Photos from A Cloudy Place

So Charlie (finally) got around to uploading his, much nicer, far sharper and better composed pictures from our visit to Snowdonia in November.

Enjoy!

Enjoying a warming beverage after the first section of climbing

On the second section of Tryfan, looking down into the Ogwyn valley. That rucksack is as heavy as it looks.

The beautiful view off the west face of Tryfan

The cannon - it feels far more exposed than it looks. Honest.

And my gazelle-like descent.

Hanging out over the Ogywn valley - a rare shot without cloud

"Gorillas in the mist" on Crib Goch

 In news, we have a confirmed date for Scotland - we head up into the great white north on the 11th of January. Kit lists, accomodation booking, sourcing guidebooks and working out plans are in full swing, as is indoor practice. Things are getting better, what with 2/3 sessions a week and I'm back up to confidently climbing 6a+ on a top rope and leading 5+, so we should be in good shape for some proper mountaineering!

See you all soon

Fun in the Bouldering Field

Went to the Westway today, after a long, long time away (it was almost a month before we went to wales that I was last there). Everything is weak on me; grip strength, technique, movement, arm strength. I got pumped trying to climb an easy 4+ lead for gods sake. I just felt stupid and embaressed, especially as I'm meant to have my first taste of winter mountaineering in January!

We spent most of our time in the bouldering field; I was hardly impressive but any training is training, right? Up and down climbs, dynos and big moves can only serve to do me well, but I was really, really bad. It does show that I need to get back to the wall once or twice a week. Maybe I should start to train in the gym too; campus boards and four-finger pullups can be seen in my future...I just need to find the time, honestly. Well we'll see what the future holds for me.

Did have a bit of fun though; quite a nice little bouldering problem that I spent a lot of time on but never quite managed to complete. I decided to film myself to see where I was going wrong, but I still didn't complete. Then Charlie decided to school me.

And totally rub it in.

I'm going to have loads of time to blog over Christmas, so look forward to loads of stuff. I should be off to Scotland in the second week of January, so you'll see all the buildup for that, which I'm sure will leave you all absolutely fascinated and enthralled. All three of you who read this.

See you soon!

Wales, again! Tryfan and Crib Goch

Impromptu weekend away in Wales? Oh yes please!

This isn't going to be a long one, I'm somewhat busy at the moment, but here it is!

The beautiful view of the Ogwyn Valley from about halfway up the North East face of Tryfan

Tryfan
After enjoying a lovely full cooked breakfast at the YHA, me and Charlie set off in the car for the rolling green-and-grey of the Ogwyn Valley, and specifically Tryfan and the Glyder Fach ridge. Initially we started up the North Face path, which if I'm honest was sloggy, steep and painful with our 15-20kg loads. I was slow and extremely tired, slightly annoyed at my own lack of fitness (especially since I've spent so much time in the gym recently...) which meant Charlie kept having to stop to wait for me. Eventually, after about a kilometer on the flat and 150m of elevation change, we moved into the fun bit of the day: Scrambling.

Charlie showing the world how it's done

Now, for those of you that don't know, Scrambling is something of a halfway point between pure rock climbing and walking. The terrain is more of a collection of small boulders with decent hand and foot holds than a flat rock face, and is relatively easy to ascend with the correct gear - you don't even really need ropes or protection unless you move onto really exposed stuff. It was my first taste of pure, graded scrambling (although we didn't follow a specific 'route'...Tryfan doesn't really have any) and if I'm honest it's damn fun. Yes there were some bits that were rather committing, and more than once I was thankful for the almost physics-bending grip and stiffness of my Mammut Monolith B2 boots, and I was slow and the weight and size of my rucksack made some of it rather sketchy but it was absolutely awesome to play mountaineer and actually climb a mountain.



After a slightly embarrassing event involving a dropped piece of tent, we made the summit both taking the time to jump Adam and Eve, the two crowning rocks on Tryfan's summit, and then set on the descent back down towards the Far South Peak and Glyder Fach. Originally the plan had been to climb up to the summit of Glyder Fach, then descend  towards Llyn Bochlwyd where we would set up camp. However, when we got down to Bwlch Tryfan, the mini-valley between the two peaks, we decided we were too lazy, too cold and the car was far too close to really justify staying out. So we made the executive decision to go back into Llanberis, find somewhere to sleep, grab a pint and some food and enjoy a comfortable night.

Crossing the complex of fords on the descent from
Tryfan, in blowing wind. Sketchy.

Charlie on Adam & Eve. We were the only people out of
around 20 at the summit to do it. Frankly I was dissappointed.

In the end, after the YHA we'd stayed in on Friday night confirmed they were full, we found a home in Pete's Eats. Anyone familiar with Llanberis over the past three decades will be familiar with Pete's, on the Llanberis high street. Theirs is a nirvana for tired, hungry climbers and walkers - free wifi, free charging, massive plates of food and (if you need it) a cheap, comfy bed for the night or even the simple pleasure of a hot shower. Honestly can't recommend them enough, and will even go as far as to give them a shout out here; if you ever need anything in Llanberis (even if it's just advice on a good route to take), they'll help you out. Find them at: www.petes-eats.co.uk


Crib Goch
Sunday was going to be shorter - we had a 6 hour drive home ahead of us, so instead of doing a massive loop, we decided to take on the infamous ridgeline of Crib Goch.

