tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36391777149757412662024-02-18T22:15:04.223-08:00Harry HolmesHarry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.comBlogger111125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-66421356351548660562015-02-18T12:03:00.006-08:002015-02-18T12:03:57.300-08:00The North Face Prism Optimus Hoodie Review<div dir="ltr">
I recently received a The North Face Prism Optimus Hoodie for a recent trip to the Alps. This trip wasn't a normal winter alpine adventure. I didn't ski, I didn't exactly climb any ice falls. Instead I spent lots of time sat in darkened rooms and stood around looking at things. That's right I was at the UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prism Optimus Hoodie in Italy</td></tr>
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<b>Insulation</b><br />
With all this standing around I was going to need something rather well insulated to keep me warm. The 700 fill of down found in the Prism did this brilliantly. I did get a bit chilly at times but I think this was probably mostly down to getting cold feet, drawing heat away from my core, as apposed to directly losing it. The jacket claims to have synthetic insulation in the shoulders and arms, and down in the torso. I haven't really noticed any difference between the different insulation though.</div>
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<b>Fit</b><br />
I got the jacket quite large as to allow layering underneath. This would typically cause the jacket to feel quite bulky, but surprisingly it doesn't. An interesting feature of the jacket I didn't expect were its cuffs. Typically the elastic part of a cuff is the part of the sleeve which sits furthest down the arm. In the case of the prism this is not so. Instead a cuff of insulation sits down below this. Despite initial reservations I really liked this feature. It eliminated the cold spot which could develop between a glove and the jacket. The hood was rather large and can accommodate a helmet if needed. </div>
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<b>Looks</b><br />
I thought this jacket looked pretty smart. I have it in the TNF Red colour, which is a quite pinky sort of red. It also happened to be the same colour as the Korean national team jacket, and the Koreans are quite good at ice climbing. I guess if I look the part it might transfer to my climbing as well. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking the Prism Optimus Hoodie for a snowy walk</td></tr>
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<b>Storage</b><br />
Pockets are the simple little things which makes a jacket work. Their positioning, size, shape and zips, or lack of, are important things to get right. The Prism features 2 zippered hand warmer pockets, a zippers chest pocket and a cavernous internal pouch. The hand warmer pockets are even big enough to fit 2 hands in, if your girlfriend decides it's too cold! The internal pouch can be used as a stuff sack as well. </div>
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<b>Build</b><b> </b><b>quality</b><br />
The North Face is quite well known for good build quality. This is obvious in the Prism with very little loss of down in the main torso. This is achieved mainly by having no sewed seems, which are instead welded. The fabric feels soft to the touch, but also hard wearing. </div>
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<b>Overall</b><br />
I was almost inseparable from this jacket once I returned from Europe. I even had to force myself to hang it up in a cupboard so that I didn't ruin it. Although I can hardly comment on its use for climbing or mountaineering what I can say is that it performed brilliantly for everything I asked of it.</div>
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I give this a maximum rating of 2 thumbs up. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXFarUKFH3Q0uvkLVYgmkkC2eetlfmS_oeqJUxCs2f907-KbpN__gYmCdXJB5jRw2RQj7QIlw6MwnhDcSZ7e7quHZZkmerEopbC5ykzGiSdoWJkRiP4GWXYNLX3ZyardLhePsAQo6GRkhS/s1600/DSC_8893.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXFarUKFH3Q0uvkLVYgmkkC2eetlfmS_oeqJUxCs2f907-KbpN__gYmCdXJB5jRw2RQj7QIlw6MwnhDcSZ7e7quHZZkmerEopbC5ykzGiSdoWJkRiP4GWXYNLX3ZyardLhePsAQo6GRkhS/s1600/DSC_8893.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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This jacket is available from <a href="http://www.outdoorkit.co.uk/product.php?product_id=16790&category_id=421">outdoorkit</a><a href="http://www.outdoorkit.co.uk/product.php?product_id=16790&category_id=421">.</a><a href="http://www.outdoorkit.co.uk/product.php?product_id=16790&category_id=421">co</a><a href="http://www.outdoorkit.co.uk/product.php?product_id=16790&category_id=421">.</a><a href="http://www.outdoorkit.co.uk/product.php?product_id=16790&category_id=421">uk</a> with a massive 60% off!</div>
Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-14275151566036836692015-01-13T03:13:00.001-08:002015-01-13T03:20:56.534-08:00Korean ice world cup<p dir="ltr">This past week I have been competing in the uiaa ice world cup in Korea. I have had a really good time with my team members Scott and Matt, old friends and new friends. <br>
The trip started pretty badly as Scott and I lost our bags in transit. They were luckily returned just before the competition started. <br>
The competition itself didn't go great for me. I was first to climb, which is exactly were I didn't want to be, and ripped the very first ice hold! I was allowed to restart and climbed quite slowly. I came 20th in my group, so roughly 40th overall. <br>
The next day Matt and I competed in the speed event. This went better putting me in 18th, missing out on the next round by just 2 places! <br>
The last couple of days we have spent in Seoul training. Firstly we went to a small boulder wall where I picked up some great tips from the Korean route setter and today we climbed on an outdoor wall which allowed us to use crampons. <br>
We are now in the airport waiting for our flight and I'm looking forward to a few days at home training and then the European comps! </p>
Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-91699993463073578252014-11-06T06:42:00.000-08:002014-11-06T06:42:43.842-08:00Haglofs Gram 7 Rucksack ReviewI received the Haglofs Gram 7 Rucksack this summer with the view of using it as a running pack, after starting fell running in July. It has mostly been used for this, but I have also found it useful as a small climbing pack. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJw2x-KQ_mSODFOqSx0uK-v4rKVeZJRpLSI-5WldLyeiaqcfU3EswEuSwQRdpsF3jeWCuLjTpmeSwbGgfVjjUNvNdokyD2Fv3xgCyBGvooLlsS51YR7UxgjZiJ7pCOdNMX4Zzx_f4WG6J6/s1600/631101673232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJw2x-KQ_mSODFOqSx0uK-v4rKVeZJRpLSI-5WldLyeiaqcfU3EswEuSwQRdpsF3jeWCuLjTpmeSwbGgfVjjUNvNdokyD2Fv3xgCyBGvooLlsS51YR7UxgjZiJ7pCOdNMX4Zzx_f4WG6J6/s1600/631101673232.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
The basic rucksack design is pretty standard, with 2 comfortable shoulder straps, waist and chest buckles and pockets on the hips. The bag features a large main compartment with a small valuables pocket and a pouch for a hydration system. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Running sack (Photo Credit: Esk Valley Fell Club)</td></tr>
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To be any good as a climbing or running pack it needs to be light. The Gram 7 weighs in at a mere 395 grams, which isn't too bad at all. It has a compact design preventing it from flapping around when running, or getting stuck whilst climbing. <br />
The fabric which the pack is made from seems pretty strong, so I'm not too worried about scratching around against rough rock with it on. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcc-LhmRxMBfSh5qIoxljnR5_1nPsdEN956PEcv9eTHZ9z6-oIrySHeaprODTpPLOXuhi4vybIgKCtB0TWzHTvHC0HdWT9j7B27HP65-3cq575uPs059j87tLoWqFLketg0bKxQfhQM8y/s1600/10431417_10203017261978168_4100843468909878467_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvcc-LhmRxMBfSh5qIoxljnR5_1nPsdEN956PEcv9eTHZ9z6-oIrySHeaprODTpPLOXuhi4vybIgKCtB0TWzHTvHC0HdWT9j7B27HP65-3cq575uPs059j87tLoWqFLketg0bKxQfhQM8y/s1600/10431417_10203017261978168_4100843468909878467_o.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winter climbing sack (Photo Credit: Robert Taylor)</td></tr>
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This is a small bag so there isn't much room. I have been unable to find any quoted sizes, however I suspect it might be 7 litres, thanks to the name. This is perfectly big enough for fitting in your fell running kit or a jacket, guide and some food for a climb. <br />
There is nothing that special about this bag, but it doesn't need to be special. It was worked perfectly for everything I have used it for. <br />
I give this 2 thumbs up!<br />
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The <a href="http://www.outdoorkit.co.uk/product.php?product_id=19203">Haglofs Gram 7</a> is available from <a href="http://outdoorkit.co.uk/">outdoorkit.co.uk</a> with 40% off! Yes nearly half price.<br />
Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-88566629808207901922014-10-22T14:28:00.001-07:002014-10-22T14:28:14.125-07:00A busy weekendThis saturday saw the first round of the 2014 British Tooling Series at Beacon Climbing Center in North Wales. The British Tooling Series has evolved from the popular Scottish Tooling Series, which has been running north of the border for a few years already.<br />
The Beacon put on a great show, with additional excitement thanks to it also being their 20th birthday weekend. Happy Birthday Beacon! The day saw, in addition to the tooling comp, a fun boulder comp, a talk my Tim Emmett and Will Gadd and an Indian meal.<br />
The dry tooling competition took place on 8 qualification routes. These were a combination of routes using Alpkit figfours and normal axes and had something for all abilities.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Qualifying</td></tr>
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There was a good turn out on the day with some old STS faces as well people new to tooling and others that are just starting out in competitions.<br />
After all the competitors had tested themselves on the qualifying routes it was time for the finals. There were two finals routes, one for the female finalists and one for the males. Both of these looked thin and sketchy and generally pretty hard, but what else would you expect being set by the master of sketchy climbing himself, Nick Bullock.<br />
The female finalists were Anna Wells, Katy Forrester and Megan Beaumont, while the male finalists were Tim Mueller, Will Woodhead, Matt Pigden, Dave Bowes, Scott G and myself. I was second to last out so I didn't watch any of the female finals, however the competition was won by dry tooling guru Anna Wells. I didn't see much of the mens finals for the same reason either, so we join it at my attempt.<br />
Walking out of isolation I didn't know how everyone had done, so I just had to do as well as I could. There was no time limit for the final, it was just who got furthest, which suited my slow style of climbing. I made very slow progress up to the last hold on the route, which I ended up ripping off while getting into a position to clip the lower off. Scott was last up and climbed the route with ease, but got the rope caught around a hanging pipe, causing terrible rope drag. This eventually caused made him to fall off. If it wasn't for this I'm sure he'd have won, but it in the end my attempt was just good enough to win it. DMM very generously donated a rope for each of the winners.<br />
The British dry tooling scene is a really cool thing to be involved in at the moment with loads of psyched climbers. Its shaping up to be a really good series and started in fine style at Beacon Climbing Centre. Get involved!<br />
Despite being really tired from the comp on saturday I was not done with competing for the weekend. Sunday was the British Fell Relays, held on Middleton Fell, just north of Kirby Lonsdale. I was running as part of York Knavesmire Harriers A team. The other team members were Neil Stabbs, Chris Roberts, Giles Hawking, Tom Ratcliffe and Simon Collins.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mass start for leg 1</td></tr>
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The race was in 4 legs. 2 short legs, run first and last, a long leg run second and a navigation leg run third. I was on the final short 10k leg.<br />
