American dreaming... climbing inspiration and aspirations

I'm particularly inspired to climb big pointy rocks, ones that you have to climb to reach the summit. A bit Freudian perhaps, but I gain a lot of satisfaction from getting to a summit where being a rock climber is mandatory. They also tend to look pretty dam cool. On a trip to Utah, USA a few years back I managed to climb a few nice towers, including Castleton Tower, and Ancient Arts in the Fisher Towers which were totally awesom

One of my main aspirations is to climb a rather nice chunk of spiky Granite in the High Sierras of California called The Incredible Hulk. What makes this even more appealing is that it involves a proper hike into the back country for a pre-climb wilderness camp, complete with bears and other dangerous animals such as American Park Rangers with guns. One of the best routes to the summit is Positive Vibrations, a 13 pitch, 500 m route of perfect granite. The grade translates roughly to E3/E4 but for us Brits who arn't used to unrelenting crack climbing it would probably feel closer to E5. So i would definately need to be on top form or take a rope gun with me. This  is a climbing partner who is considerably better than yourself and happy to lead all the hard pitches).

The Incredible Hulk with the line of Positive Vibration shown

I would also like to climb more of the desert towers in Utah. The landscape here is almost unworldly. Red rock canyons and towers carve up and punctuate the desert, creating a life time of adventures. There are 3 towers that are one the ticklist - The North Six Shooter, Fine Jade on the Rectory and the Moses Tower. I think it might be time to get training (and saving!).

Moses tower in Canyonlands, Utah

Inspiration and aspiration

Over the past month I've been getting back into rock climbing. Now that doesn't mean that previously I've not been out on the rock, it means I'm starting to feel the psyche building again - I'm reading through guide books, searching out routes I've yet to do. I've been putting in some quick hits to the Cromlech boulders to get the fingers working, evening visits to the slate to remember how to move and use the feet, and even the odd wall session. It feels good. It feels like I'm becoming a proper climber again.  A lot of things have changed over the past few years. After finding out I was going to need a hip operation in 2012, I decided to become a student again and get stuck in to a PhD for a few years. So I have been running Snowdonia Mountaineering very much on a part time basis. Rock climbing was put on the back burner as I got into road biking during my hip rehab and my focus for trips switched to ski mountaineering. Over the past month I have started to remember why I love rock climbing so much. Its that addictive combination of technical movement, physical exertion and mental challenge mixed with the spice and excitement of danger.

Enjoying an after work climb in the slate quarries - Seams the same E1

A climber needs to have inspiration and aspirations, and the lack of both over the past couple of years is probably the main reason why I haven't done much rock climbing. I was chatting to some good friends a couple of months a go about rock climbs we would like to do, both in the UK and abroad. I started to realise that there were some routes that I really wanted to do and that a lot of them would require me to be a proper climber again - not just a part time one. So I thought I would start compiling  a list of routes I want to do over the next few years to provide me with the motivation to get out there and do it!

Guided rock climbing testimonial

Last weekend I guided Karl on some of Snowdonia's best multipitch routes - see my Facebook page for more photos. His wife sent me this feedback:

Thank you for the lovely photo's, it is really nice to see where you both went climbing. He did make it back in one piece but he said that he was aching last night :-)

We couldn't have asked for a better service from you, arranging the weekend was very straightforward and you couldn't have recommended a better weekend weather wise.

It was great to have prior knowledge of the routes you might attempt so Karl could look them up in his North Wales Classic Climbing book.

He was very impressed that you picked him up so that you could travel to the climb together he has never experienced that before.

He thought you were really friendly and a great instructor and he wouldn't hesitate to come out with you again in the future, the classic routes you chose were brilliant and perfect for his ability ( Pitch 2 on Scratch route, the corner crack very close to his limit ;-) )

Thank you so much for a great weekend and making my 40 year old husband happy.

He now wants to do it all over again ( It is such a shame we live in the flattest part of England ).

