Life in the Vertical

I have attempted to watch the great climb on the BBC iPlayer the other night. I have to say that looking on UKC and the comments made, the first two hours left me a little under whelmed. Not because the climbing wasn’t good, just the boredom of the whole thing.

I have to say that the crux of the second pitch was immense, however watching Dave then struggle with every runner, then wait as they tried to fill 20 minutes as he took a well needed rest, and then emmett take a whipper and start to jug up a rope was utterly tedious. It reinforced my opinion that one good reason that climbing shouldn’t and probably won’t be an olympic sport is that it is rather dull to watch.

If I remember the early live outside broadcasts like the one at Gogarth featured many teams of climbers all on different routes. Meaning that any dead time was filled with other live action. Rather than back stories and other accumulated footage. I commend anyone who can say that they managed to watch all 5 to 6 hours of the programme. It is neither Dave or Tim fault, they are larger than life, and extremely talented, however to expect to ‘capture’ a live first ascent then the devil is in the detail, and I would expect only the dedicated to persevere.

I thought it was interesting that the route heralded as one of the top 10 routes of its type in the world (what were the other ten?), when for those who have seen the original Al Hughes film Stron Ulladale, that captures a few climbers attempt to climb ground up a new free route on this cliff captured the spirit of climbing far more than this route. I don’t want to get into any arguments about the style of ascent the climbers were very honest about the pre-practice. However, a bit like the films Equilibrium or E11, the ‘Story’ wasn’t the actual ascent of the climb, but the path that lead to it, the mini triumphs and the tragedies that build up to the ascent.

Personally the The Great Climb seemed to lose this, or the story being told vicariously through a team of commentators just didn’t engage me. The ocassionally lame efforts to explain what exactly climbing is about or even the ability to show what trad protect is were to me poor. Given that I have to explain how equipment works to beginners probably made me over critical.

Anyway the 5 hour ‘experience’ is on iPlayer for a few more days. Although I live in hope that they will one day make a ‘Directors Cut’, so I can manage to see the edited highlights. I would be interesting to see the viewer numbers, as compared to even the 30000 hits (Sorry, Jack posted a comment UKC have 700000 hits a month, fuck thats a lot!) a month that UKC has is tiny compared to TV audiences that are measured in Millions rather than thousands.

Maybe I missed the catch in the last three hours, that would have hooked me, and revealed the point of the broadcast. I am not sure whether this will have done a service or not for climbing. Will people be running out to the local wall to follow in Dave and Tim’s footsteps, I don’t know. From what I have heard the climb was completed successfully, and congratulations to both Tim and Dave, it must have been a marathon effort (or a double marathon if the commentators are to be believed), not to mention the added stress of performing infront of the cameras whilst producers are hurraying them along.

Anyway I wonder what they got paid for the ascent? They deserve every penny, but I am under no illusion, these guys are professionals that should be paid for putting themselves through such an ordeal. I just wonder how many people think their TV Licensing fee was put to good use?

Well I have been a busy boy so far this week. I managed to sell my van that required me to clean it for the first time in three years! I have also managed to enjoy some of this summer weather we are enjoying at the moment. With ascents of Cemetry Gates, Left Wall, Ribstone crack (Twice in as many days as I got some one to lead it on a rock improver course), Elidor and Skylon.

I also managed a quick Slate hit one afternoon as well. In between I have done a bit of work. I worked my last two days for the Brenin this Saturday and Sunday. I had the graveyard shift of the only 5.30 session on the sunday night. I managed to hold in my emotions, as I have worked there as a freelancer for five years, and have been there most weeks. It will seem weird moving on to another centre in another country, but I am looking forward to the change and the challenge.

I have to say that I was quite sad leaving the Brenin on both Sunday and Wednesday, as it is not only the work, but more importantly to me the other instructors and staff at the centre. At the moment I feel like I am leaving my freinds. However the world is a small place, not as small as Llanberis but one thing I know is that however long I am away for the village will hardly change, people will still be going to work, the kids will be going to school or nursery.

I saw my friends kids today, it was some of their firsts days at school, they are all growing up so quickly. I know I am going to miss them as well.

Anyway I must get back to packing, as I have two places to store some stuff, a small place at a friends where my computer and other important stuff can live and stay dry, and another place in a shed, that will house less important stuff. I am toying with the idea of throwing all my clothes away, as some of the t-shirts I have could be carbon dated due to their age.

Anyway, trying to work out what to take with me when I need a rack, rope (one single or two doubles?) and other climbing gear, as well as a some clothes. Any advice on what not to take and what I should consider essential would be greatly appreciated!

On top of all this I am waiting to see the first real copy of my book that should be about late this week or next week.

I know it is a little early, but I am so excited about the latest website I have been developing that I want to tell you about it. The site is still under construction, however there is enough content on there for you to see where I am heading. The site is basically the work I had managed to do so far on a selected guide to North Wales. I was very close to signing a deal with the guide, and I have to apologise to the publisher for letting them down.

The future for me seems very bright, and I am not sure whether I will return to the UK for long enough to complete the project, so rather than have a half finished book that sits on my computer, I thought that I would buy a dot com and offer it out to the public. Who knows one day it might well become a book. If not I hope it becomes an excellent resource for you guys to enjoy.

