Mountains to the Sea

The Rest of January

2012-02-01T06:58:00.001-08:00

January has been a whirlwind month of catching p with old friends, seeing family and the odd trip into the mountains. Thanks everyone for your hospitality and help over the last six weeks, I am off to China and Hong Kong on Friday (with a brief stop in Holland) and will be back in Scotland in April.

A few photos of the last couple of weeks.

Having driven down from Torridon to sort out my chinese visa I drove back up on the promise of good weather. This photo was taken just before dawn of some glacial erratics leading away towards Sgurr Ruadh with the clouds in the valley below.
The night before I spent in this bothie in Coire Fionaraich.
From the summit of Sgurr Ruadh looking back at Meal Chean Dearg and Beinn Damh (the sea loch on the right is the head of Loch Torridon)
The Torridon Ridges (about an hour before sunrise) L-R Beinn Alligan, Liatach and Beinn Eighe.
Skiing, Scottish style - A classic shot from early January. Toby, Ally and Ruaridh checking the map down the valley at Spittal of Glenshee.
Ally Ross out in front on the way up Ben Tuilieachan above the spittal of glenshee.
Summit cairn with rime ice.
Tobi, Ali (hidden behind), Ruaridh and Louisa skinning up the ridge in the very strong wind.
Two Skiers silhouted on the way up the ridge.

Next update should be from Lijiang, Western China

Canoeing Across Scotland

2012-01-19T06:20:00.001-08:00

My 101st post on the blog. Could have also been titled "Not the best rest and recovery" as my ribs are still aching but are now joined by my lower back. Bob Taylor and I set off last Friday morning to cross Scotland by canoe.

Day One (Kinlochleven to the East end of the Blackwater)

We left Kinlochleven at 11am with the boats on trolleys for the first 7km uphill portage. Actually the first 2 km are what its all about as you essentially gain most of the 300m in that distance before gaining a concrete conduit to get up to the Blackwater.

Unloading the trailer in Kinlochleven looking up at the route of the portage. It was 1degreeC when we left and never really rose any higher. This was perfect, I cant imagine what it would be like in summer pulling boats up this hill.
Bob with boat heading up the first hill.
Still going up..
Bob and I on the conduit. Kinlochleven can just be seen (the whitish spot in the valley on the lower left is the sea on the west coast)
Finally on some water. It took 3 hours to get the boats up the hill to the blackwater but it was all worth it, paddling in some flat calm on a beautiful high loch.
Bob with 10km of the Blackwater still in front of him late in the afternoon.
The tent lit up on the first night, camped at the East end of the Blackwater ready for the heinous portage the next day.

Day Two (East end of Blackwater to the river Gaur)

We got up and out of camp as it got light and headed off initially trying to connect sections of the Blackwater river with each other but quickly gave up and pulled the canoes behind us instead.

Bob contemplates another boggy section. This first portage was meant to be just over 3 km but we frequently had to take the long way round small streams and large bogs. It was quite useful the ground being frozen as the boat slid pretty easily on the frozen turf.

No water in sight. Potentially the highest part of the crossing getting closer to the small Lochan a' Chlaidheimh at the top before another long portage down to Loch Eigheach at the head of the Gaur.

Crossing yet another small stream - at times the boats were quite handy as you could slide them halfway across and then climb across them! We both spent much of this day imagining different contraptions that would make this easier.

Camped on the side of the Gaur after a very long day. The last 600m to the road down to Loch Eigheach seemed very long indeed after dragging the boats what should have been 7.5km but was probably more like 10.

Day Three (River Gaur to Dunalastair Dam)

We woke up to find a hard frost and temperature refusing to rise above -5degreeC and not a breath of wind. Lieing in the tent looking at the maps on the first night we had realised that we had totally forgotten about Loch Rannoch, incidentaly the largest loch we would have to paddle. We slowly got into some very cold drysuits and headed downt the Gaur river which was rather low on water.

My socks frozen to the canoe.

Tree at the start of Loch Rannoch in the early morning sun.

Finally across Loch Rannoch and past the Rannoch Dam feeling very pleased with ourselves after meeting an incredulous gentleman who asked "where you headed, Perth?" to which we replied "yes". We then explained very poorly that we had come from the West Coast and that we were not doing it for charity...

Day Four (Dunalastair Dam to Pitlochry)

Another cold and frosty morning and another portage around a dam to get into the upper Tummel river. We scouted this portage the night before which made things go a bit quicker only to discover that there was no water in the Tummel river and all the throwbags etc were completely frozen. We chose to portage the hard rapids.

Dunalastair Water in the morning light.

Loading the boats for the portage around the dam.

Lunch on Loch Tummel Island.

Finally a pint of beer in the Kingfisher pub in Pitlochry. We had a couple of pints, some fish and chips and then wandered pitlochry looking for the portage route for the next morning.

Day Five (Pitlochry to Perth (and a bit further))

We got up early and did a quick portage of Pitlochry at 615 not even meeting any vehicles on the road and then waited for the bakery to open for some bacon rolls to keep us going. Once on the water we were able to keep a good 10km an hour all the way to perth.

Approaching the bridges in Perth, the tidal limit for East Coast. Just to be sure we paddled an extra 11km down to Abernethy. Thanks to my Dad and Sister for dropping off some pies and irn bru and my dad for helping with the shuttle.

For anyone interested in this route, some notes on logistics -

Total route is about 150km

Portages - hard! there is two painful ones, one on the first day and the other from the blackwater to the gaur. The uphill portage on day one is tough to start but the last 5 km are really pleasant.

Gear - we took 2 boats and two trolleys. The trolleys were lifesavers and this does seem to be safer to do with 1 boat. We took enough gear to be comfortable, drysuits and waterproofs, Wellies, trainers and river shoes. We took enough food for 4 days (three dinners) knowing that we would make pitlochry before we ran out(only just!)

Timing - We both thought winter would be better. Frozen ground, no midgies etc though we did paddle in the dark every day and could certainly have made more distance with more daylight.

Shuttle - its really long though very obvious.

Route - It seems that some people portage down to run the Garbh Ghaoir (the river above the Gaur) but this doesnt really make sense as it is a further portage and doesnt quite make sense (to us) on a map.

Recovering

2012-01-03T03:43:00.000-08:00

This post is a little different to most in that a lot of the pictures were not actually taken by me. As some will know I took a bit of a fall climbing in Stob Coire an Lochain in Glen Coe so the bottom photos are purely from this. The last few are from my first trip back into the mountains over hogmanay with Ruaridh, Ann Marie, Robin and Jaffa the Dog to Coire Mor Bothy. We arrived to find a new barrier across the road forcing us to walk a little further but we still got in in good time. We met some other people at the bothy and saw in the new year with them and some whisky (though we only lasted till 11!)

The healing is going well with it getting better every day though it was a bit achy sleeping on the bothy floor!

Coire Mor Bothy is actually the far end of this building with the doorway nearest being "Magoos" Bothy. I think this might be kept quiet by the Mountain Bothies Association as this really is one of the best bothies ever and the are has a huge amount of Winter Climbing, Summer Climbing and Skiing potential.

Ruaridh crossing the river after our day doing the round of Seana Braigh. It was this or another hour of walking.

Old Caledonian forest exposed by the river from the peat bogs - probably the most impressive one of these I've seen at the head of the loch.

Ruaridh and Ann-Marie relaxing on the afternoon of the 1st while clothes dry around them.

The photos from the fall...

2 climbers approaching the main cliff of Stob Coire.

Graham racking up before the first pitch.Me on the ledge that I bounced off on my way down (photo by Graham). You might just be able to spot the bulldog clipped to the right hand rope. I attempted to move up and right from where I am standing in the picture - I still dont think it was the right way.
Being fed hot juice while we wait for the helicopter (photo by Graham). The buttress I fell off is the left hand side of the coire. I was climbing the second pitch which would have got us close to the big snow band running up the left side of the crag.
Graham signalling the helicopter in (Photo by Emily Roo)
Me being packaged up ready for my flight - I was very cold by this point as graham had not let me eat anything and I was in shock. I was still warm enough to be annoyed by the neck brace which I later convinced them to take off. (photo by Emily Roo). If you look carefully you can tell Graham is grinning inside his hood.
Me heading out the easy way (Photo by Emily Roo)
In the Fort William hospital with a cup of tea. They are so used to dealing with climbers they didn't even cut my clothes off. (Photo by Graham)

Trying to take it easy and let my ribs heal has given me lots of time to consider how great we have it in the UK with free health care and Mountain Rescue. Hopefully I wont need it again any time soon but its good to know its there.

Next up for me is some more resting and then hopefully more of the usual skiing, climbing and taking pictures before I head to Asia in February.

Happy New Year.

Leaving America

2011-12-04T08:26:00.001-08:00

I am now safely back in the UK and thought I would put up one last post from America. Both before and after the Grand Canyon trip I was at the wonderful Red Rocks, just outside Vegas. To use my best american we were "rolling deep" as there was between 4-12 of us hanging out and climbing. Hanging out included playing the penny slots for free drinks in the casinos, hitting up the all you can eat buffets and "poaching" hot tubs at the big hotels (the marriot scored the highest). But enough of that - heres some climbing photos.

Steve "Bauminator, Crusher, Bigwater" Baume showing how to climb for a photographer on a horrible route at moderate mecca on a day where Dave "smokey eye jesus" Wilson, Steve and I climbed the worst routes we could find. I think this is the 5.10 furthest to the right.
Jason working hard even after the local told him that "the good holds come off now, probably 5.12". In the black Corridor and supposed to be 5.11b or c

Jor-El and Meagan looking a little worried in the Black corridor. We spent a day being "those people" with 10 of us going to the busiest crag at red rocks on one of the busiest days of the year.

Dave and Ryan checking things out
Clare (She might actually be smiling) climbing Cannibal Crack
Amber "I dont lead climb and no-one ever takes photgraphs of me" Guzzardo. Leading at "panty wall"
The back of my van (now at the wreckers yard) being used as the gear dumping ground.
Lenka cruising Yak Crack (5.11c) at the Gallery. Lenka onsighted the route as far as the last bolt, climbed past and then down climbed back from the chains three times because she didnt want to fall!
Lisa showing great style on Yaak Crack - a perfect place to practice falling we discovered.
Ryan, in the middle of his and Lenka's lets climb dirty looking offwidths week, climbing "Chrysler Crack" at Sandstone quarry. (5.9)
Ryan and Steve turning my van into a proper motorhome as we move campsites.

Now I am back in the UK for a while it seems. Some work, a trip to Holland, Christmas and then hopefully lots of time in the mountains......

Grand Canyon - The River

2011-11-30T08:54:00.000-08:00

And finally some action shots. We took four 18foot gear boats, three kayaks and an inflatable kayak that made some brief appearances.

Scouting Lava

Whitney (at the oars) and Clare coming through "Granite" rapid in style - yes there is a boat in there!
JP slamming the hole on "Crystal" rapid

Steve and Jason hitting the whole on Crystal

Its not all white water, most of it looks like this - pulling into lunch at Blacktail canyon.

A classically confusing rapid description from the guidebook!

Rachel (with Anders and Amber up front) hitting the wave a little sideways at the bottom of Lava

Rachel getting Anders and Amber wet at the top of Lava

Grand Canyon - The Places

2011-11-30T08:35:00.000-08:00

One of the most amazing things about the Grand Canyon is watching the colours of the rock change as you slowly drop into the landscape as well as all the side canyons to explore.

