Members present: Vicky Alderton, Roger Mapleson, Bridget Mapleson, Craig Marsden, Sue Marsden, Al Metelko, Kate O'Regan, Julie O'Regan, Andy Grantham, Kirsten Mundt, Dave Bish, Katie Horgan, James Hoyle and Duncan Lee.

Guests present: Carys Mapleson, Owen Mapleson, Thomas Marsden, Phoebe Marsden and Mike Farrish.

By the time that Vicky and I arrived at Ailefroide from the Dolomites, on the 12th, the meet was already in full swing and had its first epic under its belt. Messr's Bish, Hoyle, Farrish and Grantham may have taken the Alpine Club guidebook (of lies) a bit too literally when it referred to the "South-north traverse of Pointe des Cineastes" as being "low enough to be climbable in periods of bad weather." I'm not sure that it meant rain and storms but the weather was most definitely BAD and thus helped to spice up the experience and to slow progress down to such an extent that darkness also came into the equation. Darkness, that was aided and abetted by the failure of two members of the team to pack head torches. Thus Mike and James, the alpine novices, made it back to the car in the early hours whilst Dave and Andy failed to find the bridge across the raging torrent below the Glacier Blanc hut and got to spend a night huddled in a dung filled cave for their troubles. Secretly I think Dave just likes epics.

Back in the comfort of the campsite we had two KMC enclaves with the family's canvas castles and their orbiting satellites pitched out in the open field whilst Andy's bargain monster marquee formed the hub of the woodland folk's encampment. Vic and I split the difference and pitched our tent midway between the two groups as a storm raged. A deluge that was so ferocious that it washed away the footbridge from the campsite to the nearest crag thus adding all of five minutes to the approach.

Wednesday 13th

The overnight downpour cleared to give a glorious day that saw virtually everyone cragging somewhere in the vicinity of the campsite. Al and Kirsten (the Keen team) did the classic 12 pitch "Palavar les Flots" whilst "Two hot men" also saw some attention but we will gloss over that. The most impressive lead of the day however was definitely that of "Go on, go on"(F4b), impressive because it was Thomas's first lead and it was seconded by Owen to give a combined age of 21 for the entire team! Maybe this club does have a future after all.

Thursday 14th

As the Maplesons and Marsdens headed off down the valley to do some downhill mountain biking everyone else ventured as far as the valley crags. Most folk stuck to single pitch routes because the weather forecast was for the weather to deteriorate as the day progressed but as luck would have it, it stayed dry until late in the afternoon by which time Vicky and I had completed the excellent "Snoopy" including an accidental ascent of the slab nasty direct finish which certainly added to the entertainment. The first, but not the last, time that we rued not buying the new guidebook.

Mid afternoon saw Dave and Andy, ever the optimists with their eyes on bigger things, slogging up to the Pelvoux Hut despite a weather forecast that failed to inspire anyone else to leave the comfort of the campsite.

Friday 15th

As the storm rumbled around the peaks for most of the night the boys in the hut sensibly ignored their early alarm but as the thunder abated, around 6am, they quit their beds for a quick breakfast and headed out onto the South face of Mont Pelvoux, getting as far as the Pelvoux Glacier before the weather closed in once more, thwarting their efforts and enforcing a retreat. The customary descent down the Coolridge couloir was out of the question, being swept by spin drift avalanches, so they were forced to retrace their steps down the Rochers Rouge which proved to be time consuming and exhausting due to the unhelpful shelving nature of the terrain and the atrocious conditions. As a result they only made it back to the hut at 11.30pm and spent a second night there.

As Dave and Andy made their epic retreat to the hut James, Mike, Julie and Kate walked up to the Glacier Blanc hut to get in position to make the most of the forecast good weather for the morrow.

Other activity during the day was pretty minimal if you rule out reading newspapers and festering. Except, that is for Kirsten, Al and Katie who walked up to the Pelvoux Hut and back expecting to meet the team coming down. Unfortunately whilst at the hut they were informed by the warden, or one of his little helpers, that Dave and Andy were trying to do the classic traverse of Pelvoux. This misinformation caused a certain amount of anxiety in the valley as the evening progressed and there was no sign of them.

Saturday 16th

The forecast perfect day saw James, Julie, Mike and Kate having a jolly time on the South-West face and South ridge of Montagne des Agneaux but they were robbed of the summit views due to the presence of a human traffic jam in the chimney above the Col Tuckett. This did not appear to detract one iota from their enjoyment of the day judging by the size of the grins on Julie and Kate's faces as they descended back to the valley passing the families out marmot spotting. James and Mike were determined to make the most of the weather and relocated to the Ecrin Hut in readiness for another route.

Meanwhile a worried Katie was pacing nervously around the village but a quick phone call to the hut shed light on the matter of Dave and Andy's whereabouts. They had only just begun the walk back down to the valley after a lie in and a hearty breakfast. Relief all round!

