Outdoor Adventures - Allan Robb

Back on the Ben

2012-01-29T12:42:00.000Z

Yesterday, for the first time in 3 years, I got a climb in on the Ben.
The previous 2 winter seasons I have been sidelined with my ongoing foot injury, and the other year I didn't climb up there was due to the superb Welsh winter, no need for the 11hr round trip!

Anyway, I teamed up with Dan as usual, and we opted to climb, 'Good Friday Climb', dependant on the condition of Observatory gully. On arrival at the base of OG a few teams were already heading up and a nice track was in place. The snow was fairly deep, but not so much slab. The only slab we encountered was on the traverse in to Indicator wall from OG where care needed to be taken.
With a good forecast it was obviously busy, and teams were also on, Indicator wall, Smiths route, Tower Scoop, Point 5, Tower ridge, Ledge route and the Castle gully's, with plenty heading up into the Cieste as we passed.

We got 4 pitches out of Good Friday, but protection was incredibly sparse. The gear placements were hard to find under powder, and also well chocked with ice, think 6 or 7 pieces went in on the whole route, with a couple of 25-30m run-out's!
The 1st pitch was deep powder for the 1st 20m or so, then fairly good neve, upto a good ice screw belay on the right just beneath the vertical wall.
The 2nd pitch was the crux, which had a couple of pieces of gear, but the ice was poor to pull over the crux ice step. This led to a belay on the left.
The 3rd pitch was very run out. 1 runner in a 45m pitch! And the final short pitch was straight forward over a small cornice.

Dan enjoying seconding the 1st pitch

A good day out, and good to be swinging the axes once more!!

Amphitheatre Buttress.

2011-07-24T20:25:00.002+01:00

Well, today we had plans of finally getting on the uber classic Amphitheatre Buttress on Craig Yr Ysfa.
This was very nearly scuppered by firstly taking the wrong turn in Tal-Y-Bont, costing us quite some time, and then finding a bat in the middle of the road, (not the wooden piece of sports equipment bat!). Our furry friend unfortunately only had one wing for some reason, but we moved him of the road anyway, and took a couple of snaps!
Once we finally reached the parking spot, time was pressing on. We knew we had a big walk in, and the route itself is probably the longest route in Wales, (excluding girdles!) at 960ft, and then obviously we had to get back out.
On researching the route it became apparent that some parties have really struggled on AB before, and times of 8 and 9 hours to climb the route were popping up, even if it is only VDiff.
We reckoned we could still do it in a reasonable time, so we pressed on with the long slog towards the crag. On arrival and to my dismay, nobody was on the route! Even in the remote setting with the tedious approach, I would have bet my life someone would have beat us to it in today's sunshine.
Looking up at the first couple of pitches, Dan and I opted to simul-climb until we came to any difficulties where we may have wanted a belay.
I took the sharp end and set of up the initial slabs and continued for a couple of pitches. I found a couple of interesting moves in these pitches, so for any readers, don't let them put you off!
Dan then led the pitches on the main pocketed slabs, which was brilliant climbing with fantastic exposure. I then switched and led the next couple of pitched which involved the un-noticeable crux. The moves lower down and the slabs Dan led all felt harder than this!
The route then becomes more of a easy scramble for the next couple of pitches until you hit the pinnacles on the knife edge ridge. We easily moved over these, and up to the final corner. This finishes the route of very well and again gives some interesting climbing.

Dan leading up the exposed slabs

The climb itself took us approx 1 1/2 hours, we obviously saved time by simul climbing and moving together. We were followed up by a team of 3 who seemed to be doing a lot of pitching, they hadnt moved too far by the time we had descended and got on with the walk out. This is where the times of 8 or 9 hours could happen if your all not moving quickly, don't forget, the guide book describes this as 9 pitches!
A quick sort out of the rack and rope and we were on our way back, looking for the path that drops back down to the way we walked in, at this point I wish we would have parked on the A5 and come up the tarmac road! We even chatted that you could easily cycle up there!
The slog out was hard, and from the top of the route back to the car park only took us another 1 1/2 hours, so we made up good time all in all.

Dan doing a proper, 'aux cheval' on the pinnacle

To summarise, in my opinion, the route itself is very good, not excellent. The reason being, is that the climbing is far from sustained, and very broken at mid height. For me, this detracts from the quality of the route as a whole.
Saying that, the climbing itself is fantastic, very exposed pitches, which could feel serious to a VDiff leader, simply due to the setting and remoteness. Protection is pleantiful as expected and the holds are everywhere you would like one to be and the scenery is stunning, take a camera!
If you plan on pitching the whole route, do allow a FULL day, and although we didn't do the A5 approach, I would think its much better. The crag is much further than it initially looks when coming from the Tal-Y Bont approach.

First climb in 12 months...

2011-07-10T20:09:00.001+01:00

Well, as the title suggests, today I donned the rock shoes and got back in the groove..... 12 months on after breaking my foot in Chamonix!
I met up with Dan early this morning, and we headed over to Ogwen. Obviously we chose a reasonable objective with which to try out my mending foot and also to get my head back in gear.
We decided on ambling up to Tryfan's East Face, and seeing what was what. On arriving a team was gearing up at the base of Grooved Arete, im not one for queue's so we walked further up. Pinnacle rib was next up, done that, so we opted for Gashed Crag. I knew it was a bit of a classic, but have never really payed much attention to this one, but the guide book description sounded pretty good so it was game on!

I got us underway on the 1st pitch, 10ft up and the rain starts, typical! Fortunately this passed and it was only the 1st pitch that was climbed in the rain. The rock in places was damp, but overall the whole route was in good condition.
The route get's going after the 1st pitch really, and it gives some really nice climbing. The chimney pitch after the 'Gash' is interesting, and going against what the guidebook says, Dan dispatched this in fine style, complete with rucksack too! This I thought was the crux of the route, and also unprotectable until after the difficulties.
A pitch or two later leads up onto the ridge, which gives 2 pitches of really pleasant, flowing climbing, with bags of scope for protection.
The ridge leads to the final chimney and groove, which is really the only other difficulty of the route. This again is really good climbing involving some nice thrutchy moves!
To summarise the route, it gives nice climbing and longish pitches in some exposed situations. The moves flow, protection on the whole is plentiful, apart from the 1st chimney and the route does have a fair bit of polish. The 2 chimneys are not that straightforward, and I would agree as other's seem to suggest, that the route is under graded at VD.

Heading up the final pitch of Gashed Crag

Dan bridging on Gashed Crag

Relaxing at the belay

Dan high up on Tryfan's East Face

Some more time on the MTB.

2011-06-19T17:26:00.001+01:00

I popped over to Llandegla forest this morning with Dan for a quick blast around the black trail.
There are a few newish sections which have been added/altered since I was last there, and they defiantly are a good addition! In particular the new section of jumps called 'The Parallel Universe on the first major black section are pretty spicy!!
The ride went well, no incidents to report, and the trail isn't as wet as I thought it may have been, although as normal, it was pretty busy.
All made for another enjoyable ride, and hopefully more progress with the foot.
Hopefully it will be time shortly to get back on the rock with a few classic Vdiff's!

The new Parallel Universe section

The Video content is not mine.

Back With A Bang!

2011-06-05T16:45:00.000+01:00

As you can see, the blog has not seen much activity over the recent months. Not for the want of trying though, more like the old broken foot is still causing me problems, 11 months on!
Anyway, this week I completely had enough of not being active and with so called, 'profesionals' telling me I should be doing this and that, and me saying, "I have been doing that for months, it wont help!".
So I decided to get back on the bike for some stimulation. As the pain I get in my foot is caused by a side to side motion I knew this would cause me minimal discomfort compared with trying to climb again!

That all lead me to rolling up at the start of Penmachno trail at 8.30 this morning. Dan was obviously with me, after pretty much being stuck without a partner in crime for the last year.

I have ridden loop 1 of the trail a few years ago, and always fancied going back. This time we did loops 1 &2 as the foot was feeling good, this cant be said for me though, months of watching tv and doing little else certainly shown, but this is what I needed!

The trail itself was exciting to say the least. It was pretty wet after some rain last night, resulting in the rock on the trail being VERY slippery, and with it being a natural trail you encounter lots of it! The flat (ish) open sections high up were pleasant with the weather holding off and there being virtually no wind.
As expected, in those conditions and with us making the most of being back out, we both took a trip over the handle bars on the duration of the course. Dan had a great one, as his front wheel seemed to suddenly slip from under him, leaving Dan whithering in the overgrown rough. Myself, I slid on some polished wet rock slabs, not getting the turn in, which sent my front wheel off the track and down a small drop, I then conveniently got propelled over the bars and into a waiting tree trunk!!
It was great to be back out, even though I was blowing at times, and up to now, the foot feels ok.

Dans tumble, ha ha. I was quick with the camera!

If your looking for a rugged trail, with fast, twisting singletrack, boardwalks, beautiful views and a great remote feel, then give Penmachno a try!

Big News...

2011-01-28T21:45:00.000Z

Having still not climbed due to my ankle ligaments still being weak and not in good shape, the blog has been quite of late.
Hopefuly things will improve this year.
Anyway, as the title says, big news today, as that, 'The Hurting', has been repeated today by none other than Andy Turner, http://andyturnerclimbing.blogspot.com/.
This is the first repeat of Dave Macleods route, which he graded XI 11!!!

Keep checking Andys blog for the update, should be interesting!

Autumn Round-up

2010-10-12T19:11:00.001+01:00

Rockfall on El Cap

Yesterday a huge rock fall occurred on the south east face of El Capitan. Amazingly, as its currently 'big wall', season, nobody was harmed.

Routes were being climbed at the time, but fortunately these routes were not in the firing line. If anyone was heading over to the East Buttress it would have been fatal!

Climbers are advised to STAY AWAY from this area, as further rockfall looks likely.

Dali's Hole access issues - Progress

Progress has at long last been made on securing access to Dali's Hole at Dinorwig Slate Quarries.

After months of access issues and conflicts with the land owners First Hydro, positive steps have been made to secure access for climbers. First Hydro have now agreed in principle to a BMC proposal for the BMC to manage the climbing at Dali's Hole area.

Read more here at the BMC's website: http://www.thebmc.co.uk/News.aspx?id=3962

Action Direct - Another Repeat

The latest climber to repeat probably the most sought after F9a in the world is Polish, Adam Pustelnik.

He becomes the 3rd Polish climber to climb at this grade, and in what better way than by climbing 'Action'.

1. Wolfgang Güllich, Germany (1991) - First ascent

2. Alexander Adler, Germany (1995)

3. Iker Pou, Spain (2000)
4. Dave Graham, USA (2001)

5. Christian Bindhammer, Germany (2003)

6. Richard Simpson, UK (2005)

7. Dai Koyamada, Japan (2005)
8. Markus Bock, Germany (2005)
9. Kilian Fischhuber, Austria (2006)

10. Adam Ondra, Czech Republic (2008)

11. Patxi Usobiaga, Spain (2008)

12. Gabriele Moroni, Italy (2010)

13. Jan Hojer, Germany (2010)

14. Adam Pustelnik, Poland (2010)

More here : http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=37632

Winter thought's & Fresh snow in the highlands.

2010-09-26T08:59:00.001+01:00

It is only a dusting mind, but enough to encourage the psyche a little more....

