First Autumn vibes!

So I just squeezed in an extra Mont Blanc ascent by the Cosmiques 3 summits route last week and have now finally finished working up in the peaks for a while (or so I think). The conditions are pretty mixed at the moment (as they have been all summer), it's either really hot or really cold which makes for some pretty unstable conditions up high.

Last weekend saw another massive rock fall on the West face of the Dru, a fine example of the changes taking place!

The access arrete at the top of the Aiguille du Midi is the thinnest I've ever seen it, barely enough room for you to stand with 2 feet side by side, slack line practice essential! I descended it in gusting gale force winds the other day with my Mont Blanc guys, very exciting! This shot was taken a week ago, it's actually narrower than this now at the top and the bottom half after the steep section is even thinner!

A great way to wake up in the morning!!

I'm starting to get excited about the coming winter already. I just ordered my new Jones boards, a 160 Hovercraft, the Flaship 168W, Solution 168W and the All Mtn Twin 164W will be under my feet this winter!

You might have also read that Mr Jones has recently linked up with Karakoram for splitboard bindings so I'll be trying a pair of those out soon. Jeremy rates them so its a good sign and I'll let you know what I think after I've given them a test. Good Splitboard bindings really make a massive difference when it comes to the performance of a splitboard so hopefully these new bindings will improve things even more!!

Here's hoping!

Can't hardly wait to get out riding the new splits this winter, come on early snow!!

I'll also be updating some of my McNab Snowboarding splitboard fleet and so will selling off some of last years Splits and some of my old boards pre or early season so watch this space!

The winter courses are booking up super fast now with many courses full or nearly full so if you're looking to get out this season don't leave it too long.

I also have a few Private/bespoke bookings coming in and it looks like my seasons guiding will now start towards the end of November and any gaps between then and New Year are filling in fast!

I now have 2 weeks riding with GPM10, starting this Thursday and will be out on my bike most of the Autumn. I rode the col du Saisses the other day and felt surprisingly good keeping a high cadence and good speed all the way to knock over 5 mins off my previous best time (yep I must have been shit before or the altitude training has really paid off!!)

It's beautiful out here in the Autumn, crisp fresh air, clear skies, beautiful colours and quiet roads so I'm looking forward to getting in some great riding and bringing on some proper riding form!

Mr Andy Cook, get yourself out here I need a training partner!!

No other news really at the moment except that our new kitten (which was apparently meant to stay indoors) now perfectly matches the freshly varnished decking out the back of the house!

Ruth was only out for a couple of minutes, I fear she won't be too pleased...

Maybe she won't notice that the white and grey cat now has new brown patches all over... It was funny at the time though!!

until next time take it easy!

Neil.

Summer News!

I've been pretty busy working up in the mountains this past Month or so. After working as a cycling guide for GPM10 through May and June, July and August have been all about climbing and I haven't had time to ride my bike much at all these past 3 weeks. Not to worry though as the climbing has been good and I have good altitude acclimatisation so once I get my cycling legs back my Aerobic capacity should be pretty good. I have just finished Guiding in the mountains this morning and now have a week off to ride my bike before I start working for a few weeks with GPM10 again, although it seems I might have so squeeze another Mont Blanc ascent in at the end of this week as the demand is there!

The last 3 weeks have been pretty good up in the hills, I spent a week climbing with a Private client Roger Birch, who is a good snowboarder and who has snowboarded Mont Blanc with me in 2010. We did some great climbing, mainly rock climbing with some high altitude mixed mountaineering thrown in and then at the end of the week had a relaxing day where we went rafting in the Aosta Valley. Pro Snowboarder Will Hughes, who has been staying at our house on and off this summer, came along and we had a great laugh throwing each other out of the boat as soon as we saw any rapids or the rafting guy said, 'please stay in the boat here as its a bit dangerous!' which was obviously my cue to throw Will into the water again!!

