Pinnacle

Hot Aches productions in association with Mountain Equipment are proud to present "Pinnacle" a film by Paul Diffley


In one legendary week on Ben Nevis in 1960 Jimmy Marshall and Robin Smith climbed six first winter ascents on consecutive days, including the mini Alpine-route, Orion Face Direct. They also made the first one-day winter ascent of Point Five Gully, went for a long walk and got arrested over an incident with some dominoes! Exactly 50 years later Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner pay tribute to Smith and Marshall by setting out to repeat all the routes that were climbed in that famous week. This film tells the story of the original events and follows MacLeod and Turner as they discover exactly what an achievement it was.

Pinnacle premieres at Kendal Mountain film festival on Friday 19th November'10 ticket information here Andy, Dave and Diff will be also doing a Q & A after the film.

DVD will go on sale on Monday 22nd November'10 with 120 mins of extras more info on where to buy will be available on the Hot Aches site here

Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival 2010

I’ve just arrived back in the office after another great weekend at Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival, yet again as since its launch 8 years ago it was a complete sell out and the 300 seater George Square lecture theatre was packed to the rafters.


The weekend saw some awesome lectures from the likes of Mountain Equipment Pro partner Stu McAleese, adventurer Benedict Allen and cyclist Mark Beaumont along with a whole host of films to get you inspired for the outdoors and the fast approaching winter.

Saturday night was the Premiere of "The Architect" featuring Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner, the 20 minute film went down a storm with the audience so much so that it won The Peoples Choice award for best film so congratulations to Diff at Hot aches.

Big thanks to everyone that turned out over the weekend and to Stevie Christie and the EMMF team.

See you at next year’s festival on the slightly earlier date of 6^th October 2011

5 Climbs, 5 Islands part 2 on BBC iplayer

If you didn’t catch it last night the second part of 5 Climbs, 5 Islands featuring Dave MacLeod is now up to view on BBC iplayer here


Don’t forget to buy your ticket for The Great Climb night at Kendal Mountain Film Festival presented by Mountain Equipment and Scarpa here

Dave MacLeod, Richard Else, Brian Hall and Cameron McNeish will all be there presenting a night based around the “The Great Climb” which aired live on the BBC a month back.

Stu McAleese at EMMF - Tonight

Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival kicks off tonight with Mountain Equipment Pro Partner and Plas y Brenin guide Stu McAleese giving a lecture on his recent successful Big Wall climbing expedition to Baffin Island, Where Stu, Twid Turner and Mark Thomas established their new route Arctic Monkeys (VI A4 V+ 1400m) on Sail Peaks, Stewart Valley, Baffin Island.

Stu on Artic Monkeys

The lecture starts at 8pm - Ratho's Murray Lecture Theatre more details here

Dave MacLeod at EMMF this weekend

One day to go before Edinburgh Mountain film festival starts

Dave MacLeod will be taking part in the Ethics of Adventure Debate at 2pm on Sunday 24th October at the George Square Theatre alongside Kayaker Patrick Winterton and Base jumper Kris Yule.

Dave Bouldering in Glencoe

The debate panel of experts come from a variety of backgrounds, which will prove fascinating. The Festival organisers will be actively encouraging audience participation and questions, which should result in a compelling finale to an intriguing Adventure Session.

More information and to buy tickets click here

Note: today is the last day you can buy tickets online otherwise its first come first serve at the festival its self which kicks off on Thursday night with ME pro partner Stu McAleese and his Baffin Big Walls lecture at Ratho.

Piolet d'Or 2010 Chang Himal slide show

I've being meaning to post this for a bit now and with a bit of time on my hands I've eventually got round to it.

Last year Nick and I were nominated for the Piolet d'Or 2010 for our first ascent of the north face of Chang Himal in Nepal. This is the film/slide show that the organisers put together for the event.




Looking semi hopeful for flying to Lukla tomorrow, now we just need a couple of weeks of weather like we had last year, fingers crossed!

