Wednesday Movie on Saturday

I am in western Ireland doing some fieldwork this weekend and posting all seems very topsy turvy at the moment so I thought I'd just post this movie now. So here is is a very nice movie about two guys climbing all over the World. Ends up in Riglos in northern Spain which is one of my favourite crags.
Enjoy...

Wednesday Movie - Shattered

"Our darkest fears are like dragons, guarding our deepest treasures"
Awesome ice climbing short here - pure poetry

Eastern Europe

This week I am mainly running into references to the former Eastern Bloc.
First there has been a lot of stuff going on to commemorate the 20 years anniversary of the Siege of Sarajevo. I t has always amazed me that while one side of Europe was squabbling about farm subsidies and fishing quotes, the other half was tearing it self to pieces.  I will also never understand how people can live as neighbours for 50 years and then one day start killing each other. Although the Scots hatred of the English that you sometime see up here; or Rangers supporters sending bullets to the Celtic manager, is perhaps an interesting insight into the strength of some peoples misguided ethnic identity and the hatred that it can produce.

Anyway back to the movies. The first was shot by a friend of Katharine's who was an NBC cameraman in Bosnia in the early 90's. Its very moving stuff.

And on a lighter note, it was only a matter of time before someone combined slack-lining and BASE and its no surprise that its those wacky Frenchies (whoops - bit of ethnic pigeon-holing there!)

Oh yes the other reference to the Eastern Block - I have been reading "the Freedom Climbers" by Bernadette MacDonald, the story of Polish high altitude mountaineering in the 1990's - its amazing

Wednesday Movie

More adventure sport stuff
Really nice surf video from the west coast of Ireland here 
Some insane wing suit flying here and here (you can skip at least first 30 secs of the second one if you are in a rush for your adrenalin rush)
Finally, Tim Emmett just completed his insane ice project Spray-on, while we wait for the movie to come from that its worth checking out his offering from last year here and some great footage but in Spanish here, you will understand muy loco!

Wednesday Movies - climbing

A nice compliation of climbing falls here, a strange person doing some wierd climbing here
And a nice, short ice climbing movie here

Off to Utah tomorrow. Looking forward to being back in the desert

Wednesday Movie

Not too much spare time at the moment but here are a couple of unrelated movies that I saw this week that I enjoyed.

The first is about a new dinosaur from Utah, not sure exactly where it was found but the description says Grand County near the Colorado River, so I am guessing its out of the Dakota or Ceder Mountain Fm. It is characterised by very large thighs and is proposed to have had an aggressive nature, so probably not to different to some of the ladies I have met in Green River and supporting a provinance in the Book Cliffs area...

The second is a climbing movie - Dean Potter soling a route in Yosemite. Cool, calm and totally in control, but its really worth watching for the final movie - amazing, my hands are sweating and its about the fifth time I have watched it!

Wednesday Movie

Bit rushed this week, but here is a movie I found a while back on UK climbing

It shows the insatiable Tim Emmett doing what he does best in Pembroke.
I used to know him a while back and he really is as enthusiastic and nice as he seems. A really top guy.

Its also interesting to note the vast improvment in the quality of climbing movies in the last 5 or so years. Hard Grit set the scene and they just keep getting better.

Anyway if you want to watch Tim cranking hard and taking big whippers at Pembroke, check it out here.

Highest Point in Norway

I always figured it is rude to live in a country and not climb it's highest mountain. So last weekend was my birthday and we headed up the the Jotenheim with the goal of walking up Galdhøpiggen which at 2469 m is not only the highest point in Norway but the whole of northern Europe - woooo!

Katharine arrived late-ish Friday evening and we drove part way and camped. Then drove the rest of the way to Spiterstulen and met Sandy and Helen. Set up the tent and went for a walk up the valley in some very spectacular scenery before cooking some dinner. Next day the weather was fine so we set off to climb the mountain. It's not at all technical but it's a fairly long hike with about 1400 m of ascent. The last half is across snow fields. Note to self - don't wear light-weight walking boots in the snow!

Great views from the top and well worth the trudge. There is something special abut being on the highest point that you can see and especially when that is somewhere as impressive as the Jotenheim. The summit cafe is a little off putting, but at least there is no train ferrying fat people to the top like on Snowdon and it was nice to get out of the wind. Slogged down, cooked food and then it started to rain! All in all - pretty lucky with the weather. Drove back the next day - Norway is a freakin big country, driving anywhere takes ages!

Definitly worth the trip. The mountain can also be climbed from the other side which involves a glacier crossing, which sounds exciting but the reality is hundreds of tourists paying guides lots of money to rope them into big long chains. It looked horrible. I would highly suggest the longer, less crowded route from Spiterstulen.