Karl on Scratch VS at Tremadog

Alpine Ski Mountaineering

Over the past few years I've been getting into ski touring and ski mountaineering - essentially using skis to travel up, down and through the mountains. As Bill Briggs once said (first person to ski down the Grand Teton in the USA) "skis are appropriate in the mountains". Take the Aiguille d'Argentiere as an example. This peak in the Mt Blanc range above Chamonix is 3900m and is popular in both summer and winter/spring.

Skinning up Aiguille d'Argentiere

 In summer most people will head up the cable car in the afternoon to walk into to the hut or a bivi on the edge of the glacier. Spend the night being cold, as you didn't bring a sleeping bag to save weight, or be kept awake by snoring hut companions. Get up at some ridiculous hour in the morning and slog up to the summit for sunrise in order to minimise the risk of getting taken out by rockfall, encountering dangerous snow conditions or falling into a crevasse through a slushy snow bridge. Then turn around and deal with the slog back down the glacier in increasingly hot conditions, back to town before the afternoon thunderstorms take you out.

Aiguille d'Argentiere summit

Alternatively, you could go on skis in winter/spring. We got the third lift up, skied down onto the Argentiere glacier and started our ascent at 10 am. After an enjoyable morning of  skinning and climbing we reached the summit at 13.30. A quick descent down good snow to the bergshrund to put skis on, then a really enjoyable ski back down the glacier to the lift station by 3.30. Provided you can ski I think doing peaks like this is much better on skis, much more enjoyable and much safer - its amazing how quickly you descend on skis, making it much easier to get the hell out of there if the weather changes quickly.

Summit panorama

For sale items

If you are interested in any of the items for sale please email me at rory@snowdoniamountaineering.com
Thanks

For Sale: Tresspass Wicking T

New, never worn. Labels still attached. Price new: £22.99. I'll take £12 including p&p. Size M

For Sale: Helmets and various bits of kit

These items are described on UKC http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=526041&new=7080878#x7080878 so I'll just show the photos here:

DMM Ascent £25

Petzl Ecrin Roc £18

16ft dyneema sling with hms. £12 each/ £20 for both

various quick draws and slings

GoPro Hero 1080 HD for sale

I am selling my GoPro Hero 1080HD. This is a great bit of kit and excellent for making climbing/skiing/biking/kayaking vids etc. I've had it for just over a year and it is in totally mint nick. I bought it for £250 and I'm selling it with a chest harness mount and a 32GB Kingston SD card which together cost £65. I'm looking for £180 for the lot including P&P. I used it to make the following videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzedNmPTZ9Q&feature=plcp

http://youtu.be/RGwOzOtd-wo

http://youtu.be/HBVhS7fsqJY

These films were only uploaded at low quality! The best quality 1080 is full HD and stunning.

helmet and chest mounts

Selection of mounts to stick to curved or flat surface - unused. Tripod adapter. Other mount/strap for multiple uses. Open back for case for improved audio recording when waterproof case not required.Various leads for connection to pc/tv.

Instructions

In original packaging

the camera - no scratches. Totally mint

rear of camera showing filming modes

Waterproof and shockproof case - totally mint

Cairngorm Ski Tour

Last weekend after taking out Stephanie and Ben for a day of scrambling in Snowdonia I jumped into Jon's van and headed up to the Cairngorms. The upside of the recent poor weather has been snow on the Scottish peaks so we were both psyched for some more skiing. After a long drive, a minor panic when I realised I had left a load of gear behind (thanks to Greg at Glenmore lodge for sorting me out), some pain au chocolat and a short lift assisted skin we found ourselves on the top of Cairngorm. The cloud was lifting and there was total cover on the plateau.

We made our way over to the North Top of Ben MacDui and then took an awesome line, initially in powder then nice spring snow, down to the beautiful Loch Etchachan. Now the Cairngorms are not Chamonix but in many ways they are just as awesome. In fact having lunch after the descent to Loch Etchachan in bright May sunshine with no one around was really special and one of my best ski moments of the year.