After another long slog of a walk-in, exhausting and sweaty in heavy mountain boots and windproofs we made it over the granny stopper at the bottom of the route, and I headed off to break my Crib virginity.The scrambling was technical and relentless, although the shedding of 90% of the weight from our packs certainly helped to make the moves easier. We weren't alone on the ridgeline, but it did somewhat concern the pair of us the quality and suitability of the kit and expertise of the groups we met. Whilst you may be able to do the Crib in sturdy trainers and a light jacket in a dry, clear summer's day, but on a windy, cold and damp November afternoon it's downright dangerous.

Unfortunately the ridgeline of Crib Goch itself doesn't really lend itself to intense conversation, so I was left alone for a lot of the time, but I've found that it's quite nice. Just being alone with the conditions, the mountain and your own thoughts is a beautiful thing. Every now and then I'd catch up with Charlie, we'd enjoy a cup of tea and then set back off along the seemingly never-ending ridge. We'd be held up now and then as we negotiated an overtake over another group, but mainly for me was just the faint, yellow bobbing shape at the edge of my vision and a uniformly grey skybox. The cloud was low and the conditions were windy and cold (but thankfully largely dry) so there wasn't a huge amount to see, but it was fun, committing and technical. There isn't really much else to say really, the pictures do that for me!

(I'm still waiting for Charlie to send me the pictures from Day 2, as my phone had died. Pester him for me, would you? There's a good reader.)

We decided to not do the Snowdon summit; it's something we've both done before and we were hardly going to see anything special, so it was time for the long (but rather quick, it seemed) decent down the miner's path to the car, a well-deserved bottle of lucozade and the long slog home, to the realities of life.

It's always sad to leave the mountains, but it just means I'll have to go back for more. And soon.

Now all I have to look forward to is a Scottish winter. Oh wait...that's going to be amazing. Psyched!

Froggatt 2: The Return (Part Eins)

So finally I have returned to the crag. For a weekend no more sweating it out in an overly-warm climbing gym, clipping into pre-placed quickdraws - it's time to rack up and get ready to place some gear, folks.

OK, so I'm writing this well after the event, but I'm a busy man y'know!

This return to Froggatt has been planned pretty much from the time we went there last, what with so many routes un-tested and some real classics missed out on. The main reason we missed them was due to a severe lack of a handbook - we were really just guessing at routes, climbing what we could see (which, if you think about it, is the same kind of climbing as Froggatt's pioneers). Another issue the last time was that unfortunately, due to circumstances, Charlie had to lead-hog. It was my first time on the rock and no one was about to let me lead on the rock - it's so much different to leading indoors they may as well be different worlds!

This time the group was larger; in addition to me and Charlie we had Tom (a previous appearer on this blog) and Camilla, one of Tom's friends for whom Froggatt was only the third time she had climbed - ever! All other things aside it takes courage to be attempting seconding and abseiling on only your third go out with ropes and harness!

Fun in the Sun(set Slab)

Super-Ultra-Fun stuff!

Our arrival at the rock face proper was not a leisurely descent to set up a couple of top-ropes; no, it was for some reason we decided to build an abseil. Hey, no protests here, I think they are awesome. I gave Charlie a hand setting it up just the same as a top-rope, then got Cam to go down for her first abseil - as expected she was a little shaky but seemed to enjoy it. Once everyone else was down (including Tom who is by no means the world's biggest fan of abseils) I had to make my way down. As I was last man down I had the fun experience of abseiling fully loaded with a 15kg pack. It may not sound like much but it's a significant shift of your center of gravity!

Once down we decided to leave the rope in place and use it to climb the very convenient Sunset Crack as a warmup. First time up I made a little bit of a fool of myself, getting caught in sections I really shouldn't be struggling over, but on my repeat soon after I did the entire thing cleanly and smoothly in a shade over a minute. With everyone warmed up it was time to head on to the main focus of the four-hour journey to get there: leading.

Charlie wedging his way up the oversized crack of North Climb 

With the warm up out of the way, Charlie and Tom decided they wanted a crack at a relatively easy lead to North Climb, just to the right of the famous Fatal Attraction and the infamous Science Friction. It's a route me and Charlie did last time we were there, but then we'd top-roped it; I had used it as my first practice 'lead' with the safety line of a top rope. It was largely an uneventful climb, well made by both leader and follower, but the exciting part was to come.
blow out their respective cobwebs;



Tom somehow got it into his head on an abseil down the face of Fatal Attraction that it would be a doable climb, so on a top-rope they attempted it; neither got much closer to the top-out than about six feet. On my attempt I barely got six feet off the ground - it's a seriously difficult climb, well deserving of the E3 grade it's been given. Embarrassingly Camilla got far further than me, but in her defence she's small and strong - my power-to-weight is far, far worse!

On the Terrace

Charlie attempting the 5a to the right of Terrace Crack

After a bite to eat and the promised black weather stayed off, we decided to do a  reapeat of mine and Charlie's favourite route the last time we were there; the slabby, think-y Terrace Crack. Although only a HVS in the guide, it's a very enjoyable climb with a confidence-pushing few moves that puts you out over an overhang into nothingness. As before it was a cracking climb - I seconded again, as I did last time, but in much more pleasant conditions than May, which left me feeling like a much better overall experience.