The race started at 10am, and about 3 hours later it was finally my turn to run. The rest of the team had put me in a good position, although we were never in contention to win we could achieve a respectable position.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Knavesmire (yellow and black) at the end of leg 2</td></tr>
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The weather wasn't great for my run with strong winds, low cloud and rain on the tops of the hills. Despite this I tried my best and brought Knavesmire home in a respectable 57th place, running my leg as the 50th fastest.<br />
It was all together a good weekend, although I was very tired on monday morning!<br />
There are a distinct lack of photos for the amount of text, but I was busy doing things.Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-48718297593515659382014-10-14T14:18:00.003-07:002014-10-14T14:18:52.639-07:00My wallThis summer I have been busy. Mostly I have been working but I have also had chance to do a bit of climbing. My major achievement of the summer has been building my own wall in a spare shed at home. Well when I say spare a few bits had to be moved around but there's space for it now.<br />
The wall consists of a 40 degree board up against another board with is just slightly less than 40 degrees.<br />
The steeper wall is made to the same specification as a moon board and I have been using this for rock climbing, while the slightly less steep board is covered in sheets of old ply, which I have been using for drytooling.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moon Board</td></tr>
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I have used the old ply as a cover to allow me to use my crampons without needlessly damaging the wall. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tooling Board</td></tr>
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The wall has made getting climbing much easier, as I don't live particularly close to any commercial walls, and it saves me a lot of fuel money not having to drive through to York every day.<br />
This past weekend I competed in the Buxton Thunderdome drytooling competition and came third, which was much better than I expected given the strength of the field. It looks like the wall is having the desired effect on my ability. Hopefully I can continue improving and do a bit better at the 2015 UIAA Ice World Cups.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bzrp-j4IYAAHU1X.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bzrp-j4IYAAHU1X.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buxton Thunderdome</td></tr>
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I have had a lot of help with this wall, mostly from my dad who helped me build it, or rather I helped him as he probably did most of the work. <a href="http://www.mkmbs.co.uk/About-Us/our-branches/driffield/branch-details/">MKM Driffield</a> were a big help giving me a discount on wood, as have been <a href="http://www.redgoatclimbing.co.uk/">Red Goat Climbing Wall</a>, in York, who have generously supplied me with loads of old holds for tooling on, t-nuts and bolts!Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-10265200806746066202014-09-07T15:54:00.001-07:002014-09-07T15:55:28.011-07:00Grivel Plume Quickdraw ReviewThe Plume quickdraw is Grivels lightest offering in the world of Quickdraws.<br />
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<a href="http://bouldersuk.com/media/catalog/product/cache/7/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/p/l/plume_k3w_11cm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://bouldersuk.com/media/catalog/product/cache/7/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/p/l/plume_k3w_11cm.jpg" height="320" width="310" /></a></div>
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They come in a range of sizes with slings from 11 to 23cm. These slings a made of 10mm dyneema, which is pretty standard for quickdraws, decorated in Grivels gold and black. </div>
Both ends feature a plume karabiner, which has a wire gate, a nice clipping action and a large opening. These karabiners are colour coded with black on the gear end and a fixed gold biner on the rope end.<br />
This all looks very promising, however the proof of the pudding is in the eating, or climbing in this case as they are a bit tough.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plumes in use on The Diedre, Kilnsey (and Alex)</td></tr>
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I have used these quickdraws quite extensively since getting them, from limestone sport crags to gneiss trad sea cliffs, and lots in between. In all of these setting they have performed very well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some Plume draws on my harness somehwere</td></tr>
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These draws are very lightweight, meaning that they feel very light on your harness. Less weight means the potential to carry more gear, or just be lighter.<br />
The large gate opening means that these quickdraws are very easy to clip. This has come in handy when you really don't want to fumble a clip, like during the awkward crux of Silkie on Dun Mingulay!<br />
The easy clipping also makes them great to use whilst sport climbing. Grivel do a version of these with a plastic dog bone style cover, making the sling rigid. The idea behind this is to make them easier to pull on whilst working a sport route, but honestly I find these much harder to hold onto than just the basic sling.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plume Draws in use at Traprain Law (and Elaine)</td></tr>
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I couldn't find any faults with these quickdraws until, disaster! One of the gates became sticky and stopped springing closed. This has only occurred on one of the karabiners, and will occur in time with any wire gate karabiner anyway, although it has happened rather quickly with this one. Maybe its just the runt of the Plume litter. A bit of WD40 should sort it out.<br />
All in all I think these are great bits of kit and deserve a place in anyones rack, however for the sticky gate I can only give them 1 thumb up, otherwise it would have been a definite two.<br />
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<br />Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-13479737423566677472014-07-21T14:12:00.001-07:002014-07-21T14:12:37.110-07:00Petzl Ange Finesse Quickdraw ReviewOver the past couple of months I have been testing a few sets of quick draws. The first of these to get a look over by my "expert" eye are the Petzl Ange Finesse Quickdraws.<br />
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As with any other draw these are made of 3 major components, 2 carabiners and a sling. The Ange carabiners are quite an interesting design featuring just a single wire for the gate. You can think of it a bit like a very narrow solid gate biner. This should have made them rather light however, weighing in at a 28g for a small or 34g for a large, gear wads will know that this is hardly groundbreaking. To lock the two end of the carabiner together when closed the gate fits into a groove in the nose of the biner. This prevents the rope getting stuck in the gate while clipping. Nice. <br />
In quickdraw form 2 different colors are used for the biners. Blue or orange are used to indicate the rope end and silver indicates the protection end.<br />
The quickdraws come in a range of lengths, all using the same width slings. Pretty standard really. These slings are heavily stitched, which must add a bit to their weight, and ever little helps when going super-light. When you compare these to other quickdraws in their price range, then these really aren't that light. <br />
If you are a sport climber then you dont want these! Firstly the thin gate is very difficult to clip and secondly they don't work with clipsticks! <br />
Despite me being quite excited about getting these to begin with they have largely been relegated to attaching my climbing shoes together.<br />
I give this a rating of 1 thumb down. For being advertised as a super-light draw they totally disappoint. <br />
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<br />Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-47714305498965820152014-06-13T07:12:00.000-07:002014-06-13T07:12:05.850-07:00A Scottish Bouldering OdysseyOver the past couple of weeks I have been driving around Scotland exploring and climbing on lots of boulders and short outcrops. I would have liked to have split this post up into 3 separate ones but with a trip to the islands looming over me I have tried to do it all in one big abridged post with lots of pictures.<br />
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All of these trips have been inspired by the Bouldering in Scotland guide, published by Stone Country. <a href="http://stonecountry.blogspot.co.uk/">Stone Country</a> produce a nice selection of guide books for Scottish bouldering and also have an interesting blog.<br />
Scotland features lots of interesting rock types, which allows for lots of different styles of climbing in a small area. If your a crimp fan then the schist found at Weem or Glen Nevis might be more to your taste than the rough slopers, typical of Skyes's Gabbro. I personally have tried to just climb on as many things as I can. Glen Clova and Inchbae, both with a granitic composition, although neither strictly being granite, have been highlights of the trip. I liked the solitude which can be found at Inchbae, despite being so close to a major road, coupled with some brilliant climbing on lovely blocs. Some of these can be quite dirty but once uncovered the climbing is generally very good. If your ever driving between Ullapool and Inverness then stop off and seek out some of the problems here. My personal favorite was "Long Winning Streak" on the double boulders, however everything described in the guide is worth doing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Long Winning Streak, Inchbae</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colonel Mustard, Inchbae</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">West Wall, Glen Clova</td></tr>
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Glen Clova is another good venue to visit. It is less on the way somewhere than Inchbae, but it does have a lot more to go at making it worth a special visit. There is a good guide on the <a href="https://www.scottishclimbs.com/wiki/Glen_Clova_Bouldering">Scottish Climbs Wiki</a>, which features lots of good problems. There is a lot of potential for new routing here too. My favorite climb here would have to be Lady Sam, a brilliant font 7a+ in "The Hollow" area below the sentinel boulder.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lady Sam, Glen Clova</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Climbing out of the Darkness of the Hole of Weems, Glen Clova</td></tr>
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Torridon is a particularly popular bouldering venue for the highlands and even has its own guide book produced by Stone Country. I have visited the boulders in Torridon on other occasions but I have just gone to the classics of the Celtic Jumble and the Ship Boulder. This time however I decided to have a look at one of the outlying boulders close to Annat. The Balgy boulder is a Torridonian sandstone Erratic sat upon a Gneiss platform. The guide describes two problems, one of them the brilliant font 7a The Balgy Prow. If you attempt this problem then try and stay as true to the line of the prow as you can. It is easy to escape out left after a few tricky moves, and I guess you will have climbed the line, but with a bit of work the direct line up the prow becomes possible. You might loose a lot of skin, but it is totally worth it!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Balgy Boulder, Torridon</td></tr>