I can hear the CC, RockFax and Ground Up fearing the idea of an online guide and I await angry phone calls (please note I am working this weekend so will be unavailable to rant at until after 7pm). I however see it as a fantastic opportunity to put North Wales on the Map, as well as promote the growing number of excellent guides to the area. I also believe that an online resource is no replacement for a paper and ink guide. It is however another form of information that rather than just telling you about an area like virtually all other online resources, this site actually gives you the instruction to experience it and write your own stories. The site contains many of my favourite routes, and I will undoubtably add to the site over time.

What this site is not is a wiki, I can allow selected people to ‘author’ and ‘edit’ the site, and given my spelling and habit of meaning right and typing left, means that if you are a devoted north wales climber with a computer maybe you can help out? I am also short a few crag shots that if anybody manages to take whilst they are out and about, I would be extremely grateful for the images so I can turn them into topos’s. I am also keen to see if any manufacturers, shops, magazines, distributors or heaven forbid publishers would like to come on board and help support the running of the project by advertising on the site.

To see the content you’ll need to set up an account, and I am insisting on real names I am afraid, and will block users who don’t abide by this rule. The info is there for you print out for your own personal use only, under no circumstance should the images be replicated in anyway in print or online form, unless you want a bill for £500 per image. Basically I don’t want you cutting and pasting my work to your own site, as taking the photos and turning them to topos has taken a considerable length of time. If you want online/digital media, then look at this site as my CV, as I am available for freelance photography and writing.

I do have to give a massive thanks to Scott, who has done some amazing work, if your saw my blog post recently, then I can admit now to spending three days trying to get joomla to run on my hosting server. I was totally at my wits end and Scott offered to help, and about 30 minutes later it was up and running. About 12 hours later, and I had virtually broken the site again, and Scott clicked a button and made it work. He has probably kept me from hitting my computer with a large stick, as time after time the ‘computor says Noooo!’

I have seen signs spread across the length and breadth of Snowdonia for the sale of the century. One inparticular was on a footpath sign just by the Brenin. It was so small that I doubt any motorist saw it, as cruising past at a walking pace only 1 of my group of five saw it!

Anyway they are talking of 95% off items that are in the sale and 50% off other stuff. I can’t remember if there was any small print. Even so there is obviously going to be some serious bargains. Unfortunately I am working!

Just ran up the starting five pitches of Sunchaser wall in Vivian. It was good to shake off the cobwebs from a month of near continuous rain. Was great to touch real rock again. May well go to the wall this evening with Katie for more pre-Nose training, unfortunately the Welsh Summer has really put a dampner on climbing (pun intended!)

Well, in the last few days I have been trying to improve my fitness for El Cap, the weather has meant that I haven’t been able to climb that much. So I have done a few short runs, and yesterday I went for a Mountain Bike. We headed up to the paraglider take off on the Garret Road, and then headed down in a rather quick fashion down to the Main Track, before heading down to Brynrefail via Cwm Y Glo and then back home in time for tea and cakes.

Later on a small peleton of riders headed up the pass to the Vaynol for a couple of beers and a social, before heading back. I borrowed a friends bike on both occasions, and had a good time playing on a full sus MTB and a nice road bike. I am somewhat saddle sore now, and turned down another ride this morning mainly because I feared that I would be unable to sit down!

The plan is to hit the quarries later today and finally get some climbing done.

I am having a clear out over at LITV Towers, trying to lighten my load when it comes to stuff I have accumulated over the years. All the stuff is located in Llanberis, and pick up can be arranged, if you live further afield then I am afraid I will have to charge postage and packaging on top of this.

Ford Transit Van – Long Wheel Base – High top S reg – £700 ono

This is a great van for spending time away in, although it needs some work, the back has been converted to a basic camping standard, it also features a webasto deseil heater that would be worth almost as much as the van. It does need a new leisure battery.

12 Assorted Sizes of Quickdraw slings – £5

A selection of Nylon Slings – £15

1×240cm, 3×120cm, 1×60cm – barely ever used

4 Drive in – Screw out Ice Screws plus DMM Bulldog- £15

Suitable for up to grade III/IV ice and mixed climbing.

2 Black Diamond ATC – £5 each

1 x DMM Bug Belay Plate – £5

2 x DMM Vapour Axe – £30 each

The DMM Vapour axe is a fully T rated ice axe, that is lightweight and designed for ski mountaineering.

A selection of Steel locking gate carabiners – £15

A selection of Pegs, Copper head & Hand drill for Petzl bolts – £20

Slacklining Nylon tape – 20m aproximate length – £20

Random selection of wires – £20

Well I have been going through some articles I penned a while back, unfortunately they didn’t make the grade elsewhere, however it seems like my Snowdonia Mountain Guides Website, might be a great place to start placing them. This lastest one is about Tremadog. I might well place some International ones up there soon.

Well a busy day for me, I had a two hour search with the rescue team, although I had a leisurely start after missing the first text message. I then set about sorting out a new site I have finally decided to set up. The problem being I set up a joomla site via a sub domain, and the site won’t display.

Tech support say, no you have to set it up on the domain name not the sub domain. Interestingly the one click easy app they offer doesn’t do this. So I had to delete what I had done and start again setting up databases, and reinstalling the software. I attempted this manually but the computor said no! I have to say that they haven’t made the process easy at all, not for a techno twat like myself.

Anyway, deleting everything again and then I am going to upload everything again and start again. The joys!