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.
.jpg)
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 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
