Ricky Bell - Living in the mirror image house....

For the past 6 or so years I’ve been living my house. It’s nothing special but it’s definitely home for me. It’s a bit of a climbing and social HQ. Nice fingerboard, good speakers, reliable kettle and my old desk... I never thought I was that attached to this house until recently. There’s been a bit of an damp problem for the last couple of years and 6 weeks ago it was time to get it sorted out. So I moved across the way (literally 10 steps out my front door) into

the house that is the exact mirror image of my house. For the last 6 weeks I’ve done pirouettes in the kitchen every morning trying to find the kettle, trained on some duff rock rings that I everyone keeps bumping their head on and felt generally unorganised. It’s been weird. But now it’s time to move back!

Climbing on rock has been severely curtailed by the big move. Although I did manage three brilliant days in the Mournes.

The 1st day was business not pleasure. But a lot of pleasure too. I mainly work on the ropes but sometimes work for me can be a completely difference adventure. This day Craigy and I were doing a filming shoot for an advertising company who were making a Tourist Board advert for Northern Ireland. They wanted some footage of climbers in the Mournes and so we suggest Binnian. We later found out that we were to get there via helicopter!!!!! It was the first time I’d arrived at the North Tor of Binnian in under 5 mins! It normally takes me an hour followed by an hour of trying to summon the energy to put on my harness. It was surreal to just hop out have a coffee with the director and casually walk around the beautiful rocks. The rest of the crew were a bit late to arrive so Craigy and I satched up a few routes before starting work.

Eazy Now E5 6b

We got an amazing day for it. I meet some class people, learnt a bit about filming, climbed about 6 routes and got to do some wonder cheesy high-fives with Craigy! I just saw the finished piece on TV the other d

ay and they didn’t use any of our high-fives. Gutted...

The 2nd day was meant to be pleasure. It sort off was, but it was freezing! About seven of us went to Buzzards Roost for a day craging. Great idea..... Big crag...not much sun.... northerly winds... late September. Not all of us climbed...I tired a new line to the left of Divided Years while Swaily and Captain Onsight climbed War Music E5.

Everybody fell off... even Captain Onsight...It was freezing.

The meat of my line was a bouldery run out getting progressively harder with the crux leaving some crimpy undercuts and matching this slopey arete with your right foot smeared in this awkwardly shaped wee pocket. It’s right beside Divided Years on that prow and has a pretty safe fall from the crux. I tried it a few times but every time I got there I couldn’t put my right foot accurately into the pocket. My right foot was starting to fell more like a piece of wood and the fall was starting to get scary.

Taking a fall of The Peace Line and talking beta/karate with Captain Onsight

The 3rd day was business and pleasure. I went back to The Roost. We got there super early and the sun was still on the crag. Conditions were perfect. Crisp with no wind and crag looked amazing. I topped out.

The Peace Line *** 55m E7/8 6c

R.Bell, M.O’loughlin, H.Fogg (Headpoint) 26/9/10

Bouldery climbing in a spectacular position. Follow the start of Divided Years and onto the big ledge out left at half height. Continue up the groove above to a small roof and good cams. A long bouldery section leads via the short arete to the finishing jugs of Divided Years.

The Peace Line

Work has been less glamourous this week...

Steve Mcclure - Carlsberg!

If Carlsberg did route setting jobs – then they must have organised my most recent work!

Myself and Rob Napier were out in Norway route setting on the brand new wall in the town of Stavanger. At 850 square metres it’s pretty big, but it’s not just big, it’s impressive. In the UK there is a tendency too build walls with the emphasis on packing as many people in as possible. Surfaces are vertical and unimaginative with cost holding down the creativity. I can see why, most people climb 6b, why go for a massive overhang only 10 people can get up? Well, we should follow the example set my our Norwegian friends!

A four day job, it was gonna be tough, starting with a 3am start from Sheffield, but when we arrived the first task was lunch, a Mexican in the sun! Then we were blown away by the scale of the wall and the amazing lines. Route setting was a joy. Next day we were there early, but our boss insisted on a 5 hour lunch break to go bouldering in the beautiful area around Sirevag. After a great circuit we were again treated to a lunch barbeque made by Yan and Kaya and Bernt. Back at the wall we felt like frauds. At least the next day we managed a full 14 hours, chucking the holds on at a furious rate from the fully extended and fully wobbling cherry picker! Last day we checked the routes, and they were awesome, I’m not bigging up our work, it’s just the wall makes them good. But Bernt stopped play, or started it – ‘too nice to be indoors’ he insisted, yet another day of crystal clear blue skies. We were treated to a boat trip down the fjords to check out pulpit rock and The Shield before bouncing our way back at 35 knots to return just in time for our flight!

I’ve been to Norway before, and then I said I’d be back soon for sure. This time I said it again, but this time I mean it. The country has everything, no wonder so many people move there!

Big thanks to Bernt, the dude in charge of running the new wall, who sorted us out with the job and treated us like kings!

Jbel Toubkal 2010

So the day came for Morocco, weeks and weeks of planning, worrying, and packing all came to a finale! Overall the trip was a great success with all of the team summiting on 17th September at 11.05am. Whilst the trip was a slog and a half, and wasn’t without it’s issues, it was very enjoyable, and a trek I would definitely recommend.
The trek consisted of a long day from Imlil (1600m) at the edge of Toubkal National Park up to Refuge Du Toubkal Les Mouflons at 3207m. So 1600m in 35-40Degree heat, with full expedition packs on....what a day huh? The day went smoothly until exiting the small village of Amround via a dry river bed when Ruth tripped and dislocated her knee.

However being the hardcore adventurer type, we promptly relocated the knee and continued on. This leg of the climb just goes on and on and on, the most annoying part of the trek was seeing the large groups of amateurs on the backs of mules heading up with no effort on their part what so ever. While on the subject of mules if you ever do this trek be very careful of the mules and muleers, they make the broad assumption that no matter what the circumstances they have right of way, and will quite happily egg their mules on along the track knocking you out of the way, crushing you against rocks, and generally not considering trekkers along the trail. After continuing through the small shrine of Sidi Chamarouch the path zig zags upward and continues up toward the hut. Eventually we arrived at the hut.

The summit day began up a steep scree slope in poor weather. After reaching the col we continued on upward and up to a false summit before moving along the summit ridge to a giant Iron summit cairn. After enjoying being at the highest point in North Africa we heading back down and to the hut. The following day we descended back to Imlil thus completing our trek.







Equipment wise a brief look at the best bits of kit I had with me;
Leki Makalu Ultralite poles: Brilliant, simply brilliant, I have always highly recommended poles for mountaineering of all kinds, for descending they came in particularly handy really helping to take the weight off my knees on descent.
Marks and Spencers Microskin Boxers: Mark and Spencer boxers eh? Might seem like I’ve got mad but good god these are the best shreddies I have ever worn, so comfortable all day long, I highly recommend these for all outdoor activities!
Camelbak Unbottle 1.5L: Did very well up until I lost the valve for the drinking tube in the scree field. However when I did use it, it kept the water so cool in my back and was refreshing to drink from.
Scarpa Manta: My boots once again proved they are perfect for anything from winter climbing to high altitude trekking in high heat!



Big shout out to the rest of the team, a climb like this is what the team make it, and the our team made the trek for me. Cheers guys.