Scott 2012: Greenland Training

Ben, Martin, Al and Andy headed for Greenland on Friday for their next session of training in preparation for South 2012.  Here's a short video from their last training trip to Skye back in November'11.






In 2012, the year of the London Olympics and the Queen’s 60th Jubilee, Ben and his team mates Alastair Humphreys and Martin Hartley take on arguably the most ambitious polar expedition in the last century: the four-month Scott 2012 – the first return journey to the South Pole on foot, and at 1,800 miles, the longest unsupported polar journey in history.


You can read more about South 2012 here and also keep up to date with the guys on Twitter by following Ben: @polarben - Al: @Al_Humphreys - Martin: @MartinRHartley
  

Twid Turner: Middle Triple Peak

ME Pro Partner Mike'Twid' Turner and fellow climber Dave Gladwin are heading out to Alaska on the 8th May to attempt the First British Ascent - via a new line of Middle Triple Peak, in the remote Alaskan Range of the Kitchatna Spires.

Twid, Baffin Big Walls expedition in 2010

The team have their eye a new line which involves over 1200m of mixed, ice and rock that takes a strong feature on the right hand side of the West Face. Portalegdes will possibly be needed as most of the climbing is steep technical ground, involving 'Big Wall' skills on top of an ice line. ETA on summit may be around a week. There is a possible unclimbed summit along the summit chain which the team also hope to snatch.

Triple Middle Peak

The Kichatna Spires are as remote as you can get, an hours flight by light aircraft will land the team on the Tatina glacier where the climb will begin. In 7 previous Expeditions to this amazing area, Twid has only ever seen one other team. The range is often referred to as the 'Patagonia' of Alaska. Stunning granite spires clustered around a tight area of deep glacier valleys and as Twid says "There's certainly no pizza delivery in this part of the world"

You can read more about Twid and the trip at the Middle Triple Peak blog here

Youth Climbing Championship: Japan

The guys at ME Japan have just emailed in this short clip along with a few photos from the ME Youth Climbing Championship that took place last weekend.

Dave MacLeod: Conquistador Direct 8B/+

Check out the latest video from Dave who's currently out on a road-trip around Switzerland.






You can checkout Dave's complete report here

Melody: Teaser

Just had this teaser emailed to me by 2 Rays Productions aka Ray Saunders and Ray Wood for 'Melody' due for release late this Summer.



Climber (and writer) Nick Bullock girds his loins for an attempt on the 2nd ascent of the 'steep and dangerous' Stevie Haston route 'Melody' on the Stigmata Buttress, Craig Dorys (LleynPeninsula).

Given HXS/E9, it's not going to be an easy romp..

Hidden Talent: Channel 4

Make sure you check out friend of the Brand, Guide and Plas y Brenin Director of Training Martin Chester on the first episode of 'Hidden Talent' which launches Tuesday at 9pm on Channel 4.



Heres more information about the show...

Hidden Talent is a new six-part series which discovers people with extraordinary hidden talents they never even dreamed they had. Overseen by scientists and academics, over 900 people from all around the country undergo testing, and a number are found to have special physical, mental, sensory or creative talents - of which they were totally unaware, a process which could even change the rest of their lives.

Presenter Richard Bacon follows each of their progress as the Hidden Talent experts take them on, training and developing them to face extraordinary challenges and push their newly discovered Hidden Talent to its limit. These talents range from latent linguistic skills to become fluent in a foreign language, to the mammalian diving reflex enabling some people to hold their breath for up to four minutes and dive to a depth of 60 metres without scuba gear, or an extraordinary sense of direction that makes someone a Human Sat-Nav, capable of finding their way through an uncharted wilderness.

Episode 1/6, Tuesday 24th April, 9pm, Channel 4

The first episode focuses on two drastically different skills, rock climbing and lie detection. After experts test the general public in both physical and mental capacities, they narrow their search down to find the individuals that they believe had the greatest potential to excel in each field.
“We gave over 300 people, who had never even considered the sport, the chance to try rock-climbing – with amazing success” says Martin Chester “it was a great opportunity to design tests that prove there is more to climbing than bravery and biceps!”

The 10 candidates in rock climbing are put through a series of tasks in a long weekend at Plas y Brenin by world-class climbing coach Martin Chester, testing their agility, ease with heights, leadership qualities and communication skills. Maggie, a 45 year-old nurse and grandmother, is selected to take her new-found skill even further by receiving one-on-one training ahead of her final challenge: to ascend the 200ft Old Man of Stoer sea stack in Scotland, which normally takes years of training to attempt.




“I couldn’t believe how well Maggie coped with everything we threw at her – and how much she loved it! What you see on film is what we got! There are no camera tricks, no hidden ropes, and some very real consequences”
After just 18 days of intense tuition, through which Maggie displays true courage and tenacity, will she be able to show once again that she can conquer her fears and overcome this sheer 60m rockface?
“With challenging conditions on the day, the outcome was far from certain. At times my heart was in my mouth as Maggie and I gambled everything. It makes my palms sweat just thinking about it. I can’t wait to see the results”

The tests carried out on potential contributors are designed to assess aptitude rather than skills or knowledge, so viewers can also take part through specially designed interactive tests on the Channel 4 website (www.channel4.com/hiddentalent).

Maggie’s own development was made possible through a mix of Plas y Brenin courses (www.pyb.co.uk/courses-rock-climbing.php) and bespoke tuition. Contact Martin Chester’s team at Plas y Brenin for more details.

New Catalogues: Japan and Germany

Our NEW 2012 consumer catalogues for Germany and Japan are now available online. Follow the below links to view... 

Japan view here

Germany view here