10 Peaks, 10 Hours & 10 Ladies...

 

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ITACE Team Training Weekend

 Early morning light in Newlands Valley

This weekend the majority of the ITACE team made the long drive north for a training weekend in the Lake District. The wet and windy weather of the last few weeks had given way to blue skies and sunshine - perfect conditions to train for an Antarctic crossing although we suspect Ian was happy with a dose of sunshine as he's heading south with Ran Fiennes in a couple of months for a winter Antarctic traverse as part of the Coldest Journey expedition.

Saturday saw us walking into Borrowdale over the top of Walla Crag. After an 'important meeting' at Shepherds Cafe we spent the afternoon hanging around on some string looking at crevasse rescue and abseiling. The midges eventually drove us away and we found our way up to Millican Dalton's cave in the dark for a bivi. The following morning we shouldered our loads for the climb over Cat Bells and down into Newlands Valley. Our final activity was a descent of Stoneycroft Ghyll which provided plenty of fun and a few bruises!

Ian topping out on Brown Slabs at Shepherds Crag

ITACE 2014 Team Training from Mountain Zac on Vimeo.

Mountain movement skills

 

Jude on the traverse of Pluto (HVS 4c)

Today I've been running a work shop on movement skills in the mountains. The ability to move efficiently and safely across a variety of terrain is the key to challenges like a traverse of the Cuillin Ridge which Jude has set her heart on. We headed into a very quiet Langdale and up to Raven Crag. The focus of the day was on footwork, moving your center of mass efficiently and becoming comfortable with the environment  We climbed up (and down!) Middlefell Buttress (D) and Revelation (HS) a couple of times before picking a route up the main crag using a combination of Original Route (VS), Pluto (HVS) and Bilberry Buttress (VS). The rest of the day was spent on the scree and scrambling terrain around the crag. Bring on the Cuillin in May!

A midnight bimble up Skiddaw!

The birthday party heading up!

Light pollution over Keswick

Howling Howgills

Cautley Spout

I'm just back from a couple of days out in the Howgills with students from the University of Cumbria. Cloudy conditions gave us plenty of oppurtunity to develop their navigation skills while a wet camp in Langdale tested their campcraft. Just the one boot was left outside to fill up with water! Our route took us past Cautley Spout, over the Calf and down into Langdale. Friday started with a stiff pull up Hazelgill and over towards Green Bell in some very windy conditions.

Scrambling below Cautley Spout

Perfect conditions for navigation practice

Nanda Devi & Panch Chuli Trek

Nanda Devi & Nanda Devi East

I've just returned from a stunning trek in the foothills of Nanda Devi & Panch Chuli in the Indian Himalaya. Just a few of the photos of this amazing and very quiet region. In two weeks we didn't see another trekker.

Lakeland Classic Rock Routes

Traversing below the pinnacle on a very wet Troutdale Pinnacle (S)

Fancying a challenge acrobats Jane and Lisa headed north to enjoy an 'Indian summer' in the Lakes attempting to climb the 15 Classic Rock routes from Ken Wilson's stunning coffee table book. An ambitious itinerary involved some 45 miles of hill walking and plenty of four star climbing over 3 long days. Sunday morning saw us at Shepherds Crag in Borrowdale climbing the classic Little Chamonix (VD) as the sun burnt the mist off Derwent Water. Our next route Troutdale Pinnacle (S) at Black Crag was rather wet with a waterfall running down the crux pitch which slowed us significantly but perfect timing saw us back at the bags as the rain arrived. The forecast for the beginning of the week was pretty bad but spirits were still high as we set up for the trek up to Gillercombe Buttress (S). The rain soon cleared and we enjoyed plenty of sunshine as far as the base of the route. Greasy rock again slowed us and darkness and torrential arrived together two pitches from the top. We made a quick decision to bail and one long and wet 60m abseil took us down into the gully and an easy scramble down to the bags. A sheltered campsite was quickly found on the valley floor and we settled in for the night.

