Scafell Pike via Corridor Route (with slight deviation). 22nd August 2008

As a recce trip for next weeks challenge, Rich S and Davie headed off to the Lakes to try out the Corridor route to Scafell Pike.

A first for our two heroes, as ascent is usually via Esk Hause or Wasdale.

We made good time to Sty Head, but probably too fast a pace for next week. Sty Head was busy, it being a nice day and Bank Holiday weekend, so we decided to head over to Napes Needle to have our sandwiches and for Rich to thread the Needle.

Finding the Needle, as usual, was a hilarious affair; is that it Davie? have we passed it? that looks like it..no wait, no it's not..' and so on.

We got some snaps of Rich heading up and as we got to the crossover point, we got the rope out for psychological solace.

Once I'd belayed Rich it was then time for the Classic abseil. They say that any technique with the prefix 'Classic' is bloody painful and I must confess that with nothing between the crown jewels and the rope but my Ron Hill Tracksters, my new name is Davina.

When I got to the bottom, We had been joined by a guy called Rod who was doing 60 mountains at 60 and was recceing the Needle for a future threading.

As the rope was already out (and with an ML assessment looming), I asked if he would he would like me to belay him on his attempt. He had no hesitation and as we got him tied in, I realised I was going to have to climb back up the crack!

Idiot!

However, as usual the nerves evaporated once I got underway, but it is a very polished route and not designed for big guys. I got the belay set up and talked Ron all the way to the top. With a quick 'Ali shuffle' at the crux point, we swapped sides and I lowered him down the other side.

Excellent! and Rod was over the moon that we'd helped him achieve something that could have been potentially dangerous for him if he'd gone it alone.

Leaving 'Davina' with the Classic abseil, round 2.

The second one wasn't quite so bad, but that's probably because I used the same groove worn in my crotch from the first one.

We had our lunch then set off for Scafell Pike, over the other side of the pass. It was a good old walk and very busy once we got back to Sty Head.

The Corridor route is excellent and could be a good, less steep but longer route for next week.

Got some snaps on top, just as Mountain Rescue appeared flew round us and then off to the Napes area on Great Gable.

My heart sank as they dropped flares around the area we'd been in with Rod and I worried that something awful had happened. They hovered for ages before flying off and doing the same at Pillar and the red screes area.

Bas**rds! they gave me heart failure!

Descent was again via Corridor and Sty Head and total journey was 7hrs 50.

Great day out - for me, it was up there with Skye.

Davie

Arrochar Alps revisited - 9th August 2008

I was back in Scotland this weekend on unfinished business.

Along with Mark C (Champo) we were looking at doing Ben Vane (915m). The SMC's guide to the Munros says that the south face is a continuous slope of 45 degrees for around 600m.

Only complete fools would attempt this route.

Naturally the weather was worse than last week and it was piddling down straight from the car park. But fortified with his Tilly hat, Champo was well up for the challenge, so we got going.

We followed the Land Rover track to around 250m and tried to find signs of the 'path'. Of course, the path is virtually non existent and appears on maps merely to attract English and German tourists to the area.

This left us with the Harvey Wallbanger option:

....Straight up, with a twist.....

I don't mean to contradict the experts at the SMC, but the slope was nearer 48 degrees and very slippy. However, Champo had his hat, I had my Mars Bars and we were on target to find the path at about the 500m mark.

30 minutes later and bingo! a path. Sorted!

The rest, as they say, was 'easy'. Visibility stayed poor all day, it rained all day and photo shoot chances were limited.

But as always, a great day out on a great mountain.

...and Ben Vorlich sat there behind a wall of grey murk, smirking in the knowledge that the weather was going to get worse and that a second Munro was going to be out of reach.

Next time though.

Full time result - Davie 3 - Alps 1.

Davie

Shazza goes 'the wrong way round' - Millom, July 2008

Sharon, our latest Verdes Adventurer, was initially going for a good old yomp up Sca Fell Pike with her mates...

But the best laid plans... I'll let Shazza explain...

When I approached the group (myself, Iain, Jo and Colin) about going up Scafell Pike the first time, they were keen. However, when I told them that it could be an all day affair lasting about 6 to 7 hours, then the doubts crept in. They decided, well no, Jo decided that it will be much more fun to go horse riding in Millom instead for a couple of hours.

Having never been on a horse before, I was open minded thinking how hard could it be?! Well I have to say that my derriere will tell me exactly how hard as it certainly suffered afterwards.

The morning started off excitedly, although Col was rather nervous as he too had never been on a horse before. We saw our horses and from the ground, they seemed harmless enough. I was armed with a packet of polos so I was determined to get the horse to like me.




Completely different ball game when you're actually on the horse - it felt so high and then I felt like a woos so with my dogged determination set about learning how to walk and trot. What they failed to tell me was that I was on the only horse who didn't like being in the school which you can see in the picture with the fence around it. It didn't buck but it was pulling and jerking its head and to say that the nerves kicked in was an understatement. That was just walking - trotting on the other hand was a disaster. You've no doubt seen those sheep races that they have when they stick a doll on its back and they run - well that is how I felt on top of the horse when trotting!

No grace whatsoever!

That isn't how the main leader saw it though and thought that we were all fit to go out onto the road and head down to the beach. That was the fun part, just gently walking through a small village on the road, no stress whatsoever. Local gardeners were having a field day with the amount of manure that was being produced and I was impressed as horses can still do it whilst walking along!

