First Lift Fun and Bad Weather

Perhaps the ultimate test of speed on routes in the alps is to wake up in a warm bed in town, make it for first lift up the mountain, climb the thing to the top and make it down to town in time for drinks and ego-petting that evening. This way you can climb big 1000 metre routes which may usually take a bivi before and after, in one rather full day. Well that's the plan.

Unfortunately, the bad weather that caught us that afternoon has more or less stuck around since. I've been taking advantage of this to train, touring up pistes from the valley floor on my short ski's and doing endless reps of dry tooling routes. Training for what? dunno, hopefully something big before alaska in a month's time.

Pengasihan dengan Metode Makanan

Untuk menarik cinta seseorang itu sangat banyak yang dapat dijadikan sarana, banyak jalan menuju cinta. Diantaranya adalah melalui makanan yang dihidangkan.
Berkat dengan ke izinan Allah SWT, maka sidia akan memberi tanggapan positif lalu jatuh cinta kepada anda. Berikut ini cara yang harus dilakukan sebelum makanan dihidangkan pada pujaan hati:

-Bacalah basmalah sebanyak 133 x
-Baca Ayat berikut ini:
“Farouhun waroihan wajannatunnaiim, faman syaa a dzakaruhu fi shuhufin mukarromatin marfuu’atin muthohharotin bi aidii safarotin kiromin baroroh, qul ingkuntum tuhibbunallaaha fattabi’unii yuhbibkumullaah wayaghfirlakum dzunuubakum wallahu ghofuururrohiim walahaulawalaa quwwata illaa billaahil ‘aliyyil ‘adhiim”

bacakan sebanyak 7x,kemudian hembuskan pada makanan yang di hidangkan pada orang yang
kita tuju.

Ilmu Liler Nabi Daud

Untuk menguasai ilmu Liler Nabi Daud, tidak susah yang, terpenting adalah keyakinan serta tekad yang bulat. Ilmu ini bisa diamalin oleh pria dan wanita.

Penguasaan ilmu Liler Nabi Daud, anda harus bersih raga dan rohani dengan berpuasa sunnah, dimulai dari hari kelahiran anda. Sebelum puasa, anda haruslah mandi keramas.

Adapun niat berpuasa adalah untuk mendapatkan ridho dan izin dari Allah dalam mendapatkan ilmu Liler Nabi Daud. Untuk menyempurnakan ilmu ini, puasa dilakukan selama 7 hari berturut-turut.

Pada puasa hari kedua dan seterusnya, bacakan ajian ilmu Liler Nabi Daud pada tengah malam sebanyak 7 kali. Pembacaan ajian tersebut dilakukan sambil membayangkan orang yang hendak dituju.

Adapun ajian Liler Nabi Daud adalah sebagai berikut :

Bismillahirrahmannirrahim

Sapati kumbang bandangung-dangung

Dangukan pulo suaraku

Sapati bayi laparkan susu

Tangihkan hati si........

Ketiko mandanga suaraku

Hilang raso, hilang sukmo

Tunduak hati, tunduak kasih si.......

Berkek aku memaki liler suara Nabi Daud

Ooo............simangat..........3x

Datang dan rindukan wajahku

hadir.....hadir......hadir..1x

Setelah berpuasa, anda dapat menggunakan ilmu Liler Nabi Daud. Pada saat berbicara langsung atau lewat telepon cukup dibaca 1x. Ajian dibacakan saat orang yang dituju sedang berbicara kepada anda. Setelah ajian dibaca hembuskan nafas dimulut secara perlahan ke arah orang tersebut atau ke telepon.

Agar lebih mudah digunakan, anda harus menghafal ajian tersebut. Sebagai informasi Ilmu Liler Nabi Daud dapat juga digunakan untuk agar disenangi dalam percakapan, atasan, sales yang menjual barang dagangan ataupun transaksi bisnis yang sering menggunakan telepon.

Neil Mawson

As Ruth, my girlfriend, and I set off in our van for Spain at the start of October our confidence was high as I'd just redpointed Cry Freedom F8b+ the day before and Ruth had redpointed Supercool F8a+ the week before. We drove straight to Rodellar and spent the next 3 weeks doing loads of relatively easy pitches each day to get our fitness up. After some very mixed weather at the start of November I redpointed Botanics 8b/+ in Rodellar. This was the route I'd wanted to do ever since my 1st trip to Rodellar in 2006. This monster 35m pitch climbs up the back wall of the Ventanas del Mascun and pulls through the roof to finish up an overhanging prow. It's a total endurance route with no hard moves but no easy one's either and only 2 poor rests. Ruth Also climbing well ticked what could be the best F8a in Rodellar, Gracias Fina.