The next morning gave blue skies and light winds. We opted to miss out the routes on Pillar and traversed over Green Gable aiming for Napes Needle (HS), Needle Ridge (VD) and Tophet Wall (S). However by the time we reached Sty Head Tarn an unrelenting wind was driving heavy rain down the valley and we ended up retreating to Langdale for hot chocolates in front of the fire in the Old Dungeon Ghyll.

The forecast for the Tuesday was far better so we headed back round to the quick drying Shepherds Crag to get some climbing done. We made quick work of Donkey's Ears (), Eve (VS), Kransic Crack Direct (HVS), ?? () and The Grasp (E1) before retreating to the cafe. Bacon sarnies and hot chocolate arrived just before the only shower of the day signifying the end of a very adventurous 3 days.

Enjoying the exposure from Troutdale Pinnacle (S)

The unique Donkey's Ears on Shepherds Crag

Entertaining the locals at Shepherds Cafe!

The Challenge at Outward Bound

A stunning morning camped at Red Tarn below Helvellyn

I have just completed my forth week working for Outward Bound on The Challenge. This flagship program for school leavers is expanding widely next year after a very successful summer (and in view of the recent riots). Last week PM David Cameron and the local MP Rory Stewart were at OB Howtown joing in with a group building and sailing a raft on Ullswater and this week we had a BBC Newsnight film crew in. Another very positive course which challenged the youngsters views on life and developed bonds across various groups in their neighborhood.

A soggy group make their way back off a demanding expedition

Bill Gates' (founder of Microsoft) take on personal development....Defiantly something we can all use here!

1. Life is not fair; get used to it.
2. The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
3. You will not make £100,000 a year right out of school.
   
4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.
6. If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try "delousing" the cuboard in your own room.
8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
9. Life is not divided into terms. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that in your own time.
10. Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

ML Expedition

Sunset over Swirl How from our first camp at Red Tarn

For the past 3 days I've been working on an ML assessment expedition in the central fells of the Lake District for Apex. The weather was incredibly kind with just a couple of periods of heavy rain to keep us on our toes. With perfect visibility the emphasis was on some challenging night navigation on both nights. Stood on the top of Bowfell at two in the morning with a cloud inversion forming in Langdale and across Windermere was pretty special. Temperatures were defiantly dropping and there was more than a hint of autumn in the air. A huge well done to everyone on the assessment.

Sunrise and the remains of the cloud inversion from Three Tarns

ML Steep Ground Day

Day two of Apex's ML Assessment focused on the skills required to manage groups on steep terrain. Today's synoptic chart gave a very depressing picture with two slow moving occluded fronts giving constant rain and some pretty windy conditions. Nevertheless we set out for the slopes above Goats Water which required the full repertoire of spotting, coaching, confidence roping, abseiling and pitching to safeguard the group in some pretty horrendous conditions.

ML Assessment

This week I'm assessing on a ML Summer course for Apex. A few showers blew through but generally the day was bright and breezy as we challenged the groups navigation around Coniston Old Man. Finding ring contours and re-entrants takes you into some unusual places well off the beaten track and we found the remains of one of the engines from the Great Carrs aircrash. Following one leat clearly marked on the map we found it abruptly disappeared into some mine workings necessitating a quick reevaluation of their navigation strategy!

The Challenge

Enjoying the challenge of Freeze Beck

For the past couple of weeks I've been back at Outward Bound in the Lakes working on The Challenge, the initial week of a three week development program for school leavers. The weather has been pretty mixed with one expedition being a pretty soggy experience with rivers flowing through the tent and the other camped on top of Helvellyn watching a spectacular sunset. The groups have also completed a couple of long canoe journeys on Ullswater and a challenging ghyll scramble in Freeze Beck.

Another Challenge group show us how to do it...

Now it's our turn! - Rowing on Ullswater

Canoe sailing down Ullswater

Catstycam & Ullswater from the summit of Helvellyn

Red Tarn & Striding Edge from our campsite on Helvellyn

Helvellyn sunset

Selside Pike

Ruined cottages on the Corpse Road above Haweswater

Survey cairn on Selside Pike

A pool of frozen Sphagnam Moss

L is for ???. Answers on a postcard please...

The Highstreet ridge at sunset