tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90493858882321123782024-03-05T08:32:22.171-08:00Outdoor TonyShort stories, gear reviews and general bloggeringTony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-74187137180552695232014-07-13T11:55:00.001-07:002014-07-13T12:01:23.321-07:00Toby Rees and big H - bedtime stories for outdoor folkNear the coast somewhere very exciting live two brothers, Toby the youngest brother has the courage and strength of a full grown Atlantic bull seal and was just as happy in the water. His big brother Harvey could move over rock like a ballet dancing Ibex, one day Toby and H were making their way down to the river for a swim, when they got there they saw quite a fuss. There was a big crowd of people shouting and pointing from the bank, what's going on asked Toby? "He's stuck!" Said a little girl at the back of the crowd. The brothers looked up stream to see a small boy stranded on a boulder in the middle of the river.<br />
Toby stared through the boy at the features up stream, knowing that there had been a lot of rainfall in the night on the surrounding hills, meaning the boy on the rocks day, would get worse before it got better. Toby, even though he was very young had spent thousands of hours playing with purpose, in and around rivers whit his dad. He wouldn't just throw stones in, they would throw stones at Eddie lines and surf sticks in surface stoppers or rescue bottles from deep stoppers, so reading the river was never something he did on propose it just kind of happened.<br />
He nodded to a noise stopper up stream of the little boy on the rock, H smiled knowing his little brother intended to body surf the stopper across to above the boy then float down feet first on to the boulder. "If you don't get out here, I will get you out there" said Harvey pointing at two eddies on their bank. Minuets later toby was approaching the boulder feet first just as he had visualised moments earlier. "Room for a small one?" Asked Toby as his feet touched the boulder. The little boy smiled he was very happy to see Toby, "are you going to help me?" Asked the little boy. "It's on my list of things to do" said Tobs nodding to his brother on the bank and establishing communication, he scans the river confirming both eddies (& his big brother) were in his line of sight, he chose a route to safety that should mean he would be able to avoid problems insted of having to cure them and his brother was clearly in the position of maximum usefulness to give assistance when needed. "Can you swim?" Asked Toby, the boy nodded "I'm just sceard ".<br />
"That's fine, we are going to swim a bit, we are going to aim at that tree up river, we won't get there but keep swimming for it till I say stop, are you keen for that?" The boy nodded, after a nod to his brother Toby watched the boy jump in and unknowingly set a perfect ferry angle. Toby plopped in after him and began the job of shepherding him with his big powerful front crawl strokes. Moments later both boys felt the current disappear around them as the entered the first Eddie, "your such a show off" smiled Harvey as the brothers helped the little boy on to the bank where he could sit down and cheer up in the sun. Later that day, the boys got home soaking wet and covered in mud. "What on earth have you two been up to?" said their mum. "We saved a boy in the river mam" said the boys. "And what was this boys name?" Asked their mum "uummm.... We don't know mam" said the boys looking up and right, trying to remember if he had said his name. "Well, if you have to save a little boy again, then please don't do it in your new clothes" said their mother with raised eye brows and folded arms, "now, out of those wet clothes it time for your bath"Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-52628342352524259422013-03-05T14:36:00.001-08:002013-03-05T14:36:19.003-08:00Diary of an idiot Part 5
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">If you don’t drink, you don’t pee, if you don’t pee ….
You die!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">With two aid pitches under our belt, we decide it was time
to get on a route. After chatting with some resident hard core types we decided
that the Prow on the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:state>
column would be a good choice with straight forward aid, and less crowded than
the more popular south face route. This day saw us shouldering our pigs ready
for two days (three at a push on the wall.) walking in with our 70kg loads (I
only weigh 75kg at this point) the feeling in my arms disappeared as quickly as
the car as we trotted up the approach path.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">For the first time in my life I had cramp in my hips as a
result of the load I was carrying (that wasn’t in the brochure). Our progress
was helped in no way by the 40 degree heat! The closer we got the bottom the
steeper the track got. To say that we had perspired on the approach would be a
fair statement. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Finally we broke cover from the trees and were faced with
the enormity of the face (SWEET!) the corners of our route steep and obvious.
Bright orange in the relentless sun! On inspection we noticed a team low on the
route moving slow (even by our standards) it would appear that these gods were
freeing the route!!!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So after a short team talk we concluded the south face route
though crowded would be the way to go. Gearing up at the bottom of the route
another team appeared from no where. The lady of the group was all like “HEY!”
