Y Garn, Sunday 18th Dec

  

Decent snow seems to have been a bit hit and miss over the last 2 weeks. Made the best of some changeable winter conditions in North Wales today. Snow conditions better than expected especially further above Llyn Clyd where it was below freezing, gullies reported to be OK further up. With the forecast for warmer weather the week before Christmas, this current dump will probably disappear by Wednesday or even sooner.

Didn't realise until we got back of the sad news of a fatal accident on Y Garn on Saturday, that short section form the top of the NE ridge to the summit is notorious for cornice build up, it can even get quite tricky getting off the ridge sometimes when a large drift has banked up. There was still  small section of cornice left today.

Merino base layers...toasty

Brrrrrr... Just picked up a merino top & legs base layer from Aldi, dam cheap at £16 squid each, they seem ok. Don't know how long they will last instore nor do i know their ethical providence, however the old legs are now nice and toastie. I have Carbon offset the purchase by turning the heating down and put on another jumper. Unfortunately they make me look more Max Wall than Ninja, so for those of a week disposition i have only shown the lower calf area.

Snow arrives in North Wales, Yipppeee, and a story of how viking burns your hands

Sunday 4th Dec
Yep the snow has arrived, bit slushy this Sunday but it's the White stuff all the same. A bit of  playing arround on Siabod testing out Helens new 'Kahtoola Micro Spikes' they worked really well for when the full crampon is a bit overkill. They did tend to ball a bit on soft snow but other than that really quick to put on and take off.

Little else to talk about so hear's a completely unrelated story below about luverly Viking rope

The scene
Nineteen 70’s ish....a late hot summers afternoon  somewhere in North Wales, well ok a bit more clarity, Nant Gwynant area. Three 17 year old lads staying at a local hut still a bit pi**ed from the night before.
There is a suggestion that we might try a bit of rock climbing. One of us has slightly more experience that the rest, in that he once abseiled off the roof of the school, and nobody died. Therefore we trust him without question.
We salvage some rope from the back of the hut and a few nuts, no ‘real’ nuts and a bit of sisal. Fully equipped, we potter off.
We head off up the back of the hut toward a bit of a crag and some trees. ‘Mmmmm, looks like it might be more than one pitch’ are the confident words from our leader. This means nothing to us, only vaguely hinting that we should have possibly packed more sandwiches.
After a short scramble we edge out onto an airy ledge approx half way up a large bluff of rock. Below us lies a patch of conifers and above us stretches... well nothing just rock. The two of us remaining on the ledge have been given full instructions on what to do, HOLD THE ROPE, DON’T LET GO OF THE ROPE, NEVER LET GO OF THE ROPE. Seems pretty straight forward. Our intrepid leader sets off, and is soon out of sight... then shouts
 “I can’t move, when i said hold the rope’ i meant let it go through your hands as i go up”
This clearly conflicts with the initial advice so we decide to remain flexible on the HOLD/DON’T HOLD the rope bit.

Ages pass.........“What do you think he’s doing”
“Dunno, i’m getting cold, and  i’m hungry, and i want a sandwich, pass me a sandwich”
“I can’t i’m holding the rope”
“Well so am i, one of us will have to stop holding the rope”
We settle the dilemma via rock, paper, scissors and then consider that neither of us has held the rope for about 5 minutes, and nothing has happened.
“Maybe he’s gone off”
“Yeah.... no wait he’s started climbing very very fast, look the ropes movin really fast”
A shadow briefly passes
“See that massive bird then”
“Nope”
“Well it was massive”
“Ohh he’s stopped again, wait...no no he’s moving fast again”
“Do you think we should hold the rope”
“Yeah, probably for the best, he did ask us to”
“Feckin hell the ropes getting hot, ow, ouch, feckin ouch”
“I got some gloves in the bag”
The rope is still traveling as we don the gloves
“That’s better, ahh no wait he’s stopped again now”
Ages pass.......
“You know nothing’s happened for ages now, i recon he’s definitely at the top”
“Yeah, shall we go down ”
“Yeah, any sandwiches left”
Passing the foot of the crag below, there is movement in the trees, it must be that massive bird.
The massive bird then shouts
“Where the f**k are you two going, you were supposed to be holding the f**king rope”
The massive bird then explains that he’s been crashing through the trees for the last 5 minutes and is quite pleased to have come to a stop at last.
We shrug and reply that were going to get more sandwiches, and does the massive bird want one.
The massive bird says no, but he would quite like an ambulance.