Last week a small sprinkling fell on the Ben Nevis plateau, and more recently some deposits over on the Cairngorm plateau. Friday/Saturday brought the first snow to the Northern corries, which to most folk becomes the first Scottish winter climbing venue of the season.

The highlands are forecasted to receive some frosts in the Glen's, but with freezing levels generally above the summits, the axes shouldn't be wielded just yet.....

With thoughts turning towards the winter climbing season, both in the highlands and hopefully in the Lakes/Snowdonia again, the race continues to try and get my injured foot strong enough, and myself fit enough to have another fantastic season.

So the rehab continues, its a slow process......

Some photos from last season...

Spot the climber.... Devils Pasteure, Cwm Idwal

Getting a screw in on the brilliant first pitch to Central Gully, Black Ladders

The striking ridge of Crib Goch in full winter glory

James Thacker getting stuck in on the technical first pitch of Flake Route Right Hand, Church Door Buttress

Dan pulling up the steep first pitch of Devils Cellar, Cwm Idwal

Round up....

2010-08-31T18:28:00.001+01:00

Well, quite a bit appears to have happened recently, both in the UK and overseas.
Here is a brief round up of the some of the latest goings on.

1. Dave Macleod & Tim Emmett find success on their, 'Great Climb' project which was broadcast live on BBC2 Scotland last Saturday.
The duo named the super hard route, 'Unusual suspects' which tackles the huge overhang of Sron Uladail on the Isle of Harris, the overhang apparently is the largest in the UK!
The edited version of the, 'Great Climb' can be seen here on the BBC iplayer until Sept 4th.
Also visit Dave Macleods blog for his thoughts and photos.

2. Dani Andrada's 5.15b sit-start extension to Alí Hulk in the Alí Baba cave in Rodellar, Spain, has been repeated by Norwegian climber Magnus Midtbö.

The route gets a grade of 9b and with only a handful of sport routes grade, its a huge achievement and a big tick in the sport climbing world.

More here: http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/midtboe_repeats_515b_in_spain/

Here is an awesome video of Dani Andrada climbing Ali-Hulk 9b

3. Oh Eun-Sun, the first women to climb all 14, 8000m peaks has been stripped of her title due to unreliable evidence. The title will now be handed to Spanish climber Edurne Pasaban, 37, who scaled the last of the 14 peaks over 8,000 meters barely three weeks after Miss Oh claimed to have completed the list.

The pair received a substantial amount of media attention during the, 'race' to claim the title, I imagine these latest findings will certainly add to that!

4. A new Gouter Refuge on Mont Blanc is in planning and due to be built by 2012.
The new structure is to be built 200m further south than the existing building, and is set to have a 3 times larger surface area. Also 'guests' will be treated to a single mattress, rather than sharing, which is the norm in the majority of alpine refuges.
The Gouter hut is perched high on the Gouter ridge, the most popular way up Mont Blanc, and is obviously vastly popular, if the new hut will change the, 'general' feeling to a night's stay at the Gouter hut is another question!

Artists impression of the new Gouter hut

5. It looks like the weather over in the Alps, or more precisely, Chamonix, continues to be very unstable this year. It seems that huge amounts of snow continue to be deposited, and the weather in general is pretty hard to predict.
Here is a round-up of the latest going's on from the Chamonix valley:
http://www.alpinerob.com/alpine-blog.php

Ponderland...

2010-08-12T20:14:00.001+01:00

Well, its still only a fortnight since I broke my foot, (calcaneus) and the improvement is huge.
The first few days after it happened I was pretty immobile, and my foot resembled something seen on the end of an elephants leg. Now is a different story, the swelling has almost gone and I have progressed to just using a single crutch. I would have thought it will be a few weeks yet until I can walk, and a few more again until i am back climbing.
Just hope its in time for the start of the winter season! I am sure I will soon get my fitness back with them walk in's!
Given the period of time I have had of work injured, and being sat on my arse, I have kept my sanity & avoided day time TV in the only way possible....
Digging out the winter guidebooks!
Yep, a few pages have been folded over and certain routes bookmarked, all in anticipation.
After visiting the brilliant Church Door Buttress on Bidean nam Bian earlier in the year with James Thacker, I am kean to get on the interesting West Chimney & also Deep Cut Chimney on Coire nam Beith.

With myself aiming towards goals for the winter, (hopefuly!) here's a video showing some climbing at the highest level that the highlands have right now...

Azazel

2010-08-03T17:18:00.001+01:00

Azazel is the story of 4 friends who go to Pakistan to put up a new route on the Trango Pulpit, a 6000m peak. They spent 20 days on the wall and it’s a great story of friendship. Featuring, Yann Mimet, Martial Dumas, Sam Beaugey and Jean-Yves Fredriksen.
Make time to give this a watch, pretty inspiring stuff!!

Chamonix 2010

2010-07-31T13:21:00.005+01:00

Our plans for Chamonix this year really didn't turn out. Mostly due to some very unsettled weather last week.

The first 2 days brought us constant rain in the valley, which fell as snow above 3500m. The rest of the week was very unsettled, with lots of cloud and high wind.

Route choice proved to be quite difficult also. Most of the ice/mixed routes were left in poor condition with recent high temperatures and blistering sun, and after the snow last week, the high rock routes were left buried.

With this in mind we got on a couple of routes in the Aiguille Rouge, spent a day bouldering in the valley and managed one high mountain route, the Midi-Plan Ridge.

With a seldom fine day forcasted, we headed up the Aiguille du Midi on the first car and beat the crowds out of the ice tunnel, down the descent ramp and onto the classic Midi- Plan ridge.

The morning was pristine but already becoming very hot. We made good time on the ridge and soon passed the narrow snow ridges and up the couloir and up to the Rognon du Plan. A couple of abseils and we were soon down on the Col Sup du Plan. A French guide was hot on our heels as we climbed the final section up onto the Plan rock summit, via a couple of final hard moves with the ledges being iced.

Once on the summit we rapped of back down to the col and made the decision to return to the Midi rather than down to the Requin hut. With the heat, it was the best decision not to tackle the Envers du Plan Glacier.

Back over the col we ascended the fixed rope, then had the long steep plod back to the Midi, again making good time where most teams slow, with no one behind us for 45 mins.

As soon as we headed down, the clouds began to engulf the Midi, where there was a team on the Frendo, which looks pretty icy up around the Rognon.

Over in the Aiguille Rouge we climbed a fantastic route, ' Crakoukass'. A fantastic 7 pitch route which is becoming a bit of a classic seeing a lot of traffic. We thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining route, which had many different aspects including climbing up one monolith needle to another, then taking a, 'le cheval', belay on the top. The crux was climbing from the arete onto the side wall of the larger arete which leans back slightly with 100ft of air beneath the feet!

We also climbed the last few pitches of, 'La Somone' instead of walking up to Le Brevent. We climbed these moving together, 'alpine style', bit of practice!

So no Fendo spur, Forbes Arete or Jager couloir, and finally to top a week that didn't end up as planned, a broken ankle, courtesy of yours truly & the Frison Roche!!

Underwater base jump

2010-06-30T18:16:00.001+01:00

Check out this amazing video which i first viewed via Adayak's blog.

What a fantastic piece of filming and editing, not to mention the action itself!!

Wheel Of Life - 3rd Ascent - Ethan Pringle

2010-06-29T06:47:00.001+01:00

According to his 8a.nu logbook Ethan Pringle has made the 3rd ascent of Dai Koyamada’s Wheel Of Life at the Hollow Mountain Cave in the Grampians, Australia. Given V16 after the FA, Pringle registered it as a 5.14d route climb which makes sense since the problem is a massively long 60+ move linkup of several problems in the V9-V12 range.
This ascent is all the more impresive as Ethan ha s just recovered from a serious shoulder injury sustained in February 2009 at ABS Nationals where Pringle dynoed on Men's Finals Problem #4 and blew out his shoulder. He endured surgery three months later.

A talking point however, is Pringle's use of a kneepad. He used the pad to make 3 knee bars he found on the route, less painful.
Read Ethan's WOL interview here: http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/ithe_wheel_of_lifei_sees_third_ascent_by_pringle/

Chris Webb-Parsons making the 2nd ascent of the Wheel Of Life

World's End....

2010-06-27T18:00:00.004+01:00

Popped down to World's End this morning with Dan for a quick route or two, leaving enough time to get back for the football this afternoon, but lets not mention that!
Having climbed on most of the other Clywd limestone crags, we decided to visit World's End as we had yet climbed there. We headed for the upper tier, as according to the guide this has the most sound rock, (were talking limestone here!).
We found most of the upper tier good but STEEP!, with many of the routes having awkward bulges to overcome.
We got a couple of easier routes in, and then both got well and truly spanked on the HVS testpiece, 'Intensity'. Intensity was, in its time, the hardest route in the valley which houses the band of limestone crags, and defiantly high in the grade for HVS 5a.
I vow to return with a couple of hexes on the harness, which i think may be adequate to protect to the bulge at mid height which neither me or Dan would commit to.

Old Man of Stoer - Video

2010-06-21T20:08:00.001+01:00

Here's a short video from our recent trip to Stoer, complete with fulmar sick!.....

The video's quality may be poor if watching this evening, as its still being processed.

Enjoy....

Old Man of Stoer- A brief visit.....

2010-06-19T21:35:00.000+01:00

A very quick 25hr round trip from Manchester to Stoer and back again, (950 miles!!) paid off today for Dan, Kev & I, as we made an ascent of the fantastic Old Man of Stoer sea stack.

We, of course had to choose the uber classic, 'Original route' VS 5a. Not the most difficult of route on the stack, nor the easiest, this classic line could not be avoided!

On arrival at the Old Man, it was apparent that a tyrolean was already in place, complete with bolt!!! which i believe was recently placed by a group of slackliners from the U.S. This, obviously and rightly so, has created a fair bit of fuss, but thats another story! Read more here, http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=410368

The pre placed tyrolean fortunately saved us making the swim over the channel, and we were able to make a quick start on the route.
We climbed the route as a team of 3 in the standard 4 pitches, and good conditions, although pretty chilly, made for a quick ascent which took around 2 hours.

All that was left was a brilliant hanging absail to complete the route.

The photo below was taken mid absail!!

Dyneema Vs Nylon - Drop Test Video.......

2010-06-14T17:03:00.000+01:00

A very interesting article and video from DMM is currently under hot debate on UKC, http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=412666. The video below shows the results of a series of drop tests using an 80kg dead weight, roughly the same as an average male, on both dyneema and nylon slings.
Dyneema and nylon are the two most common materials used to manufacture slings and quickdraws, and with both having different properties, the test make for some interesting if not scary findings!!

Heres the link to the video:
http://www.dmmclimbing.com/video.asp?id=5

Dream Of White Horses

2010-05-04T07:27:00.006+01:00

Wen Zawn is considered the jewel in Gogarths crown, and Wen Zawn is home to the uber classic and most saught after, 'Dream Of White Horses'.
For those that dont know, Gogarths striking sea cliffs are host to some of North Wales's finest climbs, which are set in an amazing situation.
Me and Dan decided yesterday morning that we would make the drive over to Holyhead and see what, 'Dream Of White Horses', is all about, and yep, its pretty damn good!!

