where there's loads of work out there and we're getting paid by the hour to do so. We've even got our next contracts lined up. Fantastic.

Bobs
Met a really, really nice scottish girl the other day but unfortunately she's gone back to the UK this weekend. But have been emailing each other and whatnot. We're talking about hopefully spinning it so she can come and stay over in a while for a few days and do a bit of skiing for a few days. Hope so anyway.

Bastards
Left my car in Cham the other day tucked away in a little car park close to the station. Some idiot smashed the driver's side window - they didn't steal anything, just smashed the window. As the gendarmes are pretty swift and fairly unyielding I decided to forgo getting his window fixed just yet as there's a few other things starting to go wrong with him. He's been really, really awesome and still has legs but I can hear the faint sound of an overweight female warming up her voice...

I've been thinking to replace Merv as the upcoming winter is really going to test him. He currently desperately needs some new front tyres but over the winter will need snow tyres and more than likely require snow chains putting on and removing every trip to and from the farm - a serious pain in the arse. Also he could really do with a service as he's developed some squeaky brakes and a few minor noises that sound like one of the wheel bearings is starting to stiffen. The driver's side door really needs to be fixed as it's permanently locked and in general he could do with life on the valley floor - not being bounced up and down a cracked, steep, narrow mountain road every day.

In the mean time I've borrowed Crampon's missus' fiesta as she's got a new work car. The fiesta's currently sitting around the farm not being used despite being in extremely good nick despite a couple of minor and very treatable things. The exhaust muffler's been knocked and needs replacing but she's away for a month and we've agreed a deal where I can get the exhaust fixed and use it while I'm getting Merv fixed - or more likely seeing if I can sell Merv and get a better car more suited to the snow (hopefully the fiesta - which already has snow tyres!).

Luckily there's a cheap mechanic who owes Fred a favour or two and can get the exhaust done for an extremely reasonable price. Sweet!

I guess sometimes you just need a prod in the right direction from fate or God or whomever to get something started. Getting new transport has always been on the cards and Merv has been unbelievably helpful. With the recurring work it's a good time to get the situation sorted before winter rolls in.

Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head...

2007-07-31T12:23:00.000+02:00

This morning was awesome. The views across the valley from the balcony with my morning porridge just rocked so decided to document what was going on a little bit. Geeky I know but hey - I'm a nerd.

Step 1. Make porridge (1/2 milk, 1/2 water - 2 spoons of blackberry jam) and sit on balcony chewing thoughtfully. Look over the three areas I can see:
Rays of sun coming over Mont Blanc and zapping Chamonix.

Les Houches waking up in warmth.

Pure blue skies over Servoz.

Step 2. Drive into Chamonix (6 minutes) via the scenic route through Les Bossons. Find car parking place (dependent on tourist density) and then walk to office on the Rue Paccard:

Step 3. Meander to boulangerie and buy rustic bread and jam for secondary breakfast/snacking:

Step 4. Enter office on Rue Paccard and check mail (our mailbox is second from the left on the bottom row):

Step 5. Eat second breakfast looking out of office up at Aiguille du Midi/Mont Blanc and read mail:

Step 6. Work!

Adventure Saturday

2007-07-31T12:13:00.001+02:00

Chris, Sarah, Abi and myself chipped off out on Saturday for a barbeque in the woods and a spot of climbing. Was really nice to hang out and have some munchies, go for a monkey around a small crag that none of us had climbed before and generally just have a nice relax.

We bumped into a scottish guy and girl who were climbing the same crag and ended up laughing with them a while - culminating in us all going to Le Vert bar for a few gin and tonics after the day's exertions. We all eased our way down to Le Delice back in the Houches to carry on the weekend's celebrations and then at the end of the evening some of the guys went off to a birthday party in the woods further up the valley. Yours truly was a good boy however and retired gracefully.

Climbing Frison Roche at Brevent

2007-07-27T19:19:00.000+02:00

Going to climb the right-hand face under the cable car station with Lousie soon. Looks wicked doesn't it? The route is called Frison Roche (5+/6a, 250m - 820 feet) and is continually visible from Chamonix. It's a 6 pitch route with a bit of traversing and a bit of slab and a bit of crack - lots of different types of climbing.

I've wanted to do this route for a while, looking forward to having a crack at it. Will take the camera and snap some shots and do a posting on the day's fun.

An avoidable tragedy on Mont Blanc

2007-07-25T22:53:00.000+02:00

Normally I wouldn't post up about this but I want to this time. 4 climbers have died of exposure climbing Mont Blanc today. I offer my deepest sympathies to the familes and it's a tragic event - but was it an accident?

The BBC News story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6916549.stm

We've all been moping around waiting for the weather to break - waiting for the rain and storms of the past week to abate so we can go out climbing and up into the mountains. It really cleared up yesterday early evening and the sunset was one of those that really take your breath away. The rocks glowing red as the setting sun lit up the pure white peaks - a stark contrast to the blue skies behind. Blue skies peppered with a few clouds. Beautiful eh? Well it is but it set alarm bells ringing in my head.

I was actually outside with Brian looking up at Mont Blanc last night during the sunset as I met him outside his house to go for dinner. We actually chatted about how amazing it looked then passed comment on the lenticular cloud sitting atop Mont Blanc. When these clouds sit over peaks they generally mean high winds at the summit. Warning 1. The bright white peaks covered with fresh snow gleaming against the blue sky - so there's lots of new snow (warning 2) and it's obviously cold as it was pure white and looking through binoculars this morning could see lots of crystalline formations (warning 3).

Obviously these warnings aren't set in stone but they all add up. To have climbed Mont Blanc means that these guys had to either be up there already or going up really early first thing in the morning. Whichever way it's talking about being on the mountain a few hours after the weather has broken.

I was talking to a guide friend of mine, Mark, last year who said that the old rule of leaving a mountain 3 days to settle after a storm is no longer there. Backcountry skiing and more people wishing to climb mean that this timeframe has shortened considerably. But the mountain and atmosphere still needs to settle and get safer.

