In the garden of Eden

Five assignments due on the same day meant that I've spent the last two weeks sat in Library, eating unhealthy rubbish, doing zero exercise and spending far too much time on the internet. Friday came and, by now beyond caring, the assignments were handed in. I caught the train to Warrington where the dream team was reunited and we drove North. Unfortuantley the Lakes was covered in unseasonable snow, which put paid to our work plans for the weekend.

On Sunday we headed up to Dove Crag with designs on Inaccessible Gully. The hastily formed brittle ice kept it that way so we soloed South Gully and ran away. There was trouble in paradise, too much snow to rock climb, but rubbish conditions for winter. Optimistically we headed to the Eden Valley, fully intending to throw in the towel and head to Eden Rock. Thankfully fortune favors the brave and we were blessed with dry rock, good routes and warmth, at least in the sunshine.

Me on the walk into Dove Crag.

Ollie approaching the inaccessible gully... It wasn't as good as it looks.

Ollie on South Gully

On the top in the wind - time to run away.

At Armathwaite we lead and soloed a selection of routes. Highlights for me were an excellent corner Barnicle Bill,  Savage Simian a Hard VS with scary rock and a brilliant Diff call Bulgine Run. Ollie ticked off a load of routes too, including an impressive onsight of the Exorcist (E4) the classic of the crag. A group of squaddies on an 'adventurous training course' must have thought he was totally bonkers, even more so when he stripped off at the top and launched himself into the Eden.

Ollie getting up Erection - the start of this in never 5a!

Burrows celebrates his exorcism...

Naked Burrows versus a dozen squaddies no contest...

Me committing to the crux of Barnacle Bill.

We also enjoyed a fun day at Scratchmere Scar climbing and reclimbing a load of fun routes on the Gritstonesque rock. Best of all though was an illicit visit to Lazonby. We climbed Merry Monk Direct a three star Hard VS and the line of the crag. The crag is far and away the best in the Eden Valley. It's in a magic situation as beautiful as any in Cumbria. It really is a crying shame and totally senseless that climbing is banned there. Anyone up for a mass trespass?

Ollie towards the top of the main pitch of Merry Monk Direct.

A bad photo of a brilliant crag.

Top tips for going light on Denali’s West Buttress.

This time last year I was getting super psyched for my trip to Alaska. I spent a lot of time thinking, worrying and over thinking about whether I had the right gear, what the weather would be like, how cold it would be and how much food I would need. I’m currently over thinking my planned trip to Yosemite and Patagonia this autumn.

Below is a load of the information I wished I’d had before I went. Take all this with a pinch of salt: It’s what worked for me, not the only way to do it.

Livingstone all loaded up!

Skis or snowshoes

This is the major dilemma for all Denali aspirants. My advice is if you can ski (by you I mean everyone in your party) then ski. It is safer, faster and way more fun. You don’t need to be a shit hot skier either. Neither Livingstone or I had ski toured before our trip.

However, unless you can ski in climbing boots don’t try too. Take touring boots and carry your climbing boots in your sledge.

We took our skis up to 14k Camp. I wouldn’t bother if I was going again and would stash them, with boots at 11k Camp.

Climbing gear

You hardly need any climbing gear at all for the West Buttress. The climbing is never harder than exposed Scottish I. Think Crib Goch in winter, but a bit easier with more exposure and a plastic bag on your head. There are also insitu snow stakes that the NPS install whenever it gets remotely difficult/exposed. These often have karabiners left on them by lazy guided parties that can't bothered to take them with them.

We roped up once on the West Buttress after Windy Corner heading to 14k Camp, but that probably isn’t recommended.

I would probably take a 30m half rope if I was going as a pair or a 50m half rope if I was going as a three.

In terms of climbing equipment. Standard glacier travel kit is more than adequate.

For the West Buttress each carry along the lines of:
1 240cm sling and krab
1 120cm sling and krab
4 spare snap gates for clipping onto insitu snow stakes (if you are roping up between 14k and 17k). Also useful for rigging your sledge and clipping things like water bottles to your harness.
2 screw gates
Reverso style belay plate is useful for rigging a pulley system.
3 prussiks and maybe a tibloc/ropeman.
2 ice screws. It is worth racking these on a screwed up screw gate so you don’t loose them!
6m or so of 7mm cord for rigging a sledge.
Harness - Lightest most simple one you can find. BD Couloir Looks good.
Ice axe - a nice simple mountaineering model around 55cms long. DMM Cirque, BD Venom and Grivel Airtech are all good. You can often get the excellent Mountain Technology Technical Axe second hand on Ebay for less than £20.
Crampons - A good 12 point pair with anti bailing plates. Make sure they fit your boots!