Camilla just before the overhang on
Terrace Crack

Tom and Camilla also got a climb on the same route, but on her follow Camilla unfortunately suffered her first proper Crag Attack, freezing halfway up the climb and being unable to continue. It wasn't neither way on a rock face. It was quite a sobering experience, especially as me and Charlie discussed the possibility of having to build an abseil to attempt a rescue.
that she couldn't do it, more that she couldn't bring herself - the big, outward-pushing overhang at the start of the route sapped all her confidence. It's the first time I've seen a proper panic attack on a rock face - I've had my fair share of freezes and retreats, but I've never been able to go






Like and Ibex, Like an Ibex

The committing first move on Heather Wall
(image courtesy of Karabiner Climbing Club)

Having rescued Camilla from her freeze, we moved on. It was starting to get towards the end of the day, and possibly in hindsight we had been riding a wave of luck in that there had been no falls, none of the promised rain and no real problems on any of the climbs. Not ones that had put anyone at risk, that is. However, pumped and psyched as we were we decided to have a crack at the rather easy Heather Wall and use it as my first lead. Geared up and prepped, the start was, honestly, inauspicious; it was only when I was on the wall that I discovered that the first big move is in fact a 5a - harder than anything I have climbed outdoors. With that over and done with, all that was left was for me to climb the wide protected crack that forms the route. However, with maybe eight meters of the wall left, the heavens opened and the stone turned from warm, welcoming and grippy into a wet, frictionless slab that may as well have been polished concrete for all the grip it gave me.

Not being able to safely continue up and not wanting to leave gear in the wall, I now had to very slowly and carefully down-climb the sodden crack, jamming hands and feet and even suffering a couple of minor falls. Despite my relative terror and absolute certainty that I was about to fall and break a limb when I took out my last protection, Charlie, Tom and Camilla kept spirits up by abusing me in various badly-done foriegn accents, including an absolutely classic Russian/Spanish singsong that ended in the famous phrase "Like an Ibex".

With their support I got down, heart in hand and instantly stated that I was done for the day; I now needed to get into warm gear, get down to the pub and have some warm food. Still riding the adrenaline high I enjoyed some fish and chips, before returning to set up the tents on a rather precarious but atmospheric ledge. It was time to sleep to be ready for another day on the face.

Sympathetic is not a word Charlie identifies with

A short reflection

It's a busy weekend for me, but I've always got time to blog. I'll warn you, I'm in a wordy mood.

As I sit here on a Friday evening, unpacking my gear from a two-day training event with work on the hills and packing gear afresh for a 6am wake up to head back to Froggatt in the morning, a thought that has been plaguing me sneaks back into my head: "what makes me do this?"

Now don't worry; I'm not about to jack it all in, but it is an interesting question - why do I put myself through early wake ups, 40 hour weeks in a retail job that to be honest I'm not crazy about, punishing physical training, letting my other commitments fall by the wayside for a sport I only took up eight months ago? I mean, we all get that I do it because I enjoy it and it's fun, but what exactly is it that makes it fun? What makes climbing special?

On Wednesday I posed this question to Charlie, and in his normal way he came up with something succinct and witty; "I love the fact it's outdoors, it's freeing, it's a challenge and it's out of the ordinary." and to be honest that pretty much sums it up for me. It's not just the climbing, it's the periphery too; the build up, the fact it's an event to get to a rock face, the camaraderie, the friendship, the socialised elements of the whole affair. I will never understand people who wish to climb walls and mountains alone because I am a social animal; I do the sport because it's a team sport. It requires people to learn and work together to achieve goals, lean on each other's strengths and reinforce each other's weaknesses.

In most of his work, but specifically his book Dark Shadows Falling, Joe Simpson refers to an 'apprenticeship in the hills'. For me this is exactly why I climb. It's a challenging pursuit; you can't just pick up a harness and be good, unless you're one of the lucky few who have that unnatural knack for rock. It takes time, patience, practice and a lot of training to be a good climber. It requires specialist equipment by the bucket load (which feeds my unnatural gear fetish) and is formed of a small, tightly knit clique of people with a strong sense of ethics and community. Some of you may know my background is Armed Forces; to a large extent the climbing community is much like the Army. If you don't know, it's hard to pretend and be believed by someone who does. Those who are serving or have served their apprenticeship on the hills know their place and their role, and the pecking order is unbreakable. Cheating isn't something that's really a problem; kudos is earned by doing it right, not doing it easy.

I'm only at the very start of my apprenticeship; there is still so, so much more for me to learn about. The ability to judge weather conditions and their application on climbing, the ability to know when to retreat and when to press on, to learn about snow, ice, mountains and summit pushes. Some people never finish their apprenticeships, always remaining in a learning stage. I can honestly say that if I was to never pass it, I'd be happy to learn my entire climbing career. I mean sure I'd like to be at the cutting edge, but this is real life. I want to do things because I enjoy them. No seven-summit peak bagging for me, no races to solo up the north face of the eiger. I want to do this because it's fun, and I want it to stay that way.

It is this that endears me so much to climbing; the fact it's special. The people who do it are a special, unique clique. The equipment is special. The experience of being halfway up a rock face, a rope below you, nothing but sky above and your own skill and technique being the only thing keeping you in one piece. It makes you feel alive; for me, I feel like I belong. It's worth the early wake ups, the missed nights out for this life. It's the feeling that as Simpson explains, turns a terrifying experience into a fun one in our memories; what, when following a difficult climb and a friend suggests another, prevents you running from the bar screaming bloody mary.