I really feel sorry for the families of these guys, and offer my deepest sympathies to them and it'll be something we talk about and chew over in the bars and between friends this week. Unfortunately there's a lot of accidents out here and they come in regularly (every week or so) over the winter and summer seasons.

But how many of my friends chose to go out into the mountains today? None. Not one.

Doing the dev

2007-07-25T13:14:00.000+02:00

My brain's fried. Proper fried. Was up til 4am trying to pull apart a 56MB MySQL database dump file on 3 different operating systems. Turns out that a combination of shell scripts, Red Hat Linux and nano text editor is the best combination for splitting the file up.

Mailed it into work and retired gracefully to bed ready for loading it into a database this morning. Turns out the data's corrupt in it and so Chris and I have been trying to sift and clean it this morning. Bah!

All this energy on geekiness is because of the contract which we've started recently. We're having to create a full mirrored dev environment from the production servers in the states to be able to work from here effectively. It needs to be done but my word it's really mentally fatiguing. The good news is that it only needs to be set up once - then it's just the fun part of development - building new things, making them work properly and making it look pretty. The bad news is that the rain and storms of late are no longer with us and there's blue skies and bright sunshine. I really want to get out and do some exercise and be in the fresh air but alas - have to prioritise.

Chris has chipped off to a music festival near Geneva this afternoon and after bashing my brains against the computer for another couple of hours, think I might knock work on the head, grab Digby the Dog and my iPod and go for a run up into the thinner air.

P.S. Had refried beans last night - went for mexican food around Brian's with two of his friends travelling around Europe who dropped in to Cham. Was very cool. My dad's given me a penchant for refried beans over the years and these ones imported via Switzerland were very good indeed. Happy days!

24

2007-07-23T15:47:00.000+02:00

This weekend I've managed to watch the entire series 3 of 24. It rocks. So addictive to watch and therefore extremely handy for a rainy weekend. Might see if I can get another series and store it for a later date when the rain rolls in once again. Like today for instance!

A bit unwell

2007-07-21T14:00:00.001+02:00

A little bit unwell today. Must have eaten something yesterday that's not been perfect. It's been a while since feeling ill - several months in fact - maybe it's just due? I've been turning down invitations for quick drinks and climbing left and right for the past day now, but will no doubt be back on form shortly and whisk out and about soon.

The good news is that it's enabled cracking on with a load of work. Loafing around the house in a cap, a towel and a tshirt is prime coding apparel with comfort and function highly rated. Obviously the tshirt and cap work well with any Skype video call but the towel is crucial. It's soft, comfortable and multi-functional. The clear issue here is how to wear the towel.

When younger, I had the pleasure of living in Malaysia so wear my towel (if for any extended period) like a sarong. Demonstrated below in the picture of the rather attractive girl waist down.

Notice how good it looks? This also an added affect for anyone pitching up unexpectedly to the farm. They look at the whole ensemble and think, "Hmm, stylish and continental - that boy knows how to dress even when relaxing". This is the very definition of an added bonus.

Of course the classic style is just to wrap towel around waist and tuck it in - useful for shorter periods of wear. And then there's always the highly informal "chuck towel over shoulder". This last towel wearing option should never be employed in company. It's a conversation stopper but extremely effective if just moving a towel from its resting place to the bathroom.

I hope that from here on in you treat the wearing of your towel with the importance it deserves.

Rain over Chamonix

2007-07-20T17:21:00.000+02:00

Still raining! Mont Blanc is hidden by cloud when looking from the office. Thinking to finish up here and head home for a bit in a few minutes and see what's happening in the Delice in Les Houches before tootling off home for a spot of dinner. There's a few rumbles of thunder in the heavens too - might even get a evening show of electricity over the evening meal.

Raining over the Bossons Glacier

More rain up on the Aiguille du Midi (peak far right) and the Mont Blanc Massif.

Stormy nights and peaceful sleep

2007-07-20T00:37:00.000+02:00

It's 12.38am and I've been unable to sleep because of the continual thunder echoing up and down the valley and the arced flashes of lighting shattering the dark of the night. But I'm not unhappy, far from it.

I've been feeling good for a while now and better still in the recent past. Things are truly going well and I have no real worries - the future looks extremely positive, the present is solid and happy and the past is history and reflection. I can lay my head down at night these days without the shadows of doubt and negative thought shouting through my mind and I can sleep - albeit when the weather decides to calm down! But even if it doesn't, I know tomorrow I will still wake up looking forward to the day.

I'm going to pull the sofa in front of the computer and get my duvet and a pillow and crash out watching Die Hard. Hopefully the thunder outside will fit nicely into watching Bruce sparking cliches out and shooting terrorists.

Rose Marie, Triolet and the Refugio Dalmazzi - Part 1

2007-07-17T12:32:00.000+02:00

Got a call on Friday afternoon from Brian asking about going across to Italy and try to climb a multi-pitch route called Rose Marie (TD+, 440m (1,444 feet), 6c) relatively high up (around 2,800m) on the backside of Mont Blanc and the Grandes Jorasses. The plan was to get all the equipment together quickly then drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel and follow the ridge on the other side of the Mont Blanc massif until the road ran out then walk up to a refuge for an overnight stay - the Rifugio Dalmazzi (2,584m) below the Aiguille Triolet (3,876m).

The tongue and shoulder of the Triolet Glacier

A touch later than planned, all the gear was collected and stowed in Merv the Swerve and we set off bound for the altitude. I have to say Merv performed admirably and we scooted through the tunnel and turned left just before Courmayeur and went through the small villages on the south side of Mont Blanc following the road winding its way carefully through the less and less inhabited valley. When it started to get pretty bleak and the scenery reminded me of the Lake District on steroids I figured we were closing on the point where size 8's would be the order of the day as transport. Sure enough the dusty gravel path soon became an option no more and packs were hoisted as we set off on foot towards the refuge that looked ominously miles away and even more knackeringly far, far higher.

