Jim's blog

This land is your land

2012-02-08T20:17:00.000Z

Nothing much to add. I like the message on the guitar, too.

The snowman cometh

2012-02-04T06:34:00.001Z

A big dump of snow is forecast for London tonight. Combined with Rhiannon's 30th Birthday party, mad fun is bound to ensue.

Sometimes when you run

2012-01-28T17:11:00.000Z

Sometimes when running you can be surprised by a feeling of pure joy, which bubbles up from nowhere and comes from simple pleasure in exercise in the fresh air. At other times you can come out in goosebumps at the beauty of what's around you.

Running along the bund separating Southwold harbour from Walberswick marsh this evening I felt both. Later in the run I saw a Muntjac deer bounding ahead of me through the heather on Walberswick heath. It kept ahead of me for a while then stopped and watched me as I ran past, about 10 metres away.

Street food in Kolkata

2011-12-30T21:22:00.002Z

Here's a mad and beautiful little gem from Mongo Denoon and the ok catering success.

Chilled pet #1

2011-12-24T19:49:00.000Z

Chilled pet #2

2011-12-24T19:47:00.000Z

Dry-tooling at the Westway

2011-12-17T11:13:00.002Z

Last night we participated in a Fig Four dry tooling competition at the Westway. Nick's friend Ramon had signed us up to take part. Somehow we'd got the impression that this was just a bit of fun and that plenty of the participants were, like us, new to dry-tooling. So our hearts sank yesterday when we read on the Westway website that the competition would feature "elite climbers" and take place on the "super-steep" outside wall. Gulp. The less said about my attempt the better, a complete debacle. Nick did much better. Here's a clip of his first go. Ramon and others climbed superbly. As Nick put it, our effort compared with Ramon's was like watching Rotherham play Barcelona.

Roller-skating Santas

2011-12-07T13:33:00.002Z

Not quite sure what these two were up to, but they made me smile.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2011-09-18T18:51:00.000+01:00

I took this photo yesterday after seeing the new le Carré film at the Barbican. The film is excellent. This scene seemed to match the mood.

Proper adventure climbing

2011-05-04T19:42:00.001+01:00

Here's a video of Alex Honnold, James Pearson, Renan Ozturk and Mark Synott new routing and adventure climbing in the deserts of Chad.

Flags and fireworks

2011-05-01T10:24:00.002+01:00

Southwold being Southwold there are flags and bunting everywhere. It's good that events like the Royal Wedding are helping to rid the union jack of its Nationalist and Hard-Right taints. There’s nothing very threatening or exclusive about a flag that’s got a picture of Wills and Kate grinning in the middle of it.

There were fireworks last night on Gun Hill.

It was a clear night and a strong north-easterly wind made for some interesting effects as it blew the light trails inland.

New camera

2011-04-27T09:45:00.003+01:00

I’ve only ever owned Point and Shoot cameras, but last week I had a rush of blood to the head and went out and bought a good digital SLR. Over the last couple of days I’ve been taking my first steps into a whole new world: of shutter speeds, lenses, light sensitivity, metering, apertures, white balance and so on and so on. It’s dizzying, but exciting too.

Yesterday I packed the camera and cycled over to Reydon Wood. The wood is well known for bluebells at this time of year, and there were a couple of serious photographers already wandering its paths, carrying large tripods and enormous zoom lenses, when I arrived. As one of them passed me, he remarked “too little sun, too much wind”. I mumbled something in agreement, feeling a complete charlatan.

Anyway, a couple of the photos came out ok.

I cycled on, further inland to the small old flint church at Blyford. From a previous visit I remembered clear glass windows and a whitewashed interior, which I thought might offer good light for a photo on a cloudy day.

Someone had put flowers in an alcove under a window, for Easter:

On my way back to Southwold I passed a pig farm, and a cock pheasant in a field. The photos I took aren’t very good but I’ve posted them anyway. Some of you may be getting a little bored with all the flower shots.

East Suffolk at Easter

2011-04-26T09:25:00.004+01:00

I’m up in Suffolk for a few days. The long weekend has been sunny and warm, without a cloud in the sky.

I got up early on Easter Friday and saw the sun rising over Bramfield church. Double-click the photo to see the rabbits in the field.

The Suffolk landscape is at its best just now, with bright green spring growth and flowers everywhere.

The apple tree in R and C’s garden is in bloom.

Early on Easter Monday, R and I took Poppy for a walk across the heath land and through the woods around Westleton. We heard a nightingale singing in a gorse thicket.

Being with a dog makes walks a lot more fun.

North Norway Ice: a Guideblog

2011-03-26T08:28:00.008Z

Nick's put together a Guideblog for ice climbing in the Lyngen area. The idea is to put in one place all the information a climber might need for a trip.

There'll be lots of stuff we haven't covered, so we'd be grateful for any further information or comments.

Back to work

2011-03-21T19:12:00.001Z

I had mixed feelings about returning to the UK. But spring has arrived, the leaves are coming out on the trees and it was a balmy 15 degrees today. I returned to more than 1300 unread emails at work, but am sustained by what was a truly great trip.

My work colleagues enjoyed the dried reindeer meat.

Here are a few more photos from Norway:

Just Another Morning

2011-03-18T20:57:00.002Z

From yesterday:

Just Another Morning from Jim on Vimeo.

Stuff we haven't had time for

2011-03-18T17:00:00.005Z

Hattavarri: two climbs at about 90m, plus a shorter one, all believed unclimbed
Kitdalen: a big icefall off the end of the valley, long-looking walk-in
Spansdalen: large number of icefalls (15-20?)
Kvalvik: remainder of the Seven Sisters
Kafjord: we heard about a canyon further southwest from where we climbed, including a 120m M6/WI5+, 80m WI6 X and WI7- X 170m
Nordkjosbotn: good-looking WI4 above the town
Furuflaten: a series of climbs on an escarpment above the village
Tunnel north of Furuflaten: long WI3-4 above the road tunnel
Between Skarvdalen and Birtavalen: another above a road tunnel
Opposite Lyngspollen on the east side of the fjord: a hard looking climb high up towards the top of the escarpment above the road (the main pillar of which collapsed while we were here).

I'm sure there's lots more. Someone with skis and a sense of adventure could probably find lots of virgin ice, too.

Last climb

2011-03-18T16:56:00.005Z

We chose one of the Seven Sisters of Kvalvik as our last climb. It was, as usual, steeper than it looked. I led the first pitch, Nick the second. Nick had to weave about to find good ice. Even that kept fracturing in great dinner plates, adding interest to the lead.

A good WI4+ 160m, of which 60m was snow-plodding between ice pitches.

After that we drove to he largest town in the area, Nordkjosbotn, 50km south of Skibotn, to get cash to pay Stein-Are's dad for the cabin. We had coffee and cake in the town and picked up a few beers at the big Coop supermarket for our last evening.

It's been a superb trip. For the first couple of days we were a bit concerned that we wouldn't find enough ice at our grade but after some scouting and some advice from Kjetil and Aadne we found a bounty of very good climbing, more than enough in the area around Skibotn for our 3-week stay.

And we saw no other climbers, not one in 3 weeks!

Furuflaten

2011-03-17T16:35:00.008Z

We woke early, to hear wind gusting around the cabin. The sun was out but we didn't fancy cold windy belays. Over our now standard breakfast of muesli with yoghurt, banana and raisins we worked through our dwindling list of ice venues would be sheltered from a south-easterly.