People may not necessarily understand this; I don't ask them to. Many people have and always will directly question why I want to do something like this; hopefully I can point them to this little article and it will go a little way to explain why I do something that I personally fully regard to be totally insane. No sane, logical person would look at a snow covered mountain face or smooth gritstone slab and go 'hey, that looks like fun'. More than likely they'd turn around, walk the other way until they hit the nearest pub.

I'll see you all soon; Froggatt beckons tomorrow. First leads. Should be fun.

Well...this sucks.

Had a climb today. Not a good one. Not a good one by any stretch of the imagination.

Unfortunately I think this is all caused by my visit to the US and the weeks that have followed; when over there I got lazy and fell back into old eating habits; I put on 14lbs in 3 weeks and honestly haven't really done anything about it. I've talked about it with Bailey but I keep being tempted by Two-for-Tuesdays and convenient ice cream offers (especially in this heat). So I'm not in all of that good-a shape, unfortunately, which has a direct impact on my climbing.

Before I left for the US, I was actually climbing to a reasonable standard - I was regularly topping out on 5+ indoor leads and was even top-roping 6a routes. Today I got 75% up a grade 4 lead and had to back down because I couldn't hold myself on to clip in securely. In fact I didn't top out on anything at all - all my flow, my moves, my power and my poise has disappeared. Not saying that I was the world's most elegant climber before I left, but I look like a ham-fisted buffoon up there at the moment. I still have power to do the big moves, but staying static on a hold to clip in saps all of my strength. It's irritating and frankly embarrassing.

A solution to one of my problems. But not a fix-all, upsettingly
enough.

So, I have to work on a plan as to how to rectify this; and quickly - I'm supposed to be leading my first outdoor routes in just over 3 weeks time. My first solution (and the easiest) is to work on my grip strength and endurance. To that end, on the way home today I picked up a tub of Rock Technologies' ExerFlex Power Putty from the good folks at Urban Rock. (I got the medium one to kick off with - it's tough stuff) My plan is to carry it around with me, and in an effort to avoid me picking my nails (which I do a lot, and I'm convinced affects my ability to crimp) have it rolling around in my palm getting squeezed and squished every which way to try and bring my forearm strength up to speed.

I've also resolved to try and get climbing as much as possible, and not just doing top-roped work; I want to get some good bouldering action in to again work on my strength, balance, poise and technique. I won't need a partner so I'm not beholden to climb with anyone which means I can do it pretty much whenever I'm free which is good. I'm also going to try and get to the gym as much as possible to work on pure strength and power, mainly in my upper body and arms - lots of pullups for me!

The intimidating shape of 'The Spike'
following Charlie's successful climb

In matters of a target, me and Charlie discovered something cool at the Westway: indoor climbing walls outdoors. Two great slabs of concrete fitted with climbing holds and pre-placed quickdraws to create some really interesting climbs. I named one (a massive, five-meter wide behemoth that is a permanent, evil-looking overhang) 'The Devil' and the other 'The Spike'. I didn't get far up the main face of the Spike but Charlie took it on, beat it and told me how fun it was. This is my new nemisis. This is my target for the next few weeks - lets see if I can beat it before I get back to Froggatt.

General Housework

Hey folks, just been doing some housework around here; I've updated the FAQ and Useful Links pages, so go and have a look over there, you might find something interesting.

In updates, it looks like I'm headed back to Froggatt in August, this time with a bigger group of 4/5 of us so I'll be talking about the prep for that soon (now that I know more about what I'm doing when I head to the hills!). I have also discovered a good friend of mine from School now climbs in Wales so hopefully I'll get to pop over there in the near future...

Anyway, nothing major to report, see you all soon!

Adventures across a big sea

As many of you may know, I recently took a trip to the USA; the exact reason for the trip I am unable to talk about due to matters of 'national security' (how cool is that I can actually say that legitimately) however during my time off there I got around a few places, many of which were actually a lot of fun and totally relevant to this blog!


Devil's Tower

Now, Devil's Tower in South Dakota is a rare sight to behold. A solid spire of granite rising 1,250ft into the air. I really would try and convey just how tall and awe-inspiring this thing is, but in truth you'd have to see it to believe it. Legends say it was created when some children were saved from a massive demon-bear but whatever did create it certainly left its mark on the landscape.

It's certainly striking...

Up close it's an absolutely crazy prospect; we saw climbers
up it when we arrived but midday heat was too much

Unfortunately, despite incredibly inviting routes and some awesome weather, I had not the gear nor the partner in order to make a decent ascent; not that I think I'd like to at this stage. It's a thousand feet of gruelling multi-pitch climbing without a huge amount of space for protection and even less areas to rest. A climb to the top would certainly be intense!

The Southern side was a bit more forgiving, but not
much further up here the handholds dissappear

There is, however, a nature trail surrounding the tower which is still rather rocky, hilly and appropriately raised above the surrounding landscape to provide some amazing vistas.

