An evening on Pluto

With the long and light evenings of late Spring now well upon us, I took the opportunity for an evenings climb on Raven Crag. Its a superb venue for evening climbing, a short walk from the well placed Old Dungeon Ghyll and offering a great selection of accessible routes.

Long-term climbing buddy Chris was with me and with plenty of other teams on the easier classics we headed across to Pluto, a 3-pitch HVS offering a little bit of everything - some steepish crack climbing, a great traverse pitch and a final rib and slab. I hadnt climbed the route for several years and Chris never so it was perfect, a great route for a competent team, we'd obviously just have to scrape by!

Everything felt a little alien, having spent so much time fell running rather than climbing lately but everything quickly fell into place and it was one of the best evenings climbing I've had in ages and the perfect tonic to last weeks rather busy Summer 2013 sales launch!

A late Spring evening in Langdale

Pitch One - a steep crack

Chris cruising on pitch one of Pluto

Rich delicately traverses pitch 2 of Pluto

Chris struggles with his rack

Are you sure its this way?

Rich traverses high above Langdale

Chris high on the final pitch of Pluto

'I dont want to hear anymore about your new SS13 range'

Echoes

The guys at Vertebrate Publishing have just release more information about Nick's first book 'Echoes' due for release September 2012

The Book

“As I sat cradling the man’s head, with his blood and brains sticking to my hands, I heard a voice – my own voice. It was asking me something. Asking how I had ended up like this, desperate and lost among people who thought nothing of caving in a man’s head and then standing back to watch him die.”

Nick Bullock was a prison officer working in a maximum-security jail with some of Britain’s most notorious criminals. Trapped in a world of aggression and fear, he felt frustrated and alone. Then he discovered the mountains.

Making up for lost time, Bullock soon became one of Britain’s best climbers, learning his trade in the mountains of Scotland and Wales, and travelling from Pakistan to Peru in his search for new routes and a new way of seeing the world – and ultimately an escape route from his life inside.

Told that no one ever leaves the service – the security, the stability, the ‘job for life’ – Bullock focused his existence on a single goal: to walk free, with no shackles, into a mountain life.

Echoes is a powerful and compelling exploration of freedom – and what it means to live life on your own terms.

About Nick

Nick Bullock was born on Christmas Day in 1965. After leaving school aged 16 he worked variously as a gamekeeper, a self-employed labourer and at Alton Towers (less exciting than it sounds) before joining Her Majesty’s Prison Service in 1987 where he was posted to the high security Gartree Prison as a Wing Officer, then a Punishment Block Officer. In 1992 he was introduced to climbing at Plas-y-Brenin while training as a Physical Education Instructor: his life was about to change dramatically.

Devoting all of his free time to climbing, Nick quickly established himself as one of the UK’s leading climbers, making bold repeats in fine style of many of the UK’s most renowned traditional climbs. A veteran of over 20 expeditions to the greater ranges and approximately 50 Alpine routes, it is in the mountains where Nick has truly demonstrated his imagination and abilities, making significant ascents and failing on some audacious attempts around the world with partners such as Jules Cartwright, Al Powell, Kenton Cool and, more recently, Andy Houseman. In 2003 he quit the prison service and has since devoted his life to climbing, writing and being frugal.

An accomplished writer, his work has been published in Alpinist, Climb Magazine, Vertical, UKClimbing.com, The Alpine Club Journal, The American Alpine Journal and more.
When not on expedition, Nick lives in Chamonix through the winter and in his van in North Wales through the summer. Echoes is his first book.

For more information head over to the Vertebrate website

Dave: New Base Line 8B+

Heres another clip from the Polished Project film 'Dave' which is on the way soon!

Dave: The Trailer

We're all super psyched at Mountain Equipment to hook up with the guys from the Polished Project for their next film: Dave... due for release later this year, a taster of which you can watch below.






Dave... is a short film shot by the Polished Project aka friend of the brand and professional photographer Lukasz Warzecha and filmmaker Wojtek Kozakiewicz. 
The film centres around Dave's (MacLeod) exploits on his recent bouldering trip to Switzerland's  Magic Wood - climbing problems such as New Base Line, Mystic Stylez... set along side interviews about his career and life as a professional climber. 


The 12 minute film will be released at international mountain festivals later this Summer with an extended edit going on free web release early in 2013.


For more information and other films by the Polished Project Team check out www.polishedproject.com


You can also read Dave's posts about his Magic Woods trip at his blog: 

NEW BASE LINE - davemacleod.blogspot.se/2012/04/new-base-line.html
MYSTIC STYLEZ - davemacleod.blogspot.se/2012/05/mystic-stylez.html

Coast: The Needles

If you didn't happen catch last nights episode of Coast then make sure you check it out over on BBC iplayer. The first episode of the new series features friend of the brand Andy Torbet and AMI instructor Dave Talbot as they climb the chalk faces of the Needles, Isle of Wright to collect a sample for the British Geological survey.

Dave and Andy

You can read more about the climb over at Dave's blog & watch the episode in full on BBC iplayer here (the Needles segment is about 24mins in)

Dave climbing the South Face of the second fin, Needles, Isle of Wight

Scott 2012: Greenland Training

Ben, Martin, Al and Andy headed for Greenland on Friday for their next session of training in preparation for South 2012.  Here's a short video from their last training trip to Skye back in November'11.






In 2012, the year of the London Olympics and the Queen’s 60th Jubilee, Ben and his team mates Alastair Humphreys and Martin Hartley take on arguably the most ambitious polar expedition in the last century: the four-month Scott 2012 – the first return journey to the South Pole on foot, and at 1,800 miles, the longest unsupported polar journey in history.


You can read more about South 2012 here and also keep up to date with the guys on Twitter by following Ben: @polarben - Al: @Al_Humphreys - Martin: @MartinRHartley
  

Twid Turner: Middle Triple Peak

ME Pro Partner Mike'Twid' Turner and fellow climber Dave Gladwin are heading out to Alaska on the 8th May to attempt the First British Ascent - via a new line of Middle Triple Peak, in the remote Alaskan Range of the Kitchatna Spires.

Twid, Baffin Big Walls expedition in 2010

The team have their eye a new line which involves over 1200m of mixed, ice and rock that takes a strong feature on the right hand side of the West Face. Portalegdes will possibly be needed as most of the climbing is steep technical ground, involving 'Big Wall' skills on top of an ice line. ETA on summit may be around a week. There is a possible unclimbed summit along the summit chain which the team also hope to snatch.

Triple Middle Peak

The Kichatna Spires are as remote as you can get, an hours flight by light aircraft will land the team on the Tatina glacier where the climb will begin. In 7 previous Expeditions to this amazing area, Twid has only ever seen one other team. The range is often referred to as the 'Patagonia' of Alaska. Stunning granite spires clustered around a tight area of deep glacier valleys and as Twid says "There's certainly no pizza delivery in this part of the world"

You can read more about Twid and the trip at the Middle Triple Peak blog here

Youth Climbing Championship: Japan

The guys at ME Japan have just emailed in this short clip along with a few photos from the ME Youth Climbing Championship that took place last weekend.