Peak Mountaineering
The climbing blog of Paul Lewis
Archive for January, 2008
January 27, 2008 at 11:26 pm · Filed under peak mountaineering
Harry emerges from the cave
I’ve just got back from a outdoor activities trip with a local school which has been full on - but fantastic. It’s a regular trip that I’ve been involved with for the last few years, and although they are always great fun, this was certainly the best I’ve helped with.
The group tried a whole range of activities from caving to fencing and the best thing was that whatever they tried they were ultra enthusiastic and showed great team work and a real ‘go for it’ attitude.
In these days of risk aversion, balancing budgets and league tables it’s great to see so many schools that have not been put off from running adventure activities. Certainly no one watching this weekend could have failed to recognise the importance it has for all round development. Sermon over!
A couple of other bits of news before I get a much needed early night….
- The essential skills courses we advertised on UKClimbing are filling fast so please get in touch if you want to get involved.
- If you have been following the plans to construct a 181 turbine wind farm on the Isle of Lewis you might be interested to know the project looks very likely to be turned down. More info at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7208991.stm
Cheers,
Paul
January 19, 2008 at 12:43 am · Filed under peak mountaineering
We’ve been busy making a handy pacing and timing chart for our navigation courses and thought they might be useful to our blog readers too.
They are credit card sized, laminated and have a hole punched in for attaching to your compass. Just email us your address and we will happily send you one for free - can’t get fairer than that!
Cheers,
Cal
January 17, 2008 at 11:15 pm · Filed under peak mountaineering
It’s been a wet and wild few days here in the Peak and I’ve been over at World Challenge in Buxton for 3 days kayaking, climbing, caving and adventure trekking. It’s been a great chance to meet up with some new instructors and renew acquaintances with others I already know but the meals are so good I need to diet for a week now to get back to my ‘fighting weight’!
Driving to Buxton each day has given me plenty of ‘planning’ time and I’ve already got the team at Peak working on some great new adventures for later this year. We are going to be running a few trips to Sardinia in the Autumn as well as a via ferrata adventure in the Costa Blanca. We also have a recce planned for a great multi-day mountain biking adventure in Norway. As always, group sizes will be small and if you want to get involved please contact us sooner rather than later.
Before I go…..here’s a joke courtesy of my little man Ben….
What’s grey and can’t walk?
A castle!
Oh dear!
Cheers,
Paul
January 14, 2008 at 11:04 pm · Filed under peak mountaineering
This weekend I spent time with Sarah and Alan in the West Highlands brushing up on a range of winter skills before spending a blustery night in a shovel-up snow shelter on Saturday. It was a really fun weekend and I obviously didn’t put Al and Sarah off because they are joining us for a learn to lead course later in the year.
Glencoe has been enjoying some of the best ski-ing conditions for years and Alan and Sarah decided to stay for a days piste bashing today. I headed south to meet up with Dave in Ambleside. Our plan was a walk over Helvellyn then across to St Sunday crag for an ascent of the classic scramble Pinnacle Ridge.
Helvellyn has been in the news a lot recently for various reasons. First came the Lake District National Park Authority warning of considerable avalanche risk and poorly consolidated snow a couple of weeks ago. Then within the last week there has been two tragic deaths on the mountain.
Today we started our walk up from Thirlmere in very heavy rain, high winds and poor visibility. The forecast had predicted clearer weather moving across by the afternoon but we saw no improvement in the time we were out. A lot of the snow has now melted but there is enough still up there to require good judgement and great care to be required.
January 11, 2008 at 8:31 pm · Filed under peak mountaineering
‘Compass king’ Darren finds Kinder Summit
This week started with a few days at the annual expedition leaders forum with World Challenge in Buxton. Lots of good information, loads of quality tea and excellent lunches. The weather during these few days was great - cold, clear and sunny….but I only saw this from the window of the WC Centre window!
So, it was a safe bet that when I did get outside on Thursday and Friday things would change - and they certainly did. I have been with Darren for two days of private navigation skills training. Darren is pretty new to walking (and navigating) but you wouldn’t guess it.
By the end of two full on days he has been confidently identifying tiny features, navigating across a very bleak and snow swept Kinder plateau using a compass and pacing and leading the way to obscure ring contours hidden by a sea of Peak District peat bog!
Today we started in bright sunshine but were soon being blasted by horizontal snow which continued for the rest of the day. Fortunately, Darren isn’t the kind to let such inconveniences dampen his spirits and we had a great few days with a lot of laughs (sadly I missed the photo of him falling headlong into a peat bog!). Thanks very much Darren.
The A57 Snake Pass at 4.30pm
I raced back up the Snake Pass as the snow got thicker but one car had already decided to slide into a ditch and I’m sure others will follow. It’s pretty wild up there tonight!
We have a couple of spare places on a navigation course on the 14th and 15th April in case you want to follow in Darren’s expert footsteps - but we can’t guarantee snow!
Have a great weekend from all at Peak.
January 7, 2008 at 10:24 am · Filed under peak mountaineering
Check that technique! - Tom at Apparent North, Stanage
There has been a good variety of activities going on over the last few days………
Last week we had a family climbing trip to Apparent North at Stanage. This is a great venue with small children as there’s a good selection of short easy routes and a range of boulder problems for the adults to sneak off to while the children eat rice cakes!
We combined it with a walk along the edge to the ‘Robin Hood Caves’. Of course no one is sure whether there is any truth in the story of Robin hiding out in the caves while escaping from the Sheriff but I hope it’s true. Little John’s grave is also supposed to be at the Church in Hathersage…….so maybe it is!
Last time I slept there with some friends we foolishly left cars on the road at the bottom. When we walked down next morning the cars were on bricks with stereos long gone and belongings scattered all over the road - kind of ruined the wilderness bivvy experience!
Anyway, this time we returned to a safe car and a couple of days later we had a family trip to the new Awesome Walls climbing centre in Stockport. I had always been impressed by the Liverpool Awesome Wall so was really pleased they had decided to open another in Stockport.
I’m pleased to say it certainly lives up to expectations. Good quality route setting, great selection of routes and a really friendly atmosphere - awesome! Well done to everyone involved. Information is available at http://www.awesomewalls.co.uk.
Nick on the Great Ridge
Since then it’s been back to work - if you can call my job work! A few days Peak District biking with Nick. Wet, windy, muddy and steep……..Peak District biking at its best! Thanks to Nick for some serious fun.
I am writing up one of the rides we did (a great circuit starting in Hope) as a ‘ride guide’ for Peak District Online and the articles section of the Peak site so please look out for that over the next week or so. It’s a classic short Peak outing.
A room with a view Shovel-up
I’ve also been doing some winter skills activities in the Lake District. There has been very wintery conditions up there - and a high avalanche risk in some areas too. Will it last? We even found enough snow for a ’shovel-up’ snow shelter which was made very homely with Andy’s flourescent lighting contraption and a bottle of Dalwhinnie single malt - Cheers Andy and Rob!
Today I’m catching up on admin (and blog entries!) and I have to say I’m very happy to be inside - it’s wild out there!
Cheers,
Paul