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Other very good venues include the Gneiss boulders found at Loch Buie on Mull, the Torridonian Sandstone boulders of Loch Kishorn and Reiff and The Gabbro boulders in Coire Lagan, which are totally worth the walk!, and of course the classics such as Dumbarton and Glen Nevis! Ill let the pictures speak for the rest of these though.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuWkV96vT2d9QNLjbrKpvjGlqY5qx7FbBKYjBqFC42aTGc4mYll_bxc8LsSAHeAYnp2z8HRQ63x89ubdZMZeXgDDrkj50ziI5-sE8yvSNLk8Zbj1TuCH_w5i8eeN-3CJqIwQ9igKm-aWl-/s1600/IMG_2517.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuWkV96vT2d9QNLjbrKpvjGlqY5qx7FbBKYjBqFC42aTGc4mYll_bxc8LsSAHeAYnp2z8HRQ63x89ubdZMZeXgDDrkj50ziI5-sE8yvSNLk8Zbj1TuCH_w5i8eeN-3CJqIwQ9igKm-aWl-/s1600/IMG_2517.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lucky Break, Coire Laggan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz4dwJV1MR7Cskpu7VdHh6qPvj45aZgCr4bNbwF0tY31KQdlazfNQt_BJJkS9WuCylNokOw_aHK3ybTHHpkTCFLUKaIwUPkkl0WpxMEceoD8tCtnRV3BXFvW8DbPi-vf1CXjrTwCm_fVHq/s1600/IMG_2547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz4dwJV1MR7Cskpu7VdHh6qPvj45aZgCr4bNbwF0tY31KQdlazfNQt_BJJkS9WuCylNokOw_aHK3ybTHHpkTCFLUKaIwUPkkl0WpxMEceoD8tCtnRV3BXFvW8DbPi-vf1CXjrTwCm_fVHq/s1600/IMG_2547.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snake Attack, Coire Lagan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi81KyzDBedE6YfJDKEgfzuXoIY8lRDVTBiwSSC2vhGq2RFvftntaWnVqEA7ePhNP0C8vHAO3xYjR7LLqJk7M7KLk7Rsb2_zeA3y8MWo-XDQnkYAhMZOe8v_C1aitdX775IFayLwcxNo-OM/s1600/IMG_2434.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi81KyzDBedE6YfJDKEgfzuXoIY8lRDVTBiwSSC2vhGq2RFvftntaWnVqEA7ePhNP0C8vHAO3xYjR7LLqJk7M7KLk7Rsb2_zeA3y8MWo-XDQnkYAhMZOe8v_C1aitdX775IFayLwcxNo-OM/s1600/IMG_2434.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hook and Go, Loch Buie</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nipple Attack, Loch Buie</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiVdVYKb1KyaDsnGpCF2RI3aBfxqPnEc9b8oeSrTcK5qJCxheOcT0PYY3zrfjyyXr5yCLuAEm3VGAXQmgZQiyNInQWYS90csAhE-HbhAm7Y3QJlVOo2jj07XqxKGH4CdPSSym_VqK3XfAv/s1600/IMG_2415.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiVdVYKb1KyaDsnGpCF2RI3aBfxqPnEc9b8oeSrTcK5qJCxheOcT0PYY3zrfjyyXr5yCLuAEm3VGAXQmgZQiyNInQWYS90csAhE-HbhAm7Y3QJlVOo2jj07XqxKGH4CdPSSym_VqK3XfAv/s1600/IMG_2415.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dannys Wall, Loch Buie</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOqPw6GxjL-BOCRKoTJiXCblYPA0eyhHp6DikqmsqyIA4SNG3AjKyzQRiu2G3UmC9f-Q6saTqE4JFEJ4LtCpVXnpLyDuqMMRgSbYdQ3Yc6n8skz-vh5NQb3pLnJAfsUsNyO9f5PccwmaAB/s1600/IMG_2412.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOqPw6GxjL-BOCRKoTJiXCblYPA0eyhHp6DikqmsqyIA4SNG3AjKyzQRiu2G3UmC9f-Q6saTqE4JFEJ4LtCpVXnpLyDuqMMRgSbYdQ3Yc6n8skz-vh5NQb3pLnJAfsUsNyO9f5PccwmaAB/s1600/IMG_2412.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dannys Wall, Loch Buie</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmP3YhNlr2eiC1cFrK8cPTP5lB9cZyCFC7uxtAG8mJMuC8zaXsTyQtFVZoOnGUXyTGC5DAaiqrQWr8POSmt230xsXmpRWgUxOoSs9uKZLGVjpMXFjREfNRfi4YYpwaZ136RY4Q3NnvhozH/s1600/IMG_2556.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmP3YhNlr2eiC1cFrK8cPTP5lB9cZyCFC7uxtAG8mJMuC8zaXsTyQtFVZoOnGUXyTGC5DAaiqrQWr8POSmt230xsXmpRWgUxOoSs9uKZLGVjpMXFjREfNRfi4YYpwaZ136RY4Q3NnvhozH/s1600/IMG_2556.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The problem with summer scottish bouldering</td></tr>
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Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-71404656521473087522014-05-21T05:20:00.000-07:002014-05-21T05:20:24.242-07:00A Quick Trip to YorkshireLast weekend I took a short trip to Yorkshire with Anne Peale, Liam Ingram and Alex McMillan.<br />
On the way down from Edinburgh on Friday night we stopped at a crag in Northumberland which none of us had been to before, called Widehope. This crag is just a bit further down the valley from Redheugh, which I was at the day before, and is also composed of the same cross bedded Carboniferous Fell Sandstone.<br />
Redheugh turned out to be quite soft and snappy in places with lots of sand on some holds, however we did climb some nice problems such as Horned Arete, Widehope Arete and Chicken.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/60203_10203824910685639_5264296206938634107_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/60203_10203824910685639_5264296206938634107_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Widehope Arete (Photo Credit: Alex McMillan)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Horned Arete (Photo Credit: Alex McMillan)</td></tr>
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Saturday was going to be quite a warm day, so after consulting Oli Read on what might be a good crag to go to we decided upon Simons Seat, close to Skipton. Simons Seat is a grit stone outcrop sitting on top of a hill. Simon Seat is composed of Carboniferous age Millstone Grit, like that found in the Peak District. More accurately it is of late Mississippian age. It was quite interesting to notice the difference in the rock from one side of Simons Seat to the other, with a well sorted sandstone on the South which contained lots of concretions, and a more poorly sorted pebble rich sandstone on the North, which also appeared to show less concretions. Further north again at Lords seat the pebbles seem to disappear again. I spent too much time climbing to really gather enough information to indicate what the cause of this difference was.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/10300499_10203824911685664_7523016761215394982_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/10300499_10203824911685664_7523016761215394982_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Simons Seat (Photo Credit: Alex McMillan)</td></tr>
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I did most of my climbing on the Southern side of Simons Seat. Here I climbed the classic E3 Ill Bet She Does, which takes a line of chicken heads up a steep wall, and a font 7A called Galaxy, which takes a line of good chipped holds up to a horn. Below Galaxy I found a block which showed signs of some sort of trace fossils.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8DM0uI9GCdqT92WjLWT3oirWxmGAYH3HW69K7WvK6Olv4nwT3qJX03q5006csd3JVJWPbmqoqs03T5ilnq0uNstqVyZu3b4f-GtZW29TSYfTtVvhaqqupdGrLAUDSKOLf-rlPFeSD_QvN/s1600/IMG_2325.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8DM0uI9GCdqT92WjLWT3oirWxmGAYH3HW69K7WvK6Olv4nwT3qJX03q5006csd3JVJWPbmqoqs03T5ilnq0uNstqVyZu3b4f-GtZW29TSYfTtVvhaqqupdGrLAUDSKOLf-rlPFeSD_QvN/s1600/IMG_2325.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trace fossils in a block </td></tr>
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On the north side I soloed the classic line, and apparently the best E2 in Yorkshire, A Question of Balance. This route takes the right arete of a steep slab after an initial steep jamming crack. We ended the day on Lords Seat, however a lack of skin stopped play a bit here.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oli on Ill Bet She Does</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/10300675_10152380052926418_9169125468139803002_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/10300675_10152380052926418_9169125468139803002_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liam on Dog Lead</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/10274277_10152380052896418_4879220477609951789_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1.0-9/10274277_10152380052896418_4879220477609951789_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Question of Balance</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/10322712_10203824917245803_3733957761098192713_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/10322712_10203824917245803_3733957761098192713_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chilling at Kilnsey (Photo Credit: Alex McMillan)</td></tr>
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That evening we ate at the Nelson Inn, near Harrogate, and then headed over to bivi underneath the overhangs at Kilnsey. Kilnsey is composed of the Garsdale Limestone Formation, of middle Mississippian age. Anne, Liam and Alex had all just come back from Kalymnos so were feeling pretty psyched for sport, which Kilnsey is quite well known for. Liam kept on claiming that he is in danger of becoming a sport climber, so naturally Anne and himself started the day on a classic E2 called The Diedre. Alex and I attempted to climb some of the shorter single pitch routes. Having spent most of my time recently climbing on sandstone I found reading the limestone quite hard. I had a good attempt at a 7b called Witches Brew, however in the end Alex and I only managed to get up The Diedre clean.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/10342479_10152380060436418_2027386562168612380_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/10342479_10152380060436418_2027386562168612380_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alex on The Diedre</td></tr>
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This trip was really a trip around the Mississippian, a sub-period of the Carboniferous, sedimentary succession of northern Britain, with the deltaic Fell Sandstone of northumberland being oldest, followed by the limestones at Kilnsey and then the younger Grit of Simons Seat. By the Carboniferous Scotland had already joined to England following the Caldeonian orogney, Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh was an active volcano and the North Sea had not yet rifted. The British Isles sat much further south than they do today. To the North of the region existed highlands providing the sediment for the sandstones. The rocks we climbed on all represent different depths of water, with the limestone being deepest, grit shallowest and the fell sandstone somewhere in the middle.<br />
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Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-12963916798196599802014-05-16T03:07:00.000-07:002014-05-16T03:07:23.085-07:00More Geology than ClimbingI made a short evening trip to Redheugh in Northumberland yesterday. I had hoped to try some of the harder problems there, but I wasn't really feeling it. So despite a nice few problems such as Easier, which is a quite scary font 6a, I spent much of the afternoon checking out the geology. The sandstone here is Fell Sandstone, deposited in a deltaic environment, similar to that of the current day Mississippi delta in America.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25JLhvDOJzTEi6KAqbOiRntkKcY1vtoa-UN32-Kfsb9eksawjz8-aMA19nKo14UKL5zA1SzYi5g3jkAWA8Lb5HbOQ75KYncG5MWDr_jrugGeNsUqiEOqT3fFYRvEN1FiwqtYJLs8ITaer/s1600/IMG_2264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25JLhvDOJzTEi6KAqbOiRntkKcY1vtoa-UN32-Kfsb9eksawjz8-aMA19nKo14UKL5zA1SzYi5g3jkAWA8Lb5HbOQ75KYncG5MWDr_jrugGeNsUqiEOqT3fFYRvEN1FiwqtYJLs8ITaer/s1600/IMG_2264.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trough Cross Bedding</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbbF7bTDXwvL1gvTDSEXAX6KuV0pbF5_5l73lfeH1irMg3JdMkCkQpzR_hZsCu8uJwzQEivB9QS2VL-6-JhA1GURWGjP-mEZJQHp8rjOYZnV94mrUAysdXH-cmaiMubINxinncFz23M5EY/s1600/IMG_2265.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbbF7bTDXwvL1gvTDSEXAX6KuV0pbF5_5l73lfeH1irMg3JdMkCkQpzR_hZsCu8uJwzQEivB9QS2VL-6-JhA1GURWGjP-mEZJQHp8rjOYZnV94mrUAysdXH-cmaiMubINxinncFz23M5EY/s1600/IMG_2265.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bit more trough cross bedding</td></tr>
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The cross bedding in the previous two pictures are formed by river channels depositing sediment so building up layers. I didn't have a hand lens with me so I couldn't really tell whether there was any grading but it did give a hint of slight coarsening upwards. The orientation of the cross bedding shows that the palaeo-flow direction was in or out of the crag, however just from this information I couldn't tell whether it was going into or out of the crag.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhed0urGRX8OZHA-UxRK4vwtXauQ788PDm-z9TzyX5TqrU7iAsx-erECuTf8ofeF7xFUf2Wp5-ZkbCaOCDwcvD6wEa5AhG7Mubsu8M_mScBWR0pTs1PEwBiR9dw2GyA0Cf8wJzrFljynZcm/s1600/IMG_2268.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhed0urGRX8OZHA-UxRK4vwtXauQ788PDm-z9TzyX5TqrU7iAsx-erECuTf8ofeF7xFUf2Wp5-ZkbCaOCDwcvD6wEa5AhG7Mubsu8M_mScBWR0pTs1PEwBiR9dw2GyA0Cf8wJzrFljynZcm/s1600/IMG_2268.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iron Concretion, formed diagentically by fluid flow </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfVH6JobQLSA-bwfISf5PJsG2-PF0ZDJEGfzqfF0lnJ63dj-A_g4hydCOHfYynntyks3Py13_T3PHB1F0Gc377jo2o9Q7wnAG1qNUTZo9W32vEQTUuDqubBjJegXPLdL53PjUo1VHvhv7G/s1600/IMG_2270.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfVH6JobQLSA-bwfISf5PJsG2-PF0ZDJEGfzqfF0lnJ63dj-A_g4hydCOHfYynntyks3Py13_T3PHB1F0Gc377jo2o9Q7wnAG1qNUTZo9W32vEQTUuDqubBjJegXPLdL53PjUo1VHvhv7G/s1600/IMG_2270.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trace fossils</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
I quite like fossils as they give a sense of what was happening when the sediment was being deposited. The trace fossils here are long thing traces on the left hand side of the small block. These are probably burrows, possibly formed by a worm. </div>