Myself on El Chorreras o la belle Inconue 8b/+ in Rodellar
poto: Eddie Martinez

The next few weeks we spent between Terradets, Santa Linya and Oliana. I finished off 2 hard 8b's that I'd tried and failed on the previous year, Democracia at Terradets and the amazing 40m pitch of Marroncita at Oliana. I also did my hardest on-sight to date Millenium 8a/+ at Terradets. I spent almost 2 hours on the route working out the slab crux and the tricky upper wall making sure I got it right after putting in so much effort to get there. I was mentally and physically totally drained after this experience. With Ruth liking the style of Terradets as it’s not too steep she flashed her hardest route to date, Orient F7c/+. Turning my focus now to redpointing I quickly did Rollito Sharma 8b+ in the back of the huge cave of Santa Linya and was really keen to get on an 8c. Soon after this the good weather ended just before Christmas and the snow arrived prompting us to make the decision of leaving projects and clips and drive south to the Costa Blanca.

The month we spent down there was mostly a frustrating time driving between very damp cliffs. It wasn't until the last few days when the Wild side sector of Sella finally dried enough for us both to do the routes we had come down here for. I'd seen Espacio Tiempo the April before and had picked it out as an 8c that might suit me. It’s a 28m power endurance route on crimps and thin tufa's up a slightly leaning wall. Ruth was keen to get on the F8a Mediterraneo, and she found herself clipping the chains on her second day trying it. The 1st 2 days I spent on Espacio Tiempo I couldn't even get to the chains as it had a section near the top that was totally soaked. After a windy day it had dried enough for me to get the top section worked out with a really tenuous move up a faint groove just after a kneebar to get to the last clip. The next day it was strangely wetter again at the top and my redpoint attempt was ended trying to get into the kneebar after my hand greased off the wet tufa. I resorted to taping a rag onto the tufa above the hold and this seemed to keep it dry somehow. My 5th day on the route I clipped the chains and was psyched I'd just climbed my 1st 8c! I found the route mentally easier than Cry Freedom but maybe that was due to the fact Espacio Tiempo was wet to start with and I put no pressure on myself to do it because of this. Also all the hype and history surrounding Cry Freedom that I'd grown up with meant it felt like a massive undertaking trying it.

We returned to Catalunya to finish off and retrieve clips from routes before returning home. The route on my mind was Los Humildes pa Casa 8c (roughly translates to the humble go home) at Oliana that I'd tried briefly before Christmas. Ruth was desperate to get back on Formula Weekend, maybe the best F8a at Terradets. Los Humildes pa Casa is a massive 50m pitch with the 1st half being a 7c+ to a good rest where you can look up at the single tufa pipe going on and on up the barrelling grey wall above. I had been there the winter before and belayed Steve Mac when he redpointed it and thought it looked amazing. For me it’s one of those awesome lines that is just crying out to be climbed and is definitely one of the best sport routes I've ever done. It was great to finish the trip on such a high with this route. Ruth also managed to get her route done and so with the weather forecast looking worse we decided to head home.


My tick list for the trip:
2 8c’s
1 8b+
3 8b/+’s
3 8b’s
7 8a+'s
8 8a's (3 on-sight)
21 7c+'s (18 on-sight)

By Neil Mawson

Black Diamond Ice Clipper problems??

Following my review of Black Diamond Blizzard accessories, it has been drawn to my attention that with moderate use the ice clipper experiences a terminal issue whereby the clip malfunctions and stays open outside the clip. (See pic). A number of users have complained about these on UKC, indicating a common problem resulting in the loss of ice screws.

Comments taken direct from UKC:

"The screws were nowhere around and the wire gate on my little plastic Black Diamond ice clipper krab was on the wrong side of the gate. One to watch out for."

"I threw my ice clippers away because of this happening, though I did it before I lost any screws. The petzl caritool is better."

"lost a screw for the very same reason! The worst BD product ever!"

So for those of us who use Ice clippers, just be aware of this issue! I myself still love the ice clippers, but will keep a close eye on them from now on! However I should point out I have been using these for 2 years and had no issues.... Mr Reynolds has similar opinions of the ice clippers, so until one of us has this issue, I'll continue to place my faith in these!

Snowballing - Katy Whittaker

Well so far January and February have been pretty rubbish, mainly due to my lack of climbing and the horrible weather. Just as you finally think the grit is drying out it rains or snows! Booo!

I haven’t been out much because I have had loads of uni work, possibly climbing once or twice a week indoors and if I am lucky once outside, but it hasn’t all been doom and gloom we have had about 6/7 totally perfect grit days in the last month or so, and I managed to get out for a few of them-hurray! There is so much stuff I want to do in the Peak it is hard to decide where to go when you get a perfect day.

The first day of the good weather we ended up at Burbage North. This was shortly after we had had all that snow and the peak was totally unclimbable, well anyway all the rock had dried out but there was still a good few feet of snow underneath a lot of the crags. We started off at Three Blind Mice, the usual starting hand hold was the starting foot hold due to the amount of snow underneath. So we got this ticked (along with the rest of the people from Sheffield.) which felt fine when the ground was a few feet higher, it would be nice to go back and do it now all the snow has gone. Then we moved on to try a project on the slab to the left of Three Blind Mice. It involved a very balancy first move to some slopers, a slap to another set of slopers then a big rock over. I couldn’t do the latter but a few others got it ticked including Dan, Pete and Ryan.