Things you don’t need!
Helmet - This is your decision, but I didn’t experience or notice any objective danger.
Snow stakes - There are loads insitu anyway.
Head Torch - If you are going in June it doesn’t get dark, just cold! It might be worth taking one if you are going in early May however.
Any rock gear - If you are planning on doing any of the climbs around KIA (Kahiltna International Airport), stash the gear you need for those there. Don’t lug it up Denali!

Blagging food and fuel

Whilst I wouldn’t recommend taking no food. Count on being given a whole load of food and white gas at 14k Camp by bailing parties trying to lighten the load.

For a three to four week trip I would probably buy 3 gallons of white gas. Leave one in you cache at KIA along with two days food and other crap you don’t need.

Food

We ate fairly standard camping food like we would in the UK or Alps. 2 Sachets of instant oatmeal for breakfast. A bagel with cream cheese and pepperoni for lunch. 6 chocolate or ceral bars for throughout the day. A big pasta meal for dinner.

We also brought a big jar of Jelly Belly beans that provided hours of entertainment.

A bagel fried in butter makes a great rest day lunch. 

You can’t buy decent chocolate or tea in the US so take a few big bars of Dairy Milk and a box of Yorkshire Tea out with you! We were ecstatic when some departing Brits gave us a big bar of Dairy Milk!

Freeze dried meals are expensive, but they are very quick to make and yummy. It is well worth buying a few of them to eat when you are knackered after a hard day of sledge hauling or an acclimatization run to 17k. The Mountain House ones are really tasty.

We didn’t take any but we blagged some GU brew from a departing team. It’s really good. I’ll buy some next time. We had a big jar of Tang, which was really great for making melted water taste better.

Cooking stuff

Me brewing up at 17k Camp on our summit day. We drank two litres of water each here, ate a freeze dried meal each and melted an extra litre to take with us.

Take two MSR XGK stoves. We took a Whisperlite and an XGK and the Whisperlite was nowhere near as good. It’s worth taking a spare pump as in my experience they break. A service kit is also recommended as is a good understanding of how your stove works.

Make a small stove board out an off cut of wood. If you want to be really plush coat it in heavy duty tinfoil to reflect the heat!

Take a massive 4 litre pan for melting snow as well as a couple of medium sauce pans for cooking in. Don’t bother with a camping frying pan. In my experience they are expensive and don’t work very well. Buy a cheap medium sized one from a supermarket. Take lots of lighters.

Clothes

It is cold in Alaska, but I didn’t think it was anywhere near as cold as folk make it out to be. I don't mean turn up in shorts and tee shirt, just take all the hyperbole about it being the coldest mountain on earth with a pinch of salt. Think Scottish winter plus double boots, puffy trousers, a couple of good pairs of mitts and a duvet jacket (but not one so thick that you'll have to commit goose genocide to fill it).

Livingstone above Denali Pass with puffy trousers and a big down jacket - Chilly!

Low down on Denali it can get really warm and hiding from the sun becomes a big issue. It isn’t going to rain so you don’t need waterproofs.

The following is more than enough clothing for a trip up Denali. There is no point taking too much stuff as it just adds unnecessary weight.

Feet
Double boots are essential. I wore Spantiks without issues. Scarpa Phantom 6000m look good too. If you are wearing conventional plastics (Scarpa Vegas) then a pair of Forty Below overboots is probably prudent for the summit day
Socks - 3 pairs of quality merino wool socks. Teko Expedition socks are superb.
Gaiters if you softshell trousers don’t have any
A pair of synthetic or Down booties are nice luxury.

Legs
3 pairs of wool boxers
Thin long johns
Warm softshell trousers - Ideally in a light colour. I used Mountain Equipment G2s.
Powerstretch bibs - Tights will do but the bibs are brilliant for eliminating cold spots.
Primaloft overtrousers with full side zips. These are good for the summit day and also for sitting around 14k.

Body
Two long sleeved merino wool base layers. (Maybe leave a clean one in your cache at KIA!)
A stretch fleece hoody like a Patagonia R1
A pertex windshirt preferably with a hood
Maybe a second fleece of a Vapour rise to add a bit of variety!
A thin primaloft jacket with a hood. Something like Rab Xenon. This will act your outer layer high on the mountain.
A hooded down jacket. This doesn’t need to a be a super warm model. Something like the ME Vega or Rab Neutrino Endurance is more than adequate.

