My best photos at Max Hammond Photos.
More of my photography on Flickr.
Stock Photography at Alamy

Those crazy germans

My best photos at Max Hammond Photos.
More of my photography on Flickr.
Stock Photography at Alamy

Just come back from an interesting couple of weeks in Austria.

Day 1: flew to München, took the train to Imst/Pitztal via Würgl and Innsbrück (our train disappeared, nobody knew anything, all good), then the bus down to Tieflehn where we stayed overnight.

Day 2: walked around Mandarfen for the morning, met the rest of the course and walked up to Taschachhaus, which is more of a small hotel than a mountain hut (salad bar!). Talk in the evening to introduce everybody.

Day 3: Walked to Vorderes Köpfle, practising movement on rock, lowered off (!) and walked back down. In the evening, practised some ropework.

Day 4: On the Glacier practising movement on ice across all slopes and techniques.

Day 5: Sexegertenspitze (3350m), glacial approach up to ~40° with a very little rock right at the end. Spent an hour in the sun on the summit! Unfortunately, I’d missed a bit of my chin with the sunscreen… Practising ice-axe braking and buried-axe belays on the descent.

Day 6: Back on the glacier, pitched ice climbing, crevasse rescue practice.

Day 7: Had a go at Wildspitze, didn’t make it. I wasn’t well, so I turned around before the morraine slope, Andrea carried on, but the weather wasn’t good enough – they summited Petersenspitze instead.

Day 8: walked back down to the Valley, got a lift to Ötztal bahnhof, from where we took the bus to Sölden. The weather forecast was grim, so we decided to stay in the valley for a couple of days. Some shopping and pizza :-)

Day 9: Bus to Vent, checked into a B&B, and climbed Wildes Mannle (3000m), but taking the Sesselbahn out of Vent!

Day 10: Walked to Hochjochhospitz (2413m), stayed in a lager of 6 people.

Day 11: Walked to Brandenburger Haus (3277m) in fog over the glacier. Smelled the woodsmoke before we could see the Haus. Stayed in a 4-bed room.

Day 12: Walked via Fluchtkogel (3500m) and the Joch to Breslauer Hütte (2844m). The walk from Vernagthütte to Breslauer Hütte was dull and long. Put up with a room full of tourists with no idea what an early start meant. Everything was very funny at 2330, but considerably less so at 0400 the next morning!

Day 13: The plan was to have another go at Wildspitze, the weather was perfect. Unfortunately, this time Andrea was ill, so we abandoned it before we got to the Mittelberg Joch. Spent the day sitting in the sunshine and drinking Apfelscholer. Got moved into a 2-bed room, and caught up on sleep.

Day 14: two people were helicoptered off from the Joch in the morning, one seriously injured. We walked down to Vent and took the bus to Sölden, where we stayed the night.

Day 15: train to München, flew home.

My best photos at Max Hammond Photos.
More of my photography on Flickr.
Stock Photography at Alamy

Just back from two weeks travelling around the Fjord region of Norway, including a session on Jostedalsbreen, with a spot of ice climbing. All good :-)

My best photos at Max Hammond Photos.
More of my photography on Flickr.
Stock Photography at Alamy

So. Tallinn. We went the week after the native Russians had been rioting about the government moving a Soviet-era war memorial from the city centre to a military cemetary – the full story is here

I hadn’t really appreciated just how these countries had suffered under Stalin, and the latter Soviet regime. Is it any wonder that they are not mad-keen on having reminders of their occupation and repression prominantly displayed?

I’m left with little sympathy for the “oppressed” Russian minority in Estonia, who were migrant workers sent there by the USSR, with the intent of dissipating the national identity of the native population, and were previously favoured in all aspects of life. Sucks to have the boot on the other foot, huh?

Writing about: Europe diary: Feudal power

Mark Mardell has an excellent description of the interaction of the various organs of the EU – the full thing is well worth a read if you have a moment.

I spent about 17 years covering British politics, so it’s not surprising that people often ask me how the politics of Brussels and Westminster compare.

It is too early to make a proper judgement as I have spent a lot of time just getting my head around the system, and how the institutions relate to each other. My starting premise was their unique nature. But on reflection I’ve changed my mind.

I think now you can understand the EU’s institutions by imagining a feudal power of the early Middle Ages. The European Commission is the King and his court, the Council of Ministers is the House of Lords and the European Parliament is the House of Commons.

Writing about: BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Campaign to cure EU labour woes

Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker is reported as saying: “We know exactly what to do, but we do not know how to win the next elections after we have done it.”

_{Thesis Status:}

A while back I did one of those blogmemes – filling in a map with red in all the countries that I’ve been to. Here’s a more interesting version, for anyone with Google Earth – the same kind of thing as a KMZ File. Obviously, it’s not really everywhere that I’ve been, just the places that I feel some connection with.

Quite an illuminating exercise. I really need to get out of Europe more :-)

My best photos at Max Hammond Photos.
More of my photography on Flickr.

I’m going to miss this.

Are legendary. Today’s selection: Internationalen

Mera brännvin i glasen,
mera glas på vårt bord.
Mera bord på kalasen,
mer kalas på vår jord.

Mera jordar med måne,
mera måne i Mars.
Mera marscher mot Skåne
mera SkÃ¥ne gu’bevars.

Off to Germany for the new year, which is always nice. However…

Snow showers and a fair wind forecast at Heathrow when I’m due to leave. Should be fun…