Pulling hard yesterday

Duncan pulling hard through the roof

We met up down in the Rhone valley & drove over towards Martigney to climb at Shakti, a small crag next to the river, close to Lavey les Bains.

It's a steep crag, but the climbing is generally on positive holds even if a bit small at times when you take in the overhanging nature of a lot of the routes. Just stepping off the ground you're working hard & working through the middle moves it's easy to get pretty pumped.

You get a feel for the steepness when you're being lowered down & you end up on the ground 6m out from the base of where you started!

Duncan moving up through and past the crux

 

Oz enjoying some sun on the steep wall at Shakti 

 

Great fun climbing at Shakti 

Ade

A Canadian summer trip

Very inspired to get back out to Canada, but this time in the summer.

September can be a great time & a trip climbing Mt Assiniboine, as well as to explore part of the Bugaboo Range & then some rock climbing in the Bow Valley would be awesome.

Mt Assiniboine 3,618m is in the Mt Assiniboine Provincial Park which is sandwiched between the Banff & Kootenay National Parks in the Canadian Rockies.

Mt Assiniboine is THE Matterhorn of the Canadian Rockies with its pyramidal shape & steep technical ridges, but having the added beauty of being totally away from all the crowds and in a wild & remote setting.

This photo from Barry Blanchard shows the North ridge, NE & NW faces of Mt Assiniboine seen when looking south from Mt Assiniboine Lodge.

It’s here from Mt Assiniboine Lodge close to the shores of Lake Magog that you get some of the most spectacular views of this beautiful mountain.

Access into Mt Assiniboine Lodge is long, as it is when tacking any route on this mountain, so climbers usually fly in making the most of the good weather spells.

Mt Assiniboine Lodge (2,225m) is an historic Norwegian Style Lodge which sleeps 30 people in rustic rooms & 6 cabins with great hosts serving up its famous delicious gourmet food.

From Mt Assiniboine Lodge, it’s still a good half day walk & scramble into the high mountain RC Hind Hut situated conveniently on the flanks of the NW face providing great access to many of the routes.

The RC Hind Hut at about 2,690m sleeps 15 people

From the RC Hind Hut you can climb the long 900m North Ridge which just looks fantastic. 

Pigeon Peak

The Bugaboo Glacier Provincial Park, is a very isolated & spectacular range of rugged granite spires & glaciers in the Purcell Mountains of BC Canada

The Palliser Expedition in 1857 – 1860 first traversed the area and named it after their expedition sponsor Goodwin Purcell. In 1969, Bugaboo Glacier Provincial Park and the Bugaboo Alpine Recreation Area were set aside to preserve and protect this outstanding area of the Purcells. Now climbers from all over the world come to climb these amazing granite spires.

Pigeon Peak (3,150m) is one of these rugged granite towers & the super classic West ridge is a one of the best routes of its grade in North America, climbing immaculate granite, on a knife edge at times to a beautiful summit & inspiring views

The West Ridge of Pigeon Peak

This very isolated range of rugged granite towers & glaciers is actually only a 3hr drive from Banff & then a 3hr walk into the Conrad Kain Hut (2,230m) which gives great access to Pigeon Peak as well as many of the other routes & peaks here.

Castle Mountain in the Bow Valley was named back in 1858 by James Hector for its castle like or fortress appearance and is the obvious mountain seen as you drive between Banff & Lake Louise.

Castle Mountain is situated in more of a pre-alpine setting with easy access from the valley floor devoid of glaciers where it will make the perfect change from spending time in the mountains & will be a great culmination to the 2 week trip - the rock climbing looks fantastic.

It just looks fantastic in summer.

Ade 

Galloway Forest Park

We had a great time last week camping in Glentrool in the Galloway Forest Park.
The forest's massive & at about 300sq miles, it's the biggest in Britain.

In amongst the densely populated forest of Sitka Spruce, Scots Pine,  Birch & other broad leaved trees off road biking trails weave around the undulating forest floor. The 7 Staines was one of the first of it's kind offering marked trails of varying grades to the off road enthusiast.

Once out of the forest & into the open moorland it feels wild & rugged with beautiful Lochs filling in much of the open spaces.

Paul changing spinners, to try & temp a 2nd trout of the day

We went canoeing & fished for Brown Trout & we went biking exploring the many trails.