Following this I had a Mont Blanc via the Gouter route to do for Mont Blanc Guides. The Grand Couloir has been a bit dry recently and showering rocks down so its been pretty dangerous and so myself and 2 other Guides left our clients in the Tete Rousse refuge whilst we wandered up to check it out. No sooner had we donned our helmets and started to walk up the rapidly receeding Tete Rousse glacier when a massive rock fall started way above us at the top of the Couloir. We stopped were we where and watched in amazement as massive blocks began to shower down the Couloir in what was rapidly turning into one of the biggest Rock falls I've ever seen. It seemed like ages but must have been seconds before we realised that even were we where, a long way down the Glacier, we were going to be in the firing line and so we turned and legged it as fast as we could. It seemed like as soon as we started running massive blocks started slamming into the Ice all around us, I reckon I did a pretty descent 100m sprint time over some pretty technical Glaciated terrain to get out of the way! One of our guiding team wasn't so lucky, (or wasn't fast enough) and got hit on the leg by an exploding block which resulted in him being heli'ed out of there once we'd carried him down to safety at the refuge.

We had a lucky escape, if we'd been further up we'd have been in the thick of it and maybe not so lucky, the rock fall scattered right across the full face either side of the Grand Couloir but amazingly 6 people high on the face survived un hurt (although I imagine it was a pretty frightening experience)

Needles to say we called off the attempt and the Local Gendarmerie pretty much closed the Gouter Route until conditions cool down and stabilize. This meant anopther couple of days rock climbing for me and so in the end happy days!

I've now just finished a week of climbing with 2 really fit Greman clients, which started out with 3 days climbing up above the Le Tour and Trient Glaciers followed by a traverse of the Aiguille d'Entreve from the Helbronner, which is always fun to do and then a great days rock climbing in the Aiguille Rouge (due to strong winds high up) and today a quick Arete des Cosmiques, which was great fun again.

I'm really enjoying the rock climbing again after taking a year off due to tendonitis in my elbows. This seems to have cleared up now so I'm quite fired up to get back on it and I'm way lighter now than I was due to cycling and working so much so it could be good! I've a lot of cycling coming up though so I might just get addicted to that again?

So many things to do, so little time!

I'm definitely thinking of running some rock/Alpine rock climbing courses out here next summer as its so much fun and there's just tonnes to do! Also thinking about a South of France Rock climbing and canyoning week next summer, so if anyone interested in either of these let me know and I'll get the ball rolling!

This winters courses are filling up fast, 50% full already! I'm holding off on a Chile trip next year for the moment as I'll be concentrating on the Splitboard trip to Norway's Lyngen Alps as my 2012 trip.

Science in Sport have created a 25% off deal for all McNab Snowboarding clients booked on 2012 courses which is open for a year! I fully recommend SIS products for Backcountry hiking and as fuel for any big day up the hill and I use them year round as part of my fitness training regime. Anyone interested should get the details from Ruth in the office. SiS also do a specific Snowpack which has been put together specifically for my BC courses, essential stuff!

The Jones/TSA Snowboard deal is also running again this winter so again, if you're looking for a new set up get on a Jones board and get in touch with Ruth for details!

My winter season is going to kick off early this year with some private pre season courses at the end of November running into December followed by my scheduled pre season tech clinic mid December. All these courses will be running in Tignes.

I'm pretty excited about riding again this winter, the Splitboard thing is just going off and the possibilities are endless, plus the Jones boards are like a breath of fresh air so I feel reborn for riding and am looking forward big time to the coming winters riding.

Not to rush things along though as I'm hoping we're in for a bit of a delayed indian summer over here after such mixed weather up until now. I've also got the possibility of guiding work over in Nepal this Autumn if I want it so I'll have to see how the cycling is going and how things stand with the finances! It'll make things pretty full on timing wise as I'd be returning and straight into a Snowboarding course so I'll have to see how things pan out.

Anyway, all good over here in Chamonix, hope you're all enjoying your summer time!

Until next time, take it easy,

Neil.