Crime of the Century. Copyirght C Hiller

Although it was pretty hot, Ricky managed to onsight a couple E5 pitches high up on The Chief. Chalk in one hand, home made portaledge in the other, he, got stuck straight into the ackward, horrible off-widths including a five pitch route called 'Alaska Highway'. Alaska Highway comes complete with a 40m 11d overhanging off-width corner. Enough to freak out even a seasoned athlete like Ricky - it took him about an hour and a half to climb the hard pitch, nearly blowing the onsight at the top.

Once the route was in the bag, they realised they had forgotten to bring another rope to get them down. This mistake cost them a 400m traverse along a crumbly ledge, three feet wide. All was well in the end though as Ricky met a hola-hooping old hippy dude from Manchester to wind down the day.

For Craig, the trip provided the perfect opportunity to immerse himself in the dark art of big wall photography. Whilst Ricky was climbing the 12 or so pitch 'Free Way' on The Chief, Squamish (Cananda) Craig headed up the trail, to the top of The Chief in order to absail into the route. Craig got to the top (gear, inc. 100m rope in tow) okay, but as is one of the pitfalls of these pastimes, he got lost and couldn't find the top of the route. Despite this minor hick up, Craig came back with over 1000 slides covering beautiful locations such as Yosemite, Lake Tahoe and Squamish. You can view more of Craigs stunning photography at http://www.hillerscapes.co.uk/.

On their return to Europe, although skint, they were certainly not dispirited. Far from it in fact - and all of us at K2-UK never fail to be amazed by their enthusiasm. Ricky's feet had barely touched the Irish tarmack before we recieved an email about a few gem projects that would be keeping him out of mischief in 2007. I can't tell you where they are of course, but guaranteed, we'll keep you informed.

El Capitan. Copyright C hiller

Alien Finish. Copyright C Hiller

Plymouth Voyager. Copyright C Hiller