Photos to follow

Another great weekend - Yawn

Weather still stunning. Spent Friday night sitting on the terrace with Katharine and drinking far too much wine (about 2 bottles too much to be precise).

Pottered around on Saturday doing jobs and shopping, spent lots of money on the boat. The great thing about having a new toy is all the gadgets that get to buy to go with it, and boats are a whole new world! Saturday evening Ian and Ali and their offspring came around and we had a barbi and a very pleasant evening on the terrace.

Sunday went climbing to Lykøy with Scott, Katharine and Ceclie. It was very hot and mobbed by a bunch of tattooed Poles when we arrived but they soon left. The somewhat spectical, "I have lived in Liverpool for 10 years", part of me was convinced that they were going to rob all the stuff out of the car, but this is Norway and everyone is nice, even the visitors, so I was obviously and thankfully wrong. Did a load of routes and took a nice fall on a 6 which Scott dispatched effortlessly. I decided I was spent, my tips were trashed so he did another 3 routes, including a 7- to remind me how great it is to be young and fit!

Another barbi on sunday night and another evening on the terrace basking in the evening sun sipping beers and watching the world go by. Will this great weather ever end? Remind me that I said that after we have had 50 days of rain in November.

Summer in Bergen

Had a fantastic week – just finished a big project in work and things have relaxed a lot. There are only 5 people in the office now. Lunch is like being on some TV reality show as the numbers decrease by the day! The weather has been really nice so we have been out playing every evening. Climbed most of the routes at Atlantis on Monday eve with Katharine and she managed to led her first route – good effort. Went kayaking down at Glesvær on Wednesday evening. Really lovely conditions, no wind and a beautiful sunset.

Last night went to Gjøkeredet with Scott, Jamie and Camilla. The crag was basking in the evening sun. Scott and I climbed a load of routes, trying to stay on the steep stuff, away from the slabs which were greasy in the heat. Ended up trying to solo a traverse over the water and predictably fell in. The water was lovely and the subsequent swim was a great way to cool off.

This is life in western Norway at its best.

Photos by Jamie - next time please try and make me a look a bit more heroic and a bit less fat - Ta! :-)

The great thing about living in Norway is...

…all the fun stuff you get to do in a weekend!

Katharine has gone to the alps to hurl herself down a ski slope on my mountain bike with the Leppards et al. I probably would have gone with them except I am off to Oz in 3 weeks to play with my new motorbike in the outback. So I have been home alone.

Thursday night KJK was in town so we went for some food at USF, it was a lovely evening and we sat outside by the water, caught up and watch the world go by.

Friday night went out on the boat on my own. Headed in towards Bergen and explored the coast. Found so good potential DWS spots – just need to find somebody stupid enough to go with me. Explored around Bergen and tried to get a feel for handling the boat. It’s big, fast and a bit unsteady at speed i.e. fun but scary! Ended up heading around the back of Askøy, the north side of the island was a bit more sheltered so I opened it up and got to 38 knots. Not bad! The trip was a bit further than I thought and coming down the main channel on the landward side of Sotra was straight into the wind and some biggish waves. Almost ran out of fuel but made it back. When I arrived in the marina I realized that I had been smiling solidly for two hours. A good toy.

Saturday had a agreed to take the Pope and the A-man out for a spin. Picked them up with a guy called Paul at the Bryggen and we blasted out to sea. Very happy to see the boat was much more stable with 4 people in and we cruised at a steady 30, bouncing over some big waves. Everyone had a go at driving and we got it up to 40.7! Now just need to wait for a calm day… The Pope checked out some potential mountain biking on the footwall dip slope of southern Sotra – he has a theory that this place could be the next Moab! I am skeptical…

Ended up in Lysefjord, had an ice cream and then blasted back. Just as we came under the Sotra Bridge we caught up with a huge cruise liner, pushing out a massive wake. It had to be done! I gunned the motor straight at the 3m high bow wave and we tipped the crest and surfed down the front, getting soaked from the spray. The boys loved it, they were laughing so much I thought Atle was going to cry, in fact they loved it so much we had to do it again, three more times. By the end we had a pretty big audience on the ship, as Tor said, they probably thought it was a bunch of kids pratting around – they were right!

Saturday night chilled out at home and then Sunday morning Jamie came around and we headed down to southern Sotra and Jesusvegan for some trad climbing. Haven’t climbed trad for two years, what with having a broken ankle and all that. We found the crag after some bush whacking and Jamie opted to lead the first route. Two pitch little gem which he strung into one, with a tricky move through a bulge near the top. I lead the next route which was also a cracker, it felt really good to be leading on natural gear and although the route wasn’t especially hard it had its moments, pulling into a balancy scoop above the gear. Sitting at the top belaying with that post route rush, looking out over blue skies and the sea it felt great to be alive. This is what living in Norway is all about.

