My Climbing 2016 in Pictures
My best photos of my climbing and hiking adventures in 2016. Continue reading My Climbing 2016 in Pictures
Category: Mountaineering
Helmets for Big Heads 2
Whether it’s due to excess brains or empty space, I have a larger than average head. This makes it hard to find headwear that fits. Anything marked “one size fits all” does not include me in the definition of “all”. This might be only an annoyance if I were not a rock climber. I need a helmet to protect my head from falling rocks, dropped bits of gear, smacking my head into a cliff when falling off and banging my head against overhangs (which is a habit of mine). Continue reading Helmets for Big Heads 2
The Winter Mountaineer
In 2007 I went on a course that gave me the confidence and knowledge I needed to start exploring mountains in winter conditions. Years later, I decided I wanted to advance my skills and learn how to move over more difficult winter terrain. That’s why, last week, I went back to Glenmore Lodge, the Scottish National Outdoor Training Centre, to do a winter mountaineering course. Continue reading “The Winter Mountaineer”
Climb On Adventure Bar and Creme Lite Review
My hands dry out and can crack like the bed of a river in a drought when the weather is cold or wet and when I’ve had my hands in climbing chalk. This means I’ve taken an interest in the balms and moisturisers designed to keep a rock climber’s hands in good condition and reviewed a few of them before. Recently I’ve been trying out the Climb On Adventure Bar and Climb On Crème Lite, made by SKINourishment of Texas using natural and food grade ingredients. Continue reading “Climb On Adventure Bar and Creme Lite Review”
My Climbing 2014 in Pictures
My best photos from my climbing and hiking adventures in 2014. Continue reading My Climbing 2014 in Pictures
’tis the season of competitions
Christmas is the season for giving. It is also the season for lots of really good competitions for outdoor clothing and equipment. Just as the shops put out their Christmas wears come December, so a range of shops, magazines and forums put on generous competitions for the sorts of goodies that outdoor enthusiasts would love to have in their Christmas stockings. It’s a fairly blatant attempt to boast sales during a peak buying period, but I don’t care, as I like entering competitions so much. Continue reading ’tis the season of competitions
The Quintessential Climber
People who like rock climbing are apparently more likely to enjoy eating gruel and poppy seed rolls, live in Wales, be middle class and describe themselves as analytical and practical, but occasionally neurotic. This is according to YouGov Profiler, a new, free app that allows you to look at survey data from polling company YouGov. It’s designed as a taster for the much more in-depth, paid-for YouGov Profiles that is YouGov’s segmentation and media-planning tool for PR agencies and brands. It’s quite fun to input random things into YouGov Profiler to see what it can tell you about people and their interests. However, looking through the occasionally quirky results from this app made me wonder if some people are admitting things in surveys that they aren’t sharing with their friends at the crag or if YouGov might need to talk to a few more climbers. Continue reading The Quintessential Climber
Getting Out in Rab’s MeCo 120 Boxer Shorts
There are some items of outdoor gear that you don’t often see reviewed in the outdoor magazines and websites. Jackets, tents, rucksacks, baselayers, softshells, fleeces and boots all get regularly tested and reviewed in detail, but outdoor underwear doesn’t get reviewed much and, if it does, the reviews tend to be a bit cursory. Continue reading Getting Out in Rab’s MeCo 120 Boxer Shorts
Woolly Hats for Big Heads
One size does not always fit all. My larger than average head means that I have quite a bit of trouble finding any hats that fit. This can be a problem as a woolly hat is essential for keeping my head warm on cold, windy mountains (particularly as I increasingly have less hair to do this job). I don’t think that I’m the only person in this situation as people keep coming to an earlier post of mine via Google searches for climbing helmets for people with bigger or extra large heads. So, for those of us blessed with a generous cranium and a love of the mountains, here are my reviews of some of the woolly hats for hiking and climbing that I’ve found fit my head. Continue reading Woolly Hats for Big Heads
Ropes into Rugs and Other Ways to Recycle and Reuse Outdoor Gear
Lurking under my bed, buried in a drawer, shut in a box or in the dark in my wardrobe. These are the places where my unused outdoor gear lives. These are the bits of hiking and climbing gear, clothing and equipment that have been superseded when I upgraded to new, better kit, no longer work as well as they should, never really fitted me that well or were retired because they too old to be safe any more. Now they take up space in my small London flat and provide a home for dust bunnies. I’ve decided that they need to go. Continue reading Ropes into Rugs and Other Ways to Recycle and Reuse Outdoor Gear
Review of Rab’s Neostretch Gaiters
I’ve got mixed feelings about gaiters. They’re brilliant for keeping snow and water out of your boots, but they can make for lower legs that are hot and damp with the sweat the gaiters haven’t allowed to escape. This is a particular problem on those days in the mountains when it’s warm, but gaiters are still needed. Even if rain isn’t forecast and the sun shines warmly, gaiters can be essential because of the risk of putting your foot into a bog or slipping when crossing a stream. In Alpine conditions you can be toasted while on a sun-baked glacier and have to wear gaiters to cope with the snow on the peaks you’re going to climb. Rab hold out the promise that their NeoStretch Gaiters will make life more comfortable in such situations by combining one of the new breed of highly breathable fabrics and Rab’s usual, excellent design work. Continue reading Review of Rab’s Neostretch Gaiters
Outdoor Gear Competition Nut
I love entering competitions for rock climbing and hiking gear. I like the possibility, no matter how small, that I might be lucky enough to win shiny new stuff. It allows me to daydream that the latest, most technologically advanced piece of kit that I can’t really justify buying or else couldn’t afford might be mine. Wanting new outdoor gear is like lusting after the latest smart phone or must have gadget. Competitions provide me with a chance to have this gear and I enter as many competitions as I can. Continue reading Outdoor Gear Competition Nut
The Beauty of Rime
I love rime. I love how these tails of ice seem to form on rocks, fences, walls, posts and anything bold enough to stand upright on a frozen, windy mountain. I love how rime’s strange, white crystalline structures seem to sprout from the dark surfaces of rocks to either bring them into relief or bury them in ice. It amazes me that rime can form as a razor of ice down one side of a single blade of grass and as an icy lattice inches deep on a wire fence. What I especially love about rime is how it adds a new beauty and character to these small things as well as to a whole mountain landscape. Continue reading The Beauty of Rime
Be Seen on the Mountain
I couldn’t see where the cries for help were coming from. The rocky hulk of Tryfan was almost black in the twilight and was shrouded in cloud. I could tell the shouts of help were definitely coming from high on Tryfan’s west face, but they were just disembodied voices in the growing dark. Continue reading Be Seen on the Mountain
the Severe climber 