A small sign claimed that the refuge was 2 1/4 hours away and we left Merv at around 7pm. Whomever wrote that sign obviously had a keen sense of humour. The rocky path was littered every step with large rocks making the walking relatively warming and making sure one kept one's foot placements just so. Brian had booked dinner at the refuge and as I was in no mood for a sprint, he set of at hare's pace to get some food in. After an hour or so, thankfully the hot temperatures of the lower valley started to fall away a little and unthankfully the "path" on the top of the increasingly steep ridge it followed started to steepen yet further and fixed ropes could be seen assisting the route ahead. I passed a family of ibex standing on and around an enormous boulder spat out by the glacier dominating the upper end of the valley. They were really amazing creatures with huge curved horns looking like they should overbalance at any time but sure-footedly worked their way around the loose rock. The glacial water was cascading down waterfalls from the tongue of the glacier creating a constant rumble echoing around the valley and amazing panoramic views.

Sunset looking out from the refuge

After a brief drink and a scramble to cut through the start of the moraines proper it was time for the first roped section - a traverse across the top of an exposed small snowfield. With that carefully negotiated the steepness really began with a vengeance and it was necessary tackle the extremely steep rocky roped sections - something akin to grade 3 and low 4 rock climbing! Another hour of this the refuge loomed ever closer perched high up on a large rock step. The altitude was kicking in with happy abandon and I could feel myself breathless after a minimal amount of time but was recovering well after a few gulps of air so figured all the fitness training of late was pretty effective. I finally arrived at the refuge a little before 10pm as the light in the valley really started to dim. A sandwich and a drink followed then loafed around with Brian waiting to feel sleepy (ably assisted by a quick beer - it was Friday night after all!). At around 11pm we headed off to bed to arise at 6am to head out to the climb.

Rose Marie, Triolet and the Refugio Dalmazzi - Part 2

2007-07-17T12:31:00.000+02:00

A relatively good night's sleep passed and before you know it we were finishing off a morning cup of tea with breakfast and heading off towards the climb. The route meant we had to cross the moraines by the shoulder of the Triolet glacier above us then hike up the glacier a fair way to get to the starting pitch. Unfortunately we only had about 100m of easy pathway to work with before we were downclimbing a rocky shelf to get to the moraines. These damn moraines - just endless boulders and unstable rocks on often treacherously steep slopes really were an effort in concentration. I had visions of broken ankles and we carefully picked our way through them and jumped onto the clear ice of the glacier with a certain amount of relief. The sound of rocks falling away under your feet and bouncing and cracking their way down the steep slopes was thankfully past!

Ascending on the glacier - the target of our climb is the highest of the three rock pinnacles on the right hand side

We donned crampons and pulled out the ice axes almost as soon as setting foot on the glacier feeling pleased that the blue skies and clear sunlight were providing a good amount of warmth and creating the most magnificent views. The refuge was by now out of sight and we were pushing through the unseasonably deep snow on the glacier fighting for breath and taking care to walk around crevasses. The feeling of only seeing your own footprints on the glacier and being completely alone is really breathtaking and exhilarating. The air was clear, the sun was shining and we were marching off in the middle of an adventure - it doesn't get much better. The noise of all the ice creaking and cracking continually permeated the air with noise and we knuckled down to the business of getting where we needed to be.

Coming up the top section of the Triolet Glacier

After an exhausting couple of hours wading through the deep snow on the glacier we reached the berschrund (a crevasse formed where the moving ice of the glacier meets the rock). Brian weighing as much as a gnat, skipped over the snow bridge to get to the rock but as I stepped on it both feet went straight through and I slammed my arms out to each side trying desperately to get as much surface area as possible onto the crumbling snow - as per the book says. I could feel my feet hanging in space whilst slowly working one leg free to lay on the bridge.

My heart was absolutely pounding in my ears by this stage and I could feel by breath coming in guttural chokes. I worked my other leg free and then slowly and carefully eased off the unstable snow bridge and back onto the glacier proper. A quick glance into the holes my body and feet had made confirmed my fears - the crevasse was deeper than I could see - just an inky black abyss reaching down. Obviously I was absolutely shitting it but forced myself to swallow it down and then try another route. Well I'd obviously not been to church for a while because I managed to do the same thing 2 minutes later on another part of the bergschrund. Luckily I'd probed pretty well with my ice axe and only one foot went through. I wriggled out of it to above the crevasse onto the rock and caught my breath.

It had taken us a hard 2 1/2 hours to get to the climb.

Rose Marie, Triolet and the Refugio Dalmazzi - Part 3

2007-07-17T12:29:00.000+02:00

After sorting ourselves out switching alpine equipment for climbing we did a bit of ad-libbing to get into the main climb with Brian leading across a 5+ shallow dihedral and me following pulling out the safety gear. We hooked into the anchor and looked up the next pitch (a 6b/6a) and set off. Brian led out again slotting in the odd piece of protection here and there going well up to a small chimney about 30m above. It started to get a bit sketchy here with Brian taking a few minutes to have a look at the chimney and then worked his way over it. A few minutes later he called down to say he was anchored in and I was on belay to start climbing. I've got to say, I was really, really happy with the way I climbed - a flake to layback and a few crimps here and there, a bit of delicate slabby stuff - was really climbing well - but tired. Pushing with the legs and removing the gear fluidly. I had to leave a cam behind because I couldn't get my fingers into the crack to release it but realised it was in our abseil path down and would be able to get it then.

Climbing up the second pitch of Rose Marie

The rock we were climbing on was the most beautiful golden colour you've ever seen with these huge crystals embedded into it. Nothing like the rock in the crags up and down the valley worn smooth by the endless sport climbers. Of course bits of it were flaky, crumbling and there was loose rock everywhere. Tapping holds before placing weight on them was the order of the day and more than once I had to brush some loose stones off hand and foot holds to get proper purchase. But the colour was the thing that got me - I don't know if we were climbing a giant vertical gold nugget but it felt like it.

I realised Brian's problem he paused at when I reached a black rock chimney with meltwater running down it and an obvious layback move required with poor, wet holds. I tried several times failing to get more than two moves up. Eventually I prussic'ed up the metre I couldn't climb before finding a solid jug hold and hauled myself up the rest of the way up the chimney then positively climbed the rest of the way to join Brian at the anchor.