It's a beautiful area with also much climbed & unclimbed rock waiting to be explored which will be my next trip up there.

On the way home Sal turfed me out at Shap just North of the Howgills & I cycled home.

The Howgills are a range of rugged hills that I look out to, from my home in Sedbergh. Looking North you look up to the trig point on top of Winder & beyond. I’ve yet still so explore the whole area but the walking, biking & fell running in a remote quiet setting is amazing. The rolling nature of the hills lends itself to these disciplines & it’s amazing how remote it can feel once on the tops away from everything & everyone.

Little by little I’m slowly exploring more of the Howgills & enjoying the challenges that these present.

I cycled down through Orton looking straight into the heart to the Howgills & was hooked into an obvious spur which ran gently up onto the tops. I could just make out a worn track which I thought must be a way on. So without a map of any sorts & the sun still high enough in the sky I headed up into the hills.

I had a great adventure which felt serious & committing with the sun much lower, dipping below the hoizon when I eventually got home.

A one point I was shouldering the bike & climbing down a very steep grassy broad spur for about 600m where a slip would have been very serious & that was without fording the stream at the bottom to then climb back up the other side!

It’s pretty wild when you get right into the heart of the hills & committed to continuing on.

All good training I kept telling myself!

After a few days of DIY I’m back out in Leysin & looking forward to the greater challenges the Alps has to offer.

Below is the view from the Grand Chalet at the top of Leysin Village. When staying up at the hotel the views are amazing looking out over the Valais & Mt Blanc Massif.

Ade

Finale last week

We arrived in the Dolomites late Saturday night & woke up to snow on all the hills and the roads looking impassable, which was without going over any of the higher passes – 10cm of new snow in Cortina!

After a coffee & a fresh look at the forecasts for the week we saw freezing overnight temps and more snow flurries, so we decided to bail out and head further south.

We arrived in Finale on the Mediterranean coast 4hrs later and were greeted to 26 degrees with the forecast predicting it to get even hotter – fantastic

Finale Ligure

You’ve just got to love it here, it’s a beautiful little Italian old town situated right on the Mediterranean coastline with quality limestone cliffs scattered everywhere.

Finalborgo - the old town of Finale

Immaculate steep pocketed limestone

Looking down to Finale & the beautiful Mediterranean Sea beyond

Ali enjoyng the climbing high on a remote cliff

Ali enjoying steep multi-pitch climbing at Monte Cucco 

The fantastic cliffs of Monte Cucco

Great views across the valley from Monte Cucco

Ali enjoying leading at Monte Cucco, a beautiful wall of great pockets & edges

Fantastic climbing at Crag Telematica in Colletta nr Castelbianco

The village of Colletta nr Castelbianco

Sea cliffs right in the town of Finale Ligure

Will enjoying the sun rock Mediterranean experience

The climbing here in Finale & surrounding areas is so varied with plenty of multi-pitch routes with many crags in a remote setting. It was also a great time to visit with warm but not too hot temperatures and also few other climbers around. I also love the Italian way of life, it always feels very chaotic but relaxed at the same time with everyone out making the most of the sunshine with a healthy work life balance.

Me - back in the Lakes at the weekend to cooler & slightly wetter and very windy conditions and a couple of sessions at both Ingleton & Kendal walls just hasn’t been quite the same! Although it is firing me up for another trip in the not to distant future!

Ade

BMG Summer Rock Training

I convened the summer rock climbing training for the new trainees on the British Mountain Guides training scheme here in the Lakes just over 10 days ago.

We had a great week focused on 3 key eliments of summer UK rock guiding which was a guided climbing day, a short roping mountain day and a teaching day.

Ben Bradford leading the rope on the guided climbing day, Raven Crag, Langdale

Dave Evans short roping Bruce Pole & myself on Dow Crag, Coniston

Bruce Pole on the teaching day on Black Crag, Borrowdale

 

It’s been a very healthy intake for the BMG with 8 trainees all passing their inductions at the end of last year. I meet them all as a group for the first time on the cascade icefall climbing day back in January which was great.

