Achilles. Spire.

Achilles. Fucking. Spire.

It just sounds EPIC with a name like that.

This route has been on my to do list for ages, but Katherine and Christine (my usual rope guns) had already climbed it so it just never seemed to be what we landed on as a weekend mission.

It's a shame, because Achilles Spire is awesome. It's 12 bolted pitches of climbing up 300m of good rock on an incredible spire on Mount Andromanche. A super aesthetic alpine climb that's fully bolted and moderate to boot - it goes at 5.8 and not a old school 5.8 - a modern, don't shit your pants 5.8. Bring a 60m rope, 10 draws (plus a couple of spares), a sense of adventure and you're good to go. I kept hearing about how it was an incredible day of 5.fun but just never got out there.

Finally my weekend came - I had a willing partner, but it meant I was going to be swinging leads which despite the mellow grade was going to be a challenge for my notoriously awful lead head.