Paul Diffley at EMMF this weekend

Edinburgh Mountain Film festival kicks off this Thursday night!

Saturday (23rd) afternoon at 2pm sees friend of the brand and professional film maker Paul Diffley of Hot aches hit the stage at the George Square Lecture theatre.

Paul Filming The Pinnacle last winter on the Ben

Paul was an avid climber himself when he first decided to point a video camera at another climber in 2003. Since then, he has formed Hot Aches Productions and filmed many of the world's best climbers, making several award-winning films in the process. With a blend of dialogue, photographs, film extracts and previously unseen footage, Paul will give a comic insight into some of the iconic athletes he has worked with, sharing stories behind films such as E11, Committed, Fools with Tools, Monkey See Monkey Do and his next film The Pinnacle which premieres next month.

More information and to buy tickets click here

Note: Wednesday is the last day you can buy tickets online otherwise its first come first serve at the festival its self which kicks off on Thursday night with ME pro partner Stu McAleese and his Baffin Big Walls lecture at Ratho.

5 Climbs, 5 Islands - BBC 2 Tonight

Dont forget... The 5 climbs, 5 islands film that was originally filmed as a back up for the BBC Great Climb programme in case of atrocious weather, injuries etc will air on BBC 2 Scotland tonight.


The 2 part film (second part will air on Tuesday 26th) features ME Pro partner Dave MacLeod and fellow climber Tim Emmett as the climb around the islands of the Hebrides.

For those outside Scotland - BBC2 Scotland is also available on Sky channel 990 and it will also be available to view on BBC i player

The waiting game...

This afternoon we should have being wandering into the village of Tangnag, sitting under the south face of Kyashar, our base camp for the expedition. Instead we find ourselves wandering down to Himalayan Java for our ritual coffee session and brief escape from the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu, the constant beeping of car and bike horns, the sound track of the city, reminding us where we are.

The first attempt at flying to Lukla, only 75kg of excess, let the bartering commence!

Lukla, the small mountain airport we fly to for the start our trek, is quite literally perched on the side of a mountain, 40 minutes of beautiful Himalayan panorama ending with a very ‘exciting’ landing on the short runway with a 12% gradient. With no radar they need very good weather to operate and the heavy rain and snow over the last few days means only a small handful of flights have left. Leaving a massive backlog of trekkers and climbers at both ends, frustration showing on everyone’s face.

We’ve packed and un-packed all our kit three times now for different scenarios trying to beat the system and jump the queue. The only option other than flying is a 9 hour bus ride to Jiri, the start of all expeditions before the airport was built and then an eight day trek to Tangnag. We chose Kyashar because of its ease of access from Kathmandu, three days should have seen us at base camp, the long approach trek isn’t too appealing and already three days behind schedule we’d arrive at Tangnag nearly two weeks later than planned but with all flights fully booked for the week options were running out.

Last night over a beer with Loben (www.lobenexpeditions.com) we came up with a plan, a bit of a gamble but hopefully it pays off. This morning Phalden our ‘guide’ got the early bus to Jiri with most of our kit and will start the trek to Tangnag tomorrow. We’ve kept one bag with us, just about enough kit to try and acclimatize on Mera Peak. The idea being we can get a flight in the next couple of days which will be much easier with just the two of us and only one bag, grab a porter in Lukla and arrive in base camp quite a bit in front of Phalden and start acclimatizing. It’s never a good idea going separating from your bags but knowing Phalden he’ll look after them like his own and won’t let them out of his sight, they’re in safe hands!

GORE-TEX® Campaign hits Manchester

The Mountain Equipment GORE-TEX® campaign has hit the streets of Manchester.

