North Face of 'The Bull'. 24th December 2009

Well, Christmas is upon us and Verdes always see in the festive season with an end of year grueller...

This year we decided that we should take advantage of the bad weather and tackle the north face of the Bull. Tricky in summer conditions, downright dangerous and treacherous in full on winter conditions.

Our adventure party this year consisted of Tommo, Mad Dog, Dicko, Bolt-on, Jacko, Selby, K-Nob and Selby's brother in law Dave, a Verdes virgin. We orignally had planned to RDV with Speirs , Queen of the Desert, but conditions were so bad we had to take plan B.

Reports received afterwards tell of a superhuman effort by the bold Speirsy. Sporting his new Paramo jacket and safe in the knowledge that one day he will be a First Responder (once he gets a clean CRB - dream on Speirsy!), he launched himself from his basecamp in Ripon to tackle a horrendous journey. Battling through 100m of slush, a dusting of snow and the odd salt spray, he finally arrived 4 minutes later at the King Billy. Well done mate; a journey that would have killed a civvie.

Latest reports state that Speirsy, in a humanitarian effort in keeping with the season, was STILL at the King Billy, dispensing aid to the locals before knuckling down for an evening of 5's and 3's.

The man is an absolute saint and deserves his title of Queen of the Desert.

The rest of us however had our own story of hardship and woe.

We set off in good cheer in spite of sub zero conditions and even K-Nob was smiling as he hit the snow sporting his Dunlop man bag in hand. Dicko managed to get some of the party close to the objective in his trusty Turdis, the machine transporting them to within spitting distance of the objective.

This was fortunate. K-Nob had realised that he had forgotten to pack his hair straighteners and was debating going back for them. Selby had brought his new phone to maintain communications with base camp and to summon help if the journey became to arduous. Dicko, as always, was travelling light and had discarded his wallet as unnecessary. Virgin Dave was quiet on the journey in, fear and a little trepidation stilling his confidence a little.

Team two were dropped off in a DZ that was deep with snow and in a most precarious position. Tommo, Bolt-on and Mad dog helped Jacko from the Landy as he had had a bit of previous the night before and looked like the walking dead.

On we slogged, never looking up and mesmerised by the footprints in front of us...on and on they went ...across the car park and up to the north side of the Bull.

And then, all of a sudden, there it was...the north side of The Bull in all it's glory. Never has the team been so glad to see the objective. Bolt-on blind sided us with the old 'oh, my lace is undone' gag, promoting Mad-dog as first to the objective and there forefirst to provide refreshment.

It was good to meet the rest of the team. Dicko was basking in his survival jumper, snow goggles firmly in place. K-Nob was regaling us of stories of their journey, the excessive heat from the Turdis, the iffy choice of music and how his hair had 'got a bit blown' on the way in. Dave was cool and quiet, soaking up the atmosphere of another Verdes task in the bag.

Selby was trying to extract fluid from a strange well at the summit, but sadly could only manage small measures of this elixir of life, as he too had had some previous the night before.

As always, Verdes never waste time dilly dallying around the objective, so once we were fed and watered we decided to make our extraction from the area. Dicko, in command of team 1, elected to take the Turdis back to base camp, abandoning his colleagues to the vagaries of the weather systems that were closing in. However, in a generous moment, team 1 did decide to acclimatise team 2 to what was ahead, by raining snowball after snowball onto them.

As team 1 made their way to the Turdis, team 2 prepared a text book ambush on the bridge and peppered the pimp mobile as it trundled past, one finely aimed missile finding its way into Dicko's car via a drivers window left carelessly open.

As the brave team 2 battled their way against the elements, we were joined by K-Nob, who had jumped ship and had joined the real men for the journey on foot to base camp.

As the going got more grim, a most welcome sight was spotted throught the mist...

'Unless I am very much mistaken' wheezed Bolt-on, 'that's Dicko and the Turdis coming back for us. I take back what I said, Dicko DOES have an ounce of compassion in him...hooray!'