I still feel frustrated at what I said to Brian next, "I'm gassed, I don't think I've got much more in me". I had plenty left in the tank - all I needed was a 5 minute breather and felt stupid as soon as I'd said it. Brian smiled and said, "well we're nearly over the most difficult part of the climb, just these two 6c slabs up here". I duly got into position and hung from my sling over a 450 foot sheer drop above the glacier to put Brian on belay to continue. He set off upwards and I could see that he was struggling with the first slab but managed to wrangle past it - the second slab was the crux. One move with nothing to hold on to. Brian tried many times, trying new ways past, trying to use gear to get past - all to no avail. Damn - it was the crux of the whole climb and we both felt sure we could go on from there as the rest was only 5+. Slightly deflated Brian came down to the anchor and we swiftly abseiled down the rest of the way to the glacier below.

I'd been seeing a few wet snow avalanches trundling their way on farther slopes away from where we were above the glacier and had been keeping a wary eye out for anything that looked dangerous. Brian had obviously been thinking the same thing and abseiled down to the side of the rock above the bergschrund to pick up the packs and gear we had left there and then performed a rappel traverse to continue down to below the bergschrund so we we didn't need to cross it on foot again.

About two minutes after completing this, a wet snow avalanche slowly trundled it's way down over the bergschrund a bit farther out from where we had stashed our gear and stopped 6 feet from Brian who was looking at the swishing snow rather quizzically! Of course we knew the safe spot (the avalanche was heading down the side of Brian, protected by the rock - and most of the snow would fall into the bergschrund) but it was still strange to watch the whole charade being played out from my rocky perch.

I hopped down the rock and exchanged climbing gear for alpine, roped up with Brian and then headed back down the glacier to the refuge. The snow had softened in the sun (hence the wet snow avalanches of earlier) and so we were sinking in deeper than in the morning ascent - sometimes up to our waists! We made good progess however glissading where possible and laughing and joking as we made good progress down past the crevasses to the moraines. We should have taken boards up there as it would have been fantastic riding!

All ready to go up the glacier

We removed the crampons and untied each other then set off to the refuge. After a nervously cautious but uneventful re-crossing of the moraines I didn't fancy the climb up the rock step we had down-climbed earlier so scrambled up a 50m 45° slope back to the path. By now the sun was in full force and was blasting off the white snow reflecting it's heat into the center of the valley. I wasn't particularly looking forward to the hike back down to the valley floor by myself. But as Brian was going to spend another night in the refuge to climb with a friend the next day I needed to set off and so after a pause to organise equipment I duly set off from the refuge. Rather stupidly - most likely from the fatigue I was now feeling - I forgot to refill my water bottle at the refuge and the walk down became tortuous with a dry mouth and failing energy.

I pushed onwards however until I came to the valley floor a couple of hours later and refilled my water bottle from a fast-flowing meltwater stream that I could see had come straight from one of the glaciers. I few swigs later I felt at least some energy return to my body and so wolfed down a chocolate bar and drove home.

It's a day and a bit later now and I can now feel my body's actually recovered from the sheer exhaustion that it's been put through. On one day there was some 8 1/2 hours alpine climbing through mixed terrain and around 3 hours rock climbing. My hands and arms are covered with nicks and cuts but are healing quickly and my head is much clearer. I don't think I've ever felt exhaustion like that after doing an adventure, I've tan stripes on my head from the cooling gaps in my helmet and my nose is sunburnt but I really can't wait to do it all again.

Fatigue

2007-07-15T14:30:00.000+02:00

Spent the last 2 days climbing on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. Got back last night and was so tired I could barely speak. We got a load of photos from walking up to the refuge were staying, up the glacier to the climb then coming back. I'll post them (and a full report on the activities) later today or tomorrow. For now I'm just trying to get the energy back in my body and heal up.

Funny Dilbert

2007-07-12T12:10:00.000+02:00

Image © Scott Adams
Original post: Dilbert Blog

I saw this on the blog written by Scott Adams - the writer and artist of the Dilbert comic strip (Wikipedia)and it made it me laugh. Thought I'd plaster it on here so you all can have a giggle too. Weirdly I don't actually read hardly any Dilbert, but I read the blog.

Gun to my head I'd have to say my favourite comic strip is Calvin and Hobbes (daily strip). Just too funny for words. Depending on how you look at it, fortunately or unfortunately the creator Bill Watterson didn't allow anyone merchandising rights to the characters and artwork and so the Calvin and Hobbes t-shirt I've always wanted and never found is going to have to be a dodgy bootleg one. So if you see one when you're out and about, my size is medium or large. Thanks!

Image © Bill Watterson

Hyphenated surnames that should never have been

2007-07-11T03:15:00.000+02:00

Found these in one of my RSS feeds today and it really made me laugh. I mean hyphenated surnames are, well, hyphenated. That's pretty much as far as my enthusiasm goes with them. It's just that I just get a vision of a footballer and a page 3 girl getting hitched. Weird innit.

I think it just proves that you can find anything on the interweb. Get ready for them:

Stormy Weekend

2007-07-09T13:54:00.000+02:00

Woke up this morning and there was absolutely no hot water - not even lukewarm. Had a dig around with Andy's missus - Bex - amongst all the workings of the house to try and sort out the problem but no chance. Looks like the continual, massive thunderstorm last night at some stage knocked all the power out to the farm and reset a load of the electrics - including the water pumps.

By continual, I mean continual. It's been raining solidly for the past day and a bit (aside from a brief 1 hour window yesterday when I managed to get out for a quick run). Torrential rain, thick cloud, misty forests, the rumbles and growls of angry thunder echoing around the valley bouncing of the mountains, flashes of lightning - it's just been non-stop.

After having spoken to Bex, it seems that those downstairs were awoken at around 4.30am by the same really long, loud peal of thunder that shook the farmhouse and rattled the windows. Apparently Crampons thought it was an avalanche it was so loud! Anyways, looks like we all had an interrupted night's sleep so everyone's looking a little tired and bedraggled today. I feel resolutely fine though (aside from the current no-washing issue), and feel even more pleased to have gone further and higher up on my run without having to stop for a break yesterday. Must be getting fitter!