In the end we plumped for our original choice, a climb Kjetil had mentioned, and that we'd seen in a valley west of the road at Furuflaten.

By 09:30 we were at the base of the icefall, which was out of the wind. It looked to be a fairly short and easy climb but by now we'd learned that appearances can be deceptive up here. Part of the fun of there being no guidebook. As we were gearing up Nick remarked that "if it wasn't for foreshortening no-one would climb anything."

I led the first pitch. About halfway up the icefall I was nearing the end of the 60m ropes, so belayed and brought Nick up.

Nick led on, sending ice whizzing down. I didn't manage to dodge all the incoming fire and, for the 2nd time this trip, took a small piece of ice on the bridge of my nose.

The 2nd pitch was steeper than it had looked, as well as longer. The climb is a good, 110m WI4.

There were white horses on the waves in the fjord as we drove back to the cabin.

Stein-Are's dad came round after we got back. He's given us the key to the sauna and said to fire up the sauna's wood-burner today and tomorrow too if we like. The sauna is heating now.

Best day of the trip so far

2011-03-16T12:47:00.001Z

Here's a video of yesterday's goings-on.

Hattavarri Prime from Jim on Vimeo.

The iceman sleepeth

2011-03-16T10:28:00.003Z

All sorts of rationalisation has been going on as to why we aren't climbing today. "It's warmed up, tomorrow will be colder". "We need to conserve energy for the big one tomorrow" etc. Truth be told, we're wasted. Nick's gone back to bed.

Hattavarri Prime

2011-03-15T20:09:00.001Z

Aadne emailed to say he thinks no-one's climbed the icefall we did. Nick's first new route! He's named it Hattavarri Prime, after the mountain it's on.

An arctic day high in Tamokdalen

2011-03-15T19:07:00.005Z

We left the road heading northwest, snowshoes crumping in the snow as we walked up through birch woods for 45 minutes. At one point, as I waited for Nick, what looked like a Marsh tit flew up and sat on a branch five feet away, bold as brass, hoping for tastier food than the lichen or moss it had been taking off the birch trunks.

As we rose above the treeline a wide basin came into view surrounded by mountains. On the northwest side of the basin were 4 fine icefalls. Our approach involved a steep snow traverse high above a frozen lake, scary not so much for avalanche potential but because a mis-step would have led to a steep and very long slide down to the lake. It took 3 hours to reach the base of the climb from the car, most of it on the traverse.

We chose the second climb on the left, the steepest. It turned out to be 90m WI5, the second pitch just off-vertical for 50 metres. Another cracking lead by Nick, and a superb climb.
Thanks Aadne!

Dinner is chicken & pesto pasta with cheese, salami and veg, an easy favourite of this trip.
Nick has just remarked, "my head and heart want to climb tomorrow, but my body isn't willing." Let's see. It was a big day.

New routing?

2011-03-15T05:03:00.000Z

Today we are going to follow a tip about ice hidden away a couple of kilometres from the road in Tamokdalen. The tip came from Aadne, a friend of Kjetil who lives and climbs locally. Apparently a lot of the ice there has never seen an ice axe. Exciting!

Simpletons climb at Kafjord

2011-03-14T18:15:00.001Z

We had an "off day" today. We weren't engaged mentally and everything was harder work than it should have been. No disasters though, and in the end Nick led a steep 60m WI5, so all was not lost. The climb is to the left of the first climb of the trip in Kafjord.

Here's a clip from today.

Simpletons at Kafjord from Jim on Vimeo.

The moon's out so we may see the Northern Lights tonight. Toby emailed to say he saw them 3 nights running in Spansdalen!
Red Thai chicken curry for supper.

The cathedral climb

2011-03-13T20:43:00.004Z

We got up at 05:30 feeling refreshed from our rest day and lots of sleep. The plan was to climb an icefall high on the escarpment by Kvalvik, and we were expecting a long, steep approach. In the event the approach wasn't as tough as expected - we reached the ice in an hour and a half. We could have slept in!

There was evidence of another climbing party before us: snowshoe tracks on the approach and V-threads in the ice. But in 16 days we still haven't seen any other climbers.

The icefall is about 30m wide at its base, tapering with height. The first 2 pitches gave excellent climbing past some strange ice formations:

Here's Nick belayed in an ice cave at the top of the 2nd pitch.

Exiting the cave and climbing up past it was scary. The ice was chandeliered and so didn't offer Nick any icescrew placements for a good few metres. It involved stepping up on small mushroom formations which didn't feel too secure either. It was another impressive lead by Nick. Further up the 3rd pitch Nick's axe broke through to the stream running underneath, which burst out and poured down the ice - and onto me as I followed.

It was another fine climb, a 170m WI4+/WI5. Approaching the top:

A rest day

2011-03-12T19:52:00.000Z

We woke up to the news from Japan. Truly terrible.

This morning we both felt a bit jaded after 8 days climbing on the trot and so decided to have a rest day. Not much to report. I cooked bacon and eggs (thanks for the bacon you left, Toby, delicious!) then after breakfast we went back to bed and slept until noon.

Stein-Are popped in for a chat this afternoon. He and his wife are over visiting his dad for the weekend. He fired up the sauna for us, a fine woodburner-heated one. He said it's traditional to swim in the river afterwards, but we copped out and had cold showers instead.

Tonight's dinner was baked salmon with new potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and Lofoten fiskesaus (white fish sauce). We'll be in bed by 21:30: we're planning to climb a big line high on an escarpment across the fjord, and need to be up early.

It's a cold clear night, but still there's no sign of the aurora borealis. Nick said it could been seen from Aberdeen in the last few days. Typical.

Domestic life at Cabin 7

2011-03-12T13:33:00.000Z

Domestic life at Cabin 7 from Jim on Vimeo.

Gullyvers Reisen

2011-03-11T18:13:00.005Z

We woke up to a cold, clear and sunny day. The salmon on the porch was still frozen solid (there is no freezer compartment in the fridge so we'd hung it on the washing line).

On the drive north to Kafjord a large bird flew in front of the car. At first we both thought it was a crow but then we saw it was much bigger - it had a 6-8 foot wingspan. It was a sea eagle. It turned its head to look down at us as it flew.

Further along the fjord, fish were being dried on large wooden frames.

We parked at the end of the road at Kafjord and walked in to the foot of the climb we'd run away from last Friday, Gullyvers Reisen, a 130m WI5.

Nick led both pitches. The first had a vertical, almost overhanging section. The second was a long steep climb up the back of a deep cleft. In contrast with the soft, wet ice on yesterday's climb, the ice today was almost like glass - smooth, hard and polished. I kept having to duck as ice dislodged by Nick whizzed down towards me, rebounding alternately off the rock wall to the left and the ice wall to the right.

For the first time this trip we saw evidence of other climbers - cord left in abolokovs by a party asbeiling off. There wasn't an abolokov at the top of the climb though, so Nick put one in:

On the drive back to the cabin the views were stunning. The snow on the mountains across the fjord was blue in shadow except where their tops were picked out in orange by the setting sun, and the sky above was pink. The air was so clear that you could see the mountains tens of miles north at the head of the fjord. There was a feeling of immense space.

Sunshine in Signaldalen

2011-03-11T05:20:00.002Z

Here's footage of our exploits yesterday:

Signaldalen from Jim on Vimeo.

Soppingfossen

2011-03-10T21:27:00.003Z

Toby, Jody and Earendel left this morning for Spansdalen. We enjoyed having them stay. (Earendel didn't actually stay with us - he camped down by the fjord. Hardy!)