Photos by: Si Wilson

Next we moved onto the curving fin/arete further right called Ai no corrid (pictured above.), the snow flattened the landing out turning it into a cool highball. The last move felt was quite precarious am I’m glad I didn’t barn door! A few went over to try superstition and got fairly close, then it went dark. So I went to the Works to do the comp and try and win some money on the women’s £125 money problem (however many get up get the total amount spilt between them.), think I got about 40 quid, not bad for doing one boulder problem.

Next day I went to plantation along with the hords of others. Silk was in a similar situation to Three Blind Mice, where you could step onto the first hand hold off the snow. It was good though because I could try the top slab as a boulder problem instead of it being a highball. I spent along time trying to work out the best way of doing it, in the end I did a really high step up. Again would be nice to go back now the snow has gone and get the full tick, its such a good route. 

Then we moved round the corner to Weather Report, the snow had slightly raised the landing but somebody had dug out a platform so it was a nice flat landing instead of the usually steep sloping hill that awaits. I flashed it which was cool and although the snow made it a lot safer it still felt a bit scary at the top. Then I spilt at tip over by Shine On, I was totally knackered anyway by this point so I just called it a day.

Third day of beautifulness and I did nothing. Went to Gardoms (for some reason) and got shut down so sacked it to the pub.

Went to Caley at the weekend which was awesome, not climbed there properly before, didn’t do much I spent most of the day falling off  The Secret Seventh and Blockbuster, but I did Ben’s Groove standing, and slapped the last sloper a few times on Secret Seventh. Blockbuster totally beat me though, its nails. I need bigger guns I think!

Katy

Jetboil PCS – The coolest stove out there?

Of this there is no doubt, but is it any good? I've had one of these for a while now, so I thought I might as well review it!

Now for those are you who aren't familiar with the Jetboil, let me explain;

The Jetboil is an ultra efficient, lightweight, cooking system. The stove is designed to take up as little space as possible in a rucksack by storage for all the components (including the gas canister) being inside the cooking pot. At the moment there are 3 Jetboil systems on the market;

Jetboil PCS (Personal Cooking System)
Jetboil GCS (Group Cooking System)
Jetboil Helios

The PCS and GCS are designed to be modular, by this I mean if you purchase a PCS, you can buy additional components to have a GCS as well. The main difference between the GCS and PCS is the type of pot used for cooking. The PCS uses a 1 litre companion mug, where as the GCS uses a 1.5 litre cooking pot. Both systems uses the same burner self igniting burner system which is compatible with screw top canisters. The GCS also features a stabiliser kit so that the unit can be a standalone stove and will have additional stability on the floor rather than just the base of the gas canister. Essentially though if you buy a Jetboil PCS, you can buy a stabiliser kit and a 1.5 litre pot and have a GCS as an additional option.

On to the review. . .

I bought this stove to use when I am short expeditions. It appealed to me because it was efficient, light and easy to use. My stove combination consists of the Jetboil PCS and the stabiliser set, along with a gas canister this weights in at 670g. The addition of the stabiliser kit means my stove is more "team friendly". Without the stabiliser the Jetboil can only be used the jetboil accessories, by carrying the stabiliser kit I can share cooking with other team members as the kit converts the stove into a more universal setup (see pic)





I did a quick test to check the units specs listed on the website:
The stove should be able to boil water in 2minutes (0.5L), and boil around 12 litres per 100g canister. I bought a new canister and boiled as many 0.5L cups as possible, whilst averaging out the time taken on each. The average time taken to boil 0.5L of water was 1min 53.4secs, and I got 17 Litres of water from a single canister. Personally I think this is excellent for a small canister. All Jetboil pans use Jetboils patented Fluxring technology to increase efficiency, it functions in the same way a radiator works, by providing a larger surface area to heat up while cooking, as a pose to the flat bottom of a pan or mess tin. The same system is used on the 1.5L pot, 1L mug, and Frying pan.

In terms of cooking with the Jetboil a lot of people have said you are fairly limited in what you can cook. You can cook any kind of ration pack style meals. This just involves rolling the meal up and cramming it into the cup! Other than that anything that you would cook on a hob you can cook on the PCS. Which is ideal for short term expeditions.

The Jetboil is very well thought out, after you have finished cooking there is a plastic cover to protect you from burns while you are eating. There is also a sewn handle on the companion cup so you can move around while the stove is cooking.

In additional to being quite stable when fitted with the stabiliser kit, the stove is also fairly windproof, and is fitted with a small piezo electric igniter meaning there is no need to fiddle with matches in poor conditions.

