Cairngorms, 12th September 2008

This weekend saw Davie in the Cairngorms to get some practice for his ML assessment with willing 'punters' Champo and Ginger, who came along to give some moral support.

We set off from the Coire Cas car park and headed up into the Coire an t Sneachda identifying flora, fauna, birds and wildlife en route. When the conversation dryed up on these topics, we then looked at glacial erosion, geological features and weather patterns.






All good stuff.


We arrived at the base of Fiacaill Ridge and had some lunch by the boulders. The ridge looked awesome, with some climbers barely visible on its crest.


After some ropework and security on steep ground stuff, we decided to get onto the ridge and give it a bash.




Gulp! this is a Grade 2 scramble with some great exposure and it's way more vertical than other ridges I've seen.





But, we topped out safely before heading over to bag Cairngorm (1245m) and doing some micro navigation practice on the plateau.




We dropped down from Cairngorm to Stag Rocks and the views were immense. Looking down at Loch Avon was simply breath taking.




From Stag Rocks we dropped down to the Saddle, ostensibly to find a bothy for the night. however it was starting to get dark and weather was looking threatening, so we decided on heading over to Ryvoan Bothy, some 6kms away with Bynack More (1090m) between us and it.


I won't bore you with the details of our flog over the mountains, but we arrived at the bothy at 11:30pm that night, having skipped dinner to keep moving.

The bothy was empty (practically) and once we'd turfed out the only inhabitant to the tent next door, we got settled down for the night.




A quick walk out the next day to Glenmore Lodge and we were back in Aviemore in good time for coffee, cakes and some retail therapy - pure Verdes.


Looking forward to next week now!


Davie

End to End including the National 3 Peaks

The things you do for Charity…

Our challenge was to ride from John o’Groats to Land’s End taking in the National 3 Peaks en route.

We departed at 8:00am with our first objective to reach Fort William by Lunch. We rode what has to be one of the most beautiful coastal roads in the UK, the A9 from Wick to Inverness. The weather was fantastic and the scenery was stunning. Some sections of the route have an Alpine feel with recently well surface tarmac and lots of flowing bends, bliss! Once refuelled at Inverness it was off to Fort William via the A82 along Loch Ness. Another amazing road that seemed to be very quiet for a sunny Saturday in August.

We arrived at Ben Nevis around lunch and were greeted by our ‘Mountain Support Team’ who had decided we were mad and needed all the help we could get if we were going to complete the task. With no time to spare it was out of leathers and into walking boots to start the long trek to the summit.

The pace was good with Ian and John leading the way but by the mid way point we had our first casualty; Pete had a blister the size of a two pound coin on his heel. His training had started only 4 weeks before when he thought he would try the hills as well as the ride. As he could no longer maintain the pace, he elected to stop and rest up while the rest of us continued to the summit.
We arrived at the summit and managed to get a couple of photos in the cloud before setting off back down. After a descent of about 150 metre’s Pete appeared! Having rested for a while he felt recharged enough to give the summit a go. The rest of the team carried on back down to get some hot drinks prepared as I turned around with Pete to go back to the summit. It took us about an extra hour in total, but it was worth it for the photo at the summit!
Back in the car park we got dressed into our leathers and started the trip to the Lake District. We stopped in the Little Chef at Dunbarton for some energy before hitting the motorway to Penrith.

The motorway seemed long and boring after the fantastic A roads in Scotland, but at least the miles past quickly in the dark. The closer we got to the start of the next climb the narrower the roads got until we were on single track with only drunk ramblers staggering back to their tents for company. It was around 11:30pm when we arrived at Seathwaite to start the night climb up Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England. Pete decided he would miss out this one as his toe nail had come off on the descent of Ben Nevis and with the huge blister that had burst, he would need all the rest he could get if he was going to go any further.

The route we selected would be a little longer than most Three Peak challengers take but easier to navigate we hoped. The first section to Sty Head Tarn gave no problems apart from being scared half to death by the green eyes of sheep reflecting from our torches! But then it got quite difficult. From here visibility was reduced to about 2 metre’s due to hill fog and navigation proved to be quite tricky at times. We made it to the summit after about 3 hours and started our descent. By about 5:45am, dawn was breaking and we were glad to have a better view of the route. We didn’t make it back to the car park until about 7:00am and by now had been awake over 24 hours.

