Photos from the first day in the hills.

This photo shows the Arete de Cosmiques that we all climbed from left to right.
This is taken from the cable car towards the top of the Aguille de Midi (3800m) where we played for the day.

The first day in the hills!

So we all went to Zermatt to climb the Matterhorn and found out that there is still alot of snow left from winter. Apparently the last few weeks have had very bad weather but it seems it is just starting to get good. We bailed from Switzerland and made our way to Chamonix (we will wait for snow to melt before heading back to the Matterhorn.) were things also arent in the best condition so we have to be a bit picky with which routes we can do. Yesterday was our first big day which was a success except for the vast number of Gumbies clogging up the classics. Alpine climbing is mega popular here and we had to tackle large amounts of ice falling on our heads and i even had an ice axe hit my helmet, and fall to oblivion, that was dropped by a punter 10m above me! Owen and I did two routes in the day, the Chere Couloir (a steep ice couloir with bolted anchors!) and the Arete de Cosmiques, while Ash and Dan went for a walk on the glacier and also did the Arete de Cosmiques. We all finished the day with bad headaches as it was our first day straight up to ~3800m from less than 1000m.
Will get some photos on here as soon as we get them off Dans camera. We have bad weather for a couple of days then a long period of good weather when Owen and i are planning our first multiday route.
Ill keep you posted.

PARIS!!!
So here we finally are. Ash, Dan, Owen and I have made it to Paris which has to be one of the most awsome cities i have ever been to. It is incredibly densely populated with shops everywhere on the ground floors and four to six floors of shoe box apartments above. Things are quite expensive except for baked goods of which we have sampled alot! The most popular item so far has been the Pain Au Chocolat (Chocolate croissant).
After we arrived we picked up the car and underwent a crazy drive in peak hour traffic into Paris on the wrong side of the road. It took us ages just to find a parking spot (most people dont bother with cars within Paris.) which is meant to have a two hour limit costing 4 euro. Since the fine is 11 euro everyone just takes the fine and parks for as long as they like. There is an awsome automated biking system where you use a card to sign out a city bike, ride it to wherever and put the bike back in one of the many bike ports.
We spent yesterday after we arrived shopping for the final bits of gear we needed for the mountains and tasting all the food around the city. We met up with Ash's friend Jess who is from Perth but living in Paris and went out for a great French dinner. I had trout, Ash had raw minced cow (weird but good), and the others all had duck. For dessert we ordered a selection consisting of creme brulee, lemon meringue, chocolate mousse, a brownie type thing and a traditional yoghurt thingy. All was washed down with a red wine.
Afterwards we returned to Jess' which is a small top floor apartment. We climbed out the skylight and sat on the top of the steeply pitched roof looking out over Paris and at the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
Today we have had more baked goods for breakfast and are about to head off to Switzerland and the village of Zermutt which is at the foot of the Matterhorn. The weather doesnt look that great so we may end up doing a few days of cragging. Dan and I have gone halves in a video camera so hopefully we can get some good footage and put together a funny video at the end of the trip.

Au Revoir
A Bientot

Not Long Now!!!!!

So i thought i should do a pre-trip blog to describe what a crew of us from Western Australia are going to be up to for the next couple of months in Europe. The crew consists of Owen Davis, Ash Kirvan, Dan Lee and I. Ash is off saturday and the rest of us leave on tuesday (10th of June). We will meet up in Paris and hang out for a couple of days looking aound and grabbing a few bits of climbing gear we need. From there its on to the Matterhorn where Owen and I will attempt an easier ridge before hopefully having a go at the Schmidt Route on the north face. Hopefully in form we will then have a run at a route called Life is a Whistle (7c, 22 pitches) on the north face of The Eiger. Chamonix is next and we have a wish list longer than all our arms combined so well just have to see what routes are in good form when we get there.
A nice break and a cool experience will be attending a friends wedding on the coast of Italy (Santa Margherita) around the 20th of July. Afterwards we only have a short time before Owen and Dan head back to Oz so we will make a quick sojourn up to the Dolomites where i am psyched to have a bash at a long route called The Fish (12c) on the Marmolada.
After a long weekend up to Edinburgh to meet some friends i will be returning to France and spending the month of August at Ceuse sport climbing (All welcome!!!). I then leave from Rome on the 31st back to Perth, Australia.
So that about sums it up and i am sure things will change a bit. I'll be posting stories and photos hopefully after each leg of the trip. Stay tuned!