Not in the mood - Goulotte Chéré ice route

Weds 11th: Stepped out hard ice / average ski

Ryan had been psyching me up for an ice route off the triangle du Tacul the next day - I was game. However by the next day I wasn't in the mood. At all. Getting up for first lifts was utterly awful as I got back from work very late and was still ill. I also had work at 4pm. We met at the Midi by 7:40 where I made it clear he'd have to lead it as, simply put, I couldn't be bothered. We made the first bin comfortably.

Knowing the route gets busy, we ran down the arête and transitioned. We dropped in at the same time as two others - the first people of the day. We skipped skins (probably not the greatest timesaving move), pushing as far as we could then transitioning to a boot-pack using a single rope as protection over the bergschrund. Another group had joined the trail from the next bin and was catching fast. At the base we (mostly me) wasted time faffing. I still don't have axe leashes so had to tie them on with cord as well as sorting the second rope. I was just about ready when they caught up and Ryan offered to let them past. He was annoyed at my faffing and I was annoyed at his politeness. Oh well, it turned out they were quite a bit faster anyway so no harm done.

Looking at the first two pitches of the route

Ryan lead off out of sight after struggling with the first screw placement. Eventually I get the call and prepped for climbing. I switched to some spring gloves instead of my mitts and followed up. Big mistake. It was seriously cold and my hands were numb within seconds... too numb to switch back to mitts. I moved up quickly enough, struggling only to take out the gear with my two stumps. The ice was hard and stepped out. I reached Ryan and, doubled up in agony, proceeded to have the most vicious attack of hot aches I've ever experienced. Whilst transitioning to mitts I managed to drop one of my spring gloves due to numb hands never to be seen again. I can't say I care, mitts all the way from now on until I get some beefier gloves.

Makeshift gear leashes

Ryan bringing me up

After five awful minutes of promising myself never to bother with this again (exactly the same feeling I had the first time I ice climbed) they subsided and I switched back to belay. It's actually pretty irritating not alternating pitches as you have to swap all the gear back over and be extra careful that the rope feeds properly. Ryan lead off again. Another long pitch and I followed up, this time with mitts on. I flew up with no problems, the only annoyance being the mitts vs axe triggers. I was feeling pretty confident and at the belay I contemplated leading the final pitch but decided not as I didn't have much spare time before work in case anything happened.

Agony as my hands warm up having switched to mitts

Ryan leading the second pitch

We swapped gear again and Ryan lead up the final ice pitch which was much easier than it looked.  The ice was so solid it only took a single light swing, with nice foot holds all the way. I wish I'd lead it - but... well... hindsight. We decided to get down quickly before having a break as it was cold in the shade. Four 60m rappels took us back over the Bergschrund where we packed up and had some food. My work warning alarm went off so we headed off. Ryan had fun chasing after his helmet after he dropped it en route to the skis.

The ski down was nice and easy and we made the train with plenty of time. After a mandatory gear swap I headed off to work.

In the end I'm glad we went for it, but for most of the day I was totally ambivalent. As a result I wasn't as on it as I would usually be and spent too much time faffing. It also felt really weird for me to turn down the chance to lead. I knew I had it in me but just didn't fancy it. Oh well. I guess we all have off days. Nice one Ryan for putting up with less than happy bunny for the day (although to be fair the thought of letting him down was the only reason I got up - dickhead).