and we were all like “what’s up?” and She was like “you guys doing the south
face” and we were like “yea, you?” and she was like “skull queen” and were like
“OO!?” and she was like “we’ll just follow you guys for a bit till the route
split” and we were like “na you can go first” and she was like “na you were
here first” and we were like “this is our first wall” and she was like “this is
my 40<sup>th</sup> ill give you guys a hand to get started” and we were like “thank
you Jesus”. After some secret high fives we were off, the first pitch was free
at about 5.7 which I led and then began the epic ordeal of hauling two 70kg
pigs up slaby ground. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Gearing up for the next pitch a steep awkward looking corner
in the full brunt of the sun, it started to dawn on me that Matt was looking a
bit peaky, gray almost. His speech was slow and his eyes seemed unfocused, he
had tucked himself into the only shade on the ledge. While chatting he confided
in me that though he was kind of aware that we were in rather serious place. He
had this growing feeling that he couldn’t care less! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Now im no doctor however I began to harbour the feeling that
something may be amiss, and had to make the bitter discussion to descend. Tipping
out the water we didn’t need I was still uncertain as to whether I had made the
right decision as I watched Matt wobble across the ledge dropping etreiers as
he went I felt that uncertainty slip away. Close to 6 minutes after he had
disappeared from sight on the abseil he still had not taken his weight off the
rope. Finally the call came “ROPE FREE!” I later learned that he had taken so
long because on reaching the bottom of the decent there was a branch on the
floor across the track, nothing special just a branch yet in his hyperthermic
and severely dehydrated state passing this posed a problem that was nearly
unfathomable! After that the decent went like most others silent, me wondering
why, since I had ditched 15 litres of water from my load how come it still
seemed to weigh the same? And Matt probably wondering where it all went wrong,
how did a well trodden mountaineer form the Isle of Skye (<st1:state w:st="on">north
west</st1:state> <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Scotland</st1:place></st1:country-region>)
succumb to the heat so swiftly? Some things remain a mistery to this day,
however on returning to camp Matt drank around 3 litres of water and didn’t pee
till the next morning.</span></div>
Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-19147863652034305982013-01-23T13:05:00.000-08:002013-01-23T14:44:12.342-08:00Beau's Brecon Becons Bonanza!<br />
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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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQwO3PbHxRFZiMgpDycaUtWqeW3k_nmShSU__-14SGABwf7rUM0gd5oQzxfFZ425sOOW3K_uu4Vwqecwtp_3pCIxGy3viu90dNt9a6yr7TqCvHe2EDfIpxuVK1F-f5v3qS28x5jTa5FBA/s1600/Beau.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQwO3PbHxRFZiMgpDycaUtWqeW3k_nmShSU__-14SGABwf7rUM0gd5oQzxfFZ425sOOW3K_uu4Vwqecwtp_3pCIxGy3viu90dNt9a6yr7TqCvHe2EDfIpxuVK1F-f5v3qS28x5jTa5FBA/s320/Beau.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beau the ultra runner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Hi All Meet Beau. Beau is a Springer Spaniel but this
Springer has recently confessed to harbouring an ambition to run across the
Brecon Beacons. He said that when he runs up there amongst the rounded moor
like summits, with his ears flapping and the crunch of the early morning frost
under his feet, watching the south Walian sun as it arks over head mapping out
his journey west, knowing he is following in the footsteps of countless spaniels,
weekend walkers not to mention special forces personnel, he feels free, he
feels its what he was born to do…. Yes he is rather articulate for a spaniel,
however he is immensely cockeyed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So it has come to pass that beau will get his wish and
traverse the Brecon beacons this year. His preparation has begun already, with regular
training runs. The plan is to do the journey in ten to thirteen mile legs first
and then this summer to link them in a single weekend. Beau will not be alone
on his adventure he has enlisted the services of Welsh Adventures staff Tony
Rees (me) and Adam Roberts (not me) as his support crew. We will be keeping you
up dated on his progress in the coming months here on the blog and on the Welsh
Adventures face book page so keep an eye out for the photos and videos to come.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a></span><br />
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Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-68796848233749099212012-06-07T13:09:00.001-07:002012-06-07T13:18:24.920-07:00Heading out<br />
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><em>Here is an article I wrote
for an online magazine recently hope you find it useful (there is a little bit
of repetition in there sorry in advance)<o:p></o:p></em></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Looking through the rain
smeared window of your local climbing wall, sipping a latte after another heavy
plastic pulling session. You’d be forgiven for putting your aspirations of
gracefully gliding over rock on hold for a bit, but don’t put it off all
together! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">While most of the crags in
the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>
don’t come with their own coffee shop, stockpiled with back issues of climbing
mags, the pro’s for heading out onto real rock are an article in their own
right (probably several volumes). Here I hope to give you a few points to make
the transition a bit more pleasant.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><em><strong>Tony’s top five tips for
climbing outside;<o:p></o:p></strong></em></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Racking:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">1. Orientation of kit on the harness<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Now this is a subject that is
always close to peoples hart, usually because when it goes wrong you’re
probably doing your best Elvis impression, while staring into a crack, holding
the wrong piece of gear in your hand with no idea where the bit you need is.
Sometimes the soundtrack to this scene is your belayer giving you directions
around your harness with your free hand to find what you’re looking for.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I find It useful to put my
protection (nut’s, cams ect) on the front loops of the harness, starting with
the smallest pieces first getting bigger the further around your hips you go.
This means you can usually see what your looking for by glancing down and by
putting the smaller stuff at the front the bigger stuff less likely to get in
your way when moving about. Also if you have any monster kit (really big cams
or hex’s) stick them right around the back out of the way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Then put your extenders on
your back loops, as these are a bit easier to sort through by feel. Ill stick
my longest ones furthest back getting down to my smallest at the front, this
minimises the chances of any cheeky bits of protection getting tangled around
the longer sling style extenders.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Lastly all your bits and
pieces like you belay device nut key, and prussic’s right round the back out of
the way<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">2</span></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">. Racking
Nuts </span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Heading off in the vertical world is
always a gamble of efficiency do you go light and fast and run the risk of not
having the crucial bit of kit to see you through the crux, or do you take the
kitchen sink and struggle to get of the floor? With the majority of decent
length trad pitches, I find it useful to have two sets of nuts (DMM wallnuts
are my weapon of choice). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Split the nuts in to four sets, two
sets of large and two sets of small. And rack one large and one small set on
each side of your harness, this will enable you to do a number of things. If
you were to drop a set of crucial sized nuts in to oblivion or can’t get at the
set you need then all is not lost simply reach for the set on the other side.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Plus if you clip the nuts in towards