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw00YKDr16h9OS3ppKmC8O0stMMChbh3s361EW2Z2ftGY8rVzStBnd9uAzX2nml8BhaslYnNP_r0EFRMiuJHCEAZuf-WWeQLtHR_C3U8OAl6wwK5VewcZWHouQw2Bk_p6R0MDVeTHW1kGp/s1600/IMG_2271.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw00YKDr16h9OS3ppKmC8O0stMMChbh3s361EW2Z2ftGY8rVzStBnd9uAzX2nml8BhaslYnNP_r0EFRMiuJHCEAZuf-WWeQLtHR_C3U8OAl6wwK5VewcZWHouQw2Bk_p6R0MDVeTHW1kGp/s1600/IMG_2271.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Something I found </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7PAb42Y2-Ov5F1uq659uyJZhV82IrHYj57fuLzHFj-f2Gmn1vL-D8jfdR4SuEQs9YZfVTzV5W32O8bNBUIsUDqE2KojJxAsztTVg-rt291RmLYy1f8egGb4D_jSepEOYiTgW0Mx1RBCOH/s1600/IMG_2276.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7PAb42Y2-Ov5F1uq659uyJZhV82IrHYj57fuLzHFj-f2Gmn1vL-D8jfdR4SuEQs9YZfVTzV5W32O8bNBUIsUDqE2KojJxAsztTVg-rt291RmLYy1f8egGb4D_jSepEOYiTgW0Mx1RBCOH/s1600/IMG_2276.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Holly tree and Cave </td></tr>
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On my way back to the car I had a quick climb at the Caller Boulders. These seem to be quite neglected and the Main Boulder was totally overgrown, and despite being quite steep didn't have any chalk on them! I climbed two very sandy problems and returned to the car just as it was getting dark.Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-90140139559134549282014-05-10T15:17:00.002-07:002014-05-10T15:17:52.178-07:00Sports Nutrition for MountaineeringI received a selection of sports nutrition products this winter from High5 to test out while climbing.<br />
High5 makes energy packed foods for high intensity activities, and recovery supplements such as protein for after. These sort of items are usually associated with things like Triathlons, not mountaineering. Im not trying to say climbing and mountaineering isn't hard, but I don't really think they are generally in the same league of intense exertions of energy as triathlons, although I suspect some people may disagree with that. Also, not trying to take anything away from triathlons here, but mountaineering is probably more mentally demanding. Hard climbs cannot always be overcome by shear brute force and excessive use of energy, and this is especially the case in mountaineering.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://highfive.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/EnergyGel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://highfive.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/EnergyGel.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Energy Gels</td></tr>
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I decided if I was to properly test out the usefulness of sports nutrition in Scottish mountaineering I would have to have a rather big day. I have a few of these things planned in the Scottish mountains, some involving an arbitrary number of routes and others of more historical significance. In the end I settled upon attempting to climb all the major ridges on Ben Nevis in a day. This involved over 2000m of climbing, at least the same amount of descent and lots of walking. I managed it, well within a day (<a href="http://climberharry.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-ben-nevis-ridges.html">see my article from earlier</a>), using an arsenal of sports nutrition.<br />
During the day I consumed the High5 products; EnergyGel, EnergyGel Plus, IsoGel, IsoGel Plus and EnergyBar.<br />
Each of these energy snacks work in a slightly different way. EnergyGel's are your standard energy gels designed to give you lots of energy. You are however required to consume a lot of liquid to be able to use these, which isn't always possible while climbing. IsoGel's are a bit like EnergyGel's, however they also contain some liquid, making them suitable for use without consuming much extra. I generally find it quite difficult to drink much water whilst climbing, therefore I think IsoGel's are probably the better of these two for a mountaineer. They are also slightly easier to consumer due to them being a bit runnier.<br />
EnergyGel Plus and IsoGel Plus are like the conventional gels, but with added caffeine. Im not massively convinced by them. They might be useful to give you that added kick at the end of a day, but the caffeine does seem to do something slightly unpleasant to the taste. I would still choose the standard gels over these.<br />
The High5 energy bar, imaginatively named EnergyBar, is a dense chewy sort of snack. I found it quite hard to eat and a little bit unpleasant. I have no doubt it contained lots of useful energy, and that others may find it quite nice, but for me it was a no!<br />
In my opinion the standard IsoGel could be very helpful for climbing trips. Its energy giving and slight thirst quenching properties would be useful for someone like me who prefers not to take a water bottle with them on routes. There has something to be said for having a full stomach as well so I do like to take something on the lines of a sandwich too (ham, cheese and mustard for me).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wigglestatic.com/product-media/5360031198/gel-comp.jpg?w=1600&h=1600&a=7" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.wigglestatic.com/product-media/5360031198/gel-comp.jpg?w=1600&h=1600&a=7" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The future of mountaineering nutrition?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Different things work for different people so go out there and try things out, but definitley give High5 IsoGels a go.<br />
At the end of the day I was tired but I didn't have any cramping muscles, so I guess the energy gels and bar did their job quite effectively.Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-45569228829391117092014-05-10T14:37:00.003-07:002014-10-15T13:42:35.176-07:00Some new, Some oldIt has been a while since my last post. In this time I have been attempting to climb as much as I can to get some mileage in preparation for the summer. Over this time I have also been doing my final exams, which are a lot less stressful than people might make you think. With almost all of the work which goes towards my final degree already handed in the pressure has been kinda off really. Despite this I have spent much of my time in Edinburgh, making lots of trips to the citys local crags.<br />
Most of my time has been spent at Agassiz Rock, a small but steep crag composed of Pyroxene Andesite in Blackford Glen. Agassiz rock is a pretty famous locality thanks to the Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz who interpreted the striations on the rock surface as being created by ice. If you are interested you can read about it <a href="http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/gcrdb/GCRsiteaccount379.pdf">here</a>. After a bit of time working out how to use the <a href="https://www.scottishclimbs.com/wiki/Agassiz_Rock">Scottishclimbs wiki</a> grid topo of this crag I managed to climb lots of problems here. My best effort has been the Low Traverse, weighing in at font 7b. This is quite long and probably deserves something like a 7c sport grade too. My usual warm up here is the problem Last Gasp, which is a long pumpy font 7a, which also gets a 7c+ sport grade apparently! So maybe the training is paying off.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/p180x540/10295660_10152336622736418_4607843427391596679_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/p180x540/10295660_10152336622736418_4607843427391596679_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Craig at Agassiz</td></tr>
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Further down the glen from Agassiz Rock is Corbies crag, the neck of an extinct volcano and of the same unit which Agassiz Rock is composed of. I had never climbed here despite often walking past it to climb at Agassiz. There are a few easy routes which make for a nice way back to the flat from the glen. I climbed a very nice Mod called Retromingent Ridge, which I can highly recommend, and a Diff which follows a gorse filled gully, called Sunny Scoop, which I can't recommend.<br />
Other local Edinburgh adventures include a quick trip to Traprain Law, where I climbed a few routes I hadn't done before with Elaine, and a couple of trips to the Salisbury crags, where I also managed a few new things.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/q75/s720x720/1902787_10152336625431418_5721628182373681712_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/q75/s720x720/1902787_10152336625431418_5721628182373681712_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elaine on Great Corner Direct, Traprain Law</td></tr>
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Further afield I made a quick evening trip to Oxen Wood in Northumberland, which is only really worth an evening trip. There isn't anything very hard here, although there is a nice font 6c, called Oxen Wood Traverse, which is probably worth seeking out.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/p180x540/1513735_10152340972971418_9144120449370787429_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/p180x540/1513735_10152340972971418_9144120449370787429_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oxen Wood</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1454541_10152340973026418_2917307645767796998_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1454541_10152340973026418_2917307645767796998_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oxen Wood Traverse</td></tr>
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Again in Northumberland I made a very unsuccessful trip to Bowden where I managed to climb a grad total of nothing, and a wet afternoon at Heckley, near Alnwick, where I managed a few nice things. Heckley is a bit of a strange crag as there was a f5+ which I spent a while trying to do but to no avail, but then I managed to flash a few 6c's. I can only think that some holds must have broken. The dead rabbit at the base of it added to the atmosphere.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/q75/s720x720/10325582_10152336627726418_4049008091264614685_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/q75/s720x720/10325582_10152336627726418_4049008091264614685_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Greg on Staggered, Bowden</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-b-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/q71/s720x720/10170763_10152336627861418_4499396192754819094_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-b-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/q71/s720x720/10170763_10152336627861418_4499396192754819094_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew on Vienna, Bowden</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/p180x540/10301603_10152336627931418_3716272470070824735_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/p180x540/10301603_10152336627931418_3716272470070824735_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dark Times at Bowden</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7-vxRbS1KygBpakJ1Oul8Xycd54_1asm3dkN8f1LhnEyj6YThNLOVNE4_HoqRmh5FIMvgMBENsLBu6w8zUKgQbF68YrPDxziMZoCrGMw25Rn2kMQw4ZKP9oratTcb6K1c0TZ_jV8n1X5L/s1600/IMG_2263.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7-vxRbS1KygBpakJ1Oul8Xycd54_1asm3dkN8f1LhnEyj6YThNLOVNE4_HoqRmh5FIMvgMBENsLBu6w8zUKgQbF68YrPDxziMZoCrGMw25Rn2kMQw4ZKP9oratTcb6K1c0TZ_jV8n1X5L/s1600/IMG_2263.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heckley in the Rain</td></tr>
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Further south in Yorkshire I had an afternoon soloing at Scot Crags in Scugdale, where I managed to climb 60 routes! Most of the routes I climbed were between HS and HVS, however I did also tick a few E numbers, including an E4 which you really wouldn't want to fall off!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/10308719_10152340973011418_5689529671564797366_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/10308719_10152340973011418_5689529671564797366_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Prow, Scugdale</td></tr>
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So yes that has been my life recently. Hopefully I will be able to make some bigger trips soon which merit their own post, so you don't have to trawl through an essay to see what I've been up to!<br />
Also here is a song I like: <a href="http://grooveshark.com/s/Waves/3i4H15?src=5">Metric-Waves</a><br />