'You are very much mistaken', whimpered Mad Dog. And he was right. Dicko and the remains of 'team hairdresser' had opted for coffee and slippers by the fire.

However, even after this cruel upset, we found the strength to keep going and slogged on and on endlessly, until the lights of base camp were spotted.

Another cracking Verdes adventure. Well done team.

..and merry Christmas!

Davie

MRT training day with RAF Rescue, 28th November 2009

A couple of months ago I passed the assessment to join the local Mountain Rescue Team.

I've been deliberately not posting stuff about life in the local MRT largely because it's not that great a read, hearing me prattle on about Casualty Assessment and Evacuation training, Incident Management and Search and Tracking techniques.

However, today was different.

We had arranged for Crab Air (that's the RAF, aka the Royal Air Farce - apologies Ginger!) to lend us one of their SeaKing SAR helicopters in order to practice deployment and retrieval drills. We were to be dropped in various locations all over the Catterick Training area and would deploy via the winch.

As usual, Saturdays are not good days for the RAF and we had to tear them away from their dry martinis to come to our gig. However, they got their wires crossed, couldn't make the morning start and arrived at 14:00hrs. Their dress code was very disappointing; not a cravat in sight, no leather helmets and no sign of Brylcreme any where.

How things have changed since Ginger left.

No, these guys were full on SAR professionals, complete with goretex, Scarpa boots, shaved heads and really friendly. But these were the winchmen - the piloty types sported the obligatory '70s 'tache and quiff and greeted us all with a smile and a 'AY-HAY-LAY...'

I was in good hands then.

We were shown round the 'air asset' and Russ the winchman gave us a real insight into how well qualified these guys are, even remembering that there was no sugar in my coffee.

We split into teams of 5, with one poor unfortunate being given the task of being the casualty and who would be suitably 'casualty packed' for the homeward journey.

When our turn came, even after the excellent briefing, it was a surprise to feel the full force of the 'air assets' down draft as we clambered aboard, desperately trying not to bump their drinks cabinet. Once we were seated and strapped in, the pilot took off and meandered his way across the training ground to find a suitable deployment spot.

Bringing us to a hover, the trolley dolly came over to me with a winch sling and after I was safely in it, was ushered to the exit. A quick winch down and I then gathered up the teams rucksacks and found a sheltered spot about 30m away - even there the winds took your breath.

We packed up our casualty in a vacuum mat and summoned our ride. 5 mins later Crabair arrived and we all got loaded up in the semi darkness and flew back to the RV point.

Excellent day.

The RAF boys were truly excellent; they shared a lot of info, gave us their contact details, allayed a few myths (you CAN keep your head torches on when they come to you at night) and more fascinatingly for me, never got lost once.

If anyone fancies a shot at joining MRT, give me a shout and similarly, if you fancy being a casualty for SAR exercises that would be good too.

Davie

Scafell Pike, 7th November 2009

Our original plan today was going to be an assault on the highest mountain in England, visiting Sca Fell and Great End en-route supporting Steve’s campaign to bag the Lake District top ten before Christmas. Problem was; Steve couldn’t make it due to work commitments! Getting all three done was a tall order, no doubt ending with a night time descent, and a review of the weather meant a change of plan was in order anyway.
Along for the trip was Rich M, John, Phil, Davie and Rich S.
We toyed with the idea of Pavey Ark with a scramble up Jack’s Rake or Sca Fell via Lord’s Rake but the weather wasn’t going to be on our side. We decided to trot up Scafell Pike as Mad Dog hadn’t been to the summit since he was sixteen and we chose the Corridor Route as Dicko had been this way on the Three Peak Challenge but had not seen anything as we completed the route in the dark.



