Kendal Mountain Film Festival

If you are braving the weather and heading for Kendal Mountain Film Festival this weekend make sure you go and check our pro partners and their lectures

Thurs 19th - Brewery Centre Screen 2 - Andy Turner - Phari Lapcha Expedition

Friday 20th - Parish Hall - Tarka'Herpinere and Katie Jane Cooper - Rivers of Ice

Also Andy Houseman will be hanging around fresh from his 1st ascent on Chang Himal, Sandy Allan will be there with information on his guiding company Team Ascent, Artist and legend Andy Parkin and some off our very own team will be hanging around most likely near a bar! after a heavy week of Winter 2010 sales meetings.

more info and tickets head to the ticket desk at the Brewery Centre or see the website

Ran Fiennes Interview on BBC i-player

Check out BBC 4's - Mark Lawson interview with adventurer/explorer and long standing friend of the brand - Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Watch the interview on BBC i-player here

This Months Climb Magazine

I've just had the latest issue of "Climb" magazine (Dec'09) land on my desk - go out and grab a copy, then checkout Tom Richardson's write up on all you need to know about 'Down Jackets' - Our Vega and Greenland Jackets are featured

see the website for more info on our insulation collection

http://www.mountain-equipment.co.uk/the_gear/clothing/insulation/

Chang Himal North Face ED+ / M6

This time last year Nick and I returned to Kathmandu early and empty handed, literally, after having our base camp robbed and grand old sum of zero climbing. Things went a bit different this year, everything seemed to just work out, great weather, great mountain, brilliant base camp cook, no robbers and a summit.

North Face of Chang Himal, Central Spur, 1800m ED+ / M6 (Bullock & Houseman 29/10/09 - 02/11/09)

The awesome 1800m North face of Chang Himal (6802m) was quite daunting to wake up to each morning, looking directly across at it, 1km away over a jumbled glacier/moraine mess. Having filled our cook 'Buddy' with confidence after failing to reach the top of some nearby 6000m bumps and taking two attempts to get up the local trekking peak, 'route finding errors...', dawn on the 29th October saw us a good way up the lower part of the face and fighting off the initial signs of a bout of Gardia, perfect timing!

We spent 5 days on the face, covering well over 2000m of ground, the second been the slowest and crux with run out climbing up to Scottish 7/M6 on steep rotten ice/snow over loose rock. Gear and belays seemed to take an age to uncover, finding something if you were lucky. Any un-comfy second night on a 30cm snow ledge was eased slightly hoping the crux section was, hopefully, below us. After a few hours simu-climbing the third day ended with 3 pitches bringing us up into the steep Peruvian style snow flutings below the summit.

Andy starting out from the Bivi on Day 2. Photo: Nick Bullock

Waking, not sure if we'd climb ourselves into a dead end Nick peeked over into the next fluting returning with a grin, game on! Leaving all the gear at the bivi we managed to grovel up the final flutings to follow the east ridge for the last 100m to the summit.

Nick heading up the second and crux pitch on Day 2

Over a year of looking at photos, nearly two weeks staring, watching from base camp – will it? won’t it? To finally be sat, along with Nick, one leg either side of the knife edge summit, wow! I can’t begin to describe.

Down climbing back to the last bivi we spent another night there before abseiling the rest of the face in 14 hours and crashing out in a small cave at the base, bodies trashed but big smiles.

A massive thanks to everyone who supported this trip, Mountain Equipment, Black Diamond, Scarpa, Mammut, DMM, SIS (Sports in Science) and the Lyon Equipment Award for their continued help with gear and financial support from The BMC, MEF, Nick Estcourt Award, Mark Clifford Award, Shipton/Tilman Award. This trip couldn’t have happened without it, your support is much appreciated, thank you.

Summit joy! Photo - Nick Bullock

Welsh Mountain Skills: Round Up

Well the final week of our Welsh Mountain Skills ended with Autumn gales, Autumn deluges and Autumn illness!

