Andy Turner Climbing

Buchaille Day

2012-01-26T17:41:00.001Z

Last day out with the Mountain Equipment/Gore Cotswold staff training event today and what a day!
After the total wetness of yesterday we could hardly believe in the weather forecast which said it was going to get cold and snowy overnight - but they were right!! All the rain last night down in the valley had been going down as snow on the hills so we woke up to it looking like winter.
I headed out with team Hillwalking and we went to Buchaille Etive Mor, great day out, up the ridge to the right of Coire na-tuillach. Some proper wintery showers came through during the day for a real taste of Scotland, but as it wasn't too windy a fun day out.
Thanks to everyone this last week or so for being super enthusiastic and making the most of the sometimes trying conditions!

East-side dash..

2012-01-23T22:24:00.000Z

Jen enjoying pitch 1 of Ventricle

With just one day off in between the ME/Cotswold courses, I had signed up to get involved in the BMC International Winter Meet today. The main reason being that my friend Jen Olson is on the meet and it meant we could go climb together. I met Jen a couple of years ago on an American Alpine Club International Meet in Indian Creek and ever since we've been promising to go winter climbing together.
Today was the day!

Jen on Pitch 4 - the off width crack

After an early start in Ballachulish I met Jen at Glenmore Lodge and we headed out with everyone else into the Northern Corries. Jen and I headed for Coire an Lochain, although I wasn't really sure what we were going to get on. Jen is mountain guide and all round wad, but she hasn't climbed in Scotland before, so we thought about getting on something easy as a warm up but in the end we decided that we'd take advantage of awesome mixed conditions and headed for Ventricle VII,8. What a great route it follows a load of grooves and then has a steep little offwidth crack aswell. By total chance Jen got the bolder pitches and dispatched them with style, whilst I felt a bit rusty with the tools but kept the side up!

Continuing up Pitch 4

Elsewhere people were climbing things all over the place, a word of warning though - WATCH OUT FOR UNFROZEN LOOSE BLOCKS! Poor Simon Frost took a rock to his helmet and was still looking a bit dazed this evening.

Nick Bullock decided to get amoungst things and set off up Pic and Mix, only to think it was too easy and continue straight up for a direct finish where everyone else has stepped out right - he described it as "emotional"! Good skills old (grumpy) man - oh and untuck the trousers Bullock!

Back to the grindstone tomorrow - if you can call a few nice days out on the hill with a bunch of keen people the grindstone!

Not so bonnie Scotland!

2012-01-21T23:31:00.000Z

Today was my second day out with the Mountain Equipment/Gore, Cotswold staff training winter skills teams. Yesterday was a snowy and frozen up high but as the temperature rose during the day it became drizzly as we made our way down off Buchaille Etive Beag, bit windy on the ridge but generally quite pleasant, and I managed most of the day in my new 2013 Pulsar and G2 pants.

Today was a different day - really windy with the odd gust that was pretty impressive, lifting people off their feet and tumbling them around. I was out on the hill with a Hillwalking group, we set off from the car park at Buchaille Etive Mor, into some heavy drizzle. We hovered between snow and drizzle, all day having decided to stay low with the winds forecast (120mph on the tops).
After topping out on Stob Mhic Mhartuin we headed down and found some great pockets of drifted snow in stream beds to build some snow shelters.

Thanks to Andy Green at Mountain Equipment for the pictures - he headed up to Stob Coire nan Lochan today which is where these pics are from.

Elsewhere Stu McAleese and Dave Macleod were also out and about with a hillwalking team. I think we can safely say that everyone has given their Mountain Equipment clothing a good testing today!

Bonnie Scotland....

2012-01-19T12:05:00.001Z

I arrived in Scotland on Sunday under fabulous blue skies and cold conditions. Not much snow around except for hard old stuff up high. Luckily the forecast for Monday was more of the same and as I was sending Ruth out to work I could head out to play with Blair Fyffe. As buttresses were going to be black, mixed climbing was off the agenda so we decided to head up the Ben for a sociable day out climbing some not too tricky ice. We headed up a route on the side of Tower Ridge called The Gutter - very pleasant and good ice too. Topped out almost at the top of Tower Ridge - bagged the summit enjoyed the incredible views, and then popped back down and nipped up Central Right-hand to finish off our day.
Other teams were on Smiths Route amongst other things and everyone looked like they were having a great day.

Of course these lovely conditions were never going to last, yesterday was warm and only a little bit damp and I was working, headed up to Stob Coire nan Lochan with the Derby Uni students for a lap of Dorsal Arete, stayed dry until almost at the bottom of Broad Gully on the descent - so pretty good. No snow being put down up there and not much up there in the first place - not sure I've been up there when it's that lean before. Today we had an easy day for the legs with an Ice Factor and dry tooling day. Right now it's lashing with rain, but rumour has it it's going to start snowing soon!!

Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow and then I'm into my stint of Mountain Equipment - Cotswold Staff training - so some snow would be good!

Like Christmas again....

2012-01-14T10:22:00.001Z

I popped into Mountain Equipment yesterday to collect my new batch of kit........ lucky me!

Ooooo, I like the look of this one.......green and with a cool hood and neck gaiter arrangement - super cosy.

It was a bit like christmas morning back at home, without the wrapping paper. Most of the kit is samples for next winters season - always good to get a sneak preview of what's going to be around.
Colour theme - definitely blue and green or at least in the selection I got.

Pulsar jacket on, hat on, now what else can I put on?

Loving the base/mid layer stuff (Vizion (?) Hooded and non hooded Zip Tee) I suspect I'll be wearing it almost constantly for the next few months. Fits really well and looks like it'll be perfect for climbing. I'll let you know. Perfect new hat too! All matching and everything.

Also, some great softshell - new Pulsar and a brilliant new primaloft/active shell jacket. I can't believe how far the softshell range has come, I remember getting a G2 jacket about 5 years ago and it felt a bit like cardboard, now everything is so much lighter and more supple it's become an irreplaceable part of my kit. I have particularly loved the Arrow Zip Tee over the summer - although I've had a hooded version as oppose to the currently available one - it's amazing.

This new box of goodies is the best thing about heading north - actually psyched to get it out on the hill.
Looks like there is a bit of ice building up in Scotland so I'm hopeful. Not looking good for mixed climbing though...........come on weather gods do your thing!

I apologise to ME if I've got names wrong for the new stuff - I think I lit the fire with the tags!! And you know what my memory is like!

What else would you wear to light the fire?? Doesn't everyone wear brand new kit!

Preparing to migrate

2012-01-12T12:38:00.002Z

The time has nearly come to head north of the border. I will be packing a huge bag or too stuffed full of all those lovely M.E. things that keep me warm and dry, yes the green suit will be out and probably the new blue one too! The pointy sharp things will also be going in........really hoping to get some routes done.
Conditions are looking pretty rubbish, doesn't seem like winter is really happening at the moment but fingers crossed it'll be back with a vengeance before my "holiday" time is over.
Firstly I've got a bit of work to deal with, University of Derby students next week and then Cotswold staff on Mountain Equipment winter skills courses. Should all be good so long as the total wet ming weather stays away!
A couple of days on the BMC International Meet squeezed in between and then it's Lukasz's Photography Workshop - still a couple of places left book here.

Meanwhile in between helping my parents rip their new house apart I've been getting down to Manchester Climbing Centre and Awesome Walls Stockport for some training sessions mostly with Jonny G the BMC/MLTE Training Officer who appeared with a little present this week......

A good way to keep track of exactly what I've been doing in all those sessions, and hopefully when everything works really well this year I'll be able to look back and see exactly what I did and then improve for next year.
Thanks Jon.

Long Hope hitting London at Royal Geographical Society

2012-01-08T18:42:00.000Z

Seems a long time now since I was suspended above the abyss on St John's Head up on Hoy, but it was certainly a memorable expedition climbing The Long Hope Direct with Dave Macleod back in June 2011.

Is it over?? Thanks to Dave Macleod for this photo.

On February 8th Dave and I are headed to the RGS to present an evening of tales and film from our adventure on the big cliff. Dave will be talking about being a complete wad and being able to climb incredibly hard things whilst dodging Fulmar vomit and me, I'll be hoping to give everyone a taste of what it's like to have to follow these things when you aren't a wad!

Should be an entertaining evening and there will also be plenty of time in the bar to chat and get yourself some signed copies of The Long Hope film made by Paul Diffley at Hotaches.

Tickets are on sale on Dave's website and they are selling fast so get over there and get yours!

All about the training

2012-01-04T09:28:00.000Z

With hurricane force winds, rain and generally foul weather seemingly having being set in for weeks on end, my winter season has yet to really get going. A brief weekend of climbing over in North Wales was great and I could feel a bit of winter psyche returning, now it has definitely disappeared again!

Another disappointment was the cancellation of a trip to the Ecrin for the ice festival, conditions out there are pretty poor, loads of snow now but October/November were really dry so the ice just isn't forming very well. Plenty of snow for skiing............ but that isn't much help.

On the positive side I have embarked upon an actual training plan - instead of my usual climb as much as possible with very little system approach. It will be really interesting to see the effect this has on my winter over the next couple of months and my rock climbing come the spring. I'm hoping that the short term gains will do me some favours when I head out to Canada in about 5 weeks time - I'm gonna be needing some guns to keep up with Gordon McArthur - my host for the trip. He's been putting in some time on the tools and developing a crag near his home in Cranbrook, British Columbia - he's promised to keep some lines for me, now I just have to hope I can climb them! Gordon if you are reading this - the easy lines are the ones for me!!

The time has come to sharpen

2011-12-28T16:49:00.001Z

At the end of last winter my picks and crampons were prettyblunt after lots of scratching around in

Scotland

, Norway etc. so it’s timeto get them in tip top shape ready for the first big routes of the winter.

Most of the routes I end up climbing are mixed routes and soI need nice sharp points on my picks to get the accuracy needed for thosetenuous hooks. A decent big file and some elbow grease are needed to get themjust perfect, and making sure you keep the teeth all individually sharpened.For ice pitches a narrowed super sharp pick is the perfect tool for the job,and the teeth aren’t so useful, in fact they tend to make it harder to get thepick out when you’ve really whacked it in.

Poor old pick - looking a bit blunt!

Blunt pick

When using a file - use even flat stroke and in strokes away from the body in one direction - this is how it is designed to be used and will give the best results.The finish you are looking for is smooth and mirror-like. If you use the file in different directions this is impossible.

First start by sharpening the tip of the pick. You are aiming for an angle of the tip as shown in the picture below. If the angle is too steep the pick will prise off the hold when you are using it. Imagine the tip of the pick and handle are both touching the file/wall.

Next step is to file the edges of the tip - see picture below. Try and aim to get an angle of about 45 degrees.

Then file the underside of the pick - first the tip as below. Make sure you end up with an angle on the point - ie do not file it to be flat or you won't be able to use the tip of the pick on small holds.

Next file the sides of the teeth - again at around 45 degrees - super useful when using you picks on ice as it gives you a narrow profile pick. See below.

Repeat this process along the top of the pick - as shown below.

The finished profile!! Not perfect but way cheaper than a new set of picks!

Picks can be sharpened a few times but will eventually get too short - and then it's time to get a new set. Hope you find this useful - a few people have been asking me lately what I do with my picks so this is my best attempt at showing you what I do - without hiring a film crew!!

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas...

2011-12-24T18:18:00.001Z

Just a quick message to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
All the very best for 2012.

Thanks for reading the blog and I'll keep you updated as to the seasons goings on as much as possible.

Thanks also to Mountain Equipment for keeping me and Santa warm, Lyon Equipment for keeping me safe with kit from Petzl, La Sportiva, Beal and Julbo.

And also an extra thank you to Ruth for keeping me sane and organised!

Have a good one everybody (except the nasty b*****d who smashed the van window - you can have a s***t one!)

Some inspiration on a miserable wet day!

2011-12-23T21:14:00.001Z

Looking forward to my trip out to Canada in February - it has to be better than the current ming-fest that is the UK.
Fingers crossed for some cold weather soon.

Whilst the cat's away.......

