2012

Hello Readers,

(Is it still ok to say Happy New Year in February?)

Happy New Year! This is my third year of writing this Blog. At the start of 2011 my approach to writing here changed slightly from me talking about a mountain each month, to me writing a monthly update on my general hiking, mountaineering and climbing pursuits.

I have throughly enjoyed writing here (and hopefully you have also enjoyed reading), but my ambition to write monthly reports is not particularly strong anymore, and there is little point me continuing without a desire to write.

One thing that has struck me, however, is how this Blog has forced me to look through my photographs after a walking/climbing trip and select a handful of photos from the hundreds I come back with. This is not a process that I wish to lose.

So, in 2012 this blog will take yet another direction. Each month I plan to select one (or maybe two!) photos I have taken that month which I wish to share (obviously they will still have an outdoor pursuits theme, but mayb not exclusively mountainous).

I hope in 2012 the old cliche that 'pictures speak louder than words' will ring true, and I look forward to sharing with you.

Enjoy

Mr Pin

PS. I will continue to update my Wainwrights Blog as and when I get the opportunity to climb some!

September - Skiddaw (& 8 other Wainwrights)

 Great Calva Sunrise

Cloudy Skiddaw Summit

This month was a Wainwright month! As such I've gone into a little more detail on my Wainwright blog!

August - Toubkal

Summit Height:

4167m

What?

Jebel Toubkal

When?

1st - 7th August 2011

Where?

Atlas Mountains - Morocco

Who?

James, Claire, Ben, Anurag, Emer, Chris, Ian, Kirsty and Henry  

It has taken me a while to get round to updating the blog this month, and that is because since returning from Morocco a new house, city and job has made life a little hectic.

Back at the start of August (not long ago, but seems like an age) I spent a week in the Atlas mountains in Morocco, and during a 6 day trek summited not only Morrocco and North Africa's highest mountain, Jebel Toubkal, but also the second highest Jebel Ouanoukrim. Ouanoukrim was certainly the tougher, more rugged and quieter of the two summits and therefore made a wonderful conclusion to the Atlas trek.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself here! Before reaching either summit we spent two very very hot days walking through valleys and over passes whilst staying in Berber villages and experiencing the mountain atmosphere and way of life. On the third day we took mule tracks up toward Toubkal refuge, a bunkhouse situated 3207m above sea level which served as a resting place for anybody on their way to or from Toubkal. It was here that the dice game of 'Heckmeck' was taken to competitive extremes, whilst we waiting for morning and the accent of Toubkal.

Scree was the word of the day on summit day, and this made an otherwise fairly straight forward climb much more challenging. Upon arriving at the iconic pyramid construction at the summit, all thoughts of the previous challenges washed away as we marvelled at the spectacular views in every direction. For me the most surprising thing of all was the fact that at 4167m it was still warm enough to wear a t-shirt, and whereas summits are usually not places to dwell, because they are often windy or cold, in this case we were able to spend a full hour at the summit relaxing, soaking in the views and eating lunch whilst enjoying our achievements.

Another night at the refuge, and a few more competitive game of 'Heckmeck' lead to a very early start as we put on our head torches and began our accent of  Ouanoukrim. We left behind the scree and began a scramble, and despite being slightly smaller quickly discovered that Ouanoukrim was a much tougher mountain to climb than Toubkal! On Ouanoukrim there were no other people in sight and simply a pile of rocks to mark the highest point, as such this climb maintained a sense of wilderness!

The rest of that day was decent, which was long and tough and really took everything that I had left (and a little bit more), but an evening of relaxing back in the valley, sleeping under the stars and sharing memories and jokes created a lovely and fitting end to a great adventure.

July - Waun Fach & Bye Bye Brum

Waun Fach

Summit Height:
811m

What?
Highest point in the 'Black Mountains'

Where?
Brecon Beacons


With?
Andrew, Richard, Lettie, Tam, Cerys, Geroge & Adam 

A fantastic weekend of camping in the Back Mountains at a quirky little campsite/barn/pub called Castle Inn included a pleasent and sunny hike up to the highest point in the Black Mountains; Waun Fach. The walk included a ruined castle, a ridge walk, peat bogs, a cairn island, a field of alpacas and a whole loads of tired looking fell runners.

Although Waun Fach was my 'Mountain a Month' this month, I didn't want my July blog to go past without the mentioning the following...



... Bye Bye Brum!

As I write this at the end of July I am surrounded by half packed boxes, since I am leaving Birmingham, my home for the last 5 years, to move to London. It's in this time that my passion for climbing and mountain walking grew due to the relatively short distance between Brum and the Peaks, Lakes, Brecons, North Wales etc.

My 'day to day' walking and climbing in the last 5 years has been in and around the city itself. This month I managed to do some of the the 'Best Bits of Brum' one last time (as a resident, of course... I'll be back for visits), and here they are;

Redpoint Climbing Centre

I'll start with Redpoint Climbing Centre, which is a brilliant, intesting and exciting place with an incredble ethos which seems aimed towards creating a climbing communtiy where, regardless of your climbing ability you feel comfortable and secure. The staff are fantastic, the routes are very interesting and grades are well varied. As well as going to Redpoint once or twice a week to improve my own climbing, as a teacher I've also taken many groups of pupils (once we took 100 in one day) and the experience that they have had thanks to the redpoint staff has been amazing.

