Personal Climbing and a Party

Autumn arrived today with the beautiful sunshine that was missing all summer. Adrian, a climbing partner from the 90's, stopped concreting and with his son Christopher we went to the steep north face of Castle Rock of Triermain.

The rock was still greasy and damp but we climbed Rigor Mortis (E2 4c, 5c, 5a) and Agony (90 meters, E1 5a, 5a, 4a). Occasionally observing that the grip on mossy damp rock is terrible, and how few cracks there were for our running protection - quite worrying at times! Routes were completed slowly, and the sun warmed us in the afternoon.

Chris and Alison turned up, and 50 meters up the cliff Ali got so hungry she started to eat her climbing equipment!

We descended in the evening and headed off to buy bread & wine before adjourning to a village hall ceilih. This is a gathering with music provided by a fiddle, flute, guitar etc dancing and food. A great way to end the day and to celebrate Adrian’s birthday!

"Stag Party" Climbing in the Lakes

Dan's getting married soon and Michael, his best man, joined him for an unusual 2-person "stag-party" activity weekend in the Lakes rock climbing.

Fascinating guys, one is a professional freelance musician who plays Bach and Vivaldi on his Baroque Violin; and the other recently completed a thesis on micro biology that included studying salmonella. I never cease to be amazed by the wonderful variety of people I meet in the outdoors.

On saturday we climbed and abseiled on a short crag, then moved a short distance so they could enjoy their first multi-pitch climb and lead many of the pitches.

We headed down from the mountains after sunset and, though only a small white light in this photo, the moon glowed bright.

Sunday started with unusually clear skies and sunshine - so good that I wore shorts and we headed off to Dow Crag above Coniston. We carried suncream but during the walk to the crag the clouds lowered and we ended up climbing the delightful Giant's Crawl and Easy Gulley in atmospheric mist that drifted in and out for most of the day, sometimes giving views over to Coniston Old Man, and then closing in so we were alone in the clouds.

Rock Climbing in Langdale & Trowbarrow

Normally Sarah and Tony's visits happen on the wettest days but not this time.

An early start got us onto the multi-pitch classic - Middlefell Buttress (Diff, 75 metres) in Langdale where Tony and Sarah, with close supervision, took turns at leading and belaying each other on different pitches.

We then completed a long descent on the ropes, learning "stacked & retrievable" abseiling with double ropes; and headed down to our bags for a late lunch with Pip the border collie.

With the possibility of rain in the afternoon we headed south to the quarried cliffs of Trowbarrow. This quarry was purchased in the 90's so it could be preserved for climbing and wildlife. We climbed the 2-star classic Coral Sea (VS 4c) and sat on the top admiring the wide view across to Morecambe Bay and beyond as the day ended.

Guide Dogs for the Blind

The last time I summited Coniston Old Man (803 mtrs) it was a sunny & clear day, but today was very windy as I spent the day supporting the charity 'Guide Dogs for the Blind'. Teams from around the country were raising money in a "triathlon" event which involved canoeing on Coniston Water, cycling around Grizedale Forest, and summitting The Old Man.

The wind was so strong that it was difficult staying upright at times but teams struggled (occasionally on all fours) to the summit - an outstanding effort, especially given that for some this was their first mountain summit. I battled to the summit 6 times to help these fantastic people. Especially impressive was Bridges of Cleveland County who realy pushed themselves, determined to summit despite the howling gale.

On the summit the teams adopted various poses and one group even "mooned" - crazy and brave!

Walking the Langdale Horseshoe

Today I did an extended Langdale Horseshoe, taking 10 hours with Pip my border collie. She started clean, but a miss-judged jump had her joining a teenager who was up to his groin in the bog. Everyone (including the youth) having a great laugh.
Earlier she'd shown off her good memory as we approached the short steep side of Crinkle Crags. 75 meters before the "cliff" she suddenly headed off and made it onto the summit first, via the west flank to avoid the steep scramble that I enjoyed alone - cunning dog.

The route was extended to include Pavey Ark where I'd sat the week before with the "Adventurous Anna's".

I then headed north for more summits before heading back to Elterwater.

Big Mountain Days in the Lakes

I meet wonderful people but this was the best ever...

Despite the awful weather this August a sunny break coincided with a visit to the Lakes by a group of Australians and Londoners. Two full mountain days that flew past.

We walked above Coniston Water and summitted on Brown & Buck Pikes, Dow Crag, Old Man of Coniston, then headed over to Swirl How and Prison Band before heading downhill.