"Elves Chasm" - you can actually jump from the middle tier of the fall though it is only about 8ft deep!
Deer Creek falls.
Stars above the river when we were camped at Soap creek (Day 2)
Crazy white stripes through the red sandstone at Unkar Delta
Upper falls of Deer Creek
Canyon walls - the right side is lit by moonlight and the left by the fire at "Upset Hotel" Camp
River bends in the early morning light at Nankoweap.

Unkar Delta (on the right of the image) - the sandy spot just right of middle is camp.

Havasu Canyon flowing strong

Grand Canyon - The People

2011-11-30T08:21:00.000-08:00

Finally have a good internet connection after a couple of months on the road. I have a couple of blog posts coming up but first up some photos from the 22day grand canyon rafting trip. We launched on the 27th of October and for the most part had glorious weather. Probably the best part of the trip was just being in a beautiful place with good people. Amazingly we were all still talking after 22 days and even chose to hang out for another week together afterwards!

Fairly early in the trip (you can tell as the water is not yet muddy brown) on the raft with Clare, Whitney and Bob.
Jason and Jor-El doing some acrobatics to get the inflatable kayak (and bob) up the "silver grotto" side canyon.
The first of many fancy dress nights - Steve and Cori at halloween
Steve, Anders, Bob and Meagan - Another intense game of Batchi Ball in camp
Steve and Jason take a big hit (a little sideways) in the bottom wave of Lava falls
Bob and Clares one year wedding anniversary.
Playing "Jungle Jam" in camp.

Wet and cold - Must be the North Cascades in October

2011-10-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

It is somewhat ironic that I am tired as I have probably averaged 11hours a day in my sleeping bag for the last couple of weeks. We headed into the Sawtooth Range of the North Cascades for the mountain section of this years Wilderness Instructors Course and were quickly met by rain and snow. Joel and I had opted to both take our own stoves (Jetboils) so that we could cook from our sleeping bags and this proved to be key to our comfort. The harsh conditions were pretty tough on our students (who cant cook from their sleeping bags!) and most of us had wet feet for most of the 2 weeks. We did still manage to see the beautiful fall colours and do some climbing etc though some days were definitely more focused on trying to stay warm....

Fall colours below Turtle lake near the end of the section
The first storm of the section rolls up the Copper Valley. (We did manage to climb Copper Mountain the next day in the only clear weather window of the whole section)
"The Pouch". We rappelled (abseiled) into this cave and climbed out along fixed lines in the morning. Funnily enough it turned out to be the clearest night of the whole two weeks. (you can actually see the rope hanging down the middle of the cave. I belayed from the top and then the doubled rope was not quite long enough so I down climbed half on the tree and half on Joel!)
Joel trying to decide - tea or soup? The double jet boil system in place.
Very pleased with ourselves - the funny thing in this shot is that we are both wearing our rain jackets in our sleeping bags inside the tent.
Tired students at the end of the first day of hiking. Inside the "Mega-Mega" group shelter
The "Mega-Mega" lit up with the storm rolling past.
Black and white of a fallen log.

Now its all sunny in the Mountains but its time for me to leave. Might manage a days climbing tomorrow and then start driving south towards Bend and then Red Rocks.

Superlatives

2011-09-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Now up in Mazama, Washington I decided to stop on my way up for a little hike up to Hidden Lake fire lookout. I started to hear about this place a couple of years ago and then came across some night photographs of it on Steph Abeggs awesome website http://www.stephabegg.com/. This hike is described as "one of the finest hikes on the face of the planet" as well as the toilet at the abandoned fire lookout winning "the most scenic latrine" award from backpacker magazine. After hammering my van up the dirt road to the trail head, I raced the sunset up the mountain all the while questioning why I was doing this after ten hours of driving and little sleep the night before. I gained height and more views but kept questioning whether this could really be that spectacular.

My first view of the the fire lookout (its the white patch to the right of the summit). I've been to some pretty amazing huts in beautiful places but this might just beat the lot (though the christmas I spent in the DOT hut in the upper Makarora valley of New Zealand might come close)

Looking down on Hidden Lake on the way up the ridge.

Looking into the fire lookout with the fisheye lens - this place is amazing! There is a small library of books about the local area, a wood buring stove, a double bed and the most spectacular views. It seems like there is strong group of volunteers keeping this place going.

The view out of two sides of the lookout - The clouds cleared just after I got to the lookout giving me views of the whole of the North Cascades. (you might need to click on this to get the full effect)
The toilet. Probably is the most scenic I've had the pleasure of visiting but could be topped by the old toilet at Allt Scheicheachan bothy (the one above Pitlochry)

Another view of the lookout just before sunset.

Lit up with some candles. That is not in fact the sunset (approx 10pm) but the lights from Seattle I think.

Just a couple more days hanging out, climbing and taking photos before I start work where I will be hanging out, climbing and taking photos for the next 20+ days with the Fall Washington Instructor Course.

River of No Return - Again

2011-09-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

I finally have some down time after a hectic few weeks with a lot of river miles. Straight after driving 10hrs (actually I slept in the back) from Idaho, I was at Rach and Chris's wedding and then back in the car to drive back to run the Main fork of the Salmon (the section above the Lower). Somewhere in there I tore some muscles in my lower back making me a passenger for the trip but I did manage to row a couple of miles and do a little kayaking.

I previously ran this in 2009 but had swine flu for the whole of this section (we ran all the way through the lower in 2009). It was great to be back on the river and be alive for it this time! (http://mountainstothesea.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html)

HDR shot at sunset from our layover camp.
This clown appeared on the last night (Jay Miller)
Whitney and Jay coming through Vinegar creek rapid (Class 3)
Campfire and Moonlight
Lenka, Jr and Michael.
Danni and Jay cooking another epic breakfast.
Hot Tub Hotsprings - the whole crew. Nadia, Michael, Southard, Danni, Whitney, Mourar, Baume, Jr, Jay, Lisa, Lenka, Me and Jeff.
Jr, Lisa and Whitney dropping into the new rapid at Black Canyon Creek (the creek blew out this spring pushing boulders into the Salmon)
Lenka and Nadia making it through another rapid
Mourar and Jay playing horseshoes in camp.
HDR shot looking back at the fire that was following us down the river.
Looking back upriver above Black canyon rapid.

Now I am getting ready to pack up and head on my annual pilgrimage up to Mazama washington.

Busy Weeks

2011-09-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Just back from the lower Salmon after a busy couple of weeks. I had promised Brie that I would climb the Monkey with her before the end of the season. Time was getting shorter so we headed out for an evening ascent of "Monkey off my Back" (5.9, Ao) during my prep days. Then on to the Deschutes river as a course director then straight back to base to prep the for the next river (in Idaho) the Lower Salmon family and Adult course.

Brie pulling through the final aid moves before the final pitch as the sun goes down (we topped out at sunset)
The stars spinning around the north star with a group camped below on the Deschutes river (camped at Ed Rogers)
Mike Mourar running the right side of Oak Springs with his umbrella up.
Paddle cat flip drills on the Lower Salmon (Caitlin and Lauren)
Part of the massive lightning storm that passed over us on the 4th day on the Salmon. My camera was the only thing that was dry during this - I could have rung my sleeping bag out the next morning!
Making dinner
One of the best things about work - working with good friends, Meagan, Myself and Nadia dressed for success.
I have been working on this a bit this summer - an HDR image of rafts in camp. (Three images at different exposures overlayed on top of each other to bring out more vibrancy)

Now I just have to get ready for Rach and Chris's wedding before heading back to Idaho to run the Main Salmon with friends.

Squamish

2011-08-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

Some dirtbag climbers we met

Just back from a week of climbing in Squamish BC. My first real trip to Canada (except that one time that my flight got rerouted through Toronto and Anne took me out drinking till my 6am flight) which just showed what a great country this is. Just a short 10hr drive which got a little longer when i got lost in downtown Vancouver at 2am in the morning and we were climbing pristine granite. After a first tired day "warming up" on the smoke bluffs we were into the multipitch trad routes on the Cheif. Ryan and I managed to average ten pitches a day, hitting a lot of the classics as early as we could to avoid any crowds. Our last day was spent connecting three routes (Diedre, Boomstick crack and the Ultimate Everything) to create a 19pitch route with the last pitch the crux at 5.10b (probably E1/2 5c). All in all a good trip followed by a day back in Oregon and then an attempt at the easiest free route on the Monkey at Smith Rock (Monkey Space 5.11b - still got to complete it unfortunately as Ryan and I both chickened out of the final 3 bolt 11b moves!). Some photos.......

Topping out of 19 pitches - I have never been so tired leading as I was on the last pitch.
Ryan leading the crux pitch of "Over the Rainbow" 5.10a
Me leading the 5.7 tree on "Angels Crest" (5.10c)
Somewhere on a ledge on some route
Ryan styling up "Angels Crack" on Angels Crest (one of the trad crux pitches)
My attempt to be arty with my small camera - Ryan leading up the wet offwidth crack on "Rock On" (5.10a)
Me on the "Agrophobes Towers" pitches of Angels crest.

Now I have just one more 15day course in oregon before more time off, some rafting trips and some work in Washington.

Circles

2011-07-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

Okay so all the images are not uploading but there was only two left anyway. I seem to be doing laps of certain areas right now on the 4 crew 22day course in oregon. Lots of time spent on Three Fingered Jack with groups that did or did not summit, lots of hiking up and down one short (4mile) section of the pacific crest trail and a fair amount of time spent on base packing food for all the groups. I have tried to spend some time learning new photography techniques but it seems a little hard on a short amount of sleep.

Trevor sorting webbing for the fixed lines on Three Fingered Jack (530am)
Dressed for anything.
I should probably know what this is. Its probably a weed but looks great this time of year.
The staff of the 4 crew course taken with the fisheye lens on the first day. Jay, Erin, Trevor, Paul, Mandi, Maxine, Karen, Molly, Stu, Brettt, Brighton, Daniel, Jor-El, Nadia, Me, Meagan, Ashley, Rusty and Jay
A poor attempt at a circular 360degree panorama. I totally messed up the "nadir" (or feet) shots but still feels good to stitch 42 images together. The peak to the top left (actually North) is Mt Jefferson and the bottom right (actually south) is the Sisters Wilderness.

Next - a climbing trip to Squamish BC.

Summers coming

2011-07-08T07:22:00.000-07:00

Just finished my first 22day raft/mountain course of the year. Oregon has been desperately hanging onto spring with lots of snow in the mountains and the river still high. The first week on the river was made even better by Benny Kaiser coming over from Australia and coming on the river with me for a couple of days and then me getting to instruct for a couple of days. I then decided to take my skis into the first section of the mountains (yes - for work!). I only had to carry them for the first mile and the last two of 5 days and got to ski all over the Sisters Wilderness. Summer is finally here though, right in time for my 1.5 days off between two 25 day blocks of work. 1.5 days of climbing at Smith trying to avoid the heat interspersed with lots of good food and drink. Now back to work.

Benny perfecting his baking while employed as my personal chef (meaning I had even less to do than normal on the river)

Probably my favourite shot so far with the fisheye lens - Nadia, Drew and I on the gear boat on the lower Deschutes

Watching the sunset from the Cheat Grass on the Lower Deschutes.

Evening circle on the river.

My canp on the NW ridge of Broken top waiting to get some sunset shots of the Sisters

One of the shots.