No rest for the wicked…
Back on the bikes heading for Wales we stopped at some services on the M6 for breakfast. Just as we left the M6 the heavens opened and we got our first real down pour of the trip. With heavy luggage, rucksack and waterproofs, I was not enjoying the A470 to Betws-y-coed. I can see why it is a haven for bikers but when the rain is heavy and all you want is sleep, I wasn’t that interested!

We arrived in the car park at Pen-y-pass to be met by the team that had done all the mountains so far and another friend, Bob Birchall, who had driven from London to make us lunch!

After a quick bite to eat the boots came out again along with the sun. Although his feet were in a bad way, Pete decided to give Snowdon a go. We set off up the Pyg Track in wonderful sun with fabulous views down the valley but as we neared the summit we met the clouds.

Just before the summit we met John D, Ian S and Davie on the return leg. We said our farewells at this point as our journey would continue from this point in a different direction. After a brief stop at the top for photos we took the steeper descent to the Miners Track as it is a little easier on the feet although a bit longer. By this time the cloud was getting lower and lower and we were starting to get quite wet.

Back at the car park we sat in the van for some Chilli and rice and once dry and fed, the leathers were back on and we were heading for the M6 with 400 miles left to go. I imagine the A5 from Betws-y-coed is a fabulous road on a sunny day, but in the rain, in the pitch dark, it felt as it was the longest 50 miles I have every done on a motorcycle.

Once on the motorways we planned to stop every 100 miles for fuel and coffee. The M5 past quickly and we were soon on the A30 heading to Penzance. After midnight the roads were pretty much deserted and at each stop it was harder and harder to get motivated to carry on.

On the very last leg Pete finally succumbed to the need for sleep and fell into a Travel Lodge with about 70 miles to go. I continued with daylight starting to appear until I arrived at Land’s End at 6:11am on Monday morning.

On arrival, the only problem I had was that the hotel didn’t open until after 7:00am. At this point I couldn’t hold back the need for sleep any longer and put my walking coat, gloves and woolly hat on and fell asleep on the bench outside the hotel.

The total time to complete the trip for me was 46 hours and 11 minutes. Pete arrived mid morning after 3 hours sleep in the Travel Lodge.
John o’Groats to Land’s End was 1079 miles covered on the road and about 25 miles on the mountains.
The total mileage from home and back again was almost 2000 miles.

Richard S

National 3 Peaks, 29th-31st August 2008

The spirit of Verdes has never been so apparent as last week.

Rich S and his pal Pete, both dressed as Power Rangers, decided to motorcycle from John O'Groats to Lands End, taking in the National 3 Peaks en route (and just to break up an otherwise monotonous journey).

With a week to go, and only one taker in a supporting role who was going to cook at Snowdon for them, I decided that in order to protect my investment, I should really make a token effort to support my employee.. ahem... mate.

More or less at the drop of a hat and with no hesitation, Ian S, John D and Sharon all decided that it was game on. All we needed was some sun cream.

Pure Verdes. No plan, no preparation, no training. Just bags of oomph.

Of course, we didn't plan on beating 24 hours as we would be driving and supporting ourselves.

But, if the opportunity arose....

We arrived in Kinlochleven at our old haunt, The Tailrace Inn. after a cracking 5 hour drive. A few training pints and a pie and we were all set for the rigours or a bit of hill walking.

The weather was kind on the Saturday. A light breeze, some sun, a bit of drizzle and not too heavy cloud. Just what you need for the Ben.

The Power Rangers arrived at around noon and we set off to get it done. The going was ok and we all made it safely to the top in around 3hrs. Early days, but we had a sniff of under 24hrs in our noses, so we jogged most of the way back to the car.

1 down.

As it was my car and the road to Scafell was quite windy, I elected to drive to the Lakes. We made great time and even beat the Power Rangers to the car park at Seathwaite, mainly because we passed them as they slept and munched energy burgers.

We set off for Scafell at midnight and the evening was warm and humid, a portent for things to come. As we made Sty Head tarn (dead on schedule) the fog rolled in and all of a sudden visibility was around 2 metres, with head torches merely reflecting back on us.