2011-12-19T17:16:00.001Z

Andy has headed off down the wall for some more training - you would think 3 days out on the hill climbing in Wales would be enough??? So whilst I have chance here it is the bit of film you've all been waiting for.......... exclusive footage of the studio photoshoot that took place last thursday. Lukasz and Andy - what a pair!!! I think Andy is doing an impression of Stevie Haston.

Oh and speaking of photoshoots.......good time to get a plug in for Lukasz's photography workshop at the end of January - Andy is the star model this was just for practice! Check out this link for more info and to book your place.

Another day...another winter route or two.

2011-12-18T18:46:00.001Z

Today I headed out with the infamous Mark 'Baggy' Richards, newly appointed pro partner with Mountain Equipment and established guru of Welsh Winter Climbing. Check out his blog for news all winter and probably some more about today!
Baggy decided that it would be a good bet to head up to the north face of a mountain somewhere in Wales. We climbed a couple of new routes, which were combinations of some existing (unstarred) rock routes. The first route had a first pitch up groove with 'hero hooks' all the way with bomber gear until the tricky exit about V, 6. The second pitch was a proper squirm chimney - Baggy's pitch - most entertaining watching his feet disappearing - not so entertaining getting the rucksack through it - ungradeable!!

The second route followed a groove to start at about IV to a big bay. The main pitch went up a crack in a steep slab - more hero hooks, but a bit steeper than the previous route probably around V, 7. The route finished up a enjoyable corner at about grade III.

Grades are a guess - and I'm under strict instructions from Baggy not to reveal exact locations as he's got his eyes on some more lines!!

Elsewhere, Matt and Adam Hughes headed over to Clogwyn Du, and made an ascent of Traversty - after a couple of falls from Adam on the first pitch, Matt took over and finished the pitch - good effort Stygall!
Calum was out with Ray Wood and after a false start one one route they did Pillar Chimney.
Pete Harrison was back on the project but still no send.

Adam finishing the second pitch

At last a winter route!!!

2011-12-17T17:41:00.001Z

Ruth not looking impressed!

Ok, I know I've been a bit slow getting my season started but finally it's begun.I headed over to Wales on Thursday eve with a hopeful weather forecast. Conditions are only vaguely climbable high up but Wales in soooo much closer than Scotland!
Yesterday I had a pretty rubbish day out with Ruth. We headed up to Craig Dafydd on beta from Matt Stygall who'd been in there in thursday and managed to climb a route. He'd said that the turf was frozen in places and not so frozen in others and after another cold night we had hoped that it would be better. Unfortunately this wasn't the case and as the routes depend on turf after a couple of false starts we retreated. Quite a long old walk up there, felt especially so, as you couldn't see very far and in felt like forever until we finally bumped into the crag. You arrive at the crag at the bottom of a route called Goliath an excellent looking ice pitch or two - not quite fat enough to climb but all there. If it stays cold could be a goer in a few days.

Today I headed out with young Calum Muskett. He had tried Traversty on Clogwyn Du last year and not managed to do the crux so was keen to get back on it. This time was a different matter, looking cool, calm and collected he made a stylish ascent, in less than perfect conditions - check out the ropes in the picture - the wind was howling!!

Setting off on Pitch 2

We had thought about the direct finish but with the weather conditions as they were we decided to stick to the original. Top route. Pete Harrison and Rob Pitt were also at the crag trying a new route, but no send, so that's all I'm saying, no pictures and no info!!! Think Pete is heading back there tomorrow to see if he can get i done, so more news from him soon.

In other news Matt headed back up to Craig Dafydd today with Adam Hughes and they pulled a new route out of the bag.
Pitch 1. 4.Starting at the base of Helmand Province you climb up some turfy grooves onto a ledge, step right to a leftwards slanting turfy crack - climb that and continue to the base of the obvious crack. (40m)
Pitch 2. 7. Climbs the obvious crack to a ledge (possible belay) and then continue up a shallow chimney over the overhang to a ledge and block belays. (25m)
Pitch 3. 5. Climb the left on the 2 obvious grooves until a tricky step can be made across into the right groove (a bit bold), follow this groove until a step can be made around the arete onto a ledge and then climb the short steep groove to an awkward finish - belay well back. (30m)

Top section of pitch 2

They called the route Siberian Kitten - with a nod to Greg Boswell. Pete Macpherson and Guy Roberston's route Siberian Tiger.

Matt on the crack of Pitch 2

Adam heading into the second groove of Pitch 3.

Tools but still no ice

2011-12-14T16:57:00.000Z

Well it looks like winter is finally kicking off up in Scotland with some impressive early season ascents from young Greg Boswell. I am currently hanging out down in the Peak and trying to get as fit as possible for the pilgrimage north sometime soon. I was going to sneak off to Spain for a weeks sport climbing in the sunshine for the last flourish of summer but looks like that's not going to happen now so maybe it'll be a chance to get up north?

Tim on Tumble in the Jungle

I headed over to Wales for a couple of days this week hoping some conditions would come in, and had a brilliant session at White Goods with Tim Emmett on the way - that boy knows how to be prepared at the crag - espresso pot + stove, iphone + awesome mini-speaker, spare belay jacket that Mac got to use as a blanket and the best pair of retro fruit/comp boots I've ever seen!!

Even Ruth got hold of some tools on Jaz

On Power Pact - in the gathering gloom!

Always entertaining to hang out with Tim and his endless enthusiasm. Got a great workout with a few laps of Jaz and Tumble followed a burn on Power Pact down at the other sector - not climbed at this cave until now - steep!! And a bit loose in places, I was pretty keen to get the 3rd bolt of Power Pact clipped before committing tools to the big flakes!.

Welsh winter conditions were not in force, the predicted low temperatures didn't appear - just some gales and a whole lot of rain! Did go for a wander around yesterday and think I might have spied some new lines to have a go at, so hopefully it'll start to build some conditions over the next few days/weeks and I'll get chance to go and get them ticked.
Meanwhile - more training indoors until the next trip out.

Cheeky post

2011-12-05T23:06:00.001Z

Just thought I'd sneak this picture in whilst Andy isn't looking!
Today he was on the turbo trainer coz it was "too cold to do anything outside"!!

This was followed by a trip to the Foundry for a bouldering comp, which was also freezing but pretty good fun, and then a very exciting drive home over Winnats Pass - good job the car has winter tyres on or we'd never have made it back over!!

Looks like winter has arrived - Andy is currently checking out weather forecasts.......will there still be snow and conditions by the weekend??

Training plans

2011-11-29T21:22:00.001Z

I've just spent half the day slapping a vast number of holds onto the bouldering wall at Manchester Climbing Centre - massive thanks to them for letting me. The first thing they are going to be used for is some dry-tooling sessions with the boys from Manchester Grammar School. But then I'm hoping to get some hours in on my own tools climbing around in circles and remembering what exactly I'm supposed to do with them. So far I've been lucky enough that winter has not arrived but I think I ought to start putting some tool time in, instead of just training and climbing.

After a weekend spent at Plas y Brenin's Big Winter Climb running some workshops about training - I'm starting to feel the psyche return.
Heading over to White Good tomorrow with Ian Parnell - that's going to be a shock to the system!!

Lycra Delivery....

2011-11-21T11:58:00.001Z

Oooooo missus! Yes a box of lycra arrived through my front door this morning.
Massive thank you to the lovely people at Gore Bike Wear who sent me through some kit. Hoping to get out and try some of it out this afternoon. All seems to fit really well - sizing charts do work!!

The Contest Jacket and Contest Thermo Jersey are perfect and the great bright red colour should mean I don't get runover anytime soon especially when teamed with the Yellow Path AS vest!

After a weekend of socialising at the Kendal Mountain Festival it'll be good to get some exercise I reckon. Top weekend and amazing to finally see The Long Hope, absolutely gobsmacking film and obviously went down really well with the audience as it won the People's Choice Award. Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote and really happy you enjoyed it. Well done Paul Diffley and Hotaches team for putting it together.

A mention too for my Mountain Equipment Pub Quiz team (Neil, Ewan, Nick, James and the mascot Jimmy Crankie!)who stormed to the win on Friday night - sorry I wasn't much use answering the questions! Good fun evening had by all I reckon and the boys all went home with a brand new ME Firefox jacket made of the latest Gore Active Shell fabric.

Chris Walker Memorial Trust....

2011-11-08T11:34:00.000Z

Thanks to Dan for these pics from sunday's outing to Bridestones, I told you Ruth was spotting - although I'm not sure whether it would have been better to have camera and spotting duties the other way around.... once the camera was set up of course and just needed a button pressing!
Looks a much bigger boulder when Ruth's climbing it too!!

Onto other more important things...... a couple of years ago a good friend Chris Walker was killed in an avalanche on the Buchaille Etive Mor. His family and friends set up the Chris Walker Memorial Trust. Chris was great - top banter, top bloke and super psyched mountaineer especially in the greater ranges. Here's the official bit from the Trust:

In order to assist other climbers who share the same passion for the mountains as Chris, the Chris Walker Memorial Trust has been set up.

The CWMT will award an annual £1000 grant to help fund expeditions to the Greater Ranges. We welcome applications from aspiring Greater Ranges climbers who need help to fund expeditions with the objective of establishing new routes, repeating rarely attempted lines, or visiting unexplored areas. The closing date for applications will be 1st December each year, after which the trustees will meet and make their decision.

The CWMT will also be liaising with the national association of British Mountain Guides in order to provide a grant to subsidize the cost of the avalanche training part of the Guides' scheme for 2011/12.

In conjunction with the CWMT, the British Alpine Ski School (BASS) are annually offering a free place on their 'Ski Performance Course for Mountaineers'. The closing date for applications is 11th September each year. This years place being awarded to Jon Gupta.

If you might be interested in applying or finding out more then please go to the chriswalkertrust.co.uk/.

Go somewhere cool and remember Chris.

Bridestones Beauties.

2011-11-06T21:43:00.000Z

Today was a perfect autumn day - clear blue skies, chilly morning, and a trip to a crag I haven't really climbed at before. Okay I have been once about a million years ago when I was a complete bumbly and couldn't do hardly any of the problems, and it was damp, howling wind kind of a day. In contrast today there wasn't a breathe of wind and I regretted the thermal trousers after about an hour. Probably not ideal grit conditions, and on a couple of problems that was a bit of an issue but on the whole it was so good not to be freezing I didn't really care!
I had seen pictures of Horror Arete in guidebooks and was pretty psyched to get that done, first go I had a bit of a commitment fear but fired it off second go with the addition of an extra pad - call me a wimp but I don't bounce like the youth! No pictures of me coz Ruth was busy spotting/ telling me to get on with it and not be such a wimp, but here's a couple of her making a sterling effort via the short-arse method! I'm starting to get concerns that she'll be burning me off if she carries on getting better again at this rate...... perhaps I need to make her train hard enough to break again???

And she's off!

Yesterday I was up in Kendal at the wall relaunch helping out with Lyon Equipment and I managed to get onto a workshop with Leah Crane - really useful stuff and definitely made me think about some of my climbing strengths and weaknesses....... more weaknesses!

Winter Photography Workshop - with Me!

2011-11-04T14:30:00.002Z

I mentioned a few months ago that Lukasz was running a photography workshop in North Wales with Dave Macleod as the model - well the weekend was a great success and everything went pretty smoothly (well done Ruth for keeping the timings together!). So the plan is to run a winter edition up in Scotland with yours truly as the model. Not sure I'm quite the consummate professional that Dave is, but luckily winter is a bit different so thankfully I probably won't get asked to run laps on a boulder problem as the sun goes down!
This course is a little different form the last as in includes an extra day of winter skills at the start to make sure everyone is switched on and ready to tackle thinking about cameras (f-stops and all that - isn't that right Lukasz and Dan?) instead of thinking about tripping over crampons!
Check out Lukasz's blog for all the details, 2 places have gone already so if you are interested get on it - and remember christmas is just around the corner........
Details here.

Sunday at the Roaches

2011-10-31T18:42:00.000Z

A bit of a murky morning turned into a stunning afternoon at the Roaches with Jim, Dan and Lukasz. We went to an area I haven't bouldered at before underneath the Clouds. The best problems of the day were one under the 4th Cloud - which involved getting onto a hanging slab and then trying to get to the top of it! The other was at the 2nd cloud a highball called Finger of Fate.
Nice photo from Dan.