It’s a tough road going through the BMG Guides scheme and it’s so important that we as trainers give 110% every day we work with them. I’m sure everyone took away with them valuable learning points & it was inspiring for all that attended & I wish them all the best for their coming summer UK rock assessment later in the year.

Ade

The Lakes

Well it’s been a super busy last 4 weeks.........

The weather here in the Lakes has been great and with all the high mountain crags being dry, it's practically been a carte blanche to climb anywhere.

Adrian & I had a great day climbing up on Gimmer Crag in Great Langdale. It felt unseasonally warm for the end of April & were treated to warm rock & few other teams climbing on what is one of the best crags in the valley.

Adrian Walter finishing up the final pitch of the classic Kipling Groove

Tom Hull took this photo of Gimmer Crag, the day we were climbing there.

 It's a great view looking into the upper NW face, with the upper W face in pofile & the Great Langdale Valley below.

You can just make me out leading the steep rib on the 2nd pitch of Kipling Groove with another team in The Crack

The weather contiued to hold with Chris Corlett & I having a great week of climbing together.

I headed back up into Great Langdale & we climbed some of the great classics on Raven Crag such as Revelation, Centipede & Bilberry Buttress, before heading up onto Gimmer Crag again late afternoon early evening for some more climbing.

A team on Revelation, Raven Crag, Great Langdale

Then we headed over to Coniston & into Dow Crag. It's an East facing crag which is awesome in both summer & winter, giving quality routes of all grades in a fantastic setting. The rock's Rhyolite from the Borrowdale Volcanic group, which in climbing terms gives you great friction, good solid holds & good quality gear when you place it.  

Our first view of Dow Crag walking in from the Walna Scar road

Chris's first lead on Giants Crawl, Dow Crag.

Enjoying the views on top of 'B' Buttress

An amazingly quite day again considering the weather, with only one other team climbing on 'A' Buttress

Climbers on Eliminate 'A', A Buttress, Dow Crag

Chris seconding the final steep pitch of Eliminate 'A' on Dow Crag

A topo of some of the classic routes around 'A' & 'B' Buttress's

Dow Crag, Coniston.

'A' Buttress

Eliminate ‘A’ VS - red

'B' Buttress

Climbers descent – green dash

Giants Crawl VD - blue

Nimrod E1 5c – lime green

Catacomb E1 5b - yellow

Holocast E4 6a - brown

Tumble E4 6a - black

Pink Panther E2 5c - purple

Murry’s Direct VS - orange

The following day we headed up the lower & upper Scout Crags in Great Langdale, to get us up into White Ghyll.

Chris leading Route 1 on Upper Scout Crag, Great Langdale

In White Ghyll we climbed the classic Slip Knot on the lower wall & then descended down to the base of the upper wall and climbed Haste Not which is a brilliant route at the grade.

Upper White Ghyll, Great Langdale

White Ghyll, Great Langdale.

Haste Not VS - red

Haste Not Direct E2 5c - green

Gordian Knot VS - orange

White Ghyll Eliminate E2 5c - blue

View down into Langdale from White Ghyll

 

We then headed North over Dunmail Raise & climbed on Castle Rock at the head of Lake Thirlmere. It’s another great crag with a steep and intimidating North Face and a cluster of classic 3 star multi-pitch routes all finding weaknesses up its overhanging walls.

We first climbed Overhanging Bastion which takes an unlikely line of weakness directly through the overhanging face. It’s a fantastic route high in its grade & amazing in its exposure.

The easier Zig Zag is another classic route weaving its way up through the steep face. It's an unwelcoming steep wall,apart from the steepness of it all it always looks green & unclimbed on. But as soon as you start climbing a route the holds, cracks & features unfold giving great climbing in the most unlikely steep & airy positions

Nigel heading up the 1st pitch of Zig Zag

After lunch we headed into Keswick and then on into Borrowdale & climbed on one of my favourite crags in he Lakes - Reecastle in Watendlath

This is just one of the best single-pitch crags anywhere. The rocks compact, fantastic quality, clean and as you stenuously pull your way up the steep, barrelling face you’ll find surprisingly good reliable gear when you need it. The climbing here is just awesome and only a short walk in from the road.

It’s a NW facing crag and does take time to dry, but when it does its just some of the best climbing anywhere.

