Belated Alpine Adventures

Admiring the scale of the Brenta Dolomites in all it's glory

Well, embarrassingly enough, here's a post I should have completed last autumn, when time disappeared very quickly and then I did the same for 5 months. Admittedly I've officially been back for more than 6 weeks now, so apologies to anyone who's been waiting. This post is a selection of images from a well earned holiday last summer (well earned by Emilie anyway...) to the French Alps, over to the Dolomites and a sneaky few days in Venice. Hard Life.

"Camping with the Stars" near Lachat, Crest Voland, French Alps

A few days visiting friends and family in the French Alps for walking, flying, mountain biking, drinking wine and the rest.

Emilie's grandfather makes and puts out these signs on the local mountain trails for all to follow

Walking above Les Allues, with the Mont Blanc Massif in the background

Then off to the Italian Dolomites for a week of Via Ferrata based around Lake Garda and then into the Brenta Dolomites - another amazing trip to a fantastic place.

On a very hot route above Lake Garda

Looking back towards Arco from near the summit

I'm sure the ladders are solid...

HIYAAAAA!!!!!!  A big northern hello from high in the Brenta Dolomites

We drove up into the mountains some more to the Brenta Region - the most spectacular via ferrata I've seen so far - classic limestone cliffs, made me feel like we were going to bump into Sly Stallone any minute...

Not a bad view really...

Sunset at the Rifugio Alimonta

An amazing evening panorama

Being a British mountaineer, I always carry extra things to help out - spare gloves, two spare hats and a long handled shovel

Well marked trails throughout the alps make life much easier!

We came down from the right to the col, slid down the glacier on our bums and then went up the left cliffs the next day.

Summer snow can throw some crazy shapes

Mind the Gap...

Sunny afternoons

And for some R&R we decided to head for a couple of days in Venice to finish off the trip before the long drive home...

The obligatory gondolier shot...

I loved Venice, but so do all the other tourists.  Wander around if you want to escape from the crowds.

Death to The Man

A day trip to the most colourful place in the world, Burano.  Amazing and if you get the early boat you have the place almost to yourself

A Burano panorama, a few minutes before torrential rain arrived!

Amazing little streets and very easy to escape the crowds if you wander off the beaten track.

A little Superhero piece to finish on. A superb trip and now time to work through the images from last season in the Fosdick Mountains, Antarctica. Phew, there are thousands of them!