Street Team

This is the first part of a campaign which will run around key locations across the UK over the coming months to coincide with our new and updated Gore styles landing in store for Winter.
The Manchester Campaign which includes billboard advertising, in store point of sale and street PR is based around The Mountain Equipment Store on Deansgate - where you can check out the latest range, more info here

Window at The ME Store

Keep your eyes peeled around Covent Garden, London in the coming weeks.

View our Hardshell range here

Kathmandu

Landing in Kathmandu on Wednesday after a brief stop in Dakar things seemed to be going unusually smooth until after an hour staring at the baggage conveyor there was still no sign of our 4 bags and 90kg of kit. Leaving Tony at the airport for a nervous wait to see if our bags would turn up on the next flight from Dakar I headed straight to the Ministry of Tourism with our agent, Loben, to meet our Liaison Officer and get the permit for Kyashar.

Tony with our 90Kg of kit at Heathrow

Amazingly, thanks to Lobens efficiency I had the permit in my hand within 2 hours of landing in the country! Things got even better when we drove back to the airport to find Tony with all four of our bags and a big grin as his bottle of 15 year old Glenlivet had arrived intact inside his boots (I’m not too sure which he was more worried about, the climbing kit turning up or the whiskey bottle!).

Sorting the paper work for the permit at the Ministry

Weather permitting we fly to Lukla tomorrow (Saturday) morning then we’ve got a four day trek to our base camp at the village of Tangnag. Since landing we’ve spent a couple of days just chilling out, catching up with friends and last minute shopping in Kathmandu. Our flight back to the UK is booked for the 19th November so all being well we’ll be back in Kathmandu a couple of days before that...

Ben Saunders at Metro Ski and Snowboard show

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If your heading to Metro Ski and Snowboard show at London's Olympia next week then make sure you check out Mountain Equipment Pro Partner Ben Saunders.

Ben will be presenting two lectures in partnership with Land Rover at the Mountain Lecture Theatre - on Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd October'10 at 2.30pm

Ben will also have his own stand at the show so make sure you head over say hello and check it out

More information and tickets available here

Southern climes on the North Ridge

What a day and there are certainly a few glowing faces in the farmhouse this evening. Crystal clear blue skies and light winds have made for a very pleasant early October day in Snowdonia.

A fantastic day on Tryfan via the North Ridge, yet again managing to go another way (anyone ever been up the same way twice?) taking in some amazing views and we even saw Prince William in a SeaKing....ok, we saw a SeaKing...but the chances are....it could have been....and several very well seasoned Mountain Goats.

One fire alarm later (Al - "you burnt the Garlic Bread") and after a hearty Spaghetti Bolognese cooked in advance by our absent Sales Manager Mr Smith everyone is feeling refreshed again.

Let the pictures do the talking.

Ready and raring to go

A stunning morning in the Ogwen Valley

Looking South across misty valleys

Not quite the Cannon Stone but close

On the summit of Tryfan

The downside of great weather

We're back in North Wales for the first of this years Mountain Training Courses and the weather could not be better - great for enjoyable days out in the mountains, not so great for teaching retail staff about our new range of GORE-TEX hardshells:)

This morning its been cold and sunny, the colours and light at dawn one of those magic moments.

Today we'll be heading out onto the Glyders. We've got eleven retail staff from independent stores across the country, many of whom have never been to Snowdonia so we'll be heading to one of North Wales finest mountains, Tryfan.

The Architect - Premiere

Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival is just 2 weeks away! click here for programme and ticket information.

Saturday 23rd will see the premiere of "The Architect" the latest film from our good friend Paul Diffley of Hotaches productions, a short taster clip of which can be seen below.



The Architect - One of the great pioneers of Scottish mountaineering, Jimmy Marshall, reflects on a lifetime of climbing in Scotland. His soulful words accompany stunning footage of Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner enjoying the routes which Marshall first climbed with his friend Robin Smith on Ben Nevis 50 years ago.

for more info head to www.hotaches.com

Kyashar Expedition

Due to one reason and another a month ago I was pretty sure this years trip out to Nepal was going to have to be cancelled after a few months of its on, its off, its back on again, then it was off again. I was actually quite looking forward to a quick Autumn hit to the alps instead but after randomly bumping into a mate, the young and talented Tony Stone, down in North Wales, suddenly it was all happening again! We got the flights confirmed for the 12th October last week and with some extra support from the Alpine Club on top of the BMC grant we already had the psyche was back again.

