Good ideas, tips and thoughts from professional mountaineers
Preparing for Less Daylight Autumn is a fantastic time to be in the mountains. Colours erupt and flame across the landscape, light softens and shadows lengthen giving contrast and counterpoint to valleys and hollows brimming with mist. The onset of winter makes fleeting, shorter days like this seem all the more precious and an urgency […]
Climbers get all the glory. They stand on the podiums, feature in the climbing films and get the sponsorship deals. But don’t be fooled; the true art worth mastering is not climbing, it’s belaying. You know a good belayer when you climb with one. A good belayer is the kind of person who fills you […]
Pulling on You’ve checked RAD, packed your kit and walked to the crag, finally it’s time to get some real rock climbing done. Hang on, where are all the holds? Which ones do you use? Where are the crash pads and the permadraws? Rock climbing outdoors presents its own challenges and can be hard to […]
The law of the crag You’ve settled on your destination and you’re on the way to the crag. Sorted. But before you rock up and pull on, make sure your crag etiquette and behaviour is up to scratch. Stuff that’s perfectly acceptable at the climbing wall may not be good practice at crag. This is […]
Part 1: Couch to crag Rock Climbing outdoors is incredibly exciting and rewarding, and logistically-speaking there’s a little more to it than climbing at a purpose-built climbing wall. Working out where you’re going and how you’re getting there are good starting points, but there are loads of extra things you can do to ensure a […]
Emergency Shelter review The media loves a headline and “The bivy bag probably saved their lives” was a great one provided by Willie Anderson, leader of Cairngorm MRT, following a successful search for a couple who became benighted in the Cairngorms last year. Many people are however unaware of how to use a bivy bag […]
As the nights start to draw in, the chances of having to do some navigation in the dark increase. Far from being something to fear, night navigation can be great fun. Compass navigation at night can be a challenge as sighting on objects to keep on bearing has to occur over shorter distances and features […]
So much depends on getting the basics right and in this context the basics are what you wear next to your skin ie your expedition base layers. On an expedition the same couple of tops will be on for pretty much every day so they need to work. I have been using Patagonia tops as […]
Alleviating Depression through Climbing I’m feeling the need to get out on rock. There is an Interesting article here from the American magazine Climbing talking about how rock climbing can be used to focus the mind and help with mental health and alleviate depression https://www.climbing.com/news/can-climbing-be-used-to-treat-depression/ I don’t know about true depression, but I do know that […]
Choosing your clothing and equipment for Kilimanjaro is relatively easy compared to some mountains. However to make your ascent of Kilimanjaro as comfortable and enjoyable as possible some consideration does need to be given to your choice of clothing and equipment. The advantage of packing and choosing equipment for a Kilimanjaro trek is that you can, within reason, […]