Another Fisheye shot. Trevor, Erin and Bri playing farkle (yes that s a game) in their tent at night. 22min exposure.
A cool bug a student gave me at course end.
The day off - Ashley leading in the shade at Smith.

Widgi Block Traverse

2011-06-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

I've been kind of busy recently with work stuff interspersed with some occasional climbing. I did manage to get out the other night to take some photos and shout some encouragement for my friend Drew as he completed his long term project (the Widgi Block Traverse (V10)

Drew spotted by his wife Mandi
Concentration helps (as does a lot of strength!)
A less than positive hold
Drew checking out the moves
!!!
Great success after three years of effort.

For me its now off on a 22day course............ back soon.

Multi Tasking

2011-05-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

After a quick afternoon skiing with Mike Mourar and Steve Baume I left our base for a week with my van packed with Skis, Mountaineering gear and a full Kayaking set-up. I started with a three day Swiftwater Rescue Technician Course at wet planet on the White Salmon River in Washington and followed it up with an ascent of the Reid Glacier Headwall route on Mt Hood with Trevor (descending via the south side) followed by running the White and West fork of the Hood Rivers with Mike Mourar and then two days safety kayaking for the Assistant Instructor Training course on the White Salmon. It was great, if a little tiring, trying to tag so many things back to back but definitely made the most of the conditions available.

Reid Glacier Headwall - Ski up till level with illumination saddle, drop skis and traverse to saddle. Rope up, descend onto Reid Glacier then head up up up trying not to be scared when the 4 pickets and 2 ice screws didnt seem to be enough. Descend via south Side to skis, ski (badly) back to vehicles.

White River - A long off road drive (my van is rear wheel drive) to the start of the river. Pray that said van will make it out, leave in the morning and the van makes it out, decide to use mountain bike for shuttle instead.

West Fork of the Hood - Only a short section of river but ran after the White making a very full whitewater day. Feel ready for the White Salmon

White Salmon - put in at 820am to recon river for staff training, 7 miles takes 45 mins, realise that the river is a little high. Run it three times in the next 2 days.

The Week - Highly Succesfull but am now very tired

Trevor (approx 7am) high on the Reid headwall after the main difficulties (a steep ice pitch) were passed.
Trevor leading out below some serious rime ice on the Reid Headwall
Oregon Road, still learning how to use the new fish eye lens - taken on a few hours drive around Northern Oregon with Mike trying to see what rivers where actually "up"
Trevor leading through the final technical section - a rime ice tunnel on very unconsolidated hard wind slab snow.
Loading my van for the portage on the white salmon (definitely making my daily wage as it reduced my fuel efficiency to 8mpg)
The bottom hole of "Maytag" (Class 3) on the White Salmon - the first 2 miles was essentially survival paddling after this rapid as the boats were so full of water.
Skiing Tumalo Mtn with Mourar and Baume - Mourar drops in to a couple of inches of powder with his usual flair.
Anyone whos ski-ed with me should be able to guess which line is mine (clue - Mike Mourar teaches kids how to shred in the back country)
Trevor and I loving it high on the Reid Face - we summited at 930am, grabbed our skis (stashed on the south side) and ski-ed back to our vehicles in a 10.5hr round trip) it was blizzarding within the hour.
Mike Mourar and I pleased with ourselves after a rather full on off road drive down to the put-in for the white river - 12 miles of constant class 3+ with the odd 4.

I only have a couple more days off before our "All Staff" Training - possibly some time for more climbing at Smith Rock

Mount Jefferson

2011-05-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

So I am working right now but here are some photos from my time off. Lots of climbing, relaxing, coffee drinking and an attempt on Mount Jefferson by the Park Glacier Route. Steve, Amber and I skiied in from as far up the Whitewater Trailhead road as possible up to a high camp at around 6000ft. The weather was amazing but surprisingly (and worryingly) warm. We got up the next day and left camp at 5am, only to see the clouds roll in and drop our visibility to around 30ft (I couldn't really see steve on the other end of the rope team). We tried to go upwards through some steep crevassed terrain and poor weather until we could go no further at 10,000ft (the summit is 490ft higher). We got back to our skis and headed to camp, packed out and got out of there. A long day but a fun one with the only thing missing actually getting to the top.

Steve and Amber at our camp
A slightly random shot with my new fisheye lens - taken on the deck of the staff lodge.
Night view of our camp
Packing up as fast as possible. We made it to the trail head at 7pm after some survival skiing with large packs through the trees.
Sunset from camp. As soon as this weather clears up another attempt might be in order.

OWYHEE

2011-05-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

Spring is almost over which means that I just finished work. Wrapping up the Wilderness Instructors Course with a 7 day run on the Owyhee River in Eastern Oregon could not be better. We were a little worried in the days leading up to the long drive across the state as the river peaked at 18000 cfs (1000 -10,000 cfs being considered runnable). We got on the river at 9,000 as it slowly dropped, ideal circumstances for this river making rapids a little less technical. 7 days of phenomenal scenery, wildlife, hotsprings and great rafting is hard to beat.

Levi and Steve working hard (probably discussing what type of bird they're staring at)
Indian Paintbrush in one of the side canyons
Eric and I sailing the flotilla of rafts across Lake Owyhee on the second last day. (we actually got 4 miles an hour out of this rig while towing a paddle boat)
Mice practicing for the olympics in out dishwashing tubs (frozen in place in the morning)
Me doing what I do best, reading my book and drinking coffee in Ryegrass hotsprings.
Camp fire as the river and clouds flow past, Pruitts castle camp.
The groover - do toilet locations get any better??
Camp in Green Dragon Canyon.
Okay so not actually the Owyhee. I managed to get an evening of climbing in just before heading off and grabbed this picture of one of the bald eagles at Smith Rock.

Now I have some days off and just have to decide on Climbing, Mountaineering or Rivers.....

Mountain Weather

2011-04-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

We just finished the mountain section of the 50 day Instructors course with some of the most variable weather I have seen in Oregon. The crews set off in snow storms which gradually turned to torrential rain for a day (on top of 2 ft of powder!) before the sun finally showed its face. It seems to have been a great educational experience for everyone with challenging navigation, snow condtions and just staying warm and dry. We are now headed off for the final section - a run of the Owyhee in far eastern Oregon.

The Sisters from the top of the Snow Creek drainage (you can see the groups trail in the left side of the picture). Levi and Trevors crew camped near here with spectacular views for a couple of nights
Trevor and Levi cooking in camp.
The view out of my snow hole on my last night in the mountains - I had been a bit cold in my tarp so thought this might be warmer. Luckily the clouds moved in a little adding to my warmth.
Levi baking some birthday brownies for a student at 930 at night. (For those of you not used to "fry bakes" the fire is on top of the pan to help bake the food properly - its meant to look like that)
Trevor and Levi snow shoeing with North Sister behind
The ladies in Meagan and Lenka's crew showing off their hat hair only 4 days in!
Cailin valiantly slogging it out with a sled helping me resupply the crews with food and fuel. She's actually crossing Green Lake in the this picture on our biggest (10mile) day with the sleds. We were both struggling to stand when we made it to the van as it seems that 100lb (50kg) sleds don't move too well in deep slushy snow.
Broken top from park meadow.

Twelve Thousand Cubic Feet per Second

2011-04-07T16:58:00.001-07:00

Just got off the first river section of the Wilderness Educators Course. Lots of snow and some warm days set us up for a massive volume of water in the Deschutes. We put on the river at around 8000cfs (the rivers normal flow is 4500-6000) and it rose every day timing the peak perfectly for the biggest rapids. Rapids that we would normally swim through (Buckskin Mary Rapid) had holes that could stop and surf a paddle raft. Some rapids were no longer present along with campsites and boat ramps. We saw a huge amount of debris in the river including fishing platforms, benches, tables and broken boats. We also saw the Deschutes at one of the best times of year (if you have a dry suit), large water, green grass and amazing wildlife. The crew have one more day on the river before we take them too the mountains (which could be interesting given that the oregon mountains have got an average of about 4 inches of snow a day for the last month!)

Levi pulling through the bottom of a very different looking Boxcar Rapid (Class 3)
Oak springs (Class 3 - 4) at high water - for the oregon folks you can just see the entry to the far left line.
Another one for the oregonians, the top rock of Wapanitia (class 3) with the whole left side washed out.
The boat ramp at Wapanitia (you might be able to guess what nadia is saying to Justin across the parking lot and see a floating picnic bench)
A beautiful morning at Davidson Flat
Rafts tied up at Redside in the evening light
Leaving Davidson Flat with a storm behind.

Black and White World

2011-03-10T17:51:00.000-08:00

Today was my first real day back at work for the year though I seem to have made more days into work days recently (when the weathers bad) which will hopefully pay dividends later. Bad weather or rather cloudy skies have made me try and understand black and white photography a little more so here is a selection of black and whites from the last couple of weeks (as well as a sneaky one from Scotland in January). This spring I am again working the Oregon Wilderness Educators Course for 50 days this time joined throughout by Levi and selected appearances from others as the days progress. The last couple of weeks have been great to catch up and climb and ski with lots of people and slowly get ready for the long block of work ahead.

Looking back down the ridge from Three Fingered Jack toward Mt Washington on a dark and lonely ski up through the old burnt trees.
Max leading something (?) at Trout Creek - a new climbing area for me - in the bitter cold (there was snow on the ground!)
Amber pulling through the top move of "Voyage of the Cowdog" (5.9) at Smith Rock with the Crooked River far below. (this is the third and final pitch)
Classic central oregon, Big Old Truck for Sale in a beautiful place (the Three Sisters behind)
Thad leading "JR Token" (5.10) at Trout Creek
The Scottish one - Buachille Etive Mor on a very cold morning with lots of Ice in the Etive river
Steve Baume climbing "Teddy bears picnic" (5.10) at Smith Rock.

First up for work will be the 9 day rock camp at the beautiful Smith Rock.

First Week Back

2011-02-21T14:52:00.000-08:00

First week back in the States started with there being very little snow and now it wont stop. Having bought a Telemark setup a while ago I feel a bit like I am learning to ski again but with more ability to cheat (Amber shouting "those arent tele turns" on saturday confirmed my level of cheating). Lots of skiing and a tiny bit of climbing and sorting stuff out has been my last week, great to be back in oregon and seeing lots of friends. I also managed a brief stop in holland on my way here to see Kate, Kees and Jack where my drawing skills were put to a serious test (Jack is 20months old and likes to tell people what to draw - snails = easy, goat = difficult (no really try drawing a goat!))

Sunrise from Kate and Kees's house (theres a windmill in there somewhere)

Chris about to start bbqing in the snow on friday night
Whitney skiing onto the top of hoodoo with Mt washington and the Sisters behind.
Rime iced trees with Washington and the sisters
Ryan being an extremely attentive belayer
A friend of Ryans (sorry - forgot your name) going for it at Smith
Kate and jack on the beach.

Just a couple more weeks before work so more skiing, maybe some mountaineering (if it ever stops snowing) and hopefully some climbing.

38 to 5 degrees C

2011-02-07T04:12:00.000-08:00

Almost three weeks in Australia with Anna and Dad then my annual visit to the USA Embassy in London followed by a couple of days in the rough bounds of western Scotland. I now feel thoroughly confused about time zones, temperatures and generally whats going on. A mix of photos here from the last few weeks.