As well as the mountains, the more substantial valley crags also got quite a going over, especially the excellent 15 pitch (500m) "Pets de Rupricaprins" which saw ascents from the ever keen team of Kirsten and Al with Bridget and Vicky following on a couple of pitches below. Craig and I strolled up to Vers Clapouse where we had a fine time on the varied and entertaining "Tueur de Boucs". The spectacular crux pitch followed a gangway sandwiched between huge roofs and proved to be very memorable, especially for Craig who stress tested a piece of granite beyond its shear point. He was also heard to mutter the odd technical climbing term on the holdless slab above the void but all in all, loathe as I am to say it, it was a good effort for a fell runner who only touches rock once in a blue moon.

Sunday 17th

The earliest start of the day was recorded by James and Mike, a proper Alpine start in fact, as they departed from the hut up the regular route towards the Barre des Ecrin. Thickening cloud and snow flurries resulted in them erring on the side of caution and turning around at the col. As a result of this our paths crossed as they descended to the valley while Roger and I slogged up to Pointe des Cineastes for Roger's first alpine route, "Le Vieux piton" (TDinf). A nice gentle introduction to the higher hills! As we geared up a team above threw a huge block at us, causing a certain amount of consternation, but I soon explained this away as normal behaviour in the mountains and besides they weren't on our route so once we had done the first pitch we would be out of the firing line. Roger looked unconvinced but set of regardless and all was well. The route followed an elegant line on perfect rock and was extremely well protected and atmospheric as mist swirled around the pinnacle. Shame it started to snow! By this point it was easier to head for the summit of the first pinnacle which signalled the end of the route's difficulties and the normal traverse of the ridge provided us with a quick retreat as the snow began to settle.

As we walked contentedly back down to the valley we passed Dave, Andy and Katie heading up to the Ecrin hut.

As all this was going on other folk busied themselves in the valley with Al and Kirsten's ascent of "Riviere Kwai" being the pick of the bunch and yes it does indeed have a bridge to cross on pitch 12. An exposed teeter across a wedged tree trunk I believe. Either way it was another big route for the keen team.

Monday 18th

The KMC's second attempt of the trip on the Barre des Ecrin took place on a glorious day but again proved to be unsuccessful due to the large amount of fresh unconsolidated snow on the summit ridge. As recompense for their labour Dave and Andy bagged the Dome de Neige instead whilst they were in the area.

The families also bagged a peak, La Blanche (2953m) which provided stunning view across the range and even Carys conceded that it was a proper mountain.

The other notable ascent of the day was again by Al and Kirsten as they racked up another 8 pitches on "A tire d'Ailefroide", a fine looking route to the left of the famous "La Fissure." I dread to think how many hundred metres of rock this pair climbed on this trip. Anyone would think they had been caged indoors for months by bad weather.

Tuesday 19th

A poor weather forecast saw everyone opting for valley based activities but cragging was the mainstay either around the campsite or down the valley at Rocher Baron. The main event of the day was Tom's first F6a lead.

Wednesday 20th

Cragging down the valley was again popular today with the only multipitch route being done near the campsite being the unrecommendable "Vodka and Champagne" by Vicky and I. After starting up a superb meaty crack it degenerated from there on in.

The families were extremely active today initially heading down to Valloise where the boys went mountain biking and the ladies went horse riding. After that it was back up to Ailefroide and out onto the rock where Craig had the satisfaction of having to finish off a route for Tom. He took the opportunity to gloat whilst he still can.

As all this was going on others were beginning the long journey home whereas Dave, Kirsten and Katie were starting the long walk up to the Sele Hut.

Thursday 21st

Today saw the last Alpine routes of the trip being done and started early for Dave, Katie and Kirsten as they set forth from the hut onto the "south east spur" of Ailefroide Occidentale on a perfect day. Katie turned back below what Dave referred to as the "awesome penultimate crest of snow" whilst he and Kirsten made a quick dash to the summit. Everyone appeared to have equally wide grins on their faces when they returned to the valley.

Vicky and I also got an early start from the end of the road in the Valon Valley and toiled up to the beautifully pointy Dentes de Coste Cournier where we did the excellent lower wall of Diable par le Queue before descending the normal route back to the solitude of the cirque. It was just one of those days when it was a pure joy to be in the mountains.

After that the meet began to fade out as people began their journeys home. The last act of the meet was a picnic on a ledge part way up Tete de Draye where Dave and co raised a glass to toast another well attended and highly enjoyable Alpine meet.

Thanks to everyone who turned up and I am assured that as I type Colin is putting his encyclopaedic knowledge of the Alps to good use thinking of a suitable venue for 2009.

So there will be four members present at least...

We plan to camp at Ailefroide on the south side of the Ecrin Massif. The campsite is large and well equipped and has an entire guidebook of rock climbs (F3- 8A, 1 - 14 pitch) on perfect granite within walking distance. If you choose to venture up into the surrounding higher mountains these include the Barre des Ecrin (4101m), Mont Pelvoux (3943m) and the small but perfectly formed Pointe des Cineastes amongst others. There is also lots more rock climbing on limestone down the valley as well as mountain biking, a via ferrata and lots of good walking. All that and the fact that the area generally gets better weather than the Mont Blanc massif combine to make Ailefroide a great base from which to launch Alpine adventures.

So let us know if you want more information or plan to come along so we can keep an eye open for your arrival seeing as the campsite is very spread out and mobile phone reception was non-existent 2 years ago