I'm not feeling the love for taking Merv out to Cham through the pouring rain, so might just carry on working from home today.

Productive Saturday

2007-07-07T16:49:00.000+02:00

It's a beautiful day up in the Alps, with blue skies and bright sunlight. A great change from the recent poor weather - summer is hopefully here to stay! It would be a great day to go climbing - Chris gave me a shout this morning to see if I fancied it - but unfortunately I've got a bit of an eye infection and prudence dictates it's going to be better to not agitate it and leave it to heal up. It's one of the downsides of wearing contacts but hey - at least it's giving me time to do other things.

So with that in mind I had a dig around and found loads of cleaning products and have been giving the farmhouse a really, really good clean. The kitchen went first today - the sink was fully scrubbed with Ajax and drawers and cupboards cleaned out and wiped down with disinfectant. A new covering was found for the kitchen table so it's now there's a sunflower yellow glow to match the sparkling white of the sink.

Next to go down was the toilet. A nasty job at best and frankly I wasn't going to enjoy it. A heavy dose of bleach, ajax and scrubbing the floor made it look better and a wipe down of all the wooden panels is a marked improvement. The doors to the bathroom and toilet looked like they needed a clean so duly got the treatment.

By this stage I was really get into the flow of things so dumped a load of washing in the machine and gave the bathroom floor and sink a quick clean. A cursory glance towards a window saw dust and dirt and not the clear pristine view so this was duly put right and all windows got a good wipe down with detergent then a dry cloth making sunlight stream into the house. Doors were all opened to push out as much dust as possible and the flowers on the balcony were watered.

The washing machine finished and so that got hung up on the balcony, flapping away in the light breeze. The wooden fire got a de-ashing and a wipe over with a cloth to bring it back to some glory and then for a finale there was a quick whip round with the hoover on the rugs and wooden floors.

There's a few jobs that I'd like to do like mopping the floor and piling up all the logs outside ready for the coming fires. Also I'd like to get teh spare troughs outside filled with earth and plant a lod of herbs and flowers in them but for the moment I think that's about enough. I'll grab my camera tomorrow and post up a photo or two of the results.

The house is now filled with a delicious aroma of spicy merguez sausages frying away on the cooker. Perfect.

A testing start at Servoz

2007-07-05T23:38:00.000+02:00

It's been crap weather here for a week. Really crap. So when the clouds lifted for a brief second earlier whilst on the computer in the office it was no surprise to hear my phone ring with a voice on the other end of the phone saying to grab all available climbing gear and meet up at the crag at Servoz. After a bit of nagging Chris eventually gave in and said he'd be down a little after Brian and I were to due to meet. I'm really pleased he did because he brought a camera and snapped a load of absolutely incredible photographs (Flickr). Some are included in this posting. Chris didn't climb but made use of a small winding path that leads up to the top of the crag to watch and take shots.

So a brief fly to the farm from Cham to pick up the bits and down to the crag to meet Brian. It was pretty cold leaving Chamonix with hairs on your arms standing up due to the distinct chill in the air. The mountains have been dusted with a small coating of snow down to around 1850m (6,070 feet) and felt more like December than early summer. The portent of abandoning the evening's climbing loomed larger with a rain squall in Les Houches but with backup plan in mind set off determined to get some exercise and fresh air.

A dark and broody peak above Servoz

I'm pleased we did, as although there was a good bit of cloud there was also enough blue skies and bright sunlight to strip off the tshirts and warm our bodies in the golden rays before setting off upwards. Had a funny moment stifling a giggle at Brian trying to remove all his thermals in the blazing sun after being caught out by the unusually hot weather. A brief discussion later and Brian was duly sent to lead a long single pitch to the top of the crag. It looked like a testing sort of 60m (196 feet) pitch with some interesting features the whole way up to the final large overhanging section extending down from the top by 5m. I've got to admit, anything that Brian takes his time to climb generally means it's going to be a tad sporty for the rest of us. This hypothesis has yet to be disproved and stood up once again here as Brian tackled the top overhang. Grinning insanely to myself, I set off after him and the early part of the climb went relatively well - some good sections, some really cool moves, some not so good and one minor slip on a piece of wet rock. Challenging might be the right word for it. Felt good though and was very pleased to get up to below the overhang at the top.

Brian closing in on the top of the crag.

This is where said hypothesis was proven. There was a feeling of being a little tired after a long pitch with arms starting to complain about the state of affairs and feet barking away about being stood on tiny ledges for too long. Looking up at overhangs I always find it uncomfortable as you're arching your back and craning your neck to see where the holds are. I could see where my hands and feet were supposed to go so had the first (of several) cracks at it. A slip and a fall back to the ledge made me chuckle and have another go. The next I set my jaw into what I'd like to think was a steely grin in the face of adversity but probably looked more like a vicar with hemorrhoids. Another slip and by now the steely grin (or purturbed vicar look) was starting to be replaced with a rather nervous twitching smile. It's all good climbing indoors and falling. It's even fun falling close to the ground or half-way up a small pitch on a crag. It gets subtly less amusing 180 foot up a rock face with nothing more than air betwen your arse and the ground.

I must have tried climbing the overhang maybe 7 times but it was just too much. I was too tired and maybe not had enough to eat. It was also technically very difficult. I called up to Brian to say I was having a bit of a sketchy time of it and did he have any suggestions on alternative ways to get to the top. After a couple of goes of pulling myself up a rope purely by my hands and arms I felt myself starting to topple back in my harness. This was when I felt things turning a tad feisty. You step into a harness much like you fill a kettle with water. Much as in the same way of making a nice relaxing cup of tea - you turn the kettle upside down and the water empties out providing a refreshing beverage. Turning upside down and the feeling being poured out of ones harness was however neither relaxing nor refreshing. In fact I started shaking like a shitting dog. I've never had a panic attack before but this one kicked in with a big insane grin.