Hard to tell but once we had removed all the branches and twigs from various orifices it only looked like a twisted ankle. Lucky bird
This rock climbing stuff, it’s alright

Hammond song, the Roches - Random Vinyl from Robdogs cellar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e3sqtoRG-Y

Waiting for Winter

The clouds this Sunday started to show the colour for snow.

Bout this time last year the snow had arrived causing chaos and mayhem, my concern was not being able to get to North Wales before it disappeared. A day off work needs some minimal planning at least, go to early and you might miss an awesome dump the following day, go to late and all you get is mush, aaagghhh. Anyway nothing yet except a couple of slightly frozen puddles on the odd summit.  

Ellen & the Escapdes at Kitchen Garden Cafe, Kings Heath

Monday 14th November

Another lovely gig, at a great little venue, only wish i could have had one of their bottled beers, unfortunately driving so had to settle for elderflower cordial. 2 part set, loved tracks 'Coming back home' and 'Praying on your Mind'. Shades of Midlake and the like, the twist is in her voice.
New EP 'Of All The Times' available and on tour at the moment, see  http://www.myspace.com/ellenandtheescapades or http://www.ellenandtheescapades.com/

Rainbow Warrior III

Saturday 12th November

Bit of  busy last weekend, down smoke on the Saturday to see the wonderful new Rainbow Warrior III, didn't much care for driving towards the Isle of dogs, can't remember the last time i didn't or more like couldn't pull over anywhere to check the map, surveillance cameras everywhere, traffic up your arse all the time, and this was on a quiet day. Flick the dead locks on we head towards Canary Wharf, dam bankers types will nick anything, pass the private roads and gated streets, i'm in a Volvo you can trust me. Find a car park, we head towards the South Quay, and there she is all Green and Rainbowy, masts spiraling in contempt of its glass and steel neighbours. When you see her there's just somthing about RW that makes you smile with a big cheesy grin, i know, its the return of hope. Good luck to all who sail in her.

Sunday 13th

The chaps were off climbing at Tremdoc, believer 'Christmas Curry' and 'Striptease' were done in fine style, Bit knackered after the drive back from London and  few pints on the evening, we didn't get to Wales until arround 11am, a quick coffee then after we watched the cadets place the wreath in Capel Curig, 1st time i believe. That little bit of the A5 stood silent for  moment. We headed up to Y Garn again, i know but i never get tired of it. Met Mal Creasey on the summit and had a bit of catch up. If you meet Mal don't mention Langmuir....i did but i think i got away with it.

North Wales again..



The sea looked still and frozen today



Very dark leaves on the holly trees 

Clear Blue skies over North Wales today, only passed one other person on Hebog, nice and quiet with the smoke rising verticaly from the chimneys down in Bedgelert.



Shadow cast from Hebog



Noticed again how the noon shadow cast by Hebog as it sweeps across the valley below, is quite definate & pointed, the arc from Tryfan is also similarly distinctive. Would either of them make a suitable natural sundial or solar observatory? Like to return on the equinoxes and get a precise grid reference and place a rock on the exact place to stand when the sun hits its optimun highest and lowest point in the sky at noon. Might be a nice idea for a natural sculpture.

Rossmore Road, Barry Andrews - Random vinyls from Robdogs cellar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7helGibteIM

Troll Wall...a very indirectly related event

Been following Andy Kirkpatrick’s recent epic Tweets from the Troll and it reminded me of and indirectly related event back in 2006.

