Amazing, one day without rain… almost. As the snow still covers most of the Mercantour National Park, we made a Trail running in the lower valley of Cians. A nice 33 km loop around Col de Mairola and the villages of Rigaud, Lieuche and Thiéry. We made a similar trail a while back but this …
Just two weeks after the 174 km of the Spine Challenger, I didn’t feel like trail running again and since the snow conditions are pretty good, I went Ski touring in the Mercantour National Park. I made a classic 16 km loop starting in Boréon, crossing the Vacherie des Erps and climbing up to the …
Last week was my peak training week in preparation for the Khan-Tengri (7010 m) expedition that will start in less than 3 weeks. After 44 km ran during the week, Anna and I made a Trail/Trekking this weekend around Saint Etienne-de-Tinée. We wanted to go at a higher altitude than usual, even though in the …
Yesterday, just a week after the Gobi race in China, Anna and I participated in the first Kilometre Vertical race in Saint Martin-Vésubie. The rules are simple; run up-hill on a 5 km distance and 1,150 m of elevation gain. The runners start every 30 seconds and the ranking is based on the time at …
Two weeks after my return from the Atacama Crossing race in Chile, I went back to the Gordolasque Valley in the national Park of Mercantour to climb a new Couloir. With the high temperatures we had in the last few days, most of the snow has melted and it becomes difficult to find some ice …
In November Anna and I went to the Valleys of Gordolasque and Merveilles to make a new Trail running video. This 21 km Trail is very scenic with great views over many lakes and peaks of the Mercantour. It also crosses the archaeological site of Vallée des Merveilles and loops around three high passes and …
Last weekend I went back to the Boréon in the the Valley of Vésubie and climbed the Right Gully in the West face of the Cime Fremamorte (2730 m, 300m, AD+). There are not much snow/ice left, but the conditions in the Gully were okay, with 4 short sections of mixed climbing. Instead of going …
Philippe has just finished the Best of 2011 video: 3 minutes 31 seconds of the Kangchenjunga expedition (8586m), Sahara Race, Rock climbing around Nice, Berghaus TV shoot in the Dolomites, Trail running in Calanques, Sweden, Lapland and Mercantour, Alpine ascents in Chamonix Mont Blanc… More videos on Philippe’s YouTube channel. Philippe and Anna on the …
For this first day of 2012, I woke up at 5:30am and went to the Boréon in the the Valley of Vésubie to climb the Couloir Nathalie (III, AD+/D, 650m) in the West face of Mont Pelago. The weather was great but it was too warm and the conditions in the Couloir were awful: very …
Alpinism: Pelago – Couloirs Nathalie and East Lire la suite »
It becomes really hard to find some snow in the South of the Alps. There are almost nothing below 2400 m and a very few Couloirs and gullies are still in condition, except in some North and West faces. Today I climbed the Diagonale route (AD, 300m) in the West face of Grand Capelet (2935 …