Custer State Park

The main nature reserve in South Dakota, Custer State Park is a beautiful bit of the world. Not a huge amount of climbing that goes on there, but me and Bailey made a decent enough fist of it with what we had and tried a bit of scrambling over lakeside boulder formations. The thing that stuck with me the most in the state park was actually the surrounding mountainsides; whilst not being quite as impressive as the snow-capped French Alps or the Appalachians, they had a stark beauty and a unique draw all of their own - no crampons and ice axes for ascents of these; it would be down to shredded palms and skills in the legs.

Bailey makes an excellent job of scrambling up lakeside rock

Unfortunately not very much else on the trip was hugely exciting from an outdoorsy point of view...I ate a lot of food, put on some weight, had some fun and became a redneck for a few days. All in all a good trip though!

I do really apologise for the lack of Climbing-related stuff on the blog so far, but I promise this will change!

Until next time readers (soon)!

Woah, that was a long wait...Sorry!

Well crikey, it's been quite some time since I've posted on here. In my defence I've been away in the US for a month, and not all that much has happened, but I should have put up something by now...

Honestly I think I just forgot. Whups.

Well, I'm currently writing a post about my various adventures in the US (all blog-related, honest) and that should be up in a few days, and I've got some stuff in the pipeline in regards to kit - I keep getting emails from people asking me what I use, so I really should get around to doing something about that.

Also, Charlie and I are heading back to Froggatt in August, this time with a bigger group so that should be interesting - by the sounds of it I'll be considered 'experienced'. Ha! Well...at least there's that to look forward to for you all...

In the meantime here's a fetching photo of me sweating buckets in 30degree heat hiking on the North Downs back in the UK:

Gorgeous

Froggart - Fun in high places!

I've finally become a proper climber. Having climbed a fair amount indoors since I started this lark back in January, I can now lay claim to having climbed a real rock face. And by god strike me down if it isn't shit-tons more fun.

The oppourtunity was through work and involved me and Charlie meeting some of the senior buying team and giving them an insight into exactly what we can do. There's been talk of getting more staff from the shop floor involved in testing new kit, which is fun and would be good for business, I suppose. To be honest this side of the weekend was of minimal importance to me, and they were gone by lunchtime on Saturday - I was there to climb things, and anything that took time away from that was very low on the ol' priority list.

The weekend started badly with me having my phone stolen in Baker Street station, which in turn caused me to be rather late to meeting Charlie as I'd forgotten exactly where he lived and was forced to wander around Royal Oak for about 45 minutes desperately trying to find something I recognised. Soon after I found him and gave my heartfelt apologies we were on the road towards Sheffield, the soft tones of Radio 4 driving us on our way. Despite leaving late we were in the village of Froggart by about 10am and after parking up the car and donning our kit, we headed for the rock.

The walk in itself was simple but somewhat dull - half an hour took us to the edge of Sunset Slab and the really meaty walls in Froggarts Edge. We'd decided to start the day off with some simple top-roping before cracking on with lead/follow climbing. We had already discussed what I'd be doing this weekend and had both decided that it was probably a little early to get me leading on my first time on the rock - placing protection

Our first top-rope, built and awaiting conquering heroes.
Or me and Charlie. Either.

The first thing we did was, as I mentioned, to set up a top rope. Froggart's Edge isn't a sport-climbing area and therefore there is no protection built into the walls - everything has to be done using nuts, hexes, cams and ropes - and that includes setting up a top-rope. I won't bore you with an in-depth description of the process (partly because I know this blog is going to ramble on quite a bit...) but it involves placing two or more items of protection, equalising the load of a rope between them, tying a bight and throwing the actual climbing rope (attached to the top-rope) off the top with surprising violence and much yelling.


My first climb on the rock was...interesting. It takes a lot of trust to put your faith in climbing shoes on rock that isn't totally 100% dry and warm - my background is partly motor racing, where the best grip is achieved when rubber is hot and sticky. This definately was not what was going on in Forggart in May. Despite this, the gritstone in the Peak District is extremely grippy, even when damp, and I made it up and down no dramas. Charlie did likewise and as the sun began to sneak through the clouds, we decided it was time to start with the lead climbing. But first we had to take apart our top-rope and - crucially - me to try my first ever solo abseil.

Now abseiling is a key technique, especially for mountaineers - the quickest way down a mountain is to set up a series of abseils and shoot down 30 meters at a time. Descending this way means a mountain that might have taken 2 days to climb can be descended in maybe 6 hours. But I'd never done it before - at least not properly. I'd done guided abseils, but now I had to learn how to do it the ropes-and-harness way - with nothing but a belay plat and prussik loop keeping me alive. It turned out absolutely fine, and indeed is now my favourite method to get down things. Charlie took a video of my first attempt, and I'll try to get it up here as soon as I can!

Charlie leading a route on the first day. Lacking a guide book
we christened it 'Charlie's Crack'. Many guffaws ensued.

To be very honest, with the rest of the weekend we climbed so many walls so many different ways that it's a struggle to pick them apart. We did maybe 10-15 routes over the weekend, in weather from the beautiful and sunny to the downright depressing. Some, like Terra's Edge were physically and technically challenging whereas some started easy and ended up as glorified walks. To sum up, the way we went about things this weekend was that charlie would lead the climb, placing protection and guiding the route and generally doing the majority of the hard work in a climb. He would then build a belay at the top and I would follow up on a top-rope, removing protection and following him up, what's known as 'clearing up the route'. The only time I led was on the last climb of the weekend, using a top-rope as a safety line so that Charlie could guide me and check my gear placement without any danger to myself. Thankfully all my gear placement was right on - next time out he won't have to be such a lead-hog, and I can get some practice with my own gear - I need to justify the money I'm spending on it all!