RIP Jimmy Saville

2011-10-29T19:53:00.002+01:00

I remember writing in to Jim'll Fix it as a small boy - wanting to be a space cadet - he never wrote back! Some might say that my dream came true.
Jimmy lived in Glencoe - and I had the good fortune to meet him in the Clachaig Inn with Louis Theroux whilst they were filming that programme a few years ago, all good banter. Seemed like someone who could have a good laugh and I thought about this film made around Fort William. Check out the scenery and get psyched to get up there.
RIP Jimmy! 1926-2011 - pretty impressive for a bit fat havanna smoker!

More sunshine, more gritstone sending.....

2011-10-27T21:33:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I headed out with Ruth and both my personal photographers!! Lukasz and Dan, who amazingly both put their shoes on and did some climbing.
We scooted off to Cratcliffe for some high quality bouldering and we were joined by Elinor, Wilson and baby Bella who made her feelings on the place well felt for the first half of the day and only seemed happy once she was about to be leaving for Bakewell Tart/Pudding.

We went all over Cratcliffe and Robin Hood Stride seeking out the classics, I've only been once before and was thunderstormed off, so it was brilliant to have a good tour round. Did loads of great problems, attempted a whole load more and am psyched to go back soon.
Lukasz had been set a challenge by Paul Diffley not to look at the pictures he was taking whilst out for the day, like going back to the days of slides and having to wait for development. So he hasn't sorted his photos out yet, but Dan has sent me a few through so here they are.

Monday's photos!

2011-10-26T18:52:00.002+01:00

Crag classic - Conan the Librarian

You were of course right, the mystery crag was Over Owler Tor, where we polished off a load of boulder problems and the classic route of the crag Aeroflot. We also went and had some entertainment at Mother Cap and Mother's Pet Crag. Was pretty damned windy over at Mother Cap and poor old Mac dog took a bit of a savaging from a passing nasty boxer type thing - vicious bugger!
Photos thanks to Ruth.
Might get some more photos from Dan which I'll add in later.

Bit less chalk on this one - David

Here are some of Dan's photos - check out more at www.danlanephotography.com

Thank you.

Aeroflot at Over Owler Tor

Oyster Cap

Mystery Crag Number 2

2011-10-24T19:32:00.001+01:00

Another day out with Dan, another bit of esoterica - not quite so far away from the beaten track today, but which crag was I standing at the bottom of today??

Answers welcome! More soon.

Preparing for winter..

2011-10-17T20:05:00.001+01:00

.... in the style of a lumberjack!

Garden full of logs thanks to New Mills Town Council, so today I set about making them burn-size. Thanks also to Catrin for the loan of the chainsaw - not sure I should be let loose with such a dangerous piece of kit. I'm sure lumping the logs around counts as training for swinging tools around too, doesn't it?

Hmmm, I wonder if Mountain Equipment would do a line of checked flannel shirts??

Indian Summer Returns

2011-10-14T21:58:00.000+01:00

Today saw the return of the indian summer, and so I took full advantage. After a couple of full on training days this week it was a relief to be able to head out into the sunshine and climb some great routes with Neil J and Ruth. Despite a murky start in New Mills we headed over to Hathersage and decided on Millstone as the venue of choice. As the day progressed, the sun came out for a stunning afternoon. We climbed Embankment Routes 1, 2 and 4, Great North Road (good traditional climbing that is!), Knightsbridge and Great West Road. Then had a bit of a boulder on Edge Lane and Technical Master. Way too terrifying to get too high on Edge Lane, but maybe one day I'll get brave and go for it, probably want a rope and the shothole cams though even if they don't make any difference to the top out moves.

Anyway, here are a few of Ruth's pics from the day - she was getting a bit arty with trees!

Technical Master - it's a long way up with a dodgy bouldering mat not to mention the spotter!

I'm actually working this weekend - typical now the sun is shining! Will be out and about in the Peak somewhere.

Back to the south...

2011-10-10T20:09:00.002+01:00

Just arrived back from Edinburgh after the film festival weekend. Thank you to everyone who came along to my lecture and sorry if it was a bit long - who knew I could talk for so long!! Once my bit was over I could relax and enjoy other peoples films and talks. Especially enjoyed getting to finally see the whole of The Swiss Machine, the film about Ueli Steck - and what made my weekend was that there is a bit of footage of him climbing my route The Secret in it too. I am now inspired to get on the training wagon and really try and get myself in tip top shape ready for the winter. I might even drag a pair of running shoes on......... although I promise not to run around in tiny running shorts in a Ron Fawcett style.
Here's a little section of The Swiss Machine film see if you can spot The Secret - blink and you'll miss it!

Sat waiting in my inbox was an e-mail from Dan, with some photos from the last couple of weeks. We have been out on some guide book photo missions up on Kinder - one day was amazing the the other was completely the opposite hence the change from vest tops to wooly hats.

Here's a few of them...... www.danlanephotgraphy.com

The nerve centre....

2011-10-06T18:08:00.002+01:00

I'm sure most people realise that without Ruth I would be in a technology desert - luckily she seems to be on hand most of the time and has spent all afternoon behind at least 2 computers trying to get my lecture for Edinburgh Film Festival sorted out. What have I been doing??? Ermm, unpacking a box of shiny new kit from Mountain Equipment and bringing her cans of coke on request.
As you can see I've donated her one of the beanies - a Committed beanie - in green of course!

Ruth would like to send a HUGE thank you to Dunc at Mountain Equipment for the loan of the iMac! Anyone who has a spare one knocking around feel free to send it over, it'll have a good home and keep the other Mac company! (That's the hound for those unacquainted!)

Edinburgh Mountain Film festival - this weekend

2011-10-04T10:07:00.003+01:00

Almost time to be heading up the road to bonny Scotland for the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival. Check out the little preview film below. Loads going on including Catherine Destivelle, Johnny Dawes, Lukasz Warzecha and even Me! I'll be speaking on Saturday afternoon in the section from 2pm. Tickets are still available I think so would be great to see folks there. Mostly winter but also a little bit about the Long Hope Route - from the perspective of being the "apprehensive" second!
Go to the EMFF website for more details on everything that's going on -http://www.edinburghmountainff.com/

And the answer is......

2011-09-26T20:37:00.000+01:00

Thought I'd better let you know where the view was from - congratulations to Coops and especially Tommy B who left their guesses - you are right it was Dovestones Quarry, and the Lower Right Hand bit so the only bit that you didn't get quite right was the route! Nice of you to think I was on Bob Hope, but we were on a photography mission with Dan Lane and so he had specific routes he wanted me to do. First up was Ace of Spades at Dovestones Quarry, then Vanessa Hole at the Duckstones (and it really does look like a duck!), and finishing off with Broomstick at the Charnel Stones. The classic at this crag is an E4 slab called Wastelands - a Steve Bancroft frightener. Looked great but not for a cold and windy day.
All these routes will be in the forthcoming BMC guidebook "Over the Moors" which should be out in time for next summers moorland grit season. (Although I'm sure I've heard that before - but fingers crossed!)
Here's a few of Dan's pictures from the day - ta Dan.

Something Completely Different.......

2011-09-25T20:22:00.000+01:00

To mark the end of New Mills Festival (don't ask, I have no idea what else went on really, apart from bits of knitting wrapped around lampposts/bikes/even a car) there was a lantern parade. All sounds quite hippy but was actually quite cool, loads of people had created amazing lanterns - including a giant penguin (easily 6ft tall) not sure what variety but impressive nonetheless and came accompanied by bona fida penguin noises recorded in Antarctica.
The parade started in the centre of town and went down the Torrs, along the Millenium Walkway which was all lit with flaming torches, past the crag which had a even lantern climber halfway up Electric Circus. I also noticed that strung in the archway of the bridge was a chandelier of lights all strapped onto the bolts recently placed - good to see they have come in useful for something else. Hmm, maybe that's why New Mills Town Council were so keen!
The parade finished up at the playing field behind Swizzles with dodgy local band White Van Man (some bloke out of Emmerdale apparently) and fireworks.
An unusual way to spend a friday evening, and exhausting as I then got roped into giving Ruth's nephew a pretty lengthy shoulder ride - how heavy is a 6 year old???

Anyway, took a bunch of photos so here are some to have a look at.

View from......

2011-09-22T21:20:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I went climbing and this was the view from the bottom of the first route we climbed - not a well know crag or route for that matter but worth doing, as were the others we did. Mac wasn't too keen on the walking what with all the tussocks and bracken that he had to burrow through.
So it's a pop-quiz - which crag and for extra bonus points which route????

I'll tell you the answer in a few days!

New Petzl Lynx Crampons

2011-09-19T18:55:00.001+01:00

I got a pair of these to test at the end of last winter but didn't get to use them much - looking forward to giving them a good test this year.
This film was mostly shot in Lofoten during the meet I went on with Nick Bullock and Pete Benson back in February just reminds me of all the lines waiting to be done...........maybe I'll get another chance to visit this winter. Fingers crossed!

Torrs photos

2011-09-09T11:04:00.001+01:00

Well, it's been a bit miserable and rainy round these parts this week - particularly helpful when you have just removed the guttering off your house!
Anyway as a little bit of brightness I got sent these pictures by Mike Hutton today from the other week when we were down the Torrs putting in the second lot of bolts. The 3 newer routes on the other pillar (arete about 6a+, left hand route about 6b+ and right hand route about 6b++!) of the bridge are cleaning up well and were dry last night in heavy drizzle - now if the floodlights could just be moved 6ft over ........

Check out Mike's website here.

Ice Festival Ecrins...

2011-08-31T12:37:00.000+01:00

I've been having a trawl round the internet this morning trying to look up dates for the coming winter's ice festivals and came across this film from last winter's Ecrins festival - I even make an appearance near the end doing the dry-tooling comp routes.
Brush up on your french and check it out!

Ice Climbing Ecrins 2011 by tlcprod

Some of Dan's pics from Froggatt

2011-08-20T12:13:00.000+01:00

Dan just sent me over a few photos from the other day on Froggatt. Go check out his website for more.

Nesscliffe was great - no Teddy Bears having Picnic's in the woods, but some good climbing. Lee Dog knocked of Trouble in Toytown and Cones and Currants and I started work on a project - more about that if I manage to do it.
Friday saw an afternoon on Peak Limestone with only my second ever visit to Raven Tor - feels pretty big when you are at the top. Think I need to watch the classic Ron Fawcett film Body Machine again for some beta.
Back to the DIY grindstone today - and some time to grow some skin back!

Enjoying the sunshine..

2011-08-18T13:14:00.000+01:00

It might have been raining in lots of places but the Peak has been smiled on by the weather gods this week, so yesterday I headed out for a mellow day on Froggatt with Keen Youth (and photographer Dan Lane) and Ruth who is attempting a restart to her climbing after multiple injuries.

So anyway - the sun shone, the midges stayed away until tea time and although the friction wasn't at it's best we had a great day cruising around, with some fine efforts from Dan on Synopsis and Strapiobante (we won't mention Hawk's Nest Crack hey Dan?), Ruth decided that ropes are overrated and wandered up Sunset Slab and I had a hell of a battle on an E1 called Strapiombo - bloody desperate! Here are some pics - thank you Ruth.

Here's Dan "enjoying" the top out on Strapiobante! How is it possible for such a short route to be so pumpy?

Off to Nesscliffe today - not sure how much product will result but sure it'll be fun hanging out with Lee Dog.

Mountain Equipment - 50th Birthday

2011-08-15T10:28:00.000+01:00

M.E. are celebrating their 50th birthday with a whole load of stuff going on in the next few weeks - to get things started they have produced a film about the history of the company and the many people who have been closely associated over the years doing cool stuff - check out the short version here:

Since 1961... from MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT on Vimeo.

The full length version is on the M.E website

Gritstone + Bolts???

2011-07-31T19:52:00.002+01:00

That's right gritstone and bolts in the Peak! On friday I was down New Mills Torrs helping out with the bolting of the bridge. Myself, Martin, Dan Lane, Wendy (Ruth's Mum) and Roger (Ruth's Stepdad) - with some help from New Mills Town Council, a cherry picker and the North West Bolt Fund, bolted up 4 lines on the viaduct.