Tony Stone (Moonflower Buttress, Alaska)

Kyashar stands proud at 6769m guarding over the village of Tangnag in the Hinku valley, Nepal and caught both Nick and my eye when we were in the area two years ago. First climbed back in 2003 via the West ridge and West face (probably our decent route IF we get up the thing) we hope to have an attempt on the 2000m+ South Pillar (centre of the face in the photo below) which a Czech team tried last year. Unfortunately they had to retreat at around half height but reported climbing up to WI6 and M7 to where they got, ummm...

The 2000+m face of Kyashar

Kyashar emerging from the morning clouds above the Hinku Valley

Many thanks for their support on this expedition to the BMC, The Alpine Club, Mountain Equipment, Scarpa, Black Diamond, Tendon Ropes, Lorpen Socks, Adidas Eyewear

BBC 2 - 5 Climbs, 5 Islands

The 5 climbs, 5 islands film that was originally filmed as a back up for the BBC Great Climb programme in case of atrocious weather, injuries etc will air on BBC 2 Scotland on the 19th and 26th Oct'10.

The 2 part film features ME Pro partner Dave MacLeod and fellow climber Tim Emmett

Dave gives us some detail -

"We travelled about the Hebrides on a big boat, attempting some really hard new routes back to back over 5 days. You’ll have to watch the programmes to see the outcome but I can tell you it was the best trip I’ve had new routing in the Hebrides, certainly one of the hardest and definitely with the most falls!

The culmination of the trip trying a brilliant 2 pitch line of perfect black Gabbro on St Kilda was unbelievable."

For those outside Scotland - BBC2 Scotland is also available on Sky channel 990 and it will also be available to view on BBC i player - more info available at

tripleecho.co.uk

Photo: Triple Echoe Collection

British Mountain Guides Summer Test

Back in June the end of September and the first assessment on my guides training seemed ages away, loads of time I thought... As expected it all came around a bit too fast but in the end I got a good chunk of time out in the hills, not as much as I’d have liked but come the start of the assessment I felt I’d put as much effort into getting ready for it as I could have. Even though it rained for 90% of the time and we didn’t get any proper cragging in we had some really good days out just covering lots of easy ground and climbing lots of the classic routes in the mountains.

A rare respite from the rain on the top of Glyder Fach

The six days of assessment was hard, both physically and mentally. The last time I was properly assessed on anything was for my HGV driving tests and that was bad enough having someone watching your every move for 50 minutes, this was going to be six days of someone constantly look over your shoulder! The first two days of personal climbing and the problem/improvised rescue went really well with a couple of days in the sun at Gogarth and Tremadog.

Paul enjoying the sun at Gogarth on the personal climbing day

Unfortunately the Welsh monsoon returned for Wednesday and the start of the two day expedition part of the assessment. Over these two days you cover lots of mountaineering ground using all the different guiding techniques, show you can climb up to VS in big boots with all your bivi kit on your back and lots of night navigation thrown into the mix. The first day eventually ended coming down the Parsons Nose at about 2.00am (after a failed attempt to find the start of Reade’s Route on Crib Goch... opps!) and a final few night navigation legs brought us back down to the Climbers Club hut soaked to the skin at 4.00am. Finding ourselves locked out of the hut with all our sleeping bags inside (the decision not to bivi due to the weather had been made at the start of the day) we got the best result and drove back home for a few hours sleep. We finished off the final day of the expedition on and around the Idwal slabs and Sub Cneifon Rib in, surprise surprise, the rain again.

