Mucklehouse Wall E5 6a, Orkney - Video

Heres a short 2 minute clip of ME Pro partners Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner on the classic 4 pitch E5 Mucklehouse Wall, Orkney.

You can keep up to date with all the latest of what Dave and Andy have been up to at their blogs here

http://andyturnerclimbing.blogspot.com/
http://www.davemacleod.blogspot.com/

Long Hope Route 1970

I was having a bit of a rummage through the Mountain Equipment archive today and to my surprise came across these photos of Ed Drummond and Oliver Hill on the Long Hope Route back in July 1970, the very route that ME pro partners Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner completed a few weeks back.

 Ed Drummond after the last bivouac on day 9 

Ed Drummond leading on day 5 

Oliver Hill on pitch 16 (The Crux) end of day 8 

Ed Drummond leading pitch 16 (The Crux) day 8

 Ed Drummond on pitch 16 (The Crux) day 8

Lukasz sung by the office on Monday on his way back from Hoy to give us a quick glimpse of some of the amazing shots he took of Dave and Andy on the Long Hope Route (a few of which are below).  There will be articles and more pictures to come in the climbing press shortly and were also super excited about seeing the footage that Diff and the guys at Hotaches got in the bag... keep your eyes peeled for more info soon!

Ed Drummond back at St Johns Head last week   

All photo: Lukasz Warzecha

Hoy - Update 1

The guys have been sending the first reports/pictures out from Hoy. Heres a few pictures from yesterday.... 

you can read all the latest reports over at the guy's blogs -

Lukasz Warzecha's blog: http://blog.lwimages.co.uk/
Dave MacLeod's blog: http://www.davemacleod.blogspot.com/
Andy Turner's blog: http://andyturnerclimbing.blogspot.com/
Paul Diffley blog: http://www.hotaches.com

All photos Lukasz Warzecha

Ben in training

We've just had this photo in from a secret source (Alastair) of Ben, clearly in training for his next expedition....

Ben along with fellow explorers Alastair Humphreys and Martin Hartley set out this October on the Scott 2012 expedition....



This year is the centenary of Captain Scott's last expedition. The objective he died trying to achieve, a return journey to the South Pole on foot, remains unfinished. Accomplished Polar Explorer Ben Saunders is leading a three-man team that sets out in October (from Scott's hut at the coast of Antarctica) to complete this four-month/1,800-mile trek. If all goes well, it will be the longest unsupported polar journey in history.


you can keep up with all the latest at


Ben's site - www.bensaunders.com
Martin's site - http://www.martinhartley.com/ 
Alastair's site - http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/

Hoy - The Beginning

Tomorrow sees Mountain Equipment Pro partners Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner set out on their next exciting challenge. 

   St Johns Head

Dave and Andy aim to climb The Long Hope Route on St John's Head, Hoy in a single day, freeing the final pitch up the headwall which Dave considers will come in around a hefty F8b+. Quite a challenge after 850 feet of sandy sea cliff and several pitches of E5 and above. This will certainly make it among the biggest undertakings in British climbing.

The Long Hope Route Topo

The Long Hope Route was first climbed in 1970 by Ed Drummond and Oliver Hill. They spent 7 days on the wall, sleeping on ledges and in hammocks, and several of the 23 pitches involved some aiding. A first free ascent was made by John Arran and Dave Turnbull in 1997, but this avoided the final pitch up the steep headwall, taking instead a slightly less direct line. Both ascents were landmark achievements for their time, both being onsight and showing real audacity in an unusually inhospitable environment. St John's Head is a 1000 feet of sandstone, making it the highest vertical sea cliff in the British Isles.


Alongside Dave and Andy will be friends of the brand - film maker Paul Diffley of Hotaches productions and photographer Lukasz Warzecha, so there should be footage and photos a plenty over the coming weeks.