What an experience - drilling whilst hanging out of a cherry picker at it's highest point (about 20m) is pretty gripping.
Keen youth Dan was back down on saturday to climb some of the lines and Martin and I have been there this evening to do some more cleaning - the routes are really sandy and dusty from the bolting. Should have some names and approximate grades soon......watch this space.
Hopefully the 4 lines in are just the start and we'll be able to get a few more in over the next few weeks - the all-weather climbing facility just got even better!

Lukasz - Photography Workshops

2011-07-29T10:30:00.000+01:00

Not just content with flying around the world and taking fab pictures and videos, Lukasz has decided to put on some workshops. The first one is going to be in the autumn and it looks like it'll be brilliant - a great opportunity for people to learn loads, do some proper photoshoots with Dave Macleod and have a great weekend out in the hills of North Wales.
Ruth is helping out with organising and looking after safety for the weekend too so no doubt I'll get dragged along.
Check out more details here.

Check out the Behind the Scenes film

2011-07-12T23:19:00.000+01:00

Matt Pycroft has put together this little film from Hoy. Enjoy.
Can't wait for the full film - crack on Paul Diffley!! There are also some screen grab images on Hotaches' facebook page - go check them out too.

Some photos to be going on with........

2011-06-22T20:00:00.001+01:00

Lukasz has just sent me down these photos and Andy has promised to put pen to paper (well finger to keyboard) later to tell you about his experience - all I'll say is that it wasn't as bad as he'd been expecting - not as scary and that he actually enjoyed the adventure - with only a bit of swearing thrown in!

Check out Dave's blog for his account.

Just found this little bit of film of Hotaches' Paul Diffley interviewing Andy prior to the climb - hear what he had to say and watch him suffer the midges!

Not waiting anymore!

2011-06-21T22:41:00.002+01:00

Just a one liner - IN THE BAG!
Details to follow...............

Waiting.......

2011-06-21T18:26:00.000+01:00

The last couple of days on Hoy have dawned drizzly so the boys haven't attempted the Long Hope Route. Andy managed to snatch a couple of routes with Mariam on Sunday, somewhere near the Old Man of Hoy and he and Dave headed to Rorra Head yesterday and ticked off a couple of new routes. Dave's lead was approximately E3/4 6a and called Slick John and Andy thought his route was about E2 5b and he hadn't thought of a name!!

This morning however, I got the text message to say that they were walking in under grey skies and going to give it a go. Not heard anything since so I have to assume that they have made an attempt and retreated or they are still on it and hopefully nearing the top.............will just have to wait and see. Will of course post as soon as I know.

Meanwhile back in the real world James Thacker and I have been working hard to get Andy's new website up and running and looking pretty swish. An absolutely MASSIVE thank you to James who is a whizz with all the technical stuff. Go check it out and let me know what you think.

Hoy Part 1

2011-06-18T18:34:00.000+01:00

As is usual when Andy disappears off on his adventures he leaves me in charge of the blog......
So here's part one of the Hoy adventure:
After a long journey broken up with a very short night in Edinburgh at Paul Diffley's house, team big white van of Andy, Lukasz and Marium arrived on Hoy and at the plush pad set up by family Macleod and with massive thanks to Mountain Equipment. Yesterday they all headed over to St John's Head to get started with trying to get all the rigging in place for the intrepid film crew.
Andy was keen to get the first abseil over the top out of the way and can confirm that he was right to be terrified - was "well scary". The initial terror of abseiling into the abyss is now over and they have been concocting ways for Andy to complete the crux pitch - ie. how is he going to jumar up in the event of not actually being able to climb it? The first plan was to jumar up one of the half ropes that Dave will be leading on whilst Dave took in on the other - hmmmmm jugging up an approximately 8mm rope - not ideal! Today's plan involves a fixed rope and a massive swing out into space............we will see what the final plan is when he gets there. He might suddenly become superhuman strong and just climb it - it's amazing what fear does to a man!
Anyway, check out a couple of photos from yesterday on Lukasz's blog.
Loving the "Old Man" shot.

A-Hoy!

2011-06-14T18:13:00.000+01:00

A couple of months ago I got a very strange e-mail. Dave Macleod got in touch to ask whether I would be psyched to head up to Hoy with him and get involved in his attempt to climb the Long Hope Route on St John's Head. This route has been his project for a couple of years now and he's hoping that this trip will be the final push - especially with Hotaches' Paul Diffley coming along to film. Check out Dave's blog for his latest photos from a trip up there last week.
My first reaction was to think - f******g hell, no way you are getting me on that crag - it looks completely terrifying!
Why me? Surely there are better rock climbing partners to get along?
My next thought was - maybe he's tried everyone else?
Or maybe it's because I'm supposed to be reasonably competent at rescuing myself and Dave if things weren't going to plan?

Anyway after much speculation on my part and some pretty persuasive arguments from Lukasz and Ruth I found myself saying yes - and that's when the panic set in!!
I've been trying to climb lots and lots - although it's a bit tricky to train for 480m sea cliffs, particularly in the Peak District!

The week has finally arrived and on Wednesday Lukasz, Marium, Mac and I are heading north to begin the adventure. First stop Edinburgh, to meet up with Paul, Guy and Matt - team film, and then on up to proper north-shire and the island of Hoy. Dave, Claire and Frieda Macleod should already be in residence at the Mountain Equipment family cottage and the hard work of lugging kit around begins, and then the terrifying bit of climbing will be upon us - hope Dave is feeling fit and strong and good at building solid belays!!

I've been getting together some essential items for the trip........................................... Self preservation being of importance hence the Ibuprofen, Jumars, Meteor III+, Coffee and Protein Shakes.......M.E. Hoody and Slackline more about entertainment for the days not climbing.

Tour of the Roaches

2011-05-30T15:41:00.001+01:00

The day had finally arrived! All this cycling has been in preparation for The Tour of the Roaches sportive. Starting out on the Cheshire Plain and then heading up into the hills and around the Roaches (of course). I had chosen to do the "Giant Roach" which was a mighty 103 miles long - I haven't ridden 100 miles for over 15 years so I was a bit dubious of how it was going to go. Ruth more sensibly opted for the 75 mile route "Big Roach" but then she's never cycled 100 miles!

It was an early start to the day getting up at 6 to get started on the road about 8 for me and nearer 9 for Ruth. We registered and got our goody bags handed over along with the vouchers for a Chorley Cake at the beginning and a Pie voucher as a reward at the end.

As I set off the heavy cloud turned to rain, I was not looking forward to 7 hours of getting wet (would be a bit like going to work!), luckily it soon stopped and left some strong wind instead. I had expected to be riding in groups and get towed along but within the first 5 miles I found myself pedalling along on my own, it was to remain like this for the majority of the day, I only rode with another chap for a while and proceeded to go the wrong way!! Which addded a few miles onto the torturous 103. The course was supplied with a couple of feed stations and was well sign-posted ( well most of the time apart from where I went wrong - maybe that was my own fault for not looking enough?) The hardest section of the ride happened to be around where I often ride which was of great benefit with tired legs as I knew what was ahead - Ruth took the excuse to get off at that point for a little walk - knowing it wasn't going to stop going up hill anytime soon!

I arrived back to the start about 5 minutes after Ruth - which was good timing as she had the van keys. We collected out Tour of the Roaches mugs and scoffed as much pie, cake and recovery drink as possible whilst watching the end of the Giro d'Italia on the big screen in the Rugby Club - can't imagine what the locals were thinking surrounded by so much lycra!

Before we set off and with our history of rubbish backs, we decided to try out a "warm plaster" - which came from the Pound Shop.

As you can see I went for a lower back and shoulder combo and within 20 minutes of slapping them on and getting moving we both realised that they should be called "bloody boiling plasters". I expected it to last for maybe a couple of hours and then go cool, but not a chance 8 hours later after the ride and sitting around and driving home they were still really hot. Very impressive! I am sending Ruth off back to Poundland for some more ASAP!

So anyway - the official times for our rides were :

Andy 103 miles - 6hours 54mins

Ruth 75 miles - 6hours 13mins

Now these sort of rides are not supposed to be competitions - but obviously there is definitely some "friendly competition" involved, so looking at the end results it looked like I made it into the top 10 and Ruth came home second fastest girl - not bad for a couple of "bloody boiling plaster" wearing climbers.

Ramshaw Raiding....

2011-05-26T20:45:00.000+01:00

This week I'm working in the Peak with the University of Derby students, which means I've had the chance to get out on the crags after work. Tuesday I headed down to Cheedale and ticked off a few routes on The Embankment all very pleasant.
Last night however was a slightly different story........ James (who I've been working with) and I headed over to Ramshaw.

Now I have been to Ramshaw a couple of times in the last year and well, I've been eyeing up Ramshaw Crack. I think I must have some masochistic tendancies! So last night was the night to give it a go. The evening didn't get off to the best start when I managed overbalance off Traveller in Time - I blame the lack of a warm up and howling gale.

The main event of Ramshaw Crack was, well to be honest really quite painful! We did tape up, no way I could do it without - although not enough for round one, which meant a trip back to the van for another roll of tape and some reinforcement. I decided to try it ground-up - first go was pretty good, got to the chockstone (wobbly) and tried launching up the wide section, removed large quantities of skin and fell off. Several goes later and with more tape and even less skin, I eventually managed to reach the top of the crag - which means I don't have to do it again!!

I thought the jamming rash looked bad last night - really grim today!!

Goliath films.

2011-05-10T08:30:00.000+01:00

Enjoy!

Getting involved with Goliath!

2011-05-09T22:59:00.001+01:00

Today I headed out to meet Lee Roberts aka LeeDog, at Burbage with some shiny big camalots tucked in my rucksack and prepared to do battle with the Don Whillans classic Goliath.
I had once seconded Phil Dowthwaite up the route a couple of years ago so couldn't claim an on-sight, but was hoping to give it a good go.

Lee went up first and got the camalot 6 well placed before, after a good tussle, being ejected into space (see left!) So then it was my go, I pulled on and immediately it gets pretty physical, got to the big cam, clipped it and carried on through some strenuos laybacking until it's possible to once more get a leg back in the crack and a toe heel, fist jam combo which allows another big cam to go in above. This just left the finishing it off bit..........whereupon I struggled up, got a bit over excited, and tried to reach for the top too soon and slapped for a sloper instead of a jug and of course fell off.

Next go up was worse, fell off really early, and then almost immediately I got back on and managed to get it all right and latch the jug at the top - can't believe how a route so short can make you so tired!

Lee then got back on and decided to go for the more traditional approach and spent quite some time grovelling inside the crack before retreating minus quite a lot of skin from his elbow, ankle, forearm..........

Good expedition cut short by a huge amount of water, some of it in very hard hailstone formation, hurling itself out of the sky and soaking us all to the skin.
Little bit of film below from the short lived second attempt, will put some more on of the successful version on a separate post.

Now in Wales for a few days so hopefully I'll be able to get some routes done over here if they aren't all being climbed by the BMC International Meet attendees!

Flatness, Windmills and a lot of pedalling.....

2011-05-06T22:58:00.000+01:00

Okay, so we didn't actually see Windy Miller, but we 've definitely been in Windy Miller country for the last few days. Taking advantage of my parents apartment in Lowestoft (thanks Mum and Dad!) Ruth and I headed down for a few days to get some miles in the legs ready for getting involved with some longer rides over the next few weeks, including the Tour of the Roaches sportive.

We did see some great windmills, lots of pigs in fields, lots of beach and some incredibly flat countryside, disappontingly it was quite windy which made the 224 miles over 3 days quite hard work and my legs were quite tired.

Back home in the Peak now and ready to get back on the rock - a couple of hours down the Torrs today to get started......

Cross-training - remembering how to suffer!

2011-04-29T19:30:00.000+01:00

Last night I went along to a Manchester Wheelers Club 10 time trial, the last time I did one of these was in 1993, a whole 18 years ago! Crikey that makes me feel very old.
To welcome me back to competitive (only gently) cycling I managed to be the 13th person to sign on at the event - not sure I believe in superstition but wasn't very happy all the same!