Head
Big floppy sun hat for low down on the mountain
A couple of beanie hat
Powerstretch Balaclava
buff
Sun glasses and nose guard - the nose guard isn’t that flattering but at least you’ll have a nose at the end of it!
Ski googles
Lip balm - take 3 each you’ll use them up quick
Little tubs of high factor suncream. Children’s suncream often comes in indestructible tubs.

Hands
You probably need less in the way of gloves than you think. I don’t think you need big technical gauntlets gloves and see them and as an expensive way to get cold hands!

2 pairs of leather palmed softshell gloves for skinning and the like low down on the mountain.
A pair of gore-tex mitts with a pile liner. These don’t need to be flash and will keep your hands warm.
A pair of large synthetic over mitts that will fit over the other mitts. I used the outers of Mountain Equipment Fitzroy Mitts.
A pair of Dachsteins or Buffalo mitts are probably a good back up.

Summit from Fourteen Thousand Foot Camp.

Heading up above 17k Camp. Note: the small bag.

 My number one tip for climbing the West Buttress would be to avoid camping above 14k Camp if possible. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly lugging a tent up to 17k looks like a lot of hard work. Secondly 17k is horrible and supper exposed to wind. Thirdly it is a lot higher and more often in bad weather.

My itinery for climbing the West Buttress would go like this.
Day 1: Fly into the range. Collect your white gas, sort your stash, make sure your sledes aren’t too heavy. Set off at 10pm and single carry to the top of Ski Hill.
Day 2: Spend the day resting your tent, brewing up and hiding from the sun. When the sun goes away single carry to 11k Camp.
Day 3: Rest at 11k Camp acclimitzing.
Day 4: Rest during the day. When the sun goes away carry a load up the Windy Corner. Cache it there and ski down if you are feeling brave.
Day 5: Rest during the day. Strike camp and take everything else up to the 14k Camp.
Day 6: Sort you camp at 14k out. In the afternoon drop down to the windy corner to collect your cache
Day 7 & 8: Rest and acclimitize at 14k.
Day 9: Head up to the top of the fixed lines and back to acclimitize
Day 10: Rest and recover
Day 11: Head up to 17k Camp to acclimitze. Spend a few hours there. Have a freeze dried meal. Return to 14k Camp
Day 12 & 13: Rest and wait for the weather.
Day 14: Summit Denali in a very long day from 14k Camp.
Day 15: Recover and celebrate. Then strike camp and descend through the night.
Day 16: Arrive at the airstrip early morning and fly out to Talkeetna, where everything thing will feel surreal.

It would be sensible to have another 6 days or more in hand on top of this so you can wait out the weather.

To summit from 14k Camp I would recommend taking the bare minimum so you can more as fast as possible. It is well worth taking a superlite 25litre day/running sack to use on the summit day. It will make a good stuff sack the rest of the time.

I would take:
The clothes you stand up in
Axe
Crampons
Walking poles
Harness and 240cm sling each. I would dispense with the rope but a sling could be very useful for shepherding down a climber with AMS. (A competent mountaineer would never rope up on similar terrain in the UK.)
Down Jacket
Sythetic Over Trousers
Over Mitts
1 Litre of Water each - melt another 2 at 17k.
Petrol Stove and Pan
2 Freeze dried meal each and load of bars and gels.
Bothy bag
Camera

Me on the summit!

Other  random tips.

Piss Bottle - Make sure it is bigger than one litre and has a wide mouth with a good seal

Altimetre watch - These are really handy for working out how much further you have to go.

Tent pegs - We didn’t take any used buried bin bags, which I must have read in a gear review somewhere. This is a shite idea I’d take snow tent pegs in future. They might be a bit heavier but they are way put in/take out.

Flying into Anchorage in the morning.

This more a tip for saving money. Buy a flight that lands in Anchorage at around 8am. Have breakfast somewhere and get a cab to REI. Do any last minute gear shopping in REI (or AMH opposite). REI will do you a good deal if you are buy lots of gels and freeze dried meals. Arrange for a transfer bus to pick you up from REI and take you to Talkeetna via a
supermarket. They’ll charge you about $20 for this. Fred Mayer is a good shop and sells Cliff Bars cheaper than REI, don’t buy too many as you’ll go off them! Costco is brilliant for bulk stuff but you need to be a member, which costs money. You might be able to blag it by asking a friendly local to use their card! Arrive in Talkeetna and sleep in TAT’s (you are flying with TAT right?) free bunkhouse. The next morning have breakfast at the Road House, enjoy your ranger briefing and fly into the range.

Descending from 14k at sunset. Does it get any better?

So there you have it. My top tips for climbing Denali if there is anything I’ve missed drop me a line: thesavoygrill@hotmail.co.uk

Shaking hands with old friends...