Our night was spent in a conveniently placed, yet somewhat exposed cave. I'll confess I didn't get the greatest night's sleep ever, with a frozen face and the nagging fear of being caught and told to trek back to the car but well enjoyable. Especially the bacon butties in the morning. A proper little outdoor excursion.

What became obvious as the weekend went on was how my confidence and ability shot up - no longer was I beaten as soon as I failed a move - I've found in me a strength of determination to always beat the route. I've found my competitive spirit in climbing, and to be extremely cheesy, the only way from here is up.

Also, enjoy some more pictures, courtesy of Charlie's pretty DSLR. Sorry the formatting is a little off, Blogger is rather restrictive. But the photos are pretty!

On the top rope, practicing with nuts,
cams and slings.

Our cave for the night - not especially sheltered from wind,
but absolutely bone dry. Kit ended up everywhere though,
somehow.

Me placing protection with the safety line of
the top-rope to keep me from doing myself a
 mischief.

Charlie getting his cook on in thecave that would later be my
bedroom. Spicy tomato pasta was the order of the day. It
 would win no awards.

See you all soon, I hope - and stay tuned. I'm hoping to run a little competition on here soon, so stay tuned and pay attention!

Froggart - Full post soon

Hey folks

Just a quickie to let you all know that I've just returned from my first ever outdoor climbing experience! An opportunity through work took me up to Froggart's Edge in Derbyshire.

Full blog will be up in the next couple of days, but I'll tell you this: The weather was varied, and rarely in a positive way, the climbing was incredibly fun and interesting and sometimes challenging and a lot was learned - both to do with climbing and not!

Anyway, as soon as I have it written up and the photos I'll get a full account online.

Have a good day folks!

It's all gone Welsh! - Snowdonia Challenge

What's this? Mountains? On a blog about mountaineering!?

Believe it folks, because I have just returned from a well-needed trip to Snowdonia National Park in North Wales to climb some rather pretty mountains in support of a very deserving charity. I spent four days in Llanberis, North Wales going up and down those lovely rocky land-pimples - this post is long and wordy, but it's my first time on mountains in well over a year and a half, so be prepared for some gushing!

The week was intended as preperation for the University of Westminster International Development Society's annual fundraiser events. Last year they climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, this year it's the Great Wall of China and Machu Picchu, for which this was the warm up. Some of the guys I was climbing with were total outdoors virgins - others were veterans of the Kili expedition, so there was an interesting mix of experience. But for once it was nice to be the one with the knowledge!

After getting picked up from East Croydon, suffering a 6 hour minibus journey to Snowdonia, settling into our (opulent) house and having to struggle my way through a delicious Carbonara at The Heights pub (always worth a visit when you're in the area) it was time to hit the mountains.

Note: I apologise for the odd variety in photo quality, they are sourced from different people who were there!

Day One - Mel Creghern and Snowdon

Taking full advantage of a very brief break in the clouds

The first day of our trip was the meat of our excursion - getting Snowdon done and dusted before people got too tired or bored. Being the second-most experienced mountaineer (behind James, the ex-Army leader of the expedition) and the one with the best knees I was nominated as pathfinder and armed with my trusty OS map (of which our route, of course, was across sheets) and Silva compass, we set off from Llanbris at approximately 10.45am, heading accross the valley side to the YHA Snowdonia Ranger hostel. Progress was slow, mainly due to the fact that the majority of the group was inexperienced, but by midday we had made the junction with the ridgeway path over Moel Creghern where we made our first 'peak' of the day. In the lee of the wind we enjoyed lunch before donning windproofs and heading out for the second (and meatiest) part of our day.

The plan was to descend from Moel Creghern and meet up with the Snowdon Ranger Path, take that up and then return on the Llanberis path. However, after getting into the meat of the Ranger path going slowed to an almost crawl, with some of the weaker members of the group struggling over the slightly more technical route that now involved short scrambles and lots of demoralising switchbacks - progress was limited to a few hundred feet at a time before having to stop to avoid the group straggling out too much. It was at this point that the decision was made that when we met with the Llanberis path some of the struggling members would be led down by James whilst I would take the rest on to take the summit - to say I was proud to be given the responsibility to get these guys to the summit would be an understatement, I was positively jumping!

Looking down over the ridge...only a 400m fall  

Even so, by 1500 we were at the top of the scramble section and onto Snowdon's secondary slope, a much easier walk and the struggling members were catching up. However, we now faced a new challenge: cloud.

It had always been hanging around the peak, but as we were behind schedule the cool early-evening air was drawing the cloud lower and had covered the last 400m of slope. I got the group together, briefed everyone on the importance of staying together, appointed two trusted back markers (Jason and Meg, both Killimanjaro veterans) and set on.

Eventually we reached the ridgeline that leads to Snowdon's summit and the pace at the front picked up - now there was pretty much no risk of anyone getting lost (seriously, you've got to actually try to get lost on that summit path) I struck out to try and make it to the top first. Also those who had said they may return down had decided to strike out for the summit - Dig Deep hoodies littered the Summit path. However, within a couple of hundred meters of the summit I heard an emergency whistle and a yell of 'Man Down'. As the de-facto leader of the expedition my heart stopped and I raced back down, only to find my back markers happily smiling. Turns out they had been yelling 'Mandem' to try and get my attention. Crisis averted - well, no crisis in the first place.

