#Microadventure 2013 Challenge

Join the adventure on Friday June 21st and make a small adventure big!

We've teamed up with Al Humphreys and our friends at Trek, Howies and Osprey for the #Microadventure 2013 Challenge.

Adventure? A spirit of trying something new, pushing your boundaries, going somewhere different, leaving your comfort zone? It could be one of many things, but above all, adventure is about enthusiasm, ambition, open-mindedness and curiosity.

Some may see an adventure as being something big, expensive or time consuming, but it need not be. Adventure isn’t all about rowing oceans, climbing mountains or cycling around the world; by simply entering the 2013 Microadventure Competition you could soon be out there on an adventure of your very own.

So what is a microadventure? Well in simple terms, it’s an adventure on your doorstep. Having a 9 to 5 job need not prevent you from having an adventure, what about your 5pm to 9am? Those 16 hours of freedom are crying out for a #microadventure! Get out there & explore the beauty and wilderness at a minimal cost and close to home. Do it alone, with friends & family or even with your work colleagues, it’s totally up to you. The choice is yours when it comes to a #microadventure!

(heres a video of Al and the team from Trek on their recent Microadventure)

Wherever you might be, however busy you are, sign up to the competition and commit to a #microadventure, you will soon be asleep under the stars, wrapped up in your bivvy enjoying the local surroundings of the great outdoors.

The #Microadventure 2013 Challenge: June 21st

The aim is to get as many people as possible having an overnight summer solstice #microadventure on the evening of June 21st. The summer solstice will be in midsummer, a Friday night, and there will be an almost full moon (which this month also happens to be a "super moon"). After work, instead of going home, head out into the countryside with your chosen #microadventure crew and cycle, run, walk, kayak, scrap the tent if you dare, and spend a night under the stars. It’s a simple idea but full of fun.

Enter the Competition

It’s important to note that anyone can take part in the #microadventure, but to be in with a chance of winning, whilst on your adventure or when you arrive home, you must choose to do one of the following:

• Twitter - Drop a tweet/pic about your expedition and #microadventure

• Facebook – ‘Like’ us on Facebook and post your pic:http://on.fb.me/11RLCJE

• Instagram - Upload your micro adventure snap and #microadventure

• Flickr – Submit an image and tag microadventure.

• Vine Video - Submit your video and #microadventure, check out the example: https://vine.co/v/brJ5BOr10tH

• Vimeo - Add video to group Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/groups/microadventures

By entering the competition you will automatically be entered into a prize draw, and as an added extra, if you make a movie of your adventure and share it, you could be in with a chance of winning big!

There are no set rules because that would be boring; we just offer guidance, asking you to stay safe, have fun and be wild. Oh and don’t forget to submit your media to any of the above – make your adventure seen and be in with a chance of winning.

Explore it, climb it, ride it, experience it… remember, adventure is only a state of mind, go create!

You can check out more Microadventures at - www.alastairhumphreys.com

Photos: Geoff Waugh & Al Humphreys 

Work experience with a difference

Okay so we’ve all done work experience at some point - brewing up, data inputting, filing and photocopying… yawn! Well not for Flo. Last week he paid us a visit to do a weeks work placement – which basically involved none of the above and climbing in Scotland with Dave instead.  

Here’s a few words and photos from Flo's week…  

“Uuuuufffff… One week work experience from school. How about getting some work experience in climbing? But where should I do this? The best would be going climbing with fellow climber Dave MacLeod. So I get on to a plane for Manchester then take a train to Fort William, Scotland.

When I arrived I was met by Dave and before I knew it off we went straight out to do some climbing. The weather had been very cold; so perfect conditions for bouldering hard.

Over 4 days the weather was good, even though we were in Scotland. We went out as often as we could…and I really enjoyed being outside.

I had four amazing days of bouldering with Dave before I headed back to Manchester for 3 days work with the guys at the Mountain Equipment headoffice.”

Flo

Vacancy: Insulated (Down) Garment Technologist/Developer

Mountain Equipment has been making some of the finest insulated mountain clothing in the world since 1961. We believe in what we do; we design, test and build with passion and commitment because we know that our products are depended upon in some of the most demanding conditions on earth.

