Climbing teams: Stew Leitch & Ian Henderson, Ian Hebborn & Colin Toombs

In search of some more reliable winter conditions and multi-pitch waterfall ice, four members of CMC headed out to Italy for five days climbing.  A short flight to Milan and a 2.5 hour drive had the team setting out into the ice climber’s (and cross country skier’s) paradise of Lillaz.  A 15 minute walk in, past a frozen water feature in the centre of the village, led the team to the Cascata di Lillaz.  Colin and Ian set off up the 2 pitch Gulliver WI3 while Stew and Ian embarked on the Easy Start WI2 and then the Main Cascade Right WI3+.  As the teams got into the swing of things Amphitheatre Central WI4+, Cascata Original Finish WI3 and the 2nd Cascade were also ticked off on the first day.

The next day Stew and Ian headed up the hill behind Lillaz and took on Lillaz Gully, a 7 pitch WI4 climb with a crux mixed pitch towards the top.  Colin and Ian walked further up the valley to Pattinaggio Artistico WI3, a 5 pitch climb that starts in a gully above icicles hanging down the cliff below.  The main difficulties on both icefalls turned out to be other parties abseiling down the routes while the CMC teams were climbing up.

For a “rest day”, Stew and Ian headed down to Cogne and hired some cross country skis to embark on a 20km ski tour of the Valnontey valley.  Not far from the end of the tour Ian managed to break one of his ski bindings and had to walk the last few kms back to Cogne.  Fearing he might have to pay for the breakage he was pleasantly surprised to be refunded his hire money for having such a bad day!

Meanwhile Colin and Ian went for a slightly longer 1 hour walk in, to escape the weekend crowds, up to Vertigine di Porcellana WI4.  A 3 pitch climb which was on the sunnier side of the valley and Ian found himself belaying under a rapidly melting icicle while Colin was overheating heading up the steep middle section.  Bolted chains facilitated an easy abseil down the route (out of the way of other climbers) and a pleasant stroll back down to the apartment.

Following Stew and Ian’s cross country ski reconnaissance both teams headed around to Valnontey (just 20 minutes drive from Lillaz) to savour some of the classics in that valley.  Stew and Ian set off to Thoule WI3+, which started out as expected but the thin and steep upper pitch had them questioning the grade and reassessing it as WI5.  Having finished shortly after lunch they went to the bar for a drink and wait for Colin and Ian who had planned an “easy day”.  12 full rope length pitches later they concluded they had reached the top of the II Sentiero dei Troll WI3 as the belay chains had run out and they were now following animal tracks up the gully line rather than other climber’s footprints.  All that remained was to abseil back down the route before darkness fell to Stew and Ian who had been kicked out of the bar and were wondering why they let Colin take the car keys with him.

On the last day both teams finally opted for an easier time.  Stew and Ian went and enjoyed Vertigine di Porcellana, concluding WI4 is easier than WI3+, while Colin and Ian ticked off Main Cascade Left WI3+ and then had another play on Gulliver to round things off, before spending the afternoon first in the café and then moving on to the bar to await Stew’s and Ian’s return.