Our team approaching the summit of Y Garn

Monday dawned bright, distinctly colder and showery. Our objective that day was to be the North East Ridge of Y Garn followed by a traverse around onto Glyder Fach and then a descent down the Y Gribin ridge and back to Idwal Cottage. Finally some proper weather. A cold North Westerly air stream was feeding in a regular flow of showers and as we headed higher these turned increasingly wintry. By the time we were on the Glyders and well above 900m we experienced our first flakes of snow of the 2009/10 winter.

Picking their way up Y Garn's NE Ridge

Unfortunately Tuesday did not dawn as promising. The forecast gave us barely a few precious hours of relatively dry weather. And so Rich and myself headed across to Tremadog to give Rob and Laura (Mountain, Trek and Travel) and X their first experience of multi pitch rock climbing with an ascent of Boo Boo.

From there things, personally speaking when abruptly downhill. Rich Bailey promptly keeled over with flu like symptons and several hours later I too was knocked sideways by a fever and soaring temperature. We both headed for the protection of beds and duvet covers.

So whilst we moped around feeling ill, Martin and Russel Thompson from WL Gore headed across to Llanberis for a damp ascent of the Parsons Nose. Clogwyn Y Parson Arete is the classic grade 3 scramble thats rears up out of the upper reaches of Cyrn Las towards the skyline of Crib Goch / Crib Y Ddysgyll.

By the time the fourth and final course started, Rich and I were feeling little better so it was left to Martin, Alec and Russel to carry the torch, enjoying, if that is the right word a thoroughly wet ascent of Snowdon from Ynys Ettws in Llanberis.

The soaring ridge line of Cneifion Arete (Mod)

The final day ended very much on a similar theme, Rich spent a very wet dry, climbing very wet rock at Tremadog with Kevin from Facewest, Jane brushed up her navigation with our southern sales manager Alec and everyone else experienced scrambling 'on steroids' - climbing swathes of rock in a full-on mountaineering experience.

And so that brought to an end our Autumn series of mountain training events. Over the past two weeks we have provided training to some 35 retail staff from all across the country, from large multiples to small indepedents, all of whom who will now hopefully be able to provide our customers with even better service and knowledge of our products. I'm just waiting for the next one now....

New Concept store - Japan

If you happen to be in or travelling through Japan make sure you come and checkout the second Mountain Equipment Concept store which has just opened its doors in Chiyoda-ku district of Tokyo.

Address - Mountain Equipment, ICI Club Kanda Ogawa-cho 3-6, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

For more information head to

http://www.mountain-equipment.jp/

http://www.ici-club.jp/

Houseman and Bullock success on Chang Himal

We have just heard the massive news that Andy Houseman and Nick Bullock have bagged the first ascent of the north face of Chang Himal.

The remote 6750m peak of Chang Himal (a.k.a. Wedge Peak) has only ever seen one previous ascent via the south side in the 70's. Despite a number of attempts, until now, the formidable 1500m mixed north face had remained untamed and has been seen for many years as one of the significant unclimbed Himalayan objectives.

We can't wait to hear the full details of the ascent which Houseman and Bullock tackled with a fast and lightweight alpine style approach. For now we just want to spread the exciting news and send huge congratulations to the guys for their awesome acheivement.

Andy Houseman is a Mountain Equipment Pro Partner. The Chang Himal Expedition was supported by The Mark Clifford Grant, Nick Estcourt Award and GORE-TEX Shipton/Tillman Grant.

Andy Parkin in Alpinist 28

Checkout Ed Douglas's feature on Andy Parkin - 'A Muscular Imagination: Andy Parkin and the Art of Climbing' in Alpinist 28.

For more information head too

http://www.alpinist.com/

http://www.andyparkin.com/

Hello

Jude Laws latest love conquest - Fergies most explosive interview yet - Tarka and Katie??????

not the usual place you'd expect our pro partners Tarka L'Herpiniere and Katie Jane Cooper to appear but if you happen to read Hello magazine this week checkout the feature on their recent Patagonian epic - Rivers of Ice expedition.

for more info check out http://www.rivers-of-ice.com/