I was booked to marshal a 3 Peak Event on Snowdon, all was looking good to go until the weather started turning nasty on the Friday. A massive front began moving in from the Atlantic, not boding well for the weekend. The event teams for the Snowdon leg usually start arriving around late afternoon, and attempt Snowdon during the night.
This year the charity had switched the route from the PYG to the Llanberis path, as the cafe at Pen Y Pass was getting a tight for space. The PYG in some ways is an easier route to ‘marshal’ during bad weather as the cwm provides some natural protection from the prevailing winds, at least until you hit the top of the zig zags. The Llanberis path is a motorway but far more open to the elements.

The wind picked up and it started raining in Llanberis but not so bad to cancel the event, the marshals started moving into position an hour before the first teams were due to arrive. There are usually 6 marshals for Snowdon, a head marshal based down in Llanberis, one at the start of the walk just as you come off the track, one at Halfway house, one at Clogwyn Station, one between Coglwyn and the summit to protect the accidental troll over Crib y Ddysgl, finally one at the top. I usually take the top slot. It has it’s +/-, on a good day it’s worth it for the view. If it’s bad weather it can be really bad. We all have radio’s but quite often it’s only the summit marshal who can get decent comm’s with everyone else on the mountain and base. Each team also has a radio for emergency use.

Heading up the track from Halfway to Clogwyn station the full force of the gathering storm started to hit. The wind speed was buffeting between 40 to 50mph and getting stronger as we gained height. Regularly feeding back the developing conditions to base, by the time we got to Clogwyn it had increased to 60-70mph and gusting well above, with driving rain. I headed up further towards the summit with one of the other marshals. The conditions on the mountain were now dangerous, not just for the competitors but also for the marshals, most of who were members of the Llanberis MR team. If you can get a tent up or bury yourself in a KISU then you can ride a storm OK, but to continually be on the lookout for around 40  teams of 5 or 6 people is impossible. Retreating from further up the path, but with some protection from the railway embankment this left 3 of us a Clogwyn with a wait to see if conditions improved, and assist with getting the teams back down safely.

It is usual practice to ‘lower the summit’ or close the event if conditions are this serious. Unable to set up and protect the route passed Clogwyn station we began to turnback teams from there. Most competitors were extremely glad of the decision.
It was at this point, that a call came over the radio from the other marshals lower down the mountain to look out for a lone walker/climber described reported as struggling or looking exhausted somewhere around the Clogwyn station area. After a shouty and windtorn conference between myself and the others, we concluded that we had seen someone earlier who seemed to fit the bill, but with only about 10m of visibility it was difficult to trace which way he was heading or guess where he might by now. A couple of us headed back down towards Halfway and met up with a figure struggling down the path.  He was clearly exhausted, after a hot drink and some chocolate we helped him back down towards Llanberis. Offering to pick up his gear we couldn’t believe how much stuff this chap had been hawking around in the storm, heavily sodden ropes, a portaledge, gear and a rucsac plus other packs etc. I could hardly lift the rope bag on its own! It had been his plan that day to solo in practice for an attempt at the Troll Wall, fair play he’d done a good job climbing cloggy but had been eventually taken to task by the atrocious weather conditions. Once down he was checked over by the ambulance and  i believe nipped of to Bangor  for a nights rest. 

Meanwhile........with everyone eventually back down safe at Llanberis, the main event marquee tent had taken on a life of its own, and was about to log a flight plan. We spent the remainder of the night repeatedly banging in pegs.

It was a few weeks later in July that i noticed the post on UK Climbing and put 2/2 together. I believe the climber involved survived his epic on the Troll Wall but at some personal cost. My colleague on Snowdon that night had chatted with the chap we gave assistance to about the current conditions of the Troll, and how bad he thought it was at the time. Andy K seemed to echo his worries in his post in 2006. Reading his recent ‘tweets from the troll’ this year, things haven’t got any less scary.