Drawbacks? Well I'm yet to find one, however I have enjoyed shooting down some common Jetboil gripes lately which I thought I'd share....




Moan: "You can't cook big meals like you can with other stoves"
Owning: Purchase the 1.5 Pot, or purchase the stabiliser kit and a mess tin so that you can switch to that when you are out for longer

Moan: "The cartridges are so small"
Owning: Purchase a bigger screw seal canister....Idiot

Moan: "You have to hold it while it's cooking"
Owning: Put it down? Or better still buy the stabiliser kit and put it down


. . . You get the idea, any other gripes feel free to email me for an owning...


In addition to the various components in the GCS and PCS, there are a number of other accessories to customise your Jetboil kit:

Coffee press (£17.50)- turn you Jetboil into a coffee brewer
Frying pan (£44.99)- Fluxring frying pan, for efficient frying of tasty goodness
Hanging kit (£27.50)- a kit for handing your jetboil when big wall climbing, snow holing or whatever other use you could think of!
Jetboil cutlery (£13.50)- Highly temperature resistant nylon cutlery, light and tough, personally I'll stick with my titanium spork!
Additional coloured sleeves for companion mug are also available for further customising of your set (£5.99)


All in all you can't go wrong with a Jetboil, brilliant, customisable, efficient, not overly cheap but consider it an investment! RRP is £85, but browse around and you can get one for around £60! Stabiliser kit around £17.50 is also a must have!

Under The Lights... Ricky Bell

February has been good. So far it’s actually been the perfect balance of working, training, dancing and most recently climbing on beautiful boulders. I’ve been working on the ropes down at the Titanic Qtr, been doing some interesting jobs as opposed to the horrible window cleaning we were doing in Jan. Actually window cleaning is never that horrible when working with JK, Bergstein and Marshal. We’ve a bit of a competition at work at the mo to see who can do the biggest “720 delayed starfish spin” and try and land it on top of a lamp post. Nobody is close to sticking the lamp post exit yet but we’ll never give up.

I’ve trained quite a lot the last wee while, I’m glad to say that i’m completely over my finger injury. Only took 6 months, but the time has been we’ll spent in other areas. I’ve learnt a lot and seem more focused than I have been in a long time. Definitely stronger in my body.

Caravan Dan moved in with me for a few weeks cuz his caravan wet itself during the cold patch. I’ve eating more tea cakes and avocados in the last two weeks than ever before. I believe this too has made me stronger. We all went to see John Digweed in the Ulster Hall at the start of the month. Amazing night as usual with good friends. And fun was had by all.

I tried climbing on my project at the head. Abbed in then jugged straight back out. Route projects are definitely out of order for another month or so. But it was nice to get back on the line and get familiar again with the situation. That line really inspires me. I’ve been bouldering a lot recently at the Head. Starting to climb well again. I’ve felt a bit rusty or mentally like I’ve been a bit broken until my finger injury went away. But now it feels natural to climb again. I love it! I’ve always been psyched for bouldering at the head. But this winter psyche has been upped by the arrival off a wee generator that Marshal peer pressured me into buying. Best £50 nEVER spent. New problems have been opened, projects are getting attention and landings have been patio’d. Last weekend the Dubs (The Duffit, Kev and Chris ‘dark horse Rooney) came up. Swaily and Dan drove the camper up from Belfast and put the milk chocolate cream rice on the simmer and a few more of us quested into the boulders for a night session. We had about 15 pads too which was hilarious! Sat night was amazing, definitely one of the most surreal bouldering sessions I’ve ever had. We sacked it around midnight then drunk red wine in Swail’s van and sat about all day Sunday.

Ps - Hats off to Michelle for spotting Dan on his sketch ascent of Carbide. She would have got ‘1990 WWF stylee body slamed’ by the big Egyptian if he had of slid off. Also bon effort to the most psyched youth about, Jake on doing Homeward Bound pretty swifty like.

Here’s a wee vid filmed by Craig Hiller from the weekend.

Images are Craigy's aswell.

http://www.vimeo.com/9549303

Ricky

The good, the bad and the ugly - A weekend at the Lodge

Glenmore Lodge.

It’s a long drive to up to Aviemore. About 9 or even 10 hours, but its usually worth it just for the welcome we always get at Glenmore Lodge. The lodge is Scotland’s national outdoor centre, nestled in the heart of the cairngorms and has been providing training to the outdoor industry and enthusiast alike for over 60 years.

It’s about half past eight when we pull into the car park, climb out and stretch ourselves before the short climb up to the bar. Lucy (Creamer) and I have driven up here to take part in a photo-shoot for Marmot clothing, one of the lodges major sponsors.

Hopefully over the next 3 days we’ll manage to get some great shots of the Lodge instructors doing there thing, as well as a whole bunch of other stuff that can be used in forthcoming brochures and adverts.