While they were trying to fit all their stuff into Earendel's VW, Nick and I left and drove back to Signaldalen. We parked where the road crosses the river and set off to walk in to what looked like a good steep climb with a long pillar on the north side of the valley. On the approach we had to skirt up the sides of the gully to avoid big holes in the ice full of water from the stream. The sun was out for a change. The only sounds were of running water and our snowshoes breaking through the snow crust as we plodded upward.

I led the first easy pitch up a couple of steps, then waded through deep snow up to the base of the main pillar and belayed. Nick then set off to climb the main event, a slightly off-vertical 30m pillar, as I held the ropes gloveless in the warm sunshine.

A drawback of the warmth and sun was that the pillar was streaming water, and the ice wasn't great for placing ice screws. Nick shouted with relief when eventually he was able to place a good screw. He was drenched by the time he arrived at the belay, and shouted down to advise wearing my waterproof shell when I followed.

From the belay at the top of the pillar I struggled on upwards through waist deep snow until we were on an easy-enough angled slope to put on the snowshoes and bag the ropes. There followed an epic descent through trees, the snowcrust holding our weight sometimes but more often breaking so we sank to our knees or deeper.

Finally we reached a track and a man approached on a skidoo. He was curious as to what we were up to. When Nick told him he said, "that's a little bit crazy".

The Brown Smear

2011-03-10T17:26:00.001Z

Here's footage of Nick leading, and me following yesterday's first climb.
\

Brown Smear from Jim on Vimeo.

Brown Smear, and a reccie for ice

2011-03-09T17:39:00.003Z

The moose hash was very tasty indeed. Moose meat tastes like slightly gamey beef. We had moose and cheese sandwiches too, and Toby made salad on the side. Normally I eat healthily but I'm afraid this was probably the first salad I've ever eaten on a climbing trip.

Today we drove south towards Hatteng and parked by the side of the fjord where we'd seen a yellowy-brown ice pillar. It turned out to be a 32m WI4. Nick despatched it in short order.

We then joined Toby, Jody and Earendel to play on a wide, fat 40m WI3 a few hundred metres south. Climbing equipment manufacturers send Toby samples of their gear to test and review. Here's Toby giving some new ropes a good testing!

It seemed strange being at a crag with other people. One of the striking things about this trip is that we have seen no other climbers at all, not a single one in 10 days of climbing on great ice in fantastic surroundings.

We then decided to explore Kitdalen and Signaldalen valleys, accessed from Hatteng at the south end of the fjord. We found a good-looking multipitch ?WI4 at the end of Kitdalen valley, and so many icefalls in Signaldalen valley that we lost count. Signaldalen is higher and feels remote, with impressive mountains at each end.

The sun came out today and the skies are clear now. We may see the Northern Lights yet.

Melting ice, and moose hash

2011-03-08T17:58:00.002Z

We woke up later than usual (after 7!) to find that there was no electricity in the cabin. I rang Stein-Are's dad and he popped round, cheerful and smiling as ever, to say he'd sort it out. Luckily Jody found that the kitchen block still had power so we were able to brew tea. Phew.

We drove up to Kafjord again, had a closer look at a couple of promising-looking lines, but didn't fancy the steep walk-in after yesterday's slog, so we drove back towards Skibotn again until we saw a straightforward-looking roadside ice crag.

It was my turn to lead. It turned out to be a 60m WI3 with a steep step to start with. A longer, vertical final step would have made it WI4 but I wimped out and chose an easier line to the side. My confidence isn't there yet.

As I type Jody is cooking Moose hash. He knows someone who hunts, then arranges to have some of the moose meat canned. Moose can weigh 700kg so one of them would fill quite a few tins. He's mixing the meat up with mashed potatoes. It smells good!

Roadside my a***

2011-03-07T20:36:00.012Z

Toby, Jody and Earendel joined us at the cabin at first light, looking only slightly worn after an epic 17 hour non-stop drive from Helsinki. They're here for 3 nights before heading south to Spansdalen. Nice lads.

After eating our standard muesli/banana breakfast and making our standard cheese and salami sandwiches (we packed our gear last night - yey!), we set off north again to have a look at Gehsteig, a WI5+ graded climb next to a climb called Roadside.

As it turned out, although the climb is visible from the road up on the hillside, getting to it involved a two and a half hour slog uphill through deep snow between boulders and trees. Here's Nick with the end in sight.

Nick then did probably the best leading I've ever seen him do, up a long, sustained vertical section on the first pitch and finishing up a pillar on the second pitch, which boomed as we placed our axes.

Here Nick is (click to see him) towards the top of the first pitch.

After abseiling off in one, the journey back down to the car took only 25 minutes. We arrived tired but satisfied and buzzing after a top day.

Tamokdalen dagger

2011-03-06T20:10:00.003Z

This morning we scouted north for a WI5 we'd heard about on the internet. We found it about 25km north but the ice looked a good 2 hours walk from the road and we were by then too late for such a long day. We plan to go back tomorrow with an early start.

Instead we drove south to Tamokdalen valley south of Skibotn, where we found some ice crags to the left of the road:

After a short trudge uphill Nick led up to an ice dagger (click on the above photo to enlarge), which he then climbed as I watched agog. A very impressive lead.

When I joined Nick at the top he pointed out I had blood on the bridge of my nose. I must have been hit by ice he'd dislodged on the lead, without noticing.

Here's Nick at the top setting up an abolokov (a V cut into the ice then looped with cord, from which you abseil). We've been doing a lot of abolokov abseils this trip - the trees are small here!

More "Scottish" than Scotland

2011-03-05T21:05:00.001Z

Here's short clip from the walk-in this morning. The language isn't for the sensitive:

It doesn't have to be fun to be fun from Jim on Vimeo.

Harder than it looked

2011-03-05T20:13:00.003Z

Today we revisited the west side of the fjord to look at one of the lines we'd seen on Wednesday. The southern half of the fjord had seen less snow but as we drove north it was deeper on the ground. As we parked more snow started falling, quite heavily. Faced with driving back and sitting around the cabin for another day we put on the snowshoes and walked northwards past our Wednesday climb.

After a slog upwards through deep snow we reached the base of the climb.

I led the first pitch which turned out to be steeper than it had looked, and the ice wasn't great for security of protection. So I gibbered and swore my way up, while Nick tried to keep warm on the belay. At the top the ice gave way to deep snow so I dug a deep snow belay and brought Nick up.

From where we were the rest of the climb looked short and quite easy. Here's Nick wading up to it through deep snow and almost losing the will to carry on:

The final pitch turned out to be 60m in length (it had looked half that) with a hard vertical top section. Here's Nick towards the top.

As we got towards the top the weather cleared, giving us good views across to the fjord.

Snowy day in Kafjord

2011-03-04T16:05:00.005Z

During our first climb of this trip we'd spotted a promising-looking icefall in a canyon on the north side of the Kafjord valley. Today we decided to have a closer look.

It was snowing gently on the drive up. The forecast was for snow all day, but there hadn't appeared to be snow slope above the icefall, so we weren't too worried about avalanche.

The approach climb up the canyon to the foot of the icefall turned out to be at a good angle for shedding snow, though. Nonetheless we still weren't too concerned as the recent weather hadn't been conducive to layering, and it felt stable under our snowshoes.