yourself and you need to replace a nut on the rack then all you need to do is
rotate the crab on your harness, this will put the crab in the best position to
re-clip the nut. All this can be done one handed!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">3. Helmets:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Now, I know your all big boys
and girls, and can think for yourselves weather or not you want to climb with a
helmet on, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! However I’ve notice that. When
heading out to the crag people often only associate helmet wearing as safety
while climbing…. Your helmet is designed to deflect rock fall from above, not
to protect you from a reverse penguin dive of the crag at half height. So on
arriving at the crag (especially if you walk to the bottom) it’s worth thinking
about the following:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">How loose does
the cliff look<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Can I see the top
and how does that look<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Are there people
climbing above me while I gear up, because a number 9 hex from 30m is not best
caught with your naked cranium, nor is anything else they may nudge off.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Is there a safe
area near by where I can sort my stuff out (I don’t mean a police station, just
somewhere where the chances of something landing on your is as small as you can
make it) sometimes at steep crags this is right at the base.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Are there
wildlife (sheep ect) wondering the ledges above nonchalantly kick stuff off.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It takes seconds to do and
could really make a difference to your day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">4. Harness:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A harness is a harness is a
harness right? Sort of, well no not really, sizes and colours aside. There are
some things to think about when heading out of the climbing gym:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Gear loops </span></i></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">obvious one when you think about it, some sport
climbing harnesses only have two gear loops which is ideal for carrying the
hand full of extenders needed while climbing indoors or at a sports crag, but
if your going for the kitchen sink approach to trad climbing then you will need
to get more space on your harness. There are trad specific harnesses on the
market that have three loops on each hip and one around the back (but just
because you have all this space it dose not mean you need to fill it!)<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Adjustability
</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">when and where are you going to
be climbing outside? One trip to Gower once a summer, or all year around
chasing the snow line on mountain crags? If it’s the latter you may want to
invest in a harness with adjustable leg loops, to allow for the change in “leg
girth” as a result of putting on all your winter layers (not to mention the
insulation gained from the odd Christmas dinner or two).<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Width of
waist and leg loops </span></i></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">often seems
trivial when stood in the climbing shop trying to match the colour with you
belay device, but if you intend on spending hours sitting in it on hanging
belays with the ocean angrily nipping at you heels, then getting a harness that
has waist and leg loops that are as thin as chickening wire will probably
result in you enjoying the day considerably less. Not to mention probably
building an impressive hatred of your climbing partner for climbing so slow!<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">5. Placing protection:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Shaking on your tip toes, dry
mouthed, tears in your eyes, trying to stuff your nuts in to any crack within
arms reach is a sure fire way to get yourself in trouble!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Take a minute to look up the
route before you start and see what’s up there:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Are you following
a crack line, if so what size nuts or cams does it look like you’re going to
need? When you get there make a note of weather you guessed right or were they
bigger or smaller than you first thought.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Are there trees
on the route that you can put slings around? Over time you will become pretty
good at spotting gear from the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Are there obvious
places to stand comfortably where you can get gear in?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">When you’re on the route:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Are you in the
most comfortable place to get gear in, there’s nothing worse than looking like
you’ve just come 1<sup>st</sup> in the Vegas Elvis impersonation championships
while placing a runner only to look and find the hand hold of your dreams is
just above your head!</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">How much contact
does it make with the rock? When placing protection you want to insure that
it’s in as deep as reasonably possible and that the entire surface of the
protection is touching the rock. This is a subject in its self and will be
covered in a later article.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">So there you have it some
things I’ve found useful while out climbing, I hope they help get you started. </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a> <br />
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<br /></div>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-69788906661556539312011-12-07T11:21:00.002-08:002012-03-03T13:49:58.192-08:00The feeling of exposure<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">As my feet cut loose I know that my technique has left a lot to be desired, I feel the sharp edge of the hold cut into my left hand, I glance down to check on the tumbling chaos that I know is there. Seeing it rules out any thoughts I had of letting go, the expressionless face and panicked eyes of my friend looks up at me while he franticly works with what he has, to put things in place for the expected airborne decent. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Its time to act, I free my right hand of the clumsy wooden handle and now with mind fully consumed by the task, I probe the brail like features of the wall with my feet to push back against the gravity of the situation. With subtle shifts in my weight and optimistic use of my feet and I begin to move right. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I become aware that the situation below has improved but letting go is still not an option, I scrutinize the rail of holds and give myself odds on making it to the platform at its terminus. As I start to make progress in my puzzle, I become aware of a creaking noises above my head. It turns out that I’m not the only one feeling the strain, this structure was designed to collect water not idiots, glancing across to my destination again and the asphalt of the flat roof looks so close but I’m no longer concerned about my problems solving and endurance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Second ago I was joking about the ladder falling and being more concerned about the paint on the ground than the fall its self now here I am bridged out in a window with the hands of my fellow instructors like cress leaves below fragile and waving. Do I wait for the ladder and rescue or make a brake for the roof and safety? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">My minds eye plays back footage of similar traverses undertaken on the limestone hulks of Pembroke, with an anxious sea pacing back and forth, reaching up and protesting, outraged at my presents. I ponder weather others in my position have made the same comparison, is what I’m thinking the correct response, or a sign of a miss spent youth? Either way the cries from the guttering are sounding more urgent by the second and the solution to this problem may well be out of my hands. I observe the angle of the underside of the structure change, as gravity and the masonry fixings work together like Meany of our groups.