Matterhorn Success- 22nd October

Its been an awesome two months of climbing with Will Sim and wish him all the best now that he is back in the UK for the rest of 2008. He's had a great first season including a lightening solo of the Frendo in his first week, a sub 9 hour ascent of the Ginat and a new route on the GM ridge of the Verte- pretty impressive considering he is still 18. No doubt there will be more to hear from him when he is back out this winter. The weather still seems very erratic for the moment and with a projected snow fall down to 1200m today and tonight it doesnt sound like things are panning out too well for the moment. Added to this that the isotherm is going to rocket up to 4000m on Saturday when the weather clears a bit it isn't ideal really. However in lighter news Rich Cross ("Alpine Guides":http://www.alpine-guides.com/) and Stu Macaleese climbed the Schmidt route on the North face of the Matterhorn on Saturday reporting "bomber nick and perfect temps in the shade, although the top section was mixed and tricky. Not a single pebble fell on the entire face. Face was hammered over weekend by about 6/7 teams". Well done them and I am not at all jealous...honest. Check out the "Alpine Guides blog for more info":http://www.alpine-guides.com/blog/ . Proving that I was pretty wrong about the north faces and the high temps last week. Good on them for getting out. We are going to try for the Matterhorn this weekend so will report back then