It wasn't clear which of two ice lines on the right side of the canyon we should take. We decided to try the lower one and Nick set off on the lead. Almost as soon as he'd started climbing it began snowing very heavily. Together with the spindrift blown off by gusts of wind the conditions were becoming truly "Scottish". Nick had to contend with a good bout of Hot Aches as blood started to circulate in his cold hands. After 45 minutes of trying to see Nick through the snow, quite a lot of freshly fallen snow slid past me down the canyon. The game was now off. Nick abseiled down, and we ran away. Again.

A good 6 inches of snow had fallen during our time in the canyon, and by the time we reached its mouth, we found ourselves in Narnia. Magical.
On reaching the car a half hour later there were ten inches of snow on its roof.

That should have been the end of this blog post. It isn't because on the way back to the main road I managed to drive off the road into 12 inches snow. I tried to reverse out but the wheels just spun. Nick applied the shovel but that didn't work either. Just as we were scratching our heads, along came a tractor. We flagged it down and the kind Norwegian driver attached a chain and dragged the car out in a jiffy. Nick videoed the scene before handing me the camera saying, kindly, "that has to go on the blog."

On the drive home I said "Well, at least since I'm doing the blogging I can give the incident some spin", I said. Nick said, "You'll have difficulty spinning that."

He's right too. In the video you can clearly see the red roadside marker pole that I missed before driving off the road.

Kafjord 2nd visit from Jim on Vimeo.

Game on

2011-03-04T05:43:00.004Z

Nick cooked fajitas last night. They were surprisingly good*. Chicken, of course.

Woke up this morning to find that it's still snowing gently but the wind has dropped. The plan is to return to Kafjord to search for a WI5 we saw in a report on the Internet. If we find it we'll need to look hard at the snow conditions above the climb and on the approach.

*I meant: surprising, given the paucity of Mexican ingredients. Despite spending 3 weeks with Nick in Canada, and a week in Spain, I'm still not sure how good a cook he is.

Running away

2011-03-03T10:43:00.003Z

We woke up to find it snowing this morning, with wind moaning in the chimney flue. We decided to have a "wee look" anyway, so drove back round the head of the fjord and north towards Lyngseidet. We parked, watched the snow swirling around for 5 minutes, then wimped out and drove back to the cabin.

Here's Nick choosing his breakfast in Skibotn petrol station. Cake!

I bought some smoked dried reindeer meat as a present for work colleagues. Chocolates are so passé.

Ice south of Lyngseidet

2011-03-02T21:16:00.001Z

This post will probably be of interest only to climbers. The video below is of some of the ice lines south of Lyngseidet. Most of the climbs are multi-pitch, from WI3 (probably) to WI6 (possibly) but certainly with some WI4s and 5s. A map follows showing where the video was taken.

Ice south of Lyngseidet from Jim on Vimeo.

Roadside ice-cragging

2011-03-02T20:38:00.000Z

Here's a clip from yesterday. 20km north of Skibotn on the E6.

Roadside cragging Norway 1 March 2011 from Jim on Vimeo.

Chicken fest

2011-03-02T19:35:00.000Z

When we got back to the cabin I dug the chicken out of the snow. All 2kg of it was intact, untouched by wolverines. I cooked a huge Chicken Jalfezi which we are still struggling to digest. The rest went in the oven and then into the fridge for the next couple of suppers.

There is under-floor heating in the bathroom. This cabin is amazing.

More ice than you can shake a stick at

2011-03-02T17:15:00.003Z

The forecast was for rain all day, but it was snowing quite heavily as we drove round the head of the fjord then north along the west side of Storfjorden towards Lyngseidet. We stopped for a coffee at Lyngenalp Lodge, then drove back south looking for ice to climb.

By the time we reached Kvalvik the cloud had cleared somewhat, and we spotted what looked like quite a short and easy icefall. A small road took us toward the base of the climb then it was on with the snowshoes for the short approach.

It turned out to be a 65m WI5, much longer and harder than it had looked. [Update: on consideration the climb is probably WI4+]. Here's Nick on the final pitch.

By the time we had reached the top the cloud had lifted giving us great views across the fjord. On the way back we saw several other promising-looking (and a couple of terrifying) icefalls along the escarpment we had climbed and the next one further north.

So we have found upwards of a week's worth of climbing, yippee. And Nick's a happy man now that we've found some harder stuff.

How to descend

2011-03-02T16:17:00.001Z

Nick demonstrating how to use snowshoes with panache.

Nick's jump from Jim on Vimeo.

Day 3: searching for ice

2011-03-01T19:17:00.001Z

We hired a very small car.

This morning we set off south-east from Skibotn towards the Finnish border. Kjetil had mentioned climbs in a gorge not far from the E8. After parking the car we first tried to descend to the gorge in just our climbing boots, but sank to our waists in the snow so we went back to the car for the snowshoes.

Once down we walked the length of the gorge along a frozen river. The ice climbs we saw were short and very easy, so we just enjoyed the atmosphere and the scenery. Kjetil had mentioned there are wolverine and lynx in the area. We saw some tracks but had no way of knowing what animal had made them.

Here's Nick crossing the river.

The climb back out of the gorge was a battle: even in showshoes we sank deep in snow and struggled to make headway.

It was lunchtime by the time we arrived back at the car, so we decided to have a look at some roadside ice about 20km north of Skibotn. It turned out to offer good climbing, 25m of off-vertical ice made plastic by the warmer temperatures.

Day 2

2011-02-28T12:20:00.001Z

We woke up to find it snowing and quite windy. Nick is feeling much better, but we've decided not to climb today. We drove south for 25km to meet Kjetil, a forester, park ranger and mountain rescue volunteer who works at the nicest municipal offices I've ever seen anywhere. He gave us coffee and biscuits in his bright, new office, then we got the maps out. He marked up the locations of quite a few climbs, enough to keep us going for at least a week, and gave us tips on climbing venues for different weather conditions. He also put us in contact with another keen climber. There is no climbing guidebook for this area of the far north, so we are very grateful for his help.

On the way back Nick discovered that the rental car we've been driving in for 2 days has 4 doors. He'd thought it had 2.

Here's a clip from yesterday.

Northern Norway - 27 Feb 2011 (day 2) from Jim on Vimeo.

Arrival and Day 1 - Kafjord

2011-02-28T08:32:00.009Z

We touched down at Tromso mid-afternoon on Saturday. Stein-Are, the son of the owner of the place we are staying, met us at the airport then kindly showed us the way to a supermarket. Food shopping in a foreign country when hungry and dazed from lack of sleep is not ideal. We ended up with a trolley half-full of Norwegian snacks and hardly any fruit and veg.

We left Tromso in the wet and dark and drove for a couple of hours to Skibotn. At Strandbu Camping, Stein-Are's dad met us and showed us the cabin. It's perfect: warm (with a wood-burning stove!) and has a good shower. No freezer compartment to the fridge though, so Nick buried 2kg of frozen chicken in the snow at the side of the cabin.

Woke on Sunday morning to find a magpie trying to dig out the bag of frozen chicken from the snow. The view from the cabin's porch is out over Skibotn river as it bends towards Lyngen Fjord. It's amazingly still and quiet here after London.

After breakfast we drove north up Lyngen Fjord, scouting for ice. Turning right at Birtavarre into a valley away from the fjord, we soon saw a couple of fine-looking icefalls on the right.

We turned round and drove back to a turning and small road which took us over a river and to a parking place 150m from the bottom of the route.
We tried out the snowshoes for first time on the walk to the route. Easy.