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Their task; to release pressure. Their solution… well that’s for them to fathom, I wonder weather my part in all this makes me a facilitator? Quietly observing their actions without offering opinion only ensuring they stay focused on the task. Probably not I’ve never really seen myself as a facilitator more a catalyst keen to agitate, enthuse and remain unchanged. There goes the miss spent youth again. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The familiar sensation of weightlessness, it’s the same weather your in the sea on a river or off the rock. It has its own sound but I can’t describe it, it never lasts long enough, do I tense now or relax?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I rejoin my friends on the ground, there is no fuss everyone has a job to do and they are all very good at doing them. They only speak and move when necessity dictates. I watch quietly proud of their efficiency in overcoming the problems I’ve presented them with. Am I a facilitator or catalyst… perhaps now is not the time?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a></span></span></div>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-56518177257134321422011-12-04T02:50:00.002-08:002012-03-03T13:50:41.351-08:00Time for a quick one?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Staring into middle distance at the lights, the cars at the start line all look familiar, we are members of the same wave released from our grind to race our course home. Where the real work begins, but it has been a hard week for me and an even harder day... there is only one thing for it “I’m going to call in for a quick one son, you keen?” </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jon smiles and doesn’t even check his watch he’s young he doesn’t have to answer to anyone if he thinks it’s a good idea, then it’s a good idea. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But where to go? The wife has been released now and her race passes my favourite haunt. I know a good parking spot, a hidden parking spot you can’t see it from the road, not since they reinforced the wall after the massive storm last year. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We park up and on the way in I bump into an old friend from school. I thought he lived down south? Said he was back to visit the family and needed to unwind, not sure if this is the place to be it looks really busy. It’s the busiest I’ve seen it in ages, there’s Dan he’s shit hot at darts, plays at county level, surfs pretty good too. Whenever I do this I worry she will smell it on me or taste it on my lips, or just notice the change in me, it’s not like I’m cheating, just one or two on the way home, never longer than a hour, just an hour for me to catch up with friends, reflect on the day, the week, the month. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We go in, it’s even more crowded than I thought, but we find a quite spot and settle down. All the regular faces are here “feeding the habit” nervously checking their watches and surveying the horizon, they’re just like me they have “homes to go to” drains to unblock, mouths to feed, dishes to wash, but for now here we are and I’m not sure we could stay away even if we wanted to. I’ve had some good times here, the best of times, regardless of the season there is always is familiar face about a funny story that’s being told. Sometime’s that’s the only reason I come, to catch up.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But today I’m here for the swell, 5ft glass 13 seconds period. More power than I thought, queuing in the line up waiting for my opportunity on this busy evening constantly reassessing my position, trying to read what’s about to happen, like getting the attention of the busy bar man. Finally “I make eye contact” seconds later….. it all slips away, it’s just me, me here, I feel the weight of my week lose its grip, I become fully aware again. My vision sharpens; I dance tipsy on the ocean. I nod to Jon, time to drink up and head home. Drying myself in the car park I’m careful not to leave any sand on my feet or wet in my hair I wipe clean all signs of my mistress. The van starts first time and we both crane our necks for one last look as we leave.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Through the front door and a voice inquires “your home late?” is she talking to me or Simon Cowell? I poke my head around the door yea busy one today.. what’s for tea?</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The hint of a smile lets me know that she knows, and that’s enough. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-83574144531373334802011-11-07T13:56:00.002-08:002012-03-03T13:52:00.533-08:00Diary of an idiot Part 4<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">30% of the time…. It rains every time!<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC8yh7tBZBdihFp0DmIzuaLNH6dxN9Z_TT9rO5nFgYkn_bWItO0dKwpWS0UN8lqKQFeKfJDpszuvXWZHIyfPyvTaXDLr5vW5o5kM1J4uR_o6zG3MtglsdjSM9Gt3P27Kqd3D1K03TwyZE/s1600/HD+Back+drop.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC8yh7tBZBdihFp0DmIzuaLNH6dxN9Z_TT9rO5nFgYkn_bWItO0dKwpWS0UN8lqKQFeKfJDpszuvXWZHIyfPyvTaXDLr5vW5o5kM1J4uR_o6zG3MtglsdjSM9Gt3P27Kqd3D1K03TwyZE/s320/HD+Back+drop.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Our trip was going swimmingly, we had done a load of free climbing including a fantastic day out on royal arches a rather straight forward 19 pitch route (after the 1<sup>st</sup> pitch chimney) involving everything from cracks to face climbing and a pendulum thrown in for good measure, all this with the impressive back drop of half dome. It came to pass that blindly assuming everyone from boulder <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Colorado</st1:place></st1:state> can move fast on rock, was an error that added a number of hours to the outing and saw us racing a storm of biblical proportions down fourteen 60m abseils. We literally were pulling the ropes through on the last abseil as the cats and dogs began to fall. Deciding that this wasn’t cooking under the stars weather we opted for the all you can eat buffet (and got our moneys worth!). We later found that the storm had buried the entrance to our tent in a foot and a half of debris (my how we laughed in the darkness while digging away the mud with our bear hands in our flip flops)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwK9RmsgoG1UK4lkhymlqf_zKObROktNp3rumpzwjzCv499l1q2-PoDPYF34vvYrEotacGQod3_BIGDXtEO5Wij-nI6VSYuGQ_izPwZctei7QepabK4WvKgwfjCYneR39Oq6tD2jom7J0/s1600/decent+rain.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwK9RmsgoG1UK4lkhymlqf_zKObROktNp3rumpzwjzCv499l1q2-PoDPYF34vvYrEotacGQod3_BIGDXtEO5Wij-nI6VSYuGQ_izPwZctei7QepabK4WvKgwfjCYneR39Oq6tD2jom7J0/s320/decent+rain.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> the last abseil</span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Anyway on this particular day we checked the weather forecast which to our delight gave only 30% chance of storms. We had our sights set on a few single pitch aid routes at the base of El cap this was all part of our master plan of getting on a big wall (lurking fear) by the end of the week. Off we trotted like good little school boys up the path to our days education, today’s lesson ….. YOU KNOW NOTHING!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">After a few false starts on awkward ground that really we would have freed had it been on a route, we set off up a rather steep thin corner crack/ chimney thing, the aid proved delightfully thought provoking and profanity inducing, two and half sweaty hours later Matt arrived at the belay fixed the ropes for me to clean the pitch. We both flirted with the notion that our preparation for this trip may have had the odd weak spot, if challenged we could have defended this conclusion with a compendium of amusing anecdotes that had taken place over the past few days. Anyway we decide that Andy Kirkpatrick’s approach of “fail… fail again better” was our best course. So I set of up that same pitch after cleaning it with the sole purpose of learning from the difficulties I could see Matt had encountered and to improve on his time even if just by a second.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Things were actually going to plan; I felt that I had dispatched the awkward chimney with relative speed and minimal swearing, and seemed to be making progress on the corner above… than Matt muttered the immortal words “I think you might want to come down mate?” that was my 10 minute warning before Thor himself unlashed his full fury the captain. Later while running like our lives depended on it back the to the car it became evident that we were not the only ones have a bit of an epic time, it began to rain climbing equipment, teams high on the face in the teeth of the storm were clearly in a fight for survival and were dropping all sorts of kit in the process (crabs, nuts, aiders).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">We felt morally obliged to collect this kit and to claim it as our own, so that we would remember these warriors and tell their tale! It turns out that earlier in the day Matt had been chatting to a local who had told him if the forecast says 30% chance of storms it means 100% chance of storms!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
