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…
Rule number 0.5 in mountaineering is look cool and the reflective piping and orange stripes of the Scarpa Ribelle Mountain Tech OD certainly draw attention to themselves. Whilst the only time I have looked cool was stuck in a blizzard in Alaska, wearing these boots is about as close as I will get to cool…
Scrambling In Snowdonia Cicerone have just released an updated version of their classic guidebook Scrambles in Snowdonia. Being honest, it was desperately needed as guidebooks have moved on and The Gary Smith North Wales Scrambles was far superior to the old version. Both ourselves and our clients have been enjoying the amazing scrambles in these…
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…
Happy New Year, Here in the Peak District the weather hasn’t been too bad the last few days. A sunny run up Kinder Scout in Springtime temperatures on Friday, was followed by a very blustery but dry walk with a group of Scouts who had travelled up from London to sample the delights of the…
Scarpa R Evo Review November 17 update – the new model in fetching blue and grey rather than funky orange – is just as good judging by the last month in some pretty cold and wet conditions. The older ones didn’t make it back from Nepal, but they didn’t owe me anything… A very comfortable…
Night navigation is a great way to hone your navigation skills. With the longer hours of darkness, you don’t even need to crawl into bed at 2am after a few hours on the hill. Book a navigation and map reading course with Beyond the Edge to give you the confidence to have a winter filled…