The climb we chose (the longer one to the right in the above photo) turned out to be a 240m WI3/4, of 5 pitches. Both of us found it easy climbing technically but it was hard work. I'm not as fit as I could be, and Nick, though fit, wasn't feeling 100% well. By the time we abseiled off (5 abolokovs) and got back to the car, Nick was feeling completely drained.

Arriving back at the cabin we had a visit from Stein-Are's dad and his daughter. I like him - keen-eyed and quick to smile. The purpose of their visit was to put us in touch with a local ice climber who works in the Town Hall 25km south of Skibotn. They rang him and sorted out a meeting for the next morning. Very kind!

Do you sell slippers?

2011-02-26T10:07:00.002Z

I forgot to pack slippers. As everyone knows slippers are essential kit for a climbing trip, so I scoured the shops in Gatwick airport for some.
"Do you sell slippers?" I asked the lady in Next.
"Er no. And you may have trouble finding slippers in a departure lounge"
Doh.

Weather obsession

2011-02-25T06:32:00.003Z

Nick and I are becoming weather nerds, checking the excellent Norwegian MET office site every day to pore obsessively over forecast charts for northern Norway. After a longish period with temperatures around -8C and little snow it looks to be warming up a bit over the next few days, with some snow on the way.

You may not be interested but we are. Very.
We fly tomorrow, hurrah.

Tiny mountain, big adventure

2011-01-19T18:20:00.001Z

Good footage of Ian Parnell and Tim Emmett climbing the hard Scottish mixed route Pick'n'Mix IX,9. I could never push the boat out that far!

Training for northern Norway: southern chalk

2011-01-03T19:26:00.004Z

Nick and I are off to northern Norway at the end of February for three weeks of arctic ice climbing. Inspired by the thought (and yes, it's VERY inspiring) we threw off our festive lethargy and drove down to the south coast for a bouldering workout on the chalk cliffs.

The cliffs sheltered us from the northerly wind, and the winter sun shone on our backs. So although it was the 2nd day in January we trained in T-shirts.

Of Gods and Men

2011-01-01T21:48:00.001Z

Powerful, very moving, beautifully shot and superbly acted. Go see!

New Year lessons

2010-12-31T20:00:00.001Z

Good blog by Ian Parnell about keeping "life's little speed bumps" in perspective.

Cold climbs

2010-12-21T22:30:00.018Z

Andy Kirkpatrick often hits the mark when he writes about climbing. His latest blog is about how today's middle-grade winter climbers can make a step up to grade 5+. His post includes this classic observation about the differences between climbing today compared with 40 or more years ago:

Buy [Cold Climbs] and sit and look at the pictures over and over. Look at the crap gear they had, cutting steps or swinging axes people wouldn't want to climb grade I gullies with. These men weren't gods, they just had balls. You on the other hand are also not a god, but to those guys you'd look like the ice climbing version of Predator; decked out with alien technology curved axes and mono points, boots that together weigh less than one of theirs, and clothing that you could nip up Everest with - not to mention 8.5mm dry coated ropes, cams, nuts, ice hooks, tri cams, helmets, GPS, up to the second weather and avalanche forecasts and UKC posts about conditions. So instead of flicking through Cold Climbs and looking how hard all the routes look, just think about the outrageous advantage you have over those guys. Frankly it's cheating.

Penshurst Place

2010-12-20T07:38:00.020Z

On Sunday I took a train down to Leigh, in Kent, and set off to walk through the snow to Penshurst. The walk takes you up a short hill and onto a ridge with views into a valley to the south. Soon a great house comes into sight, lying in the valley surrounded by fields and low hills.

I'm not a great frequentor of stately homes but the old house at Penshurst is fascinating. Parts of the house are medieval, but it was extended in the time of Elizabeth I. Other parts were added later but the house retains its ancient character. The great hall (below) was built in 1341 and is completely unaltered.

In the grounds is an old oak tree. Ben Jonson claimed that it was planted at the time of the birth (in the house) of Philip Sidney, the Elizabethan poet, in 1554. The tree is now known to be much older - nearly a thousand years old. It may have been a sapling at the time of the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066. Certainly the oak was already at least a century old when the original house was being built in the twelfth century.

Here's a short video I took on my walk:

Jeff Lowe documentary

2010-12-20T07:24:00.004Z

I'll definitely be getting this film about the life and climbs of Jeff Lowe when it comes out. More information, and an opportunity to back the project here.

Miso soup

2010-12-18T22:04:00.007Z

There's nothing more warming, healthy, and homely than a bowl of miso soup. Perfect after a day in the snow. Here's a recipe for 4:

1. Grind 100g toasted white sesame seeds in a pestle and mortar until sticky, almost like a paste.

2. Heat 800ml dashi stock in a saucepan. Before it comes to a boil, add 300g soft/silken tofu, tearing it into pieces first.

3. Gradually add 4-5 tablespoons of awase miso, stirring until dissolved.

4. Add the sesame paste to the soup and stir in well.

5. Bring almost to the boil then remove from the heat. Serve sprinkled with some ground sesame seeds and, if available a sancho leaf or some finely sliced spring onion.

So simple.

In our house we're working our way through a fine cookbook by Harumi Kurihara called Everyday Harumi: Simple Japanese Food for Family and Friends. Thoroughly recommended.

A snowy day in London

2010-12-18T17:39:00.037Z

I woke up this morning to find fox tracks in fresh snow in the back garden.

For someone who doesn't know what London's foxes are like, that opening sentence might conjure up a bit too romantic an image. City foxes here live on mouldy frankfurters and other stuff from bins. They smell pungent and earthy like the old tramps you sometimes find sleeping on the Tube. But they are truly wild, and when you meet them under the street lamps at night they're likeable for their insouciance. So it was a good to see that a fox had been about.

After doing some work this morning I walked through Green Park to Piccadilly to do some Christmas shopping in the West End. Green Park is one of my favourite London parks, and it was lovely under snow today. Here's a short video from the walk.

Snowy day in London 18/12/10 from Jim on Vimeo.

Extreme soloing

2010-12-06T07:39:00.007Z

Just seen this video of Alex Huber climbing Hasse Brandler, without ropes.

At one point he tests a hold with his fist to see whether it's attached to the face, before pulling on it. Terrifying.

Snow (1963)

2010-12-01T21:15:00.002Z

Britain is in deep freeze at the moment. Here's a good seasonal video, made for British Railways, showing what things were like in 1963.

Virgin Ice

2010-11-30T21:32:00.015Z

Here's Ines Papert climbing very steep ice on the Argentière glacier near Chamonix. Click on the link and watch full screen.

At one point she turns to the camera and you can see the intensity of the climb in her face. Give me axe hooks on a well-travelled route any time.

Bimbo... and Fanny

2010-11-25T07:18:00.008Z

Steve House and Marko Prezelj on Cayesh, Cordillera Blanca, Peru in 2005

If you're disappointed after reading that headline you may be looking at the wrong website...

The Suffolk coast

2010-11-23T07:00:00.013Z

The Suffolk coast is my home. This thought struck me, incongruously, halfway along a 3 week walk through the Nepali Himalaya in 1997. On the other side of the planet, surrounded by huge mountains, I suddenly understood that if I have a home anywhere it's on the flat east Suffolk coast. This wasn't homesickness: I was having the time of my life. It was simply that I suddenly understood what Suffolk meant to me.

My mum and her side of the family came from Suffolk, and when my brother and sisters and I were growing up we spent lots of holidays on the coast there:

It's difficult to explain why this coastline has such a deep hold. Family connections and childhood memories are a part of it, but it's more than that. Somehow, over time, the place itself finds its own way into your soul.