<a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a><br />
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</div>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-64267546286534327112011-11-02T07:32:00.002-07:002012-03-03T13:52:42.124-08:00Diary of an idiot Part 3<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It aint half hot mum!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Kit sorted, camp sorted, food sorted…its climbing o’clock! Just next to Camp 4 there is a small crag called swan slab, an extremely popular road side venue. We decided to head there with the little light that was left and cram a few routs in, to get a feel for Yosemite slabs and cracks, we were very aware that the style of climbing here with very different to what we had been training on back in the UK, and that caution should be exercised. So with in minutes of getting my shoes on I had soloed up one of the route and was stuck! The next 10 minutes of my life involved cramped calves a hastily build belay and a one handed bow line (TIT). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The following day went with out to much drama, we headed out to do a few short routes, still getting used to the rock style and found ourselves cruzing up a fantastic 4 pitch route with everything from delicate (but easy slabs) to immaculate hand cracks, Matt did have a bit of a moment. As we were finding the going particularly easy and our pace quite fast, we may have overlooked checking where the route went and when Matt shouted down for me to check the route description I may have applied a similar hast to that of my driving on the previous day… And I MAY of told Matt to head up right towards an arête when perhaps I should have told him to head up left in to the corner… Anyway after grinding to an alarming halt after a sizable run out on a blank arête, I applied my full Sherlock Holms style detecting skills to the problem and solved it (Go me!), it turns out we were on pitch 3 not 2 (Ooo how I laughed…. To myself)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Simple solution, Matt had to down climb some cheeky friction moves on the arête and a slab below, with the real chance of taking a large wipper that would see him crashing on to the belay and invading my personal space! And possibly spilling the Haribo everywhere.. After he arrived (safely) at the NEXT belay, I followed, enjoying the cracks and slabs (secretly vowing to pay more attention to how many belays we have on each route.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">On arriving at the belay with Matt I could see he had gone an impressive red colour, the kind of colour the extremely obese go after climbing stairs. But Matt was neither obese nor had he been climbing stairs!? It turns out that away from the cool protection of the corner the arête was rather desolate and extremely hot. I left Matt pondering as to weather guiding on Skye in several months of sideways stinging rain was the optimum acclimatization for climbing in 40 degree heat? The finishing crack was perfect hands and fists all the way. After topping out and eating our lunch of sardines and flat bread it became clear that the heat was having serious effects on Matt and we decided to head back to the valley and shelter as apposed to going up onto the 5 pitch route above that was drenched in the full heat of the day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a><br />
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</div>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-56579243381222086512011-10-27T07:57:00.002-07:002012-03-03T13:54:23.469-08:00Diary of an idiot (Part 2)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Are you drunk sir?<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">After a sizable American breakfast, we were off just 40 minutes to the <st1:place w:st="on">Yosemite</st1:place> national park…. Its on!</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Thoughs who have been to the park know, that as the road comes out of the trees and you get your first glimpse of El Capitan you instantly turn in to a camera swinging, giggling tourist, and Matt and myself with out world travelled experience…. Were no different. After asking passers by to take our photo and dramatically high fiving each other (and strangers) we settled down and headed in to the park to try and sort out accommodation.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">So our luck continued, at the camp reservation hut we were told at 14:30 that the fabled camp 4,( where climbers sleep in a the dirt outside the office to get a space for days) there was availability just head over and book in SWEET!!</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Booking in walking around the camp and the valley for the first time was like walking amongst celebrities, there’s El Cap, there’s Half Dome, lost arrow spire.. That is the boulder with mid night lightning on, Andy Kirkpatrick has stayed here, John Baccar, Royal Robbins, Ron Fawcett, Tom Frost, Yvon Chouinard…… Everyone, climbing royalty from every country in the world, this is it we are here we have the kit, I’m feeling fit there is not much that can stop us now! (How wrong was I??).</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Camp sorted time to get food, in our hast to get to the valley we had not bought food outside the national park (don’t do this the valley is expensive). Matt was feeling the strain of having driven all the way from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">san Francisco</st1:place></st1:city> so I offered to take over for a bit, I was quite excited to get on the rock so I was rather …Hasty? With my driving I figured the quicker we buy food the quicker we would get a route in!! This state of mind was swiftly accompanied with flashing blue lights from behind…..</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">At this point in the story it’s important to point out, that when renting a car from Budget car hire it will cost £X for one driver to hire the car, to put a seconded driver on the policy the number doubles! So before the trip we talked it trough and decided to save money we would only put one driver on the policy, which was fine except that driver was currently sat in the passenger seat!!!!</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">After me trying to open the driver’s door to get my drivers licence from the boot, and after the police officer trying to pull out his gun to shoot me for being a terrorist who keeps his driving licence in the boot. We got on ok…. Well he accused me of being drunk, I apologized for my erratic driving style, he then read our insurance documents, at this point Matt and I were trying to work out if driving with no insurance was a fine a prison sentence or both? The officer was still rather excited from my act of terror and did not seem to read the documents properly, handed them back to us and sent us on our way. From here on things got a bit out of hand…..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a></span></div>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-84338029318982060492011-10-07T12:36:00.002-07:002012-03-03T13:55:07.224-08:00Diary of an idiot (Part 1)<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is a quick rundown of my recent trip to Yosemite, it all seemed so easy! Found Matt at the airport with no problems, we then sailed through baggage submission with nearly 50kg of kit each and no one batted an eye lid. A comfy seat with more videos than I thought possible to watch in one sitting! (It’s possible).</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5SMcZxcap2UbGHaWBU7yqxTe0HiysaxksK3O4vWZdk1zNi-hofb6Xgnxp4a6OkzXpLHGNp34cAbM2RgBqVUR4YlfYPMsJmuXVoLs_AibIZLFn9oD7N-WHXfh4cmDgc2KpZorzUpGHaiY/s1600/matt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5SMcZxcap2UbGHaWBU7yqxTe0HiysaxksK3O4vWZdk1zNi-hofb6Xgnxp4a6OkzXpLHGNp34cAbM2RgBqVUR4YlfYPMsJmuXVoLs_AibIZLFn9oD7N-WHXfh4cmDgc2KpZorzUpGHaiY/s320/matt.