Lu and I are teaming up with Martin Panton from Marmot, who’s brought up clothing from the Winter 2010/11 range, Scott Webster “Mr Marketing” from the Lodge and Mick Ryan a major driving force from UKC (www.ukclimbing.com) one of the most popular climbing websites on the planet.

So with a cold beer pressed firmly to my lips, I sit back and listen to our itinerary for the next 3 days, it’s going to be fun!

Friday 05/02/10

No Alpine starts for us, its breakfast at 8, scrambled eggs on toast, OJ and a Cappuccino. The food here is awesome and if I wasn’t already carrying a few extra pounds (KG’s) I’d worry about the dreaded “Lodge podge”

Our model for the day is George McEwan one of the head instructors, ice climber extraordinaire and an old friend.

Like most outdoors and location work the logistics and effort you put in almost always outweigh the final result. That single image might look great on the front cover of a brochure, but only you know the suffering that went into getting it - Four adults for most of the day. Walking up snowy hills, carrying essential climbing gear, food and water, a 100m of static rope for abseiling, rigging gear and obviously camera gear. When we finally arrive at the base of the climb the Abseil rope is rigged, I climb up and then abseil into position, George and Lucy then climb the route 3 times for photos. It has to be said its not the greatest conditions, no blue skies or panoramic views, just 60mph winds and biting spindrift, but we do what we can which means shoot a few frames and then pop the camera back into a bag, turn my back into the wind and try and dry it off with a cloth. It’s a slow process, but my “O” ring sealed Nikon does us proud and after about 1.5hrs we strip out all the gear and scurry down to where we’ve left our packs for a well needed hot drink and a spicy tuna buttie. Then its crampons off and another 60mins walk back to the car. In no time at all we’re all back in the Café for the customary “Tea and Cake” at least 3 of us are, just as his tea touches his lips, George got the call – Accident on the hill – so off he had to go, no peace for the rescue services, but for us an extra piece, of cake to Divvy up!

Saturday 06/02/10

Today I’m spending the day on the hill with a group doing Basic winter skills. It’s an introduction to things like walking in snow and on ice of all gradients. Using crampons, walking poles and ice axes and some very basic instruction on Navigation. Mick Ryan’s coming along too, he’s shooting video of a competition winner who’s on the course. Yep the lucky winner got kitted out in a stack load of the latest Marmot gear, gets 2 days instruction, all the accommodation and food as well as there own personal videographer (Mick’s video will be uploaded to the UKC website very soon) that reads “Winner” in any language.

We head out the door at about 10a.m (I like these starts) its just a short drive to our starting point, the Aviemore Ski area, from there we head up the slopes for about 1.5hrs. The visibility’s not great again, but you do have to remember, we’re in the Mountains and just make do with what you’ve got. The day seems to move swiftly on, Ice axe arresting, walking in crampons and before you know it we’re heading back down the hill in failing light.

One of my “Bug Bears’ as a photographer is BAGS, or rather the lack of suitable ones for taking on the hill. For this type of work I usually end up using my trusty old Marmot 30L Alpinist rucksack and wrapping all my lenses and large accessories in Neoprene wraps. For ease of use I also have a large, un-padded “Bum Bag” which I carry around my front with my camera and a 24 -70mm / 2.8 attached, some extra batteries, a cloth and a couple of 8Gig CF cards – this combo has worked well over the years for those “Big days out” on the hill.

Sunday 07/02/10

After 2 pretty big days on the hill my legs and back are quite happy that today we’re staying slightly closer to the road.

Some more ice climbing, Sleeping bag, Ice cave and maybe some cross country photos are on the agenda for today. Nothing’s more than a 30 min hike and doesn’t require any kind of rigging, so I’m taking a slightly longer (read heavier) 300mm / 2.8 lens with me today so I can move about the hillside a little more freely and shoot some interesting angles.

First up is Ice climbing, well its actually more about the Jackets than either the climber (Scott Webster) or the climb. So, introducing Stage left the very Green 2010/11 “Stretch Man” it’s a kind of do everything, windproof, waterproof pretty cool looking jacket. Scott duly climbs a band of ice up a ramp and I shoot from the hillside. Next it’s everyone’s favourite, the Genesis Jacket. This one’s in Red and very striking it is too. I climb along side Scott and shoot with a wider lens.

Next we head over to an area with a Snow cave that Lucy and Martin “prepared earlier” Marmot are looking for a sleeping bag shot to use in an advert, this’ll be the third one I’ve done for them and so far we’ve managed to stay away from “just a bog standard” type of image. I like the idea of shooting inside a snow cave, it’ll be a bit of a tight squeeze with Scott, Lucy, myself and Martin all crammed in but we manage. Its Lucy and Scott in the bags. Me shooting, and Martin pointing my off-camera flash wherever I ask him. It all works really well, the light pours in from the entrance silhouetting the climbers, I bounce some fill flash back at them and “hey presto” we have a great image. I’m using my 14-24mm / 2.8 and have to be careful in these cramped conditions not to get either Martins hand or my own feet in the shot. We work on this theme for 10mins and then move on to some “digging” shots. This time it’s the synthetic Baffin jacket, in a very photogenic “Citronelle” (don’t you just love the colour’s manufactures come up with – what exactly is Eclipse/Tempest?) that gets the treatment. Again it’s just a soupcon of off camera flash with some rear sync thrown in for good measure to blur the falling ice.

