BBC Sport Relief

Make sure you check out, get involved or donate to BBC Sport Relief which runs from the 19th - 20th March 2010.
There are already a host of sporting events and challanges under way, below are some pics of Comedian Fred MacAulay and BBC Sport Scotland presenter Dougie Vipond during their three challenging days paddling a kayak along the Caledonian Canal, from Fort William to Inverness, in aid of Sport Relief.

You can find out more or donate at http://www.sportrelief.com



Photos - Steve Gordan

LLAMFF This weekend

The Llanberis Mountain Film Festival in association with Mountain Equipment kicks off this weekend (5-7th March 2010) and will feature a wide range of speakers including: Mountain Equipment pro partners Stephen Venables and Dave MacLeod.

For programme and ticket information head to - http://www.llamff.co.uk

For a taste of whats coming up at LLAMFF check out the festival trailer below

Too much snow

I’m back in Scotland this week for my final induction day with the British Mountain Guides. The idea was to come over a few days early from Chamonix to get a couple of days climbing in before the induction day. Unfortunately the weather had a different idea and the massive quantities of snow Scotland is experiencing at the moment have resulted in zero climbing so far. Yesterday Ross and I headed out to check out a few low lying venues around Ballater with the mountains been a definite no go.

The first venue didn’t have the potential ice Ross thought might be there so we relocated to Pannanich Crag where some friends had done a winter ascent a few years ago. I say we relocated to the crag but this isn’t strictly true, maybe a more accurate description would be we ‘relocated to the forest near the crag’ as after 2.5 hours of wallowing around in waist deep snow we didn’t manage to find the crag, meant to be only 15 minutes from the road! Who knows, maybe we just walked straight over a buried Pannanich Crag?

The only climbing we did all day

Ross ploughing a trench through the forest, yes it is Scotland honest!

Eight

Eight is a popular number on the North Wales winter scene at the moment. Over a period of five days, two first ascents have been made at VIII and an VIII 8 has had an impressive on-sight third ascent.

http://www.dmmclimbing.com/news.asp?nid=261&ngroup=2

Courtesy of Mark ' Baggy' Richards, Ray Wood and DMM

Baggy is a good friend of the Mountain Equipment team. A former instructor at Plas Y Brenin, he is now Centre Manager at the Blue Peris Outdoor Centre and a passionate advocate of Welsh winter climbing. Dont forget, you can keep up-to-date with the very latest North Wales winter climbing action by following Baggy's blog - live updates from this blog appear on our 'Team Blogs' section.

Winter on Scafell

The alarm sounded at 06:00 am, peering through past the blinds i could see the haze of light but steady snow falling from the sky.

Moss Ghyll IV,5 - Scafell

On Sunday Dan and I headed around to Wasdale. A longish journey even in Summer was going to be alot longer with all of the major mountain passes closed.

An hour and half or later we found ourselves nipping along the narrow road besides Wastwater. Parking up near Wasdale Head we could see little of Scafell or any other mountain around us, everything was shrouded in cloud and snow continued to fall steadily, the only saving grace was that there was hardly any wind. Indeed as we headed up towards the main cliffs on Scafell everything felt strangely quiet.

I ran the first two pitches together, a few airy moves traversing back into towards the gully line, but in general there was loads of good ice and frozen turf; the main problem was the epic amounts of clearing that was needed to be done to find any placements for protection and tools.

Looking back down pitches 1 & 2

Dan led the Cracked Wall pitch leading upto the giant chockstones, delicate and technical but uneventful other than the epicly large spindift avalanche which came roaring down the gully. Initially I thought Dan had fallen as heard the thunderous whoosh, but as I cowered for what seemed like an eternity in a white haze, I realised the ropes had not tightened so all must be ok.

Dan preparing to tackle the technical Cracked Wall on PItch 3

Above this was pitch 4 and the infamous Collie Step - wow, what a piece of climbing. Torqing with undercut holds in the roof I delicately stepped leftwards, my crampons skating around looking for purchase. Above my ice axes held in some delicate but solid ice.

Stepping out of the cave onto Collies Step

Teetering across the Wall

We finished as we had started, in the murk of falling snow. Dan making efficient work of the final pitch traversing up leftwards across the slabs to the rocky summit above.