The guys will be sending regular updates from the ME cottage and we'll keep you up to date with all the latest. You can also checkout updates and some pre trip thoughts over at their social media sites here 


Facebook
Hot Aches: https://www.facebook.com/hotaches
Lukasz Warzecha: https://www.facebook.com/LWimages
Dave MacLeod: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=761184046

Twitter
Hot Aches: http://twitter.com/#!/HotAches
Dave MacLeod: http://twitter.com/#!/davemacleod09
Lukasz Warzecha: http://twitter.com/#!/LukaszWarzecha

Blogs
Lukasz Warzecha's blog: http://blog.lwimages.co.uk/
Dave MacLeod's blog: http://www.davemacleod.blogspot.com/
Andy Turner's blog: http://andyturnerclimbing.blogspot.com/

Photos: Dave MacLeod Collection
  

Snowdon Horseshoe in the wind and rain.

On Saturday I decided to take the dog for a proper day out and headed nice and early to North Wales for a run round the Snowdon horseshoe.



I nabbed by the skin of my teeth the last parking space at Pen-y-pass, wolfed down the last of my cold porridge as the car rocked back and forth from the gusts of wind and set out up the PYG track.



I was good to leave the trail of people behind as I passed over the stile with the sign "danger Crib goch". This would be the most dangerous Mountain route the dog will have done to date although she has been up grade 1 Scottish gully's but then most dogs should be able to manage that. I was feeling a little apprehensive that she might throw her self over a drop in a miss timed jump.

Me thinking its a little wild gaining the crest of Crib goch

As we got on the ridge proper the wind was blowing quite hard in places, we were firmly in the cloud too with the odd bit of rain passing through. The weather gave me an opportunity to give my new Gore-Tex Active Shell jacket a proper test. I was impressed , its the only waterproof that I can run up hill in and not get too hot and sweaty. With the weather being what it was the jacket stayed firmly zipped up for the rest of the round.

Sophie using 4 wheel drive to negotiate the ridge

Peering into the murk down Lliwedd

The dog had 1 little mishap skidding down a slab for 4 or 5 meters, she landed at the bottom coming to no harm but wasn't impressed by me laughing.

Descending down to Lyn Llydaw

Back at the car I thought we'd had a good morning but I wasn't cherishing the coffee fueled drive back to Yorkshire.

Kyashar 2011 Expedition - Andy's thoughts

ME Pro partner Andy Houseman has just posted "Snow, snow and more snow in the Hinku" with more amazing pictures and his thoughts on the Kyashar expedition, you can check that out at his blog here

Andy leaving the belay for the final pitch

If you haven't already checked it out you can see fellow ME pro partner Nick Bullocks Kyashar post here

Nick approaching the bivi boulder after 18 hours on the go

M.E Trip to Arco

After a day of delays, hire car faff and getting on the busy Italian autostarda without a ticket (naughty Andy) we all arrived at Arco Italy. Arco is situated just north of lake Garda and is a bit of a rock climbers dream with lots of easily accessible limestone ranging from short sport crags through to huge multi pitch multi day epics. The trip was at the invitation of our German colleagues from Invia to go climbing and eat tasty Italian ice cream.

So with the promise of excellent cafe doppio (double espresso) and polished rock in our minds we trotted over to Italy to find both true. .

Although many Brits deride Arco as being too polished, we found if your prepared to make a little more effort and with quality beta from our German colleagues (thanks Thomas) some really good climbing can be found.

The first two days we're a nice mix of Via ferrata and going climbing, the team were climbing well, some of us even embracing and succeeding on the polish.

On our day of departure we decided to keep things interesting by attempting one of the many soaring multipitches in the valley. This greatly worried Thomas (head of Invia) who had visions of us having an epic and missing the flights, but despite the slightly worrying look of the thread runners which most of the route had been equipped with, the 3 teams of two pulled over the top of the cliff with plenty of time to spare. So after a well earned coffee down by the lake we left for the airport tried but satisfied.

Enjoy the photos of the M.E team having fun.