The weather was pants, we had water proofs on from the outset and lunch was under Davie’s shelter at Sty Head Tarn. Surveying the route to Scafell we could see the snow line and periodic glimpses of blue sky so got out of out protective cover and got stuck in to the job in hand.
Davie had started the day suffering with an ear infection and by the time we reached the break in the Corridor Route that follows the scree to the summit he was looking worse for wear and was struggling. We pushed on for another 15 minutes but infection, antibiotics, painkillers, altitude and exertion don’t mix well. After a brief discussion Davie elected to descend and the rest of us pushed on.




We reached the summit and after a couple of photo’s started down to get out of the cold wind.



As we turned it seemed the whole of Cumbria had decided to brave the weather and head for Scafell Pike. After fighting our way through the masses, including some bloke that had brought a dog the size of a guinea pig, we stopped out of the wind for a break before heading down.




The weather was much better as we escaped the cloud and we had great views on our descent. We arrived back at the car with daylight fading after another great day in the Lakes.

Mountain Leader Assessment 5th – 9th October 2009

This week its my birthday… and my ML Assessment, gulp!
Davie has been great coaching me on the run up to this thing but even on the drive up I found myself on the phone to him seeking some kind of reassurance that I wasn’t going to muck something up. To make matters worse it seems Ginger is going to be involved and, while it will be great to catch up with him, I just know I’ll be spending the next 5 days doing just that… trying to catch up to him!
The first morning Pete (Hill) and Ginger decided to give us an easy start and took us for a nice walk in the Cromdales. This was because the snow on the Cairngorms was a little too deep! We did navigation, emergency procedures and carries, flora, fauna, access, history plus a 5 minute talk each!

Once they had seen enough we went Dulnain Bridge for a river crossing.
I went first and used a walking pole to get across. The river was cold and reached my chest at the deepest point. Once everyone else crossed without hiccup we were told to get the rope out and do a group crossing. With a variety of techniques explored we were told ‘they’d seen enough’. Did that mean we were rubbish or we’d met the minimum standard? These boys should play poker cos they were giving nothing away!
Day 2 had us up Ben Rinnes for our severe ground day. Just because we were doing rope work we didn’t get out of our group management, weather and navigation exercises to and from the venue. We climbed over rocks, grabbed rucksack straps, belayed, abseiled and lowered until again ‘they’d seen enough’!
Back at the bunkhouse we had our review of the written exam paper which had everyone sweating during some of the more probing questions!
For the next 3 days we had our holiday part of the assessment up in the Cairngorm Plateau. The snow had more or less gone and the weather was cold and windy. From the moment we left the car any ‘holiday’ feeling soon disappeared as Pete took on a variety of roles to test our group management skills as well as making us search for rocks, contour lines or anything else that was on a map and not necessarily on the ground!
We made our way down towards Cairn Lochan were we picked a good campsite and settled in for the night.

After dinner with the sun low in the sky, Pete had us out navigating once more. As a birthday treat for me he allowed our navigation legs to take us to the summit of Ben MacDui where I watched the sun set… bliss.

The next 5 hours were not so much fun. In complete darkness, we each took turns to navigate a leg while everyone else followed trying to figure out where we were.
The following morning we woke to a little snow and a lot of mist… more micro nav was the order of the day. After a full day on the Plateau we descended to a lower altitude just west of the Ski centre due to the threat of gale force winds closing in over night!

We spent the evening with Pete instructing us to find a metre square and deliver a lecture on the flora and fauna within it!
Once in my tent I quickly fell into a deep sleep only to be woken at the crack of dawn by Ginger advising us to ‘abandon ship’. The weather forecast was right and his tent had collapsed during the night due to high winds. We packed up double quick and made a sharp retreat to the nearest venue for a debrief.
Waiting in the café drinking coffee and eating bacon butties was a nerve racking experience as Pete and Ginger sat in the car deciding our fate. With the result in there were 4 passes 3 deferrals and a fail, fortunately I had passed!
To say I was over the moon was an understatement.
I couldn’t have done this on my own and a big thanks has to go to all those who helped me along the way.
SPA next…

Grisedale Pike, Hopegill Head, Crag Hill and Causey Pike 25th September 2009

After a good nights sleep and an early start (due to some numpty feeding the geese as stoopid o’clock) I head over to climb Causey Pike via Grisedale pike.

