Baffin Big walls 2010 - Arctic Monkeys

the summit

Congratulations again to Mike 'Twid' Turner, Stuart McAleese and Mark Thomas on establishing their new route Arctic Monkeys (VI A4 V+ 1400m) on Sail Peaks, in Stewart Valley, Baffin Island.

base of the new route

The trio reached the base of the mountain at the start of May as you'll have read here at the blog and spent the past three weeks forging a line which Turner had spotted during a previous expedition back in 1999.

Mark climbing through the storm

Climbing capsule style, they spent 18 consecutive nights in portaledges on the wall and encountered difficulties up to A4 on the 1400m line. Furthermore, they were severely put to the test by poor weather and cold conditions (down to -20°C)

Despite running out of food the trio persevered and topped out at 16.00hrs on the 24th May in perfect conditions, before abseiling off rapidly and returning to civilization to escape the thawing fjord.

Stu takes a break in the portaledge

We'll have more information and photos from the guys over the next week but you can check out a full interview with Twid over at Planet Mountain here

Anubis - Kit list

Mountain Equipment Pro Partner Dave MacLeod give us his round up on Anubis


Photo - Smiles after bum sliding number 4 gully from the topout on Anubis, and happy to have warm gloves on again...

"Readers of my own blog might already have read I just completed a long term project of climbing Anubis (summer E8) on Ben Nevis in winter conditions. Normally on hard routes, I don’t have to give much conscious thought to choosing kit for the ascent - climbing is such a routine for me that it’s automatic; I already know exactly what to wear/use without thinking and I know my kit and how it works in different situations inside out.

This climb was rather an exception, hence this post about the gear for Anubis, which kept me up at night in my gear store in the loft, humming and hawing about every last piece.

On such a steep and physical piece of climbing, weight is everything. On my previous attempts, the weight of a full mixed rack like a kilt on your harness was so obviously a huge disadvantage, and every 100 grams shaved off the total kit weight might save me enough energy to make the belay.


Axes (new fusions), footwear (‘fruit boots’) and hardwear were easy choices, with knowledge of the available runners from my summer ascent. I made sure all my krabs were the lightest I had and ditched every superflous runner I could get away with.

Clothing wise, the goal was to keep super warm right up until the moment of stepping onto the pitch, from which time a very high physical work rate would keep me warm to the belay. For the upper pitches of grade IV/V, I should still be moving fast anyway (having dropped the ropes and continuing solo), so cold hands and feet from floundering about in deep snow would just have to be suffered for a bit.

Kit list was:

Powerstretch salopettes
ME Prototype Fall 2011 baselayer top
G2 Ultimate Mountain pants
Pulsar Jacket
Branded Beanie

For gloves I wore a pair of goalies gloves I bought in Decathlon in Spain for 7 euros. I’m a bit of a glove obsessive on a permanent hunt for the perfect glove for hard mixed climbing, with the perfect balance of energy saving grip on tools but enough protection from winteryness to keep going. The goalie’s gloves had the perfect sticky palm and fit around the wrist but a shiny smooth plastic back which snow can’t stick to and melt through the glove. They only work in Scotland on perfect windless days, which this was, and also in my bag in case it had been windier was my good old Mountain Equipment Windchill Grip Fleece gloves which are my normal glove for pitches of IX or above. They were perfect for the crux pitch, but as predicted I suffered badly with frozen hands on the upper solo pitches. Stopping on a small ledge for 30 minutes terrified I was going to pass out with hot aches and fall off.


What I’m hoping you’ll notice about the clothing list is that it isn’t very much - which was great! The big deal for me is the new pulsar jacket which I’m loving. It seems to have everything finally I’d look for in a soft shell - not too many pockets or features, warm, an excellent fit for free movement when climbing and slides well over the layer below. In my bag in case the conditions weren’t so good was an Mountain Equipment Firefox GORE-TEX Pro Shell Jacket, which would have added an extra 200 odd grams I’d hopefully have lived with, But I really did feel after 5 hours and 30 minutes to lead a 40 metre pitch that I was on my last drops of energy at the belay!"

Dave's currently out filming footage with fellow climber Tim Emmett for "BBC Live Climb" which hits our screens in August'10 more info see here

Also checkout Dave's Blog for the latest

Roasting Roaches

What a difference two weeks make.

On Saturday I found myself at the Roaches, top off trying to cling to greasy slopers and it was only 7.30am!
It was quite humid under the trees and the lower tier boulders were suffering. Well, I was suffering on them, loosing skin at a great rate. It was still very nice to potter around. After a few well-it-is-sort-of-in-a-breeze attempts I was more than happy to consign Teck Crack Direct to colder conditions.

After a pause to sit in the sun I walked up to Calcutta butress, higher up and a much fresher proposition. Conditions were pretty nice up here and I had a happy hour getting shut down on everything.
For such an unassuming buttress it packs a punch: undercut base and some small crimps make for some challenging problems. I got further than I expected on Sleeping with the Flowers (past the first move) but didn't quite have the crush fest I was hoping for.
What a joy to be out though. And back in time to sell ice creams at the school fete. Baffin Island boys, eat your heart out.

Baffin Big walls 2010 - Success!

We are proud to annouce that Stuart McAleese, Mike ‘Twid’ Turner and Mark Thomas have successfully completed their objective of making a first ascent of a major Big Wall at Sail Peaks, Baffin Island.

In a telephone call from Stu, he explained:

“We reached the summit at 1600 hours yesterday (24th May 2010) and were down at the base of the pillar again by 0400 hours this morning.

We ran out of food and fuel while we were near the top but decided to keep on going. We’re currently trying to get the skidoo to pick us up tomorrow.

This is the most difficult, but rewarding climb any of us have ever done, and my word, are we looking forward to a few beers!”

Congratulations guys. More details and pictures will follow

Scottish Road Trip

Check out Mountain Equipment Pro Partner Andy Turner as he acts as guide to his fellow Petzl team mates on the "Petzl Scottish Ice Trip - the search for nessie"

Scottish Icetrip - English from Petzl-sport on Vimeo.

Vacancy - Junior Sales Representative

At Mountain Equipment we are committed to providing our retail partners with excellent support and service by delivering first class sales representation and staff training. Having achieved significant UK and European sales growth year-on-year, we require a Junior Sales Representative to support the UK Sales effort.

The successful candidate will report directly to the UK Sales Manager. Main responsibilities will include supporting the Regional Sales Managers to provide comprehensive sales and service to existing and new retail customers across the UK A large part of the job will involve delivering excellent retail support and staff training to our multiple accounts.

The job will require you to be based at our offices in Hyde, Greater Manchester. You will be required to spend 2 to 3 nights per week away from home and attend monthly meetings when required.

The ideal candidate will have retail experience within the outdoor industry, together with a good knowledge of the ‘selling process’ and the wider aspects of the outdoor trade.

Active participation in mountain sports would be an advantage.

If you are interested in applying for the position, or would like more details please email a CV and covering letter to chris.smith@mountain-equipment.co.uk

Closing date for applications will be 1st July 2010

Baffin Big Walls 2010 - Message from Stu

We've just had this message in from Stu.............


"The weather’s turned again, snowing hard. We’ve spent all day in the portaledges.

We’ve been making good progress still though, everyone’s happy and having a good time.

So far we’ve spent a total of 12 nights sleeping in the portaledge.

We’re not sure, due to the weather, but we don’t think we can be that far off the top now."