View from......

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

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

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...

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

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..

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

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