I wanted to start at a car park at the start of the ridge but, even getting there before 9am wasn’t early enough to beat the masses, it was full! I ended up parking in a lay-by closer to the village and followed a low level path before cutting up a gully to meet the ridge route. The going up the gully was as hard as it gets; steep, uneven surface and waist deep bracken!

By the time I reached the ridge path I was knackard and I’d only just started! Fortunately, the route from here was really easy going and I was soon on top of Grisedale Pike. Next I went over to Hopegill Head then tried the direct route up Crag Hill where I planned to have my lunch. The climb was tough with some very loose rock making the scramble quite tricky but, with the trig point in sight, it was time for a snack. Bugger, forgot my pack up!
From here the route to Causey Pike is quite long but generally easy.

Once on the summit and with my stomach making some strange noises I decided to take the direct route back to the car and continued the journey without the use of a single path!
A great walk!

Cat Bells, Maiden Moor and Black Crags, 24th September 2009

In the final stages of preparation for the Mountain Leader assessment I had to complete the most difficult part of the process for me… The First Aid course!
I booked a two day outdoor course in Keswick so that I could bag a couple of mountains while in the area. The course was run from ‘Theatre on the Lake’ so I camped at the Derwentside campsite and put my tent right on the shore.

I arrived early afternoon so decided to get a hill close to the campsite so I wouldn’t waste anymore time in the car and chose Cat Bells to spend some time practicing navigation and abseils.
The walk up to Cat Bells is pleasant with great views over Derwent Water.

Once I was past the summit I used the top of Maiden Moor to practice some micro navigation before finding the steep ground down to Black Crags to practice abseiling.
It took me over an hour to get down to the shore of Derwent Water from here with a total of 7 abseils using my 45m rope doubled. The route finding was difficult and anchors where sparse in places. Some sections were really easy and the rope was for practice rather than safety but other sections were a real test including one vertical 5 metre face with a 2 metre overhanging gap at the bottom!

Back at the tent I shared my dinner with the ducks and geese that had decided to surround my pitch!

Great Shunner Fell, Yorkshire Dales. 18th September 2009

With Rich's ML Assessment looming (NOT LONG NOW RICH!) and Davie's interview with Mountain Rescue in the same week, we thought it would be a good idea to head up onto into the hills to recce the land for my interview and for Rich to practice some micro navigation.

It took a good hour and half to get there and makes me wonder of I'd be any good as a rescuer...

We blitzed up to the top of Shunner Fell from Thwaite just to get warmed up and got to the summit in about 90 mins. (with a little but of off piste navigation practice thrown in).

The next two and a half hours were spent hacking through the peat hags, with me pointing at shake holes on the map and Rich navigating us to them. Most legs were between 250 and 800m so good pacing and bearing were important. This was tough going and is indicative of the conditions Rich will have on his assessment with lots of boggy ground, boxing around obstacles and steep ground.

Sadly, he never missed a beat and found all points within acceptable tolerances; even Ginger would have been pleased.

We headed back to the car and omitted the therapy break in Thwaite in order to avoid a rambler type who looked like he was going to spoil our moment.

Next time.

Davie

Yet another dance with the bear - Brimham Rocks, 16th September 2009

We thought it would be a good idea to introduce some of our adventurers to the Dancing Bear, so on a cool and ever darkening evening, a party of us set off to get three virgins to the top.

On previous occasions Davie has led this climb, but to give Rich another log book entry he took the honours.

Joining us was Speirsy and his son Will, Paul and his son Alex and Jack T, who elected to be camera man for the evening.