So I coughed up my £3 and lined up for some lung burning, leg cramping suffering and pain.
26.35minutes later I was practically vomiting but safely back from my 2 laps of the quite windy circuit. It definitely wasn't one of those "float" nights they talk about!
My personal best at the peak of my cycling obsession was somewhere between 22 and 23 minutes - alzheimers setting in I can't actually remember the time!

These time trials happen every couple of weeks during the summer so I think I'll be heading back to try and improve.......

Looks like the training is working......

2011-04-28T10:12:00.000+01:00

Well it seems all this climbing must be doing something for my rock climbing - I managed to finish off my very first 7c yesterday - Comedy at Kilnsey. After a day last week trying the route and getting too knackered to redpoint it I headed back yesterday and managed it second redpoint - very chuffed. No pictures of me actually climbing as Ruth was a bit busy belaying and knew she'd get shouted at if she tried to multi-task.

Maybe the 8a dream could happen one day?? Just need to find the right route - ie. one that isn't all about tiny crimps.......any suggestions greatfully received!

Check out the swans!! (Andy is going to kill me for sneaking this one in after he wrote the post! Ruth)

The time has come to train.....

2011-04-21T17:23:00.000+01:00

The summer seems to have arrived a bit quicker than I had hoped, which means I need to be climbing better! All the sunshine is totally amazing and I've been getting out quite a lot over the last couple of weeks. Pretty psyched to sport climb at the moment and get strong and fit, so I've been sampling the delights of Cheedale which is right on my doorstep and has a good selection of low 7's for me to get stuck into. The main crags are all pretty dry, although a brief visit to the Cornice did show that it's still really dirty and dusty.

Further afield I've had a couple of days up in Yorkshire, Jonny G and I headed for Malham to start with but ran away with our fingertips blistering after 1 route and headed instead for Kilnsey (we weren't too popular with Ruth as she was out on her bike and it meant an extra few miles for her!). Perfect conditions for climbing at Kilnsey, in the shade and needing a warm jacket for belaying and a t-shirt for climbing. Just a shame it's all so steep and hard!! Not a fully successful visit but made some progress on a route and feel armed to go back and finish it off next time - and it's all good mileage.

The most successful bit of the day as far as I was concerned was the use of Jonny's CU Belay glasses - they are awesome - no sore neck at the end of the day, and I don't care if they look ridiculous!!

The more observant may also notice that the mop has gone - I'm hoping the weight loss will have a positive effect and not a Samson weakness effect!

Lecture in Manchester ........

2011-03-30T16:42:00.001+01:00

Ok, it's a bit late for me to be posting this on my blog - I blame the sunshine for making me go out climbing instead of taking care of the slightly more mundane bits of life!

Anyway - I'm going to be appearing at the Mountain Equipment Store on Deansgate in Manchester tomorrow night at 7pm. Entry is free but the shop would really appreciate a call to let them know how many chairs they'll need! So please give them a ring if you are interested in coming along to see some great pictures (thank you Lukasz) and hear about some of my adventures.

The number to call is 01618398468 and you can find a map here.

At the moment this is a one off - but it might become a little series around the country in the autumn teamed up with other M.E. Pro Partner Andy Houseman. Would you come along if we did?

Winter is over.......bring on summer.

2011-03-21T21:11:00.000Z

Seems like the days of wearing big heavy boots and carrying huge rucksacks have been swopped for bouldering mats and tight rock shoes. All good things must come to an end ....... although there is still loads of snow in Scotland! Finding it hard to commit to heading back up north - think I need to apply to ESSO for sponsorship.

I've had a couple of days out in the Peak for a spot of bouldering, first at Ramshaw and then to Baslow on a very murky day. Managed to find about 6 dry problems but 2 of them were a bit too tricky. Currently hanging out in North Wales, after surviving my lecture at LLAMFF - think it went down OK, (un)fortunately the sun was shining so numbers were down a bit.

Yesterday was a bit of a washout after the very late and very loud party combination. Today was a different matter with a trip out to the Rainbow Slab Area with Dave Rudkin. We knocked off a couple of warm-up routes and then headed for Released from Treatment. Top quality expedition on the main slab.

LLAMFF - This Weekend........

2011-03-14T21:23:00.000Z

Since arriving back from Norway I have been in a complete spin! I'm appearing at LLAMFF on Saturday evening........and until I got home I hadn't even started putting together my show.
Of course I have been thinking about what I'm talking about and what photos I'd need and all that, but that's the easy part - actually trying to sort it out and do battle with Power Point is a different kettle of fish.
Luckily I have Lukasz on the end of a phone to get pictures and a bit of film, Ruth on hand to make the compter work and when all else fails I've got a promise from Dunc at Mountain Equipment to help out - well actually Rich Woodall promised him and is now he's off on paternity leave!

Anyway, I think it's all coming together and the line up is looking good for the weekend. Lukasz is on earlier in the day, Steve McClure and Lucy Creamer are just before me and the Keith Partridge is on just after and rounding off the evening is The Pinnacle - and that's just the saturday!!

Go and check out the LLAMFF website for the full programme and information on how to get tickets........... please don't heckle too much folks!
Look forward to seeing people at the festival and in a much more relaxed frame of mind after my talk - at the fricsan for the party!

The Land of the Giant Cod

2011-03-12T16:20:00.000Z

Having been home now from Norway for a few days I think I've just about caught up on lost sleep from all the travelling and my skin cells feel like they've replenished after the battering winds and waves of spindrift.

Looking back on the trip it's totally refreshed my mind about everything I love about winter climbing. The totally raw experience of heading out early morning with your mates in the darkness not knowing what stories you were going to come home with.

Over the last few seasons I've been totally focussed on doing hard new lines or hard repeats in Scotland. Becoming obsessed with blogs and weather forecasts trying to pick the ideal time to pounce, to seize the moment. I'd forgotten all the joys of discovery that I'd experienced in years gone by.

Having spent 2 weeks in Fort William prior to heading to Lofoten mostly drinking coffee and kicking my heels in despair at the poor weather I was all too pleased to head far far away.

Meeting Pete Benson in Oslo airport with the news of rising temperatures in Lofoten was not the what any of us wanted to hear.

But hey, we couldn't complain what a stunning place. I can imagine it's like Scotland was 50 years ago as far as winter climbing goes, lines to be had everywhere.

We got blasted from every direction with wind and snow and lots of head scratching went on, not just from us but everyone else on the meet. There were a few epics and late nights descending in storms for most people. The beauty for me was being able to just head out and have fun with your mates, then sharing the stories back in the bar, and not being obsessed with grades and how hard things were.

These meets are always great for meeting folk and sharing new ideas as well as grabbing inspiration for the future.

Many thanks to the Norwegian Alpine Club for their amazing hospitality

and Mountain Equipment for making it all happen

Latest Lofoten

2011-03-05T10:46:00.000Z

It was another day of no climbing yesterday, but last I heard they had a plan to get something done today after their scouting. Lukasz has been a busy bunny and put together another little film from their route a couple of days ago:

LWimages RAW - Building Steam... from Lukasz Warzecha - LWimages.co.uk on Vimeo.

More stuff to look at....

2011-03-04T17:49:00.000Z

The weather is once again rubbish out in Lofoten, which means that Bullock has been behind his laptop whilst Andy, Lukasz and Pete have been out to scope out some potential venues for tomorrow.
They managed to get a route done yesterday and you can see some details and photos and words on Nick's blog. Recommend having a read.

Fingers crossed they manage to get out and battle up something else tomorrw.

Lofoten so far...

2011-03-03T10:46:00.000Z

The weather out in Norway is not at it's best, in fact seems to be rather Scottish! Lukasz has put together a little bit of film from the first days adventure. Andy, Nick and Pete Benson went to try a route put up a few years ago by a swiss team, but were turned back a couple of pitches from the top by the conditions and the huge amounts of spindrift which threatened to drown them!

Yesterday the weather was really awful so they mostly drank coffee! The original plan was a bit of sight-seeing but when I asked why they weren't out and about checking out the sights Andy replied that "You need to be able to see for that."
So think they are out for some more adventures today, meanwhile have a look at this film and see if you can spot the green suit near the beginning.

LWimages RAW - Day in Lofoten... from Lukasz Warzecha - LWimages.co.uk on Vimeo.

Lofoten Islands

2011-02-28T12:54:00.000Z

A couple of months ago Andy (and some other folk) got this email:

Subject: Lofoten winter 2011
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:17:37 +0100
From: Marius.Morstad
To:amac_turner

Hello
Got you guys recomended from Ian Parnell, because you all where new route maniacs, the deal is one week in Lofoten free food and accomondation and boat transport to some off the more difficult spots to reach by traditional means, 20 foreign climbers and 20 Norwegian climbers, this is an elitist event so there is no sponsor tents or slideshows. Just climbing. Hope to see you there . mariusm

Lofoten invitational 2011
Norwegian alpine club invitees you to a climbing meet in the Lofoten islands with the purpose to go back to the roots, new routes, peaks that hasn't hardly been climbed on during the winter before, if lucky; good Scottish conditions, if unlucky; just conditions. Committing climbs where you have to find your way up and down on your own, little information available, approached by boat, Point of departure; at the shore in the morning, picked up in the evening, you would need to bring an adventures spirit, to be independent and self-sufficient, to be able to find your own objectives.
Facts:
Dates 28/2-6/3-2011
Place: Kabelvåg, Lofoten Islands , Norway

Now as you can imagine he was PSYCHED!

With the Norwegian Alpine Club sorting out food (quite an expense I can tell you!), transport and accommodation, it was looking like a goer so I spent ages finding flights and booking them and then Mountain Equipment, bless their souls, said they'd help with flights aswell. What a result!

So off they went yesterday, Andy and Lukasz (can't wait for the pics) travelling together and meeting up with Nick Bullock and Pete Benson. They haven't had much information other than the email and a one line response to their messages saying they wanted to go along telling them they were in! So the collective was a bit nervous before they set off wondering whether they were going to arrive at some deserted airport in northern Norway. Luckily all went well and the last I heard late last night was that they'd been picked up and were being driven north..........into a zone of no communication it seems! Oh and it was lashing with rain - hope they haven't taken Fort William weather with them.

Andy has some of Mountain Equipment's 2011/12 winter kit with him - looks brilliant - mostly I'm waiting for the Jolly Green Giant suit photos - that's right a full, bright green, hard shell suit!
I'll keep you up to date if I hear anything.

What has he been up to then?

2011-02-23T10:31:00.001Z

The last couple of days Andy has been out working with Jonathan and Rupert and not taking his camera out to play - which doesn't make for an exciting post!
Monday they headed for Stob Coire nan Lochan and quickly realised on the walk-in that so was everybody else and their dog. So Andy decided to go and check out the crags on the east face of Aonach Dubh instead, a useful venue when Lochan is busy. No-one else there - perfect! So they climbed Eastern Slant (III/IV,4) but as the guys were looking strong they did an alternative steeper top pitch which Andy reckoned was a bout V,VI. Made a bit more exciting by some poor snow just pulling over the top of the crag which resulted in Andy teetering about on his front points whilst removing his gloves and shoving them in his jacket and then crimping over the top!

Tuesday was a day for the Ben, and again with it being half term lots of teams out and about. Jonathan and Rupert had requested a Grade 6 experience so never wanting to disappoint they headed for Route 1 Direct, and climbed the first couple of pitches. The temperatures rose as the day progressed so, after abseiling off Route 1 it was a good opportunity to learn some skills taking adventage of some ice in Waterfall Gully to look at screw placement and abolokov building. However, when a lump of ice landed between Andy's shoulderblades he decided it was time to retreat!

The big news this week up north seems to be all about the annual "is it winter condition debate?". Andy had heard a report that people had been seen attempting Sassenach and whilst pleased to hear someone was trying to repeat the route was doubtful that it was actually in condition, so when this photo appeared on UKC and the ensuing thread, he was pretty gobsmacked by the blatant summer conditions! Yes it's really steep and doesn't get as plastered as some routes, but he'd waited and retreated from the bottom of the route on several occasions before making his ascent. The reports seem to say that the team pictured haven't completed the route and even if they had not sure they'd be brave enough to claim it?!!

