Archive for July, 2015

Monte Viso wonderland

10/07/15

I first read about Monte Viso in 1999; Will McLewin’s classic book describing how every one of the Alps 4000m peaks could be seen from its summit. 3 days later and there it was, standing like an isolated church tower nearly 100km south of us. It stands 500m clear of any other mountains nearby and is one of the few “must do” peaks I’ve ever had.

A chance opportunity to climb with my old mate Icky saw us heading off over high passes on Tuesday and down into Italy. Our first close sight of it got the adrenalin rising nicely but quite a worry about how Red the dawg was going to get on!20150707_151457

Gulp! Monte Viso out to the right.

We got there, Red opted to stay in the Andretti bivvy hut @ 3200m (top of the heavy red line marked below) and sadly the haze limited views somewhat. The whole experience was outrageously good though with possibly the most beautiful alpine approach & descent I’ve ever done, quality  climbing, a tiny handful of friendly other climbers and superb company throughout. Enjoy the pics which I’ll label in time.-

P1070265

P1070299

P1070302

P1070361

P1070351Arnica

P1070350

P1070336

P1070375Marmot

P1070264

P1070249

P1070321

20150708_081814

P1070271

20150708_052129_000

20150707_175545

20150708_091045

20150708_093011

20150708_154145

20150708_204328

Recovery meal.