At HVS, 'Dream', obviously gets the grade due to its most serious nature, and rightly so. Firstly your greeted by the absail to begin the route down into the atmospheric Wen Zawn, and with 'Dream' being one of the easier lines, if you cant climb that, you pretty much stuck, you cant climb out!

After absailing into the route, and setting up for me to lead first, something i read the other day on the web popped into my head. A chap who had gone to climb 'Dream', 8 times before without any luck, finally getting it done on his 9th go!! One of the times his partner refused to even make the absail down, thats how intimidating it can be!!

With the seals watching from the zawn, off we went......

The route was fantastic, as good as the hype, and with nice holds just where you want them, minimal seepage & good weather we got it done in just over 2 hours.

After climbing the route, its easy to see why it is reccomended that both partners are compatent HVS climbers, any fall would be pretty serious, more often than not it would also result in a big pendulum!

A fall on the final pitch, where the rock dissapears beneath your feet, leaving 200ft of air between you and the bottom of the rocky zawn, doesnt bear thinking about!

There were a few teams climbing in Wen Zawn today, a team followed us on 'Dream', and there was also a team on 'Concrete Chimney'.

Latest round - up...

2010-04-20T20:13:00.001+01:00

Action Direct sees another repeat

Last week Gabriele Moroni made first Italian ascent of Action Direct 9a, the route freed by Wolfgang Güllich in 1991 and which still today represents an important test for sport climbing.

Moroni's ascent is now the twelth of Action Direct, and his name is now firmly on the list with some of the worlds greatest sport climbers.

12 ascents in 20 years, says it all!!

http://www.8a.nu/

Dream Guides Everest update

The DG team has been at base camp now for a few days and recently had the, 'puja', a ceremony to bless the expedition with safety and success.

Check out the DG blog for updates http://dream-guides.blogspot.com/

BMC Leading Ladder final

This coming Saturday see's the final of thr BMC's Leading Ladder. The final is to be held at the Leeds climbing wall and results will be posted asap.

Dusting off the rock shoes on Dinas Mot

2010-04-18T20:00:00.001+01:00

After the long winter season and the recent glorious weather, it was time to put away the axes for another year and dig out the rock shoes. We headed over to Dinas Mot in the Llanberis pass for some good, medium graded multi-pitching, just whats needed to get back into the swing of things.

With the uber classics, 'The Cracks' & 'Direct Route' on the wishlist, we made the short walk in, (missed those over the winter!), and were first at the crag, which today was much quiter than i would have expected.

Dan got to work on The Cracks, and ran pitches 1 and 2 together, pitch 3 was mine and i headed from under the overhanging corner, up and right to be greated by a fantastic but grueling looking corner slab crack. This was the 3rd pitch of, 'Lorraine', it ties up with The Cracks above the corner, but looked that interesting and obvious, i had to begin onwards and upwards. After a 20 minute wrestle, with very few features other than the hand sized crack in a corner i arrived at the next belay. Dan took the next pitch which involved a tricky exposed move, and i then had the honours for the last pitch and the much known about last couple of moves which have seen many people struggle to say the least, fortunatley being tall i could reach the top of the crack and didnt find it too tricky.

Next up was the 3 star, 'Direct Route'. I took the first 2 pitches which i ran together, leaving the most amazing long traverse of The Nose of Dinas Mot. Eveyone who climbs this route MUST do the same, it really does create an amazing pitch of climbing, Dan had the next 2 pitches including the final corner which was the crux and which also was tricky to start. Dan dispatched the last pitch in good time and again is a fantastic pitch and is always interesting.

A great days climbing and another fine day, lets hope it continues......

Piolet d'Or 2010

2010-04-12T17:02:00.000+01:00

The Piolets d'or 2010 were won by Denis Urubko and Boris Dedechko for their route on Cho Oyu and by Jed Brown, Kyle Dempster and Bruce Normand for their route up Xuelian West.

Kazakhs Denis Urubko and Boris Dedeshko last year opened up a new route on the South East Face of Cho Oyu (Nepalese side). The route is 2600m and Urubko became the fifteenth man to have successfully climbed all fourteen 8000ers, and the ninth person to do it without oxygen. At 36 years of age, the Kazakh has taken nine years to accomplish this feat.

Other winners were Jed Brown and Kyle Dempster along with Scotsman Bruce Normand completed the North face of the Xuelian West (Chinese Tien Shan). This climb is long, complicated and technically difficult. The summit had never been climbed. This new route has been named, 'The Great White Jade Heist' and is 2650m long and is graded, ice 5, rock 5, M6.

http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=37344#

Petzl team in Scotland

2010-03-30T19:55:00.000+01:00

With being unable to get upto the highlands at the weekend due to work commitments, i have had to make do with watching this inspiring video of the Petzl teams climbing trip to the highlands last year.
Featuring the footage of Ueli Steck climbing Andy Turners 'Secret'!

Scottish Icetrip - English from Petzl-sport on Vimeo.

West Highlands Outlook

2010-03-22T19:42:00.004Z

With the aim of heading up to the highlands this weekend, all eyes are on the fickle Scottish weather, particularly where the freezing level is sitting after the recent thaw.

Well, throughout the coming week the freezing level is set to be quite erratic, pretty much heading up and down on alternate days up until Saturday. This will help climbing conditions, as the existing snow and ice will be subjected to further freeze/thaw cycles, just as long as the thaw's arn't too great.
Saturday and Sunday are set to cool down, with the freezing level predicted to sit at around the 1000m mark on Sat and the 800m mark on Sunday.

Look here for further info:

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-bin/expertcharts?LANG=en&MENU=0000000000&CONT=ukuk&MODELL=gfs&MODELLTYP=1&BASE=-&VAR=hgt0&HH=150&ZOOM=0&ARCHIV=0&WMO=

8 times for Kenton Cool?

2010-03-16T18:14:00.003Z

Kenton Cool and Dream Guides will be flying out to Kathmandu at the end of the month where Kenton will be guiding Everest and hopefuly breaking his own record and making the summit for a record 8th time!

Read more here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/gloucestershire/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8562000/8562175.stm

Ondra - Golpe de Estado - 9b

2010-03-14T09:01:00.003Z

Yesterday Adam Ondra repeated Golpe de Estado - 9b, his hardest route to date.
The route was first climbed by Chris Sharma back in 2008 but had not yet seen a repeat, well not until Ondra turned up.

http://www.climb.co.za/2010/03/adam-ondra-repeats-golpe-de-estado-9b/

Dave Macleod onsights the Tempest

2010-03-07T09:49:00.004Z

Its all happening on the Tempest, with Andy Turner unlocking the route in a true ground up style, Dave Macleod has made the 4th ascent of the route. Its the 2nd ground up ascent and the first onsight as Andy had to rid the line of the rotting pegs and wires prior to his ascent.

Dave apparently like Andy got 2/3 the way up the route when he ran out of gear, Dave had spent two and a half hours on the route and then,somehow downclimbed, (not sure how you downclimb a IX,9!!) to reserve the onsight!

After a phone call to Andy Turner, Dave returned the next day with more gear and made the first onsight!

Andy Turner - The Tempest - Ground up

2010-03-07T09:27:00.003Z

Andy Turner has recently made the first ground up ascent of the Tempest at SCnL. The Tempest was initally given the more appropriate M grade due to the nature of the ascent on pre placed wires, but now Andy has made a more natural and true ascent, he thinks the grade should sit around IX,9 0r X,9 at a push. As andy says on his blog, with any new routes and grades, the grade will settle down 'if' and when it recieves more ascents.
Read more here http://andyturnerclimbing.blogspot.com/

Elena visits Awesome Walls - Stockport

2010-03-01T17:45:00.003Z

This following write up and photos was sent to me from Rene Lewis.
This weekend Rene introduced Elena, his 6 year old daughter to Awesome Walls Stockport, for her first ever taste of climbing. Looking at the pictures and video, Elena certainly has the potential as many youngsters do, its a brilliant age to introduce a youngster to the sport, as at around Elenas age kids dont think about the consequences too much, and are very agile and flexible, (well compared to me!). Its looking like Rene will soon be taking tips and techniques from Elena if they both keep at it!

Good show Elena!

Snowdon Horseshoe - Photos to follow..........

2010-02-27T20:13:00.001Z

This morning Dan and I headed up to the Pen Y Pass carpark with an open mind and a full rack, we didnt really know what conditions were like and we didnt know what to expect. The freezing level was given to be 650m today, it was slightly higher but a good estimate by MWIS, however the temps down at the carpark were pretty warm, probably +2 degrees in the early morning, and rose throughout the day. MWIS also gave a -1 temp for 900m, and although it is a - temp, isnt all that cold, so we were immediatly concerned with snow conitions and avalanche risk. We opted to do the full Snowdon Horseshoe, in the past i have done both halfs but never strung it all together, plus Dan hasnt been over Crib Goch before and wanted to do the ridge in full winter glory.
A great day which started clear but not for long, the cloud soon set in and which meant us getting very brief clearences in the cloud throught the remaining day. Once at the summit of Snowdon, it was quite clear from the rime on the finger stone, rock etc, that the fresh snow which has fallen recently had been scoured of the summit and more than likely deposeted on the leeward slopes of Clogwyn y Garnedd, so anyone climbing there today wouldnt have had brilliant snow conditions, however im sure people got stuff done.
A good drop in temps would bring fantastic conditions as the Trinity face and Lliwedd have good cover and full lines, but it looks like the freezing level is set to rise next week bringing a thaw to lying snow.
We got round the horseshoe and back to the Pen Y Pass in 6 hours, taking a steady pace and some time spent trying to navigate down from Snowdon in a SW direction, down where the steep scree is in the summer at the end of the Watkin Path ascent route.

Mind boggling new routes and stupid ammounts of snow.....

2010-02-26T18:44:00.000Z

Dave Macleod has just made a winter ascent of his own summer line Anubis on the Comb, Ben Nevis. Now he's still thinking about the grade, but bear in mind this is a summer E8!! WTF!!
Read more here http://www.davemacleod.blogspot.com/
Andy Turner has also climbed an impressive looking ice route on Ben Udlaidh's lower tier which a grade of VII, 7 has been given. Again a write up and photos on Dave Macleod's blog, http://www.davemacleod.blogspot.com/

Our planned trip to the highlands this weekend has been put on hold due to the ammount of snow which has fell over the last few days. See Dan Goodwins blog for some amazing photos which really captures the situation up north http://mountainplan.blogspot.com/
We cancelled as i suspect climbs are going to be buried at the momment, thats even if you can get to them, drifts of fresh snow being meters deep are reported up in the Cairngorm's, and the avalanche risk will be pretty high at the mo, so stay safe out there!
Ben Udlaidh or the NW may be a wise choice this weekend, the routes are seeing quite a bit of action on Ben Udlaidh recently, although the forcast is predicting fairly strong winds for the weekend.

Iker Pou repeates Chris Sharma's Demencia Senil 9a+

2010-02-19T17:48:00.001Z

Super strong Iker Pou has made the second ascent of Chris Sharma's Demencia senil, 9a+, at Margalef.
Read an interview here to see what Ikers thoughts are of the route, his training and his future ambitions.

IKER POU - DEMENCIA SENIL (MONTAJE 2.1) from jordi canyigueral on Vimeo.