We seem to have been going for ages but its still only lunch time, so we have lunch it would be rude not to really. Then it’s a change of footwear, slip into something a little more rigid and literally Ski out the door.

Lucy and Scott skin along the track, Martin has his director’s head on and again we capture some great images.

Later in the bar I start to download and edit the three days images. It’s definitely a love; hate part of the process for me. The good images always put a smile on my face. Hopefully there aren’t too many bad ones, more likely ones that I can see could have been done differently and that annoys me, but it is after all a learning process.

All in all it’s been a great weekend. We’ve hung out with some great people, seen some old friends and made some new ones.

Like Mick Ryan said, “living the dream”

By Tim Glasby

Cragging

January in Chamonix can be frustrating. Chest deep snow, mind-numbing temperatures and low psyche usually mean you go out the door with skis rather than axes. However, once you realise this you know what to aim at.
With the sun hitting the Rive Droite earlier than in December, routes such as Shiva Lingam and Icelander are now no goers. However, much fun has been had on the other side of the valley, especially on "Tequila Stuntman", a wacky mixed route, kind of like a hard scottish 7 in to a delicate stalactite for another 30 metres. I unexpectedly took a sizeable winger off the easy part of the stalactite due to careless tapping.......
A homesick Pete Benson along with Mr uber-psyche Bullock have been up to a lot of new routing in the same area. Funky pitches of very scottish climbing have been put up in the VII's and VIII's, four of which Jon Griffith and i have repeated in the last couple of weeks.
Also managed a quick trip to Cogne to tick the classic “Repentence Super”- a gobsmacking line with some funky cauliflower formations on the lower pitches.
Now off to Kandersteg for a few days. Word is “Crack Baby”, the area’s test piece is a goer........

Above photo's- Tequila Stuntman, and Homage to the Homeland.

The Lodge - work, rest and play!

Glenmore Lodge.

It’s a long drive to up to Aviemore. About 9 or even 10 hours, but its usually worth it just for the welcome we always get at Glenmore Lodge. The lodge is Scotland’s national outdoor centre, nestled in the heart of the cairngorms and has been providing training to the outdoor industry and enthusiast alike for over 60 years.

It’s about half past eight when we pull into the car park, climb out and stretch ourselves before the short climb up to the bar. Lucy (Creamer) and I have driven up here to take part in a photo-shoot for Marmot clothing, one of the lodges major sponsors.

Hopefully over the next 3 days we’ll manage to get some great shots of the Lodge instructors doing there thing, as well as a whole bunch of other stuff that can be used in forthcoming brochures and adverts.

Lu and I are teaming up with Martin Panton from Marmot, who’s brought up clothing from the Winter 2010/11 range, Scott Webster “Mr Marketing” from the Lodge and Mick Ryan a major driving force from UKC (www.ukclimbing.com) one of the most popular climbing websites on the planet.

So with a cold beer pressed firmly to my lips, I sit back and listen to our itinerary for the next 3 days, it’s going to be fun!

Friday 05/02/10

No Alpine starts for us, its breakfast at 8, scrambled eggs on toast, OJ and a Cappuccino. The food here is awesome and if I wasn’t already carrying a few extra pounds (KG’s) I’d worry about the dreaded “Lodge podge”

Our model for the day is George McEwan one of the head instructors, ice climber extraordinaire and an old friend.

Like most outdoors and location work the logistics and effort you put in almost always outweigh the final result. That single image might look great on the front cover of a brochure, but only you know the suffering that went into getting it - Four adults for most of the day. Walking up snowy hills, carrying essential climbing gear, food and water, but 100m of static rope for abseiling, rigging gear and obviously camera gear. When we finally arrive at the base of the climb the Abseil rope is rigged, I climb up and then abseil into position, George and Lucy then climb the route 3 times for photos. It has to be said its not the greatest conditions, no blue skies or panoramic views, just 60mph winds and biting spindrift, but we do what we can which means shoot a few frames and then pop the camera back into a bag, turn my back into the wind and try and dry it off with a cloth. It’s a slow process, but my “O” ring sealed Nikon does us proud and after about 1.5hrs we strip out all the gear and scurry down to where we’ve left our packs for a well needed hot drink and a spicy tuna buttie. Then its crampons off and another 60mins walk back to the car. In no time at all we’re all back in the Café for the customary “Tea and Cake” at least 3 of us are, just as his tea touches his lips, George got the call – Accident on the hill – so off he had to go, no peace for the rescue services, but for us an extra piece, of cake to Divvy up!