Soon we were at the summit, trying in vain to enjoy the views of nothingness and cloud, but the achievement was still something special. Wind blasted us (even leaving me with some vicious wind burn) and everything we had was covered in milldew from the cloud we were in, but we'd made it, and all of us were there together.

The route down wasn't such fun - the descent phase of a climb is always the hardest and the most energy-sapping, with a never-ending west-facing slope that eventually leads to flat valley roads, so you're never quite off your knees. Even so we were extremely pleased to find a small cafe just outside Llanberis village that provided hearty Welsh cider and confectionary to rejuvenate sapped strength, and even offered us a mascot for our charity. When James arrived half an hour after the lead group he greeted the proprietor as an old friend. The place is really something special - he supports many of the good causes that come around and even has rooms that he lets out, sometimes for free if you're running away from trouble. It's a proper refuge, if you're a climber or not.

Anyway, that was the end of our first day's climbing in Wales - the next promised to be much more fun. Just how much of a challenge was left to be seen...

Day Two - Y Garn and Elidir Fawr

Y Garn

The second day was set to be a much harder affair - having lost most of the people who just wanted to come to 'claim' Snowdon, we were left with a much smaller group, mainly made up of Killimajaro veterans and people keen to learn - and learn we all did! Despite being held up (again, there was a trend here) by Muaz, we all eventually made it to the debus point for the two-mile walk-in to the bottom of our first ascent, to the equally beautiful and tough Y Garn, part of the Glyderau range that dominates the northern end of Snowdonia national park.

Enjoying a light spot of G1 scrambling before lunch is extremely
good for you. View was nice too.

The initial ascent was extremely steep - some of the steepest non-technical walking I've done, and was slow and taxing on thighs that still smarted a little from Snowdon but the scramble after it was more than worth it. Almost 300m ascent of nice, flowing easy-grade scramble was a perfect way to kick off the day, and what was even better was off the 'beaten track' down the centre were more challenging holds and climbs - climbs which I lapped up. What was even nicer was that the little Californian Killi vet Jason had also climbed and scrambled before, so we were able to bounce some interesting ideas off one another. Pushing myself that little bit harder I really enjoyed the route and was almost sad when we reached the 'flat' section that marked the end of the scrambling. However, there were still two peaks to claim that day, so progress had to be made!

At the top of the scramble we stopped for lunch, at which point the cloud started to descend upon us and reduced visibility once more. Our ascent took us up to the edge of the Devil's Appendix, turning North West as we hit Llyn y Cwn. The weather cleared briefly for a moment and we got some fantastic team photos, as well as a couple of stops to fill water bottles with sweet-tasting mountain water. The weather had been especially cold in Snowdonia until very recently and there was still large amounts of snow left in places, including a fascinating cave-like structure that bridged the stream we were following up.

Anyway, after what seemed like hours of walking, several false peaks and ridges and two bars of Kendal Mint Cake (got to love that minty stuff) we made the top of Y Garn, and with a short scramble over some loose rock I maintained my 100% record for hitting the actual summit of every mountain I've ever attempted.

After this came the walk towards the horseshoe and the northern edge of the Glyderau range, where the group faced a moment of crisis - to carry on, into worsening weather and visibility towards Elidir Fawr or to turn back and head home. As the only truly keen mountaineer in the group I wanted to continue, but it was only until Barbora (who I row and study with) came forward to partner me that I was able to strike on.

Elidir Fawr
Having split with the main group on the Eastern ridge me and Barbora headed out towards Elidir Fawr, the second-highest of the four peaks we would climb on this trip. As we got closer the weather closed in further and the cloud got thicker and thicker and visibility dropped to around 10 meters, so communication got difficult and progress slowed as we lost the paths ahead and navigation landmarks. It became a matter of just plugging on with a little bit of faith and a little bit of hope that we could actually make the mountain top.

Barbora disappearing into the mist on Glyderau
ridge

Much of the route was simple-grade scrambles but the weather conditions and lack of visibility made them far more challenging than they would have been on a better day. As such, there isn't a huge amount I can tell you - visibility was so bad that I kept second-guessing my own navigation, despite it eventually putting us spot on the summit almost leading me at two points to give up and turn back - I didn't even know if I was on the correct ridge line without any reference points. I kept trying to get the GPS on my phone to kick in but signal was low, so it was a matter of just keeping on heading upwards, trying to avoid falling over the ridge edge and slipping down into the Horseshoe.

Eventually though, after a not insignificant amount of trial-and-error, we found ourselves on the top of Elidir Fawr, facing sheeting wind and driving rain but having successfully made the fourth peak of our trip.

Me and Barbora, relatively damp atop Elidir Fawr

Next came the down part - and this wasn't simple. The original plan had been to turn back on ourselves and descend the way we came up, but in mind of the weather conditions and the nature of the approach route we'd taken and the difficulty navigating in the cloud, we came to the decision to just follow the western path that should have led down into Nant Peris and home.
However, all was not that simple. Approximately halfway down the path simply disappeared at an unmarked fence line and we were forced to call upon basic navigation techniques to find a stream, follow it down the mountain (on an extremely steep descent that left me with a pair of extremely painful knees) to where we thought it would meet with a larger river that would eventually flow into the Lake. The logic was sound but what we eventually found ourselves faced with was a complex array of fences and dry-stone walls and extremely marshy terrain that soaked through waterproof boots and involved some not-quite-so legal acts of minor trespass, and also some falling.