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"> Matt the lightweight alpinist?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There we were before we knew it in the Promised Land (through customs even though we had to lie about our U.S address... we actually had a harder time getting into morocco a few years back!!!<a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/photo-contest/2011/entries/84701/view/">click here to like my picture from that trip</a>) car up graded to a frisking monster truck and we are trucking. With no map we followed our noses out of San Francisco heading roughly in the direction we thought Yosemite was (and it worked). Found a motel for the night and recharged the batteries. In the morning I called Jodie (my wife) it felt good and bad all at once, Harvey is only 5 weeks old and even though Robyn is 9 she is finding sharing the house and mums attention very hard. stay tuned for the next instalment...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a></span></div>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-21306692795975910872011-08-26T13:06:00.001-07:002012-03-03T13:42:21.888-08:00The Road to the nose<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1epCFYQECJGk4beyaCOgnWJJE1RJKIr62s0sy3KcSYl3UuekgMjrOuvax-LnfiBROYE5P5lBSrgQqHge4ySF-JFdJsw8UKATW6p1rfUVTmQfAtHMi_IPbLwGg0wgp_K-jWt6HfdC-Kc/s1600/IMG_5238-el-cap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1epCFYQECJGk4beyaCOgnWJJE1RJKIr62s0sy3KcSYl3UuekgMjrOuvax-LnfiBROYE5P5lBSrgQqHge4ySF-JFdJsw8UKATW6p1rfUVTmQfAtHMi_IPbLwGg0wgp_K-jWt6HfdC-Kc/s320/IMG_5238-el-cap.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Myself and Matt Barratt formally of Skye Guides are off to Yosemite for some big wall action this September, we have spent the last year begging borrowing and steeling anything remotely big wall related. We have also been doing a fair bit of fitness training, that and staring at pictures, guide books and YouTube so as you can imagine we are feeling pretty prepped...... I spoke to a hardened big walling friend of mine the other day for some advice on the trip:</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">He said</b> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you’ll be fine just make sure you get lots of mileage in with your partner before hand, so you climb as a tight unit where one knows instinctively what the other is thinking and doing even when you’re out of sight of each other...</i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I said</b> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the last time I rock climbed with Matt was over a year ago we did a route together on Gower?? And the next time will be in Yosemite....</i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Looking a bit awkward he said</b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Well that’s ok just sort you systems out get ninja good at setting up the poterledge, while hanging in you harness do till you get your times down, do it in the wind do it in the dark.... do it lots.</i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I said </b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the poterledge is on Skye.... Im living in South Wales </i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">He raised his eyebrows and said </b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">well that’s just a small part, its hauling that important; sort your hauling out practice from a ledge, hanging from your harness, practice packing the bag so you know where everything is with your eyes closed</i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I said </b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the haul bags are waiting for us in Yosemite we had them delivered there</i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">He straightened up, scratched his beard a bit. His eyes glazed <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>over as if searching through all his big walling experience for another shiny pearl, he looked me strait in the eye and said </b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">you better be climbing like a spider monkey son or you’re going to be an article on UKC!</i></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I said... Nothing </span></b></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Despite this we have got some sponsorship for kit from </span><a href="http://www.shoothouse.co.uk/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">www.shoothouse.co.uk</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> to which we are eternally grateful, and I for one am feel rather optimistic. So please keep an eye on this blog as i hope to update it with stories and video for the big stone. </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Please note: <span style="font-size: 8pt;">the “big wall” character in this story is entirely fictitious, his likeness was note based on a real life person, if you know someone like this good effort! However my part was based entirely on me and everything I said though probably poorly spelled was entirely true.</span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I hope you enjoy the blog, and that it maybe helps you in the future </span></div><br />
<a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a><br />
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</div>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-29791055757153519492011-08-19T10:17:00.001-07:002012-03-03T13:42:58.483-08:00Ron Fawcett: Rock Athlete<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJcmiaU1v12NRf9CInJJX-3aQWZBN38PztqADyKIMkLVS5foHI-iRQUm1unngpcuPUfXiRfJ8_1ywWhWU2Tajx9hyphenhyphenL3zRoevEt-Q1GLUyTvlNSo80se9dr2FReuccL8Buj1Nkt3ImhQ8M/s1600/big+ron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJcmiaU1v12NRf9CInJJX-3aQWZBN38PztqADyKIMkLVS5foHI-iRQUm1unngpcuPUfXiRfJ8_1ywWhWU2Tajx9hyphenhyphenL3zRoevEt-Q1GLUyTvlNSo80se9dr2FReuccL8Buj1Nkt3ImhQ8M/s320/big+ron.jpg" width="238" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Come on Arms do your stuff!!! </b>In his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rock Athlete </i>Ron Fawcett recollects that this “throw away” comment he made while being filmed climbing lord of the flies, was just simply something to break the silence. Yet he notes it took on a near mythical form, with climbers regurgitating it to each other and at him as a sort of cult style catch phrase… Well I was one of those climbers! Even though the bulk of Ron’s career was played out in the 70’s and 80’s when I started climbing (90’s), I was fed a healthy diet of Ron Fawcett stories and every crag we went to that had a route by the big man on was pointed out to me. </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This is a biography of the man who for me, made climbing what it is today. The cover shot sums up what he was to me perfectly, his finely tune athletic frame (a result of the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">thousands </b>of push ups he did a day, and the hundreds of miles of rock he would cover each week), pierced by “a stare so focused it could cut steel!” .</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Having not known the man this book linked up all the magazine articles, stories and pictures I have absorbed about him over the years. His biography walks you through his life and achievements, in a warts and all narrative, his self-conscious and shy personality show through as the common thread of the book is how he would consume large quantities of highly graded routes to satisfy his appetite for rock and not fame.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A fantastic read about a living legend, make it part of your library today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a></span><br />