Andrew Hurst, in his introduction to Carl White's book of photographs of this coastline, puts it well:

All counties are old; but Suffolk gives us age that resonates. To reach the coast one drives for some time, or takes a train with changes to branch lines, passing through rich wool country with its prosperous Cathedral churches and its Constable pasture and woodlands. At last, after the confines of car or carriage, there comes the long walk over pebbles that steal your stride and make you work - really work, if laden with kit or children - before you come over two or three heavy drops to stand on the shore and watch the big waves crashing in and hiss away in retreat over the stones. Here is the big sky, the vast sea, the buffeting wind and mile after mile of shore - bending, curving, rounding, but going on and on to the unseen horizon.

This is no sun-spot or fairground attraction; there are no warm blue sea or crystal wave - yet for many it is the best coast that we know in all seasons, the most compelling, arresting and awe-inspiring. It dwarfs us, soaks us and chills us, yet it is hard to turn away from[...] It tells us [...] that we are small, insignificant in the end, and only here on terms that are not our own, but part of something which we cannot really comprehend. And this sense acknowledged, realised so gently, can leave us happier, cleaner, reappraised and refreshed, in ways a hot-sand beach never could.

MMmmm ....

2010-11-22T07:19:00.010Z

Nick and I drove up to Milton Keynes on Saturday, to the excellent Outdoor Shop. We bought snowshoes and other kit for our trip to Norway in February.

I had a rush of blood to the head and came back with a pair of Petzl Nomic axes. Of course, I'll climb at least 3 grades harder with these beauties... (ahem)

On Sunday Claire and I ran in the second annual Adnams 10K race in Southwold. Neither of us had been running much recently so weren't surprised at our slow finish times. I felt like I was running with a chest full of glue for the first 5K. After that my breathing eased but my legs wouldn't propel me any faster. We enjoyed it though.

Ice climbing is fun, really

2010-11-17T21:45:00.003Z

Demonstrate or riot?

2010-11-17T19:37:00.004Z

Here's a good analysis of the way in which demonstrations get hijacked.

Burma's lonely battle

2010-11-17T06:47:00.006Z

Victoria Brittain writes about what makes the Burmese struggle different.

With China's economic support, the junta can afford to continue to ignore the rest of the international community. Whatever Obama and other world leaders say or do, they appear to have no traction with the Generals. It's interesting how powerless the US and UN have been.

I guess that the leaders of the regime feel much more threatened by Suu Kyi and her potential mobilisation of the Burmese people just now. How long will it be before they lock her up again?

Freedom from fear

2010-11-13T08:58:00.024Z

The Guardian reports today that

After seven years under house arrest and 15 of the last 21 incarcerated in some form by Burma's military regime, Aung San Suu Kyi today chose one last night of imprisonment so that she might walk truly free.

I doubt Aung San Suu Kyi is thinking in those terms at all.

I remember watching an interview of Suu Kyi filmed in her Rangoon home during one of the brief periods of her "liberty". I can't remember the details but her main point was a powerful one, about what it means to be free.

Even during her periods of house arrest, she said, she considered herself freer than many people in Burma - including those who had locked her up - because, for much of the time, she was free from fear.

In 1990 Suu Kyi gave a speech about what freedom means:

The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit [...] A revolution which aims merely at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine success. Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration. It is not enough merely to call for freedom, democracy and human rights. There has to be a united determination to persevere in the struggle, to make sacrifices in the name of enduring truths, to resist the corrupting influences of desire, ill will, ignorance and fear.

Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who go on trying. So free men are the oppressed who go on trying and who in the process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities and to uphold the disciplines which will maintain a free society. Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.

As Aung San Suu Kyi leaves her house today and walks past the barbed wire into a city where (according to the Guardian) truckloads of police, dressed in riot gear and carrying assault rifles are stationed at key intersections, I doubt she will consider herself freer today than she was yesterday.

But while people like her exist there's still hope for Burma, and for the rest of us.

UPDATE at 12:00:

Suu Kyi has said a few words to the crowd outside her home and the first picture has been released.

She told the crowd: "we must work together to achieve our goals."

A beautiful tune

2010-11-08T18:59:00.006Z

Its called Comptine d'un autre été - L'après-midi by Yann Tierson

Scottish Wings

2010-11-01T18:54:00.001Z

Here's some inspiration for winter....

Chalk!

2010-10-31T18:13:00.009Z

Today Nick and I found the perfect venue for training for our February trip to Norway - the chalk sea cliffs on the south coast.

It's strange standing on a beach wearing crampons, though.

Marie Marvingt, pt 2: France to Reydon in Suffolk by balloon, 1909

2010-10-30T10:01:00.015+01:00

From Sports Illustrated, June 1961:

"The balloon held 900 cubic meters of hydrogen," she recalls. "It was called The Shooting Star and was the very last word in balloons. I'll never forget the trip as long as I live."

The Marvingt-Garnier balloon was virtually unnavigable. When The Shooting Star took off from Nancy [France] a rope connected to the ground tilted the gasbag and released pounds of precious hydrogen.The balloon sailed north from Nancy at an altitude of 1,000 feet over the German border, past the Krupp factories at Essen, past dazzled schoolchildren and peasants.

Because of the hydrogen lost at take-off, the balloon wouldn't rise higher than 1,200 feet. Near Essen the wind shifted suddenly and carried the craft northwest over Holland toward Amsterdam. "We were in the clouds most of the time," said Mademoiselle Marvingt, "but we thought after we reached Amsterdam that the most dangerous part of the trip was over. We knew we were losing altitude, but we knew that the Channel winds would sweep us over to England before nightfall."The wind did carry the balloon off the Continent and over the Channel. But the temperature dropped to below freezing, and the basket began to rise and fall dangerously close to the waves.

Before Marvingt and Gamier were five miles offshore they found themselves in the middle of a snowstorm.Marie threw out the last of the ballast, but still the balloon wouldn't rise more than 100 feet above the waves, often dipping until the basket actually was in the water.Night came, and the balloon continued bobbing into the choppy Channel. "My overcoat and wool stockings were no help," Marvingt said. "I was freezing. Besides that, we couldn't tell which way we were heading."

After battling the storm for five hours, the balloon suddenly lifted and rose through the clouds. Two miles distant Marie saw a light [of Southwold lighthouse] . It was the English coast. The balloon started to lose altitude and was headed toward the cliffs on the coast when an updraft caught it and lifted the pair over the top.

"It was still dark," Marie said. "We let out most of the hydrogen and put down in a pasture half a mile from the coast [in Reydon]. We barely had the energy to climb out of the basket. "

The Lowestoft Journal takes up the story:

The grounded aviator went looking for help and a man on a bike said she should have taken the ferry.

Another man later noted that he saw “a man with no hat on” gesticulating and talking rapidly in a foreign tongue – but shut his window and went back to bed.

Eventually four policemen were called to assist the adventurers. The next day, the balloon was packed up and, after purchasing several postcards, the pair left Southwold by train.

Marie Marvingt, pt 1

2010-10-30T09:06:00.026+01:00

Mlle Marie Marvingt at the controls of her Deperdussin airplane in 1912

Marie Marvingt (1875-1963) was a pilot, balloonist, athlete, mountaineer, inventor, nurse, and much more.