Navigation was 'picky' to say the least and my major concern was the safety of the team. However, we managed to gain the summit after 3hrs so we weren't too far off the pace.

The problems started on the descent, with route finding through the boulder fields around Ill Crag hellish to say the least.

We managed to get back to the mother ship after 7 hrs of walking and for the first time we could see a sub 24 fading away.

Ian took the wheel for the race to Snowdon and we again made good time to the car park. The Power Rangers were no where to be seen however and we started to fear the worst.

Had they been nicked? Had small children stopped them for an impromptu autograph session? Had they fallen foul of small, coal smeared men, singing in close harmony, bored with sheep molesting? This was Wales after all.

Soon we heard the open pipes of Pete's Ducati coming up the valley and we knew that at least one Power Ranger hadn't become a miner's plaything.

We set off up Snowdon via the Pyg Track with great views up to Crib Goch and managed the summit in around 2 hrs 20. Descent was via the rail track as the train wasn't running.

Ian and I happily meandered our way downwards until we heard the sound of a large piece of decrepit machinery, straining its way up the hill. At first I thought it was Pete's Ducati but then we realised that the train WAS running. Taking refuge behind a 'NO TRESSPASSING ON THE RAILWAY' sign, we got the map out and made like tourists as the train chugged past.

We realigned ourselves onto an alternative path and made good time back to the finish.

Time taken in total 28 hours... not bad for a lash up attempt on a self supporting basis.

And testimony to what Verdes can do when it puts its mind to it.

Thanks everybody for a fantastic weekend.

And well done to the Power Rangers who made it to Lands End in 46 hours - brilliant effort.

Davie

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

Verdes Adventure Poll

Thanks for all the great ideas for the Verdes poll.

I've put them up for you to have a vote and we'll see what comes out of the process.


That said, it looks like we could categorise: a major event involving travel and a few days through to a one day blast to achieve.

If it comes out like that, I'll split the results for a second vote. Also if you have had any other ideas in the meantime, let me know and I'll put them up.

Davie

Font Romeu, French Pyrenees, 20th July 2008

This week saw Davie in the Pyrenees for some R+R after the Skye mission.

The week kicked off with a gorge walk from around 900m up to about 1900m. The going was quite tough but the views were spectacular.

Next on the agenda was some white water rafting, followed by some hydro speeding. Rich S gave me a complete bum steer as to what hydro speeding entailed, so I was a little surprised to find myself suited and flippered up, then lashed on to a bit of polystyrene before being deposited back at the start of the rafting course.

Great fun, although more than a little bruising.

Without any let up, we then went mountain biking with some good technical stuff and some great downhill sections. Walkers were a bit of a problem though and as we meandered our way down into Spain, there were more than a few shouts of 'excusez moi!' and 'pardon!'.

I'll not bore you with details of the highest aerial extreme I have ever been at and will skip direct to our day off.

We hired a guide called Sebastian, who we found out afterwards is one of the strongest and most famous climbers and boulderers in the Pyrenees.

Kinda like a French Ginger.

Sebastian took us to some great rock outcrops and set up a range of climbs from VS to HVS. The weather was great and the HVS routes were outstanding.

Why I worried about InPin is beyond me.

In the afternoon, we went bouldering in the Targasonne area, which is very like a French version of Brimham Rocks. We tackled some easy problems to start with and moved on to 6a Grades on the Fontainebleu scale.

For the newcomers, this equates to 'bloody difficult - Spiderman qualities required'

Our guide for this was Dave. Dave is originally from Barnsley and lives for 6 months of the year in a cave in the Himalayas. He too was quite obviously descended from Ginger and seemed to climb using only two fingers and one of his toes.

A maestro of bouldering, but then he does practice 7 hrs a day in the Himalayas.

The finale to our week was a canyoning day and having done numerous ghyll scrambles here in the UK, I felt quite confident.

The reality is however, that the canyons there are much steeper sided, much faster and much more dangerous. We negotiated sumps, tyrolean traverses, zip wires, swims and about 6 major jumps, the biggest of which was 11m.

All in all a great week. Simon and Dave (our guides for the week) were superb and have stated that if Verdes want a tailor made trip next year, say over a long weekend, they will put it together for us.

Davie