Eventually though we made it to Nant Peris where me and Barbora, both sufficiently tired to almost not make it into the minibus were collected and bundled off to showers and hot food provided by my ever-helpful housemates.


All in all, this trip couldn't have come at a better time - it's shown me where my technique is weak, has allowed me to blow out some of the cobwebs and try out some of my new kit that hasn't been used in anger as yet - the one thing that this experience has confirmed for me is that it's worth spending money on kit, because save for when I fell into a bog I stayed warm and dry the entire time.

So thanks for reading, come back soon for more, and don't forget to Dig Deep for Dig Deep and support such a fantastic cause!

It's all gone quiet...

Hey gang, sorry things have been quite quiet on here but things have been quiet in life for me too.

This whole univeristy thing is starting to load up as I come to the end of my 2nd year - lots of coursework deadlines and exams coming up so a lot of time is spent buried in books or writing on some of the world's pressing political issues. It's not all that thrilling and definitely not what I'd like to be doing, but I'm paying for it so I might as well do it whilst I'm here.

I've also been trying to spend more quality time with the girlfriend, which I hate to say I have been lacking in of late, so I've been making attempts to catch up in regards to that.

Unfortunately it's all been rather quiet on the climbing front.

However! I do have news of upcoming events that will feature on this site! On the 22nd April I, along with about 20 others am off to North Wales to take part in a 5-peak challenge in Snowdonia as a fundraiser for the Dig Deep charity. They're off to Peru in the summer and the Snowdonia trip is also a training expedition for that to test kit and stamina etc. I'll do a full runup of it closer to the event, and I'll also be using the trip to test a few items of kit, so there may be one or two reviews that rise up as a result of it.

In any case; sorry it's been so quiet, but hopefully after exams everything mountain-related should pick back up a bit so there will finally be something exciting to put up here!

Success, of sorts!

Short post today, but news: Today I beat Nemesis!

Okay, okay I didn't quite beat it properly - I'm still not quite strong enough in holds to manage clipping-in on the overhang, but after Charlie completed it as his warm up (totally not emasculating at all) I did it as a top-roper. Not in any way technically impressive or at all elegantly, but I beat it. Now just to build my strength, keep shedding the pounds until I can do it properly!

(We got some video of me doing the climb on Charlie's GoPro, I'll see if I can get my hands on it and upload it to here)

Also got some half-decent leading in which was positive, and completed a fair few walls. Today wasn't actually a hugely serious session and none of us left exhausted how we normally are, but we could also be getting stronger. Did help that we had a 3rd climber today in the shape of Bailey, which meant we weren't constantly up and down walls or belaying - we actually got some rest, which was nice. Also had a photographer, so pictures galore today!

Clipping in with a massive straight-arm hold

The ever-attentive Charlie Bangham, everyone

Trying some dynamism. Not all that dynamic...

Being lowered off, again with Charlie paying full
attention

As I mentioned, we also had Bailey with us today, and because she hasn't climbed in the past few weeks we were pushing her a little too hard in the beginning; we got her onto easier routes but she still lacked confidence and faith in the rope. In an effort to give her confidence I decided to do a demo of a proper fall and show her actually how good the kit is; if it can handle me, it can handle little old her no problem:

She didn't get the confidence boost I wanted to give her, but it was something, and it made for a cool video. At least she got climbing!

The smile is genuine; so is the fear in the eyes

P.S. Bailey has a fantastic blog all about her time in the UK - find it over at Tea 'n The Tower: Graduate Edition check it out!

Upwards...but mainly downwards

I got some climbing in today. It wasn't the best climbing I've ever done, in fact it was one of my worse days - I didn't actually finish any walls. Not even the relatively easy wall we used to kick the day off. I don't know quite why, but lets just chalk it up to an off day.

However, I'm not that put down because I didn't do a single route rated under 5+, and spent most of the day doing leads. After coming off our warm-up wall about 3/4 of the way up, we decided to have a go at 'Nemesis', the wall with a large overhang that we had both failed to top the previous week.
I had first shot at it and climbed well for the first section, and onto the first clip of the overhang. I made it up to the second clip, had the rope in hand, halfway through clipping in my grip slipped off the hold I had and I fell, and fell hard. I tried again, using the existing clips as a top-roper but my hand forearms were absolutely shot.

This sort of set the tone for the rest of the day's climbing.

Me attempting a 5+ lead climb. Small holds and jutting features
ensured I didn't get far

We tried a variety of routes, and ironically my best climb was on a 6 top-roper where I nailed my use of features as balance points when moving on the wall, but slowly my arm strength and ability to use crimpy holds really started to drag.

Bailey turned up a couple of hours into things and had a try on a couple of routes, which was good as it offered me and Charlie a chance to rest and coach her (she hasn't climbed for a few weeks). I'm still hoping she catches the bug and is able to do it more frequently but I'm letting her do it in her own time.

Charlie showing me how it's done. He only got 2
clips higher than me, though...

So all in all, not the best of days climbing, but we all have our off time. At least I got photos though.