Ouch!

2011-02-21T20:01:00.000Z

Ruth spent a rainy afternoon in front of the TV yesterday watching the Track Cycling World Cup which was taking place in Manchester at the National Cycling Centre and told me to check this out - don't watch it if you are a bit squeamish!

UCI World Cup 2011 - Awang's Splinter Update from British Cycling on Vimeo.

Disappointing week....

2011-02-21T10:49:00.000Z

It seems the boys didn't choose the best week to be in Scotland, conditions have been far from ideal. Either too much snow, too much sun or lashing rain and warmth have thwarted any attempts on the routes they had in mind. So there has been quite a lot of walking and not a whole lot of climbing. Some great pictures on Lukasz's blog from the last week - none of which involve climbing! Also have your say on the two Cathedral shots - which do you like best?

I, on the other hand have just come back from a mini break to the Costa Blanca where conditions were perfect! You can imagine how that has gone down in comparison to the wonder of Fort William on a rainy day!

View from my Calpe apartment - better than Fort William high street??

Just in case you haven't seen - check out the Mountain Equipment blog too - some fine Lukasz shots of Andy in lycra - a highly entertaining afternoon of driving along with Lukasz hanging out the boot of his car whilst trying to avoid Andy crashing into the back produced these shots.
"Andy, we need to do it again, in all these shots you are smiling, it needs to look like it's hard work." Lukasz Warzecha.
"That's not smiling. it's grimacing!" Andy Turner
Needless to say the artist got his way and it definitely looks more like a grimace.

Andy is now working for 3 days with Jonathan and Rupert - think they were heading into Lochan, I'll keep you posted on what they get up too.

Back up north...

2011-02-14T23:24:00.000Z

Andy has headed back off up the M6 and is once again on the hunt for some routes. He is climbing with Nick Bullock for a couple of days and Lukasz is also around in case there are some top photo opportunities. Today was a wasted walk into the Buchaille, with warm soggy snow they decided that it wasn't worth getting to the bottom of the crag. It seems they have basically been on a hut tour, a brew stop at the SMC hut under the Buchaille and then a walk up to the CIC Hut on the Ben for another one and a look at what's going on up there.

Lukasz has some photos on his blog - I particularly like the one of Andy sharpening his tool!
Check them out here.

NO MORE HURTING

2011-01-29T21:08:00.000Z

Launching up the steep headwall.
Photo: Phil Dowthwaite

As reported yesterday by Ruth, I made the 2nd Ascent of The Hurting with Phil Dowthwaite.

Sitting here writing this now I'm still feeling the hurt of the 4 hour ascent.

The Hurting originally climbed by Dave Macleod and given XI,11 way back in 2005 was quickly labelled the hardest trad mixed climb in the world, taking the line of a summer E4 6a. It was said to have poor protection and have ground fall potential from the first 30-40ft, as well as hard steep technical climbing on the head wall.

That's more than enough beta to keep the queues away!

The routes been on my radar for the last couple of years and finally last winter I summoned the courage to walk upto the bottom of it. These dreams were quickly crushed when upwards progression ground to a halt in the first 20ft. Stopped by heavy snow and ice conditions, as well as a less than adequate rack (never trust your mates to pack a rack), I decided to retreat and climbed back to the ground keen to keep the onsight for another time. What it did do was give me some knowledge of the type of climbing involved.

This winter in the east the winter again kicked of with all its might, masses of snow everywhere and once again made hard mixed routes questionable. It was only whilst I've been working up here for the last week for Mountain Equipment and Cotswolds that I've managed to keep a eye on things. So on our first day off myself and Donald King decided to head to the corries.

Standing at the bottom of the route knowing what lies ahead its hard to describe what's going through your head. As it turned out the bottom part of the route was perfect, giving nice neve and ice on all the sloping ledges which you needed for your axes. Fully aware of the consequences of a fall from any point in the first 30ft I managed to shuffle across the various small ledges making slow scary progress finally ending up on a comfortable ledge. This gives you time to take in your surroundings and comtemplate your fate.

Above here is some wild briding to finally give you some good gear. This was the point the wheels were quickly about to fall off. Looking ahead you can see what looks like a good ledge under the roof which makes a good target to aim for, unfortunately I was a bit to eager to get there and using a poor torque in a crack quickly found myself hanging on the end of the rope. Luckily I'd followed Tim Neills advice of falling off only when it's sensible!

Lowering to the ground you're then stuck with the decision of whether to get on back that day. 20 mins later we were walking out, decision made. Thanks to Donald for abseiling for my gear - not easy with the wind blowing him across the crag.
Feeling really jaded after a few more days work (I'm not used to it) Phil agreed to belay me in return for me holding his ropes the following day. So with a combined age of 85 we headed back to the gorms.
Not feeling the love on the drive over we swung by the Mountain Cafe in Aviemore for a coffee and some breakfast. This gave us the much needed boost for the walk in eventually arriving at the base of the route at 12 O'clock. A definitely continental feel the day so far.

Somewhere in the murk!
Photo: Phil Dowthwaite

Launching off up known ground was not as easy as first expected. Having kicked off all the useful ice the other day I now had to rely on the picks on the rounded granite. It took about an 1 1/2 hours to get back to my high point and that's where the fear suddenly set in. Not so much about taking the fall again, but wondering whether would I have the balls to climb to this point again if I did fall. Taking a deep breathe I slowly stepped out onto the steep featureless wall. Getting the same torque as that let me down earlier in the week I managed to seat it better before quickly finding another good hook and a small wire. Now totally committed the above ledge beckoned. Hoping it would be flat with good neve I tentatively reached for it only to find a thin layer of ice and a 30 degree sloping ledge. Trying to keep calm I managed to insert myself under the roof. Finding good hooks gave a short respite and chance to gather my thoughts for the steep headwall above. Reaching out on straight arms to get a look my heart sank. The first 15ft all seemed to overhang. I was just praying for good hooks. After what seems like an age, it was time to confront the thing head on. Finding some good placements over the roof I quickly turned on the boosters and fully went for it. The cracks were fully choked with ice which gave good placements and pushed me on, keen to get through the steepness with all guns blazing. Reaching the next resting place I looked down at the last runner, way down under the roof and the arms suddenly got very heavy. Above it became a frantic digging and chipping mission to find placements. After 15mins I managed to excavate enough ice to try and get a cam in only to for it rip out. The next 5mins were then spent blowing on the rock trying to melt the ice for the cam to seat.

Things all of a sudden felt pretty serious. Thick cloud had now come in and I felt properly alone.

I ended up standing on the same hooks for ages trying to work out where to go. Everytime I thought I was moving for a good foot ledge I hit it with my axes only for the ice to fall away and leave a small rounded edge. All I wanted to do now was fall off, end the agony and go home. But having invested too much effort already things must go on. The top of the head wall was starting to back off now but the way ahead was completely barred by a sea of ice. Not knowing which way to go I decided to follow a vein of ice diagonally left. This eventually brought easy ground and a slump over onto the fiacail ridge.

Shouting down to Phil for a time check I discovered we now had a lttle over half an hour before it went dark. Phil was keen to 2nd so after a quick sprint up the ridge to get warm and hand me a belay jacket he tied in and had the time of his life doing some amazing climbing.

Not bad for a couple of old giffers.

Cheers Phil for hanging out for the belay, for bringing a headtorch which I forgot and for the photos - I owe you several!

The Hurting........ second ascent.

2011-01-28T18:57:00.000Z

Hot off the press - in fact just got the text to say that the second ascent of The Hurting has been climbed today.
As you might have guessed Andy is up north and on a day off. No much detail yet will fill in some more later when I've spoken to him - but I think he's pretty chuffed!

Ecrin No-Ice Festival

2011-01-24T09:57:00.002Z

Socialising at the Ice Festival - copyrigt Lukasz Warzecha

Well, the temperatures were not exactly ideal for the Ice Festival - in that it turned warm a few days before the festival started and continued to stay positively tropical throughout. Ice had well and truly melted. Luckily there is loads of dry-tooling around and about. Thank you to Lukasz for the photos - my camera decided it was a bit hot and tiny little flames came out of it!

The first day I went climbing with a couple of Spanish guys, Israel and his mate, we headed to an ice-mixed crag called Cervieres. We did a couple of mixed routes to start with and then I finished off with the classic ice route called L'Tube which was just about hanging in there.

Next day the Ice Festival was holding it's annual competition so with no real ice to climb I decided to join in and give it a go. We all headed off to a crag that had been drilled specifically for the competition, it even included a mini via-ferrata to get down to it. 8 qualifying routes were ready for us, ranging in grade from about M6 up to M10. Unfortunately a large contingent from Russia decided that it was alright for them to spend a whole lot longer on routes than anyone else, which meant it was really difficult to have a go at everything in the time allowed. I wasn't too worried as I'd only joined in for a bit of fun but quite a few folks were really unhappy. The finals were held in the evening at the main event venue on man-made structures. It was great to see Stephanie Maureau turn on the style and win the womens event. In the mens Alexey Tomolov, one of the team Russia from earlier in the day came out on top but was a less popular winner! Also going on was a Big Air comp for the crazy skiers and boarders - those guys are mentalist! And a whole load of Vin Chaud was available to keep the spirits up. The evening then progressed onto the music and dancing. Check out the report and more photos from Lukasz Warzecha on Plant Fear, video coming soon.

Descending to the competition crag - copyright Lukasz Warzecha

At the event venue there were all kinds of stalls from the sponsors such as Petzl and Mountain Equipment who were by coincidence right next to each other which meant it was really easy for me to hang out and get some quality banter from both sides. Brilliant to catch up with them all and a special thank you to Mathieu Maynadier for the invitation and for sorting me out a place to stay with team Petzl. Thanks also to Arnaud, one of the Petzl engineers who happily drilled my new Nomics to make sure they couldn't have the grip rest failure problem.

To finish off my whirlwind trip to the Ecrin I went to visit some friends up in Puy St Vincent, Stew Rogers and Sam Lowe who put me up for a couple of nights - thank you! I managed to get rock climbing for a day with Bruce Pole at a local conglomerate crag, whose name escapes me! A conglomerate crag which has been covered in winter recently and hasn't been climbed on .......hmmmm, now conglomerate is tricky enough to climb on when there is loads of chalk to show you the decent holds, with absolutely none it was desparate! I've only climbed on conglomerate a couple of times, once in Maple Canyon, Utah and at Moy Crag just outside Inverness. Both of these venues you use the pebbles to pull on, most of the time. At this crag you use the pockets left behind when the pebbles have come out. This sounds easier but the pebbles are really tiny and hence so are the pockets. After feeling around for the next pocket it seems almost impossible to find the one you've just taken your hand out of, as you can imagine I wasn't exactly putting in a stunning performance, but it was great to get some sunshine - we were climbing in t-shirts!

I'm now back in UK and just arrived in Scotland for a couple of weeks. Working mostly, firstly for Mountain Equipment and then Plas y Brenin but hoping to squeeze something for myself in on my days off. Watch this space!

Cathedral Photo - now in Climb

2011-01-11T10:56:00.000Z

Make sure you pick up a copy of Climb this month. Great photo of The Cathedral taken by Lukasz. Sneak preview on the Mountain Equipment blog.

Off out to the Ecrin for the Ice Festival on Thursday - psyched!
Meeting up with Team Petzl, always good for a bit of banter - how do they manage it when it's not even their first language? I'd stand no chance of banter in french.
Unfortunately it seems to have gone a bit warm out there so conditions may not be optimal - sure I'll still get completely pumped anyway!

Coming at a good time, just starting to feel back to normal after the Christmas excess, maybe the training with extra belly will have made me stronger?
You can have a look at the conditions and maybe get some inspiration on http://www.ice-fall.com/

Wetter not better.

2011-01-04T21:42:00.000Z

As planned Tom and I headed back to Stob Coire nan Lochan today. Warmer and wetter all round. Walking in was distinctly unpleasant and the blast of horizontal rain as we crested into the Coire was enough to send most people back to the car. But we battled bravely onwards and headed for the crag and the base of Ordinary Route (IV, 4). Tom racked up and headed upwards splitting the bottom long pitch into two, he then continued up again, I got the then 3rd pitch and Tom finished the route off. Lots of wet snow was falling in showers throughout the day and the very top of the crag was good and frozen.
We topped out into a good strong wind so we beat a hasty retreat and headed back down into the rain.
A good couple of days out, I got to head back to Fort William and a comfy sofa - poor Tom however had to drive back to Devon - in fact I expect he's somewhere around Lancaster about now!

