Ice Fest 2012

Will, Dan, Tommy and myself have headed out to Le Ecrins on Ice Fest 2012.  So far the team is having a good and successful trip.  Also, we are experiencing a few new things such as skining in to routes and today (Wednesday) I will be using my Denali's on an ice route to see how they are for technical climbing.

Dan and Will, have been getting to know each others climbing ability and on Tuesday, the 3 of us climb a couple of routes together and found ourselves to be very slick in the belay change overs.

Tommy, has been having a good trip, but did get a little beaten up yesterday when was hit by some ice and had to retreat. I hope he has a better day today.

No right Turn...

In an earlier post relating to this years McKinley trip I stated that "We have a strong team with climbers having different strengths". Come May when on the mountain we are planning to use skis on the lower slopes rather than Snow shoes, this should be allot quicker, easier and safer with the amount of snow bridges and hidden crevasses. The only problem with this is the fact that my strength isnt Skiing, Ive never even put skis on my feet before, This could be a problem but I am determined to put this right.
I browsed the Internet looking for all my local ski slopes and lessons available, then I remembered the Snowdome in Milton Keynes where they use a real ski slope with real snow, I looked through and managed to get myself booked onto a full days lesson where they informed me they could turn me into an intermediate skier within the 8hrs.
Anyway I arrived at the Snowdome a little anxious as to how I was going to perform, there seemed to be lots of these young snowboarder dudes walking around in there fancy clothing, woolly hats and multi coloured boards which i knew were going to be flying past me on the slopes. I booked myself in, collected my boots, skis and helmet and waited for my instructor for the day. he arrived and after a quick briefing we were on the slopes, i picked it up pretty quickly and wondered what all the fuss was about, and it wasn't long before i was going from the steeper top section. going down, fast and stopping seemed pretty easy, it was the turning that I was having difficulty with, I couldn't seem to turn properly, Run after run I would get a good one then think Ive nailed it then on the next one end up nearly taking someone else out. After 8hrs of solid skiing and tramping back up the slope i was a little tired.
Overall I think it was a good day and I feel confident that a little more practise when out on Ice fest next week should see me getting those turns right.

I was unable to get any pictures as they didn't allow cameras into the slopes but this has a similarity to how I would Have looked.

Tommy

Ice fest is looming

So in a weeks time I will be packing to head off to the Ecrins with Scott, Nick, Dan, Tommy and Paul; hopefully the ice will be fat and we can all get a load of good route in, whatever happens I'm sure It'll be better than the lectures I'm meant to be in that week.

Training for this (well as close to training as I do) has been interesting involving two dingy quarries, White Goods and Never Never Land in Dinorwig, both are very different but both have got me super pumped which can only be a good thing!

 

 

 

Ramon Marin on White Goods at White Goods

Tom Livingstone on The Deerhunter in Never Never Land

Between now and then I'm off to the Peak for a few days and will hopefully be getting down to the chalk with Tommy the day before we leave for a bit of last minute training!.

More on my blog

Oops!

Sorry need to correct one thing, Denali is native for "The High One", not "The Big One" as I have used before. :-S

Denali Logistics and Training

This is getting there, slowly but surely, whilst all the flights and transfers are pretty much taken care of, against appropriate dates.  We are now turning our focus to the group gear, the transfer of this and how to haul, pulks (sleds) are the choice, but we need to work out schedules weights and so forth.  Things aren't going to all run to plan, but at least a good plan can be altered more easily.

We are also getting in training mode, everyone is trying there best to walk, climb and strike and break camp with other members of the group, whilst also undertaking their own fitness regimes (get fit everyone, then eat loads in the last two weeks).

We will also be working on skiing, technical climbing for if things look good for the Upper West Rib and the Cassin.  Refreshing all facets of navigation and will be working on rescue and I believe Franca is going check our medic skills.

With not much time left, we need to get on with things so we don't have to condense things too much.

Gear....

check out the PAGE page to see the sorts of things we are using for the expedition.

:)

Wet Scotland

Over the last couple of days Will, Alex, Rob G and myself went to Scotland in the hope of winter climbing, however we were met with mild temps and poor conditions. The plan being for Will, Alex and I to get the chance to do some climbing with each other, not to mentioned do something interesting with Rob.

All I managed was a bit of sleep, and a good mountain day with Alex on the Friday, a day of swimming up a snow gully and tip toeing down a snowed over scree slope.

Not the best trip, but the day in the mountains and suffering the snow gully gave Alex and I a good chance to get to know each other on the mountain, as I suspect Will and Alex had done the day before.

Lets hope there are plenty more to come.