From the Air Ambulance Service site:

She was born on February 20, 1875, at Aurillac, France. Her father, Felix, a postmaster, strongly encouraged Marie to pursue sports. By the age of five she reportedly could swim 4,000 meters. In 1890, when she was 15, she canoed more than 400 kilometers from her home in Nancy, France, to Koblenz, Germany. She also competed in water polo, speed skating, luge, bobsledding, boxing, martial arts, fencing, shooting, tennis, golf, hockey, football, mountaineering, and also studied at the local circus learning rope work, the trapeze, horseback riding, and juggling. In 1899 she earned her driver’s license. Marvingt was just getting started.

Between 1903 and 1910 she was one of the first women to climb most of the peaks in the French and Swiss Alps. In 1905 she swam the length of the Seine River through Paris, won an international military shooting competition in 1907 and became the only woman to be awarded the palms du Premier Tireur (First Gunner palms) by a French Minister of War. She dominated the winter sports seasons in France between 1908 and 1910, collecting more than 20 first place victories, including the women’s world bobsledding championship in 1910. And to get a good look at a volcanic eruption, she cycled from Nancy, France to Naples, Italy.

When she was refused admission to the 1908 Tour de France because, after all, it was a man’s sport, she successfully completed the course on her own, covering more than 4000 km and traversing 8 mountain passes, while averaging more than 150 km per day. Only 36 of 114 male riders completed the course during the official race that year.

In March of 1910 the French Academy of Sports (Académie des Sports) awarded her a Gold Medal for all sports, the only multi-sport medal the Academy has ever awarded.

Looking for new challenges, Marvingt soon turned her attention to aviation, first with hot air balloons and later with fixed-wing aircraft. Her first balloon ride was in 1901, she piloted a balloon in July 1907 and soloed as a balloon pilot in September 1909. In October of that year she became the first women to pilot a balloon across the North Sea and English Channel to England. The Aero Club of France issued her a balloon pilot’s license in June 1910 and in November she became the third women in the world – the second in France -- to be licensed to fly fixed-wing aircraft. She was the first woman to solo in monoplane (single wing) aircraft, generally believed to be more difficult to fly safely.

In her first 900 flights she reportedly never “broke wood”, or damaged an aircraft, which was a remarkable feat. Among those who learned to fly prior to WWI, 87 percent are said to have died in aircraft accidents.

[During World War I, she impersonated a man in order to fight on the front lines as an infantryman. After being discovered, she became the first women to fly bombing missions over Germany and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre for bombing a German airbase. She also pioneered the use of airplanes as air ambulances.]

In addition to the many things Marvingt did to earn a living, including journalism, poetry, and hosting conferences, she was also a trained surgical nurse with the Red Cross and various hospitals.

Marvingt never slowed down. When she was 80 she earned her helicopter pilots license, and later flew over her home town in a US fighter jet, reportedly breaking the sound barrier.

Marvingt cycled across France at the age of 86.

Marie Marvingt's Wiki entry is here.

Émile Friant's 1914 drawing of Marie Marvingt and her proposed air ambulance

Chilean miners

2010-10-08T20:42:00.003+01:00

They're facing a media feeding frenzy when they come out, poor sods. Even the BBC are in on it. Everyone must see there's something wrong with this.

Portland

2010-09-12T17:44:00.007+01:00

The Isle of Portland isn't a pretty place. As Nick remarked during our trip there this weekend, it's character is dominated by quarries, prisons and council estates. But it is an interesting place. It has been quarried for centuries for the white-grey limestone, "Portland Stone", which was used to build the Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral, The Bank of England, the National Gallery and Buckingham Palace and (according to Wiki) the stone has been exported widely and was used in building the United Nations HQ in New York.

The climbing there is all bolted - not my favourite kind of climbing. The bolted protection removes most of the risks associated with traditional ("trad") climbing. Probably as a result, I can remember in detail only one or two of all the bolted sports routes I've ever climbed. Keen sports climbers say that the fixed protection allows them to enjoy better the simple physical pleasure of climbing without the distraction associated with having to protect the climb yourself. I imagine this is true if you are fit and strong enough to climb harder sports routes (good example here) but I'm too weak for that so I maintain that trad climbing offers far more complex rewards...

Anyway, we had a lot of fun climbing the cliffs above the sea.

The perils of climbing in Pembroke

2010-08-30T08:24:00.011+01:00

Just back from a week's climbing on the sea cliffs of Pembroke with Nick. Both of us had been to North Wales countless times, but for some reason neither of us had yet visited this beautiful place on the western tip of south Wales. We soon realised we were in for a treat: miles of seacliff, lovely secluded sandy bays some of which are accessible only by boat or by abseil, and excellent varied climbing on solid (mainly!) limestone in a place that felt like the end of the earth.
Here are some of the perils we faced:

Nick after being splashed by a wave, belayed on Armorican.

Before abseiling down to do the climb, we'd left our rucsacs behind a mound separating the cliff-top coastal path from a field.

Here's Nick retrieving our rucsacs afterwards, showing true courage in the face of a herd of interested cows, only to find the rucsacs covered in cow slobber.

Luckily they hadn't stolen our sandwiches.

Pleasure in movement

2010-08-11T22:03:00.001+01:00

Alizée Dufraisse "Arcadémicien" from frederic oddo on Vimeo.

Urban fox hunting

2010-08-07T06:06:00.007+01:00

Nice spoof from "a collective from Victoria Park who hate foxes". Particularly good work from Monty, the worst trained dog in the whole world.

Slovak Direct, Denali

2010-08-05T07:15:00.004+01:00

Nice video of this looong route on Denali, Alaska. Report of the ascent here.

Rowing the North Atlantic

2010-07-31T07:34:00.018+01:00

A British crew is a day away from breaking a century-old record for rowing 3,200 miles across the North Atlantic. They are currently 50 miles from their destination at the Isles of Scilly. They've been rowing for 44 days, having set off from New York on 17th June in a 23ft boat.

On the whole the weather has been kind to them, though on 30 June their log read "Had a very hairy night with at least three knock downs, more than a dozen swampings (difficult to keep count) and one capsize, and had to go in to survival mode to keep the boat upright. The seas were large, mainly five to seven metres, with the occasional huge 10-metre wave."

On July 16 it read: "Came off the sea anchor and have had a tough, tough, day, the seas have been pretty big and have been swamped several times and knocked down twice, we were hit by a huge breaker, a 10m wave. Mr Carroll went for a brief swim. We are longing to get back home to comfort, being dry and warm."

Mad as loons. Report here. Video clips from an earlier, aborted, start, here and here.

Update 1 August: They're in. They met the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner halfway across, video here.

The Dunwich Dynamo

2010-07-26T09:29:00.005+01:00

On Saturday evening Nick and I set off on our bikes from Hackney to ride the 120 miles to Dunwich on the Suffolk coast. Among the 1000 or so other cyclists departing in a long stream between 8 & 9pm was a man carrying a small dog in his front basket.

It was a mild night with a gentle following breeze. We saw some stars along the way but the full moon didn't rise. All the same for most of the ride we weren't in pitch darkness, something I was grateful for as I was using my weak-beam city lights. Nick of course had powerful twin-beam LEDs plus a helmet light. Riding in front of him when all 3 were on made me feel a bit like a rabbit caught in the beam of car headlights.

We missed the food stop at 55 miles so I had to resign myself to eating flapjacks and energy bars for the ride.