Luckily I've spent a lot of time over the years in precarious situations and have had a lot of experience making decisions and trying to keep a clear head when things could get messy - backcountry and freestyle snowboarding and wakeboarding as well as hiking mountains in the winter all bring a certain level of risk and subsequent important decision making. Also included in this list could be the time when I tried dating two girls at the same time whilst in my latter stages of life at school - an extremely precarious situation.

Brian managed to rig a pulley system by me clipping a spare carabiner into my harness and clipping the run off rope from the belay device into that. Very effective, and a half dozen or so heaves later I found myself sitting on the top of the crag with Chris and Brian feeling a tad shaky but otherwise OK. I rolled a much needed ciggie and unbeknownst to be me Chris snapped one of the best photos I've seen for a long while.

Brian and I at the top of the crag.

I love this photo because it says a lot. It tells me that my friends and I will use lateral thinking and ingenuity to solve problems as well as heart and strength. It tells me that I can push myself to my absolute limits and still know when I'm beaten. Earlier in my life I'd have pushed myself more in that situation to get up the overhang and probably end up hurt. Not this time. It tells me that it takes more than just meaty arms to push yourself mentally and that if you work at something then you can achieve it. Most of all it tells me how I know my life to be - full of challenges that I know I can overcome, even when I'm really really scared. The simple thing the picture says is friendship. I'll look at this photo and think of what happened beforehand, but as a snapshot the picture looks serene with two guys out for a bit of adventurous exercise.

We did do a bit more climbing afterwards - Brian did a few more pitches whilst I belayed him from a shelf much lower down. I had a smaller climb and got some really useful tips which I'll definately remember and use in future. Brian got beaten by a 7b pitch (so he IS human!) so it was kind of comforting to see we'd both reached our limits. AFter a good few hours we returned to the Delice for a quick mango juice and then I retired home for a spot of dinner.

Addendum: Brian and I had both forgotten our guide book for pitches on the crag so we didn't know what route was graded what. We later found out that the start route was a 6b+ - one of the hardest pitches on the whole crag and the hardest pitch from the bottom! Feeling dead pleased to get as high as I did!

Where's the summer gone?

2007-07-02T21:33:00.000+02:00

So it's been raining for the past couple of days. The forecast is that it's going to rain cats and dogs for the next two. Bah. I thought this was supposed to be summer!

Things I've done in the past 3 days:

1) Went climbing to Gaillands with Chris and did a multipitch to the very top of the Forestier crag. We had an adventure around the woods on the top of the cliffs then abseiled down a chimney after doing a rather cool little traverse on a rock knife edge ridge.
2) Went out for a beer into Cham with Chris and met up with Brian (just returning from spending the past couple of days climbing enormous routes high up in the mountains) and Emma and had an MBC burger.
3) Been strimming the grass and undergrowth around the farmhouse to make it look pretty and nice.
4) Worked from home.
5) Looked at clouds being pushed around the valley below.
6) Listened to the rain fall (a lot) and gotten woken up by storms regularly.

Standard stuff really - nothing terribly exciting to report unfortunately but next week looks awesome for the weather. Looking forward to getting out for a bit of monkey activity on the rock and this period of inactivity is pretty cool for going for runs in the breaks in the weather and letting the fingers and hands and rest of body heal up from small dinks and bruises.

Five fast pitches at Servoz

2007-06-29T22:20:00.000+02:00

A quick blast at Servoz after work was the order of the day. Chris and I met up in Les Houches and drove down to the crag with the express intention of doing a swift few pitches then returning to the farmhouse for a spot of dinner. I'd managed to grab a few bits for a pasta/meat/vegetable festival earlier in the day so we could come straight back after climbing and get some nosh on.

There were only 3 ropes (6 people) on the entire crag (including us) and so we had plenty of room to do an easy warm-up pitch that Chris nicely led ("Sur prise", 4b) that led us up to the first anchor. We sorted out the rope from our ledge then I led up the second pitch, another (shorter) 4b up to the second anchor. We were both moving nice and fluidly by this point. After belaying Chris up to join me on the second anchor, we organised ourselves again and I led up the final pitch through a very slightly overhanging airy chimney and up to the top of the crag. Aside from getting my pack caught entering the chimney via the base corner I was really happy to lead the final 5b pitch and felt surprisingly solid the whole way.

The abseil down definately promoted a more heightened atmosphere. With the tip of a flake of rock down the side of the chmney the only purchase and a large overhang on the other side, I felt my pulse quicken a bit but took it slow and easy and came down to our first anchor point nice and safely. Unfortunately Chris' foot slipped on the wet rock soon after he started to come down and he banged intot he rock to get a rather nasty looking graze on his left wrist. This obviously affected him a bit as he then had another slip and banged his elbow. Nothing too serious but I felt sorry for him as it obviously stung!

The last abseil went without any hitches and we had a look around for another pitch or two that would interest us. Chris fancied an interesting 6a pitch that we've done a couple of times before - a vertical start leading to an overhang that requires a bit of strength to get over. He sailed up the vertical then heaved over the overhang, clipped into the anchor then came down. I top-roped the pitch and was really pleased (and slightly amazed) to get over the overhang with such ease and with no fuss. Really solid technique - thanks to Lousie and Brian for their info and guidance on previous trips!

For the last pitch I suggested we did our first ever pitch we did together at Servoz ("Le diedre du facteur", 5b). When we first attempted it neither of us could get past the overhang that a small tree sits on right below the anchor point. I led and felt I was climbing smoothly and fluidly and took one look at the overhang and then rather gracefully (if I do say so myself!) climbed over and past it to clip in. I came down then belayed Chris who top-roped it and did likewise. It really hit home just how much better we are climbing these days. The pitch wasn't even a minor stretch today but I remember not so long ago sweating profusely and fighting with all my strength just to fail! It felt extremely good (with my new climbing shoes) to move fluidly up and over the crux of the pitch.

We found it interesting that Chris and I compliment each other greatly with the climbing. We're both strong at totally different types of climbing which means you get to lead where you're best and when we're on the rock I don't mind sorting out ropes and anchors and whatnot standing on a ledge but don't care for it much at the bottom. Chris is the the opposite not minding to sort out the rope at the bottom but not particularly enjoying it half-way up!

