Denali starts here

Team ready to fly at T1, LHR.

3 Days to flight

With 3 days nefore we fly out to Alaska, the team is excited. Me I'm trying to get work finished and some final training and rest.

Also, testing mobile blogging tool, just incase we find a service. :)

Brecon Beacons Trip

On the 21st/22nd, the bulk of the Denali Team Cold Cheeks (Nick, Franca, Dan and myself, Will joined us later) descended on the Brecon Beacons, with the aim to spend some time in the hills, test a few bits of kit and the Alpkit tents.  Fortunately the weather would play ball and be a bit wild and wet and let the tents get a good test.

Keeping this short, we got to test the Heksa on the Friday night and when Franca joined us in the morning we headed off into the hills.  First heading cross country to a Wellington Bomber memorial and then we walked onto the northern barrier of the Brecons and contoured around the Fan y Big, then down onto the head of the saddle below this and Cribin and set up our Alpkit Kangri and Zhota adversely to the elements to give them a real test (Sssh! Don't tel Col).

With the tents sorted, it was brew time, followed by more brew time and chatting about the tents, gear and what Alaska would have in store for us (I suspect a lot), mentally I think we are all a little reserved yet very conscious of what we are about to embark on.  Soon Will arrived as he had headed down from Uni for the rest of the weekend.

As the sun started to go down we cooked dinner and soon retired to the tents, as the wind started pick-up. With some idle chat we all soon were asleep.  Come the morning no-one was in a hurry and as I drifted in and out of sleep I only snored once and only got elbowed by Dan once.  My new SOL sleeping mat had been awesome, toasty warm.



Soon we where chatting about the tent and making a brew in the vestibule which when opening this to cook we saw what the wind was really like.  We finished breakfast hiding from the elements as the others started to stir in the Zhota. We could hear the wind and rain, but didn't really think much of this until we finally scrambled out the tent to break camp.  The weather was foul and we had been fooled into thinking it wasn't bad.


Soon we were off and heading for Pen Y Fan and hiding behind Cribin for much of the way.  By the time we reached the summit, there was snow and hail falling but not settling.  The team paced itself quite well and seems to have bonded really well and share a common sense of humor.  This is a huge relief as we all only knew 1-2 others in the team initially, but now seem to have already formed a great bond.


We all know there will be trying times and we have devised a couple of strategies to get around this, such as sharing tents on a rota and trying to rotate duties if movement on the mountain allows.


I think there are some nerves and I am glad of this as it will keep our minds keen.. There have been some little concerns about elements of the expedition, but this has served to show that we are all very happy to communicate our feelings with each other either directly, this makes for strong team in anyone's book.


With only a few weeks left the panic of have I got this, do I really need that and where is my passport starts.


I am looking forward to the 25th May, but also feeling a bit sad about the looming date.  I need to get lots of cuddles in before I go, a month is a long time away from my Nik.

Franca, Dan and Nick, top of Fan Y Big

Some Denali Kit testing

All but two members of the team are off to what promises to be a wet and windy Brecon Beacons (South Wales) to test our the awesome tents and bits and pieces from Alpkit and some of the great stuff Peglers have got together for us.  What this space for an update and pics, once we have dried out.

Bringing power to the expedition.....

will be powertraveller.  It is very nice as non-sponsored climbers to get support from English based and/or owned companies and it is really nice to have some support from powertraveller that will help us keep that all important safety equipment and camera kit powered for the trip. :)

Click on their image to the right to take a look at their great range of products.

Injury

Recently I messed my back up and thought the worse.  Although with an excellent osteo Richard Williams of Osteovelo and sticking to my recovery plan, things are going well and training starts again today in fact, a painful session on the turbo train is lined up.

I am excited and motivated about this trip, but the change in focus over the past few weeks has been important to the recovery.

Will, is also recovering from a finger injury, but has been doing some cycling to keep himself fit and I thin has some walking and scrambling in mind, once his Uni workload subsides a bit.

Looking forward to getting some more kit also and will lodge an entry in the gear section.

S

Exciting times in the Exped Office revealed.

We have obviously had fantastic support from Peglers and hence why they have a nice little link to the right.

However, we can't just rely on Dave and Rich, so we thought we would share the love with what is becoming another UK Outdoor institution Alpkit.  I contacted to Alpkit to see if they could help the team in anyway and they have been super responsive and we are all grateful and look forward to working with them.

Once bits and pieces start arriving I will get some reviews and photo's up and will provide some feedback once we are back from our big adventure.

As the team at Alpkit say, "Go nice places, do good things"  we fully intend to with Alpkit and Peglers support.

Note the Alpkit link to the right. :)