Lovely!

So we head down onto the beach which was deserted fortunately and I was still enjoying myself until the leader said that we were going to do a short trot. Both hands are on the reins, feet in stirrups and I'm ready to go but the horse went for it and I very nearly fell off. Finding the rhythm to stand up in the stirrups at the right time is so much harder than I thought.

What the horse was thinking of me, I don't know. However, by about the 6th or 7th time we did a short trot, I had almost got it but then my knees started hurting, my feet had gone numb from the saddle slamming into my sciatic nerve each time and then we had the walk back to the school!!



Getting off the horse was comical as well. You have to lift your leg over the back of it and slide off. Well with numb legs and painful knees, lifting my leg to go anywhere was just not going to happen. In the end Col had to come over and push my leg over and catch me on the other side!! If he hadn't done that, I would most probably have stayed on the horse and gone out for another painful session!

Now us girls can't really complain all that much about riding horses like men can. If you were to see the look on Col's face when he got off the horse, well you can only imagine why he was walking like John Wayne afterwards. I always thought that you walked like John Wayne because of the legs being around the horse but after sitting and riding on that horse, I now realise that it's purely to give much needed air and room to a certain part of the anatomy that has been crushed with each jolt!

Oh what an image!

Anyway my derriere has now finally gotten over the pain and I have now vowed never to do that again and am gutted that I didn't get to climb a mountain instead.

So if any of you guys are thinking about going up a mountain then please let me know.

Thanks

Shazza

Hacha Grande - Lanzarote

For the last two weeks, Rich S has been sunning himself in Lanzarote with the family. On arrival at the resort there was an unexpected surprise in the form of a stunning mountain range dominated by Hacha Grande (‘Large Axe’ if you’re not Spanish).

With the mountains just within walking distance from the hotel, all that was stopping an attempt on the summit was the weather. At 35 Celsius and clear blue skies each day, a cloudy day would be best to give a little rest from the heat but unfortunately by the start of the second week it was just sun, sun, sun, everyday!

Time to bite the bullet and get on with the job in hand. The choice was either a dawn start or late afternoon and, this being my holiday, I went for a 4:30 pm start! With the sun setting around 9:00pm and no map or information available from the locals to gauge journey time, I decided to travel light and run the first couple of miles along the road to the start of the range.

As the road disappeared and the range was within clear view it was obvious there were no visible footpaths on the mountain and a little route finding was in order. As my normal mountain technique is to follow someone or a path, my plan was to attack the summit head on and take the shortest route to the top. The start was harder than expected as the terrain that looked like a grassy plain at the start was actually a field of volcanic rocks, each about the size of a football.

Undeterred, I carried on with the gradient getting steeper and steeper until walking turned into a light scramble followed by a little climbing. Maybe a longer ridge route would have been easier than the head on assault; lesson learnt!

With the summit achieved and stunning views absorbed I took a more gentle descent back to sea level. By 8:00pm I was back at the hotel and a quick check of the GPS revealed a total ascent of 1041m with a maximum height of 560m and just over 10 miles covered.

Rich S.

Arrochar Alps, 2nd August 2008

Was back in Scotland this weekend picking up my mother, so decided on a quick raid to the Arrochar Alps North of Loch Lomond.

Weather was exactly as forecast - bloody awful.

The sun did manage to shine at times but the SW wind quickly brought in more cloud and often visibility was down to 10m.

However, it was still a great day. First Munro was Beinn Narnain (926m). The views on the way up from Succouth weren't very impressive, with lots of cloud hanging round the summit. I decided on going on past the Narnain boulders (in themselves worth seeing) and coming up the NW side. At the foot of the path you caught the occasional glimpse of Beinn Ime's slopes, but no sign of the summit there either.

Over to the left the Cobbler looked dark and foreboding and had quite a lot of people making their way to the start point.

Getting to the top of Beinn Narnain was attained by following a path of sorts, that was actually more like a stream. As usual, in a pure Verdes moment, the sun broke through for the traditional summit snaps, but also in Verdes fashion, my camera lost battery power at the top too.

Damn.

On the descent, the clouds closed in again and it lashed with rain all the way the bottom, making progress very slippy and treacherous.

On reaching the bottom I swithered about just calling it quits there and then. The rain was getting heavier, visibility was abysmal and conditions underfoot were really foul.

And that's where a Verdes day became a Viking day in Ginger's parlance.

I picked the best stream coming off the top of Beinn Ime (1011m) and started the upward slog. The wind was really strong from the south and the rain was pelting down, but with hood up and a bit of determination the summit came into sight after a while.

As usual, the bloody sun broke through for the summit snaps, hastily taken by my phone camera (apologies for the quality). I could see Ben Vane across the saddle which was going to be hill number three for the day. As I was putting my camera away, Ben Vane disappeared and again the cloud closed in.

Discretion over took valour and I decided against the steep descent to pick up the path to Ben Vane. I'll have a go at this one next week when I take my mother home.

After 10 minutes of negotiating my way through the clag and the slippy grass, the inevitable happened and I creamed in to the rocks in John Dicko fashion.

But no real harm done.

Davie 2 - Alps 1.

But it's only half time.

Davie