Saturday 06/02/10

Today I’m spending the day on the hill with a group doing Basic winter skills. It’s an introduction to things like walking in snow and on ice of all gradients. Using crampons, walking poles and ice axes and some very basic instruction on Navigation. Mick Ryan’s coming along too, he’s shooting video of a competition winner who’s on the course. Yep the lucky winner got kitted out in a stack load of the latest Marmot gear, gets 2 days instruction, all the accommodation and food as well as there own personal videographer (Mick’s video will be uploaded to the UKC website very soon) that reads “Winner” in any language.

We head out the door at about 10a.m (I like these starts) its just a short drive to our starting point, the Aviemore Ski area, from there we head up the slopes for about 1.5hrs. The visibility’s not great again, but you do have to remember, we’re in the Mountains and just make do with what you’ve got. The day seems to move swiftly on, Ice axe arresting, walking in crampons and before you know it we’re heading back down the hill in failing light.

One of my “Bug Bears’ as a photographer is BAGS, or rather the lack of suitable ones for taking on the hill. For this type of work I usually end up using my trusty old Marmot 30L Alpinist rucksack and wrapping all my lenses and large accessories in Neoprene wraps. For ease of use I also have a large, un-padded “Bum Bag” which I carry around my front with my camera and a 24 -70mm / 2.8 attached, some extra batteries, a cloth and a couple of 8Gig CF cards – this combo has worked well over the years for those “Big days out” on the hill.

Sunday 07/02/10

After 2 pretty big days on the hill my legs and back are quite happy that today we’re staying slightly closer to the road.

Some more ice climbing, Sleeping bag, Ice cave and maybe some cross country photos are on the agenda for today. Nothing’s more than a 30 min hike and doesn’t require any kind of rigging, so I’m taking a slightly longer (read heavier) 300mm / 2.8 lens with me today so I can move about the hillside a little more freely and shoot some interesting angles.

First up is Ice climbing, well its actually more about the Jackets than either the climber (Scott Webster) or the climb. So, introducing Stage left the very Green 2010/11 “Stretch Man” it’s a kind of do everything, windproof, waterproof pretty cool looking jacket. Scott duly climbs a band of ice up a ramp and I shoot from the hillside. Next it’s everyone’s favourite, the Genesis Jacket. This one’s in Red and very striking it is too. I climb along side Scott and shoot with a wider lens.

Next we head over to an area with a Snow cave that Lucy and Martin “prepared earlier” Marmot are looking for a sleeping bag shot to use in an advert, this’ll be the third one I’ve done for them and so far we’ve managed to stay away from “just a bog standard” type of image. I like the idea of shooting inside a snow cave, it’ll be a bit of a tight squeeze with Scott, Lucy, myself and Martin all crammed in but we manage. Its Lucy and Scott in the bags. Me shooting, and Martin pointing my off-camera flash wherever I ask him. It all works really well, the light pours in from the entrance silhouetting the climbers, I bounce some fill flash back at them and “hey presto” we have a great image. I’m using my 14-24mm / 2.8 and have to be careful in these cramped conditions not to get either Martins hand or my own feet in the shot. We work on this theme for 10mins and then move on to some “digging” shots. This time it’s the synthetic Baffin jacket, in a very photogenic “Citronelle” (don’t you just love the colour’s manufactures come up with – what exactly is Eclipse/Tempest?) that gets the treatment. Again it’s just a soupcon of off camera flash with some rear sync thrown in for good measure to blur the falling ice.

We seem to have been going for ages but its still only lunch time, so we have lunch it would be rude not to really. Then it’s a change of footwear, slip into something a little more rigid and literally Ski out the door.

Lucy and Scott skin along the track, Martin has his director’s head on and again we capture some great images.

Later in the bar I start to download and edit the three days images. It’s definitely a love; hate part of the process for me. The good images always put a smile on my face. Hopefully there aren’t too many bad ones, more likely ones that I can see could have been done differently and that annoys me, but it is after all a learning process.

All in all it’s been a great weekend. We’ve hung out with some great people, seen some old friends and made some new ones. For me this is what a job should be. Like Mick Ryan said, “living the dream”

Winter Cragging - Will Sim

January in Chamonix can be frustrating. Chest deep snow, mind-numbing temperatures and low psyche usually mean you go out the door with skis rather than axes. However, once you realise this you know what to aim at.

With the sun hitting the Rive Droite earlier than in December, routes such as Shiva Lingam and Icelander are no goers now. However, much fun has been had on the other side of the valley, especially on "Tequila Stuntman", a wacky mixed route, kind of like a hard scottish 7 in to a delicate stalactite for another 30 metres. I unexpectedly took a sizeable winger off the easy part of the stalactite due to careless tapping.......

A homesick Pete Benson along with Mr uber-psyche Bullock have been up to a lot of new routing in the same area. Funky pitches of very scottish climbing have been put up in the VII's and VIII's, four of which Jon Griffith and i have repeated in the last week or so.