 

An outstanding opportunity exists for an experienced Garment Technologist/Developer to join one of the fastest growing brands in Europe and play a key part in the continuing development of our award-winning insulated apparel and equipment range.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the technical specification of garments and equipment from prototyping stage through to the finished product.

 

Primary Responsibilities    

• Work with design team to create technical specification, considering product brief, supplier capabilities and costing to ensure suitability and performance of product.
• Work closely with suppliers in the development of samples and finished products
• Resolve fit issues, grade garments and formulate size specifications
• Follow the critical path for each seasons collection, meeting agreed timelines
• Testing product components to ensure suitability for purpose
• Bring ideas and solutions to improve the performance and quality of products

 

Key skills / attributes  

• A proven ability to manage technical performance product specifications from prototyping stage through to finished product. 
• 5 years minimum experience as a Garment/Product Technologist including experience of developing down apparel 
• Outstanding organizational skills
• Innovation-minded
• Excellent communication skills both verbally and in writing, and a willingness to travel globally.
• Enthusiastic, self-motivated and a strong team-player.
• A keen desire to further grow and apply knowledge and skills.
• An active interest in outdoor sports such as hillwalking or mountaineering.
• Working knowledge of Mandarin Chinese is an advantage

 

This is a full time position based at our head office in Greater Manchester. Salary is negotiable based on experience.

 

Please send you application and CV to Louisa Whitworth at Mountain Equipment/OSC Ltd: Louisa.whitworth@ronhill.co.uk

 

Spring Ski Touring in the Alps - Best in Recent Years?

"The Whitedot team in Chamonix have been ski touring from the start of the season, from Les Houches forests trails prior to lifts opening in November to peak bagging on the Aiguilles Rouge in the New Year. It has been a great winter for all snow activities not only across the Alps but across Europe, including UK.

It would be an understatement to say that a deep winter feel has lingered and although not exactly welcomed by all, it has set up a potentially rewarding spring touring season. In Chamonix it felt like there was a switch being flicked over the Easter weekend with the clock        s being pulled back coinciding with the lifting of a 3 day storm.

On Easter Sunday the clouds broke from what felt like an eternal blizzard to reveal a snow drenched panorama. We managed to get on the hill quickly get some fresh tracks before planning out the next couple of days ski touring....the forecast was for a settled 72 hours!

The next morning armed with skins and CarbonLite Rangers (our free-touring skis), we headed up to the Col des Crochues. Although it was a high avalanche risk day it was easy enough to read the snow pack.

The previous afternoon’s sun along with a freezing cold night had left a substantial crust layer which had compounded with the loaded couloirs to produce some impressive avalanches on the Western aspects.

On the eastern aspects the snow was conserved in an immaculate fresh condition, and it was these aspects where we headed and found some rolling pitches on which to charge down. The Berard valley is a well trodden Chamonix ski tour play area but with an early start and with a short extra 'boot pack' we found ourselves carving out first tracks down the valley - a rare and gratifying experience.....albeit with a pack of Scandinavian ski tourers hot on our tails!

The next day, Tuesday 2nd Apr, we had planned to head up high and tour from the Aiguille du Midi to Pointe Helbronner. Although a simple tour it would allow us to have a good look at the condition of the snow bridges, rimayes and crevasses across the Vallee Blanche sector without any significant commitment. A reconnaissance for routes to be cracked over the next month or two!

We headed out from the Aiguille du Midi ice tunnel into a blue sunny sky, and from the moment crampons hit snow the feeling of wellness was overpowering as the views and atmosphere (there were surprisingly few guided groups around) engulfed us.

Once we started to cross the glacier and later headed up to the Italian 'Pointe Helbronner' we passed numerous fellow ski tourers and alpinists. It was great to see a real mix of mountain enthusiasts assessing their objectives. Some were poised to cross a rimaye (Mt Blanc du Tacul and Tour Ronde etc), others on rock having discarded skis at the bottom of their route, or like us - fixing skins to skis and heading into the corners of the glacier to find fresh tracks.

