The Long Hope: Trailer

St John's head on the Island of Hoy is a wild and remote 1150 foot sea cliff. It was first climbed in 1970 by climber and poet Ed Drummond together with Oliver Hill. They took 7 days to climb the cliff, sleeping on ledges and in hammocks along the way. Now, 40 years later, Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner set out to climb the cliff in a single day, finishing with a new desperately hard final pitch up the headwall.

This historic new climb, The Longhope Route Direct (E11), is captured close-up with the latest HD cameras and contrasted with the challenges of Drummond and Hills first ascent through interviews and archive material. The film also follows Drummond, now in his late sixties and suffering from Parkinson's disease, as he makes a pilgrimage back to St John's Head to look upon the route one last time.

The Long Hope is available on DVD or via HD download at the Hot aches website here

Ben Saunders: Interview

Check out the latest issue of Magnificent Man Magazine featuring an interview with Ben on his plans for his next South Pole expedition here

Kaspersky ONE Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Mountain Equipment are pleased to announce our support of Felicity Aston and her record breaking Antarctic Solo attempt. 

     

The Expedition

The Kaspersky ONE Trans-Antarctic Expedition is a landmark solo expedition and a world first. British explorer, Felicity Aston (33), will embark on a 1700km, 65-day ski journey in order to become the first woman in the world to cross the Antarctic alone. By completing the journey Felicity will also be the first British woman to traverse Antarctica. However, this journey is about more than records. The expedition aims to instil a spirit of adventure, aspiration and innovation as well as understand more about what motivates individuals to achieve.

Felicity will fly into Antarctica from Punta Arenas, Chile and spend a few days at the base camp operated by Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE). ALE will provide all safety and communication cover during the expedition. She will then be flown to the Ross Ice Shelf at the foot of the Leverett Glacier from where she will start her journey. Skiing up the Leverett Glacier, through the Transantarctic mountains she will climb onto the Polar Plateau and head for the South Pole. After collecting a resupply of food and fuel at the Pole, Felicity will continue across the Polar Plateau to the coast of Antarctica at the edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf. Arriving at Hercules Inlet, Felicity will have traversed the entire Antarctic continent.

Heres a short video with more details about Felicity and her expedition.



Felicity arrived at Union Glacier base camp after a 10 day delay due to bad weather last weekend, you can track her latest location at the expedition website here 

Early season trip to Cervinia

Our friends at Whitedot Skis - Jess Whiskin and Mark Perkins emailed this short report over from their early season "warm up" trip to Cervina, Itailan Alps.

"It’s still pretty early in the season to expect to access any decent snow for skiing in Europe but after a damp summer and a balmy autumn in the Chamonix valley, we were all too ready to shake out the legs and take our new skis for a spin. A weekend jaunt to Cervinia in the Italian Alps was an unexpected revelation and all the more of a bonus to get on skis this early in November.

We drove from Chamonix on the French side of the Month Blanc tunnel, where the mountains are still looking distinctly autumnal and snow free for this time of year. Bowling down the motorway through the Aosta valley on empty roads in bright sunshine, it felt like Spring but winding up the hairpins on the approach to Cervinia, it was immediately clear we were in for a spectacular day.

Following heavy storms in the Gulf of Turin which lasted pretty much all of last week, the high slopes in Cerviniaopened this weekendto a bucket load of fresh snow and bright blue skies. There were even a few powder turns to be had off the sides of the pistes on Saturday. Temperatures were balmy with hardly any windchill and not a cloud in the sky allowing great views over the Gran Paradiso mountain range, emerging out of the cloud forest.

Cervinia opens earlier than most other resorts simply because of its altitude at 2030m, with the highest area of the resort on glacial terrain and backing on to Zermatt (also now partially open.)  There were lots of race teams in town, gearing up for winter by carving impossibly sharp lines on the piste in top to toe lycra.

The great thing about skiing in Italy too is that the Italians tend to settle down to a long lunch in the afternoon, basking in the sunshine for the rest of the afternoon on deck chairs, leaving us to zoom around on practically empty pistes. So that’s the legs warmed up for the season 2011/12 and now thoroughly in the mood for a long, cold winter. "

Jess and Mark

More info available here at  whitedotskis.com

Friday Night: Kendal Mountain Festival

Great night at the KMF last night... I'm sure a few people are feeling the effects of it this morning.

L to R - Andy Turner, Dave MacLoed, Paul Diffley, Ed Drummond, and Oliver Hill

photo - henryiddon.com

The Long Hope went down a storm at its premiere, Paul Diffley and his team have done an amazing job definitely a must watch!. It was also great to see Ed Drummond and Oliver Hill in

attendance too

Ed Drummond takes to the stage

Then the ME pub quiz... 

Andy Kirkpatrick gets the quiz underway

Big thanks to everyone that took part in the ME Pub quiz, we had an amazing night, the list of captains read like a "who's who" of climbing Dave MacLeod, John Dunne, Stephen Venables, Lynn Hill, Leo Holding, Twid Turner, Jerry Gore, Nick Bullock, Cory Richards, Denis Urubko, James Pearson, Faveresse brothers, Sean Villaneuva-O'Driscol, Andy Cave, Simone Moro, Andy Turner, Brian Davison, Brian Hall all brought under some mild form of control by quiz master Andy Kirkpatrick. 

packed Malt Room for the quiz

Big thanks to Mick Ryan from UKC for putting together the questions and Clive Allen and the Kendal team for hosting the event. I should also mention that Andy Turners team won, so well done to them. Now time for some films and rest before tonights party.

Nick Bullock - Must get... fitter, stronger, better lecture dates

Fancy checking out Nick Bullock's latest lecture? - Must get... fitter, stronger, better well why not head to one of the following dates in the next 2 weeks.

Were pleased to announce that Nick will be lecturing at the Mountain Equipment Store, Deansgate, Manchester on Thursday 17th November'11 at 7pm. To register for this event head over to the ME Stores Facebook page here 


Nick will then also be lecturing at Kendal Mountain Festival on Sunday 20th November'11 at 2pm at the Box, more information available here 

Dave MacLeod - Stokes Croft 7c+ Video

Heres a short clip of Dave on Stokes Croft 7C+ , Glen Torridon earlier this week 




Check out Dave's full write at his blog here 

Jens Holsten Lecture: A life in the Vertical World

Were please to announce that ME Pro partner Jens Holsten will be lecturing at Redmond Vertical World, Redmond, WA at 4pm on Saturday 12th November'12.

Jens...

"As climbers and humans, we never know when our journey will end. Of course, it is impossible to see the future with all it's unimaginable twists and turns. We wake up each day and take the next step.

Although times to come are hard to predict, the roots of personal evolution can be looked back upon and added up to reach a sum of who we are today. Fifteen years agon I stepped into the Redmond Vertical World for my first time. That junior high after school activity sparked a passion that still drives my life to this day. Since that time I have worked extensively with The Vertical World as an instructor and route setter. Although the last six years have seen me squishing grapes for money, I am excited to head back to the Redmond VW for a slideshow presentation on November 12th. All the adventures I've had so far in this life blossomed from the skills, friendship, and work ethic instilled in me during those dusty days slapping plastic. I am excited to share photos and stories from my journey as a climber that continues on and on, and on..."

If your in the Redmond, Washington state area make sure you come along and check Jens lecture out

More information available at Redmond Vertical World