Final year looms over my head at the moment. I seem to be spending a lot of my time in the library, slowly working my way through endless tedious assignments. To add insult to injury the weather has been perfect, it feels like it hasn't rained for months. In reality it's more like three weeks but still that's a long time at anytime of year in North Wales, let alone Febuary. I've still managed to get out and do a bit of cragging and have enjoyed a few fun days and evenings working my way back through the grades, re-ticking old favourites. Whilst I'm not on the form of my life, by any stretch of the imagination, I've been pleasantly surprised with how quickly I've worked my way back to being comfortable at E1. Clearly all the dogging I've been doing at the Beacon over the winter has paid off!

My Dad was up this weekend and after spending all of Saturday banging my head against the wall in the library I was gagging to get out. We did Bramble Buttress with his girlfriend to start with. I've done this route a couple of times before and has to be one of the very best east routes in Snowdonia. Straightforward climbing on good rock, with good gear, big stances and an easy walk off. If you are looking at doing your first multipitch climb you'd struggle to go wrong with this one.

Nicky enjoying Bramble Buttress, whilst I belay. Photo: William Ripley.

After a spot of lunch Dad and I nipped up to Pant Ifan for a couple of routes. Dad lead Alcatraz, a fun but quite tricky VS, which I'd seconded Gwen up a few years a go. I had a quick look for Hey, an alleged esoteric classic, but I couldn't work out where it went. Instead I lead the excellent Holloway/Crocodillo link up, which the guidebook gives E2 but is more like hard E1. I'd been dragged up it by Burdy a few years ago with a bleeding and painful finger and found it desperate. I was pleasantly surprised to find the top crack quite cruisey, with a fun mix of jams, laybacks, plenty of good gear and the crux at the top.

The Old Boy hauling himself up the final crack of Crocodillo.

Commitment

If you want to go on big climbing trip or an expedition book your flights (and your mate's so they can't bail) that way you're both committed and will have to find the rest of the money somehow.

Last week my credit card groaned as I shelled out for flights for this year's climbing extravaganza. The plan is ten weeks climbing and big walling in California with Duncan and Ollie. Then at the end of October Dunc will fly home, whilst Ollie and I will travel on to Patagonia for seven more weeks of alpine fun. I hope the weather down there is as good as it has been this last year. Needless to say psyche levels are running dangerously high at present.

Dream one (borrowed from Goggle).

Dream two (also borrowed from Google).

It was soaking on Saturday, but rather than go to the wall I was desperate to get out. Sometimes it's just nice to be outside, whatever the weather. Duncan and I donned full waterproofs, pooled our racks and slogged up to the Grochan. Stroll On was steep and dripping. I picked up my aiders and set off, methodically working my way up the route. Four hours and one fall later ("Think light thoughts, think light thoughts. Ping! Bollocks.") I thrutched my way to the abseil station. With daylight fading rapidly and Duncan having only a basic understanding jumaring we decided it would be better if I stripped the gear by abseil. Cheers to Duncan for belaying. I can't imagine it was much fun. At least belaying on El Cap will be a million times more fun, as you'll have someone else to talk to, it will be be warm and sunny and you'll be on El Cap!

DC psyched for aid...

Whack and dangle (Don't worry no whacking was done on this climb.)

To any ethical purists out there worried about me damaging Stroll On. I climbed the route 'clean' placing cams and wires so my ascent will have caused no more damage than any free ascent.

2 left shoes and melting routes...

January has been frustrating. By and large it has either been raining or melting when I've been free, or I've been revising whilst winter conditions have been stellar (or as stellar as they ever get in North Wales).

I had a fun day at Pant Ifan with Mason, apart from slimey  starts the routes were in great condition and the sun was shinning. I lead up to the tree at the base of the route. Alex followed up in his trainers, to keep his shoes clean for the main event. Upon reaching the tree Mason reached into his jacket to find two left shoes. Oh shit, I though he's going to make me lead it. Undeterred Mason jammed a left shoe onto his right foot and, clipping his right trainer to his harness - in case it all got too much, set off. He spent a while figuring out the desperate moves under and over the roof, before cruising the glorious upper slab. I followed, a combinations of numb toes, numb fingers and the first time on rock since November meant a few cheeky pulls were required to get me over the roof.

Two left feet...

Fun climbing low down on the chimney.

Mason pulling round the roof.

