Warm Ice, Cerasole, 14th Jan 2007

After a cold but slow start to the snow season in the western Alps in 04/05 and 05/06, I thought that a spot of ice climbing might fill the gap this year. So I signed up for a course with the Scuola Motti, and waited...

One of the good things about being bad at something (or at least a beginner) is that you should be less demanding, and may not know what you're missing. For the first day, we would could almost have been at the Somerset House ice wall in London (although they might have not have been happy with us practising Abalakov threads, and I gather they've been suffering from melting ice as well). But despite the truly excessive temperatures this weekend (freezing level at 3,500m), the scuola managed to find us a nice waterfall in the Val d'Orca not far short of Cerasole Real.