It's now been a month or so since we had prolonged good weather in Cham and with little sign of things changing, Tom and I have been itching to get into the hills. A couple of days ago we did some laps on the Cosmiques Arete for some fitness, and I managed the second lap in 1 hour 7 minutes from midi to midi. Tom got under an hour but in my defence I was held up extensively by slow people.
Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! We were going to do more laps but the Hollland vs. Denmark game obviously took precedent.
Cosmiques exit chimneys for the second time in 2 hours.
Today we decided that we would do a route regardless of the weather, and so headed up to do "Crakoukas", a 9 pitch route on the Brevent. The route is really good fun, and the hardest bit being maybe F5, but with lots of bolts we moved together the whole way, and got some good mileage climbing in big boots. Tom wasn't overly keen on doing a final pitch up a tower but I was psyched and it turned out great - despite water pouring down the crag and big mountain boots slipping off the holds - coming it at about F5, maybe 5+. Back down for 1 o'clock, so very civilised and great just to be out.
Only Brits do this sort of thing!