The Groove

2010-02-18T20:57:00.003Z

BigUp Productions have just released this teaser excerpt from there new film Progression.
It features Kevin Jorgeson's second ascent of 'The Groove', and also Kevin trying and trashing his finger on 'Equilibrium'!!

Climbing Photography

2010-02-17T14:33:00.000Z

Recently there seems to have been a spate of climbing photography related write ups and articles doing the rounds. This article featured on ukc is worth a look, even for those like myself who just point and shoot!

Another great video featuring Simon Carter, who is recognised as one of the leading climbing photogrophers, gives both amateurs and professional some good ideas for shooting climbing related shots.

Allterrain MBC looking good

2010-02-13T21:41:00.000Z

Earlier this week, some of the comittee members of AllterrainMBC including myself, engaged in a meeting with Tom Howarth who is the Club, Coach & Volunteer Development Officer for Warrington council.
We discussed how to push AllterrainMBC to be a bigger and better club in many different aspects including funding, resources, youth/junior schemes, qualifications and generally being all above board in the H&S and CRB areas.
It certainly sounds promising for ATMBC and Tom is already hard at work looking at ways to improve and aid the club, so thanks there to Tom.
A follow up meeting in a few weeks will hopefuly start to put some of the discussed topics into a p.o.a, and hopefully set the ball rolling!

More mixed images....

2010-02-10T22:34:00.000Z

Glen Coe Mixed....

2010-02-08T21:26:00.000Z

Ive just returned from a fantstic weekend up in the highlands, well more specifically, Glen Coe.
Dan and I ventured up to get a taste for some harder mixed climbing with the help of James Thacker.
Dan and I have been getting a fair bit done recently and have started to cruise through the grades, climbing upto V,5, but pushing it into tecnical 6 or 7 teritory is a different ball game and James gave us a good insight as to what is needed to pull of these more techical routes.

Saturday we opted to head into Stob Coire nan Lochan, where we climbed Twisting Grooves, IV,5 and Scabbard Chimney V,6. Both fantastic routes, with great climbing. Conditions wise, the freezing level was higher than expected resulting in a slighly warmer day than forcasted, but the climbing was good with well frozen turf and neve.

Sunday we opted for Church Door Buttress on Bidean nam Bian. As we approached, it was clear that the crag was in stonking nick, well iced and well rimed. The approach to the base of the buttress, up the steeper slopes from the lower boulders held a fair ammount of slab, although this wasnt too poorley bonded, care was needed to avoid any slides.
With our aim being, Flake route right hand, V,7, we sorted the ropes and James got underway on the initial crux pitch. A series of tough, sustained hooks and torques up a corner crack with the slightest footholds, opened up this fantastic route (nice work from James!). The rest of the route felt like a real adventure, (with excellent climbing of upto tech 6) meandering around corners, squeezing through tunnels, climbing up a series of small chockstones and traversing over a hanging rock bridge!
A brilliant couple of days out out, for more info visit James Thackers blog here: http://www.jamesthacker.co.uk/reports/reports.html

A Quick Pyramid Gully Blast

2010-01-31T21:06:00.001Z

Well, we hit the Ladders, and yes, we got on Pyramid gully IV,5.!!
At 4.30am the unwelcomed sound of my alarm awoke me to find a fresh dusting of snow on the roads outside. I had my doubts about even being able to get over to Snowdonia today, i thought the roads could well be a nightmare, fortunatley the gritters did a sterling job and we arrived in Gerlan in good time.

The walk in was as tedious as ever, even more so as the crag was covered with the low cloud base. It took as longer than expected to locate the route as the visibility was very poor and extreamley persistant.

We approached from the right of Pyramid Buttress, passing Central gully where the inital ice pitch i climbed a few weeks ago was a hell of a lot thinner, probably not even climbable in its current state.

So, I got underway with the first steep pitch of Pyramid Gully which I found to be the crux. 5 or 6 moves were tricky where the ice steepend to pretty much vertical. Straight from the off, we had to be very careful with the ice, it was of the hard, brittle, dinner plating sort, the sort which is difficult to get a good placement as it constantly breaks away, and the sort which could also knock out your belayer!!!!

After bringing Dan up, i got going on the second pitch as Dan fell a bit ill and feeling lethargic, didnt have the strength to take the lead. The second pitch again had a nice ice pitch at the start, which was easier than the ice section on the first pitch, and made for good climbing, although i did have to battle through the huge ammounts of spindrift avalanches pouring down! The top of the ice section brought me to a ledge, a right turn and up a neve gully with a couple of ice steps to a belay on the right hand side. Here we de-geared and soloed the last 100m of grade 1 ground, on fantastic neve which brought us up to the plateau.

We heared a few other teams out, but couldnt tell what was being climbed as the visibility didnt break above 700m all morning. We spoke to a team who made a quick ascent of Eastern Gully who reported good neve, and spoke to a team who opted for Central Gully, though that was pre climb.
All in all, still lots to go at on the Ladders, and things seem to be improving by the day. Still a good ammount of ice knocking about, although as above, what we found was very britle, and if the low temps remain things could fatten up. Neve was brilliant although was topped with a few inches of graupel and powder which has recently fell, so an eye should be kept on the day to day snowfall as avalanche conditions could well build.

A good short day, and a route thats been on the tick list finally got climbed.
If you fancy a low in the grade IV,5 then Pyramid Gully is for you!!

Lets hope it continues.................

The Ladders are ON....

2010-01-30T21:06:00.000Z

Cant wait for tomorrow. Heading over to the Black Ladders, hopefully will get on Pyramid Gully which i have wanted to climb for a while now, fingers crossed it will be free!
The winter conditions in Snowdonia have got progressively better throughout the latter part of the week, and with last night and tonights colder temps, things should be looking pretty good.
I would think many of the higher crags, e.g the Trinity face will be busy tomorrow, thats where the best conditions will be found as they will be least effected by the recent thaw.

The ladders look a bit thinner than when we last were there climbing Gallipoli, but still plenty to go at, and Baggy http://wwwbaggy.blogspot.com/ reports 14 teams were out today!

Weather wise, its not looking as good a day as today, but still, its not too bad!
Some snow showers are expected during the morning, a bit of wind and some brief spells of poor visibility, but nothing too harsh is due.

Ueli Steck - Speed solo of the Ginat on the Droites

2010-01-26T22:12:00.001Z

There's not too much info on this at the moment, but it has happened!
Sometime in the last fortnight Ueli Steck took to the Ginat for another one of his ridiculous speed solo's and as ever, John Griffith was there to do the shoot.

Read more on his website here:
http://www.alpineexposures.com/blogs/chamonix-conditions/

Heres a unbelievable photo from John Griffith's website of Ueli soloing the Ginat. You may have to click the image to enlarge it, as he is dwarfed by the huge face!! Spot him if you can!!

Cant wait for his time on this one!!

Follow The Dog

2010-01-25T18:31:00.001Z

At the weekend, we made a very last minute decision to head down to Cannock Chase mountain bike center for a quick blast and a breakfast!
We were going to go over to Llandegla but that could have been a struggle on the bikes as its still blanketed with deep snow.
Anyway, down at Cannock Chase myself, Mike Warhurst, Mr lawley, Malc and Craig rode the well known, 'Follow The Dog' trail, http://www.moredirt.co.uk/trail_info.php?id=25 which on a dry day would be a fairly easy trail for experienced riders, but, we didnt have a dry day!
The trail was pretty wet, and the mud was everywhere, quite a bit of skilled riding was needed to prevent the bikes wheels slipping away from under you.
The trail itself i thought was very good, and made the most of quite a flat landscape. The downhill sections were relitively short but good, and the trail as a whole flowed nicely from one sectoin to another.

Il definatley be heading back here to check out some of the other trails which Cannock has to offer!

The breakfast wasnt bad either, as can be seen above!

Iban Larrion - Psikoterapia (9a).

2010-01-20T20:54:00.000Z

Heres a brilliantly published movie featuring Iban Larrion on the route Psikoterapia (9a).

He made the second ascend (FA by Patxi Usobiaga), and this video really shows how small some of the holds are and how technical some of the moves are on a 9a route.

Una de Navarros,9a.**** from urko on Vimeo.

The Friday night video on UKC

2010-01-16T18:39:00.002Z

Ukclimbing.com http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ has this week chose my recent video of our day enjoying the ice over in Cwm Idwal as their Friday night video of the week!
Its always the way aint it, my video in question was slapped together in 30 mins after the days climbing, and id be the first to say it isnt one of my better productions!
The video can be viewed on UKC's website here http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=51305 , on the video wall or below.

Dry tooling at Blackpool Towers

2010-01-16T18:19:00.003Z

The rapid deteriroation in the winter conditions throught the uk these last few days, left Dan & I in limbo and without a plan for what to get on this weekend. I didnt fancy getting avalanched or tackling dripping ice, and the recent rain put a stop to any action on the rock. It looked like an indoor session was inevitable, that was until i came up with a plan! Kepping the winter action alive with a spot of dry tooling!
http://drytoolinguk.com/what_is_drytooling.html

We headed over to to the Blackpool Towers, where they hold regular 2hr sessions for £10pp, not bad, especially as your kit is included if you need it!
http://www.attractionsblackpool.co.uk/Blackpool_Climbing_Towers.htm

Its the first time we have climbed at the Towers, and on arrival they appear massive!
Dan and I got on 4 routes each, starting easy we eventualy tackled a couple of tricky lines, including the overhanging inside of one of the towers which was massivley pumpy!
The final route we took to involved constant technical moves, often balancing the pick on the slightest of edges, lots of hand swaps, matching the same tool, and using the body position to keep the axes pulled the way you want them to be. These towers are a relentless 20m high and as the body tires the precarious moves just kept on coming, not forgetting the serious exposure that the Towers throw at you!

The future is bright for Allterrain MBC....

2010-01-15T15:53:00.002Z

With the arrival of 2010, and a popular growing club, Allterrain MBC is now a firmly established mountain bike club.
http://www.allterrainroutes.co.uk/
With Wayne at the helm, the club was launched in March 2009, and as there wasnt a Warrington specific club out there Wayne had the idea to bring Mountain biking to the people.
I joined shortly afterwards and the club has continued to grow steadily ever since. Allterrain MBC now has around 20 riders from the Warrington area and is open to all ages and abilities, male or female. The club is already affiliated to MJ Cycles in Latchford, Warrington, http://www.mjcycles.com/ which offers great discouts to club members.

Allterrain MBC have a twice weekly ride on a Tuesday & Thursday, on a local off-road circuit which is around 16 miles in length, this year we have also planned to ride a trail center or other off-road mountain bike trail on the 2nd weekend of each month. The location and difficulty of the planned outings will differ from month to month enableing something to be had for everyone.
With the club increasing by the month, Allterrain MBC decided at a recent meeting to fully establish itself by introducing a committee, club accounts, club jerseys and looking at ways of funding to enable the club to continue growing into the future.

If anyone is interested in the club, get in contact with Wayne via Allterrain MBC's website which is above.