From there we skinned up to Ben Mheadhoin and shredded a long descent down to Loch A'an. We had to boot pack round the Loch and even had to take boots off to ford the river before sloggin up a steep ascent back to the Cairngorm Ski area. We definitely earned our turns with a total ascent of 1600m and 20km covered!

A wet day in Wales

Well its been a properly grim day today and I was glad I postponed James' course as I don't think we would have got any leading done today apart from in the climbing wall! It can be possible to avoid the rain in the mountains and find dry weather on the coast - have a look at a blog post from last year for the Knowledge: http://www.snowdoniamountaineering.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/rainy-day-rock-climbing-options-in.html

Today was one of those days where its grim everywhere and you have to either head for the climbing wall.... or the pub!

Easter Skiing in the Alps

So its been a pretty hectic month in which I have moved house and had an amazing 10 day trip to Chamonix and the Aosta Valley in Itlay. I been doing a fair bit of skiing over the past couple of winters and have been trying to get to a standard where I can happily ski off piste and in more serious places outside of the resort. Naturally I have drawn to ski touring and ski mountaineering and one of my main aims has been to ski up and down a 4000m peak in the Alps. So with that in mind I headed out with good friend Jon to meet up with some Chamonix chums and make an attempt on Gran Paradiso - the highest mountain wholly in Italy and 4061m. We started by acclimatising in Chamonix - a couple of days skiing off piste on the Grand Montets and a traverse of the Valle Blanche to Pt Helbronner. This included some of the worst snow and terrain I have skied in - horrible death crust on soft powder and a descent of the right side of the Geant Icefall made for an epic day! Although there were a couple of nice powder spots.

Skinning up to Pt Helbronner

A short section of nice powder before the death crust

The scary Geant Icefall

We then headed through the tunnel into Italy and the stunning Aosta Valley. We left the road at Pont at the head of Val Savarenche and due to the lack of snow we had to walk and carry skis for all but the last 200m of ascent to the hut. We were all really impressed by the Vittorio Emmanuel hut - despite it being very busy it never felt crowded and the food was awesome and plentiful. After a pretty wild night (weather wise) we delayed leaving the hut until about 7am. It was really cold and windy. Our first glimpse of the summit after 30 minutes of skinning was not encouraging and the weather got worse.

Storm over the summit

At just over 4000m - time to retreat!

We battled on in some serious cold and windy conditions with little visibility to the bergshrund about 50m from the summit. Greg was happy to summit solo but we opted to turn round as we were worried about hypothermia and frostbite (Jon and Trystan did get some frost nip on their cheeks and nose). The skiing was pretty scary to start as we were in a white out and all the blown snow had created some dodgy avalanche conditions. As we dropped out of the cloud we picked up upped and enjoyed some nice fresh powder and lower down some good hard but grippy spring snow. 5 hours up 1.5 hours down - why would anyone ever walk up an Alpine peak? I'll be back sometime to bag the summit!

Loving the descent

Rock Climbing Course with Rob and Chris

This weekend I was joined by Rob and Chris for a multi pitch rock climbing course. Rob had done a fair bit of climbing before and wanted some lead climbing coaching as well as learning how to get out of trouble on multi pitch routes. Chris had never been multi pitch or trad climbing so was keen to become a competent second. On Saturday we drove through the rain to reach a warm and partially sunny Tremadog. We headed to the classic but often quiet Bramble Buttress - the finest V Diff at Tremadog. Rob led us up all 3 pitches in fine style and with plenty of time left in the day we drove round to Bwlch y Moch to give Rob more of a challenge on Rio (HS) and do a multi pitch abseil decent.

Rob on the top pitch of Bramble Buttress

On Sunday we wanted to do a long mountain route so with a better forecast we headed into Cwm Idwal and completed the classic Tennis Shoe. It was great to be doing big routes like this inMarch with out getting wet and cold!!

Chris on Tennis Shoe

Rock Climbing Course with Max and Tom

Tom and Max joined me on a day moving out rock climbing course for the last 4 days. They had climbed independently on their local indoor wall but wanted to progress outside and have some proper adventures! By the end of the course they had completed their first multi pitch routes, learned how to place trad gear and build belays, read a guide book, lead both sport and trad single pitch, take and hold a fall on a sport climb.... I could go on but I'd probably bore you! All they need to do now is go and get some experience under their own steam and most importantly remember what they have been taught!! Thanks to Bryn for instructing 2 days of the course.

Tom enjoying his first slate experience

Max on Equinox VS

Chamonix Skiing

Skiing - isn't it amazing!!! Jen and I had 2 weeks of fantastic skiing in the Chamonix valley. It was soo good that I'm tempted to sell all my climbing gear and just buy skis! I'm just getting into skiing and really keen to start doing more ski touring and back country skiing where mountaineering and skiing skills combine to take you into some amazing places! We arrived the day after it had just put down 4 ft of fresh snow so avalanche risk was pretty high. The fresh snow was pretty heavy so it made for some challenging off piste. Throughout the first week we had more fresh snow falls and  some awesome powder but the unsettled weather was not great for touring so we just had to shred the vast amount of easily accessible off piste.

View from the Flegere ski area to the Aiguille Verte and Les Drus

Jen on the traverse of the Crouches bowl

Below the Geant Icefall in the Vallee Blanche

Climbing up to Col du Crouches

Approaching Col du Crouches

The weather for the second week was better although towards the end of the week it got bitterly cold! At the top lifts it got down to -25c. We managed to do the classic Crouches/Berard tour and enjoyed amazing fresh powder in the Berard valley. The highlight of the week was skiing the Valley Blanche from the Aiguille du Midi at nearly 3800m all the way to Chamonix at 1100m. Jen and I were joined by friends Greg and Christina  and we took a variarion on the Petit Envers descent finding some nice powder stashes as well as a few areas of grim breakable crust and windslab. Check out the video of our descent below.



Skiing the Vallee Blanche from Rory Shaw on Vimeo.

Snowdon ascent under the full moon

Last night I made the spontaneous decision to go for a wee donder up Snowdon by the light of the full moon. Oli, Jim and myself left Pen y Pass shortly after 8 and under gathering cloud stomped up the Pyg Track. Every now and then we could make out the moon through the thin layer of cloud so we had hopes that we might pop out of a cloud inversion. Given the cold temps and good snow conditions we headed for the bottom of Central Trinity a grade 1/2 climb. As we climbed up towards the Spider (a big snow field) we broke out of the cloud and into bright moonshine. So bright that we only needed torches on for the narrowest and trickiest bits of the gully. We stormed upwards and summitted about 10.15.

Now I've been up Snowdon a fair few times but this will definately be the most memorable. Looking north we could see most of Anglesey whereas to the south a blanket of cloud lapped at out feet reflecting the fat moon. Totally amazing! Unfortunately I am not a good enough photographer to over come the limitations of my point and shoot camera so the photos weren't very good.

After a brief rest to enjoy the view we headed down and where back in Llanberis by 11.30 enjoying bangers and mash followed by a wee dram of single malt... perfect!

Merry Christmas

Well a big Merry Christmas, or I guess I should say Nadolig Llawen, from Snowdonia. Unfortunately it doesn't look like we're going to get a white one as it unseasonably warm at the moment. So I hope that Santa brings you that new down jacket you wanted or some nice shiny DMM Dragon Cams! I'll leave you with a few photos from this time last year. Have a great one!!

North Wales at its Best

The weather this November had been really good - warm and fairly dry. Over the past few day climbing in the pass could have been possible and the mountains have been catching some awesome sunshine. Yesterday I made the best use of the fine weather by making a quick dash up Crib Goch by my self then joining friend Greg for a quick afternoon route at Gogarth. We topped out with the sun setting behind Ireland but thankfully before we needed the aid of the South Stack lighthouse!