<br />Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-33822866944026105492014-04-19T02:42:00.000-07:002014-04-19T02:42:02.772-07:00Ben Nevis Conditions 18.4.2014<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhepewA34RbhRRvQ5uKd4ZxOOdlaYtInLR9HteSoVKMnjAzC6HuLVOSfkxVuaFHVMijWC_95Oh4Fha5NOjglQ_TKrtf-0vxL4kiIR0z3uOpTkbCoWsqA0OfqiEI0FqKxdnp6OZpAnGwPQx1/s1600/IMG_2098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhepewA34RbhRRvQ5uKd4ZxOOdlaYtInLR9HteSoVKMnjAzC6HuLVOSfkxVuaFHVMijWC_95Oh4Fha5NOjglQ_TKrtf-0vxL4kiIR0z3uOpTkbCoWsqA0OfqiEI0FqKxdnp6OZpAnGwPQx1/s1600/IMG_2098.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walk-in inspiration</td></tr>
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I didn't think I would be able get any more winter climbing this season after my ridge day as I was going to Cyprus for my final year field trip for two weeks and then come back and it would be exam time. Yesterday however I did manage to get one last day in before everything falls down.<div>
I set off to Ben Nevis to Elaine Ford hopeful of climbing either Comb Gully or Green Gully, as they had both been done recently meaning that there should be away through or around the monster cornices which are on the Ben at the moment. </div>
<div>
We had quite a nice walk-in in the sun, which felt quite unusual for most of my days out this season. The north face was looking quite bare. Much of the snow has fallen off the crags, with the douglas boulder looking totally black. Some of the ice lines looked complete though. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEJvJRXnmGVAw_MZ8UcKCKbmDsNCRduqasex61BqNDWIZsDGAv8_WxQmnxvbbvZTE0_WzWiaN3vbKjltl6Dafm6RifYlnNHwMmcPIjXXUQVHIG_MochI7-VJMru0BeHZTb_rxM40yWAsf/s1600/IMG_2103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEJvJRXnmGVAw_MZ8UcKCKbmDsNCRduqasex61BqNDWIZsDGAv8_WxQmnxvbbvZTE0_WzWiaN3vbKjltl6Dafm6RifYlnNHwMmcPIjXXUQVHIG_MochI7-VJMru0BeHZTb_rxM40yWAsf/s1600/IMG_2103.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coire na Ciste</td></tr>
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</div>
<div>
We headed up into coire na ciste across lots of avalanche debris. I left Elaine just at the bottom of the Trident Buttresses area thanks to a slight crampon issue. In the end I decided to climb Comb Gully. The approach was quite good with some rather hard neve which made for quick upwards progress, although a lot of calf pump too!</div>
<div>
The route itself was in an OK condition. It was a bit damp in places, and I got rather wet as I was only wearing a base layer, but it was fine for axes and crampons. It wasn't too stepped out either. A cornice does directly overhang the gully but a short traverse to the left avoids this. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglIladN_gsREv5Hlu5npPy0PuM5d4eqz5FFj_WQH9AV6I3NBfPe_m8vEaq28X1GTP0n0yw55oOvE7DWRPH-1TxiymP8ZixZQMFsuOwF6vtwEBWfMvqzcMuOCXcDPMmb0tWufBr3pstZGe3/s1600/IMG_2107.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglIladN_gsREv5Hlu5npPy0PuM5d4eqz5FFj_WQH9AV6I3NBfPe_m8vEaq28X1GTP0n0yw55oOvE7DWRPH-1TxiymP8ZixZQMFsuOwF6vtwEBWfMvqzcMuOCXcDPMmb0tWufBr3pstZGe3/s1600/IMG_2107.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top of Comb Gully</td></tr>
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I decided to try and descended no.4 gully as I could see a way round the cornice on the right hand side (if you are looking at it from the CIC hut). This made for nice easy progress back into the coire were I found Elaine again. </div>
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It was quite warm so we walked out and went for a walk around Glen Nevis. It definitely feels like rock climbing weather now. That is probably my last day out this season but there should be some ice lines to go for on the Ben this Easter weekend. Enjoy it while you can! <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing in the Snow</td></tr>
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Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-60303732789966046202014-03-27T07:22:00.000-07:002014-03-31T03:17:29.395-07:00The Ben Nevis RidgesThe weather was looking pretty nice for Ben Nevis on the 26th March, so I decided it would be a good opportunity to attempt something I have been wanting to try for a while; solo all of the major Ben Nevis ridges in a day. As always with this sort of thing I set off from Edinburgh a bit later than I had intended, rocking up at the CIC hut at just before 3am! I managed a couple of hours sleep before waking up at 5am, and finally setting off for my first ridge in dawn light at 5.30am. At this point I should explain the distinct lack of pictures in this post as I had left my camera in Edinburgh!<br />
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<b>Castle Ridge</b> was my first objective. This was for a number of reasons. It is a bit out of the way, compared to the other ridges, and it has some avalanche prone approach slopes, so cool conditions were preferable. The ridge itself was a bit slushy and there was lots of bare rock, so I only used one axe, however snow on the ledges made crampons necessary. Once at the top I decided to head down via the Red Burn as there was a white out, and with No.4 Gully being too dangerous, the only other descent option was Coire Leis. When I arrived back at the hut I met some friends from university; Ally Rocke, Alex McMillan, Tom Eadington and Liam Ingram. After a rather long time sitting about and chatting about what might be worth while doing we headed off from the hut together.</div>
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<b>North East Buttress</b> was next. I was going to solo it while the others would make two teams of two and climb it as well. The route was fun, and probably my favourite of the day, with varied climbing on short steep walls, snow fields, aretes and corners. On topping out I made my way down Coire Leiss and round into Observatory Gully.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the top of Tower Ridge (Photo Credit: Andy Southan)</td></tr>
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<b>Observatory Ridge</b> was next on the list. This is the hardest of the major ridges, and I was quite happy to be following a coupe of team up it, showing me the way. The climbing felt quite insecure, however this isn't too long lived at the top is a nice easy snow romp. On topping out I met Ally and Alex who had just finished North East Buttress, with Liam and Tom still climbing. I descended Coire Leis again to get ready for my next route.</div>
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<b>Tower Ridge</b> was next up. This is the only one of the Nevis ridges I had done before so I felt quite comfortable leaving it till this late on. Tower Ridge is the most classic of the Ben Nevis ridges, however its classic status does spoil it a bit as there are often cues at the notorious tower gap. The ridge went quite smoothly until I got to the gap where at team wouldn't let me pass then as the had been "waiting there for hours". A long wait later they finally let me pass on the upper snow slopes. With 4 out of 5 ridges completed I could taste success, or maybe that was the hot Ribena some kind climbers supplied me with on the top. </div>
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<b>Ledge Route</b> was up next. I decided I would down climb this on my way back to the hut. Ledge route is a nice little outing and an easy end to the day. I got back to the hut just in the light, had a coffee, or two, and headed back down to the car.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ribena Simon walking off the summit plateau (Photo Credit: Andy Southan)</td></tr>
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I am really pleased to get this done on my first attempt, and 4 out of the 5 ridges done onsight! </div>
Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-8200233098347767352014-03-03T02:14:00.001-08:002014-03-03T02:14:43.834-08:00Torridon the scenic wayThis weekend I had some big plans. On Friday I was going to try and have a big day on Ben Nevis linking up as many routes as I could and then on the weekend I was going to head to Torridon to meet the rest of the EUMC and climb something a bit harder. My plans were changed quickly on thursday evening after a quick chat with Lochaber SAIS forecaster Blair Fyffe who said the descent gullies were likely to be loaded with snow and avalanchy. A quick change of plans saw me acquiring a map of Skye for a shot at the Cuillin Ridge.<br />
The Cuillin Ridge is probably Scotlands finest mountaineering excursion and usually take parties 3 days to complete. I chose to attempt it in a single push, and to assure this of happening I wasn't going to take any bivi gear.<br />
At 2am I rocked up underneath the Cuillin. After packing my bag I set my alarm for 4am. I woke at 4 to the sound of rain on the roof of my car. I didn't want to get wet at the start of the day so I set my alarm for another hour of sleep. 5am came and the rain was still there. Did I read MWIS wrong? Im sure it said the weather was going to be good!<br />
In the end I decided to sack it off. If its rain down here it will be falling as fresh snow at the top of the ridge which would make the going very hard. I decided a lie in and a drive was a better bet for the day, so I spent the rest of the day having a leisurely drive around the North West of Scotland and Skye. I made my way up to Torridon, via ex-EUMC member David Geddes house, and even managed to get a bit of work done that evening.<br />
At about 12pm everyone else arrived. I went about finding Alex who I was going to climb with. During the day, seeing that everything was looking a bit wet, I had been formulating a plan. My plan was to consist of climbing 4 mountains in 1 day. The mountain of Beinn Dreag, Beinn Alagin and Liathach all have graded ridges on them. My idea was to climb each of these mountains and then finish by climbing the classic Fuselage Gully on Beinn Eighe. In the end I managed to drum up some more psyched students to come with me so the team consisted of Tom Fitzpatrick, Alex Toomey, Alex McMillan and Max Scherer. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An early start!</td></tr>
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We (maybe I) decided it was best to leave straight away as there was going to be a lot of walking to do. At 1.30 am we all left the car park after no sleep and started walking. At the Beinn Eighe turn off Max and Alex M left us to climb Fuselage Gully, so Alex T, Tom and I continued on our way to Beinn Dearg.<br />
It was still very much night time so we couldn't really see where we were going and predictably we couldn't find out route. In the end we climbed some rotten gully to the top and after a short walk along the summit ridge descended the northern side of the mountain.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the top(ish) of Beinn Dearg </td></tr>
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Once back down in the valley, were we were greated my some rather nice Scottish scenery, we contoured around to find Beinn Alligin. The weather wasn't anything as nice as predicted. This combined with a extreme lack of sleep saw us decide to bail on our plans. I told Tom and Alex they could head back to the campsite from here, as we were now quite close, and that I would go back and get the car.<br />
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On my way out I passed a party walking in and suddenly realised just how early it still was! Shortly after this I saw some climbers heading up a gully towards the Liathach ridge, then checked my watch. 9.30 am! I cant go back now. I quickly weighed up my options and finally decided that I probably should actually go and climb something and headed up the ridge via Hidden Gully (II). The ridge itself was in great condition with some friendly snow. This allowed me to climb quite fast and overtake lots of team, including a group of EUMC members, which included Alex M and Max.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Assorted Yummicks on the Pinnacles</td></tr>
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After finishing the ridge and retrieving my car I got some well earned rest, sleeping from about 4m till 8am sunday morning.<br />
On Sunday I decided that driving home would be a silly thing to do and instead walked in to Beinn Eighe with the idea of climbing Fuselage Gully. As always plans change and a couple of hours later I found myself topping out on West Buttress (IV).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">West Buttress Selfie</td></tr>
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All in all that was quite a fun and tiring weekend, which was just what I needed before the next couple of weeks in the library to finish my dissertation!<br />
I suspect not many will have read this far, so Hi Mum!<br />