  

ML Course dates 2012

Please see dates for Pete Goldsmiths ML courses, i did mine with him a few years ago, Its a really economical way of doing your awards, and for those of us who cant afford to have week days off from work, its spread over weekends. Contact Pete at: Pete Goldsmith, 2, Steeds Terrace, Benter, Radstock, BA3 5HB. Tel 01761 232805 or 07890 938563

Mountains on hold due to lousy weather, so here are a few awsome trees

Always found this walk in the woods near Croft Ambrey hill fort quite humbling. Check out the massive Yew near the fort. Oh and the cakes are quite nice at the NT shop 

The Spanish Chestnuts in the grounds at Croft Castle, Herefordshire, are a famous avenue of pollarded sweet chestnuts (Castanea sativa) stretching for 1km to the west of the castle. The tale of the chestnuts' origins suggests that the nuts came from the wrecks of the Spanish Armada in 1592, making some of the trees over 400 years old. (NT)

More random vinyl from Robdogs cellar - PFM Celebration

Watch "Premiata Forneria Marconi PFM - Celebration - Live TV, 1974" on YouTube

Swanage Climbing, Sept 17 & 18th

Swanage Climbing or 'I know what you did last Sept 17 & 18th'

 

Friday Trying to find a decent weather window for climbing amongst the nastiness of the tail end of hurricane Katia. Down south looked like the best bet. So headed for Swanage.

We got down on Friday afternoon at Tom's to find the Matt, Daymo, Deej and Gaz had already got some climbs in at Dancing Ledge. Early feedback was suggesting that the backwall was dam hard for the grade. Andy M, yet to arrive in his Cmax, was battling against 'ferocious' 25mph headwinds, saying he'd not seen owt like it at we ought to prepare for the worst, how true...

Anyway that was for tomorrow, after a brew, Hel & I headed up to the Square & Compass, others to follow later. yes OK i know the way in the dark like the back of my hand, and I may have suggested it would only take 25mins. By about the 4th pint of Copper Ale they had still not arrived. 50/1 they don't make it and have either fallen off the cliff or been taken prisoner by the Purbeck Taliban. Eventually they arrived still minus Andy M & team BAMA. Yes we agree it's a bit like American Werewolf, blah, blah......Pints and Pasties appear, turns out they scared the sh**t out a some poor lad on a bike and tortured him for directions.

Kangaroo Moon were playing  http://www.kangaroomoon.com/ dam good stuff. Some pints and a complaint to the bar staff from Len on the meat/veg ratio of his pasty later, we headed back down the Priests Way......... 25mins bang on ish! 

 

Well, I thought it was all going quite well...enter team BAMA, stealth mode.

 



We're gonna play here today



Saturday After a few dodgy looks next morning from one of the neighbours, the chaps went to pay and received good humoured verbal warning. There were some minor confusions with the registration plates of the cars, and yes it was conceivable that there were more of us than had actually paid....that's multiple personality disorder for you.

After a cracking breakfast via the full facilities of Matt' (Skinners) van, we packed and headed for Dancing Ledge. The weather holds off for most of the day.

http://27crags.com/crags/dancing-ledge/topos/main-quarry



Daymo keen for some DWS



The 5+ routes 'The War of the Wardens'  and 'John Craven's Willy Warmer' are well polished and getting dam hard for the grade, so we move onto the 6b & c's hoping for some better rock. Good job we have a Deej with us 'The Honey Monster' and 'Rambling Moses Weetabix and the Secona Park Seven' and even Disco's Out, Murder's In 6c+ get an airing. The rocks a lot better but it's still dam hard work. Team BAMA get to grabs with some sea fishing and then onto the Mexican wave for some pumpy jugging, think they had a go at 'Circus Beach 7b+' http://27crags.com/crags/dancing-ledge/topos/mexican-wave-area before scaring the fish again with a dip in the swimming pool.

