It seems like a season's climbing in the mountains is over.  As the first snows cover the rock faces we were planning to climb this month, it doesn't look likely they'll dry again before winter starts in earnest.  Thoughts turn back to 5 months of the most fantastic climbing and adventure with some great partners.....

Lorenz and I headed eastwards in search of big granite lines and the Bergell didn't disappoint.  It was my first time visiting the range and already on the walk-in I was awe-struck by the imposing, clean spires that rise out of wild coniferous forest.  The whole area felt more secluded and adventurous than the ranges closer to home.

 

Hot Shots Productions have produced a short movie documenting a really exciting journey through the Yukon.  Using a raft and kayaks to run the length of a river, stopping off en route to climb and ski peaks, before reaching an iceberg-studded ocean, is just the kind of thing I'm always looking for in Greenland; there's something really special about undertaking an expedition that follows an aesthetic line, whether through a mountain range, over an icecap or down a river, and above all under your own steam.

 

 

My first ever Blog... I guess I should write something profound but nothing comes to mind!  I hope to share news, views and general arcania from the world of someone completely immersed in the world of expeditions, mostly in Greenland, but also in the Polar regions.  I have the pleasure to spend a big part of the season climbing mountains, sea kayaking and pulling pulks around Greenland - a place with limitless potential for adventure that I'm completely taken with.  It's only a few weeks since I was sitting alone on the shores of Nagtivit Kangertivat Fjord, a glowing sunset burning into the the Icecap, itself dropping into the sea to my left.  My pulk, skis and all the rest of my kit lay over the rocks surrounding my tent.  After days of hauling, dragging and fighting our way across the glacier, the peace afforded by reaching the boat pick-up was extra special.  The icebergs, turning a deep blue in the gathering shadows, occasionally broke the resounding silence; a silence that I have rarely experienced anywhere...

 This year's South Pole expeditions are now waiting in Punta Arenas for the blue ice runway to be cleared.  All the teams are sending in live updates.  Here's a list of the websites: