Sunday 31 August 2008

Sunday 31st August, Mountain Rescue Training Excercise

Todays training exercise was held jointly with Bay Search and Rescue team http://www.baysearchandrescue.org.uk/ on the sand banks in Morecambe Bay near Humphrey Head. We were looking for a group of missing people from a party on the Head the previous evening. Our task was to locate and recover the missing people and treat any injuries.

Our excercise casualties were from the Casuality Union http://www.casualtiesunion.org.uk/ in Barrow who did a great job in testing our medical and shepherding skills after we found them the exercise.



Some of the casualties were evacuated using their tracked Hagglund vehicle others were walked back to safety.


After the excercise we had the opportunity to cross part of the sand banks and sea channels using the vehicle and had a lot of fun discovering some of its capabilities.

Saturday 30 August 2008

Saturday 30th August, Pinnacle Ridge, St Sunday Crag

We had an early start today and headed up to Patterdale, with Ian and Vinnie, to climb on Pinnacle Ridge. It was a warm muggy morning as we ascended from Grisedale up the steep Elmhow zigzags to the traverse path into Pinnnacle Ridge. Low cloud restricted visibility but we carried on to the start of the scramble. The rock on Pinnacle ridge is blocky in places but mostly sound smaller blocks of loose rocks exist and helmets are recommended.




The route works its way up the edge of the buttress close to the gully, with some exposure, to the base of a large pinnacle that can be turned on the left. Behind this is a short steep wall, the crux, this is often wet and greasy. Today it was not so bad and we managed to climb the steep wall. Above this lies the crest spikey crest of the ridge a short scramble up through some blocks brings us to the top of the route.






We headed up trhough the mist to the summit of St Sundays Crag for a quick drink before heading back down over the Birks into Patterdale.

Sunday 24 August 2008

Sunday 24th August, Kentmere and Stony Cove



Today we headed up to Kentmere to walk part of the ridge over Yoke, Ill Bell and Frostwick before reaching Thornthwaite Beacon for lunch. The weather turned out good and we enjoyed views over the lakeland fells.







After lunch we headed down to Threshthwaite Mouth we then enjoyed a brief scramble, picking short routes up the rocks near the path, back up to Stony Cove Pike. After a visit to the cairn on Caudale Moor we headed back down to ridge to finish at the Kirkstone Pass Inn.












Saturday 23 August 2008

Saturday 23rd August, Twisleton Scar and Whernside


We were on Whernside today with a group preparing for a multi-day trek in October. Our route started just outside Ingleton and headed up onto Twisleton Scar. We enjoyed some nice views over to Ingleborough from the Scar. There are also some large limestone pavements on Twisleton which we investigated before heading off along the ridge towards Whernside.



The weather was good and we enjoyed a pleasant walk along the ridge with few people in sight. We eventually joined the path up onto Whernside and suddenly meet hundreds of walkers. Many were part way round their three peaks challenge ( Peny Gent, Whernside and Ingleborough). Our plans today were much more gentle and we reached the summit cairn in time for lunch. It was much colder now and after a quick bite to eat we headed off back along the ridge to the cars.


Thursday 21 August 2008

Thursday 21st Aug, Evening walk on Wansfell


It turned out a nice sunny evening and we decided to make the most of this with a walk up Nanny Lane before heading up onto Wansfell and along the ridge. Amazingly for mid-Aug we were alone on one of Lakelands most walked fells for a few hours. We returned to the cars and a well earned meal and pint or two in the Watermill at Ings.




Tuesday 19 August 2008

Sunday 17th August, Life after the Munro's Day 2


We had planned to relax and explore Mull today on our list of things to do was the sea eagle hide, seal watching at Salen and Loch Buie and Moy Castle. We managed to do all of these and were fortunate to observe more sea eagles through the telescopes at the hide. A large group of seals were basking on the rocks near Salen and we watched them play before heading down to Loch Buie for a celebration picnic in the sun. We caught the evening ferry back to Oban.

Saturday 16th August, Life after the Munro's

This was meant to be our day for climbing Ben More but since we did that on Friday we needed a new plan. We set off to explore the Island of Mull and take in some low level coastal walks. Calgary Bay was our first stop and we headed off from here to walk to Caliach Point. The strong winds and driving rain made for miserable walking conditions so after a while we changed plans again and set off in search of a café.

On the way back to the cars we found some wild otters playing in the sea and sighted some sea eagles flying above the cliffs. In the evening we celebrated again

Friday 15th August, My final Munro

On Friday we set off for Mull with plans to climb my final munro Ben More on Saturday before enjoying a few well earned drinks in the evening. The weather was horrible on the drive up to Oban and the outlook for the weekend was also very poor. However ferries and B&B’s were booked and it looked as though we would be getting very wet again.

We arrived in Craigmore late in the afternoon and the weather had improved considerably and the sun was shining. After a quick discussion we decided to change our plans and climb Ben More this evening. With only some Mars Bars and water as sustenance we headed off quickly up the hill. Our route took us up the NE ridge and over the top of A ‘Chioch before descending to the col for an easy scramble up to the summit of Ben More.









Just as we neared the summit the weather began to change after a few quick pictures of the views (we forgot to take my picture on summit) we headed down the path back to the cars. We managed to arrive in Tobermory and get a meal before they stopped serving food. We also managed a few celebration drinks as well.

Thursday 14 August 2008

Sunday 3rd August, Munro Bagging in Scotland, The Penultimate one

Our goal today was Senna Bruagh a solitary Munro with long approaches from the North or the West. We had chosen to walk in from Invereal on another out and back route. However the weather today was much kinder and we enjoyed a cool breeze and clear views across Torridon.The route followed the forest tracks before rising steeply to join an old stalkers path. This provided good easy walking for many km, before passing the lochans below Meal Glas an Ruighe. The path continues on uphill from here and gradually become fainter. At this point we left the tracks and made our way across the moorland towards Senna Bruagh. A faint path reappeared at the foot of the climb up to the 906m spot height.

We choose to contour round the hill and climbed up to the shelter on the summit of my penultimate munro. We enjoyed some good views from the summit and the company of some wild goats before retracing our steps back to the cars.

My Munro count is now 283, a trip to the final munro, Ben More on Mull, is planned for the Saturday 16th August.

Saturday 2nd August, Munro Bagging in Scotland


After a long drive North to Craig we were heading for the two remote munro’s of Bidein a Choire Sheasgaich and Lurg Mhor. We had decided to use bikes for this trip and set off on a long gradual climb up the forest track to the junction with the track to Bealach Bhearnais. Rain and low cloud were with us from the start of the day and made navigation over the Corbett, Beinn Tharsin, more interesting. We eventually arrived at the foot of Bidein a Choire Sheasgaich and followed the wall up to the foot of small crag where a waterfall was now running down the obvious line of the path.








In poor visibility we located the ascent gully and worked our way up to the ridge leading to the summit. After a quick break we continued along the ridge to Lurg Mhor before retracing our steps back over the route we had originally taken. Finally we dropped out of the cloud when we descended to Bealach Bhearnais. The walk down the stalkers path was enjoyable as the rain seemed to be easing and glimpses of the other mountains appeared through the clouds.


The bike ride back to Craig is mostly downhill on good tracks and is very fast, well worth the extra effort getting the bike up the hill.

My Munro count is now 282

We spent the evening in the bunkhouse at Aultguish, which now has new owners. A big improvement on the last time we stayed there in March ’08. The drying room was working hard all night to provide some dry kit for Sunday.

Sunday 10 August 2008

Sunday 20th July, Munro Bagging in Scotland

We woke early to a nice sunny morning and after a quick breakfast set off for another three munro’s An Socach, Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan and Mullach na Dheiragain. After just 45 mins of walking up the first hill the strong winds, low cloud and rain returned. This made for difficult walking all day with very poor visibility and unfortunately no pictures. Sgurr nan Ceathreamhnan was an interesting top and one I would like to visit again in good visibility to explore its many ridges. During the day we saw only one other group on the hill.

My Munro total has now reached 280

The bike ride back to the cars was easier as the streams had dropped and the wind and rain had stopped. Unfortunately this was enough for Glen Affric’s notorious midges to venture out and chase us out of the glen.

Saturday 19th July, Munro Bagging in Scotland

We went to Glen Strathfarrar today, a beautiful glen full of old Scots pines, north of Inverness with restricted access. Our goal was the four munro’s on the north side of the glen. Sgurr Fhuar-thuill, Sgurr a Choire Ghlais, Carn nan Gobhar, Sgurr na Ruaidhe. Due to the strong winds and driving rain we decided to walk to ridge from west to east to make our journey slightly easier in the poor conditions.

My Munro total after today is now 277

As we got back to the cars the rain stopped and clouds lifted and we got of first views of the ridge. Our plan for the rest of the day was to drive up to the end of Glen Affric and use our mountain bikes to get into remote Alltbeithe Youth Hostel, approx 14km along rough tracks.


This proved to be exciting with flooded track and stream crossings to overcome, after what seemed a long bike ride we finally arrived at the hostel. In early evening the stags came down off the hills and we were treated to some very close views of the deer from the comfort of the hostel kitchen.

Iceland Day 9, 6th July 2008

We flew back to London after a succesful and enjoyable trip to Icelands high peaks

Iceland, Day 8, 5th July 2008


We started the long journey back to Reykjavik. To break the trip we planned a series of stops along the route to visit well known tourists sites including a natural hot spring where we all wnet swimming and the well known waterfalls of Skogarfoss (pictured below) and Seljalandfoss.