I will add some more pictures later. Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-10206193338594800452014-02-15T03:08:00.001-08:002014-02-15T03:08:53.952-08:00Mountain Equipment Eclipse ReviewIn recent years I have decided to move away from using soft shells in my mountain layering system to rather favoring fleeces. Fleeces are, generally, lighter than soft shells and tend to wick better. <div>
There are lots of fleeces on the marked and personally I like the light weight, well fitted sort of technical fleece.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Over the past few months I have been testing the Mens Eclipse Zip Tee from Mountain Equipment and here are my thoughts on it. </div>
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First of all its very well fitted and isn't baggy, on me at least. If something fits one person it doesn't mean it fits the next but if you have a sort of athletic build then this will be fine.</div>
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The eclipse tee is very warm. This is some what of an advantage if your climbing in cold conditions but I have found it a bit too warm whilst dry tooling, even over the winter months!</div>
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I have used the eclipse quite a lot since getting it and it still isn't showing any signs of wear. I usually find that in products of this nature the thumb loops get damaged quite easily, but that is not the case with the eclipse. </div>
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My review so far has been praising the eclipse, but if your reading a review I suppose you want to know what I didn't like. Not much is the answer. Everything on the fleece I have liked, however it is missing something; a hood. I am a big fan of hooded fleeces. I prefer not to wear a hat under a helmet in winter and instead use the hood from my fleece. There is a model of the Eclipse which has a hood, imaginatively called the Eclipse Hooded Tee, which I imagine is pretty great.</div>
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I really like this fleece. It is well fitted and warm, so great for winter adventures. The only thing it is missing is a hood. With the hood I would give the a maximum 2 thumbs up but without I'm afraid it has to be 1 thumb up and 1 thumb down.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOvJObr-vpj7zUeS3GfdSCMsmTwBr4Te8fM7wQ-rdK_k3L-YUU47N1RRcdQf1j9tRMJ1_cM_nr6vFzh8elhJspJsNi2XLfrp9PaBqhd0vxRJE-NbCcqPLTIy7pkRdep8jzx225mk9sfaPu/s1600/DSC_8895.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOvJObr-vpj7zUeS3GfdSCMsmTwBr4Te8fM7wQ-rdK_k3L-YUU47N1RRcdQf1j9tRMJ1_cM_nr6vFzh8elhJspJsNi2XLfrp9PaBqhd0vxRJE-NbCcqPLTIy7pkRdep8jzx225mk9sfaPu/s1600/DSC_8895.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Mountain Equipment Eclipse Zip Tee is available from <a href="http://www.outdoorkit.co.uk/product.php?product_id=14959&category_id=505">outdoorkit.co.uk</a> with 10% off. </div>
Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-31602238242712319382014-02-09T05:53:00.002-08:002014-02-09T05:55:02.254-08:00A Busy 2014So I have been sort of neglecting my blog recently but this has mostly been due to me being really busy!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kandersteg</td></tr>
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I have loads to tell you about, but I will be brief to avoid making it into too much of an essay.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team GB in Romania</td></tr>
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During January I competed in the Ice World Cup in Korea, Romania and Switzerland. Despite me never challenging the top
climbers at all I have learnt loads, had so much fun and made loads of
new friends.On my travels I have also been to some cool mixed climbing
crags. We were shown a newly bolted crag in Romania and then went to
Kandersteg whilst in Switzerland.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saas Fee Structure</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saas Fee Qualifiers (Photo Credit: Matt Pritchard)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/1488043_10151764133046887_121584223_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/1488043_10151764133046887_121584223_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Romanian Qualifiers (Photo Credit: Anna Wells)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My
best performance was in Korea where I just went out there and climbed
as I didn't have a clue how I was going to do. Hopefully next year I
will be selected for the team again and I can do a bit better!<br />
After
returning from Switzerland I went straight to the BMC international
meet. This was a week were UK hosts, of which I was one, showed loads of
foreign climbers around the winter scottish highlands. I didn't really
get very much done as I missed the best days to go to university but I
did manage to climb The Seam, Unicorn, a new route in the Cairngorms, DTS Spirit and Fast and Furious in my
wellies (well I took a victory whipper from the final hold on this). <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WGHpht-7E-k/Uu-KiTVGjrI/AAAAAAAAFQk/DrayTEL8obc/s640/IMG_1062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WGHpht-7E-k/Uu-KiTVGjrI/AAAAAAAAFQk/DrayTEL8obc/s640/IMG_1062.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Seam (Photo Credit: Piotr Sulowski)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KUaEudxCafU/Uu-Koc1jI9I/AAAAAAAAFR8/n-dD4Mwsi5A/s512/IMG_1074.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KUaEudxCafU/Uu-Koc1jI9I/AAAAAAAAFR8/n-dD4Mwsi5A/s512/IMG_1074.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unicorn (Photo Credit: Piotr Sulowski)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-06I8PE6wvYE/Uu-Ko6gFpiI/AAAAAAAAFSE/9TZanmrz7Tg/s512/IMG_1075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-06I8PE6wvYE/Uu-Ko6gFpiI/AAAAAAAAFSE/9TZanmrz7Tg/s512/IMG_1075.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unicorn (Photo Credit: Piotr Sulowski)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--rD2E6ht4nI/Uu-WuKTDhRI/AAAAAAAAFeU/IW3WSNkb18s/s512/IMG_1126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--rD2E6ht4nI/Uu-WuKTDhRI/AAAAAAAAFeU/IW3WSNkb18s/s512/IMG_1126.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">F+F (Photo Credit: Piotr Sulowski)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Since the meet I have managed one day out on Ben Nevis where I climbed Route 1 with its Direct Winter start.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1897896_10152172477181418_273866303_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1897896_10152172477181418_273866303_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Route 1 Direct Start</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In
addition to my ice axe related adventures I came joint first, with a very strong boulderer, in the
Edinburgh Universities bouldering competition last week held at the CSE climbing wall. I was quite
surprised at this since I haven't rock climbed very much at all in the last
month or so. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1507942_10151864841471143_1157629982_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1507942_10151864841471143_1157629982_n.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Competing at the CSE (Photo Credit: Steven Barnes)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<iframe aria-label="Edit post. Compose mode." class="composeBox editable" frameborder="0" id="postingComposeBox" name="Rich text editor" style="background-color: white; height: 100%; padding: 0px;"></iframe>Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-82965934807428748682014-01-01T11:17:00.000-08:002014-01-02T07:58:09.037-08:00My 2013 climbing yearSo 2013 is now at an end an I think I can safely say that it is my most successful every year of climbing. I have managed to achieve personal best in all disciplines in climbing but also had some amazing days out and experiences.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-a-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/q77/s720x720/1004733_10152891637015386_387295419_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-a-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/q77/s720x720/1004733_10152891637015386_387295419_n.jpg" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying extra hard on Seal Song</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
According to my UKC profile I have ticked 459 climbs in 107 days out. The days out is definitely an underestimate as there have been a number of days when I have failed to climb anything at all!<br />
2013 started off quite badly as I dislocated my elbow at the start of January and missed the Ice world cup! It could only really get better from here really.<br />
Winter climbing is the way I usually start and end a year. This current winter season has been good for me so far. I have climbed personal bests with Cornucopia (VII 9) and Sioux Wall (VIII 8). My favorite winter day would have to be doing Orion Face and Tower Ridge on the same day back in April. I even managed a first ascent in Stob Coire nan Lochain with Alex McMillan in March, called Seattle Grooves.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/q77/s720x720/1456120_10152016154323818_1998789245_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/q77/s720x720/1456120_10152016154323818_1998789245_n.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sioux Wall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/q71/s720x720/1374908_10152003230456418_1627625974_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/q71/s720x720/1374908_10152003230456418_1627625974_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cornucopia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-b-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s720x720/7281_10151530854111418_1000062842_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-b-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s720x720/7281_10151530854111418_1000062842_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ravens Edge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I have also done a lot of drytooling in 2013. Although I haven't improved my red point grade, despite being close, I have managed to flash/onsight a couple of M9's. I also managed to keep my hands on second place in the STS, loosing out to Peter Holder by one point!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-a-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/559048_10152729181035635_446569600_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-a-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/559048_10152729181035635_446569600_n.jpg" width="219" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Newtyle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I haven't really climbed too much trad this year but what I have done I have enjoyed. In May I managed to onsight my first E5, a route called The Quickening at Reiff in North West Scotland. In July I managed to climb another E5 at Dumbarton rock near Glasgow called Physical Graffiti. In June I made a trip to the Hebridean islands of Pabbay and Mingulay with some friends from university. I really enjoyed the trip and the highlight of it was climbing Voyage of Faith (E3) on Dun Mingulay on our last day. My favorite trad route of 2013 is quite close between Wuthering (Stanage), Empty on Endorphins (Reiff), Golden Fleece (Reiff) and Big Country Dreams (Cambusbarron).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-b-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/q71/s720x720/970212_10151668163576043_1518557176_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-b-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/q71/s720x720/970212_10151668163576043_1518557176_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Quickening</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/s720x720/600012_4472288490994_506741819_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/s720x720/600012_4472288490994_506741819_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wuthering</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I spent most of the summer driving around Northumberland bouldering, although I did manage a few trips further afield. The highlight of the summer has to have been climbing Sprung at Bowden Doors, my first font 7c! It is easy for the grade I know but you have to start somewhere don't you. I have done so much bouldering this summer so its hard to pick out my favorite problems. In June I managed to climb Spank the Monkey at Cambusbarron, which is one of the best boulder problems I have ever climbed, and its in a grotty hole in the ground which makes it even better. Similar in setting, but completely different in style, is Gloom at Rothely in Northumberland. I loved working this problem and was so chuffed to manage to climb it in July.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/q73/s720x720/969800_10151751276526418_1017069738_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/q73/s720x720/969800_10151751276526418_1017069738_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gloom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I managed two problems this summer that I have tried a number of times before. These were Little Pixies (Back Bowden) and Si's Arete (Almscliff).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-b-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/s720x720/408565_10151621764346043_760664300_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://scontent-b-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/s720x720/408565_10151621764346043_760664300_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Si's Arete</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://scontent-b-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s720x720/944298_10151611126706043_23556308_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://scontent-b-mxp.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s720x720/944298_10151611126706043_23556308_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Pixies</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My last bouldering highlight comes from a crag just 15 minutes away from my flat. I finally managed to climb the Low Black Wall Traverse on Edinburgh Sailisbury Crags!<br />
