Steve returned to his gite le Camp Base at about midnight. The lights were out and clearly everyone was in bed. Confronted with a security key pad to regain entry he just couldn’t remember the code. Rich had driven back to his appartment in la Grave 5 miles up the road and would have certainly turned off his phone. Faced with a very cold bivi under the overhang of projecting roof aside a frozen water butt, Steve tried frantically to punch in various sequence. As a last resort he risked the wrath of the proprietors and neighbours and made a lot of noise ringing bells and banging on doors at the front and rear of the gite. 12 mins later Madame appeared, phew.

The alarm jerked him into a semi-conscious delirium, it was 5am, or 4am GMT - January 26. That day turned out good. Rich showed up a tad late but the pair still made it to the start of their walk in before dawn. Vallon de Diable is a stunning high alpine valley reached on a road between Bourg d’Oisans and La Barade. As it happens only a short distance over the mountains from Ailefroide. The valley runs east west and every winter is lined with numerous ‘cascades de glace’ or frozen waterfalls on the north and south facing aspects. Avoiding the sun 3 routes were climbed on the south side amounting to a total of 400m of ascent and up to grade 5+ WI. The aim was to train for moving at speed on moderate to hard terrain in readiness for an alpine project in Chamonix. Now March 25 the project still awaits the right conditions and appropriate weather window …

That evening Gino and Shane appeared with a hired car from Turin. Rumour has it the MMC yet again evaded the Carabineri despite speeding and driving the wrong way down a ‘senzo unico’ - just as an earlier MMC ice climbing trip in January 2002. All fired up and ready to go, the lads treated themselves to a fine meal at the Hotel Edelweiss, before retiring early. The next day Shane and Gino had great fun on a classic grade 4+ WI in walking distance from the gite. Gino decided on a dry tooling variant to the crux pitch which involved a desperate torquing layback a manoeuvre that entails jamming the pick end of an axe in a crack. Always the technical master Gino will be developing his mixed climbing skills in the coming years.

Steve and Rich meanwhile headed to the uber classic Fournel valley to climb Double Scotch – an 80m vertical ice column reportedly in fine lean condition and going at grade 5+/6 WI. Sadly the temperature had risen to a balmy 9C. On approaching the ice column Rich noticed that the ice was no longer bonded to the rock overhang above, and that there were visible fracture lines. The ice was holding itself up by a wing and a prayer. Turning tale the pair made a rapid exit leaving two mad Spaniards who were still keen to climb it! The fate of the Spaniards is not known however 2 days later the column did collapse.

Next day Rich headed back to Sheffield and the MMC trio went back to cause havoc in Vallon de Diable. Two classic routes at grade 4+ and 5 were climbed including Miniscule Gully which had definite reminiscences of Scottish winter climbing!

On the last day an early start was made to drive to Ceillac. This is a good venue often in condition when other locations are out due to its altitude. At 2700m the site also sports a quiet ski resort. Unfortunately Shane, ‘the geez’, had contracted a stomach bug, reputedly from eating a green salad Steve had prepared the night before. It was conclued that ‘real men don’t eat salad’! So while Shane took a nap in the car Gino and Steve went up to do ‘Sombre Heros’ grade 5 WI. This year the ice on the route was lean and sculpted making for awkward and strenuous climbing and with protection difficult to arrange on the crux pitch. To top it all it was also ringing with water. Steve led the pitch but took a thorough beating from the running water and was absolutely soaked by the time he reached the belay. Gino already feeling the cold wisely declined to second the pitch and Steve abbed down retrieving the gear. The pair headed to the ski resort café, there lacing themselves with hot chocolates and café lattes while Steve tried to dry out. In the afternoon Gino and Shane were content with relaxing in the sun on the café balcony, while Steve soloed Formes de Chaos grade 4 WI. The route was in stunning condition with over 200m of climbing.

That evening ‘the geez’ was back on form and although not eating salad the trio enjoyed a great dinner in Vallouise before returning to Turin the following day and flyong back to Luton.