It's all a bit quiet really. It's been a week of gathering advice from those with far more knowledge than I and consolidating what I already know.
We got a visit at work from one of the Mammut product instructors, and whilst waiting for everyone else to appear we had a bit of a talk. As you'd probably expect from someone who is employed by a company like that, he's heavily into his outdoors stuff and he recommended me some bits of kit that I could find useful, and also gave me a heads up on things one or two things to avoid taking or doing, like getting an asymetric bar for my crampons (when I get them) to fit the boots I bought more precisely and the value of a 12 point crampon over a 10 pointer. Which reminds me - I've bought my mountain boots! Mammut Monolith GoreTex B2 mountain boots to be exact. Very nice bits of kit indeed. I'll post a photo up when I get one, the sheer size of them (I'm a size 13) is a sight to behold! Absolutely solid bits of kit and I can't wait to unleash them on an unsuspecting mountain!
EDIT 08/02/2013 I got a picture of the boots in all their B2, size 13 goodness!
They are actually terrifying, or so my flatmate says.
I returned to the Westway center today and am now regarded as a 'competent climber', meaning I can climb unsupervised. All I had to do was demonstrate that I could don a harness, tie in with a double figure-eight knot and tie into a belay plate. All simple stuff but now I'm officially qualified to climb, supervise and lead-climb. Not that I consider myself quite ready yet, but nice to know I can when the time comes...
Had some fun with the UWSU climbing club and met some new guys I can train with now - due to a contract with the SU you don't actually have to be a member to climb with the club (but as I also climb with Charlie I am of course a member of Westway) but they only get an hour on the wall at one time. The team captain, Peter, has said he'll register next time so that he can come in other times and climb with me - excellent, someone else to train with!
An advantage of climbing with the SU club is that they have qualified instructors who lead the sessions who are vastly experienced and can offer tons of excellent advice. The guy I had today, whose name escapes me advised me to get as much wall time under my belt as I can before I go mountaineering to prepare me as much as possible for what might happen. Sound advice and I think I'll take it!
Finally, the issue of fitness is starting to rear its head, especially if I want to be ready by the summer. I currently weigh in at around about 112kg empty, and despite the fact I'm 6ft 2, I'm a lot bigger than I'd ideally like to be - the plan is to get to around 100kg by the end of May. It's going to mean a lot more pushing and some serious fitness work, but I think I can get there, and I'd need to do mountain-specific stuff anyway. Anyway, that's a subject for another day and another post when I have a few hours to work everything out.
Might make these small updates a weekly thing - summarise all the little stuff that happens during the week that doesn't need it's own post. Or even just rambling on random subjects if I'm feeling bored.
Stay tuned folks!
I hear that Harrow Campus has a Rock Climbing group as well on every other opposite Tuesday!
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