No pictures today - very wet and unhappy camera.

Proper Scottish Weather....

2011-01-03T16:54:00.013Z

Ian Hey, Ruth and I in the CIC Hut last season

Before I start on todays activities let me first wsh you a Happy New Year, I am feeling a wee bit sluggish having spent the whole of the festive season eating, and eating with a bit of drinking thrown in and virtually no exercising - oh dear not exactly the training plan of an athlete! I did have a walk up to the CIC Hut on New Years Eve to see if there was any chance of climbing but conditions were sadly lacking. Warm and wet - not ideal, luckily conditions inside the CIC Hut were perfect for a brew before heading back down.

Today I was working and it has been a day to blow the cobwebs away that's for sure. Yesterday I spent all day wishing for snow, driving the people around me nuts - I think I might have wished a bit too hard! Ruth tells me it has been pouring with rain and a bit of snow all day in Fort William. I've been getting snowed on ALL DAY in Stob Coire nan Lochan. First visit up there this season - always feels like a slog. But the last couple of days of colder temperature and todays snow has definitely winter-ed the place up again.

Tom and I climbed Scabbard Chimney (V, 6) which felt pretty tricky in the conditions with spindrift pouring down it and it was a bit thinner than when I did it last year. Luckily with the wind blowing across the coire we were quite sheltered on the route. Here are a couple of photos of Tom, who was refusing to look up for me - can't say I blame him though he'd probably have drowned! Abseiling off down The Tempest was a battle with yet more spindrift, but at least that was preferable to the rain which we walked down into.

Tomorrow is another day out with Tom, thinking of heading back up to the Lochan, here's hoping for a bit less spindrift!

International Press - have a look at these!

2010-12-23T11:25:00.000Z

Looks like I have gained some international press cuttings - absolutley no idea what most of it means, my polish and spanish skills not exactly being top notch!
I'm sure it's all very complimentry! Ruth was quite pleased to get a mention too. So if anyone has amazing translation abilities do let me know.

http://desnivel.com/escalada-hielo/primera-repeticion-de-the-cathedral-x-11-para-andy-turner

Not quite got the photos captions right on this one, the shot which is a Mountain Equipment Advert is actually taken on Cracking Up. All good for M.E. anyway!
http://wspinanie.pl/serwis/201012/15-Cathedral-X-Andy-Turner.php

So have a Happy Christmas everyone and hope to be back with some news before new year.

Nomic and Ergo Griprest problem - Petzl information

2010-12-21T16:13:00.000Z

Apparently there have been some problems with the new Nomic and Ergo griprests - not had any trouble with mine yet but I'll be keeping an eye on them. Petzl have got some information on their website explaining the difficulties and with a guarantee that they will replace the tools when they have got a redesigned version produced next year. Sounds pretty fair to me.

Have a look at their pages for more information - HERE

Excess snow..

2010-12-21T16:11:00.000Z

It can't be often that there is too much snow in North Wales, but it does seem to be the case right now. Perfect conditions for some amazing skiing, Catrin has been out in the last couple of days, here's a couple of her pics, you can see more on her blog

Looks amazing! Whilst she was out putting in these turns I set off with Nick Bullock and Tim Neill to try and climb a route on Crib y dsygl. We trudged in through deep snow, and as we got closer to the crag it became apparent that it was really windy and all the soft powdery snow had been blown off the crag! Think we probably found the only spot in Snowdonia which had suffered these condition. Anyway, the short version is that we all swore a bit and then walked home again. Reaching home just in time for One Man and His Dog, I think Catrin had a significantly more memorable day than we did.

Temperatures are staying cold which just means the snow is not going to be turning into perfect bomber neve, but does mean that the ice routes are starting to form up again. Central Ice Fall and Cascade are looking like ice instead of the black crag of last week.

I am admitting to a lack of commitment to welsh winter and heading back to the Peak for christmas, with some hope that conditions in Scotland will turn just perfect around the new year for some more cranking.

Check out the new Lyon Equipment website.

2010-12-17T18:46:00.000Z

Not much to report at the moment, I've actually been having to do boring things like work and go on a First Aid course. Luckily this has coincided with rubbish conditions for anything else.
Last night was the Plas y Brenin christmas party up in Capel Curig. We decided to take the van as a backup sleeping place and had to use it not due to excessive alcohol (well not on Ruth's part anyway) but due to excessive snow fall, completely bucketed down all night. After digging the van out, wheel spnning out of the car park and eventually making it out of Capel it has taken ALL DAY to get back to Brynrefail which should be a 20 minute drive - epic!
On the positive side, as we had to drive the extra long way round it meant I was able to call in and pick up my shiny new reading specs - the household have taken to humming Austin Powers music at me...... buggers!

Anyway, Lyon Equipment have finally launched their new webiste, there is a genius error on my profile section which suggests that I can deep water solo 8b+ - I expect it'll get changed soon.

Snow has melted but the dry tooling is in condition.

2010-12-12T19:38:00.000Z

Yes, the temperatures have gone up and all the low lying snow and ice has gone over here in Wales. Looks like there is still some hanging in high up and peole have been climbing on the Black Ladders this weekend. Check out Baggy's Blog for more info.

Also sounds like some of the snow has gone in Scotland which could mean that the Northern Corries are climbable without having to dig your way to the routes.

I've spent the last couple of days sampling the delights of dry tooling in North Wales, yesterday was an afternoon on the slate with Nick Bullock, where we did a few laps on Ibex (M6 - we reckoned), then it went dark!

Today Nick, Rob Greenwood and I headed down to White Goods, you can find more info and a link to a topo at the white goods blog. We managed a few laps on Jaz (M8) to get warmed up, then moved onto Tumble in the Jungle (M9) and finished off with Rob Gibson's new route White Goods (M8+). - PUMPED!!

It has also been a chance to have a blast with the new Ergo tools which has been interesting - very different from my Nomics. Very aggressive and will take some getting used to, they definitely felt better on steep stuff, which is what they are designed for - luckily I have some lines in Scotland in mind for them!

Here's a film from Lukasz......

2010-12-08T21:17:00.003Z

Here's a film that Lukasz made yesterday about his and Andy's epic day out wading.
Enjoy it!!
Thanks Lukasz.

LWimages RAW - Day with Andy Turner... from Lukasz Warzecha - LWimages.co.uk on Vimeo.

Wading, wading and a bit more snow to wade through.

2010-12-07T17:39:00.000Z

Just spoke to the boys up north, not team happy today! They decided to go and check a route out, not telling you which one or where because I might get a proper telling off! Anyway, basically after wading through knee high (at least) powdery snow for 4 hours, they arrived at said unidentified route to find it not white, not in condition and with not enough energy to climb it even if it had been!!
They are now heading south - and having just heard a traffic report on the radio that's not going to be a whole heap of fun either!

Oh dear might need to have a lot of tea and sympathy ready for their arrival, especially if they end up having a night in the van.

Ah well, a good route done and some conditions in Wales to look forward too.
Meanwhile here's a picture of Andy and some of the team Petzl wads in kilts just to keep you all entertained.

Easy day.....

2010-12-06T23:03:00.000Z

Andy and Lukasz met up with Donald King today, fresh from his ascent of Satyr in Stob coire nan lochain. Both feeling a little tired after yesterdays efforts and seeing that there was a chance that some of the Glencoe ice would be in condition, Andy, Donald and Lukasz decided to head for Blue Riband on the side of the Aonach Eagach.
Sadly only the first couple of pitches were in condition, but they had a fun climb before abseiling off. As great minds think alike they were joined at the bottom of the route by Al Halewood and friends. Check out Al's blog for some film and photos. Quality old school ice axe wielding from the Turner, who had given his shiny Nomics to Lukasz - don't want to be damaging those hands otherwise he won't be able to take such great pictures! Have a read of UKC's interview with Lukasz.

All being well there may be time for another adventure tomorrow before the boys head back south and then over to Wales. But on the positive side looks like everything is in amazing condition over there at the moment. Matt Stygall and Adam Hughes had a fab day doing Central Ice Fall and then nippng round to Ogwen and scooting up The Sting. See more on Adam's blog.

Cathedral X,11 2nd ascent in the bag!

2010-12-05T17:04:00.000Z

Hello again folks, once more Andy is up in the frozen north and I've just had word that todays project has gone according to plan.

The second ascent of Dave Macleod's The Cathedral X,11 on the Cobbler has been completed!! Good skills that man!

Kev Shields deserves a massive thank you for belaying and braving the freezing temperatures, for the second time on the route. Andy had a go at it a couple of years ago and fell off just getting around the end of the roof, but today everything went super smoothly.
He says that he got up to the back of the cave and couldn't remember any of the holds from his last try (which I can believe knowing what his memory is like after 5 minutes let alone a couple of years!), so he headed out for a look, got the feel of it all and then climbed back into the back of the cave for a shake out before launching the successful attack.
When I spoke to him they were heading for the pub for a celebratory shandy!!

I'm hoping that I'll get sent down some photos as Lukasz Warzecha and Suzy Devey were dangling around somewhere, I'll update asap.

Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow, but I'll keep the blog updated as soon as I have more information.

Ecrins Ice Festival

2010-12-04T21:16:00.000Z

Trailer Ice Climbing Ecrins 2011 qui au 14 16 janvier 2011

This could be my first trip of 2011. Had an invite so really hope to take it up. Was there a couple of years ago - it was great! Anyone who is keen to check out the climbing around the area should get down there.

Urban Ski-touring....

2010-12-03T13:41:00.000Z

Just a few weeks ago I was writing about getting out cragging around the Peak and mentioned New Mills Torrs.

Last night I was shuffling around New Mills on my skis, who'd have thought that a ski approach to the Torrs would ever happen!!

Had thought about applying for the guide scheme once upon a time, but with skiing skills like this - maybe not!! Don't think I was bonding with the planks!!

And the winner is......

2010-12-01T14:02:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone who entered the competition to win a copy of The Pinnacle. The answer was of course Smith's Route. Nearly everybody got that right, but the lucky winner who got pulled out of a wooly hat is:

Matt Buchanan from Dunblane.

Your copy will be winging it's way to you very soon, although the snow might slow it down a wee bit!

Check this out - The Pinnacle Trailer

2010-11-30T21:24:00.000Z

West is Best.......unless you are a skier.

2010-11-30T21:15:00.000Z

Here's a few picture from my trip up to Scotland. I was hoping to climb in the Cairngorms most of the time, but it was really snowy so I headed west.
Great day up on the Ben but the next day it was black in Glencoe, still good conditions high on the Ben but I needed to head to Grantown to get my lift back south. Driving across, leaving behind the beautiful blue skies I hit a wall of snow.

Matt had headed down from Beinn Eighe, where he and Keith had walked in for a hour through deep powder and then decided to bail as they were still only about 1km from the car park.

We both arrived in Grantown and had to dig his van out, 17inches of snow overnight!!

Catrin and Di were skiing out of the front door, in preparation for their forthcoming season as part of the British Ski Mountaineering Team.

The drive south was grim, really snowy and the roads full of people driving badly! Not until we got south of Glasgow did we leave behind the proper snow. There is some down here in the Peak and it's cold, looking through my window here I can see that Kinder Downfall is starting to freeze, give it another week of this weather and it'll definitely be a goer!

Reports from North Wales are looking positive, routes are getting done in Cwm Idwal and on the Black Ladders, check out Baggy's Blog.

Last few hours to be in with a chacne to win that Pinnacle DVD, thanks for the response so far, see The People's Choice entry below.

Didn't Die of Ignorance.......Now updated with photos

2010-11-25T17:26:00.020Z

The second installment from Andy's mini-break to Scotland........

Today he went climbing with baby faced Tony Stone (who claims to be much older than is possible to believe when you look at him, although his recent trip to Nepal may have added a couple of years.), and they decided to head up to their favourite place Ben Nevis. Now these two have some history of cranking up hard routes up there so I wasn't too surprised when I heard what they were planning to go and have a look at.