Austrians put up new WI7+ & Dave Macleod puts up 2 new routes in Glen Coe

2010-01-13T11:46:00.003Z

Austrian guide duo Albert Leichtfried and Benedikt Purner, made the first ascent of the 300m "Centercourt" in the Gasteinertal.

http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=37179

Photo by arch Leichtfried

Photo by Benedikt Purner

Also Dave Macleod has been at it again in Glen Coe with two new routes. Frozen Assets VII,7 and also, Liquidation VI,6, tackle some amazing looking ice fangs!
http://www.davemacleod.blogspot.com/

A quick Mam tor blast....& lost camera.........

2010-01-10T10:14:00.001Z

Again making the most of the conditions right now, Dan & I arrived at the car park below Mam Tor crag early yesterday morning. Our intention was a quick romp up Blue John Rib, but on arrival there were 2 other cars already parked, talk about keen!
The walk in is the shortest ever here, ive walked for longer to go cragging in the summer, and it revealed a couple of partys gearing up at the base of the crag. Speaking with the chaps one was heading for the blue John rib and the other to Mam tor gully. A quick look at the old guide book, courtesy of one of the climbers at the crag revealed a route to the right of BJR in a scoop, then there was another prominent rib with no apparent route on it, followed by a second scoop with a line up it.
With all the grades of the routes on this crag being very similar at around II/III, Dan and I decided to have a romp up the central rib. It was holding more snow than BJR and as it still left us a few grades to play with until we'd be out of our league. Im sure the central rib has been climbed winter style before, as the guide hasnt been updated for years, but we broke the trail over to the base of the rib and got going.
We found roughly 3, 30m pitches of III,4 climbing, sticking on the rib all the way. It makes a good, quick, easy accesed climb, and even though in the summer the rock is chossy and fragile here, after a good freeze it firms up rather well and good gear and bomber belays are easily found.

Id imagine the route and the climbing to be pretty much identical to BJR, the length, angle and rock seems almost identical, not to mention the routes are all easily escapable by ledges either side.

Back home i checked on UKC of the routes existance, where it seems the whole face other than BJR is a route called Central Face. Its described as,' the face, right of BJR has a couple of scoops and ribs, climb anywhere'! I believe a clear route for the central rib should be added, and il put it forward to the crag moderator as the route makes a good line, worthy of a *, plus there are already established routes in either scoop.

On the downside to today, it appears i lost my Panasonic Lumix digital camera somewhere between the car and the first belay on the central rib. If anyone has any info on this, id be hugely greatful if you could contact me by email on allan.robb@hotmail.co.uk, cheers.

Crib goch Traverse & Yr Wyddfa

2010-01-08T23:00:00.002Z

Myself, David Hooper http://www.ukclimbing.com/listings/info.php?id=1016 and 2 of Davids friends, Dave and Jeff, made the most of todays stunning conditions in Snowdonia. We first encountered Moel Siabod as we passed on the A5, which like most of the other hills in Snowdonia, Clwyds, Moelwyns, has an unbelievable ammount of snow at present, (great for touring!)

We attempted to park at the Pen Y Pass car park, which today was shut, and remained shut all day for some reason. Im unsure if they will be opening it for tommorrow, as the chaps deemed it too icy today!! Hmmm!!

We set off for Yr Wyddfa, David, Jeff and Dave took the Pig track to the summit, while i traversed Crib Goch and on to the summit. Crib Goch was amazing, not a cloud in the sky, clean rock and basked in sun made today feel like a true alpine route. also my first winter traverse of the ridge which truely is deserved of its 3*.

Approaching the summit, there was 2 teams out on the Trinity face which was absolutley plastered! The day was still gorgeous and the rime formations on the cafe, signs, trig point etc were also huge.

We encountered some fantstic examples of raised footprint snow formatins also on the return from the summit.

We returned via the Pyg track, where i dug a quick pit on a south facing lee slope to have a look at the snow pack. A couple of pretty stiff tugs with my hands revealed a 5-6 inch area of windslab. It didnt budge easily, and not much slab was breaking off under foot as we decended in untouched snow, but the danger is still there, and on larger open areas, avalanches or slides could occur.

A breathtaking sunset with soft colours of purples, lilacs and coppers reflected off the snow covered hills to cap a truely stunning day!

Thanks to David, Dave and Jeff for a great day!!

Gallipoli

2010-01-05T17:57:00.000Z

A nightmare morning yesterday, involving helping a women get her car out of the snow, getting our own car in a bit of a mess and to top it all a confrontation with a crazy guy at a petrol station all led to us getting a late start on Gallipoli on the Black Ladders. For those who dont know the Black Ladders, a late start here isnt the best. Most of the routes are long, serious, often involve difficult route finding and we also encountered lots of soft, deep, powder, making things pretty slow going.

We finaly got on the route, Gallipoli (V,5). The route can be accessed by either taking the start for central gully, or taking a start a touch further right. We opted for the cental gully start as the first pitch was a brilliantly formed ice funnel that needed to be climbed. From here the route takes easy ground to a groove on the right which is set in a snow bay. This is climbed via ice, turf and vegitation to a peg belay above. It turned out to be a tricky pitch with a doddgy leftward step mid height to get off the thinning ice which was also hollow and breaking away under my feet, to reach a steep slope of turf and vegitation.

Dan led the next pitch which traversed left, then a tight squeeze between the buttress and an isolated arete led to a thin ice slab which was virtualy un-protectable until some 20m above. Dan setup a belay for the next pitch which i led, taking the easy slope, brought me to a steep, short wall which was infact overhanging with vegitation. This i climbed on the left, in the slightist of grooves, hooking and torquing my way up, a final big move onto a ledge was needed to reach a good belay, thankfully the axes held! Dan took the honours and pulled back right to get over the lip of the overhanging wall, a difficult couple of moves, this wasnt the place to be digging around in the powder for an axe placement, but there really wasnt much scope. Dan soon passed his difficulties and an easyish groove ahead found a good belay spike. At this point the remainder of the route would have to be climbed by headtorch, as always, darkness seemed to arrive suddenly!! I arrived at Dans belay, a quick rack swap and i was off. the groove continued for another 20m, then an easy snow slope led us out without any problems.

Conditions wise, the ice was fantastic, where it was thick enough. Brilliant plastic ice where the axe would stick at the first swing. Turf was frozen solid, taking a bomber warthog, although some of the other larger clumps of vegitation didnt seem to want to freeze, care needed to be taken to stick on the turf at these points.

Obviously the whole area was banked with deep powder which made things difficult, and there were patches of windslab in central gully, so other sheltered aspects could be similar. We didnt encounter any neve really, not until the wind scoured upper slope, more time and consolidation needed their i think, but unsure when that will happen as it just keeps on snowing!!

Idwal Cwm Ice.....

2010-01-03T00:19:00.003Z

With the current conditions in Snowdonia, i wasted no time in getting back in the groove and took the axes over to Idwal cwm to get a couple of routes in, as i previously heard things were lookin well. Dan and i got an earlyish start as we knew today was going to be pretty busy. We plodded into the Cwm, where as most areas in Snowdonia, has a huge ammount of snow at preseent, our aim was to head for one of the steeper lines, but more importantly, one that didnt have a queue at the bottom!

We headeed for a look in the Devils Kitchen, but after reaching the rear of the Kitchen it was apparent this was one of the few routes that isnt yet in condition. Far too thin, and far too much water for my liking!

We moved round to the Devils Pasteure which was in good shape, Dan took the honours on the 1st steep pitch and dispatched that without any problems, I then led the 2nd chimney pitch which brought us to the top of the crag.

Time for a quick coffee, then round to have a look at the Devils Cellar (IV). On arrival, teams were on both the left and right hand lines, and after a short wait we opted for the right hand line, which was much less of a bowling alley of ice from the above climbers. I took the sharp end for the first steep pitch, which was brilliantly steep and sustaining, then Dan took the lead for the second pitch which was in stonking condition, with a pretty tricky finnish.

That wrapped a fantastic day for us, a bit surreal for me, having been relaxing in 30 degree heat 2 days ago, and today i was getting plastered, mid pitch, with lengthy bursts of spindrift!

I really dont know which i prefer!!

Caribbean escape and Bathsheba surf......

2010-01-01T15:48:00.003Z

Im just back from a break out in the Caribean, and it seems ive missed alot of fun!! Whilst i have been enjoying the 30 degree sunshine, you guys have had some of the biggest ammounts of snow for a while! This with the sustained cold temperatures looks like lots of people have been having lots of fun!!

Anyway, over in the Caribbean, i visited the stunning, Baths of Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, where i hoped to get a few hours of bouldering in on the massive granite boulders. On arrival it became clear that this wouldnt be the case, well not unless the holiday makers didnt mind me landing on them, the baths where teaming with people!! Most of the huge boulders where scatteded around on top of each other, so bouldering alone, with no pad was out of the question, as the landings would have been pretty nasty. The more popular boulders which people tend to visit, have perfect landings on soft white pristine sand, hence a great spot for people to grab a spot of shade in the blistering sun. I spent the day exploring and wandering around the strewn boulders, caves and grotto's which are truely stunning, its difficult to believe how big some of the boulders are, some could easily handle full on routes!

After watching Sperm whales in Dominica, visiting the cricket grounds of Antigua and snorkeling in St lucia, i arrived in Barbados. Here i heard there was some good surf to be had, and found out that, 'The Soup Bowl' or Bathsheba was the place to be. An hours drive took us down to one of the most amazing places beech locations i have seen. Away from the usual tourist traps was beautiful Bathsheba, a rugged costal line where surfers rode the waves, and the locals hung out drinking and relaxing!

An interesting chat with some local guys revield an oppertunity to hire a board and get in on some of the action. The surf was massive, well for me anyway, full on barrels and everything! Im not the best of surfers by a long shot, but do enjoy giving it a go, hence i was pretty apprehensive about what was to come. I generally stayed with the smaller waves, but did latch a couple of larger ones to the end of the day!

And heres how its done properly:

Grim in the Gorms...

2009-12-15T11:05:00.003Z

Me and Dan headed up to the Cairngorm on Sunday with a view to get some routes done Monday and Tuesday. Unfortunatley we arrived 2 days late!
Most of the Scottish highlands recieved amazing weather over the weekend, with clear blue skies, and great climbing conditions. But Monday was totaly at the other end of the scale!
With an extensive and low cloud base, that rarley broke throughout the day, strong icy winds, (especialy on the Cairngorm plateu), which created severe wind chill, and persistant rain, which wasnt forecast to be as bad as it was, we had a truley grim morning out on the hill.
Having made our way into Coire An T- sneachda, we struggled to find any of the routes as even the base of the crags wernt visable. With already being wet from the persistant rain, it was clear that today wasnt going to be a day for a hard mixed route as we would have liked, as standing at a belay for 40 mins in those conditions would have been horrendous.
We finaly located the base of the Mess of Pottage, after firstly overshooting it and ending up nearer to Aladins Buttresss. We decided a quick romp up Jacobs Ladder, lasting less than 5 mins!, was about all that we could manage, and then a rapid exit from the plateu to 1141 and then down back to the car.
Conditions wise, from what we could see, certainly the Mess of pottage was nicely rimed up. Jacobs ladder and i presume the other easier gully lines was in fine shape, with good neve all the way,(in the morning anyway!) enabling us a quick solo ascent. The gully walls were also nicely rimed, although any ice that had previously formed was dripping today as the thaw set in! The slopes below the Mess of pottage which can be prone to avalanche in unstable conditions, today were pretty firm underfoot in the morning, although i can imagine with the ammount of rain, the snowpack could have became quite saturated throughout the day. Another freeze and some periods of cold weather, would bring some good conditions again as there is still a decent cover.
The Plateu was fairly thin and patchy after the thaw, but more snow is on the cards towards the end of the week.
Also the SAIS starts up reporting this week http://www.sais.gov.uk/

Swedish Ice Mines

2009-12-09T19:53:00.003Z

With our planet seemingly becoming warmer, its only a matter of time, (although a good while yet) before climbing ice will be a thing of the past. It looks like Will Gad and Andreas Spak have found the answer......
Ice Mines!!
This footage was shot a couple of years ago, but well worth the watch.