Ruaridh coming up onto the first summit of our traverse of the Munros North of Glen Dessary out to Loch Nevis (Heavy packs with the addition of a bag of coal makes for some heavy slogging through both snow and bog)
Sitting by the fire in A'Chuil bothy at the head of Loch Arkaig, we walked into here on the friday night and then on to Sourlies Bothy for the Saturday night.
The lower falls of the Pattack before it flows into Loch Laggan.
Snow on the beach by the Pattack as the swollen river rushes by.
A very wet (and slightly pissed off) stag by the side of the road on Loch Arkaig.
Anna teaching Dad how to drive in Mabel the Series 2 landrover
Sunset from the street outside Annas house in Cowaramup WA
Dad with a Snook (?) on a day our fishing (the only fish we caught)
Dad driving "Alfred" at Whalesback rock.

Tommorrow its off to Holland on my way back to Oregon then eventually some work in a few weeks. Before then hopefully some skiing, climbing and mountaineering......

The last couple of weeks

2011-01-16T15:07:00.000-08:00

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind in lots of different ways. Back home in Scotland over Christmas and Hogmanay (new year) playing in the snow and ice and am now in Australia with my sister (more about that with the last photo). My couple of weeks in Scotland culminated with a great two day ski trip above Loch Callater, lots of snow, my first time on Tele skis and even a warm fire in the lodge.

Bob, Lucy and Robin about Loch Turret on the day of new years eve

The crew at Hogmanay - Clare, Bob, Ann-Marie, Me, Ruaridh, Lucy, Robin and Ali (the other one) in Robins kitchen

The host in the kitchen again

Bob in the col between Ben Vorlich and the Stuc a Chroin

Looking North towards the Cairngorms on our two day ski trip above Loch Callater

Toby and Ruaridh (with ski boots) inside the very fancy lodge where we were rather surprised to be invited by the bill the caretaker for a couple of drinks and a sit by the fire.

On the top of Ben Dubh on the second day - Ali, Ruaridh, Toby, Robin and Me

Cant have been that cold - Toby going for a run in his ski boots

Skiing in on the first day

Ruaridh with the Cairngorm Mountain range behind

Ali and Robin hit the real snow line.

So now I am out in Australia with my sister Anna after her husband Nick passed away a week ago. He had had a particularly tough battle with cancer over the last 6 months and was remembered this week both in a service in perth and a "paddle out" down near Margaret River. The above photo is of 80 surfers taking to the water for a moment of silence to remember Nick at his favourite break, North Point, near Gracetown. It was a beautiful day to remember a great guy who fought so hard to the end. For me it has been amazing to see my family together (after 6 years), to get to know Nicks family and friends a bit better, to remember nick and continue to see some of the places and people he loved. My dad and I are now here for another 2 weeks hanging out with Anna and enjoying a bit of sun (when its not too hot!)

Glades part 2 - The Ten Thousand Islands

2010-12-11T15:57:00.000-08:00

Last course of the year and last real work for me for a while. This time we decided to head to the northern end of the park to the "ten thousand islands". This area is known for its beauty and was really amazing with white sand beaches and lots of birdlife. The weather was a lot colder than the last course and and really turned on the last day with lots of rain and some cold wind.

The "portage" to get to the boats on the last morning with a very low tide.
Mangrove sunset on the last night.
Canoeing
Phil (one of my co-instructors) deep in thought at lunch time.
We saw dolphins pretty much every day but this is one of the few decent shots I got.
Another long walk through the mud at dawn on Pavillion key in the gulf.
Birds at dawn
One of the vets eating dinner on the second night
The final camp.
White pelicans taking flight from a sand bar.

Now I have one more week of work attending the Florida All Staff Training before heading back to Scotland and the snow.

The Everglades take 1

2010-11-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

Just back in Key Largo, Florida after a week long Vets course in the Everglades. It was great to put some big mile days in in the canoes and see the beauty of the Glades again. That was until the bugs turned up near the end pushing us to launch early from our solo site at the Gulf of Mexico (shark point) and paddle our last 30 miles back through the night chased by "no-see-ums" (midgees). The wildlife in the everglades is definitely one of the highlights for along with the challenge of trying to stay comfortable in

humid conditions while mosquitos and midgees try and eat me alive (I still itch all over).

"Tony the trash Gator"

"Tony the trash Gator" watches the Vets as they discuss what they would do in a fight with a gator - my moneys on the vets.
Evening meeting on a "chickee" There is not much land in the Everglades national park so its either chickees or "boarding up" (basically making a raft out of the canoes)
Paddling up the Roberts River.
My co-instructors Jinky and Alex catching a nap on a chickee at lunchtime
Two White Ibis take flight (thanks Ann-Marie for correcting me on my bird identification!).
Roberts River Chickee at sunset.
Sailing across the edge of "whitewater bay" headed for the gulf of mexico - if we hadn't found a following wind this would have been a very long day.
The Suns rays as we cross Oyster bay headed back inland on our last long paddle through the night.

Now I have a couple of days to hang out in the Keys before one more Everglades Trip. Hoping for some better dolphing shots this time

Bob and Clare Taylor

2010-11-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

Thought I would throw a few photos up on here so people should be able to click and it will download to your computer (Actually that does not appear to be working but they should still download somehow!).

Not too many proper weddingy ones as there was proper photographer with a couple of very big cameras, but some funny ones the people might want (i have tried to leave them in their large format though this may be an excuse to sit in the coffee shop longer). Next up maybe some skiing and climbing then back to work again in the mighty everglades.

English people should not be allowed to wear Kilts
Iona and Sue at the top of the poleThe Scottish Mafia
Kilts and Hawain Shirts - hopefully someone got better photos of this
Sue and Iona on top of the pole
Clare throwing the Bouquet - Iona and Stu let me know when the wedding is!
For the Island Crew
Maybe it should just be Bob who is not allowed to wear a kilt
Ninian and Fraser on stage (I love the drunken lean toward Fraser)
Ceilidh Dancing
Robin at speech time
Waiting for the Dancing to start
The lovely couple on top of the pole

A stolen shot from behind the proper photographer
Two models who turned up - Ha!

Climbing, Driving, Climbing, Driving

2010-11-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

I dont really want to think about how many hours I have spent in my van recently but it has definitely been worth it, First up a drive up to Vantage from Eugene then over to Smith and back and then a rather random decision to drive to Red rocks. (for the non americans - eugene to red rocks is 7 hrs each way and eugene to red rocks is close to 17hrs each way). Vantage was amazing with mainly good climbing condition, occasionally it would threaten to rain but still be dry on the rock, red rocks was surprisingly warm with some usualy suspects floating around (Paul, Sarah, Stu, Erin, Ruth, Megan, Baume it was great to be there if only briefly).

The Adventure mobile parked up below the feathers
Evening sun on the rocks

Paul and steve hanging out after a long day
Steve "blue steel" baume cruising on balls wall

Paul "jet sendler" Trendler cruising.
Walking in
Me climbing Black Magic

The North Cascades

2010-10-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

My block of work steadily got bigger after the Sea kayaking section with a switch from a 7 day back packing course with Military Veterans to working the Mountain section (and then the practicum) section of the Instructors course. Amazingly after getting some pretty nasty weather in the sea section we then had 3 weeks of blue skies (unheard of in the North Cascades at this time of year) meaning that I didnt need to carry the umbrella or the new jacket that I bought especially for this work, oh well.

Sunset on the grandstand

Rainbow over copper basinZak learns to navigate
Camp in Temple basin
Nico watching the dawn from the Grandstand
Turtle lake at night (32min exposure and the light trails are me running around lighting up the tents)
out ressupply on day 7
My hot drink bag
Fall Colours
The mountain goats that stopped me summiting Copper peak as I had to guard our bags
Sunset in Turtle lake

Sea Kayak San Juan

2010-09-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

Just back from the san juan islands where we spent the last 13 days.

Nico my co-instructor sitting in the misty morning
Matia harbour sunset
The San Juan islands
Learning to Roll
Purple common starfish
The beautiful flat calm morning from Matia
Mt baker in the background
Nico
Another cold misty morning
Paddling as the fog lifts

Wyatts Idea

2010-09-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

I am in fact prepping to go sea kayaking for 13 days right now but a couple of days ago things looked a little different. I got up to Mazama Washington and was soon climbing the North west corner route(5.9) of North Early winter spire with Wyatt. Little did i know that there was a plan in progress. We ended up leaving a 60m rope hanging from the summit (on purpose) and the next morning Wyatt woke me up at 630am to go set up a Tyrolean between the two Early winter Spires in Washington pass. This involved hiking an epic amount of rope and webbing and karabiners up to the base of South Early Winter Spire, Climbing the South Arete (5.7) with it. Setting a mass of anchors, rappelling down two different ropes (one 100m long static line and one 120m dynamic (2 60ms tied together) and then hauling them up the line we had left in place the day before (jumaring up the line with two ropes attached to my harness was a little epic). We then built more anchors and tightned the lines. It was then time for Wyatt to realise his idea from 4 years ago................ All in all a long day as we then had to take it all down (thankfully some friends showed to partake in the extravaganza and help dismantle) and get it all back to truck) If none of that made sense - take a look at the photos.............

Wyatts truck in the early morning light with the Early Winter Spires above
Sorting 220m of rope, 300m of webbing, 30 karabiners and the rest before the hike in.
Wyatt crossing the Tyrolean after 4.5hrs of rigging. (click on the photo and it should get a little bigger)

Wyatt making his peace with the world before testing the system - (we only had one chance to equalise the first set of anchors.....)
Me looking relieved to have made it to the other side.
The anchors on the South Early Winter Spire (thats 4 seperate legs to two different anchors using 1 inch webbing (i have some interesting photos of the 6:1 pulley system we used for tension))
Wyatt very happy above the ground.

15 days

2010-08-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

Just finished a 15day rafting and mountaineering course with 8 16-18year old boys and my co-instructor John. One week on the river and one in the beautiful Mt Jefferson wilderness (a first for all of us) was a great way to finish my season of work here in oregon with lots of lake swimming, a summit of Goat peak and some dusty trails. I am now just waiting for a local mechanic to put my van back together so I can drive to the other side of the mountains and hang out with whitney for a bit before heading to the north cascades (washington) and some sea kayaking in the san juan islands. The busy part of my year is over and life is beginning to look more and more exciting.

Trying not to hike to close to the students as they kick up dust on the trail.
The storm that followed us for a couple of hours before finally breaking right over our heads resulting in a bit of time in "lightning drill"
Jumping onto the summit of jefferson. I went up to scout the route on Goat peak and spent some time messing around
Solo debrief at table lake. We managed to squeeze a 38hr solo into the mountain section.
John hiding a snickers bar from the students at our high bivy before the summit day
Sunset and moon rise over the cascades (front to back - three finger jack, mt washington, the sisters and broken top)
on the summit of goat peak just after sunrise. (mt jefferson in the background)

A short trip to Australia

2010-08-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

Now at the end of my 9 days off it actually feels like quite a long time. One day relaxing in Bend with Whitney and some friends and then I was on the plane to WA. It was great to be back in Australia noticing the differences, meat pies instead of corndogs, the size of a large coffee etc. The main purpose of the visit was to see Anna and Nick who recently got married and who I had not seen in 3 years with the added bonus of seeing my mum for a couple of days. Anna and Nick soon whisked me out of Perth and down to their house in Cowaramup near Margeret River. It was a great few days relaxing, walking on the beach, catching up, swimming (briefly) and a little fishing. I then jumped back on the plane and managed a day and half climbing before starting work in an hours time. Next up I am heading out to instruct a 15day rafting and mountaineering course................