At 0230 at Coddenham I got off my bike and sat outside the old Crown Inn. Now a private house, in the last 15 years or so of the eighteenth century it was a coaching inn run by my great-great-great-great-great grandparents. After he died in 1802 she continued to run the place for another couple of decades.

After Coddenham I felt I was on home ground, which helped me cope with the increasing aches and pains. A few miles later I realised I was off-route when I found myself at Earl Soham, where my g-g-g grandfather was a (wind)miller in the 1850s. But I knew the route from there onwards.

The final miles were an endurance test, but I arrived at Dunwich beach at 0500 to find that the beach cafe was open, and selling beer. Bliss.

Update 30 July: good report on the Dynamo from Real Cycling

Latitude 1, Brain Cells 0

2010-07-20T14:18:00.001+01:00

Apart from a sharp shower on Saturday morning, the 3 days of the festival were blissfully warm and sunny. The standout act for me, by a long way, was The National who headlined on Friday and made my hair stand on end. They were bowled over by the reaction of the crowd and responded with a blistering set. Tom Jones gave a superb performance of songs from his Praise and Blame album on the main stage on Sunday afternoon, also loved by the crowd. Other standouts were the Supernovas and Kristin Hirsh.

The festival was as laid back and relaxing as ever, with it's old oak trees, lake and rolling parkland. I'll certainly be there again next year.

Latitude

2010-07-16T17:34:00.000+01:00

One to raise a smile

2010-07-02T21:04:00.003+01:00

On crabbing and zeppelins

2010-06-27T17:31:00.053+01:00

On Saturday afternoon I went for another fine ride through east Suffolk via Wangford, Uggeshall, Spexhall, Wisset, Huntingfield, Heveningham, Peasenhall, Theberton, Eastbridge, Westleton, Walberswick then back to Southwold.

The cycling was a delight, following small lanes all the way.

I've looked up the villages on Wikipedia. Spexhall is simply described as

A village in the north east corner of Suffolk, England. It is quite small.

True, but the entry for Wisset is a tad more interesting. After a visit to her sister there in the summer of 1916 Virginia Woolf commented that the village

seems to lull asleep all ambition. Don't you think they have discovered the secret of life? I thought it wonderfully harmonious.

The Wiki entry for Theberton notes that

on the morning of 17 June 1917 [...] the German Zeppelin airship L48 was shot down by Robert Saundby and others while it was on a bombing run. Sixteen members of the crew died in the crash, three survived but one later died from his injuries. [...] Part of the framework of the Zeppelin itself is mounted in the porch of the church.

From Theberton I cycled on to Eastbridge, a tiny hamlet so tucked away from modern life that it feels like it belongs to another time. The landscape is like Britain in the first half of the twentieth century, pre-industrial farming. When I first visited Eastbridge I thought of the hot summer of 1940: you could almost hear merlin engines overhead, competing with the sound of the bees.

A couple of miles further north I stopped for fish and chips and Aspalls cider at the White Horse Inn at Westleton. Fortified and now on the home straight, I rode on to Walberswick.

According to Wiki,

Walberswick [was] a major trading port from the 13th century until World War I. The British Open Crabbing Championship is held yearly

What a great non sequitur. It's difficult to believe that Walberswick was ever a "major trading port", let alone up until World War I. Unlike the Wiki contributor for Spexhall, I suspect Walberswick's contributor of trying to "big up the neighbourhood".

I can vouch for the quality of the crabbing there, though.

Kabuki

2010-06-15T19:53:00.003+01:00

Outlandish, exciting, energetic,
colourful, intriguing and just plain ... bizarre. Recommended.

More Suffolk summeriness

2010-06-13T13:47:00.001+01:00

Suffolk summer

2010-06-12T21:40:00.008+01:00

The poppies are out along the lanes between Cratfield and Cookley.
Suffolk is lovely just now.

One of the best ways to see it is by bike. Today I took a route through an ancient landscape, via the coast at Dunwich where a medieval town disappeared into the sea. Further on my route followed the straight line of a Roman road to Cratfield before wending its way along tiny country lanes, with fine views of old Suffolk farmland, to Cookley.

Tim Emmett leads Muy Caliente E10

2010-06-09T20:35:00.012+01:00

Here's a nice little video of Tim Emmett on Pembroke's sea cliffs. Best viewed fullscreen.

Since the film was made, he's led it. More on UKClimbing and Tim Emmett's blog.

God's Own Country

2010-06-03T19:34:00.009+01:00

By way of antidote to my last, depressing, post - here's a link to an altogether different place in Britain.

Know thy enemy

2010-05-29T09:01:00.014+01:00

The English Defence League uncovered, after a 4-month investigation by Matthew Taylor. Video here.

Don't remember his name

2010-05-28T21:30:00.005+01:00

Good blogging by Northern Light about the man accused of murdering the Bradford sex workers.

More Munro madness

2010-05-26T21:09:00.010+01:00

There's a serious attempt underway to break the speed record for climbing all 283 of the 3,000+ft mountains in Scotland. You can follow Stephen Pike's progress on his blog, here as he attempts this epic feat in about 40 days.

I hope he raises lots of money for the John Muir Trust, which works to protect Scotland's wild places.

I also hope he doesn't encounter too many dancing sheep, or jelly-fish.

Update 7 June: he's done it: 283 Munros in 39 days, 9 hours and 6 minutes. Amazing.

Dave Birkett repeats Walk of Life

2010-05-20T19:43:00.003+01:00

Dave Birkett has climbed Walk of Life, E9 6c, full report here.

I like Pete Robins' assessment of Dave Birkett's character: "Dave Birkett inspires me, ...he's got super-human Cumbrian powers of gnarl and you could imagine [him] charging down the enemy on the front line in a medieval battle."

Here Mr Birkett is onsighting a climb called My Piano, a bold E8.

Why you see so many smiling cyclists

2010-05-15T15:28:00.010+01:00

Iain Boal's chart of transport/motion efficiency.

London sounds

2010-05-13T21:54:00.011+01:00

Two hundred and fifty years ago, London sounded different. Nowadays we are used to the steady background hum of motorised road traffic, overlaid by the soft roar of aeroplanes and an occasional ice cream van playing "Greensleeves" in the suburbs. Then, London's streets echoed to the cries of street sellers.

A bit of colour

2010-05-13T20:17:00.012+01:00

courtesy of Jane's London. Too many grey suits recently.

Reasons to be cheerful, part 3

2010-05-09T10:08:00.013+01:00

Since Thursday's elections the focus of most of the media has been on the outcome of the parliamentary elections. There's been precious little coverage of the council elections, held at the same time. In London these local elections have greatly boosted Labour's power base, a fact that hasn't escaped the notice of London blogger Dave Hill:

The results of Thursday's London borough elections can be quickly summarised: Labour soared, the Conservatives slipped and the Liberal Democrats fell. Labour now has full control of 17 councils, a huge increase of nine, damaging both its main rivals in the process. The Tories gained one and consolidated in their strongholds, but have lost three where they were in overall control and had their numbers depleted in boroughs where they'd been working in coalitions. The chances of these again featuring in our Town Halls have been all but destroyed, because in most cases the Tories' partners had been Lib Dems, and it is they who have lost the most seats of all.

Dave Hill concludes

Set this alongside the successful defending of several key Commons seats [by Labour] and the fact that in parliamentary terms the swing towards the Tories in the capital was just 2.5 percent - about half that in the country as a whole - and you can see that there may be good grounds for thinking that a Labour comeback for the surely imminent post-Brown era may already have taken root in London's ever-churning political soil.

Full blog post here.