</div>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-67985189114186528022011-08-16T01:01:00.002-07:002012-03-03T13:55:53.502-08:00Book Review: Pembroke Range East Gary Gibson<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSv37BWsfXNDbuIpABWhcJER83qxEV6LiA229F7m8jXtxwARuds3tAdgNCtH0DrS4PAfBi8V6z3vyb4XZcgmo0teUY2yGYOCi_uTC0VJH1FZAMNEwbh7qx4GngAwDrhE6eDkLwQ0bfMc/s1600/IMG00219-20110816-0725.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSv37BWsfXNDbuIpABWhcJER83qxEV6LiA229F7m8jXtxwARuds3tAdgNCtH0DrS4PAfBi8V6z3vyb4XZcgmo0teUY2yGYOCi_uTC0VJH1FZAMNEwbh7qx4GngAwDrhE6eDkLwQ0bfMc/s320/IMG00219-20110816-0725.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">This is the long awaited comprehensive update by the Climbers Club of possibly the busiest, most diverse and beautiful climbing venue in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Wales</place></country-region> (or the world). <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It did not disappoint!</b> “1000 routes between Vdiff to E10”.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">It is one of two from the new serise, that have been released and there is another four books set to come in the next year (that is a life times supply of climbing).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">This book has fantastic photos and crag descriptions making navigation off the area simple, leaving you more time to climb. The knowledge and experience of its author certainly shines through in its text with very accurate route locations and descriptions (a must if your abseiling blind towards a boiling sea, the last thing you want is to find that the VS you have come to do is actually E5).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">All this in an A5 book that fits in your pocket (just like a guide book should) this book is a must no matter where you live in the <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">UK</place></country-region>, Pembroke has it all from the Tim Emmett types, to those making their way throught the grades.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">so head to pemb's and maybe ill see you there. if your keen but nervouse check out my intro to sea cliff climbing courses <a href="http://anturoutdoor.com/en/courses.htm">Click here</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a></span></div>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-80121388720755829372011-08-14T15:18:00.001-07:002012-03-03T13:45:33.824-08:00Tony's Top Tip's - Racking Nuts<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sort your nuts out!</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Heading off in the vertical world is always a gamble of efficiency do you go light and fast and run the risk of not having the crucial bit of kit to see you through the crux, or do you take the kitchen sink and struggle to get of the floor? With the majority of decent length trad pitches, I find it useful to have two sets of nuts (DMM wallnuts are my weapon of choice). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vA9lUGu4AZa07Px3Y4MJCuIaTsaFrh_K79KWF7rDBQiF9f5hwerKITBtKp0ZHGtSJH1kOjDlq_EM05pf3jQxNYZ5AoU53Ha53DHte1L-5GZsPkcsQhlWtndvyk5H5d1-nPU2OneEecA/s1600/nuts.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vA9lUGu4AZa07Px3Y4MJCuIaTsaFrh_K79KWF7rDBQiF9f5hwerKITBtKp0ZHGtSJH1kOjDlq_EM05pf3jQxNYZ5AoU53Ha53DHte1L-5GZsPkcsQhlWtndvyk5H5d1-nPU2OneEecA/s320/nuts.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Split the nuts in to four sets, two sets of large and two sets of small. And rack one large and one small set on each side of your harness, this will enable you to do a number of things. If you were to drop a set of crucial sized nuts in to oblivion or can’t get at the set you need then all is not lost simply reach for the set on the other side.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5vhF9MrrpkDeFMgOOO-tMssrlewl80Rh_A5tVgPXm0Di2K13c642fzTzaL0yga4wzdQysGmLbOZMIlAQH7FodRS7Xj9fpR846ZzeZnSgljksnjD1No2a0nQ7b3D4lODhpxJkZguzxj0/s1600/cliped+in.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5vhF9MrrpkDeFMgOOO-tMssrlewl80Rh_A5tVgPXm0Di2K13c642fzTzaL0yga4wzdQysGmLbOZMIlAQH7FodRS7Xj9fpR846ZzeZnSgljksnjD1No2a0nQ7b3D4lODhpxJkZguzxj0/s320/cliped+in.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbxNsOmAtJhImzdXnGwDpwIXxPsOYsQC97HOdptKfcil5shXanSk59LFvh4lSVurGXRGo747Cj676p_MUQKpKgNGAVlEuHtyYdj4BGSkRu4celU3sw4p_azPzFFIvtCeOiO4X-HftLsw/s1600/rotate.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbxNsOmAtJhImzdXnGwDpwIXxPsOYsQC97HOdptKfcil5shXanSk59LFvh4lSVurGXRGo747Cj676p_MUQKpKgNGAVlEuHtyYdj4BGSkRu4celU3sw4p_azPzFFIvtCeOiO4X-HftLsw/s320/rotate.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Plus if you clip the nuts in towards yourself and if you need to replace a nut on the rack then all you need to do is rotate the crab on your harness, this will put the crab in the best position to re-clip the nut. All this can be done one handed!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">there you go just a few thoughts, hope they are helpful. feed back is always welcome</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a></span><br />
</div>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9049385888232112378.post-52183410758164266532011-08-09T15:17:00.001-07:002012-03-03T13:46:43.461-08:00A day out in Scotland<span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigIccNUr_oXdZRoZXnPSdNxwTw1zw2ickOl0HIKnBanZJigPtz_CD08FonlBAjbQtxuGWDv-JXGTUfSdpMrt5_XZnzh7_SY1wwBj7la6R0BJQrStDJk-3eOcbE5iax213GcRIpGnv7VeE/s1600/th_WINTER_08_068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigIccNUr_oXdZRoZXnPSdNxwTw1zw2ickOl0HIKnBanZJigPtz_CD08FonlBAjbQtxuGWDv-JXGTUfSdpMrt5_XZnzh7_SY1wwBj7la6R0BJQrStDJk-3eOcbE5iax213GcRIpGnv7VeE/s320/th_WINTER_08_068.JPG" width="227" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">What’s that noise? That noise is people getting ready, can’t be we are getting up at 05:00 no one will be up before us…. What’s the time? 07:50 SHIT!!! </div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">SI, on your feet! We slept in mate; I was laying on the alarm! You get your shit together ill get the feed on then we’ll swap leaving the van in 20 mins</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Right o…. what’s the weather like </i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pissing down</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Grim…at least there wont be any cues </i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Kit sorted, feed had, walking in the rain through the woods, steep dark path, sack is too heavy, I’m not hill fit, another party coming up the path… in the rain? At this time in the morning?.. Their keen. Their fast, we’re slow.. And late. Perhaps we should have a rest day we did drive for 14 hours yesterday.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Get a grip, people have cycled further and climbed harder. You’ll curse it.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What’s up mate?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iv lost a glove, I’m going back down the path to find it</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">This is daft, we’re not together. Late, rushed, kit missing… We don’t even know what route we are going to do! <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Leave you sac here bro..</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">No sign of the other two now, Christ we are slow. Looks like he has it, good work what’s the time? 08:46</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Its raining pretty hard this must be affecting the snow pack, leaving the woods now, Jesus its windy, we should go back.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">If everyone who thought that went back the world would be full of short walks.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Ankle is sore, tendonitis is playing up a lot, we should head back.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What route do you recon would be a go in this mate?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">The one back to the van. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Well our dreams of point five are out. We’ll have to stick to the ridges…. We are quite late and the weather is getting worse so maybe just head up and look at conditions and do something short like ledge route?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What’s that like?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Its fine, its short.. But good</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">This is stupid, not fit, late, massive tendonitis, it’s my partners first Scottish winter day out and here we are walking in to the Ben when everyone else is walking out!</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Well we’re up now keep walking, at very worst you can head up and see conditions for yourself. </div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Lights are on at the CIC hut…</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hello… excuse me, have you had a weather forecast for today? Do you know if this “BLIZZARD” is going to get worse?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">yea the wind will get stronger this afternoon, its not really snowing now this is mostly blown stuff coming off the top.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thanks… I think we’re heading down anyway </i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Probably a good choice.