I have done a little bit of Sport climbing too, but this wasn't very impressive or interesting so its not really worth talking about. I even went to the Alps but its the same story there.<br />
To finish of the year I have been selected to for the newly formed British Ice Climbing Team and will be competing at the 2014 Ice World Cup!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/q72/s720x720/1012702_10153409998755635_864246396_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/q72/s720x720/1012702_10153409998755635_864246396_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CAC Festival of Ice Final</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I should also thank those who have supported me throughout the year. Firstly I should thank Outdoorkit.co.uk who have been supplying me with kit to test and review. I should also thanks Scarpa for some new footwear to see me through the coming winter season and Schmoolz for making me a pair of fatter indoor ice climbing tools. Red Goat and Rock City climbing walls, in York and Hull respectively, should also get a quick mention for supporting my climbing throughout the year. Also a massive thank you to everyone that I climbed with this year!<br />
2013 has been my best year for climbing so far, and hopefully I can build on this for 2014.Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-88142120726429834802014-01-01T09:51:00.000-08:002014-01-01T09:51:57.923-08:00Glen Coe Conditions 31.12.13I managed one last day of winter in 2013 yesterday with an ascent of the Aonach Eagach ridge in Glen Coe.<br />
<div>
The weather was looking to be a bit blowy but I figured if I climbed something where I could just keep on moving it wouldn't affect me too much. </div>
<div>
It was a bit wet in the morning and I almost sacked off the ridge for the day and ended up heading into Fort William for some breakfast. On my way back through Glen Coe again I decided I might as well just go and try it. Id probably get wet but I can always dry off again and Im here already. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJax_grqw5qJKZR8XjnUq_aEIjIogcSxOCEoItc15LnubkaE69LJR3Ko0-xwetZvgJ4PPEgOD62F6LDtiBcdNCW6hEat-uQT2WHh8YkmKSIuAKoH_7APv6dfLMHZ7QLWWTbUqgSyHr-rp/s1600/IMG_1463.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJax_grqw5qJKZR8XjnUq_aEIjIogcSxOCEoItc15LnubkaE69LJR3Ko0-xwetZvgJ4PPEgOD62F6LDtiBcdNCW6hEat-uQT2WHh8YkmKSIuAKoH_7APv6dfLMHZ7QLWWTbUqgSyHr-rp/s320/IMG_1463.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was wet on the way up</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
I left the car at 11am in the wind and rain and made my way up. Things started getting wintry just before Am Bodach with snow on the ground, although it was a bit wet. On the ridge there was some good snow about and even a bit of decent turf in places. The rocks weren't exactly rimed up but there was snow in all the important places. I thought the bit around the pinnacles was pretty fun, and felt fair for grade II, but it was sustained. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0FkKd9QJlbpUtC0WS59BUNFhYJZzoVOvhV_60cDZuvhtKxRsugvBg73Ifsk4WSevRoC5kstyexWEg3-4fTpq38yMVy4ebMFzjc09I2lH3t-zZFnkVURFXXIGbVMwYynvzEkyu4dV3mBIY/s1600/IMG_1481.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0FkKd9QJlbpUtC0WS59BUNFhYJZzoVOvhV_60cDZuvhtKxRsugvBg73Ifsk4WSevRoC5kstyexWEg3-4fTpq38yMVy4ebMFzjc09I2lH3t-zZFnkVURFXXIGbVMwYynvzEkyu4dV3mBIY/s320/IMG_1481.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking towards the pinnacles</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL75C3l2sKFWeJ2uy_WZ7s4qLnW8jPF7ffZEbdHt2idgz9gHDDhzIHG9rO1Av6OJid1fOk2ANIaY1tkg2vvL5l9AOCRWRqpPwgXzFm0vHi0Sy2J9TmycF_MTAP3AVMQR-7uXWa2s_TK37T/s1600/IMG_1484.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL75C3l2sKFWeJ2uy_WZ7s4qLnW8jPF7ffZEbdHt2idgz9gHDDhzIHG9rO1Av6OJid1fOk2ANIaY1tkg2vvL5l9AOCRWRqpPwgXzFm0vHi0Sy2J9TmycF_MTAP3AVMQR-7uXWa2s_TK37T/s320/IMG_1484.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back at the pinnacles</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
The weather improved throughout the day and I managed to get a good look at a few of the crags in the area. Bidean looked reasonably white, as did parts of Stob Coire nan Lochain. I managed to get a look across at the Ben, although you can't really see the North Face from the ridge, but it did have a good cover of snow. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDb6VXnm6zpxZsUYLGBzpKYVcFZxaxNVaq8sbuOsrKI1xPVBW96zGgSviuLvBWiGSzsIV9aKlXJdOvH3c8Oo0bJ3llsZflKWxe-6iQYNTrsUzgHduNANxDLkm9qGtPI_tTCTyBlPp1Nf3u/s1600/IMG_1495.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDb6VXnm6zpxZsUYLGBzpKYVcFZxaxNVaq8sbuOsrKI1xPVBW96zGgSviuLvBWiGSzsIV9aKlXJdOvH3c8Oo0bJ3llsZflKWxe-6iQYNTrsUzgHduNANxDLkm9qGtPI_tTCTyBlPp1Nf3u/s320/IMG_1495.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glen Coe Crags with Bidean and Lochain in the clouds</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Towards Ben Nevis</td></tr>
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Hopefully the weather will settle down soon for some proper climbing!</div>
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Happy New Year and Safe Climbing!</div>
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Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-24360805791043216732013-12-26T13:56:00.000-08:002013-12-26T13:56:23.035-08:00Jack Wolfskin Thermosphere Jacket Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jack Wolfskin is a company of which I have little experience using. Their kit does look quite good, although Im sure its not that hard to make things look good in a picture on the internet, but I have always been put off a bit by the name. Yes it is a bit silly but Jack Wolkskin just doesn't sound as appealing as Mountain Equipment or Mammut.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Testing in the Cairngorms</td></tr>
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The Jack Wolfskin Thermosphere jacket is a semi insulated jacket with stretch panels under the arms hood. On first wearing the jacket I thought I had got the wrong size as it seemed really tight in the arms. I wasn't sure how much I was going to like this super tight feel but I have always think that having something very tight around my arms stops me from getting pumped. This tightness doesn't hinder movement, due to the stretchy panels.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thermosphere jacket at the STS (under the shirt)</td></tr>
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The jacket has a reasonably athletic fit to it, which combined with the tight sleeves, gives a non-bulky feel. This lack of bulk is useful if using the jacket for climbing in, or as a mid layer. I have used this jacket both whilst bouldering in cold conditions and as a mid layer underneath my waterproof whilst winter climbing. It has performed very well in both of these situations. The hood isn't really big enough to go over a helmet, although it will at a push, but does fit underneath quite nicely.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Climbing Magic Crack in the Thermosphere Jacket (blue hood)</td></tr>
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There is not enough insulation to make this a belay jacket, but it is very good if used as part of a cold weather layering system.<br />
I have been totally inseparable from this jacket since getting it. It performs well in the hills and is smart enough to wear around town (to the library mostly unfortunately!). If you are borderline in sizing then I would recommend sizing up though.<br />
I absolutely love this jacket! I give it a maximum rating of 2 thumbs up.<br />
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The Thermosphere jacket is available from <a href="http://www.outdoorkit.co.uk/product.php?product_id=15823">outdoorkit.co.uk</a> with 10% off!Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-82777758277662223802013-12-17T07:19:00.000-08:002013-12-17T07:19:30.695-08:00Hot Aches Distilled ReviewDistilled is the new film recently brought out by climbing film makers Hot Aches Productions.<br />
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Distilled is a climbing film following mountain guide (I'm not sure on exactly what qualifications he has) Andy Cave around Scotland in winter.<br />
Distilled doesn't really fit the usual mold of climbing film. There is no hyping about how beautiful and natural a line is. In fact the climbing seems to be more of a means to keep the viewers eye busy while Andy tells the story of his life. That isn't to say that the film is badly shot. It really isn't. Its just that when I watched it I found Andy's story more interesting than what he was climbing, which is strange for me.<br />
One thing that stands out from this film is the very unique life that Andy has lived. He has gone from a kid from a Yorkshire coal pit with no GCSE's to a world renowned climber summiting Himalayan Peaks with a PhD.<br />
The film follows Andy Cave around Scotland in some very Scottish looking weather. I don't often think that I should wear waterproof trousers when winter climbing, especially not while watching films, but this certainly did. I must have watched this film at least 5 times now. I'm still yet to work out all of the routes that are featured in it (those labels are a bit subtle guys!). I have to say that seeing how little gear Andy carries on routes makes me feel a bit ashamed to climb things looking like a moving gear store!<br />
The film does end on a bit of a somber note where Andy talks about his ascent of the North Face of Changabang, which claimed the life of his climbing partner Brendan Murphy. It was quite interesting for me to learn how Andy recovered from this and has since been back to the Himalayas.<br />
I found Distilled inspiring in a very odd way. Its not like hot aches previous winter climbing film, The Pinncacle, which got me really psyched because of what Smith and Marshall did. I really can't put my finger on the way that Distilled has inspired me.<br />
All I can really say is you have to watch it. Im sure its not to everyone's taste but give it a chance.<br />
I give Distilled 1 thumb up.<br />
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<br />Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-19816673952533427532013-12-09T07:32:00.001-08:002013-12-17T07:20:41.765-08:00Magic CrackOn Saturday I met up with Pete Holder, who hitched all the way from Keswick to Aviermore (that's dedication). We headed into t'Schneada with a few idea about what we could try but no firm plans. Once in the corrie we decided to head for Magic Crack. This is a really iconic route, which was featured on the TV show the edge back in the day, or so I am told. <br />
The route starts up The Genie before breaking out right up a steep foot less slab. Magic Crack can be done in two ways in winter. One by breaking out right after the crack pitch, for White Magic, or by following the summer line throughout, for Magic Crack. <br />