Me being allowed to drive the boat while Anna pretends not to be sea sick
Another beautiful beach at margeret river (I think this is called Leftenders??)
Some foam at Canal Rocks
Nick, Anna and Cooper (looking a little down that all the attention is not directed at him)
Mum and Anna on the beach
Anna and Cooper in the back of the Defender (Cooper has a special platform in the back so he can see out!)
Anna posing with our mighty catch of whiting that then took Nick and I some time to fillet as they were so small but they did taste good.

Work, work and more work

2010-07-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

Its hard to count myself as an outdoor educator right now considering how much time I am spending in the office but I cant really complain as I get to dash into the field to see one of the 4 groups briefly and still live near some amazing places. So just a few photos of the last couple of weeks. Slightly misarranged but some time spent on Mt Washington (a new one for me) with a group and some photos of the bouldering on our basecamp and just up the road at the beautiful Whychus creek. (Yes, climbing friends I will admit to bouldering!)

Not long now to a short flight to see my Anna (my sister) in Australia for a week............

on the summit of Washington looking south to the sisters.
My intermittent home (note the Jet boil behind)
Jor-El down at Whychus Creek
Ryan demonstrating perfect spotting technique for Frank on one of the problems on our base
Ryan on "the brick" traverse
Whitney, Kelsey and Ashley at Whychus creek
Kelsey and Karl coming up the ridge on our reconnaissance of mt washington
A groups headlamps moving in camp as the stars move overhead (on the river)
A long slow sunset over three fingered jack and mt jefferson from the north ridge of Mt washington

The past few weeks

2010-06-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

The summer must have started as I havn't had much time to do things outside of work. This is not neccesarily a bad thing, lots of time with great people in great places. I did promise myself that I would climb more this year but apart from a brief spurt where I promptly hurt my right shoulder (so now they both hurt) I have been on the river or back at base getting ready for the river. First up was "all staff" 44 staff on the deschutes in three different groups, learning, bonding and generally having a good time. Next up a week long program back on the Deschutes river for Military Veterans then the river again for the first week of a 15 day youth course. After getting off the river I did manage a quick dash (in the name of staff development) up to Three Finger Jack in the Mt Jefferson wilderness with some of our interns. Setting out at 8pm we got to the high camp at 11pm got up at 3am, summited at 620am and were back at the trailhead for 11am.

Mike Armstrong (and Mike Mourar in the background) takes the plunge from the newly renamed "Kellens Rock"
Justin, Doug and Mike Mourar (generational picture anyone?) watch the flip drills
Some of the staff at the Ed Rodgers flag hike on the Deschutes
The staff of the Vets course (Tony, Paul, Mike, Josaf, Rob, Levi, Me, Erin, Steve, Justin, Jeff and mike carney)
Sunset over the deschutes
Gear boat flip drills in the river at base (Whitney, Carl, Mike and Levi)
Buckskin Mary Rappel (yes thats an abseil)
The team at the start of the fixed line at around 5am (stu, Carl and Jeff)
The best reason for climbing mountains - the view to other mountains. the sisters and mt washington
Stu on the summit pinacle

For now I have a 15day course to finish and then straight onto a 22day youth course. And then............ some time off

Rogue bowling

2010-06-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

This seems like a long time ago, but my time off was filled with climbing, a trip on the rogue river with whitney and finished with the odin falls staff bowling championships. I have now just got back this years "all staff" river trip but below are some photos from the period before that.

Me attempting to surf the top wave on devils staircase rapid on the rogue
Bobo the clown (jay miller) and jason luthy watching the bowling
Whitney and Kat molesting the bowling mascot
Ralph showing one of many techniques for those of us who cant bowl
Whitney above blossom bar rapid on the wild and scenic section of the rogue.
One of our camps on the rogue
Switching out kayaking and rowing
Whitney rowing with the kayaks stacked behind her on the day 3 of our 5 day trip
another camp
The adventure mobile getting unpacked next to the river.

soon - all staff river photos

Just another 10 days in the office....

2010-05-04T09:14:00.000-07:00

My big block of work is now finished and I am sitting in a coffee shop in Eugene - the last 10 days at work has been a crazy time, the last ten days of a 50 day course with a run of one of the more remote rivers in the lower 48 states and a summit attempt on Mt Hood. I was joined on this section by Steve Baume and for a brief time by Meagan. This year will probably stick in my mind for a couple of reasons - smoothest run of the Owyhee ever with lots of chilling and hot springs and good campsites, an epic drive out of the Owyhee drainage where the trailer came off the hitch, it took steve over an hour to back down an epic couple of hundred yards of road (once we rehitched the trailer) and we blew out our chains on the second attempt to go upwards (though we did in fact make it) top this off with three days pretty much tent bound on Mt hood in a storm with one summit attempt where we left camp at 2am and were back by 53oam covered in ice with a bit of frostnip this will not be a 10days to be forgotten.....

Mountaineer, Rafter and Driver Extraordinary, Steve Baume - Sponsored by Red bull and other energy drinks - takes another shot on one of the long drives across oregon.

Rye grass hot springs for a lunch time stop.
Sometimes its hard, sometimes its easy but it still work - steve living it up on the gear boat.
Raft below "Pruitts Castle" on the Owyhee
Santiago puts in a bold pry on Dog leg rapid (class 3)
And gets it spot on!
Lizzie scouts Whistling Bird Rapid (Class 4)
Me in steve southards Kayak paddling towards Mongomery Rapid (Class 4) at the entrance to Green Dragon Canyon.
Steve stops trying to teach us new swear words and surveys the broken chains at the top of the nasty road.
530am - up since 1245am and turned around at 430am on our summit attempt of mt hood
Steve, Meagan and I going a little crazy with yet more time stuck in a tent as the wind blows and snow falls.
final night in the wilderness - the students cooking in the snow kitchen.

So now I have a couple of weeks off - If the weather improves I might be headed for Mt jefferson, if it doesnt then Smith Rock followed by a week with whitney, headed for the rogue river in Southern Oregon and maybe Castle crags for some climbing in Northern California... For now I plan to watch some movies and drink some coffee.

In the Mountains again

2010-04-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

Again a slow internet connection leaves the photo quality a bit low along with my tiredness not making me want to type this could be a short post. Just back from the Sisters Wilderness where Mike Carney, Mandi and I pulled in a sled ressupply for the course I am working after which I stayed up there and helped with snowschool and the summit attempt. Bizzarely the summit "attempt" was successful, climbing the North Couliour of Broken top - we do occasionally use this route in the early season but it is much more normal to be turned around low on the NW ridge due to harsh conditions. After the summit I turned around with a sled full of WAG bags (yes thats right full of poo!!) and headed back to base to get ready for the Owyhee river in a couple of days in far eastern oregon.

The long walk back to camp after leaving at 4am - broken top is the peak in the back ground
Meagan (my co-instructor) summiting the final fixed line to the summit (it really wasnt that cold)
Neil (one of the students) coming through the steepest part (the cornice) on the fixed lineKevin (my other co-instructor) looking a bit cold my first night in the mountains
Mandi with the big sled crossing a snow bridge on a creek
Neil on the summit with the corniced ridge below
The bag of poo next to my sled when i hit the road - i promptly covered the bag with snow until the vehicle arrived............

Work or Play

2010-03-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

So the Spring "Wilderness Educators Course" is in full swing but currently in the first aid section so I have had a weird mix of work and play recently. The internet is embarrassingly slow so hence the low resolution of the pictures. Sometimes work and play melds into one and below is a few photos from the last couple of weeks. Before course I was hanging out and climbing with whitney then climbing with students then more climbing and a recert of my First Aid.... then more kind of work and sort of climbing. Next up the mighty Deschutes river.

Play before work. Ryan at the base of a route we wanted to climb this morning. Unfortunately we had not realised that it was going to be around 25degreesF. we got one pitch off the ground and went for coffee before work - this was 615am
Play - the day before the WFR recert I got a couple of climbs in with whitney (not seen but belaying in this shot) and Emily
Play - Whitney climbing a very weird 5.8 on redwall at smith. (we went and got fries and pizza shortly after this as it was so cold)
Work (you can tell its work by the matching helmets) some of my students climbing at "the textbooks" in the gorge at Smithg.
Work - Santiago looking for the good hold on "thin air" at koala rock.
Work - another cold evening lesson at Smith rock.
Work? Pizza in the office with Kelly J and ryan before the students show up on day one
Play - the problem with packing you bag at 525am to go climbing is that you cant quite see what you are grabbing - this morning after a failed attempt to climb "heathens progress" at smith.

Thats all for now - my life looks a little like - week on the deschutes river, some time in the sisters mountains in the snow, 5 days on the owyhee and a final short trip to mt hood.......

The Gulf of Mexico

2010-02-27T10:00:00.001-08:00

"Gulf of Mexico" - Makes it sound warm doesnt it? What about "Sea Kayaking in Alabama"? - Makes you want to look at a map and check if there is any coast in Alabama. I definitely came down here expecting it to be warm and got a bit of a shock. For the last 2 weeks I have been Kayaking on the Mississippi and Alabama coast with US Military Veterans. The photos will show a sunny place but the reality was a very cold first week which saw me cold in a sleeping bag rated to 0degrees F (thats -19C) and some tough mornings pulling on damp wetsuits. The area has grown on me with the highlights being some relatively remote beach campsites and some interesting meetings with locals (the bayou population redefines the word red neck for me). It was great to be back in a sea kayak and see a new part of the USA for me. One more day in Alabama and then headed back to Oregon..............

The start point at Bayou Cumbest (we were joined at this camp site by a drunk guy who I honestly could not understand his accent was so thick)
Teaching wet exits on day one of course - Thats me standing trying keep my hands out of the freezing water
Ice on the boats in the morning
One of my co-instructors, John and I's "bat cave" on the last night on coffee island.

Hanging out on the beach on the last afternoon
Pat and I demonstrating safe practice with our flare guns.....
Trying to make john finish the Hummus at lunch time.
Camp on Coffee island
This could almost be a scottish hebridean beach - (but its not - you just have to choose to look away from the oil refinery.

Another Loss

2010-02-13T12:46:00.000-08:00

Another year starts and another amazing person is taken by the mountains. For friends who knew kellen here are some of my better pictures of him living out his passions in the outdoors. You should just be able to click on the photos to get a high quality version of the image and download it. The best I can do for now as I head out on course tommorrow. Kellen - I cant believe you are gone though hopefully your last turns were perfect and your family are coping. I will miss your great taste in bad shirts, dirty martinis and relaxed competence in all that you did.

As ever sporting great facial hair and a rad pair of sunglasses (deschutes 2008)
Odin falls staff training with friends (2008)

milking it for the camera

Cibellis pizza for breakfast before another day in the mountains (odin falls 2008)
Mt hood (2008)
Boxcar rapid, lower deschutes 2007
lower deschutes 2008
top of ciniman slad 2nd pitch (the variation) smith rock (summer 2008)
very happy and a little sunburnt
the true mountain man - hood 2008

deschutes 2008
kellen being kellen (at the rod and gun club on the deschutes 2008)

Oregon again

2010-02-10T09:42:00.000-08:00

Back in Oregon (and a couple of other US states) for another year. Occasionally people ask me why I keep returning and as a picture tells a thousand words the below photos should go a long way to explaining. Tomorrow I have to hop on a plane to the other side of the country for some work (well sea kayaking anyway) but the below photos are all from my the third day back in the US where Whitney and I managed to climb and ski all in one day......