The next day we scrambled up Striding Edge (grade I), and onto Helvellyn before decending the Swirral Edge. After delicious coffee and cake in Glenriding we headed off to Langdale where we “rock hoped” up Stickle Ghyll and climbed slippery and wet waterfalls (with a rope) before circling Stickle Tarn and scrambling up Jacks Rake. We sat on the summit of Pavey Ark and contemplated continueing to further summits. It would’ve been nice but sadly there aren't enough hours in a day and we decended to Ambleside for a very welcome drink and dinner.

I did get back to Pavey Ark and walked the further summits a week later with my dog on an extended 10 hour walk.

We all wish for days when the weather and company are magic - and sometimes it happens.

Expedition to Tien Shan

Old or young - try following your heart occasionally and live life; do something you want to do; the opportunity may never come around again....

I've just returned from the very remote Tien Shan mountains - a fantastic and place of high mountains. We landed in Kazakstan (a country the size of west Europe) and were whisked from the airport for the long drive to Karakol in Kyrgystan. The countryside is amazing; people live in summer yurts in the high mountains with herds of sheep, horses and cattle. Some take trailers loaded up with beehives into the mountains for the pollen in the high alpine meadows. At Karakol we organized food lists and 11 clients, without any local language skills, bought 400 chocolate bars (I have a sweet tooth but that's crazy!) hundreds of loaves, eggs, cheese etc to sustain us for the coming weeks. Meanwhile Sean and I arranged camp kit, transport and accommodation. After checking stoves and packing we loaded up the truck for the next part of the journey, driving over passes up to almost 4,000 meters, to an ex-Soviet helicopter base. The helicopter deposited us rapidly onto the glacier at 3,800 meters. With the nearest people 3 days walk away we rapidly erected our tents and cook tent and got settled in. After acclimatization and practicing on local ice cliffs we made an ascent of a peak (unclimbed?) at almost 5,000mtrs. Over the next week attempts were made on other peaks but deep snow and avalanches thwarted us. The helicopter flew in 2 hours early and it was a mad rush to get the last tent down and load up whilst being battered by the rotors’ downdraft but we were quickly in the air and heading for Khan Tengri base camp where Sean and 8 clients were going to make an attempt on that peak (thwarted again by bad weather) whilst I returned to UK with 3 clients.
A fantastic country, weather was too warm with the coldest night in my tent being -4 degrees (boiling in my altitude sleeping bag). The weather was a problem and we could literally see the glacier melting away from under our tents. We varied from a truck driver to an investment banker, a doctor to a construction manager, and from 19 to 50 years old. A wonderful team with broad experience, sadly the weather was too warm (or good?) for what we wanted to achieve this time. Maybe another time, who knows?

Mark and Rupert, cousins from Ireland, wanted a fun weekend in Wales getting together and having a few laughs, well loads of laughs actually! It's a great part of my work meeting such people, we scrambled and walked all over the place chatting and scrambling. We ascended Tryfan's North Ridge (the most famous grade I classic in Snowdonia), and the next day up Senior's Ridge.

In the evening whilst enjoying a great food, Neil & Matt (May '08) found us, booked a winter skills course for Feb '09 and related great stories of derring do since our days in May.

North Wales Scrambling & others

Just back from walking the Yorkshire 3-Peaks where I went to support the Marie Curie Cancer Care fund raising event. A 5.30 start, helping marshals in the car park, then walking the approx 25 miles and 3 summits. A fantastic bunch of people - I hope lots of funds were raised.

The rest is just a short update on a few things; I've lost photos so just a flavour of things.

Hazel is a wonderfully active lady and I bet there aren't many grandmothers as energetic. She wanted to return to Wales and roped in Dave for another scrambling "get away from it all" so we went up Dolmen Ridge (grade III) and down Bristly Ridge (I rate the decent a grade II); this is a great outing, with a stop to sit on the Cantilever rock for a photo, but beware, finding the routes isn't easy. The next day started wet, and we repeated the supreme combination of Ordinary Route (Diff) then the best bits of Senior Ridge (grade II), and Cneifion Arete (Mod / Grade IIIS), finishing with a walk down Y Gribin to arrive back at the car - dry, smiling, exhausted and rosy from the weather and exertion.

Other outings have included high rock climbing on Bowfell (Cambridge Climb at V Diff and Flat Crag climb at Severe); climbs on Raven Crag above the extremely convenient Old Dungeon Ghyll pub; visits to Wallowbarrow (a crag that's often dry when others aren't) to re-find the man's thomas on the appropriately named route of Thomas (severe); long evening walks up Bowfell, and around Fairfield & Kentmere horseshoes in preparation for an expedition to Tien Shan; some coaching of experienced climbers preparing for their Mountain Instructors Award assessment; and working with youths.

Phew exhausting, better eat some more before I loose weight!

Gimmer Crag

Headed up to Gimmer Crag to grab some quick routes with Nigel, including the classic Gimmer String E1

It's great to see the higher mountain crags (fairly) busy!