As the year ends… plans are afoot!

The end of one year marks the beginning of another… (how profound).

And it is with this in mind I look to the next 12 months and to some very exciting plans.

The last year has seen me based in Chamonix in the French Alps, which has been truly fantastic. World class climbing of all disciplines has been on my doorstep, and this is a luxury I am not going to give up quite yet.

My two most memorable routes from 2011 were certainly the North Face of the Eiger (check out my UKC article) in the spring and the North Face of the Matterhorn (check out my writing) in the autumn.

In between these two routes I did a whole host of rock climbing, including ticking a line I had been after for a while in Wales (UKC News). However I didn’t achieve my main rock climbing ambition of the year, which was to climb 8c. You can’t win them all.

I am now looking forward to next year, with some plans to climb with some really exciting people. Nick Bullock and I are hoping for some major sea cliff action in the summer, and Rob Greenwood and I are hoping for some big mountain action in the autumn.

Squeezed in between that will be more attempts at becoming a sport climber.

But until the climbing season starts – I just would like to say… it’s snowing in Chamonix and that means… POWDER SKIING!!!!