 

Back to Tom's and bring on the curry.....nice one Deej

 



Deej pulling a slow one





Matt, lookin casual











Yow cawt a wale mate

Saturday Night There was consideration given to taking the kit & curry down to the ledge, but a few beers later it sounded like hard work. Some many beers later there must have been something in the curry. Team BAMA end up going a bit native. I arrive back from the loo to a scene from the tail end of Apocalypse Now. Matt (Skinner) ends up doing what he does best. In the slightly amended words of Mr Winston Wolfe from Pulp Fiction.

The Wolf: That gives us exactly... till the morning to get the f**k out of Swanage. Which, if you do what I say when I say it, should be plenty. Now, you've got a corpse on the floor, minus a head, and it's going in the pot. Take me to it............. 10 minutes later the jobs done, the mans a legend. If this doesn't make sense, don't worry neither did Saturday night.

 

The rain falls steadily until morning, washing away the sins of the night before, the wind tentatively edges towards the critical speed of 25mph.

 

and Sunday morning Not so fresh as a daisy...and everything seems normal, breakfasts gets on the go, Daymo says lets ave scrambled, Len says yes but continues cooking fried. I like fried he says, for the 5th time???? What do we recon then, the weathers a bit on and off, need somewhere sheltered. Gotta be Portland then. East Side!

We loose Andy M & BAMA en route, they decide to head home. We end up at Godnor Far North,  we mange to get in a few routes, 'Jacob's Ladder' 5+, 'The Truth is Out There' 6b, 'Wedding Daze' 6b & 'Tombstone' 3+, this is lovely rock, a bit of everything. There are no words left but Len still has more to say, Daymo offers to pay one of us to belay Len next, but we're all very busy.

Ducking the worst of the odd showers we head back to the cars and go for munchies by the lighthouse, Helen gets a bit scared of the sheds. Time to go home..........











BAMA worrying the fishisis



Brian Eno - Backwater, Random Vinyl from Robdogs cellar

oooooh..more from the cellar... this is fun, aaggghh  a massive spider

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YitVQuOBuLc

Random vinyl from Robdogs cellar

Just about every track on the album jumps, but some nice person put the whole album on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npDNwD3F_OQ

Nice to hear the odd sample cropping up now and again, for instance Gruff Rhys 'Candylion'

The band was formed by Ken Elliot (keyboards, vocals) and Kieran O'Connor (percussion), both of whom had been members of earlier progressive rock groups, Second Hand and Chillum. (Wiki)

StoneBalancing - Adrian Gray

Caught a repeat of BBC Coast last week, and noticed this short piece on the artist Adrian Gray.


Stonebalancing near Chapmans pool Aug 2010 (no longer their)



http://www.stonebalancing.com/

Last time i saw somthing like this was at Chapmans Pool near Worth Matravers. We went down in August last year, and wondered who had done them, pretty impressive something of the 'Johnny Dawes' about it. Went down this August and they had gone, i hadn't realised that they had all been balanced by hand.



White  Chalk pile near Swanage



Near Swanage at the far end of the bay near the base of Ballard Down were a pile of pure White Chalk rocks I don't think this was by the same chap, but they looked pretty cool all the same.



Our attempt at rock sculpture is the 'Beast of Blochwyd' near Tryfan. Next time your passing if she needs a filling or a crown, have a go. 



The fearsome Best of Blochwyd ner Tryfan



Cleeve - Castle Rock - Thurs 8th September



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Funny enough the rock was that colour




Last rays





It's getting  bit late in the year now, but what the hell we can still squeeze out couple more evenings outside, just need  few more cycle lights or a generator.


HDR mode creates some weird

 We've been trying to work out a few routes only using specific holds.

Deej pic below was on the the slight bulge between E2 routes 9&10 in the Wye valley guide. You can only use holds above the bulge and to the left of 10 Eliminate 3.

Just realised whilst playing arround with the HDR app on the moby, it's actually quite good for pics of routes as it picks out loads of detail, mmm i forsee some experiments.

The light in the West



Deej cranking out on Fung Ku...so named due to the initial move.