I haven't posted on this blog for a while, this isn't due to inactivity or laziness, but because in September i made the collosal personal step of creating my own blog. It took me a while to adjust to the state of blog directorship, and this combined with my lack of rock climbing recently, means i haven't the strength in my fingers or mind to write two different blog posts every time i go out..... Here it is-http://willsim.blogspot.com/
I've recently returned from Argentine Patagonia where Jon Griffith and myself spent an excellent 5 weeks eating lots of very nice steak, drinking lots of beautiful Argentine wine and climbing a little bit. We managed to climb Cerro Standhardt by the gobsmacking "Exocet" route. Which for those who don't know it, in terms of line and climbing quality has to be one of the most pristine alpine routes around. You may have seen footage of Andy Kirkpatrick and Ian Parnell attempting Exocet in the film "Psyche" by Alistair Lee.
We also made the first alpine, and one day ascent of the East face of Cerro Piergiogio, an incredible face at the head of the Torres valley. This route had previously been climbed with fixed ropes over several days, so it was with sigificant satisfaction that Jon and myself made the second ascent in a (to us) nicer style. Small reports can be found here- http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=59438 and http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web11w/newswire-piergiorgio .
Since returning from Patagonia a day or two before christmas, i've been engaged in various family affairs that are usually associated with that time, but also escaped in to my old back yard of Cumbria, and to Scotland to go climbing. I climbed three routes, two were new and all were excellent. The highlight was perhaps putting up Ben Nevis's hardest winter route to go onsight, along with Greg Boswell (more Greg's route than mine however!).
Lots of Patagonian climbing porn and other activities here- http://willsim.blogspot.com/ .
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