Our descent even surpassed the previous day and once we had negotiated the ‘Salle a Manger’ via the Southern exit and the Vallee Noire, we lunched with the black crows and finally returned to the hussle of Chamonix town center.

The spring season has only just started and both the Aiguille Rouge and the Mt Blanc range of glaciers are all in great condition. I was really struck by the strong state of the snow bridges and snow covering across the glaciers. With lift access in Chamonix running into mid-May, the ski-touring season will be long and rewarding this year.....maybe the best in many years!"

Mark and the Whitedot Team

View more photos here

Nick Bullock Lectures:Echoes & Beyond, Escaping the system, aka, I hope its warm in Scotland.

Over to Nick "Here is the final, although there might be one that creeps in at the Beacon Climbing Wall, list of lectures for January.

                                                                          

The talk, at most of these dates, will cover a a bit about writing Echoes and a story from it, which will be about attempting Savoia Kangri in Pakistan. Some pics to music from the book, then moving up to date with the trip to Canada last March with Rob Chopper Greenwood, Ray Wood and Ray Saunders film about climbing some crumbly rock horror on The Lleyn and some film and pics about climbing The Slovak Direct in Alaska. The grand finale will be some more pics to bumping music.                                                                                              

Please be aware, unless you come to the Outdoor Show talks which I’ve made suitable for children, there will be strong language and hopefully much banter and even maybe a tad of mayhem. Please don’t come along expecting factual, sensible and suitable for you’re gran, I don’t do suitable for you’re gran!                                                                                   

The other different talk is of course the BMC Expedition Symposium which WILL be factual and reasonably sensible and will have film and music. This talk will cover The Sharks Fin, Savoia Kangri, Annapurna III and The Slovak Direct.                                                                   

Oh, and the New Hampshire talk is different again, hardcore climbing, hardcore music, much mayhem, but its in America so unless you’re out there already I wouldn’t bother as the expense will be high : ) "                                                                                                           

Nick

January 8th: Shrewsbury for www.highsports.co.uk, High Sports, 51/52 Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury, SY1 1XJ

January 9th: Lutterworth College for The Bowline Climbing Club, Leicestershire. http://www.bowlineclimbingclub.co.uk/

January 10th: Harrogate Climbing Centre http://www.harrogateclimbingcentre.com/

January 12th: BMC Expedition Symposium Plas y Brenan. North Wales. http://www.thebmc.co.uk/

January 17th to 20th: London Outdoor Show for DMM. http://dmmclimbing.com/

January 24th: Solihull Mountaineering Club. Old Edwardians Rugby Club, Streetsbrook Road, Solihull, B90 3PE http://www.solihullmc.org.uk/index.html

January 29th: Manchester climbing Centre http://www.manchesterclimbingcentre.com/

February 1st – 3rd: Mount Washington Valley Ice Festival, New Hampshire, USA. http://www.mwv-icefest.com/

photo: Andy Houseman

GET: Fourteen Peaks Challenge

We've teamed up with our friends at WL GORE to offer one lucky Mountain Equipment Fan the chance to join the 2013 GORE-TEX Experience Tour: 14 Peaks Challenge in North Wales: 18th – 22nd March 2013.

Our winner will be heading to Wales to join the G.E.T Team and attempt to climb all of Snowdonia National Park’s 3,000ft+ peaks in five days. The challenge will also include taking in some of Snowdonia’s classic ridges walks, including the Snowdon Horseshoe and the chance try out New Mountain Equipment products in Next Generation GORE-TEX Pro fabric months before anyone else.

  

On the first day you will practice and revise the skills needed to tackle the bigger peaks. The following four days will be spent on the hills, visiting some of the most stunning locations in the National Park. The four hill days are likely to be split as follows:

·       Snowdon Horseshoe, 3 peaks plus other smaller summits (this includes an exposed grade 1 scramble)

·       Walking the Carneddau Ridge, covering 6 peaks in one big day out!

·       Scramble on Tryfan, 1 peak – nearly a rest day …

·       Traverse of the Glyders to include the remaining 4 Peaks

The Team

The team will be led by the experienced guides of the National Mountain Centre - Plas y Brenin. As well as knowing the mountains, they are experts in the local flora and fauna so will be able to give our winner an incredible first hand insight into the area.

