Brittle Bone Coast MXS

Professional Mountain instructor and AMI member Dave Talbot has just dropped me a line having just completed some filming work with the BBC's Coast programme. Dave took Coast presenter Andy Torbet out on a new routing trip on chalk faces of the Needles, Isle of Wright during the freak Indian summer 2 weeks ago.

Dave and Andy on Brittle Bone Coast MXS

Dave and Andy managed to bag the first ascent of a new chalk route on the second fin, - “Brittle Bone Coast” MXS.

Dave on the South Face of the 2nd Fin 

Dave and Andy

You can read the full story and checkout more photos over at Dave's website - davetalbot.net

The next series of Coast will air Spring 2012.

SAIS Kit 2011/12

ME Tech Rep Andy Green called by Scottish Avanlanche Information Service HQ at Glenmore Lodge last week to hand over this seasons uniform to Mark Diggins (Director SAIS) and his team.

Mark Diggins and Andy Green with some of this seasons kit 

Mark and his team offer a invaluable service to anyone heading out to climb, walk, ski etc... in Scotland during the winter season, they are also part of our extensive product test team and put our kit through its paces everyday during the winter season and provide us with indepth feedback as part of our constant product R&D.

This seasons kit list includes:

Kamchatka Jacket
Changabang Pant
Concordia Jacket
Trojan Jacket - New GORE TEX SOFTSHELL test product for release in 2012
Colouir Gloves

Heres some more general info about the SAIS -

Avalanche hazard considerations should always be part of any winter hill goers daily plans. Whether you are a climber, walker or off-piste skier venturing into the hills, you should always continue to note snow and weather conditions in respect to any potential avalanche hazard.

SAIS is funded by the Scottish Sports Council and publish the daily forecasts of the avalanche, snow, and climbing conditions at 5 key climbing areas of Scotland during the season.

For more information and latest reports go to www.sais.gov.uk

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