We did one more then came back for tea and the last piece of my birthday cheese cake.
Any weekend when you can play with your boat, climb trad and eat cheese cake is a good one in my book!

At last some proper climbing photos! Courtesy of Jamie

Climbing - Shock horror!

Actually made it out climbing last weekend! K was back in the UK for a girlie shopping weekend so I got some school work done on saturday and headed out to Øygarden with Jamie and a couple of his friends on Sunday afternoon.

We went up to Utevegan, which was fairly busy but the tide was right out which meant that we could get to some of the routes I have not tried before. We climbed non stop, route after route until my somewhat pathetic arms gave up the ghost... Jamie then did a couple more, just to further illustrate that I am unfit!

Felt great to be out climbing - note to self: must get out more!

Hiking in a wetsuit and other desert adventures

Student field trip went really well, great bunch of students, good fun and hard working. They left on Tuesday morning after a moderately big night in the Tavernacle (SLC) which saw Jonny and I dancing YMCA to some dualing pianos - I guess the videos will end up on youtube soon enough!

Once the students left Katharine arrived for a few days holiday. Spent the first day shopping etc in Salt Lake before heading down to Moab to play. Rented some bikes from Poison Spider and then headed up to the Slick Rock trail. I have done it before - well actually I have pushed a bike around it several times. I am sure there is a market for T-shirts that say "I took my bike for a walk around the SRT". This time managed to ride a lot more, got around in 3.5 hours even with a broken chain, a knackered ankle and no appendix, maybe it was the appendix that was holding me back! Anyway we had a great day.

Then headed into the San Rafael Swell and camped in Calf Canyon. The Swell is one of the true remote parts of Utah and ever since I first went climbing there in 1995 I have loved being their. Its incredibly dramatic and really beautiful with deep canyons in the blood red sandstone. It was great to be able to share it with K, we got a fire going, had a tin foil dinner and Andy turned up in his monster truck at 1am.

Next day we did a couple of routes, I seriously suck at climbing cracks but I got up everything ok with just the right amount of swearing and whinging. Then in the afternoon we decided to climb James Tower (aka the light bulb). Its called the light bulb because it looks like one - that simple. Three pitches, 5.10a/A1, should have been ok except this is a desert sandstone tower!

So I dispatched my crack climbing machine and he disposed of the first pitch with only a moderate amount of grunting. I then failed hideously to flash it and ended up upside down! It was the rucksac - I swear! Got up the first pitch with a tight rope, onto a great, very exposed belay with a nice view of the horrendous, run-out off-width that was the second. Luckily my crack climbing machine did the job again, although he was not quite cruising by this stage. Still he sent it and it was my turn!. Horror show, all sorts of nasty thrashing, swearing, skin loss etc. Eventually found I could climb the face much easier (only about 11b!) and struggled up that way.

Then it was just the bolt ladder of the last pitch to the top and we were standing admiring the view and whopping - only the 5 party in 2 years (according to the book in the ammo can) and another desert tower under our belts.

From their we drove down to the lower San Raf. for further adventure. Rounded a bend in the dust cloud to find Andy's truck hanging off the side of the road. Strangely reminiscent of the other day except he was just standing there with a huge grin on his face! He extracted himself and we drove on to meet a very worried German (Toby) at Goblin Valley. We were at the Goblins for sunset and K and Toby loved them! Andy told us how his eldset son just goes mad in the place. I can understand why.

We camped again and next morning drove for another hour on old Uranium roads deeper into the southern part of the Swell to canyon a slot called Sagers Hole. This part of the world is so remote and the scenery and atmosphere are stunning, but its tough country, those old miners were seriously hard!

Parked up and got ready. A cursory glance at the map suggested a 1 mile hike to the canyon entrance and given that the Canyon was supposed to be filled with water, I opted for a wet suit to protect my appendix op-scars which are still not fully healed.

A piece of advice - in fact two! First, look at the map properly, the walking in was about 6 or 7 miles and up a pretty steep hill! Secondly don't hike in the desert in May in a wetsuit!

Eventually found the entrance and dropped in. It was fantastic, very, very narrow and winding. Everything a slot canyon should be, requiring you to turn sideways and breath in, just to get through. After about an hour we found the first absail (but no water) which was dispatched expertly, even by K and Toby who had not done much before! They were in for a crash course in absails as a further 19 followed, getting progressively bigger and bigger. They did a great job and by the end of the day were pros.

The trip was everything a canyon trip should by, narrow slots, absailing, climbing out of holes with human towers and super beautiful, with some stunning geology. Only thing that was lacking was that all the promised water was gone. All the pots except a very few were dry! It made for an easier trip by made my wetsuit position even more ridiculous.

