aiguilles rouges
to any astroman-niac climbers , the aiguilles rouges are just a pile of shiat. It is. However , this is also the best leisurely not committing- sunny side -with a view -sport climbing- alpine-cragg- in the world- that i know of. Also, a lot of the routes out there were open by Piola himself and the rock is at times surprisingly good. This round however, for my 2 days off, i had 2 goals: stay away from the crowd, get confident in placing gear without being scared of falling head first on a sharp flake . i chose to go on the tour des crochue and the aiguille de perseverance. 2 easy routes on nice looking pillars, almost un-equipped (a few 1920 charlet pitons here and there) . The route finding was fun and placing gear in grassy crack pretty entertaining. (does it work really, i dont know , i didnt fall) , but best of all, aside from a couple of chamois and marmottes , we didnt see anyone.
i started with Anna on the tour des crouchues, voie escande de Galbert (1970). (right side straight up)

and then with luca on perseverance , arete sud integral




Rando day
Take a young rando racer, 1 radical ski alpinist and me. shake. And you get 1600 M vertical ascent, 3000M descent. 3 entracked couloirs with cold snow exposed and fairly steep…3 new lines for me. all between 9 am and 2.30 PM. fun day! we should have carried on to Buet but… why? and the elevation apres ski burger and beer were singing my name pretty loudly…