A big thanks goes out to Jon Griffith at Alpine Exposures for allowing us to use his images on the Marmot UK blog.

Pembuka Pintu Khasaf

Khasaf merupakan tabir antara yang nampak dengan yang tidak nampak. Seandainya tabir ini telah terbuka, maka akan terlihatlah segala yang tersembunyi. Pintu Khasaf merupakan pintu penghubung antara alam sadar dan alam bawah sadar akan menuntun orang untuk memahami alam yang ada diluar dirinya seperti alam gaib yang menyimpan begitu banyak misteri yang hanya dengan ilmu Allah SWT sajalah yang akan terbuka rahasianya.

Setiap selesai Sholat Maghrib dan ketika hendak tidur, bacalah:
1. Surat Al-Fatihah 1x
2. Surat Al-Ikhlas 1x
3. Surat Al-Falaq 1x
4. Surat An-Naas 1x
5. Ayat Kursi 1x
6. Walau anna qur’anan suyyirat bihil jibalu au khuti’at bihin ardhu au kullima bihil mauta balillahil amru jamia. La haula wala quwwata illa billahi’aliyyil’adziim.
Semua bacaan diatas harus dibaca dalam satu satu tahanan nafas sambil dalam hati memohon kemurahan Allah SWT untuk membuka Pintu Khasaf.

Bila memang belum sanggup membaca bacaan di atas dalam satu nafas, cobalah pada tiga hari pertama mengamalkan bacaan 1 sampai 3 dalam satu tahanan nafas. Tiga hari berikutnya mengamalkan bacaan 1 sampai 4 dalam satu tahanan nafas. Tiga hari berikutnya mengamalkan bacaan 1 sampai 6 dalam satu tahanan nafas dan setelah itu mengamalkan keenam bacaan diatas dalm satu tahanan nafas.

Ramuan Untuk Mengobati Santet / Sihir

1. Resep Pertama
Bahan-bahan : 1 buah Pisang Mas, Inggu, Jadam, Bawang Putih, Belerang/tanah Cempaka, Lumut pada Batu Nisan. Semua bahan digiling halus, lalu digosok pada bagian yang sakit sebanyak 2 x (dua kali) sehari. Lebih bagus pada malam hari!.

2. Resep Kedua
Bahan-bahan : 1 buah Jeruk Limau, Jadam, Inggu, Bawang Putih, Minyak Kelapa= 2-3 sdm.
Caranya : Jeruk Limau dibakar diatas bara api sampai hitam, lalu diperas untuk diambil airnya. Bahan Lain digiling halus, lalu dicampur dengan minyak kelapa dan air perasan jeruk limau. Lalu digosok merata pada bagian yang sakit.

3. Resep Ketiga
Bahan-bahannya : Inggu, Jadam Merah, Bawang Putih, Jeruk Purut, Akar pohon ara 3 potong, Minyak Kelapa = 2-3 sdm.
Caranya : Jeruk Purut dibakar , peras dan diambil airnya saja. Bahan Lain digiling halus, campur dengan minyak kelapa + air perasan Jeruk Purut tadi. Lalu digosok pada bagian yang sakit. Kerjakan 3 x (tiga kali) sehari.

4. Resep Keempat
Bahan-bahannya : Gula merah 1 biji, abu dapur sejumput, daun sirih hutan (sirih liar) 7 (tujuh) lembar, 1 (satu) butir Bawang Merah, satu butir Bawang Putih, Biji Timun 5 (lima) butir, Beras satu genggam, 1 kuning telur, ayam kampung.
Caranya : Semua bahan digiling halus dan campurkan dengan kuning telur tadi/ dikocok. Lalu digosok pada bagian badan yang sakit, atau gosok pada bagian perut, tulang belakang, dada dsb.
Bisa untuk jenis ilmu santet apapun asal si sakit menderita sakit pada bagian yang telah disebutkan.

5. Resep Kelima
Bahan-bahannya : Beras satu genggam, kulit Jeruk Purut 6 potong dibakar dulu hingga lembab, 1 butir bawang putih, kemenyan putih 1 ibu jari.
Caranya : Semua bahan digiling halus dan digosok merata pada bagian yang sakit.

Telur Ajaib supaya Bergairah dan Jantan

Bahan :
- 100 gram kucai segar
- 2 butir telur ayam kampung
- 2 buah cabe merah di iris halus-halus
- 50 gram udang segar
- 1 sendok teh minyak wijen
- 1 sendok makan saus tomat
- minyak non kolesterol secukupnya

Caranya:

kucai segar di potong-potong sebesar 5 cm, telur di kocok sampai rata,masukan kucai,udang
segar,irisan cabe merah,minyak wijen dan garam secukupnya.
panaskan minyak non kolesterol,masukan kocokan telur tadi dan buatlah dadar telur sampai matang,hidangkan dengan saus tomat.