Every one made short work of this HVDiff climb and hopefully we have sparked a bit of interest in more technical stuff.

Good to see Paul getting stuck into it and shame our 'founder members' snap on top was taken by Jack as it came out blurred. (use both hands next time Jacko!)

Good night again Verdes! lets keep up the momentum.

Davie

Three down on Steve's quest. 12th September, 2009

Two weeks ago we bagged Skiddaw as part of Steve's quest to get the top ten done before Christmas.

Taking advantage of some fantastic weather a party of Verdes Adventurers comprising of Rich S, Paul B, Steve H and Davie headed back over to the Lakes to tackle Helvellyn, Nethermost Pike and Catstye Cam which, if successful, would bring Steve's tally to five out of ten.

Like most Verdes adventures, when Paul and Rich get together the talk turns to motorbikes and their leather fetish. At least, we hope it was about motorbikes. As they giggled on the back seat ooooing and ahhhhing all we could hear in the front was the odd word or two; leather, oil, helmet, twist grip, two up, 3 inch pipe and various other 'technical terms'.

Brought to a head though when the question was asked as to whether a certain type of leathers had 'twin zips'....

When we weren't having our ears bashed about v-twins and two strokes, the rest of the journey was spent telling Steve all about the mortality rate on Striding Edge, how like a tightrope it was and how he had nothing to worry about...

The weather was truly idyllic and we stopped to have some snaps over Ullswater which was like glass, a solitary duck causing some ripples.

We drove right up to the Youth Hostel and got underway, with Rich taking role as leader as a preparation for his ML Assessment in early October (NOT LONG NOW RICH!).

We had a snack at Red Tarn and elected to go from here straight up the slope to Striding Edge, using this to gain the summit. As you would expect on such a great day, the ridge was covered in people all snaking along trying to get to the top.

In spite of a fear of heights and three changes of underpants on the journey in, Steve kept to the highest point of the ridge all the way to the top, never once dropping down to the easy path. A truly excellent effort, fully embracing the Verdes spirit and one which opens the way to Sharp Edge and Jack's Rake once the ten are bagged.

We summited Helvellyn and then made our way across to Nethermost Pike. The summit plateau is a good area for some micro navigation practice, so Steve and Paul headed back to Helvellyn and Rich and I had a play with the map and compass for 20 mins. On a day when you could see almost every mountain in England, Rich managed to navigate his way round successfully.

From the summit of Helvellyn we then headed down Swirral Edge to Catstye Cam. Steve's legs were still holding up and his new ankle was well broken in. Paul was moving well with the zimmer sticks and Rich had given up trying to be a ML and had reverted to type; seeking out the scariest path back and sticking to it.

The views from Catstye Cam were excellent and a down hill bike was spotted by Paul for a future trip.

We arrived back to Glenridding in good order and immediately initiated the therapy phase of the adventure; mint choc chips all round and a soothing dip in the river with our bare feet....excellent.

Another great Verdes day and Steve now has 5 in the bag. Next trip will be another biggy with Bow Fell, Great End and Scafell Pike in our sights.

Davie

Great Gable, 5th September 2009

Saturday saw Davie, Dicko and the elusive Speirsy departing Ripon for the Lakes. The weather in Ripon was clear and dry, but the forecast in the Lakes was to the contrary. As the merry band sped across the A66, the plans were still not finalised. Would it be a chance for the Needle virgin (Speirsy) to finally pass through the sacred crack??

Only time would tell.

The cloud started to build and the ominous signs of rain on the horizon would prove the weatherman right. Still with the chance of a hike and some retail theory in Keswick, I could think of worse places to be on a Saturday. We drove through Keswick, on the way to Seathwaite.

A lot of cars on the road into the farm suggested that not everyone had been put off by the weather. With low cloud and a fine drizzle, unperturbed the merry band donned waterproofs, packed the tuck and set off up the hill.