Check this out.......... Mental!!

Crib Lem - Llech Ddu Spur........ and Welsh Winter Over (for now!!)

2009-12-06T18:45:00.000Z

With the high temperatures the last day or two, pretty much all the snow on the Welsh hills has been stripped. All that remains are small insufficient snow patches, and a blanket on the very tops, well thats on the Carneddau anyway! The Glyders, Tryfan, Snowdon and the other highest peaks unfortunately look to be in a similar condition.

I headed in to Cwm Llafer, where the black ladders where looking pretty bare. Amongst the black buttresses, only the sheltered ledges, gullys and ramps held the remaining snow. We chose to scramble up the Llech Ddu spur on CribLem. Described as the finest scramble in the Carneddau, this long exposed ridge of rocky aretes leads up to the summit of Carnedd Dafydd, taking in the dramtic atmosphere of the secluded Cwm.
Once we had gained entry to the ridge itself, the route became apparent, and looking ahead, the description as the finest scramble in the Carneddau didnt look wrong!

The ridge is technicaly easy, but at times although not that often, there is some serious exposure! Which combined with the route being of substantial length and in a fantastic setting is fully worthy of its 3 star rating!

Its highley reccomended and growing in popularity, so well worth doing. I would however reccomend taking a rope and a very small rack to protect the couple of tricky steps annd exposed situatons if taking a newbie or for people not so use to scrambling/exposure.

New 'Ram's Head', lower-off's at Horseshoe quarry

2009-11-30T21:27:00.001Z

The BMC have recently employed a rope access team to re-equip 6 routes on the Main wall at Horseshoe Quarry. They have done this as a trial project and have replaced the bolts with, 'p' bolts, and replaced the lower-off's with a new, 'Rams head' design lower-off.
I havent seen them in person, but they look a brilliant idea which doesnt require the leader to untie and re-thread a lower-off as you would normaly do. The new style lower off's enable the leader to neatly and efficiently place the rope behind, 'the horns' of the lower-off without having to faff about pulling a bight up, tying on, untying, passing it through etc etc.
It will be interesting to see how people take to the new design.

For full illustrations of how to thread the new lower-off's, you can visit the BMC website here:
http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Feature.aspx?id=3419

Welsh Winter Has Arrived

2009-11-28T21:12:00.002Z

Today me and Dan headed up to the Dinorwic slate quarries, so we wernt up on the tops to give an extensive report. What we did note though was that, the hills of Snowdonia got recieved a good ammount of snow last night. It fell as low as the Pen Y Pass, which is about 350 - 400m i think. All the high hills looked pretty plastered, and the good news is on our return this evening the snow had only retreated to around 600m, so good building conditions. Having not been up high today, i cant state too much, but i really doubt the soft, fresh snow = climbable!! More snow is forecast tomorrow, so this with a few freeze thaw cycles and some low temps then maybe!!

Snakes and Ladders (and Tunnels)

2009-11-28T20:48:00.002Z

A while back Dan heard of, and told me about an amazing sounding route that runs through the slate quarries of Dinorwic, North Wales. Im unsure of how to describe the route, its kind of a Via Ferrata/climbing/adventure experience. Anyway today we finaly got around to doing it!

The route, 'Snakes and Ladders, and Tunnels', isnt in any guide book of sort, the route has seemed to develop through word of mouth, but all we knew was it took roughly 5 hours and is given an about grade of HVS, so armed with only a guide book to use to navigate from quarry to quarry, (as its our first time here) and a very brief route description written down of the internet, we set off in hope.

We found Dalis hole, where the route begins, a scramble up the slate scree slope leads to a tunnel on the east side of the quarry which inturn leads to another tunnel which led us to California.

Once in California, an old chain, left from the years when the quarries were being worked, has to be climbed to reach another tunnel, easier said than done. With the slate absolutely dreanched, few footholds and wearing big boots, this wasnt going to be easy! Every foot placement slipped of the rock like ice, so i basicially just had to haul myself up, clipping large screwgates through the chain as protection. At the top of the chain is the enterance to the tunnel where a nicely placed bolt and an old spike provided a thankful belay anchor.

From here the short tunnel leads back to Dalis, and an abseil took us down to the bottom of the crag. A short walk to the north end of the quarry, up the slate steps and we arrived in a long, pitch black tunnel, and apparently its cheating to use your headtorch!! Hence we didnt!!

The tunnel terminated in Australia, where a sludge up the oil drum glacier following white paint on the scree, brought us to a series of old fixed ladders, again left here when the quarries closed down. These are to be ascended up to the g'day level and a couple are looking pretty doddgy!! (just look what greeted me as we reached the top, gulp!)

Next was a walk up to the amazing, Lost world, where time has stood still. Here is a extreamly rural industrial settlement, probably late 1800s, where buildings and machinery awaiting the next days hard labour, which never came, have been left to deteriorate ever since the quarry was closed.

From here a series of abseils and ladders enable you to rech the bottom of the lost world via the Heaven walls, a vast quarry which is massively impressive! Another tunnel leads to Mordor, then climbing the final ladder brought us to the Kyber pass!

A fantastic day and a fantastic adventure, really ideal to do on a wet weather day also!

Dean Potter - Adventurer Of The Year

2009-11-20T17:08:00.001Z

American all rounder Dean Potter has just recently been named 'Adventurer of the year', by National Geographic magazine.
http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=37100

Dean was filmed, as seen in the video below, flying in a specialized 'wingsuit.' He's since worked toward perfecting the art of human 'flying' from several locations around the world. On one of these outings, Dean flew nearly 4 miles in around 4 minutes and breaking a record. His stunts have captivated the world and, apparently, the editors of National Geographic.

Air Time

2009-11-19T17:09:00.003Z

The wild and windy weather that has been causing havoc across the uk for most, has certainly had its plus sides for some.
Two kite surfers from West Sussex took advantage of strong winds on the south coast and attempted to jump over Worthing pier.
Jake Scrace, 25, and Lewis Crathern, 24, had been planning Monday morning's jump for three years but had to wait for perfect weather conditions which duly arose.

Another 9a for 14 year old Enzo Oddo

2009-11-18T19:33:00.003Z

Enzo Oddo, the 14 year old French wonder kid, has nailed another 9a in the Gorges du Loup, France.

This is in addition to Enzo climbing 4, 9a's in two months, this time he repeted Dai Koyamada's intense boulder + route combo. The route begins with a boulder problem, 'Inga', weighing in at Fb 8a+,', then continues up, '7pm Chaud', which is 8c in its own right.
The boulder also leads to the route, 'Puntx', which is 9a/9a+, which he has already climbed, so maybe more scope for a super hard link up!!
http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/enzo_oddo_14-year-old_french_crusher/

Enzo Oddo bouldering the linkup Inga 7pm JP Chaud at the Gorges du Loup, France
Photo by Philippe Maurel, http://www.nice-climb.com/

Enzo Oddo on Punt x 9a/9a+

SPA Training

2009-11-15T20:52:00.001Z

On Friday and Saturday i was over in north Wales doing my SPA training, http://www.mlte.org/content.php?nID=57, with David Hooper, http://www.ukclimbing.com/listings/info.php?id=1016.
On Friday we were at the popular Lion rocks near Brynrefail where we got the personal climbing started, then late afternoon we headed to the Beacon CC where David ran through structuring group sessions etc.
Saturday we finnished of with all the group work, abseils, anchors and top/bottom roping etc.
The weather was kind to us on Friday as we just about stayed dry, Sunday though was a different story, as the morning was very wet. On the plus side, the paddlers were out in numbers this weekend, enjoying the huge ammount of water and the ridiculous fast rivers!!

Thomas Mrazek climbs 9a+

2009-11-12T19:05:00.001Z

Last week Thomas Mrazek from the Czech Republic has made the first ascent of Xaxid Hostel 9a+ at Misja Pec, Slovenia.
Read more here:
http://www.tomasmrazek.cz/en/article.php?id=325

The climbing begins.

2009-11-09T19:09:00.001Z

The scottish highlands has had more snow over the last few days, there is now a good base up in the Cairngorm and over west too for the freeze/thaw process to begin. There was a over a foot of snow reported on the Ben Nevis summit plateau over the weekend, and the climbing is well under way as routes including Tower ridge, Milky Way and the Seam have all seen some recent action.

Winter Approaches...and Ice Anchor Workshop Movie

2009-11-03T21:14:00.002Z

With the Scottish highlands recieving another light dusting of snow, http://mountainplan.blogspot.com/ and a forecast predicting more to come, http://www.snow-forecast.com/maps/static/scotland/84/snow, its time to seriously start thinking about this winter season.
Gear is slowly starting to come out of the cupboard, route tick lists are being compiled, new additions are being made to the winter rack and all in vain of another good season which will hopefully live up to the last 2 years.
For this winter i have replaced my boots with the new and different, Millet Radikal Pro, http://www.milletusa.com/catalogue/radikal-pro-p-1004.html?temp=1&typo_prod=1:us&cPath=1_5_23, which are pretty none existant over here in the uk. I will make a short review of how i get on with these after i have given them a blast.
The usual topics are arising on ukc and the like about winter gear, protection, systems, techniques etc, so heres a quick movie i find interesting, which shows and compares different ice anchors, and what actually happens when an anchor fails.

Ice anchor Workshop
Uploaded by Petzl-crew. - Discover the latest sports and extreme videos.

Ren hits the rock!!

2009-10-31T22:57:00.004Z

Dry rock??

2009-10-31T22:45:00.004Z

Today Rene and I headed out to Lancashire for Ren's first taste of some action on the rock after a few indoor sessions. When i awoke, it looked like a perfect autumnal morning for a climb, fresh, clear and a hint of sun, but by the time we arrived up in Lancashire it was clear by the puddles on the roads that we would struggle to find dry rock.
We made the short approach into Wilton 3, which would have been a good venue for Ren as their are a good ammount of easier graded lines, but unfortunatley the majority of the rock was soaking. Ren seconeded a couple of V Diff's, (which wasnt easy due to the grease!!), before we headed down to Brownstones.

The rock at the Ash Pit Slabs area of Brownstones was marginaly better. Keeping to the easier lines ment that we could probably get something done, although there was minimal to no friction and greasy cracks, we managed around 5 or 6 problems, and Ren sent his first route!!

Ondra completes his hardest to date

2009-10-26T17:46:00.001Z

16 year old Czech wonder kid Adam Ondra has climbed his hardest route yet which was also a first ascent.
The route is Marina Superstar (9a+/b, or 5.15a/b) at the Domusnovas area in southern Sardinia, Italy.
Read more here: http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/ondra_completes_515ab_first_ascent/

He also says, "So happy to have some really hard FA! Well, I am not sure about the grade. Definately my hardest yet, but probably not 9b, thus I go for 9a+/b. I have to try more routes from Chris to compare. Beautiful line 35m line in very steep cave. It took me 4 days this year and 3 goes last year. Thanks to Matteo Marinini for bolting and to whole Cagliari!"