We climbed the super classic White Noise which takes a leftwards slanting crack line in the centre of the crag. It’s a great 40m pitch with most of the steep climbing pulling into the crack at the start.

There are so many great routes here, which alone has inspired my climbing recently. Having said that, you can’t help being inspired when the weather in the Lakes is this good.

Happy Climbing

Ade

  

Some thoughts for the day!

The coffee’s hissing and percolating on the gas next to me and the strong aroma fills Andy’s base camp. Looking out the window and up to the Chamonix Aiguilles, you feel connected and inspired as the same time.

You don’t lose that connection with the mountains, it’s always here, ingrained in the woodwork and the whole fabric of the place. Climbing guides and mountaineering books covering every square inch of the globe, painting and art books by the likes of John Ruskin, Sculpting books, AAC Journals, AC Journals, boxes bursting with dog eared maps, sketch drawings and route descriptions/topos just fill every available space. The place is bursting with energy and enthusiasm drawing me into it with a new lease of life and enthusiasm.

Every climbing guide I pick up is well thumbed with corners of pages folded back. I skim over pen written notes Andy’s made, a first solo winter ascent he’d done in say 1980 or a new route idea and a possible new line, penned in on a photo with notes attached. Postcards, photo’s and drawings he’s taken or drawn, slipped into pages of these books all held together by elastic or just wedged in amongst each other. You can’t help but be totally inspired. I sit down in front of the fire and make my own notes and plans for climbs/new routes in the future.

I’m sure Andy’s painting and sculpting feeds from his climbing and time spent in the mountains. As I pull out notebooks with ‘Patagonia’, ‘Nepal’ or some other far flung mountainous place hand written on the spines, I find his diaries. Not a diary written with words and dates, but an account of a trip through drawings. People I guess he’s met, mountains he’s seen or maybe climbed, campsites, tea houses anything along his journey that has maybe inspired him or help tell the story of his trip.

There’s none of life’s clutter here, you don’t need it, just books to read and time to think, write, draw and make plans. If you’re not doing any of that then the stereo’s on full volume or you’re asleep!!

Chatting to Andy about absolutely anything always gets back to some aspect of climbing or maybe a piece he’s sculpting at his studio down the road. His knowledge of climbing and passion about the tiniest aspect and his own personal drive and direction leaves you feeling totally inspired to do and know more.

I say all this because every time I come here I leave understanding more about myself and even more determined about my direction and what’s important about life. Sounds a little mellow dramatic I know but that’s how it is.

It’s like when I’m away in Kyrgyzstan, meeting the local people and climbing in the great wilderness of the Tien Shan, climbing new peaks/routes, exploring new areas and having some  great adventures. Canada, Alaska or coming out to the Alps in winter as I am now and exploring new ice lines maybe only formed for the first time or climbing existing lines which always form differently. The ice constantly changes, temperature affected and the snow hazards around and above the routes make the climbing experience so absorbing and with few people around climbing these frozen waterfalls it’s totally inspiring.

I visited Slovenija before Christmas and had a week mixed climbing in the Julian Alps around Triglav National Park. We had a fantastic time, sure the climbing was hard, climbing mixed routes on big limestone faces but along with the people we met we came home totally inspired and re energised.

Everybody’s good at something and it’s very rewarding for anybody to find out what that something is and be good at it, whatever it may be. But it’s also important to learn new things and be pushed out of your comfort zone a little and it’s then I feel that you’ll find the rewards climbing and the mountains has to offer. It’s not just about sticking your little toe in and feeling the temperature or just ticking a box or mountain, it’s about spending time in the mountains and unearthing what both the mountains and climbing really have to offer and enjoying the riches that brings.

Climbing challenges you in every way, both physically and mentally, allows you to experience new areas, countries, cultures, make new friends and build relationships, find out more about yourself and question what’s important. The very nature of climbing/mountaineering strips back the many layers of onion peel and exposes the real you and gives you life changing experiences like nothing else.

Carving you own furrow is always hard when more often than not, you’re going against societies norm but the life fulfilment at the end of it makes it all the more worthwhile.

Remember that you won’t be remembered for the things you wished you’d have done and nobody remembers all of life’s expensive clutter, they’ll remember you as a person, what inspired you and what you did with your life and all the adventures along the way.

Enjoy!

Ade