The route was set: Styhead Tarn, the stretcher box and then? This was the first that Speirsy had seen of the area in daylight, the previous visit had been during the epic National 3 peaks last year. Arriving in the dark and retuning at dawn, little had been seen outside the beam of a head torch.

Dicko set the pace after having robbed his son’s backpack for the trip; the added weight of his lads school books didn’t seem to slow him down. Davie the ML kept Speirsy in sight and onwards and upwards the 3 amigos pressed. The rain got heavier and wind started to pick up. As we approached Styhead tarn we passed a group of four lads heading back down the hill. It transpired they had travelled up on Friday and camped out at the tarn. They were heading back down to the pub and would be back later. Good effort lads - impressed the Verdes boys. As we approached the Stretcher box, it became clear that there was indeed something on. 24 peaks in 24 hours challenge, 14 hours on the first day and 10 hours on the second. The Stretcher box was occupied by one of the local Mountain Rescue chaps and his 2 labradors.


The stretcher box was the decision point: where next? In weather that was described as bad enough to ‘kill a civvy’ the chances of threading the needle were slim. The chances of survival of Dicko and Davie were also in question, thankfully the ML had a bit of previous with the regulars so his chances were improving.

Speirsy thankfully held the 3 together, but did fear the worst. Dicko appeared to have his gortex on inside out as it was drier on the outside. Davie then produced the latest gadget: a 2 man shelter, loving it; does it do what it says on the tin? Much to the amusement of a few souls around the stretcher box, our 3 intrepid adventurers then attempted to put 3 men into the 2 man bivvy. Dicko forgot about the school bag and tried to get in with it still on. Speirsy then had to crouch down and come in from below. With a scene reminiscent of a gay porn orgy (so Davie tells me) all 3 did manage to get inside but sitting down in the thing will require some prior practice. Now the crunch point, where to next? Easy! Dicko was off, he’d had enough; cold, wet and thinking of hanging out with the 4 lads we’d seen earlier. So off he went, with the keys to the car and some pocket money for sweets.

The Needle was going to be to wet, so best save that for another day. As Speirsy had never been up Great Gable, it would seem rude not to. Thinking back to Snowdon last year it was the same pairing heading up the hill, not wanting to miss an opportunity.

Speirsy was in his latest bit of kit, the Paramo, and was keen to see just how good it was. The verdict: worth every penny. Davie did his best to drag his client up the hill, as the weather worsened and the wind picked up the more these 2 enjoyed it. After a slow old slog, and putting a few stray groups back onto the right path, the summit was reached. Denied the views due to low cloud and seeking shelter from ever increasing wind and rain, the pair had a well earned brew and sandwich. Just enough time for a photo and then it was on our way back down for some therapy in Keswick.

After a swift decent back via the stretcher box our eagle eyed ML/First aider spotted a limp. A competitor from the 24 peak challenge had pulled up and was heading down. Davie sprung into action and like a well oiled machine had the lads trousers down and asked for a look …….. at the knee.

Speirsy not wanting to be outdone rolled up his trouser leg to get to a strap on support he was wearing. Like a scene from a Thursday night lodge meeting, 2 men standing with their trouser legs rolled up shaking hands.

The decision was made to escort the lad off the hill, with Speirsy muttering about his army days and ‘let’s just shoot him and get to Keswick’. The trip down was slow and deliberate with Davie demonstrating how to support an injured walker, (all good stuff) It transpired the lad worked for the company sponsoring the event and had previous with his knee. I think it appreciated the gesture.

By the time we were back at the car time was against us and the retail therapy would have to wait (ebay time). All in all a good, yet wet, day out. You can never say a day in the lakes is wasted (unless you’re Dicko, only joking, love you man……) The Verdes spirit remains high and the support shown to others reflects the true ethos of the group.

Speirsy remains a needle virgin, Dicko is still drying out and Davie has still got a fashion accessory waterproof.

Ian S