Priests Hole Movie......

2009-10-25T17:31:00.007Z

Priests Hole Cave Bivouac.

2009-10-25T16:52:00.002Z

With a dreadful forecast in mind, getting something done was always going to be difficult this weekend. We aimed to head out from Ambleside and up to Priests Hole cave on Dove crag and stay there for the night as its a fantastic bivy spot.
Once in Ambleside, we unfortunatley had to change our plan and had to resort to a less time consuming approach as the weather forecast was spot on, it was horrendus!! We noticed there was a small window of fair weather in the early afternoon, so we drove to Brothers water and headed to Priests Hole from there. We timed it well, the weather eased up for our approach and came in again as we just made the cave which was pre occupied by 3 Geordie chaps and a crazy Labrador called, 'Bergkamp'!! Sounds strange i know!!
We settled in with plenty of cups of coffee, soup and hob nobs. The geordie chaps even had an ipod and speaker system on the go!!
Inside Priests Hole there is a metal box, which contains a visitors book for people to write about there stay, (how good is that!!) and also items left by previous occupants! We made use of a fire log which was in the tin, and had ourselves a campfire on the go to dry off peoples wet gear.

The weather didnt let up all night, but we all seemed to get a good nights kip, even Bergkamp!!

Inspirational Movies....

2009-10-22T19:18:00.004+01:00

A couple of truley brilliant inspirational movies are doing the rounds at the minute, and i couldnt resist posting them for anyone thats interested.

The first is of John Griffith and Will Sim climbing the Croz spur with the Slovenian start on the Grandes Jorrasses.

Some amazing footage, and even better climbing!!

Just double click the videos to watch on full screen. It is reccomended!!

Croz spur with Slovenian start- Grandes Jorasses from Jonathan Griffith on Vimeo.

Another cracking short movie around at the moment is that of Rich Simpson climbing Wolfgang Gullichs classic, Action Directe. The video is more of a documaentary of Rich's 'obsession', to climb Action Directe. It shows the gruelling traing sessions and the true strength needed to climb such a powerful route. Bear in mind Action Directe was the worlds first 9a!

The film is just over 25 minutes long, but well worth the watch if you have time.

Obsession from Chris Doyle on Vimeo.

Workout at Pex

2009-10-17T11:01:00.000+01:00

On Thursday i headed down to Pex Hill for a couple of hours training.

I bouldered, stayed on the low wall as i was alone and didnt fancy taking any big falls without a spotter!!

I played around on the traverse, working out the individual moves, hopefuly a couple more times down there and il get the full traverse done!!

The finger felt good again, so its all about building the strength back after a wasted summer!! And there isnt anywhere better for that than Pex!!

Another alpine short movie

2009-10-14T14:50:00.002+01:00

I have uploaded a new short film to the video wall which was recorded by Dan Robb.
It features some mixed climbing on the last few meters of the chimney pitch on Pointe Lachenal, at the foot of Mt Blanc du Tacul.

Final Makalu Report - Ueli Steck / and back to the training for me!

2009-10-12T19:30:00.000+01:00

Heres Ueli Stecks final report from his recent trip to Makalu (8463),http://ueli-steck.petzlteam.com/index.php/. It makes a great read if you have a spare moment, and really tells the tale of how demanding an ascent up the worlds 5th highest mountain in this style is, and not forgetting Ueli is an increadibly fit alpanist! Again Ueli didnt have good conditions at all, a bit like his trip to Gasherbrum II earlier in the year.

And for me, the finger tendon i damaged earlier in the year is coming along brilliantly, probably around 85% back to full fitness. The past week i have been putting in a few light sessions on the finger board, as i hope to build some of the lost strength back, as i feel pretty weak atm!!
Also i have been out with Wayne and Allterrainroutes http://www.allterrainroutes.co.uk/, the past couple of weeks, and had a few great night rides which are keeping the fitness up!!

First snow of the year.

2009-10-04T18:47:00.001+01:00

People up in the Scottish highlands woke up this morning to the first snow of the season up on the hills.

Looks like the Cairngorm especially got quite a dusting in yesterdays storms.

Also Ben Nevis and Lochaber recieved a light dusting over the tops, so time to get training for this winter season. Hope its going to be a good one!!

Heres a short movie to get the psche going, produced by Dan at Mountainplan,
http://www.mountainplan.com/, which features me and Dan!

Time to sharpen the axes!!

Short Movie - Alpine Climbing

2009-10-01T15:56:00.003+01:00

Here's a short movie that i have put together from our recent alpine climbing trip to Chamonix,France.

You can also watch the video via the Dailymotion video wall on the sidebar to the right, along with older productions.

Hope you enjoy!

Coed-Y-Brenin Weekend...... With Video!

2009-09-29T17:36:00.001+01:00

A group of friends and I spent the recent weekend down at Coed-y-Brenin in Wales, where amongst other things, we headed down to the trail center and had a burn on a few of the routes.

The trails we rode between us included the brilliant, 'Tarw' and the even better, 'Beast of the Brenin.'

Both trails are graded as 'black' trails, and both have some pretty technical sections, 'The Beast',especially caused a few heart stopping moments and with a section of the trail called 'False Teeth', i think i had good reason to worry!!

http://www.mbwales.com/en/content/cms/Centres/Coed_y_Brenin/Beast_of_Brenin/Beast_of_Brenin.aspx

Gallery Updated

2009-09-23T17:10:00.003+01:00

My gallery has been updated with a selection of photos from my recent climbing trip to the French Alp's.
http://s802.photobucket.com/albums/yy306/allanrobb/

Hopefuly a short movie will follow, when ive had time to put one together.

Thanks

Allan

Peak Sunshine

2009-09-19T19:27:00.003+01:00

Had a stroll in the Peak this morning, in full sunshine too!!
We headed up Shining Tor from the Cat & Fiddle, then up and along Cat's Tor up to Pym chair. We then headed down the valley to Errwood, passing the shrine which is very unique indeed to Erwood hall. We briefly stopped in this beautiful location for a bite to eat before heading up Shooters Clough and back to the Cat and Fiddle, and just before the drizzle began!

Pictures above include one of the quaint shrine at Erwood.

First free ascent of the Japanese Direct on the Eiger North Face

2009-09-18T15:06:00.008+01:00

Robert Jasper and Roger Schäli completed the first free ascent of the Japanese Direct on the north face of the Eiger in late August. The 1969 Japanese ascent forced a route up the steepest part of the limestone wall, with the aid of about 250 bolts. Jasper and Schäli free-climbed the 1,800-meter route at 5.13b M5 over four days, with serious danger from rock fall and poor protection.

Read more here:

http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=36960

Clwyd Limestone

2009-09-17T21:21:00.004+01:00

Dan and i had a last minute get together and headed up to Pinfold crag, a good spot in the Clywd limestone band near to Llangollen.
We had the whole crag to ourselves, and the evening turned out to be a pleasent one as the dull clouds fortunately didnt materialise to anything.

Care does have to be taken here, as with a lot of limestone crags as there is a lot of loose rock on some routes, especially the top out's!

We managed to fit in 10 climbs in between us, led and secconded, before the lack of light stopped play.
Dan got a couple of good leads in including an e1,5a! Whilst i got a few leads under my belt including a vs, 5a and a hvs, 4c after not climbing for 5 months due to my injured finger,( which felt pretty good btw).

Pictures above are of, 'Toccata vs,5a' and, 'Marander el,5a'.

Ren's Bungeeeeeeeeeeeee Jump!

2009-09-16T15:38:00.003+01:00

Rene has sent me a short clip of a bungee jump he did at the weekend in Manchester.
Looks like good fun, and Ren's looking surprisingly relaxed too!!

Nice one!

Cheers Ren

Amazing Chamonix

2009-09-13T14:08:00.009+01:00

Yesterday i arrived back from the Chamonix valley on the French - Suise border after a perfect weeks alpine climbing. From the day we landed, to right through the week, the weather could not have been better. We got use to waking up to perfect clear skies and minimal wind, which to our delight held all day every day, pure bliss!!

Tete Blanche North Face
After landing in Geneva, transfering to Cham and checking the latest conditions at the OHM, we sharpishly headed up the Col de Balme and made our way to the Albert 1er refuge for two nights.
On our first days climbing we headed up the very broken le Tour glacier and climbed the normal route up the Tete blanche. As this is a very short route and it was still only 8.30am we skirted high up round the col du Tour, bringing us out onto the Tete Blanche north face. From here we traversed the face to the rock rib which splits the face in half, we decided this would be the best option as the bergshrund was huge and the other half of the face looked like it had some significant rockfall. The rib then made a good mixed finnish to the route.
The next day we hoped to climb the Forbes arete on le Chardonnet, this wasnt to be as the route was apparently very icy which would have made the ridge a lenghty undertaking. Instead we climbed the Aiguille de Tour via the Col du Tour and up the normal route to the south summit. This route was very dry and care was needed not to knock loose rocks onto partys beneath!

Valle Blanche-Helbronner telepherique

Pointe Lachenal
The 3rd and 4th days out in Chamonix saw us get a few more routes in. We firstly climbed a great little route which was the Traverse of Pointe Lachenal, which is a series of three small peaks which has a good mixture of climbing.
The route starts begins by climbing a 45 degree snow slope to the first summit, then a traverse of the ridge is needed to the second summit. Here a small abseil opens up the remainder of the route. A traverse of an icy slope leads to the base of a 45m chimney which is climbed to the 3rd summit. Finally a quick decent is needed to avoid any problems with the huge seracs which loom above!!

Pointe Lachenal 1st summit

Dan on the Cosmiques Arete
Later that morning we climbed the Cosmiques ridge to pass some time. As expected it was a busy route with a lengthy wait at the abseil and the small pitch shortly afterwards.
We stayed a second night at the Cosmiques refuge which meant another decent down the ridge from the Midi station, this at the moment is tricky as a good sized crevasse has opened up right on the path of the ridge, extra care is needed here!!

On the Gouter route at dawn

Mont Blanc summit
The fourth day we arised at 1am for breakfast at the Cosmiques hut. After we ate and got the rope sorted, we got on our way on the Mont Blanc Traverse via the 3 Monts route. Dan and i made good time as we headed up Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit passing the countless teams which all attempt Mt Blanc. We reached a very cold summit in 4 hours which im pleased of as the guide allows 7 hours. We then decended the gouter route all the way down to Nid aigle to complete the full traverse in 8hours 45mins. The other rope party with us of Kev and Jeff also copmleted the route well under guidebook time, so all were happy!!

Chamonix

Chamonix
Our final 2 days in Chamonix were spent cragging at Les Gaillands, which is a beautiful accessible crag down in the valley, eating pizza and creme brule and generally relaxing! The weather looked to be becoming unsettled on the last day also, so we were very fortunate to have a great week.
Being out in Cham for the week has also inspired Dan and i, and gave us a few more amazing routes to look forward to in the future.
Le Rebuffat sw face is next!!

