South Georgia 2010

We’ve just had this link in from Kris at XC sports the distributor for Mountain Equipment over in Norway.

The Team

XC sports are sponsoring a Norwegian team of Kayakers with Mountain Equipment clothing and sleeping bags.

The team of 4 made up of Sigrid Henjum, Tormod Austring, Dag Marius Ammerud and Simen Havig-Gjelseth have just set out from Port Stanley at 1.30pm today with the aim of becoming the first Norwegian team to circumnavigating South Georgia by Kayak.

Tormod with a small part of the luggage for the Exped

The team will be updating there blog daily in both English and Norwegian check out the latest here

there are also further details of the trip and video at the South Georgia 2010 site here

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!