navigation

Well it looks like I’ve passed my navigation assessment for the team. Excellent.

This also constitutes number 76 off of the 101 list!, or at least it is a massive step in the right direction, and the only way of really defining it.

scary stuff and mountain rescue

I’m not going to write much this time round, I’ve been busy doing allsorts really: climbing, running, walking, training etc etc, but I do have a link to some interesting photos taken on an exercise carried out by the Ogwen Mountain Rescue Team:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ogwen.rescue/TeamExerciseJune6thJune2010?feat=embedwebsite#

Why are these pictures relevant? Well because I was the one in the stretcher! Foolishly I agreed to help out and play ‘casualty’ – for the exercise I had sustained a broken leg after a fall taken by my climbing partner ripped all his gear and left him dead at the base of the crag – I was left stranded and injured on the ‘Bilberry Terrace’ of Craig Yr Ysfa (in the Carneddau – the crag is famous for the routes of Amphitheatre Buttress, VDiff and Mur Y Niwl, VS).

The crag is huge, complex and intimidating, and the ledge slopes at an angle of between 30-45 degrees, so you can probably imagine the fun had getting me into the stretcher with one of my legs in a splint. Hilarious, not.

I shall say nothing other than it was a very scary and unpleasant experience, but the guys did a fantastic job and deserve the utmost respect for what they do.

If anyone is interested in finding out more, check out the Ogwen Team website: http://www.ogwen-rescue.org.uk/ or more importantly, check out the North East Wales team site (the long suffering and very capable souls who are training me) and help us out if you can: http://www.newsar.org.uk/

craig rhiwarth – blood, crud and spiders

It is a sunny Sunday on a Bank Holiday weekend, hence today’s little climbing adventure was a trip to a very quiet local crag that I had yet to visit – Craig Rhiwarth in the Tanat Valley. I was generously accompanied by Frank and eventually Phil, but sadly only climbed one route.

Actually it wasn’t really that sad that we only climbed one route, it was simply a case of making the sensible decision to sack it in once we’d discovered that this unloved and rarely frequented little crag was, in fact, mostly a tottering pile of choss and large dolerite blocks held together by mud, cobwebs and brambles.

I may well be doing the place an injustice, as we only paid any real attention to the ‘second crag – lower left’, where the routes of Rose Corner (HVS) and Melangell (VS) were to be found (these were the two I’d had in mind for some reason). We didn’t climb either of these routes though, as after we’d tottered our way up Ivory Tower – (HS 4b with a scary moss-bound unprotected HXS crumbly wall finish – see below), we looked down the final groove of Rose Corner (which is also the finish of Melangell) to see loose shaley flakes, ledges covered in loose rubble, with brambles, grass and a variety of other plants growing from the cracks, along with a slightly scary loose topout, and decided not to bother.

I’m half regretting not doing Melangell as the first part looked lovely, if rather easy (famous last words) – very reminiscent of the final easy pitch of One Step in the Clouds at Tremadog. The second half however, looked decidedly manky, and of course there was the grim looking top groove to reckon with too, which is why I’m not entirely regretting walking away I guess.

So what of the route we did climb? Ivory Tower is one of those routes that looks great from the ground, but when you’re on it suddenly becomes one of those routes that you wish you’d given a miss. There were actually a couple of nice moves up a big layback flake, with lovely grippy dolerite and reasonable gear if you’ve taken some big cams or hexes (I didn’t), it was just a shame that the cracks were full of cobwebs and spiders, and the big blocks in the groove after the flake were hollow and loose and therefore very scary to be climbing around/on/over. Oh and the top out – I’ve already made brief mention of this, but just as you think it’s all over, you find yourself stood on a ledge with a short (2m) vertical wall with a sloping top to climb. “Not to worry!” you might say to yourself, as you take hold of what looks to be a reasonable hold, place your foot on another big reasonable hold and weyhey…bye bye foothold! At this point you may start to wish you could levitate or at least reach the great big bloody tree a few meters to your right, as you look more closely at the holds on this ‘wall’, only to discover it is less of a ‘wall’ and more a stack of rock flakes piled on top of each other and very convincingly doing impressions of a Jenga tower made out of hobnobs and sponge fingers… Mercifully, once you finally commit your life to said hobnob (or sponge finger), you find yourself with an awesome variety of sloping biscuit tops covered in an especially grippy form of moss – perfect to grab onto just as your footholds start to disintegrate.

Anyway, it was a nice day out in the sunshine, the wind only made communication mildly impossible, and I was granted the honour of tripping up on a bramble at the bottom of the descent path and creating a nice jagged gash in my leg. Hence the blood as mentioned in the title.