So after a climb and a spot of dinner washed down with squash (aside from a party the other night at Louise's am still not drinking) it's time to settle down in this quiet farmhouse to watch a dvd with alpine cow bells tinkling away in the background.

Le Singe Blonde

2007-06-28T15:34:00.000+02:00

Me 10 years ago.

Apologies for the swollen eye, I remember having taken a wee tumble on a wakeboard a day or two before the photo was taken (no change there then!). It's a bit strange looking at the old photo - I mean I know that's me, but it looks like someone else. Maybe it's from not really looking through old photos and seeing yourself in the mirror every morning so your idea of what you look like (and always have done) is the way you currently look.

Thought I'd post this photo up for me Mum really tho - she likes things like that. Hi Mum!

Contracts and climbing

2007-06-27T15:57:00.000+02:00

Got a new contract! Woohoo! And it's a rockingly perfect one too. Good money. I'll be on call quite a bit over the weekend but hey - it's all good. It means that I'll be earning consistently and have enough money to save and live a happy life as well as having enough time to go climbing and snowboarding and also be flexible enough to work when I want to.

I'm so, so stoked.

I've been climbing at the indoor wall in Les Houches a few times with Chris, Crampons, Brian (who I still believe got bitten by a radioactive spider sometime in his youth judging by what he can climb!), Louise, Abi and many others. It's getting much better there and am finding it's a great place to train for specific areas of weakness as well as strnegth and technique.

Last Sunday Chris and I went out for our adventure and ended up going to Le Joux (The Wood in Savoyarde - the local dialect). The rock was a slippery technical variety of gneiss and we had a great time monkeying around it with the company of Lousie showing us some new stuff to do. I had an absolute blast and am starting to get the hang of the different holds and techniques to use when and where and really enjoying climbing the different pitches.

It's really good to be feeling like I'm getting better technically, and also finding what type of climbing I'm better at (strength climbing - overhangs, starting to use hand/fist jams properly, heel hooks, etc) whereas not as strong at friction and delicate balance climbing. Luckily Chris is almost entirely the opposite so we compliment each other very well - he can go up the fiddly balancy stuff which he breezes up, and I'll do the bits where you hang around upside down by one hand. Perfect!

Wardo's parents pitched up in the valley today too so we've had a frantic period of cleaning this morning. The house looks mint now too. Unfortunately the cooker was a bit beyond us and we were a bit nervy until we realised it had a flip-top hood. Good mojo - flip the lid and hey presto! a perfectly clean cooker to all appearances.

At least the house is looking and smelling nice now.

Running up to the Col Mont Lachat

2007-06-23T13:13:00.000+02:00

Just ran up to under the Col Mont Lachat (roughly translates as the Pass of Mount Lachat). The height's around 2077m (6,814 feet) and took around an hour. Pretty pleased with it. Digby the dog ran circles around me the whole way and on some of the steep sections where I was walking rather than running he looked enquiringly as to why I should be holding him up so much!

I'll take my camera next time out as the views are just staggering. It's much closer to Mont Blanc and its subsidiary peaks up there and it's noticably cooler. We stopped before it get too high though and turned around and scampered back down the mountain descending quickly through the forest and back to the farm.

At one point going up a view opened up to the valley below and the unmistakable thump-thump of a rescue helicopter could be heard flying down the valley. Digby and I watched it fly a few hundred vertical metres below us towards Chamonix and then continued our push upwards. Trippy experience having helicopters flying around below you! On our descent I bumped into two climbers walking up towards the Dome de Goûter high up in the Mont Blanc massif at 4,304m (14,121 feet) as the route Digby and I had taken is part of one of the ways to get up and down Mont Blanc. We stopped and had a bit of a natter in French whilst they played with Digby and everyone caught their breath. They were the only people we saw the whole run - apart from the helicopter pilot!

The legs don't ache now and I'm feeling rosy all over. Time for a shower and a zip down into Les Houches to buy some bread for a snack of hot chocolate and baguette with butter - very French!

Just speaking to Chris on Skype he's up for another dimanche aventure. The weather looks good so maybe a trip to the crag at Vallorcine (Google Maps) for somewhere new and exciting!

Indoor climbing at Les Houches

2007-06-23T10:03:00.000+02:00

Last night Crampons and I nipped down to the indoor climbing wall at Les Houches last night to see what it was like and to have a bit of a practice and do some training. We must have worked our bodies pretty hard because my muscles ache today and they never normally do - or at least not this much.

One of the walls

We went down at just after 5pm and returned around 8:30pm after having done a series of pitches. The wall itself isn't flat - there's various grades of varying overhang and with corners, traverses and all sorts. The whole place looked extremely strange - kind of like being in some sort of futuristic cave from a film or something. The concept is that you pick out a pitch (there's loads of routes all with a little tag at the bottom telling you what colour holds to use and what grade it is) then climb it clipping the rope into the quick draws that are already anchored into the wall. At the top there's a double anchor to clip into and abseil down from.

I really struggled with three things:

1) Figuring out the hand and hold sequences (and hence sticking to the proper route).
2) Actually using the holds - lots just felt fiddly to use.
3) Clipping the thick rope into the quick draws. Just took several attempts - not like crag climbing where it just goes straight in.

Essentially I had problems with everything but still really enjoyed it. Plus it was pretty warm in there so got a real sweat on and felt like we'd had a good workout. But I really, really struggled. There were grades of pitches that I simply couldn't do that I normally could on rock (I decked out from about 18 feet on an overhang that I'd normally go over on a crag - straight onto padding tho so no probs). Crampons was saying that it's harder because the whole route is of the difficulty of the grade suggested whereas on rock the grade is just based on the most difficult move of the whole pitch.

Going to chalk the whole thing up to experience - I felt completely ill-at-ease the first time climbing at Gaillands (the crag closest to Chamonix) and now absolutely love it. Also over the winter time it's going to be a great place to go, but in the mean time there's a couple of pitches there that I'm determined to do. One is the overhang I fell on - I felt I could do it, just needed to organise my hand/foot sequence better. Ironically, climbed an equally hard pitch immediately after and fairly breezed up it. That had a rather sketchy traverse on small holds with a bit of overhang and a corner. I can feel that indoor climbing is something that will grow on me.