Rachel getting ready for the lead at the buckets wall (this was the 5.10) with whitney ready to belay.
Going for it. - this route is awesome except for the bouldery start.....
Me trying to fit in a burger as we drive up the pass towards the snow.
Whitney looking back at Three fingered Jack (thats a mountain not a person) as we skin up hoodoo.The sunset from the top of hoodoo.
On the summit of hoodoo before the ski back down.

So in truth this was indeed a perfect day but we had tried to do the same the day before...... Tried to go skiing but realised that Whitney hadnt fitted her skins to her skis then tried to go climbing and i forgot my left shoe making things a little more tricky. (we did manage one route where I had to stuff my left foot into the toe of whitneys left shoe). But the day was rescued heading to tony and kellys for "fry fest 2010" and some weird american game a bit like rugby. Hopefully the next photos should be of sea kayaking in alabama.....

Last Scottish Trips for a While

2010-02-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

The last couple of weeks has seen the Scottish weather back to roughly its normal self - unpredictable but beautiful all at the same time. Last week I managed a couple of days in Glen Coe with Bob, planning to climb but not feeling brave enough it the +7degreesC weather. We did have two amazing days in the mountains though, first of all going up Boomerang Gully on the summit buttress of Stob Coire an Lochain and the second heading up some unknown gully at the head of the lost valley (with of course a long glissade back down). Beautiful days in mist and occasionally cracking views and some new peaks for me.

This week I have been out on my own for the last 4 days sampling some of the best of the Southern Highlands in Perthshire. I managed a round of 3 bothies (thats a mountain hut for the non british) Tarf Hotel, Glen Feshie and the Bruar Bothy (it has a fancy Gaelic name something like Allt Aeoioutchionaen I think). Again beautiful days with no-one else around and amazingly well kept bothies. I am now a little sun and wind burnt but feel ready for a day of sorting and packing tomorrow before I head back to the states.

For some reason the photos are a bit jumbled.....

My last evening in the Highlands - sitting outside Bruar Bothy watching the sunset.
A Still ice bound Tilt river on my first day. Took me a while to get to the bridge but better than fording this one.
Inside the Glen Feshie bothy with the fire going in the late afternoon - the local estate even supplies firewood.... (for the non british these are free!!!)
The "Tarf Hotel" at sunrise - I had presumed for years that the name was a joke but this is a very palatial bothy with tables, benches, fires, candlesticks, and even a sign that says "hotel" on the door. (and some kind person had left me a third of a bottle of red wine to finish!!)
Looking down the Bruar valley
Looking Down the Tarf Valley as the sun rises
The Glen Bruar Bothy under stars. I have wondered for a while why more photos like this do not appear, 30 mins planning, 32 mins exposure and it took my camera 30mins to process..... that is a lot of battery power and I had to leave the door open during the long exposure. All worth it though.
Looking up at Stob Coire nan Lochain from the Glen Coe road - Boomerang Gully carves up around summit buttress (on the left of the buttress on the right side of the peak in the photo - if that makes any sense).
No its not windy - I am trying to jump - on the summit of Bidenan nam bian
Bob coming up the easy upper section of Boomerang Gully
Bob (thats him far left) coming over the cornice out of the lost valley.

Aborted attempts

2010-01-25T02:56:00.001-08:00

Weather has not been on the side of my plans for the last few weeks producing more snow than I ever remember in Scotland. This has been declared a national emergency in places, but anyone with an interest in winter sports there has been some amazing opportunity. Curlings Grand Match was almost held even with opposition from the Emergency services, Ice climbs not seen since the seventies have been in condition and there has even been snow to ski on. I have managed to catch up with friends and get out into the mountains a bit on shorter trips through very deep snow.

A visit to the local curling club shed with my dad
Stars over Ben Dearg in the North West. I was trying to get north but couldnt get out of the first valley due to waist deep snow...
One of the attempts to get out of the valley, deep snow plodding but with amazing views south to An Teallach.
Loch Broom - frozen sea - shortly after this I was told I had just slept out in -22degreesC. Cold but beautiful
Walking across a deserted Cairngorm plateau as the sun sets. Thats Ben MacDhui in the middle.
Rime ice on the summit cairn of MacDhui. For the photographers - the last two images are both stitches of at least 6 photos.

So now some more shorter adventures lined up - first stop, seeing what Glen Coe and Ben Nevis have to offer.

Photo of the year

2010-01-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

2 photos from Lucy of the epic ski out of Hutchinsons hut.

Ski-ing out in heavy snow - but below is my favourite moment of the year so far...Me Laughing at Rich (not impressed) as we hit another massive drift.

The Unblelievable (Part 2)

2010-01-03T03:04:00.000-08:00

Canoeing, it would seem, was not the best idea considering the weather for this new year period. We did pack and set off (in the cars at least) but a few phone calls and a look at a very icy loch confirmed that skiing was a better option. After a day at Glenshee and I nice warm night in a bunkhouse we skied up the valley from the linn of dee to Bob Scotts hut were we were met by some rude drunk Aberdonians (one boy drank 3 bottles of red wine in three hours and then did not appear to be able to talk - this said Aberdonians are hard to understand at the best of times!) - hard to see beautiful places full of rude idiots. The next day Clare, Bob and Robin headed down the valley and off to Hogmanay at Tummel and Rich (the dirty one), Lucy and I continued up to the ice cave (otherwise known as Hutchinsons hut). We were treated to clear skies, lots of snow and an empty hut. The next day we slept till 8am having not woken up for the bells but still managed the deep slog out to the cars in daylight.

The final straw - loch laggan frozen up (looking west)
Bob "the mountain man" taylor (he grew his beard just for the photos) slogging up after I forgot to bring his skins down.
Clare and Rich in the dry, warm kitchen of the bunkhouse the night before we set off
Looking up the valley - the hutchinson hut is in the furthest back coire on the left.
Trying to find a place to cross the river - beautiful wind blown snow in the valley.
Rich cools his bum off after some hard uphill slogging
From L to R - Me, Lucy and Rich almost up to Hutchisons hut
Rich in the ice cave - ice covered the walls of the hut inside and out - note the gas cylinder on top of the stove to help it along.
Rich and Lucy outside the hut on Hogmanay. This was taken at about 9pm just before bed!
Messing around in clear evening - I have been told to point out that I am writing a name - yes, a name. the squiggle below the A is where i fell over - oops i gave it away!
A panorama looking up the valley on the ski in to hutchinsons.

Unfortunately I have no photos of the epic ski out in up to waist deep powder. Hard work but hilarious as we all spent time stuggling and disappearing into drifts. By the time we hit the "easy bit" Rich and I were spent - just in time for Lucy to get a burst of energy to get us down the last 4 km. A great Hogmanay.

The Unblelievable

2009-12-27T02:23:00.001-08:00

I have frequently told people in recent months about how wet and nasty Scotland is at this time of year. The snow comes usually in the new year and the days around christmas are dark and dreary. This year that does not appear to be the case. Currently there is about 10 inches of snow outside, the country is in a state of emergency (as no-one carries snow chains) and I am about to go canoeing. I have managed a couple of wintery things and here are the photos for the non - believers that Scotland gets snow.

Sledging (thats sledding to you americans) on christmas day (me and cousin Emma)
Kees and I in the evening (330pm) light after "testing" the sledging for chrismas day
Ruaridh and I on the summit before the ski down on Chrismas Eve
Ruaridh looking west towards Ben Alder and Creag Meagidh
Ruaridh skinning up the final slope to the summit (looking north)

Alligators and Other Dangerous Animals

2009-12-10T11:51:00.000-08:00

Life and plans change fast, especially when working short contracts for Outward Bound. That is how I recently found myself in the Florida Everglades. A phone call telling me my work was no longer but that I could attend a staff training, a flight to Alabama, a day at our base in Alabama, a car ride for 7 hours with someone I didn't know, another day at another base, another road trip (this time with 6 people I didn't know), another day at another base then three hours back in the van and I was getting in a canoe that I was not to leave for the next 5 days. I'll say that again. A canoe I was not to leave for the next 5 days. The course area in the Florida everglades does not have land. None. Well none that we used until we stood on highland beach in the gulf of Mexico.

The system is simple if a little weird. paddle all day with all the gear stored on top of the boards in the bottom of the canoes, anchor for the night, get the boards out from below all the gear, put them on top, tie it all together, and do all normal camp stuff on the boards.

The Everglades itself is pretty crazy with amazing diversity of wild animals (think crocs, alligators, sharks, manate's, flamingos, mosquitos, no-see-ums (midgies) etc)

For the Canoeists - the boats we used were 18ft Trippers in which we had an assortment of gear with boards hidden underneath (the boards are 2 x 8ft and were possibly developed as a system by OB down here). The photos.
Organisation - list taped to bow of the boat so you know what you should have and where to access things with the boards on top.

Yes you guessed it - the toilet system. the pad on the bottom right is the "privacy screen"

Getting up in the morning - everyone has 2 x 8 ft of space with all their sleeping gear including "healy hammock" (a bug net). very hot, very buggy and very awkward getting in and out of your healy........

Amy solo paddling into late afternoon light as we head further towards the gulf of Mexico.

On a chickee (platforms you can book to camp on) waiting for the lightning to pass and the tides to change.

John highly unimpressed with the bug and mangrove situation in "the nightmare" (yes that is really what it says on the map)

About to set of on the last paddle into the gulf of mexico. our last "day" comprised of 37 miles (nautical miles....) lots of navigation, lots of darkness and lots of paddling. Setting off at 4 pm we paddled till 7pm slept on the beach for 4 hrs then paddled through the night and dawn to our take out at 9am.

Sunset as we paddle down the Gulf of Mexico

The boards in place. This was the living space for 12 of us. All of us!

We met this rather large "crocagator" (10ft!) at night. This was taken with my lens set at around 30mm. A little to close I think. Final assesment is that it is a Crocodile.

Osprey taking flight.

For Amusement

2009-11-25T09:12:00.000-08:00

I came across this short movie of scottish "summer" climbing in 1978. Pretty funny stuff.

Vegas Baby! (or rather Red Rocks Baby!)

2009-11-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

I hadnt quite worked out how close Red Rocks was to Vegas, I realised as I drove through downtown close to midnight. After 16 hours of driving with only one 20 minute nap (I pulled over first!) things were starting to feel very surreal as the caffeine in my system began to fade. The small sketch map in the front of my borrowed climbing guide showed four different roads and there were a lot more than that. I turned onto West Charleston boulevard in certainty that this was not going to take me to the spectacular climbing area I had heard about. Twenty minutes later I was doing laps of the Desert camp ground trying to find campsite 47 and my friends. Red Rocks really did live up to its reputation, vast hillsides of rock, a huge variety of styles, confusing (and soft) grades and it was indeed, really close to vegas.

