Jellyfish Paranoia

I never thought I would get on with DWS very well. I like climbing and I like swimming but the thought of falling off a grassy and loose sea cliff top out into ledge-infested water had never appealed. And I suffer from severe jellyfish paranoia.

Tom Bunn on Rainbow Bridge 

However, I had never been to Berry Head before and turning up there on possibly the most glorious day of the summer was temptation enough. The Rainbow bridge section of the crag is so perfect it is as if it has been designed for the sport. Low, solid limestone cliffs into deep, calm and ledgeless water. Me and my two new friends – Tom and Alex (who we met in the car park), also totally new to dws, thoroughly enjoyed the first bit of Rainbow Bridge. Then we took a long and chilly swim back to the start after an unintentional pop at the 7b+ Barrel traverse!

Alex Waterhouse at the mouth of the Old Redoubt cave

After lunch and some warming star jumps we set off on the Magical Mystery Tour which starts through the highly impressive cave at the bottom of Moonraker. This is technically easier than Rainbow Bridge but requires a bit more attention to avoid the ledges and was probably made extra interesting by the ultra low spring tide. Sophie had somehow recruited a fisherman and his boat to our party and convinced him to give her lifts between all the different areas, he seemed quite excited by the whole thing and enthusiastically followed us round, shouting useless beta when anyone seemed in trouble.

Sophie Whyte keeping her shoes and chalk bag dry 

It was all over far too soon and with the winter fast approaching I won’t get another chance this year. But I will definitely be back next summer to face the imaginary jellyfish again.

Helena.

ME Heritage Adverts pt 1

A few weeks back me and Richard W (ME Marketing manager) spent the morning trawling through the magazine archive at the BMC, hunting out and scanning old ME Ad's from the 60's, 70's and 80's. Below is a small selection what we found and I'll be posting more over the coming weeks as part of our 50th celebrations.

Thanks to Dave Turnbull and the team at the BMC for allowing us access to some amazing material.

Thomas Tivadar : Great Trango Tower Lecture

Munich based ME Pro partner Thomas Tivadar will be lecturing next week - on Tuesday 18th October at retailer Bergsport-Hütte, Augsburg, Germany. Thomas will be presenting his talk about the first ascent of the Northwest Face of the Great Trango Tower, Karakorum back in 1999.

Thomas Tivadar 

For those who are interested in attending, please find below the details in German...

Vortrag                  Thomas Tivadar - Bigwall-Spezialist, Techno-Climber

Great Trango Tower - NW | Erstbegehung Lost Butterfly (1999)

Partner                   Bergsporthütte Augsburg

Termin                   18. Oktober 2011 / 19 Uhr / Abendkasse

Ort                        Barbara-Saal, Am Katzenstadl 18a, 86152 Augsburg

1999 | Great Trango Tower
Route: Lost Butterfly (VII 5.10 A4) | Gabor Berecz, Oskar Nadaski, Thomas Tivadar

Ende der 90 Jahre war der Great Trango Tower (6287m) Schauplatz für die zu der Zeit schwierigste Route der Welt: „Lost Butterfly“. Bei widrigsten Bedingungen kämpften sich die drei Alpinisten durch die 2000 Meter hohe Nordwest- wand. Die untere Hälfte der Wand ist senkrecht bis leicht geneigt - der Schwierigkeitsgrad ist VII, A3.

Durch die obere Wandhälfte, die auf rund 1000 Metern durchgehend überhängend ist, arbeiteten sich Berecz, Nadaski und Tivadar in diffiziler New-Wave-Kletterei in Richtung Gipfel. Die Bewertung der Wand reicht hier bis A4+.

Das ganze Unternehmen bewältigte das Team übrigens ganz ohne Bohrhaken als Zwischensicherung!

Das Wetter war in diesen Tagen extrem schlecht... doch die drei konnten die ungünstigen Bedingungen an der überhängenden Wand tatsächlich ignorieren, während andere Expeditionen an Nachbarbergen in der Region Ihre Touren abbrechen mussten, bzw. erst gar nicht über das Advanced Basecamp hinauskamen.

Trango Expedition 1999

In der oberen Wandhälfte biwakierten die drei - natürlich in Portaledges - 25 Tage am Stück. Die komplette Verpflegung und auch das Trinkwasser musste das Team in Packsäcken und Tonnen transportieren - Frischwasser gab es in der Route nicht. Allerdings waren die Temperaturen so eisig, dass Ihre Vorräte regelmäßig einfroren. Um Gas zu sparen und dennoch nach einer Nacht in der Senkrechten Wasser für den täglichen Bedarf zu haben, gab es nur eine Möglichkeit: abwechselnd teilte sich einer der Männer seinen warmen Schlafsack mit einem tiefgefrorenen Packsack und dem Eisblock darin...

In einmaliger und unverwechselbarer Art berichtet Thomas Tivadar in seinem Vortrag von dieser Expedition.
Nur bedingt zur Nachahmung empfohlen!

In conversation with... Katie L'Herpiniere

The final video from our In conversation with... series featuring ME Pro partner and adventurer Katie L'Herpiniere



you can keep up to date with what Katie and her partner Tarka have been up to over at their site here

Jens Holsten: Kit review

ME Pro partner "newbie" Jens Holsten has just posted a short review of some of the bits of ME kit he's been using on his ventures during the past few months.

Head over to his blog to check out the full post and what he's been getting up too here

Off to the EMMF

The cars packed... so I'm off North to Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Mountain Film festival which gets underway at Ratho tonight! with friend of the brand and professional photographer Lukasz Warzecha. I'll see you there!

For programme and ticket information head to the EMMF site here

Getting Blown around on Mountain Skills Training

We are back at Plas y Brenin for our annual Autumn mountain skills training courses.

Rich B (ME Product Marketing) giving a gear seminar, with a fantastic view

The forecast said high winds from the south west so Tryfan was suggested as an ideal objective as it would be sheltered and the plateau of the Glyders could be avoided. With this in mind we pulled up in the parking bays opposite the spiky ridge line of Tryfan and decided to scrap the original objective and head for the east ridge Y Garn. The east ridge of Y Garn was nicely sheltered with some pleasant scrambling giving great views back down the down the Ogwen valley when the clouds parted.

After a quick lunch number 1 (I always like at least 2 lunches in a mountain day) the group split, with Martin and myself opting for the super direct finish to the ridgeline. The ridge was nicely exposed with an airy feel and a great view back along into Ogwen.

Martin (ME North UK & Ireland Sales Rep.) upset because of a lack of jamming cracks.

We caught the rest of the group sheltering on the plateau from some strong winds having a chat about the merits of softshell. From Y Garn we got on with the walking, gently leaning into the wind brought us to the summit of Glyder Fach. From here it was a dash to get onto the Gribin ridge and off the plateau.

The forecast for tomorrow is looking good! MWIS are saying snow on the tops and lightening, I'm looking forward to unveiling my lime green Changabang pants.