NB: I'm not stiff anymore, only a couple of hours after writing this blog post - I'm thinking that it was the running that caused me to be stiff, not the climbing!

Overhangs at Le Fayet, running, sleeping and the Fête de la Musique

2007-06-22T10:45:00.000+02:00

Lots to report!

Firstly - a funky pic of one of the storms we've been having lots of recently clearing up over Servoz (taken from our balcony).

A couple of days ago I chipped off with Brian for some evening climbing to Le Fayet just down the valley near Saint Gervais. Basically the whole crag was overhanging. We (and by we I mean Brian) did two piches. He led both, but I only managed to get up a few sections of the first pitch and one on the second.

I actually scampered up the first two parts of the pitch noting that my technique for overhangs could do with some work. The first section went surprisingly well hauling myself over a small ledge jutting out and then breezed up the second section that was a small pillar. The third section looked do-able standing on my little protected shelf but I just couldn't quite get the hand-jamming technique exactly right at the crux point of the move. It was incredibly frustrating but realised what was going wrong after Brian explained it fully. I'm determined to get the knack of that type of hold and am looking forward to going back after a month and getting over that section. Had a wee tumble when my hand slipped out of jam rather unexpectedly but didn't hit anything (the beauty of climbing overhangs - always fall into fresh air!) - the thing that annoyed was having to climb back up to have another go! I scrambled up the first section of the second pitch but to be honest it felt like someone had administered an epidural from the neck down after the rigours of the first pitch and after a brief mental argument felt the accompanying dangers of fatigue were too great to continue - retreat!

The upper whole crag at Le Fayet overhangs by about 30 feet so it's pretty daunting to look at. Brian reckoned that there's been an earthquake or some sort of geological shift gone on in the past ten years or so that's made the rock lean over more as the pitch grades given in his book were WAY out of synch with how the pitches actually are (much harder than the book says). If you've found this blog posting via a search engine and are planning to climb Le Fayet then prepare to shit yourself. Take two pairs of undies. Actually better make it three as the walk to the crag through the forest is hot and sweaty and you don't want to be uncomfortable on the rock now do you?

It took two days to recover from that little trip and there's still some residual aching in the arms and hands. But my god I feel fit. This fitness thing has been heightened by the procurement of a brand spanking new pair of bling-bling trainers whilst in the UK last weekend. They duly got buffed up and the shiny bits shined and the laces tied just so in readiness for the first run in them yesterday. Huge fun as it happens - donned the traditional knee-length surfing shorts and ipod and took the dogs along boshing directly up the mountain we live on. Running around the mountains is incredible and exhausting. Continual steep slopes and beautiful views really feel like you're being pushed for a good reason. I've found a little course to run - around 4 miles or so all in (2 miles uphill, 2 miles downhill, no flat bits!) and the intention is to do this a few times a week with Digby the dog accompanying as moral support. Because it's light til late these days, it's a perfect alternative to do anything non-activity related in the evening such as watching Scrubs on the pooter or going to Le Delice and getting pissed.

Storm clearing over the Aiguillette des Houches

Unsurprisingly with all this activity of an evening and having stopped drinking temporarily (switched to mango juice) it's meant some seriously good sleeping. Always been a problem over the years but for the past week have been up early rising fresh and happy regardless of whatever time I go to bed with not much dreaming. We've been woken up for the past few days with amazing thunderstorms and yesterday we even had a hailstorm roll in at 6.30am to greet the arrival of the day. I got up and took some photos and then stayed up checking emails and writing content for a website happy in the simple side of life living up high.

Large hailstones on the balcony

I chipped down to Le Delice last night for the Fête de la Musique - a musical festival that takes place on the 21st July each year that encourages amateur musicians to take to the streets and perform in public. I kept thinking how much my Dad would have enjoyed it - he's a wicked guitarist and it'd have been cool to see him up on stage again throwing a few songs out. Katy and Fred had a really good acoustic guitarist (Mark from Canada) in there strumming away whilst people were eating and drinking. Katy was hugely impressive having a whirl with the microphone and has a really nice voice - Norah Jones styley - and opted for some classic tunes like Son of a Preacher Man and Pink Floyd's The Wall. Fred made an appearance on the guitar and showed some class and style with a couple of soulful numbers. I've got to say the hairs stood up on my neck when the pair of them did a song together - it really was amazing and the bar was in awe as they did a duet with much whooping and cheering when they finished. All in all a really good night. I was talking to Abi, one of the Les Houches crew all night and we spent the entire night laughing which was great. Also, we realised that Fred makes his "sex face" when playing the guitar. This snippet of information will be filed and brought out in future!

All in all a really good day - a run in the evening, then cooked coq au vin with rosti potatoes for Andy and myself, a bit of chocolate then down to Le Delice for a mango juice and to watch your friends show some hidden talents all the time having a good giggle. Awesome.

Now Wash Your Hands (NWYH)

2007-06-20T15:48:00.000+02:00

I feel really sorry for Chris at the moment - client interfacing can be difficult at the best of times and his relationship with his current ones - Now Wash Your Hands (a new media company, here's their website) - has turned really sour. He's written about it on his blog about them not paying him for the work done.

I've got to say - I really like the Eastenders game that is the contract, it plays well and looks very cool. It's written using Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Flash and Flash Server with XML and all sorts of other natty technologies. It has a lot of streaming video, functional animation, scoring and all sorts. I think it's very cool and would slot into the Eastenders section of the BBC website very nicely indeed. Obviously there's a lot of stuff behind the scenes that I don't (and don't need to) know about but the whole thing looks pretty sketchy to me.

I hope it gets resolved soon, the situation's not doing either NWYH or Chris any favours as Chris is out of pocket with the months of work and Now Wash Your Hands are looking like one of the really bad, unreliable new media companies that's only held together by spin and bullshit.

Sounds like everyone needs to feel the love a little more.