Last week Damien and I got an offer from a friend to share a ride to Cogne in Italy on Sunday. So yesterday we got up bright and early and headed into Cham to meet up with Charlie and a friend of his (Abbs) to head to Conge. Unfortunately Damo has been ill for the last few days and yesterday it was starting to take its toll on me as well. We both felt super week and had no energy but as we were already there we couldn’t turn down the chance to climb the mega classic WI-6 “Repentance Super”. Damien had already climbed this route last year but he was willing to do it again so that I could get it done (much to my appreciation).
As soon as Damo started up the first short pitch he knew his body was tired and not working on all cylinders. So he quickly took a belay and I took over on the leading for the rest of the route. It was a good route with very different and strange ice features. It was different to any ice I had climbed before. Even though it was steep, the way it had formed made it not to strenuous, apart from the short bulging overhanging sections. We made a quick accent and then rapped off back to our bags.
As we walked back to the car park we decided it would be best to make ourselves rest for the next couple of days until we both felt well again. We have got some big objectives that we would like to do in the next few weeks, so we want to feel good and get acclimatised soon so that we’re ready and fit for these.
Cogne is an amazing place and I will definitely return to climb some more of its classic alpine ice routes. There is a lot in condition in Cogne at the moment and I will soon be putting a short conditions post on my blog so people can see what routes look good.