The crag is in a lovely situation though, with great free parking complete with toilet, a very easy approach and seemingly some potential to be a really nice little venue if only it got more visitors (catch 22 eh?). If the crags received some attention, had a bit of a clean up and perhaps a little gardening, the fantastic immaculate Tremadog style Dolerite would probably yield some mini classics. Hell, I may even go back and do the nice looking little E2 I spied on the way down…

 Left hand, lower tier of the Second crag (see the Meirionnydd Guide)

A beautiful location and crag aspect, and best of all, no bank holiday climbing queues…

more new gear to come

It’s been far too long since I last blogged, and for that I am sorry. The thing is though, it’s all well and good reporting on every climbing trip, every day out walking etc etc, but in reality not many people are actually interested in reading how many ‘easy’ trad routes I did a week last Wednesday…I know I sometimes tend to get bored with other people’s blogs when I’m reading yet another trip report, unless of course something rather special or noteworthy happened on that trip (I’m sorry, but it’s true!) and so with that in mind I have taken the decision to refrain from posting quite so often (after all, I’m generally out at least 3 or 4 times a week, sometimes more).

I will, however, continue with my never-ending barrage of gear type blog entries, simply because the vast majority of people I know will happily read a gear review, or a post on DIY modifications, without becoming quite as disenchanted with life as they would reading my continuing stream of HVS ticks…

And so, we have another gear blog. There are a number of items I could talk about, so I will choose a few of the more ‘major’ purchases I have agonised over for weeks before making:

• Alpkit Pipedream 400, my new 2-3 season down sleeping bag. Ok so it’s partly Phil’s too, as I begged him to help me buy it. At first glance it seems like a really rather nice piece of kit. It fits me well, without too much dead space (which does mean it would probably be quite a tight fit for someone of a larger stature than me), seems to be well made, packs remarkably small and will hopefully soon be tested out prior to use in the Alps as my bivi sleeping bag…
• Black Diamond Venom Axe, 50cm. A new ice axe! And not a pair of Fusions or Nomics (that purchase will come later in the year). Yes, I have at long long last decided to buy a mountaineering axe – something altogether more suitable for easier Alpine routes requiring walking with an axe, than my beloved DMM Rebel Axe. I spent a very long time deciding which axe to go for – my short-list eventually coming down to the Grivel Airtch Evo, Petzl Summit, Petzl Sum’tec or the Black Diamond Venom. Having played with all of these axes in the shops, I very quickly decided I wanted the Black Diamond, and then proceeded to take several months to finally order the damned thing. Anyway, I have ordered one, and I will most likely post up a full review once I have used it.
• Crappy closed cell foam sleeping mat. Yes I have a Therm-a-rest, and yes it is awesome and I love it, so why on earth have I been out and bought an 8 quid foam camping mat? Well for Alpine bivis of course! More to come on this, including my customisation works…

There are many more bits and pieces I would like to talk about, and probably will do, but the three I’ve mentioned here are items I will be talking about in greater depth in the future as I have high hopes for all of them. So, I’m sorry I haven’t got anything more interesting to say, but I have climbed 15-20 more routes since my last blog entry, accounts of which would almost certainly have been more boring than what I have written!

20 miles of the Offa’s Dyke path

And I’m not even a walker.

The Prestatyn Walking Festival took place over this weekend just gone, with a total of 40 miles of the Offa’s Dyke path being walked over 2 days. I tagged along at the back on Saturday for the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct to Moel Famau stretch.

I must just add, I wasn’t doing this entirely for my own enjoyment (I really don’t have the patience to be a long distance walker), but primarily as a helping hand to the NEWSAR sweep team attending.

NEWSAR (North East Wales Search And Rescue) are my ‘local’ Mountain Rescue Team, and a group I am hoping one day to become a proper member of. For anyone who doesn’t know me personally, I am currently an ‘aspirant’ team member and hoping to be promoted to being a full blown ‘trainee’ in the next couple of months. After that there is a deal of training and a number of assessments I will need to pass before I can [hopefully] join the call-out list and finally consider myself to be a part of a mountain rescue group. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years, but until a few months ago simply not had the chance to – so fingers crossed they don’t kick me out!!

Anyway, Saturday was the first time I’ve done anything with the team in a public setting, and also the first time I’ve been allowed to wear a team badge (sadly I have to give it back for the moment). I know it’s not a big deal, but being given the badge to display did make me feel a tiny bit proud, despite the fact that the jacket it was stitched onto seemed to breathe about as well as a plastic bin liner – I was constantly taking it off and putting it back on again as the sun and wind did some kind of masochistic waltz just to irritate us.

The walk itself was pretty uneventful, but actually very enjoyable – the banter was fantastic and the terrain pretty stunning in places, plus it didn’t actually rain which is always a bonus. Sadly my feet really aren’t used to traversing large distances and I’ve ended up with some rather painful bruised pads and heels – the rest of me, happily, is fine though. I was slightly worried that the colds I’ve had of late may have had an impact on my fitness levels, but honestly, even at the end of the 20miles I still had loads left in the tank, so that’s pleasing. My feet weren’t half grateful not to be going back out again today though!

Please note, this is me, picture taken whilst moving, and my feet were sore – this is not my ‘usual’ facial expression