The best part of being in Red Rocks was definitely the friends I managed to climb and catch up with, Cori, Jor-el, Rachel, Rachel, Nadia, Kai, Mick, Amber, Cara, Kevin and Alfredo. I left Red Rocks with the knowledge that I have not even scratched the surface of what is on offer there - I will be back. Some photos...... Jor-el (and i think Nadia belaying) heel hooking and pulling hard on an unknown route at "moderate mecca)

Me trying to follow Kai's good style through the roof crack i convinced him to lead (photo taken by Nadia)aa

Another beautiful hike in - on our way to "Sunny and Steep Wall"

Kai going for the onsight of "serpent" (5.11a) at sunny and steep (that route name could be wrong)

The ever proffesional Mick pearson gets his eyebrows trimmed by Rachel before our night out on the strip in vegas (Check out http://www.mickpearson.com/ for Micks "Kaf Adventures")

Our night out in Vegas (in the Rhumbar) From left - Jor-el, Rachel too, Mick, Nadia, Me, Rachel one.

A tree with some red rocks behind.

Kevin and Alfredo spotting Cara onto the start of a route in the "Black Corridor"

Amber and I after my last days climbing - a cold day where i forgot my belay jacket and had to "warm up" ambers for her a few times.....

Rachel G pulling down....................

Concrete sequential Experience

2009-11-02T14:42:00.000-08:00

Is my learning style. More commonly refered to as kinesthetic. So i now know kinesthetically what it feels like to drive down a snowy road at 20 miles an hour, slide, hit a barrier, keep sliding and slide off the road sideways off 20ft embankmant on the other side. I know that I will never not wear a seatbelt, i know what it feels like to be upside down, to see the crap roll with the vehicle (including the old battery that narrowly missed my head) and to escape with only one slightly sore muscle in my left leg. I know how to use a cops speed gun and its limitations (having spent some time in a cop car), what it takes to pull a large 1989 chevy van back upright and what it looks like when a tow company gets their vehicle stuck towing a van off road through a snowy forrest. I know how it feels to know that it is a friends van and what its like to tell them (and have them tell me "you better have photos") and how kind and helpful insurance and tow truck company people can be. Its been an educational couple of days

Before I rolled Beastie (the van) things were going well, I drove down the East side of the North Cascades to Vantage to do some climbing with Whitney at the beautiful "frenchmans coulee" where it was, for once, a joy to be back in the desert and have dry feet. I then drove south and east into Idaho and hung out with Megan (Habel) and her awesome dog Haida for a couple of days in Cascade. Then trying to get back into Oregon I drove out of Baker city and off the side of the road.

So for Ryan "you better have photos" Mcdonald (and everyone else who asked) enjoy.
Megan (in her lovely work clothes) with Haida
One of beasties last sunsets, the grass lit by the head lights
Whitney waiting patiently for me to put down my camera and belay. Jigsaw crag, Vantage
Someon climbing the classic 5.9 of the main wall - the routes here are long and sustained - and steep.
Checking out routes late in the evening - why do my friends always take photos of me reading the guide book...... climbing geek?
Looking down the road, where beastie and i ended up.
Looking up the road, i hit the barrier on the right side of the road (left in the pic) and slid across and sideways off the embankment. Beastie almost managed a full roll. not quite though.

Thank you to all well wishers - I am still feeling occasionally shaky but unharmed and am taking a couple of days to relax and work out the best way to get to red rocks for some climbing.

End of Summer?

2009-10-19T17:14:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been amazing, a short road trip up to the North of Washington (I almost ended up in Canada after not paying attention) Visiting folks along the way (those photos I will include with the rest of my road trip photos) then some work out of the beautiful OB base in the North Cascades. This was a 20 day section of a 50 day wilderness educators course with elements in Sea Kayaking, Wilderness First Aid, Mountaineering and a Practicum. We headed to the Entiat and Glacier Peak wilderness for the 16day mountain section with beautiful weather and autum colours to start with followed by some more wintery days. The final 3 days was a slog out in rapidly melting snow and heavy rain - just what future outdoor educators need.
Bouldering in the mountains with the Larch trees changing colour.
Betty moving along the fixed line on the way to the summit of Emerald Peak

Wyatt and Cara my Co-instructors on the summit of Emerald peak
Cara and Wyatt making dinner in camp (check out the 6 days of food behind Wyatt)Changing Larch trees lit up by the setting sun at Choral Lake
The Camp at Choral Lake (last of the evening sun at 530pm

Upper Ice Lake below Mt Maude. I got to chill out here for half a day after scouting the route on Mt Maude.
Not really what i wanted to find while alone. A very fresh Black Bear Track at Lower Ice Lake. (interestingly this is at 6900ft which seems a little high for a bear at this time of year)

Wyatt (in red) gives the solo/survival briefing under blue skies.
Peaking out of the tent as the snow begins to fall during solo Ice in the creek A visit from steve the snowman - This is as the students came off solo - 6- 8 inches fell this night.

And now i am officially not working till the first of December (Unless you are a US Visa official and are reading this in which case I am doing a couple of days of work in November) Road tripping down through Washington, Idaho, (possibly Wyoming) Utah and Nevada for some adventures.................

River of No Return

2009-09-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

Just back from a Staff/Personal Trip on the main and lower salmon river. The Salmon is the largest undammed river in the USA (maybe thats only in the lower 48 states - not sure) and flows through the "River of no Return" wilderness (biggest in the lower 48) in Idaho and on to where it joins the Snake river at the border with Oregon. Both the lower and the main section usually take a week on their own but we decided to float them both together. Somewhere in the mix we did not fully work out that these "normal" sections have quite a few miles between them as well as a town called Riggins.

We gathered in Boise, shopped then drove a long way on some windy roads (it took us a day and a bit) to the put in at corn creek. We rafted the full 2 sections (and the 58 miles inbetween) in 12 days with one layover day making a total of around 210-220 miles (havent quite got around to working it out). The weather was extremely kind to us and we ended up with blue skies, warm(ish) water, a great water level and white sand beaches to camp on every night.

I now have one more week off before I start work up in Washington.

The photos (are in a back to front order - you may want to scroll from the bottom up)
Flatwater rafting - rafted up on the snake with (front to back) mike m, steve s, ashley, Mike c and steve B
The last of the salmon - coming up to confluence with the snake in the early morning (the little dots on the river are boats)
The Steves row into China bar rapid on the Lower River
Looking a little confused in Riggins were we ressupplied some food and swapped lisa for ashley. We did here that 72 sorority girls were in town but we were a day too late.
Steve S scouts Vinegar Creek rapid while Mike M Kayaks
Yet another white sand beach to call home
In the "hot tub" hot springs on the second day on the main salmon - steve b and mike m are bottom of the photo, steve s smiling and mike C and lisa making lunch
Lisa Rows through Salmon falls on the main salmon
Planning session in Wallmarts parking lot

30 days and 30 nights

2009-08-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Just got off my last stint for OB, a 30day rock, mountain, river course. The course was great, working with a new staff member Trevor and alongside Paul (another new staff member) and amber. The course is pretty relaxed to start with in the rock climbing section and then an all out push north through the cascades bagging as many peaks as possible then a more relaxed 5 days on the river to finish. I worked this course last year but it doesnt get any less beautiful and i did get to some different spots this time. So here are some photos.....Looking north up the cascades at sunset, we are eventually headed to the midde of the three peaks (from closest they are washington, three fingered jack and Jefferson)
Paul climbing the summit "chossy" pitch of three fingered jack - the rope is not actually tied to paul in this picture!
Crazy light over Broken top as a thunder storm moves over at dusk
Two students (haley and carl) watch the dawn mist over lower burley lake in the Jefferson wilderness. (day 20something)
Three fingered jack and lower burley lake a welcome oasis of swimming and relaxing after climbing the mountain
A Brocken spectre at dawn while fixing lines on three fingered jack
Paul watches a cold damp dawn on Three fingered jack
My group hikes through a field of lupin in the sisters wilderness
Me jumping for joy at our high bivy spot (prouty point) after summiting middle sister, photo taken by a student (Zack)Me with no eyelashes left on my left eye after rescuing a stove - frustrating as my eyelids kept sticking together in a velcro like fashion
Students hide from an epic hail storm just after getting off solo.
Hiking up the upper snow creek drainage, sisters wilderness

The longest day

2009-07-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

Somehow (possibly due to my own inability to process dates) I have ended up with 36hours off between 25 days of work and 34 days of work. This unfortunately co-insided with Ryans plan to raft the 97miles of the lower deschutes faster than he and Kai did last year (19hrs and 1minute). My first half day off was well spent on facebook, hotmail and falling asleep to bad movies then we were off on the DIAD (deschutes in a day). The crew was the majority of the logistics department and myself. We drove to the river slept for a couple of hours, got on the river at 247am and set off. There was cold, swimming, rapids, near flips, water fights, beer, pizza, a change of shuttle driver (thank you kelly and martha) and a slight slowing in the middle of the day finished by a strong finish. We made it to Heritage landing (on the border with Washington 16hrs 30mins later) It was great to put into perspective a section of river that i know well but usually do in 5 - 7 days. I am now prepping a 30 day rock, river, mountain course as my last big course of the season. Looking forward to it.

These are totaly out of order but I am extremely tired so cant face changing it.

Ryan looking a little worked around hour 14.
The ladies, (from left to right) Molly, Kelly B and Karen putting int some time on the oars (and paddles) around hour 12
Possibly around hour 8 or 9. in front, mike and molly, kelly at the oars, karen sitting and ryan asleep.
A well fueled trip. The cooler with pizza and oreos.

The portage around Sherars falls (class 6)

Mike and martha swimming buckskin rapid early in the morning
Molly with her hand stuck in the cooler
A beer with first light, hour 3 on the river
Ryan on the oars around 4 am
The team setting off. (me on top of the trailer) then Mike, Ryan, Karan, Kelly, Molly and Martha.

Thats all for right now, the new camera is making it hard to upload photos but I will see what I can do

Poverty with a view.

2009-07-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

Time to throw up some more photos. Life has been kind of hectic for the last couple of weeks supporting three groups on the river and in the mountains but it does mean that I get to spend some time doing my own thing (or taking students to the doctors and then hiking them back into their group). Bend was recently described as "poverty with a view", currently with one of the worst unemployment rates in the US. It would be a mistake for me to claim poverty having just spent more money on a new camera than I have ever spent on a vehicle but the title seems fairly fitting.

I am 28 and live in a tent, albeit a nice big white wall tent on a platform, and it does have a good view. I also feel luckier and luckier as I see more stores close in the town and still eat great food, have beer on tap in my living room and get paid to take people into beautiful places.

The new camera is a bit of a step up - so much so that I am slightly afraid of it right now.... below are the last few photos from the old camera and some of the test shots from the new one.
The nice big white wall tent (my home for at least half the year)
An incredibly badly stitched photo of the sisters at dawn (with the moon far left). About to fix lines and belays on the NW ridge of Broken top at about 6am (having been up since 3am.. AH the joys of work)
End of a long day - Martha surrounded by gear after a ressupply for 30 hungry people in the mountains.
Paul leading a rope team down the Hayden Glacier late in the afternoon
My usual bed. A sleeping bag and some grass, in this case surrounded by RV's at Deschutes State Park at the end of the Deschutes river.
Courtney rowing white horse rapid, behind her you can see two of the named rocks, "Can Opener" and "Oh shit"!
One of the first phots with the new camera, two of our pigs (Hope and Bachelor) who eat all our compost and then......... supply the meat for the end of season party.
Whitney strumming it out in front of a local beer (Bend has possibly the most micro breweries per capita of anywhere ever)

Paul and I reflected in Ciscos glasses on the summit of Broken Top.

Too busy for photos?

2009-06-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

So I have actually been working but for once not taking photos (which is weird as my camera was with me). I did come across some old photos that made me laugh though so they are posted below.