One of the most impressive features at Redpoint is a stalicite in the middle of the centre. In my last week in Brum myself and fellow climbing buddies, Mel, Nick and Rog, went on our usualy Thursday night climb, and Mel (secretly) filmed my scampering up the stalectite one last time;

Canal Walks

Whilst living in Brum I've used the canals to walk/cycle to work, for short hikes and journeys into town. When using footpaths for convenience it's easy to overlook their beauty. I completed one last canal-based hike in my last month in Brum, and expereinced again the suprising contrast between the busy main roads (just a few meters away), and the quiet, calming canals. Suprisingly I think I'll miss frosty winter cycle rides to work which usually involved being attacked by geese!
 
Lickey Hills

Lickey Hills are my favourite walking spot in Brum! I've always enjoyed a trip to the Lickeys, and seem to discover something new there every time I go. During my last week teaching in Birmingham I helped out with a school trip to the Lickey Hills for pupils to have a 'taster' of hiking ready for the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme to be set up next year! I'm very jealous that I'm leaving the school just as the DofE is starting because with Laura running it, it is bound to be a fantastic experience for the pupils and the start of a real legacy for the school. Good luck Laura!

June - Quarry Quandary

Up until now I've not been a big fan of sports climbing. Most of the climbing I do outdoors is trad climbing, and indoor it's top roping.

For any non-climbing readers; Top roping is where you set up a rope at the top of the route, and then climb without needing to set up any protection as you go since there is always a rope above you. Trad climbing is where you use tools, such as nuts and hexs, and set up protection as you go, which is a much scarier process since you're often above your last piece of protection (so you can fall furthur), you have to rely on your ability to place protection and you can spend quite some time clinging to the rock with just one hand trying to get the right size nut for the crack!

Sports climbing is the middle ground between top roping and trad climbing, it takes away the need for too much equipment by having fixed bolts on routes, but feels like trad climbing because you are still setting up your own protection as you go (and it still has the scary fall factor!). I really enjoy placing my own protection, but it does make individual climbs last a long time if you're not very quick at it, like me. Sport climbing can at times be even more scary than trad, since the bolts are often well spced out and, unlike many trad routes, you can't 'over protect' (put in more protection then you need to just to make yourself feel better). Since sports climbs need to have already been set up for you, there are only a limited number of places in the UK where it is possible.

So, as somebody who wasn't a big sports climbing fan, my trip to Bector Quarry in June managed to totally change my mind. The weather was wonderful, the quarry was deserted, and so after a reatively late start, we were still able to get a full 7 hours of climbing in (before the rain came) without spending too much time messing around with equipment. We managed 8 different routes with most of those routes repeated, and as such were really able to push up our outdoor grade! The final climb of the day, Vicious Eyes, was at the same time one of the most wonderful and most scary outdoor experiences I have had.


So, I was wrong. Sports climbing is fantastic.

That is all.

May - Castle Crag

Summit Height:
Tiny! 290m, the smallest Wainwright

What?
Castle Crag (from Keswick), and 8 other Wainwrights

Where?
Lake District

Another 'Wainwright' trip this month, this time based in Keswick. Nine more Wainwrights to add to my lovely growing collection, which as always I'm listing here on my Wainwright Blog.

My favourite this time round was a tough call, but I've gone with 'Castle Crag' because, despite it being the shortest Wainwright, it probably has the most interesting summit I've seen so far. The collection of rocks in the quarry initially make you feel like you're walking on an alien landscape, and the summit itself is impressive in both view and structure. I was much more impressed by Castle Crag, the shortest Wainwright, then I was by Scafell, the tallest.  It's easy to see why Wainwright gave the Crag it's own seperate entry.

And also...

Avon Gorge

Determined to get the 2011 outdoor trad climbing season off to a start, Seb and I headed for Avon Gorge to complete and challenging and very fun 85m multi-pitch called The Arete/Bob's Climb (VDiff 4a). I don't usually mention individual climbing routes on this blog (I have a lovely brown note-book to write all those in) but the height of this multi-pitch made it a full day exersion thats worth a mention!

April - Helm Crag

Summit Height:
405m

What?
Helm Crag (from Grasmere)


Where?
Lake District

Friends, Families and Blog followers (honestly, I doubt I have any Blog readers who aren't friends or family, but it sounds good anyway), will know that in 2010 I started walking the Wainwrights, in the hope to 'collect' all 214.  I used the long weekend gifted to us thanks to a certain royal couple getting married as a chance to get a few more summits in.

Mel, Nick and myself stayed at Grasmere YHA, and spent 3 days walking, during which time I 'bagged' 8 more mountains, hills and fells, including the third highest in lakes; Helvellyn and my favourite of the weekend Helm Crag.

I won't go into any more detail here since I have a seperate Wainwrights Blog, but I wanted to feature Helm Crag as my mountain of the month due to it's impressive and lovely scrambly/climby summit.