We found and rescued a mouse from one pot. The poor fellow was so hungry/dehydrated that when we dropped in he just came right up to us and let me pick him up. I put him in an empty water bottle then released him further down the canyon, probably to get eaten by a snake - but you have to try!

Dehydration was a serous theme of the day and even without the hike in a wetsuit the others were also running out of water. By the time we got back to the main canyon with the river in it everyone just wanted to drink the whole thing!

Long hike back to the car and it was dark by the time we arrived having dodging a rattler on the trail. All pretty knackered, it was a long and excellent day. Drove out to Green River and said goodbye to Andy and Toby. Andy was heading back to SLC and Toby was off to ride the white rim trail.

Headed to Moab with dreams of a nice bed and a big breakfast, called the Red Stone Inn to say that we would be arriving late and they informed me that they had sold our booked room. Utter, complete, total wankers! I had booked the room, given my card and told them that we would be late in. They claim they had tried to run the card and it failed - bullshit, it worked in the gas station in Green River and it worked later that night in Price. They just sold the room because they could - scum. Never stay there!

It was now midnight and there were no rooms in Moab or even Green River! Ended up driving to Price and getting in at 1am.

The following day we had a slow start then drove across the Uinta Basin to Grand Junction so that K could join her Statoil fieldtrip. Really nice road trip and great to be able to have a mental image to apply to a large, blank chunk of the map. After Grand Junction I drove on to SLC. A total of 700+ miles in a day!

All in all an awesome couple of days in the desert, biking, climbing desert towers, camping and hiking serious slot canyons. I love Utah.

Climbing outside... Spring is here

One of the things I love about living on Sotra, in fact part of the reason I moved out here is the climbing. There are a whole series of crags within about 30 mins drive that all face west and get the evening sun. The rock is a compact gneiss with excellent friction and there are several sports crags which are well bolted. Some of them even have a fire pit and people come out on summer evenings to hang out and tick a few routes. It is idilic, the obvious downside being that it rains for 2/3rds of the year!


The weather has been pretty nice for the last couple of days, we even manged the first bbq at the weekend, there is a definate spring feel in the air and its now light until 9pm. Tuesday night headed out with Sandy and Katharine to Gjøkeredet, the closets crag to my house. The goal, to get my first outdoor routes of the year and see how my ankle would hold up. We arrived at the crag at about 6.30 and were the only people there, great!


We did about 5 or 6 routes, I have done them all before but all of them are excellent. Was very happy to get up a 6+ with only one fall and a couple of 6 and 6- clean. Felt really good to be climbing outside and on real rock! Great evening, the air was totally still, the sun was shinning and the sunset across the island was beautiful.

I love living here when its like this...

First ice climbing of the year - feeding the rat...

The weather has been pretty warm for January and consequently all the water that should be falling as white fluffy stuff for skiing on has been falling as the more normal damp stuff. Its also been super windy, so the ski resorts that have had a sprinkling have been shut anyway. Had a half day at Voss with Åsmund and the highlight was when he face planted and ended up with a great scar on his nose.

This lack of boarding time hasn't bothered me as much as it might have done because I have manged to get some ice climbing done.

Two weekends ago, met a guy called Jamie via UKC and after a "date" at the wall we head for a tour of western Norway looking for the frozen stuff. It was raining in Bergen and all the way past Eikdalen and even Voss. All the stuff I had climbed previously was in the liquid rather than solid state. I love waterfalls but not when I am looking for something to hack up with my axes.

Jamie and I got as far as Myrkdalen before we found any climbable ice and even then it was raining, hmmm! But we found some single pitch stuff on the far side of a frozen lake. The footprints across the lake suggested it was frozen and folk braver than us had forged a path. At the bottom of the falls we found those brave folks toproping - as is common around here. We then climbed a nice little WI3, lead by Jamie and then an excellent WI4. Finally I lead a suprisingly steep WI3 before it was dark and we headed home.

The following weekend Simon Dale came out to visit and we headed back to Myrkdalen with Sandy, this time to the other side of the valley. Found some excellent ice and Sandy quickled dispatched a WI3 followed by my efforts on a really nice WI4 which Simon added a top pitch to. Finished in the dark and headed back to Bergen feeling pretty chuffed. Posted some good pics on UKC if you want to see.

After a night on the beers, Simon and I headed far inland into Flåm where we caught the amazing flåmban train up to Myrdale. Fantastic day, no wind, blue skies and no one else around. It was pretty late by the time we arrived and we only manged one route but it was awesome, very solid WI4 and well worth the trip. Got bollocked for walking on the railway line before heading back to Bergen via the Pizza shop in Voss.

The following day, both Simon and I were to trashed to climb so we checked out the crags on Sotra and Simon made plans for a summer visit.

Its been snowing since last weekend I am climbing pretty well at the moment but also feeling like the rat is fed for a few weeks and my new board is calling...