 A couple of days later, Led Zepplin booming out of the car stereo Ben Alsford and I zoomed to Ogwen Cottage. We'd heard conditions on Clogwyn Ddu were good. The walk in was a bit of a kick up the arse and reminded me to do more running. For various stupid reasons we ended up on an out of condition and melting Left Hand Branch, rather than Mankini our original objective. I lead the first easy pitch and Ben set off on the second harder pitch and inexplicably belayed on some insitu bail gear right below the crux. By the time I got there the whole thing was melting and it was a right clusterfuck to climb past an insitu Balsford, so we bashed in another peg bailed.

Lock up your daughters...

"Well my Dad was shagging Delia Smith..."

Here's Johnny

Stellar conditions...

Condition next week were probably the best since 2010. Unfortuantley three exams kept me stuck in the library, bouncing off the walls with a severe case of FOMO (the fear of missing out - for those not in the know.)

MWIS was being unusually optimistic about Saturday's weather, whilst all other forecasts were predicting massive thaw. Burrows and I slogged back up to Clogwyn Ddu. Arriving at the crag it looked in but the temprature was hovering around zero. With this in mind, we sacked off anything turfy and headed up Pillar Chimney, working on the theory that it is never out of condition. I lead the easy access pitch, allowing Burrows to lead the chimney, which I had lead a couple of times before. He made a right faff of it and I pissed myself laughing listening to his orgasmic grunting. I followed the chimney silently and got to the top to find the water running behind the very thin top pitch. I went for a tentative look at the wild and turfy Lampard-Brewer finish and decieded the best option was to down climb into Left Hand Branch and finish up that.

Me beneath the cleft of orgasmic doom...

Silent thrutching...

 There were two teams on Left Hand Branch, over taking each other and generally cluster fucking around. I down climbed and belayed. By this time it was actually raining. Ollie joined me and we decided that going down was the sensible option. The other party had conveniently placed to bombed wires and extended with long slings, so we unclipped them, equalised them and abseiled off. Cheers whoever you were! We slogged home via the Devil's Kitchen, by which point it was properly raining. Scarily people were still trying to kill themselves by climbing the semi-frozen mush.

"Oh look, two wires we can abseil off them." At least we didn't nick them!

Two Thousand and Twelve

2012 has been a fine year. I didn't do everything I wanted, but I climbed some cool routes, in some cool places with some cool people.

Here is photographic evidence of the high points, the low points, and the utterly hilarious points with the occasional bit of waffle thrown in for good measure.

A weekend hit to Lochnagar: driving through the night from Wales. L to R: Livingstone, Monypenny, Burrow and Me.

Livingstone dispatching the rather awkward flared crux of Parallel Buttress, which I conveniently built a stance below.

Welsh winter - Livingstone chilling on Manx Wall.

Duncan after having just snapped the rope on the bridge swing...

An unproductive day at Porth Ysgo...

Climbing on a bone dry Lliwedd in a tee shirt in March... WTF?

Tall Mark climbing the utterly brilliant Jelly Roll on Cloggy, also in March, also WTF?

Duncan climbing the hidden gem Hiddenite at the unsung Iron Crag.

Leading my first Extreme Rock route Grey Panther with Dunc and Jimmy.

Duncan passed his driving test, god knows how!

Watching Gwen float up the Assassin - this would be a three star route on other crag.

Getting dragged gibbering and shaking across the "dirty rotten chaos" of the Moon by Gwen.

After 'work' cragging with Ollie at Castle Rock.

Climbing Silhouette on Cloggy with Ollie the afternoon after my last exam.

Supporting Nikki on the Slateman, her first triathlon.

Making a two day ascent of the Cassin Ridge on Denali with Livingstone.

Totally wasted descending the West Buttress after the Cassin.

Getting back from Alaska and remembering rock climbing is way more fun: running across Dream of White Horses with Ollie.

The first rule of climbing with your girl friend: do not have epics when climbing with your girl friend. It started to rain three quarters of the way up a bold HVS slab route in the stunningly beautiful, but rather wet and cold Lofoten Islands. We got back to the car soaked to the skin at 1am.

Low point: Being rescued after getting benighted in Gideon Quarry when it rained and got dark simultaneously. A big thanks to Llanberis Mountain Rescue for hauling us out.

This photo doesn't do the route justice. hauling my way up some improbably steep rock on some of the world's biggest holds: Rock Idol.

Vector with Ben: I climbed this route three times in 2012 and it never disappoints.

Ollie off to 'work' - this sure beats stacking shelves at a well known green super market...

Skiing in Les Arc with Nikki and my family over Christmas - a great way to finish the year.

Thank you to everyone who made it such a brilliant year. I've got a few trips up my sleeve that should make this next one just as brilliant. Watch this space...