I began by climbing the first pitch of The Genie, which felt really sketchy. I didn't manage to get much gear in but I got up it reasonably quickly. Pete led the second pitch, a really cool set of crack and a corner set just off vertical. Everything is there on this pitch but you do have to do some smearing in your crampons which is pretty good fun. <br />
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The third pitch was the money pitch. The finger crack is a pitch I had seen pictures of before and it looked really hard. I was a bit worried that there would be ice in the crack which would make protecting it really hard. The crack was full of the most helpful ice I have ever seen. It was good enough to allow me to hook it making the climbing easy, but not too good so that I had to struggle to clear it. I managed to climb this pitch quite steadily, until the very end of it where I spent a long time trying, and failing, to get some gear in. <br />
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The fourth pitch was Petes and he elected to climb the final hard pitch of Magic Crack, instead of copping out and climbing White Magic. He took a couple of falls on this pitch but persevered and managed to dispatch it. The climbing on this pitch was well protected but a bit blind with really poor feet! <br />
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The final couple of pitches were about grade II scrambles. <br />
I really liked the climbing on this route. There was nothing too difficult but you were always thinking. I do quite like climbing things where you have to really try and place your feet as well.<br />
I would recommend this route to anyone, especially if you get it in the conditions that we did! I have done a lot of route in the coire and I think I can say that this is by far the best one.Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-30450133061418433422013-11-26T14:45:00.003-08:002013-11-26T14:45:49.047-08:00Mountain Equipment Guide Glove ReviewMountain Equipment have a long history of producing very good mountaineering kit, and the Guide Glove is no exception. Mountain Equipment describe the guide glove as being a "work horse glove for all round mountaineering". It features a waterproof lining, nylon outer shell, a nose wiping thumb cover and a fibre pile and fleece lining.<br />
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These were the first gloves I ever bought for winter climbing in back in my first year at uni and I'm now on my third pair. Needless to say I really like them! I have used other gloves too but in the end I always come back to the Guides.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guide Gloves being put through their paces on Sioux Wall</td></tr>
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The insulation on these gloves seems to be a nice compromise between warmth and finger dexterity. Yes you will have more movement in the fingers in thin gloves and you'll be warmer in more insulated gloves but you need to find a balance between using fingers and feeling them. The guides seem to have done this very well.<br />
I also like the little nose wiping patch. This wont work for er... a big pay load, but it does suffice to wipe away the shrapnel.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of my first attempts at tooling in Guides back in second year, not sure why I needed to woolly hat </td></tr>
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They also come with elastic wrist leashes. These are very useful for not accidentally dropping gloves half way up a route! We've all seen this done on the Ben haven't we. Don't be that person! Keep them attached to you at all times.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guide gloves on the summit of Bein Bhan a long time ago!</td></tr>
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Another useful feature for a winter glove is a hard wearing outer. Winter climbing ruins gloves but the guides do seem to stand up to a fair amount of abuse. The nylon shell seems to work well for this.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Used on Cornucopia too!</td></tr>
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One bad aspect of these gloves is their waterproofness, or rather lack of. They just don't seem to really stay dry. This however has been a problem with all gloves I have ever used. Maybe its because my hands sweat too much. Who knows.<br />
Last but not least is price. These gloves are quite cheap by winter gloves standards. You can usually find them at about £45. Seeing as you will go through gloves so fast I think it is a good idea to get relatively cheap ones. I have never found a pair of gloves which are as good as guides and this cheap!<br />
I give Mountain Equipment Guide Gloves a rating of 1 thumb up, but it is oh so nearly 2! A top notch all round gloves!<br />
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Sorry about the pictures but its hard to get pictures of gloves. I am wearing the gloves in all of them, honest.<br />
You can buy ME Guide Gloves from <a href="http://www.outdoorkit.co.uk/product.php?product_id=5207&category_id=2332">Outdoorkit.co.uk</a> with 11% off! Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-82209747690152838902013-11-22T03:18:00.000-08:002013-11-22T16:23:08.253-08:00Ben Nevis Winter Conditions 21.11.13I made my way to the Ben with Dan Tait yesterday. The plan was to climb Cornucopia, but I suspected this would change as I got more scared on the walk in.<br />
The first sight of the North Face showed some nice white looking upper cliffs, but the lower buttresses were still black.<br />
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The view from the hut was even better!</div>
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The Douglas boulder didn't look in. No easy short walk in options at the moment.</div>
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We walked up further into the corrie with cliffs getting whiter as we went higher. I managed to remain psyched for Cornucopia so I aimed for that. Sioux wall looked in a good lean condition, and The Secret looked in about the same condition of the cool picture of Andy doing the first ascent.</div>
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The weather was really nice all the way up being still and clear. This was until we reached No.3 Gully where the wind seemed to be funneled up it. I managed to flake the ropes up hill!</div>
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Pitch 1 of is supposed to be a steep snow pitch, but it was far from this. I had to mantle onto a stein pull, not a usual snow climbing technique. </div>
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Pitch 2 is the crux pitch with what I have heard is supposed to be a bit of a perplexing crux. Despite getting hot aches just below the crux moves it didn't go down to badly. There are loads of small features for the feet and a nice fat crack for good gear and torquing. Despite a bit of glove faff Dan did well seconding this pitch, although he did fall off at the crux. Im quite impressed seeing as the previously hardest mixed he has climbed is Moonshadow (IV) in SCNL with me last year. </div>
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The 3rd pitch was a cool little chimney. After the first few meters it felt quite secure so I just ran it out a bit to save time. We had taken a long time climbing this route so in the end we were both using head torches. </div>
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Mixed things look good at the moment, especially high up. Winter is definitely here!</div>
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Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3639177714975741266.post-37048105884438530132013-11-19T15:24:00.000-08:002013-11-19T15:24:30.075-08:00SCNL Winter Conditions 19.11.13Today I went to Stob Coire nan Lochan with Dan Tait and Helen Rennard with the intention of making the second ascent of Twisted (VII,7). The forecast looked good (really cold, not too windy) so waking up at 3am for the drive over wasn't too much hassle.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaauQfT68FkPw3xldzl9HjWlCtvtLKlPyawpQntQeDEoE02vO-PCEO8jXXv1AGNzptbepHkW3VxRmUDjdAv1eXLbRwdpnsNvYc4ULlvCrww3exgoHtDJiblSOkr9mft_vZMz4UUJNOlUcU/s1600/IMG_1260.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaauQfT68FkPw3xldzl9HjWlCtvtLKlPyawpQntQeDEoE02vO-PCEO8jXXv1AGNzptbepHkW3VxRmUDjdAv1eXLbRwdpnsNvYc4ULlvCrww3exgoHtDJiblSOkr9mft_vZMz4UUJNOlUcU/s320/IMG_1260.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stobe Coire</td></tr>
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We met Helen in the car park and set off up. Things looked good, the snow line was low and it was feeling cold! It wasn't until it started getting light and I could start seeing the corrie that I was getting worried but I assured myself things would start looking whiter when we got closer. They didn't.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmSch-FS7xhems1BaQJZy-oGc4tnVifcFnXicdEcaJn0XG_0iyubyGVnNaful9dDGgHcnY2U57tG4I39-Zq9j-xQLOgQCDk-2wCzPsCQM3iE_L_6xAM7H3GZPBfpsCjPZnW3VWkDG2kLCF/s1600/IMG_1262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmSch-FS7xhems1BaQJZy-oGc4tnVifcFnXicdEcaJn0XG_0iyubyGVnNaful9dDGgHcnY2U57tG4I39-Zq9j-xQLOgQCDk-2wCzPsCQM3iE_L_6xAM7H3GZPBfpsCjPZnW3VWkDG2kLCF/s320/IMG_1262.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Twisted and Chimney Route</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSgRCHL3xFTBd9m_kZqaZlEP4ofcK9ik223Izzd61Vv00lfwpnMBWjn9_mPyQePQkuw9OaZQsxIZS1lsN1P-BwSBcASwKIDiXlpmAbds3_8D-jMZ-whxge2GH1hQCKAW0pCPb4XX_68n-/s1600/IMG_1264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSgRCHL3xFTBd9m_kZqaZlEP4ofcK9ik223Izzd61Vv00lfwpnMBWjn9_mPyQePQkuw9OaZQsxIZS1lsN1P-BwSBcASwKIDiXlpmAbds3_8D-jMZ-whxge2GH1hQCKAW0pCPb4XX_68n-/s320/IMG_1264.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unicorn and Scansor</td></tr>
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We looked at twisted but it had a big black section at the bottom. Chimney route was a bit whiter but it was dripping. We walked along the crag but everything looked to have large no wintry looking sections. In the end we started up Crest Route, which is quite high up so we thought it was a good bet. I climbed pitch 1, which featured lots of bad truf! The start of pitch 2 however was completely black so we backed off and went for a walk to the top.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLbosBuslAxnZynRaWHgAxNJ4gDuRPlzW-CnXhk7nnmlpwQbRQ1PkorDohwETJwXircvvgC4rITCUVM0VqoixtuvLZH1VhSkDysYuNJPSyE7fLr9X_U5bgXrBNzIFPqB59Uchrvw__oQQ1/s1600/IMG_1271.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLbosBuslAxnZynRaWHgAxNJ4gDuRPlzW-CnXhk7nnmlpwQbRQ1PkorDohwETJwXircvvgC4rITCUVM0VqoixtuvLZH1VhSkDysYuNJPSyE7fLr9X_U5bgXrBNzIFPqB59Uchrvw__oQQ1/s320/IMG_1271.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crest Route Pitch 2</td></tr>
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We had a look over at Bidean and the Lost Valley but nothing looked particularly white.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbxVPegnZSa4oLyT7qD7LEd9XueHdz8MIE-L1Tu2I6JZ7W-l-W443A0grfqCUyMLqBGX0Qu7B5O6hb8wdk2bRb94lFJgbwy5SfMOLTQSxccnXlOMXJHgle2uF-bozo_abGVSS_BVX7pgGt/s1600/IMG_1283.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbxVPegnZSa4oLyT7qD7LEd9XueHdz8MIE-L1Tu2I6JZ7W-l-W443A0grfqCUyMLqBGX0Qu7B5O6hb8wdk2bRb94lFJgbwy5SfMOLTQSxccnXlOMXJHgle2uF-bozo_abGVSS_BVX7pgGt/s320/IMG_1283.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bidean</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8r36u5ikeDT0ZrMAzadI7tPvV8wv9qnWWC-b01_isogJ8WPDJY-GKr7yiWUeIvKOZLmLSLybkTtXCEYUSaIfISYN8CQLr9M8-tc_aX5jHjOdmTQIZywmod5XRDAUJLd2h5OfuLoF5L99T/s1600/IMG_1287.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8r36u5ikeDT0ZrMAzadI7tPvV8wv9qnWWC-b01_isogJ8WPDJY-GKr7yiWUeIvKOZLmLSLybkTtXCEYUSaIfISYN8CQLr9M8-tc_aX5jHjOdmTQIZywmod5XRDAUJLd2h5OfuLoF5L99T/s320/IMG_1287.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lost Valley</td></tr>
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In summary things aren't very in at the moment. Also it wasn't minus 5 degrees like MWIS had said it would be! Hopefully if the cold weather continues and things start getting blown around a bit some mixed lines may be in by the end of the week.<br />
Also a tip. Don't walk around with your axes over your shoulder and your thumbs over the pommels. When you fall over it jars your thumbs. Mine hurt!Harry Holmeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06744089267961346448noreply@blogger.com0