In the evening we arrived back in Reykjavik and the team went in town for a celebration meal at a restaurant with a buffet table. Many of our fellow dinners were amazed as the team eat our way through large second helpings and Andy L even managed to find space for thirds and two desserts.

Iceland Day 7, 4th July

We returned to the bunkhouse all very tired after the long night on the glacier. By 1100hrs we were all tucked up in our beds and fast asleep after a quick brunch. We awoke again mid afternoon to find the weather had become cloudy, wet and very windy justifying our decision to walk through the night.

Late afternoon we decided to make use of the “extra day” we had gained to make a short trip to see the Jokullsarlon lagoon, famous for its icebergs that have been thrown into the sea from the descending glacier and scene of a few James Bond movies.

Iceland Day 61/2, 3rd and 4th July 2008

We set off for Mt Hvannadalshnjukur (2119m) at 2200hrs on day 6 for the summit. Due to the almost continuous daylight at this time of the year we were able to walk all night without the need for head torches. Duncan , the oldest member of our team at 72 y/o, set a blistering pace as we climbed from almost sea level up the rocky slopes to the edge of the Oraefajokull glacier at 1000m.

As we crossed the glacier we had some wonderful views of the sun rising and setting. The route involves crossing a long continuous snow slope up to 1800m where a large plateau exists.








After a short break we headed off again to reach the peak and the short but steep climb to the summit. This section was heavily crevassed but these were easily passed by using the snow bridges. Large formations of rime ice on the ground made walking on the final section quite slow and difficult.







The team all made the summit at 0300hrs in almost perfect weather conditions and we all enjoyed some wonderful views. The descent proved to be much harder than we expected due to the snow softening in the sun. We finally got down just before 1000hrs. Our total time on the hill was just under 12 hours and all of the team were very tired.

Iceland Day 6, 3rd July 2008


We decided that the best weather window would be on the morning of Day 7, so we took a trip to Laki to explore the craters, where in 1783 a 25km long fissure opened and lava flew out of the craters for almost 12 months. Smoke from the eruptions affected the European climate for many years and 25% of Iceland population was also killed.

The drive to the volcano involved a hair raising 45km drive on a track with a number of exciting river crossings, even with 33” wheels.

The area was very strange with many lava tubes and craters to explore. The return trip in our bus was even more exciting as the rivers had risen due to the non stop since we crossed them earlier in the day.

Over dinner in the evening we rechecked the forecasts and our weather window was now forecast to close by lunch tomorrow and we made the decision to start much earlier than we had originally planned.

Iceland, Day 5, 2nd July 2008

We awoke to clear sunny sky’s and set off to climb Mt Krisinartindar (1126m). The route passes close to Svartifoss, a large waterfall famous for its black basalt columns. A shortly after this we got our first clear view of the mountain. The path continues across moorland to the edge of two large glaciers. A short rocky scramble leads to the summit ridge with some magnificent views in all directions.
Whilst enjoying the views we watched and heard a large avalanche occurring over a large cliff edge at the head of the next valley.

The evening was spent trying to obtain accurate and consistent weather forecasts for the area to help plan the timing on our summit attempt. This proved to be much more difficult than normal.

Iceland Day 4, 1st July 2008

We are off to a glacier today to prepare the team for our attempt on Mt Hvannadalshnjukur (2119m) Iceland’s highest peak later in the week. The glacier we used was close to the road and proved to be very popular with tourist’s who paid for guided tours by local guides. We watched a local guide fitting crampons to a pair of trainers.


We checked all of our equipment and covered the range of skills required to make sure the team were fully prepared for the peak. This was a fun day and in the afternoon we set off for the long drive down to Skaftafell National Park.

It continues to be very wet and windy in Iceland and we seen a large number of rainbows as we drove to our new base.

Day 3, 30th June 2008

Today we are off to climb Mt Helka (1491m) this is Iceland’s best known volcano and most active. The journey to the start gave our vehicle its first off road drive of the trip and some excitement for us all. The driver advised that the American’s had used this area to test and develop the lunar landing craft, we now know why.

Our route followed the edge of the newest lava field formed in 2000. Walking up snowy slopes
with large lava fields over 2m high at our side was very strange.

The temperature from the volcano had melted large areas of snow on the summit and steam was continually rising from the ground. The clouds cleared just as we summited and we were given our first views of some of the massive glaciers, including Vantnajokull (Europe biggest), all of the Fjallabak mountains and strange lava fields that cover large parts of Iceland.

The team were again all successful in summiting and we headed off to the hotel to relax in a hot tub feed from a natural spring

Blog Archive



Show/Hide Navigation