That's right Andy had decided to go and "open an account with Don't Die of Ignornce" on Comb Buttress. This Dave Macleod route has yet to have a second ascent and Andy is keen to rectify this. So anyway off they trotted at some ungodly hour of the morning, although probably quite late by some people's standards, and arrived to find the route in climbable conditions - this translates as being definitely winter, white and all that, Andy is a real stickler for all that stuff and has repeatedly walked away from routes that just aren't in nick. And I have heard some good rants on the subject......best not to get him started!

After a couple of go's the boys managed to get out to the arete - which is where there were loads of cool photos of Dave some even before he'd finished it!! But looking up the rest of the pitch there wasn't any of the necessary ice formed, which is exactly what happened to Dave when he was trying to do it. That and they hadn't taken enough brave pills to bash on regardless!! So they retreated, but Andy was positive and declared that the account was well and truly open! He's going to head back up there at some point although probably not tomorrow.

Once again Matt Stygall and Keith Ball were out climbing and they actually managed to get to the top of thier route Tower Face of the Comb (VI, 6) - they gave it a rave review - apparently 3 *'s.

There were a number of teams out and about but not sure what they were on, although one team lost a rucksack which came hurtling out of Coire na Ciste - feel free to confess to your moment of early season errors here!

Hopefully I'm going to get e-mailed some photos down later when they make it back to civilisation, and I'll upload ASAP.

Andy on Don't Die of Ignorance

By the way - don't forget to get your entry in for the chance to win a copy of The Pinnacle - see The People's Choice post below.

Photo's as promised. Mixed climing and photos from below - never looks great does it?!

Tony Stone reaching the arete.

And they're off.....the season begins.

2010-11-23T17:30:00.000Z

That's right the first route of the winter is now under the belt. Andy headed north yesterday on his first pilgrimage of the year leaving me to write the blog in his absence, so here is the first installment:

Today Andy was climbing with Kenny Grant and they decided with the visibility being low to head into Coire an Lochain. Luckily there was a team ahead who had put a track in so progress wasn't too much hardwork. Andy and Kenny headed for Bulgy (VII, 7), which was rather buried but in pretty good condition otherwise. The bottom of the route saw Andy realise that he hadn't sorted his crampons, didn't know what to wear and all those other early season faffs - thanks to Kenny for being patient! The next error was noticed some way up the route where a large cam is necessary - of course they didn't have it - a bit of ingenuity and some stacked hexes later saw them at the top of the route and returning to the carpark by a slightly less than ideal route. Ah bless 'em, I'm sure Andy will be more switched on tomorrow!
Good start to the season and the first outing for the new Nomic 2's.

Also in action were Keith Ball and Matt Stygall on Fallout Corner (VI, 7) and another team of Miles Perkins and friend on Deep Throat (V, 6). Looked like Fallout Corner had already had an ascent so the boys didn't have to get involved in quite as much digging.

No photos yet but I'll load some up when possible.

The People's Choice!

2010-11-22T14:09:00.000Z

My action packed party week was rounded off with the Kendal Mountain Festival and the World Premier of The Pinnacle on the friday evening. This was my first viewing of the film and on a big screen too - absolutely brilliant. Diff (Paul Diffley at Hotaches) has done an amazing job of weaving together all the footage of Dave and I climbing with interviews from Jimmy Marshall, Robin Campbell and Ken Crocket to name a few. After the film was shown, Diff, Dave and I hopped up on the stage to answer questions, and I think it went really well, I managed to use complete sentences and make sense for a change!
Irritatingly Ruth was poised to take some photos - see below!

Diff then unleashed a bun fight when he offered DVD's of the film for sale, and we ended up spending ages signing them for people - my one moment of movie stardom!

The rest of the weekend Ruth and I saw a whole bunch of films about all kinds of things! From off-road uni-cycling to big wall suffer-fests. Then all that was left was the awards ceremony - a few tense moments for all filmmakers as the results were being announced. Probably the most prestigious award is the People's Choice Award. This is the film that the festival goers have most enjoyed watching and this was the award picked up by The Pinnacle. The beautiful trophies for all awards were sculpted by artist and climber Andy Parkin. Very happy to have been involved in this venture and think Diff deserves the recognition for doing such a great job and making a film that climbers and non-climbers alike will enjoy.

In hounour of winning this award I am going to give away a DVD copy of The Pinnacle. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to answer the question below. Send you answer along with your name and address to : amac_turner@hotmail.com

The closing date is 30th November 2010.

The QUESTION:

Which route did Jimmy Marshall and Robin Smith complete the winter first ascent of on 8th February 1960?

Correct answers will be put in a hat and the winner will be drawn out on 1st December.

Scotland hits Grenoble

2010-11-17T20:58:00.001Z

Following the invitation from Erwan at Petzl I arrived in Grenoble a couple of days before the film festival. So as I had a bit of time to spare there was the chance to either go dry-tooling and try out the new Ergo's or a day sport climbing at Presles. As it was a beautiful day we opted for some bolt clipping. Erwan, Eric and I had a brilliant day out and Erwan clocked up some impressive airmiles.

The massive expanse of the Presles valley

This huge gorge is loved by climbers and BASE jumpers alike, Erwan took his rig along so I was hoping to see my first BASE jump, unfortunately it was a too windy. Monday was lashing with rain so I got to go and check out the Petzl Factory and Offices - what an inspiring place to work. As you walk into the building you are surrounded by amazing images, probably every Petzl poster ever printed. The offices are filled with little groups clustered round their Macbooks designing the next bit of super swanky new kit. (Sadly I didn't manage to steal any shiny kit whilst I was there!)

Late afternoon we went to collect the evening's whisky supplies from the local whisky expert, and were given detailed instructions of the best order to drink them in for maximum effect. Next stop was the station to collect some journalists, we then got a bit lost but arrived at the festival venue just in time to don out kilts and jimmy wigs and get serving the whisky.

After the film was shown we (Erwan le Lann, Tony Lamiche, Martial Dumas, Yann Mimet, Mathieu Meynadier and myself) were invited up on stage for a question and answer session. Completely terrifying, 3000 people and I don't speak french! Luckily the host decided that it would probably get lost in translation asking me anything and talked to the others instead!

At the end of the evening everyone who had appeared in the films that night was invited up for a team photo - which meant I got to share the stage with french ice climbing legend Francois Damilano, thankfully by that point we had all decided to get rid of our kilts! I have realised that I don't look good in a skirt and I was jealous of the other boys tanned legs - think I need to spend more time somewhere sunny!

At the aftershow party (rock and roll lifestyle!!) we finished off the whisky. Then when we all got thrown out of the venue headed back to Erwan's house until the early hours. Finding my way back through Grenoble to my hotel proved a challenge and I thought I was going to end up bivvying out in a side street.

A great few days, really good to catch up with the boys again. A massive thank you to Erwan and Petzl for the invite, hopefully see them all back in Scotland again soon.

Next day I dashed back to Manchester to go to Mountain Equipment's 50th anniversary celebration night and product launch. A great film about the history of Mountain Equipment's involvement in mountaineering over the last 50 years made by Brian Hall was shown, followed by a "fashion show" of some key garments over the years, and of course the new range for winter 2011. The star turn being Andy Parkin in his original all in one down suit from the '80's. Next up were Dave Macleod and Paul Diffley introducing The Architect, the short version of the Smith Marshall film. Fun evening and looking forward to some of the bright hardshell suits heading our way next year.

Just around the corner?

2010-11-11T18:03:00.003Z

Looking out at the dusting of snow on Kinder and getting an update from James Thacker who was on cosy ML camp in Snowdonia (suffer!!), it seems that winter really is on it's way. So I thought I'd share a few photos from last winter's Welsh antics to get psyched. I really hope we get such amazing conditions this season, I've got some lines spied out and can't wait to get stuck into them. And no, I'm not telling you where they are!

Cwm Silyn

Central Ice Fall

Craig y Rhaeadr

Chequered Wall

Cracking Up - photo Ray Wood

Good Luck - and be careful out there, a smack in the mouth from your axe hurts!

Sneaky post

2010-11-09T19:57:00.001Z

Andy isn't looking so I thought I'd sneak in a picture of him signing a copy of Alpinist!! The perils of being a winter climbing hero!
Article wrttten by Ian Parnell about their ascent of Bruised Violet in 2009, really good article and fab pictures too.

Issue 31 if anyone is interested.

I'm going to be in trouble

Ruth

New Mountain Equipment Delivery

2010-11-07T21:05:00.006Z

Woo hoo, winter appears as does shiny new kit from those lovely people at Mountain Equipment. In the box this year are lots of new products, two of them, pictured below, are jackets to keep me toasty warm in different conditions.

This is the NEW Citadel jacket designed to keep you warm in conditions from Patagonia to Alaska, but will be perfectly at home on those long winter belays in Britain when trying to push new lines. Similar to the Fitzroy, but with twice the insulation. I had a prototype to test last winter and used it whilst filming The Pinnacle, a great week with some cold conditions especially hanging around on belays waiting for cameras to get into position.

Next up is the NEW Arete Jacket (in Bombay Orange - good colour!), having seen this at the product launch last year I could hardly wait for them to go into production and I could get my mitts on one. When it arrived I loved the jacket but I wasn't sure what I was going to use if for (other than looking cool in the pub!), but as Mountain Equipment say it's perfect as an alternative to a mid layer fleece, actually it's even more adaptable being lighter and smaller to pack. So far it's been used out on the grit as a great layer to chuck on in between routes/problems. Or to be stolen by Ruth whilst she takes photos!

More on some of the other products as they get used.

Holland's Highest mountain

2010-11-06T23:34:00.005Z

Check this out. The last Great Problem. What do you reckon will happen first, getting pumped or getting the fear?

This image cropped up on my Facebook account from a friend in Holland.

It needed to be checked out so found this article Jack Geldard of UKC wrote last year.

I think id be terrified climbing the slab side nevermind the overhang but what an awesome facility, just dont go in high winds I guess.

Grenoble Mountain Film Festival Invite

2010-11-05T19:22:00.002Z

Film Festival season is coming to it's peak and I'm getting psyched for the premier of The Pinnacle (Smith Marshall Project) at Kendal Film Festival in a couple of weeks. Out of the blue came an invitation from Petzl's Erwan le Lann to go to the Grenoble Mountain Film Festival. They are having a Scottish themed evening and showing the film the Petzl team made a couple of winters ago in Scotland. The boys had originally contacted me to get some information and I ended up acting as their tour guide for the 10 day trip, the highlight being Ueli Steck repeating my route The Secret in about 20 minutes, I almost hung up my rack there and then!
The only prerequisite is that I turn up with a kilt, now searching for both a kilt and a set of Jimmy Wigs for the boys to wear whilst they hand out whisky. Anyone who can help me out with either of those things - please get in touch!!

Les 12èmes Rencontres du cinéma de montagne
Uploaded by maisondelamontagne. - Discover the latest sports and extreme videos.

2010-11-02T21:23:00.001Z

Sunday dawned damp so as my brother lives about 3 minutes walk from The Depot, we went to check it out.
The British Bouldering Youth Team were there on a training session, looking super strong and putting us to shame!
Lukasz Warzecha made a short film about the team a couple of months ago whilst they were competing up at Ratho - so check it out and get to know them.
Good to see the team getting together and showing some team spirit, would be great to think that we could do something similar for the World Cup Ice Climbing Competitions - maybe sometime in the future, near future?

The BMC presents the British Junior Climbing Team from Lukasz Warzecha - LWimages.co.uk on Vimeo.

Yorkshire Grit Hit - Swastika Rocks

2010-10-31T13:56:00.003Z

Having purchased the Yorkshire Bouldering Guide I decided I could kill two birds with one stone, visit my brother and check out some bouldering. We headed for Swastika Rocks, bit esoteric! Not a huge number of problems but a good spread of grades for my brother and I to get stuck into for an afternoon of sport. The classics of the crag are the aretes - Barn Door and Christmas Day, and the excellent Walking the Dog.

Stu Turner on The Badger and Christmas Day Arete above.