A year of adventure

by Eleanor Lampard

In April 20221 decided I needed a change. At 25 years old I felt that Covid had taken my last 'carefree' years, I had entered the workforce and found myself spending upwards of ten hours a day on a computer.

Having grown up in the foothills of Eryri (Snowdonia) I'd spent most of my time outside, and time on a device was then a luxury, but now it seemed a curse. Covid had been good for one thing - rediscovering my love of mountaineering. Now living near the Lake District, and with most other activities shut down, I explored the Lakes from top to bottom, wild camping every weekend I had free. I decided I wanted to focus on mountaineering, specifically improving my rock climbing and winter skills. Luckily for me my partner felt the same; come September 2022 we set off on our "year of adventure''. Having sold most of my belongings, off we went.

Ironically, neither of us was a very natural or confident climber. Having grown up with accomplished mountaineering parents who spent their 20s exploring the Himalayas, setting new routes, leading expeditions, I felt I should be good at it by default. Not trueI In 2021 I became more confident and started leading trad routes until a fall and a foot injury knocked all the confidence from me. Now as I attempted to lead a route my legs would shake, my mind would race with images of me falling. I felt like a failure as I had grown up with climbing and knew lots about it, but when it came to the actual climbing I just wasn't as good as that guy at uni who "only started this year''. I needed to break the cycle, and hopefully this immersion was the way to do it.

Italy

I started by taking the train all the way to Venice, Italy and then caught a FlixBus to Cortina, Italy (reducing my carbon footprint by avoiding flying as much as possible) to join the annual international meet for the Women's Alpine Adventure Club, a week for women to join skills workshops and meet others to head out climbing, via ferrata, etc. On the first day I met Lucy, and I said "hey let's do this 5C via ferrata''. Not only was this a terrifying, vertical, 2.5 hours of hard grind, but I also didn't want to seem a "wimp" (my Dad's term for any sort of hesitation) so on we pressed. Safe to say, the week improved and I came out feeling confident in my rope skills, found new friends and recognised that my challenge would be overcoming the mental game of climbing rather than the techniques, rope work etc.

At this point I joined up with my partner, Fred, and we embarked on one of the greatest adventures I've ever been on to date - The Alta Via 2 - 171km, 22,000m of ascent and descent through the Dolomites. We decided to switch it up and head South to North, attempting it right at the end of the season as snow was coming in. We wild camped five of the ten nights, one bothy, one winter shelter (very welcome in the white out storm at 3000m) and three refugios. This meant the biggest challenge for us was heavy bags and long days. We also ran out of gas on day six, meaning granola with water, and jam wraps, were our main source of food. Despite our many challenges on the hike, the stunning scenery and changing environments for sure made up for it. A detailed account would not fit into this article but I highly recommend this walk. Maybe bring more gas than we did though!

From the Alta Via 2 we headed by train to Verona where we rented a little Cl car for ten days and drove to Arco, Lake Garcia. Not only did Arco require no guidebook as there are detailed signs at each crag, it also has an abundance of easier climbs; 5C sport and below. The days flew by and we got into a nice rhythm of climbing from 11.00 - 16.00 each day. Starting on Sm 4A pitches we progressed to overhanging 5Cs and a couple of multi pitches. Feeling a bit pathetic at first, I reminded myself that the grade is not the goal. The goal is to enjoy climbing, to be able to push through scary moves, and learn to fall correctly. By the end of the ten days we both felt proud to have achieved this, albeit exhausted.

France

Chamonix, France, was our next stop. However, feeling a bit worn from the past six weeks we attempted to relax a bit with a walk to the famous Mer de Glace, trips to the local crag and an attempt at the challenging Via ferrata du Pare Thermal that involved a vertical climb up past a waterfall, then some squat position traverses up slightly overhanging ladders. After ten days of not so relaxing activities, we headed on our way.

Spain

To catch some of the last summer sun we headed via regional trains over to El Chorro in Spain, a desert landscape of limestone defile rock, for five days of top-class climbing. Our first day was challenging; what was described as a 4C was a tiny finger crack with bold moves to finish. I thought all that work I'd put in had gone. Never trust a 4C is one piece of advice I can give! The next day saw us climbing smoothly up 5Bs and 5Cs at a welcoming crag called Rocabella. The last route I attempted was a 25m 6A, thus ending on a high.

Morocco

Next stop - Morocco. Only an hour's ferry crossing from Spain, we found ourselves not only in a new landscape but a hub of culture. Arriving in Todra Gorge in the High Atlas mountains we settled once again into a comfortable routine, heading out each day at 10.00 until 16.00, walking the 25 minutes through the gorge with locals offering advice on spots we should try. The highlight of the trip: a 12 pitch, 7 hour climb and a 1.5 hour walk off the mountain, alternate leads, missing the last two pitches and some sketchy scrambling off. At the start of the trip I could never have imagined myself planning to undertake this route, and even though there were still scary pitches, hesitant moves, minor grumblings, we did it The two weeks saw us complete multiple multi-pitches and a 6B (whoop, whoop), and then we headed out of the gorge onto our next adventure - the highest peak in Northern Africa, Mount Toubkal (4167m).

Wanting to push ourselves and test our new fitness from the last couple of months, we found a keen young guide (mandatory in the region) named Abdul.

We set out from the delightful town of lmlil, only one hour from Marrakesh, and up to the refuge sitting at 3500m. The next day we first summited Toubkal Western Peak at 4030m, and then Mt Toubkal. The 70 km/h wind was the crux, each step battered us, the summit was a quick affair, and the descent far more dangerous than normal; it required laser focus as strong gusts threatened to sweep us over the impending drop. Once down into the col we made quick work of the next 4000m summit and the descent back to the hut The following day we set out to tackle Ras N'Ouanoukrim and Timesguida (4083 and 4088m), much easier with the 20km/h winds. The avalanche risk (which we found out later resulted in advice not to attempt the mountain) saw us take a detour with a touch of easy ice climbing and some rather questionable down climbing, but two summits later we survived. The final day once again made us question our life choices with Abdul carving out steps along a 45° slope and "be quick here, it might go, remember to use your ice axe''. With the sound advice we prayed a little and hurried across the 200m of potential death slope to an amazing valley full of waterfalls. And with that our big adventures in Morocco came to a close just as the new year was rolling in so we headed out to the coast to try our hand at surfing and some well-deserved beach time.

It is a privilege to travel for so long and requires life circumstances, finances and health to all line up which we are very aware of and grateful they did for us. Hopefully this snapshot has given you some inspiration or ideas for your next adventure and feel free to reach out for advice on any section.

This is an abridged version. A fuller account will be on the Club website under Members' Articles.

Eleanor's year of adventure continued with snowboarding in the Alps, ice climbing in Chamonix, skiing and climbing in Bulgaria, rock climbing in Turkey and trekking in Nepal. She is currently continuing her adventures, studying as an arctic nature guide in Svalbard with The Arctic University of Norway We hope to publish an account of Part 2 at a later date.

Left to right: Alta Via 2, Piz Boe summit by Fred Pederson; Via Corda, Chamonix by Fred Pederson; Route recce, Dolomites, WAAC week by Alex Glynn

Left to right: Rope skills workshop, Dolomites by Jessie Long; Summit of Mt Toubkal, Morocco by Fred Pederson; Descent from 12-pitch climb, Todra Gorge, Morocco by Fred Pederson

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