Snakes and Ladders

'Death Bridge' in the Llanberis slate quarries..... Just say no.

My fascination with the slate quarries of the Lakes and North Wales hasn’t always been matched by my climbing bravery. A phase of seeking out Lakeland industrial esoterica foundered on the mighty Titanic Arete in Moss Rigg. The guidebook description had been alluring:

‘50m E3 – An unsinkable experience up the arête. The first pitch contains little solid rock or protection, but the upper rib is in an eye catching position…. Wires, helmets and lifeboats should be taken.’

From the rim of the quarry the line hadn’t disappointed and Mike, Jim and I duly found ourselves at the belay halfway up the mighty arête. With just off vertical tottering rubble below and unnerving blankness above this seemed like a good time for Mike to prove his often asserted rock mastery, even if it had all been my idea. As Mike reached for the sanctuary of the top it seemed that this particular misadventure would have a happy ending until, in cartoon slow motion, he began to plummet fully 30 metres head first down the crag. He disappeared with a strangled scream down the far side of the arête still clutching the finishing flake that had, until so recently, offered salvation.

The first of the ladders, scary until you saw what came next!

More ladders....

‘Snakes and Ladders’ in the Llanberis slate quarries seemed to offer the opportunity for similar exploration with slightly less mortal danger. Confronted by a wet forecast in every direction Andy, Sam, Martin and I, all from ME, decided to go and ‘have a look’. Most of us had climbed in the quarries in some shape or form but rarely beyond the accessible classics on everyone’s ticklist. This trip, one of several that promises to take you into the depths of Hades, California, Mordor and the Lost World is graded a mysterious HVS in an attempt to hint that it may be a little more involved than climbing some ladders and chains. And so it turned out to be.

Andy realises what's holding it all up.


I’ll spare you the blow by blow account as half the fun is the discovery of what, if anything, each ladder or chain is attached to as well as finding the well hidden 'Tunnel of Love'. I hesitate to recommend this to anyone as one day, probably in the not too distant future, something will fall down with someone on it with terminal consequences. If however you’re prepared to make your own decisions about the shockingly corroded metal work, hideous looseness, levitating ladders and life threatening drops there are few more impressive man made landscapes anywhere in the UK.

The start of the abseils into the 'Lost World'.

Autumn Hill Training at PYB: Week 2

ME's Martin Dixon preparing himself for another 80+mph gust

Last week saw our final two training courses for ME retailers based at Plas Y Brenin in North Wales and conditions were perfect for testing kit. Normally our idea of good weather is the same as everybody elses but occasionally we're pleased to see a forecast for gale force winds, heavy rain, hail and low temperatures! Monday saw us battling all of the above on a Cwm Idwal scramble before a truly wild and deliberately sought experience on the tops. Things deteriorated exactly as suggested by MWIS and the BBC and it wasn't long before simply staying upright was a challenge. After a good fight around the side of Y Garn we made it back into the relative shelter of Cwm Idwal where people were enthusiastically talking about hood design and jacket fit. These are the conditions we design for and it's always good when shop staff can experience our kit 'first hand'. Happily ME Pro Partner Nick Bullock, who was out for the day with us, was unperturbed..... it was after all like a pretty standard day out in Scottish winter!

Martin having been hit by the wind, Llyn Idwal looked like it had exploded briefly!

Battling wild conditions in Ogwen.... and appreciating ME hoods!

Nick gave a packed PYB lecture room a preview of his new Kendal Mountain Film Festival show in the evening. Fantastic pictures and video segments from the last year or so left us all pretty inspired and me thinking that I should probably fall off more often, gigantic lobs seem to be the Bullock key to rock climbing greatness! Tuesday saw us joined by PYB's ever excellent staff and there were a variety of options from multi-pitch climbing to scrambling and navigation on offer as well as rumours of dry rock at Tremadog.


The second course started on Thursday and saw the hills turn decidedly wintery. We headed up a damp and chilly Bristly Ridge before a quick lunch stop that was only comfortable with an array of Fitzroy and Alpamayo Jackets thrown on over our layers. A quick descent of the Gribin ridge soon saw us warmed up and back to base for tea and a lot of technical kit chat aided by our design team who'd escaped the office for a couple of days of prototype testing. Friday was wet but there were still plenty of adventures on Tryfan and the Idwal slabs with more involvement from the PYB staff. The remaining ME staff, myself included, had hoped to go climbing but a damp forecast in all directions saw us heading for an 'exciting' trip through the Llanberis slate quarries..... so exciting it deserves it's own blog post I think!

Preparing for battle in a sheltered spot, the weather coming from behind us didn't look good!

Thanks to all the shop staff, owners and buyers who came along over the two weeks as well as to PYB for their ever brilliant help. There were some fantastic efforts from relative outdoor novices who threw themselves into scrambling and climbing with impressive enthusiasm. As ever the opportunity for people to get out in our kit in a variety of weather, as well as learning some new personal skills, will hopefully mean that the shops customers will get the best advice possible.

Dave MacLeod Lectures: This week

ME Pro partner Dave MacLeod is on the road all this week lecturing. Check out the below information from Dave on where hes going to be and how you can be there...

 

Photo: Paul Diffley - hotaches.com

 

"All of next week I’m travelling around doing talks each evening in a different part of the UK. Maybe I’ll see some of you?! Mostly I’ll be talking about the importance of taking on massive projects like the Long Hope route on Orkney. Big projects like that and a few other hard climbs I’ll show you involve a lot of doubt - you just don’t know if you’ve got enough to finally do them (unless they are too easy!). Dealing with that doubt is a big psychological challenge. My experience has been that there’s more than one successful mindset to adopt. I‘ll explain more at the talks.

 

First up, I’m going round Scotland, speaking at various Tiso stores on a Mountain Equipment tour. Details and tickets are here, but the dates are:

 

Monday 24th Inverness - Tiso Outdoor experience 7.30pm

Tuesday 25th Aberdeen - Tiso 7.30pm

Wednesday 26th Perth -  Tiso Outdoor experience 7.30pm

Thursday 27th Glasgow - Tiso GOE 7.30pm

Friday 28th Edinburgh - Tiso Outdoor experience 7.30pm

 

On Saturday I’m speaking twice at the SAFOS seminar on decision making in avalanche terrain at EICA Ratho. First up I’m speaking about my approaches and ideas to managing risk in my trad climbing. I’ll discuss some of the times I’ve nearly killed myself climbing, and what I did wrong, and some of the times I climbed really dangerous routes safely, like The Indian Face. Details of this here - There are some great speakers lined up on risk and decision making.

 

On Sunday I’m at Dart Rock near Exeter doing coaching clinics (Sunday and Monday) and  on Sunday evening I’m speaking there. 

 

See you out there!

 

Dave"

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.