For the final two days we each had a proper client and an assessor to look after with the first day being a pure guiding day getting as much climbing done as possible and the second a teaching day. My client, Sky, was a super psyched Australian and luckily having lived in the UK for a few years had got used to the rain. We headed over to the Moelwyn’s and up to Clogwyn yr Oen for the first day where the really rough rock gives good positive and enjoyable climbing in the rain. We got ten pitches of climbing in, had the whole place to ourselves and even managed to take the waterproofs off by the end of the day. Chatting about the teaching day on the way back Sky was pretty keen to start looking at gear placements and belay building so with the sun forecast we made a plan to head to Tremadog the next day.

I’ve never done any teaching in my life so to say I was a bit apprehensive going into the final day of the assessment was an understatement. Although I didn’t feel confident by how the day went, I could tell my teaching skills were lacking that little bit of something, by the end of the day Sky had gone from never having seconded VS to cleanly following me up three routes of that grade and building her own bomber belays, but more importantly for me she enjoyed the two days (I think!).

So to the results... well I was really pleased to get a provisional pass, just being asked to observe a couple of days teaching to help give me a better idea on that side of things before I got an official pass. I was fortunate enough to be able to join Chris Ensoll (www.chris-ensoll.com) in the Lakes this weekend to get the required days done and my summer assessment signed off.

Trail Magazine - Waterproof Jacket Test

The New issue of Trail Magazine (Nov'10) has just landed in the office. This months issue features their Annual Waterproof Jacket test by Gear Guru Graham Thompson. Graham tested 87 jackets for this years review across 4 categories - General, Winter, Multi activity and Lightweight.

4 Mountain Equipment jackets - Kongur, Morpheus, Seraph and Firefox were put to the test.....

The Kongur Jacket came out Best in Test for the 5th year running in the Winter Jackets category and was the first Jacket ever to get 5/5 back in 2005. Graham commented highly on the longer cut, Mountain HC hood, New Stratum Pocket System and our New Gore-Tex Pro Shell Ascendor II and Tenacity fabrics. Read more about the Kongur here

click to view reviews

The Men's Morpheus and Women's Seraph Jackets scored an impressive 4/5 in the General Jacket category and were the only Gore-Tex Pro Shell jackets to get in the top 10. Both jackets scored highly on fit, our Mountain hood, New Stratum Pocket System and our New Gore-Tex Pro Shell Ascendor II fabric. Read more about the Morpheus here and Seraph here

The 4th and final jacket to be put to the test was the Firefox Jacket in the Multi-Activity category again was the only Gore-Tex Pro Shell model to make the top 10 and scored 4/5. The Firefox got a great review on breathability, fit, pocket size and our Mountain hood. Read more about the Firefox here

You can check out the whole in depth test by grabbing a copy from your local newsagent/outdoor retailer now also check out The Trail website livefortheoutdoors.co.uk

John Silvester aka The Birdman

If you've been at any of the Mountain film festivals over the last 18 months you'll probabaly will have seen the amazing Al Hughes film "The Birdman of the Karakorum" featuring John Silvester.

John has been using Mountain Equipment clothing on his Himalayan paragliding expeditions for years - as you can see in the below clip below from the film, where he's using our Classic synthetic Snowline Parka.

This weekend John sets off to India on his next adventure -

John - "We are going to go back in over the 4600m Thamsur pass and visit the remote village of Barabhangal, then hopefully continue through the 4800m Kalicho la into Kistwar and to Keylong (i flew here last year via Manali over the Rhotang pass...but this way will be much better!)....or, other wise continue to Padam!!!"

John will also be doing some guided trips while he's out in India more info on this here - http://www.flyskyhigh.net/ and http://www.himalayanskysafaris.com/

On this trip John is going to using some of our New Winter'10 Synthetic products and putting them to the test -

Citadel Jacket
Fitzroy Pant
Fitzroy Mitt

Check back here soon for pictures and John's report