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Can’t see a thing viz is already grim. Lets wonder up behind the hut and have a look at the snow.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Its bullet hard, good times.. There is the odd pocket of soft blown stuff but nothing to cry about, aaar but what time is it its probably really late, 11.00am not great but not bad either. </div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Which way is ledge route? </i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Over there you can’t see it though. We’ll head this way and see what’s happening towards point five area.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Don’t be silly there is a lot of snow accumulating above that route you know this, its one thing to bring him up here today but don’t chase medals not on a day like today.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Im just looking…We are not committed… Jesus that’s deep!</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Accumulate snow.. God this viz is bad is that tower ridge or north east buttress…. </div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Its tower you tit! Switch on!</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I thought you said point five is a bad idea today?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It is, we are not going up there, there is to much loose stuff about, we’re going to look at tower ridge.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tower ridge which one is that?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The really long one, which needs an early start and no faffing.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ok sounds like us to a T.? is it hard?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Long….</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Have you done it before?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Where does it go?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Follow those steps</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">It’s too late to start this route, my tendonitis is killing me! The forecast for the summit is 50mph plus this afternoon it’s dark by 16:30.....We’ll just have a look</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Can I lead this first bit?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If you want have you done any mixed stuff before?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No just some ice in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Canada</place></country-region> with the marines.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stick a runner in then</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">At least if he fall’s the decision is made for us, ill just drag him back to the CIC hut job done.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A bit tricky that.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yea you did well, lets put the rope away for now.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">He took to long lets turn back. Its late lets turn back, your tendonitis is hurting let’s turn back.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">The going is easy for now lets have a look.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">That’s a big shadow, must be little tower I think we go up the left..</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">You think? Not a good day for guessing check the book</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">It’s the left I’m sure just follow the easy ground.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We’ll get the rope out here..</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ok where does it go?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">… Up left ish on the easy ground.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Are you sure about this, once you go above this your committed, you should be going down, tendonitis, late, weather?</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">This snow is perfect, the climbing is simple your moving fast.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That was awesome! Good effort not quite used to mixed climbing, probably best you keep leading everything</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Great tower and the eastern traverse now. You better be up to this it’s your idea, it’s your fault you’re here.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Did you here that?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">There was a large rumble to our left when you were leading that last bit?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Must be avalanche. </i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Good job we are not on point five. Can’t find much gear on this traverse. I have to find something for Si, its your idea to be here so sort it out, we should of turned back.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">That’ll do.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That was scary mate where now?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Up this chimney and I’ll find a belay.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">This snow is perfect! The climbing is awesome!</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Cool head now you still have tower gap to do yet, do I send him first to keep the rope above him or shall I do it so a can coach him through to save time?</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How was that?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hard… good effort, can’t get use to using tools on rock… where does it go now?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We get back on the ridge now and then on to tower gap.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What’s that like?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s like a gap… I’m not sure we’ll have a look and see.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Christ it’s windy as hell gusting like mad. Better chuck a sling on this before I go and look.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ill head down first and talk <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>you through mate.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">This looks desperate! </div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">It looks tricky, tricky but fine. There must be a sneaky hold for your foot? </div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">There it is… he’ll be fine there is tat he can swing on. </div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">There is sod all for the belay.. Get excavating son!</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That’s it mate there is a good hold for your left foot, stick your axe through the tat… Tidy</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jeesus!</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Good effort!</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Where does it go now?</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Up this ramp and up.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">That had better be the crux because we can’t turn around now. Listen to that wind! Goggles out. The summit is going to be epic!</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Get your goggles on Si it’s a bit windy up there. </i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Get your map out, check the bearing. Head torch on for later, quick snack, drink. Right over the top. I cant see a thing not even my legs. Shit this was a bad idea!!! </div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WE ARE GOING TO STAY ROPED UP MATE FOLLOW ME OR THE ROPE WHICH EVER YOU CAN SEE.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">OK.</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Don’t cock this up not to far left or you’ll be down five finger gully, not to far right or you’ll be down number two gully. This wind is throwing me everywhere. Nice! The cairn, a foot and a half away this viz is mega bad.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Viz improving, wind easing job done. Piece of piss!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back to the van for tea and medals.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mate that was awesome!</i></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yea I can’t believe we didn’t see any one on the summit?!</i></div><br />
<a href="http://www.welshadventures.com/">www.welshadventures.com</a>Tony Reeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04093030302392403209noreply@blogger.com0