Cragging at Les Gaillands

World record BASE jump - Burj Dubai

2009-09-03T20:38:00.005+01:00

Here's a well put together short movie, filmed last year in which a Frenchman and an Englishman take on the worlds highest illegal BASE jump from the newly constructed Burj Dubai building.

Pretty amazing hey, just imagine the faces of the builders!!

New images are clickable

2009-08-29T22:43:00.002+01:00

Quick update.

All images i now upload will be clickable, which basicaly means they will enlarge when clicked on.
A problem i was having with Blogger, but have now worked out how i can achieve this.
Todays images are clickable, previous one's i dont think are.

Thanks

Allan

Change of plan....

2009-08-29T22:08:00.005+01:00

This afternoon Dan and I headed up to Glenridding for a good few hours out on the hill, followed by a bivvy in Priests hole cave. All was well as we started up Helvellyn via Mires beck then across the narrow Striding edge, but as we approached the final scramble to the summit plateau the weather came in and turned very nasty, very quickly!
We made a decision to head back down as we were pushed for time as it was, and with the visibility down to around 25-30m, we would have struggled to find the bivvy site in the light.
Dan decided to get a brew on as we were trying to avoid the rain behind the walls of the summit shelter, which to my surprise was a cappuccino. But that wasnt all, Dan pulled out a dusting of chocolate sprinkles to top it off!! brilliant!!
The weather did catch a few folk out though with us helping a group of poorly equiped lads down off the summit and a full family, kiddies and all were on the plateau and were extreamly unequiped.

We headed down Swirrals edge, and decided on going up and over Catstye Cam to compensate for the shorter day, then down past Bleacove beck which led us back down to Glenridding.

Another few miles in the legs for our Chamonix trip....

Alpine thoughts.

2009-08-27T17:56:00.007+01:00

Im still out of action on the climbing front with my damaged A2 tendon, thats why the blog is a bit slack!! It feels as if its never going to be back to normal!

But the good news is that i have finalised the accommodation in Chamonix this week, and made our reservations in the high mountain refuges, ready for our climing trip in a week's time.
Heres a few photos from last years Chamonix trip to get psyched!

Alex Honnold at Indian Creek

2009-08-23T15:29:00.003+01:00

Here's quite an inspirational short film of Alex Honnold sending some amazing crack climbs and some nasty looking offwidths at Indian Creek, Utah.

Alex Honnold sending in Indian Creek, Utah from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

Fistral Surf

2009-08-16T18:56:00.006+01:00

The past few days ive been down in Newquay visiting friends and catching some surf!! The weather could have been better as the sun didnt really shine through as we would have liked, but i was pleasantly surprised how warm the sea was!

We headed to Fistral as thats where the best the surf was to be found this weekend, and even that was fairly small, still it was enough and we had a great time!

Some photos of Newquay, Fistral beach and also Padstow.

Tuesday Training

2009-08-11T22:07:00.004+01:00

Tuesdays and Thursdays i get out on the bike and get 18 miles in the legs each night, on a good local circuit. The loop we ride is mainly off road with a couple of good climbs, a small section of downhill single track and some boardwalks across the ship canal!! I ride with Wayne and All Terrain Routes http://www.allterrainroutes.co.uk/, who are a good bunch of guys, and who all train hard.

Hopefuly all this training will make things a touch easier for me on my forthcoming climbing trip to Chamonix!!

Another day at Llandegla. Another nightmare.

2009-08-09T21:06:00.007+01:00

Todays great weather took us to Llanddegla again, where we hoped to get round the black runs without too many incidents unlike recent weeks.
Our confident attitude was short lived as Mike Warhurst and a 60ft pine tree decided to get a bit too close to one another. The result, a dislocated shoulder, tore ligaments, a trip to Wrexham hospital and no full english breakfast on the return for Mike.
We watched Mike off in the ambulance, realising the value of his cycle helmet, as the force of the impact managed to split this open!!

Myself, Dan, Ian and Wayne were now usless in aiding Mike, so we shakily finnished the trail without too many issues other than Wayne sliding off his bike due to a very loose surface on one of the newer sections. wayne's reward, a sliced forearm!!

So hope you have a speedy recovery Mike so you can get up and out again.

More Wednesday Woes At Llandegla

2009-08-06T17:15:00.004+01:00

We headed off to Llandegla for their Wednesday late night opening again last night, only to be met with another traumatic time!!

First we had Steve, who's innertube tore next to the valve, normaly this isnt a problem as we all have spares. But Steves bike has a 24" rear wheel sporting some monster tractor like tyres!! Needles to say no one had an innertube that was going to fit, so Steve was walking back!!

We carried on for a short time only to find Dans crank arm had sheared off, which trashed the threads inside, but the worst of it was that he lost the nut to re-attach the arm and we were pretty much at the furthest point away from the car! We tried some makeshift diy work (using a stick, and some tape) which lasted all of 20 seconds!!

The next hour or so was spent trying to push Dan back on his bike whilst riding along side him, he also tried peddeling with one foot which obviously didnt work, (did it Dan!!).

Some pics from when we were up and running:

Improvised Rescue and Problem Solving

2009-08-02T16:01:00.004+01:00

Yesterday me and Dan headed out with James thacker http://www.jamesthacker.co.uk/ to have a look at some improvised ropework and problem solving. Milestone Buttress on Tryfan made an ideal venue to practice some rope trickery including learning how to escape the system, lower and abseil past a knot, counter balance rescues, assisted abseils and more.

The day went really well as the weather held off and we managed to pack a fair ammount of advanced techniques into the day. James proved to be a wealth of knowledge, and a good laugh, showing us a couple of little tricks that could come in very handy along the way, like the rope bomb!!

Cheers for a great day James!

New route on The Mattherhorn North Face

2009-07-28T15:02:00.006+01:00

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week, the Swiss uber strong himilayan mountaineer Jean Troillet,( who is 61!!) climbed a new difficult line on the north face of the Matterhorn. He climbed it with a french duo of Martial Dumas and Jean-Yves Fredriksen , and the route is named "Sébastien Gay" and is 600m graded at ABO.

Troillet attempted the route 3 years ago with partner Sebastien Gay, but the pair were forced to retreat due to poor conditions. A few weeks later Gay died in an unfortunate speedflying accident, and now Troillet returned to finish his route and dedicate it in honour of his climbing partner.

Troillet describes the route as the following, "The route starts steeply, the first 400m are almost overhanging. You have to see the plus side: this protected us from falling rocks. We bivvied on the face in a hammock. And as it's done on the Eiger, it isn't necessary to reach the summit to inaugurate a new route. The grade? Abo. Which stands for abominal"

Jean Troillet, Martial Dumas and Jean-Yves Fredriksen have carried out the first ascent of "Sébastien Gay" (600m ABO) on the North Face of the Matterhorn. Photo by Archivio Troillet

Veikka Gustafson summits all 14 8000ers -Without supplimentary oxygen!!

2009-07-27T14:47:00.005+01:00

On 26/07/2009 Veikka Gustafson reached the summit of Gasherbrum I, together with Japanese climber Kazuya Hiraide and four Bulgarians. For the mountaineer from Finland this seals his bid to climb all fourteen 8000m peaks without supplementary oxygen.

http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=36878

A fantastic achievment in its own right. Not to use supplimentary oxygen makes it a truley amazing feat!!
Congratulations.

Ice lurchers

2009-07-26T12:05:00.004+01:00

Just managed to re-find this short film produced by Mountainplan. It was filmed at a weekend earlier on in the year, which we spent at lurchers.
As you can see me and Dan had fantastic conditions and the crag to ourselves!
Enjoy!

Ice lurchers
Video sent by MountainPlanTV

Llandegla Wednesday Eve

2009-07-23T16:01:00.009+01:00

Fun and games last night as we headed to Llandegla for a spin around the red trail.

We took lew out for his first outing on the bikes and he ended up with a snapped chain!. Not to mention me and malc getting a puncture, Dan coming off, and some how Ian went for a swim as he fell into a stream!!

After all the incidents we had to cut the last section of the trail and head back to the cars as it was getting dark, but more importantly the bbq at the visitors centre was coming to a close!!

An eventful evening all round, and we made it for a couple of sausage baps of the bbq!
So all ended well!!

Today at the Marin trail - Gwydyr Forest

2009-07-19T21:00:00.011+01:00

Today i was out with Mike, Dan, Daz, Ian and Malc. We headed to Bewts-Y-Coed, to have a bash at the Marin trail in Gwydyr forest.

Surprisingly we also managed to avoid the rain, and the day turned out quite pleasant.

http://shop.bike-fax.com/catalog/downloads/marin.pdf

The Marin trail, although it has a good ammount of climbing, is pretty spectacular, it has some difficult riding, both physicaly and technicaly and also takes in some fantastic views.

The downhill sections are truley brilliant. Wild, rugged singletracks which require precise riding and a fair ammount of confidence.

The main event at the Marin has to be the final 3 downhill sections, which are worth all the effort put in to the difficult climbs. These sections are fast, winding and have some great jumps, (which i came off in good style!) and finaly led us back to the carpark where it all began.

Cheers guys.

Awesome Walls Stockport

2009-07-17T21:34:00.001+01:00

The wet weather forced us inside this evening, but all turned out well as Rene joined us for his 3rd session down at the wall.

Ren's made some great progression, and had the confidence to try climbing on the lead tonight, infact he ended up leading 3 routes including a 5+ on the overhanging scoop wall. Ren also learnt how to clip the rope through the quickdraws and to avoid back clipping.

http://www.spadout.com/w/quickdraw/

Nice one Ren.

Me and Dan got some routes in also, but i noticed a lack of strength after not climbing for a couple of weeks due to a finger injury that doesnt seem to want to go away!!

Hopefuly we'l get some fine weather soon, so we can get back outside!

Mountain Bikers - Snowdon Voluntary Cycling restrictions

2009-07-16T16:43:00.000+01:00

SnowdonVoluntary Cycling Restrictions in place for the summer.
Summer is finally upon us and with that it the Voluntary Cycling Restrictions come into effect on Snowdon. So if you do fancy tackling the mighty peak at the moment its either going to have to be a dawn raid or and after hours sortie
So far this voluntary restriction is working well, safeguarding our long term access to this very fine ride. The restrictions apply to The Llanberis Path The Rhyd Ddu Path The Snowdon Ranger Path
The voluntary restriction on cycling on the Snowdon bridleways is in effect between 10 am and 5 pm from 1st of may until the 30th September. This was agreed by a wide range of public bodies and individuals, and seeks to ensure safety of all path users, and avoid conflict between users
Please respect the voluntary agreement, or risk having a complete ban on cycling.

Bridleways affected by the agreement

Bwlch Maesgwm bridleway

Thanks

Ueli Steck has success climbing Gasherbrum II

2009-07-16T16:20:00.001+01:00

This comes a bit late as the blog is only just up and running, but better late than never!!

On July 9th Ueli reached the main 8035m summit of Gasherbrum II, the 14th highest peak on earth, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasherbrum_II

Sounds like he didnt have it so easy with the conditions either, deep snow, avalanche risk and high winds, read here http://ueli-steck.petzlteam.com/index.php/post/2009/07/15/Gasherbrum-II-the-story-from-Ueli
Ueli Steck reaching camp 2.

Congratulations!!