New images are clickable

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....

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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!