How do I enter?

Head to GET Website Click the apply button, fill out your details to register. You will then be taken to the application page select ‘Mountain Equipment Channels’ from the 'where did you hear about this' drop down menu, tell us more about yourself and then submit you’re application, Simple.

Closing date for applications is the 18^th January 2013. The Mountain Equipment team will then review all applications and select one lucky winner to join the G.E.T Team.

Requirements

·       You must live in Europe

·       You will be minimum 18 years of age

·       You must be physically and mentally fit

·       Have English language skills (the Experience Tour project will be held in English

For further information please refer to the G.E.T Website

Heres a taster from our 2011 G.E.T project: Big Wall Climbing with Dave MacLeod in Norway - http://youtu.be/x4aeP5c5Cg4

A Quick Trip to the Cairngorms

The plan had been simple, head to the Cairngorms early so that we could climb on Sunday and do some work on Monday.  Sat at home in Kendal I scoured the various forecasts and conditions reports to be met by the promise of some even more unpleasant weather than normal in Scotland and the end of a brief thaw, it didn’t sound appealing.  Instead we decided to take a risk on the most optimistic forecast I could find for the Lakes which suggested that it might cool down just enough to make a winter route viable.


Andy looking pleased to be out in the Cairngorms

As we left the car at the Old Dungeon Ghyll in Langdale the thermometer read 6◦C but if anything it felt even warmer than that.  We set off more for the exercise than anything and by the time we were most of the way up the Band I was starting to feel a bit over equipped for Lakeland hill walking.  We made the only logical decision and headed to Bilbo’s for coffee and a bacon sandwich.



Gearing up belopw the Mess of Pottage, a very white Fiacaill Buttress beyond

By mid-afternoon we were driving north looking forward to a busy work day on Monday but slightly dejected about the lack of climbing.  Fortunately the morning brought a return to proper winter weather and we headed into the Northern Corries to shoot some product videos for next winter’s new range of hardshells.  We learnt quite a bit, the main thing being that talking to camera in a coherent way whilst being snowed on is hard even in a futuristic orange jacket.  Our product manager Rich T. was in full director mode, think Christopher Nolan in a Citadel Jacket, but finally we had enough footage to hone our editing skills with.  A meeting with the Scottish Avalanche Information Service team followed at Glenmore Lodge and we showed them some of the new Winter ‘13 Gore-Tex Pro designs that they’re input had helped to develop.  Fortunately they all looked suitably impressed by the huge amount of work that’s been done and we all headed to Digger’s for wine and strudel.

By now I’d noticed that the forecast for Tuesday could only be described as stellar with no wind, low temperatures and superb visibility.  The only issue was that it was a Tuesday and, even at ME, just going climbing on work days is generally frowned upon.  Unfortunately Rich had to head south for his trip to China but Andy and I persuaded ourselves it would be ok if we just did a quick route in Sneachda…. it would only take a couple of hours if we were quick. 
 

Andy making progress up the first pitch

Nearly running into the corrie it was just as perfect as MWIS had promised and we made rapid progress towards the Mess of Pottage with a view to getting something done fast.  The crag was plastered in most places and it was already clear that gear was going to be hard to come by in places.  Aiming for a fairly direct and not overly hard line Andy set off up the first pitch of  Yukon Jack and made fairly steady progress between gear stuffed and hammered into icy cracks.  I followed as fast as I could before setting off into the line of Hidden Chimney in the interests of speed, inevitably we were already running late.  Perfect neve made for rapid climbing and we were soon pulling ourselves over the final chockstone into the sunshine.  The views from the top were incredible with perfect visibility and still no wind at all.  The Loch Avon basin looked incredible and it was no surprise to hear later that Sticil Face on the Shelter Stone was done that day, a classic tick that still eludes me.  We stuffed everything away as quickly as we could and set off down towards the ski car park at a run.  Four hours, and some rep-tastic over-taking by Andy on the A9, later we were back in Kendal, behind on work but glad to have grabbed a rare perfect day in the Cairngorms. 

Stunning views at the top but the mission back south ahead