With summer over and the Facewest office well and truly into the autumn/winter 2016 season we’ve been reflecting on what the staff here have been up to over the summer. Here a few photos from our summer adventures.
Luke
My main trip was to Chamonix. For just over 2 weeks I was camping in Argentiere and did a few alpine summits, lots of rock climbing and some Via Ferratas.
This one’s on the Via Ferrata de Curalla which I did early on in the trip as a bit of a warm up to some more serious climbing in the Chamonix valley.
On the descent from the Aiguille du Tour above Le Tour in the Chamonix Valley. Stunning views!
On rock route ‘La Somone’ on the Brevent in Chamonix. Although it was baking sunshine in the valley when we set off the weather up on the mountain proved changeable with some clouds rolling in at times making it very atmospheric.
Will
Will also went to Chamonix and had a pretty busy week ticking Chere Couloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul, Mer de Glace Face on the Grepon and Cosmiques Arete amongst other achievements.
The top pitch of the Mer de glace face on the Grepon. A 5c offwidth crack after 20 pitches of amazing crack and slab climbing. Mental!
The classic tourist shot whilst on Cosmiques Arete.
The only way to ensure you have the Chere Couloir to yourself is with a 3am start from a bivvy on the Col du Midi.
Graham
Graham stayed in La Grave for a week where he did some alpine routes and via ferrata.
Alongside the cooling waterfall on the Voile de le marlee via ferrata.
A view of the Glacier Lombard on the way up the Aiguille de Goleon.
On the summit of the Aiguille de Goleon.
Stu
Stu had some slightly different ideas about how he wanted to spend his summer holiday and ended up in Annecy partaking in lots of water sports.
Here he is clearly mastering wake surfing!
Jake
I haven’t got any photos from Jake’s trip to the Savoie and Haute Savoie regions of France. He did manage a pretty impressive paragliding flight from Chamonix to Annecy which he’s going to write a separate blog post on. Keep an eye out and it’ll be up soon on the Facewest blog.
Hope you’ve had as good a summer as the Facewest staff have, roll on winter and the skiing, winter mountaineering and ice climbing!