I’ve missed having an ultrawide lens. I don’t know why it’s taken me 5 years since I got my D70 to get around to buying a replacement for the lens I used the most on 35mm (an 18-35, and I’ve just got the Sigma 10-20), but hey. I like it :-)
Is the garage on the right a hutch?
Winkworth Arboretum – a National Trust property 20 mins drive from me. Another one of those places which I find it hard to take interesting photos of.
Those crazy germans
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.
I find it hard to find things in Guildford that I want to take photos of.
Just in case there aren’t enough photos of the snow :-)
Lake District, FTW
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 :-)
