To date the project has been exploring the properties of different samples collected from calibration sites as well as from field-sites in the western European Alps. We are developing a technique called Electron Spin Resonance thermochronometry, which measures how the trapped electron population in quartz minerals responds to temperature. If we can explain the processes of electron trapping and detrapping precisely, we can use this method to determine when the Alpine valleys were formed, as rocks cool when they get closer to the surface following erosion. Because the method is relatively new, we need to measure samples with known thermal history, to ensure that we get the correct age. We took samples from the KTB borehole in Germany, and also from the MIZ1 core in Japan for this purpose. Whereas the KTB samples have very challenging properties, the MIZ1 samples have good ESR properties and the measurements are continuing. Our initial measurements are promising and show that the signals are sensitive to temperature, the next step is to determine if we can quantitatively recover the temperature that the rocks have been exposed to. Once we have done this we will be able to finalise our numerical models, allowing us to apply the technique to our samples from the western European Alps.