Dan working up the grooves on the final pitch

A momentary glance at the compass and we were wandering down towards Broad Stand and after a short abseil we were at the col. Before long we would be home again.

The clouds finally lift as we pack away the climbing kit

My Clothing choice:

G2 Ultimate Mountain Pants with thermal tights.

Altus LS Base-Layer and Microtherm Alpine Jacket

Astron Hooded Jacket

Backed up for the climb with:

Compressor Vest (which I wore for the duration of the climbing over my Astron)

Tupilak Jacket

Compressor Jacket (thrown on over the top of everything on cold belays)

Super Alpine Gloves - new softshell climbing glove for next winter, watch this space. AWESOME.

Randonnee Gloves (not worn until the end of the climbing when a dry second pair of gloves were welcome)

oh and of course a beanie.

Stephen Venables Lecture Tour

Internationally acclaimed mountaineer, writer, broadcaster and Mountain Equipment pro-partner, Stephen Venables starts a new lecture tour next month that will take audiences to the edge of Antarctica, following the journey taken by Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Touring theatres across the UK, 'In the Steps of Shackleton' features stunning photos and film footage to illustrate the explorer’s treacherous journey over the mountains of South Georgia. This is a show that not only brings Shackleton's epic escape from Antarctica to life but also the captures the thrill of climbing, skiing and sailing in a place of such haunting beauty.

In the last ten years, Stephen has twice repeated Shackleton’s famous crossing of South Georgia. The first time, in 2000, was with Conrad Anker and world famous mountaineer Reinhold Messner, during the making of the IMAX movie Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure. He returned in 2008, this time sailing from the Falklands on Skip Novak’s yacht Pelagic Australis, to guide the ‘Beyond Endurance’ team on their crossing.

The lecture tour is presented by Speakers from the Edge and supported by both Mountain Equipment and adventure travel company World Expeditions. It kicks off on the first weekend in March with a headline appearence at the Llanberis Mountain Film Festival - another Mountain Equipment supported event that features a host of fantastic lectures and films. It will be well worth heading over to North Wales for the weekend if you can make it!

For 'In the Steps of Shackleton' venues, dates and ticketing information visit http://www.speakersfromtheedge.com/

For information on the Llanberis Mountain Film Festival visit http://www.llamff.co.uk/

Ski Mountaineering in the Cairngorms

Well after a busy week working at the ISPO trade show in Munich and with enough time to just about un-pack it was back up to the Northern Cairngorms for a spot of ski-mountaineering.

For the full report and photo's please click here.

Approaching Coire an t-Sneachda.

There were plenty of climbing teams and folks on training courses buzzing around the corrie, but we were alone as we set off for the Plateau.

Ski's on the pack for the steep climb out of Coire an t-Sneachda

We arrived to a calm and still plateau, only a light breeze blowing and no trace of any rocks in sight, the plateau was holding a deep and firm cover of snow. And so, with ski's engaged into our boots once more, we continued into the heart of Coire Raibeirt.

From here we opted to scope out the 500 metres of vertical ascent which cascade down into the upper reaches of Strath Nethy from the summit of Cairngorm.

The Cairngorm weather station.

On the second day we headed across towards Beinn Mheadhoin, located at the heart of the Cairngorms, this is a remote and, in winter, not easily accessible peak.

It was clear this was not going to be a blue sky day and by the time we were established on the Fiacaill Choire Chais ridge we were enveloped in a thick layer of cloud.

From this point the gully dropped away sharply down towards Loch Avon, skirted across its western fringe, before beginning our 200 metre climb up towards Loch Ethachan.

Bad weather begins to envelop the Northern Cairngorms

By the time we reached the summit, conditions had deteriorated further. It was snowing hard and the cold was beginning to bite. We stopped briefly to replace gloves and don hard-shells.

Near 'White-Out' conditions removed all sense of slope aspect or direction

Descending slightly further to the east than we had meant to, we skirted with the much steeper and rockier NE ridge, being forced to side slip in places as we lost all sense of slope angle - probably only 20 or 30 metres further to our right than we had intended, but it was unnerving all the same, eventually finding ourselves atop a broad and flattish shoulder high above the Fords of Avon.

Rich at the eastern end of of a frozen Loch Avon

The day finished descending out of the mist into the Loch Avon basin once again before the long climb out and over the Cairngorm plateau once again.

All photos courtesy of Keith Hutcheon.