I have been around base in Oregon doing some training and then out on a Veterans course (Iraqi vets not just old people!) rafting and climbing followed by two days helping out with a rock camp at Smith rock. Unfortunately I still havent broken my record or 9 lead climbs in a day whilst working but I'll keep trying. Work has been great with the afternoon storms keeping us on our toes. The best example of this was me standing in the middle of a lava field waving my arms to signal to my co-instructor as the rain started and the Lightning cracked off the rim behind me. Despite the storms Oregon is heating up so I am again looking forward to the river. I have a couple of days off right now to get some personal climbing done before a couple of days in the office and then a 22day rafting and mountaineering course.

Anyway the "back in the day" photos (okay so some are not that old!)
The northern Corries in the afternoon light, not sure when this was taken but guessing either a day out with Dad, Snow holing with Alex or maybe an abortive attempt on something with Ruaridh??
Alex (without helmet) coming up the couliour on Coire nan Lochan in the Cairngorms. This was part of the plan to solo an easy route on every crag in the central Cairngorms in a weekend. Started in the Lodge bar then..... up, down, up, down, up, snowhole on the summit, some more climbing and finally missing the ferry to work after an epic drive across scotland. (check out how busy it is down in the Couliour!!)
In the (damp) snow hole at Garbh Uisge Beag with Alex and our matching down jackets.
Alex climbing the head wall to the Couliour in Coire nan Lochan below a rather snowless Cairngorm plateau. (2004?)
Along time ago... Me leading the eastern traverse on Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis. (photo taken by Mark (sorry i forgot your last name)) (2002)
Mark doing some deep slogging into Tower Gap on the Ben. (2002?)
Bob and me racing across the Rua Fiola mud pit (2004?)
A photo from Ben "Quake" Richter. me looking like a hippy on the car park boulder problem at Booroomba rocks.
Crazy Czech peter onsight soloing the pinnacle (HS/VS or US 5.8/5.9) at Little Killary crag on the west coast of Ireland.

play time (part 2)

2009-05-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

So finally I am back to work tommorrow. The last stint of play has been amazing, starting with a long drive to Mt Rainier with Levi and Steve to climb Liberty ridge. Unfortunately the road head was not open so we headed back to a route that Steve and I (and steve Southard) tried in 2007). We climbed the Kautz glacier route which involved a days slogging across the Nisqually glascier and up to camp hazard at 11000 ft. a late start at 5 am saw us climbing the ice pitches in the early morning light but set us up for a late end to the day. We carried over the mountain (a mission in itself but better than descending the Kautz) down the Ingraham Glacier. We then drove back south and since then I have been climbing at Smith rock with Steve, Ryan and Mike Mourar getting on some of the classic pieces of rock right next to where I live.

(For some reason these photos loaded back to front)

Steve seconding the Aid pitch on the West face variation of the monkeys face (5.8 A0) - Mike belaying in the mouth
Mike and Steve (with lots of gear) in the monkeys mouth
Mike utilising a mono - getting onto the aid pitch on the monkeys face
Steve belaying Ryan at the top of "wherever I may Roam" (5 pitch 5.9)
Steve stepping across the gap on the second pitch of wherever..
At the end of the slog, Mt Rainier from the car park with our car and gear - levi is napping in there somewhere.
Panorama from camp hazard at 11000ft on Rainier
Levi with snow to melt for water at camp hazard.
Levi and Steve heading up the Nisqually Glacier
Levi on the "Turtle" the upper icefall on the way to camp Hazard.

Educators course photos (courtesy of steve baume)

2009-05-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

This could have been entitled - me looking stupid Looking confused (lunchtime on the Owyhee)

The office. Actually doing what I'm meant to. Final day of course and a lot of talking for me - chatting to Jason mid afternoon

Where am I? - playing with the new GPS....

Not overly impressed about the indescision over where to camp - probably needed my 4th cup of tea that day

Play time (part 1)

2009-05-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

The first part of the road trip is now complete, I finished work loaded up steves truck and drove south to catch the end of the "open season" on the Rogue river. It was beautiful to down in the coastal region surrounded by trees on a stunning section of river. We floated the wild and scenic section (35 miles) taking three days and a minimum of stuff. We unfortunately ran out of beer but stocked up at a lodge on the river side. We then drove (or rather steve drove) down to Mt shasta and were soon half way up casaval ridge. A beautiful easy ridge to the top of the second highest peak in the lower 48 states. At 13000ft we finally bumped into Rachel and Chris and their friends before summiting, heading down and grabbing a burger and beer in shasta city. Am now back at base planning the next trip, this time heading North to Mt Rainier and Mt jefferson. Me scouting Rainie falls (class 5) in the first mile of the Rogue - we ran the fish ladder on the right (class 3) where I managed to hit every rock possible.

A better view of Rainie falls, our raft is the grey thing in the middle right side of the picture.

Rachel, Chris and steve at bunny flats trailhead, Casaval Ridge sweeps up from the left to the centre of the mountain (the summit is further back)

Steve scouts Blossom bar, the most technical rapid on the Rogue.

The best way to start the day, putting on the river in the rain with coffee and cold pizza.

50 days or more...

2009-05-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

Photos continued. The oregon wilderness educators course has a rock climbing component at Smith rock, a Wilderness First Responder section, a river section on the lower deschutes, a mountaineering section in the sisters wilderness and lastly a finals section that contained the Owyhee river and an ascent of Mt hood. I didnt get many photos of smith or the deschutes for some reason but did get a fair few of the other sections. I worked the whole course with other staff coming in to work specific sections. It was great to be out there for the whole time and also to get to work with so many good people (we ended with 10 different staff working the course). 50 days is a long time and I was interested in how I would feel afterwards. Generally I just feel like there really is something I should be doing or someone I should be talking to but apart from that I feel energised to go on my own adventures right now. which will follow in the next post.... Chilling in the tent with meagan and steve (day 47 or 48) on mt hood. We spent a bit of tent time on hood due to a storm then from the sun.

Hot dogs in the snow at Mt hood trail head (timberline). The salad kept blowing away.

Meagan making fresh cinimon rolls on the Owyhee river.

Descending Mt hood toward the hogs back with the rope team strung out in front of me. (mt jefferson in the distance)

Rusty cooking in the snow kitchen, sisters wilderness.

Montgomery rapid (class 4) in the canyon section of the Owyhee (theres a raft in there somewhere)

Finally making it to the trail head in the sisters wilderness after slogging it out with my pack and a sled. (the sled was great except when i wanted to change direction!)

Tony sorting food in our mini snow kitchen in the sisters wilderness.

The camp at illumintation saddle (on the left) with the clouds rolling past.

Night 3 on the Owyhee sleeping in the cave.

Beards for warmth

2009-05-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

Have just finished working the oregon 50 day wilderness educators course. 55 days of work and now i find myself back at base with the feeling that i really should be doing something. So I'm going to. Heading off today, south down to raft the rogue (flows out of crater lake) followed by an attempt to climb Mt shasta. Here are some photos from the course though.....

Tony getting some skiing done while students are on solo (having skiied in an epic amount of food to ressupply us in the mountains) (photo taken from zen puddles for the oregon people)

Steep snow climbing from golden lake to the zen puddles, sisters wilderness.

Base camp at golden lake with broken top behind. We attempted the NW ridge (the one on the right side of the mountain) but were turned back by intense cold and hard conditions.

Slogging it out with the snowshoes trying to get to golden lake Chilling - cup of tea in a natural hotsprings (around day 43) on the Owyhee (oh wa hee) river, eastern oregonKayaking Montgomery rapid (class 4) on the Owyhee at the start of the Green dragon canyon. (Thanks to Mike Mourar for the lend of the Kayak, allowing me a lot of fun while the rest rafted - also a lot of fun!)
A wee bit chilly - day 46 on Mt Hood as we try and dig platforms in for the tents in the middle of a storm.
Meagan steve and I with our tent behind at illumination saddle on Mt hoodSummit day - day 48, 7am and we are just above the Hogs back (well i am anyway - steve is still standing on it as the last person on the team) on the south face of Mt hood.

More photos to follow!

Back in the USSA

2009-03-18T19:56:00.000-07:00

And now back in the states again. My last couple of weeks in Scotland have flown past, managing to get a bit of climbing done (yes there were sunny spells) a bit of Kayaking and even a two day trip down the River Earn with my Dad. Dad has lived over 40 years of his life somewhere in the Earn valley and wanted to explore the river (after an aborted attempt and a run in with a dead sheep/capsize last year). It was kind of the wrong time of year but we did get an amazing first day of sunshine through some amazing scenery, a cold night by the side of the river and then a whole lot of snow on the last day. The trip was great, to spend time with dad and also canoe a beautiful river so close to where I grew up.

Unfortunately as I was preparing to leave Scotland I found out that a good friend and colleague Travis Lizzotte passed away. Travis was living his dream and living life to the full and his loss to the world is immense. More on the amazing person Travis was can be found on the memorial page on Facebook. I am now back in the USA to work a 50 day Wilderness Educators course to start of another season with OBUSA. Finally time to work again, a bit of a shock to the system...

The put in for the River Earn (Comrie)

Paddling into the snow storm on the 2nd day
Ice in the pan, morning in the tent
Below the 1st portage (the weir up river swamped us)

An ancient monument - exploring a castle on the first day
Matthew pretending he isnt struggling! the final moves of the imaginately named "the arete"(E1) at the Hawkcraig
The Abseil into The Hawkcraig, Edinburgh
From left, Travis, Amber, me and Steve on prouty point in the sisters wilderness last summer

The Whirlwind. (end of grand canyon and beyond)

2009-03-03T10:30:00.000-08:00

Already the grand canyon trip seems like a while ago but thats probably due to my laziness in not finishing the blog. We did eventually make it to Lake mead. Unfortunately Ryan left in a helicopter as he said he had an infection though its more likely that he just didn't want to do any of the flat water rowing. The last few days were crazy as the river cuts through the silt built up from the dam leaving big crumbling mud cliffs on either side. By this stage there was no power left in the river and the last few miles were tough, head down and get on with it rowing and trying not to focus on the 2 miles an hour boat speed. Suddenly the Japanese tourists in speed boats dont look so stupid. An early morning saw us pull into south cove take out to wash the gear and our ride back to civilisation but only after the driver had given us a full run down on a months news.

For me it was then a quick changeover straight from Flagstaff to see Becca in New York. It felt very strange to be back in "the real world" and definitely took me time to adjust though as soon as I was in New York, Becca whisked me up to Vermont where we house sat a beautiful old Inn for some people Becca used to work for and I got a quick tour of some of Vermont.

Then within a week another massive change back to Scotland and the wonderful Scottish winter. Rain that is. Since I've been back its been a whirlwind of catching up with people along with bits and pieces of walking, kayaking and climbing. Next up is a canoe trip down the river Earn with my dad.

Dont worry folks I will soon be back at work.......
Rowing into the Lake Mead eveningEarly morning sun across the Lake as we derig the boatsSome cold washing of boats (and people)The Whitford house Inn in Vermont Becca trying to avoid the camera on an icy cycle ride in New York

A sudden change. The New York Skyline from Central Park above and a storm rolling across Rannoch moor in Scotland

Scottish winter mountaineering at its best. Robin sheltering below Ben Lui

Whats so Grand about this Canyon? (part 2)

2009-02-20T03:17:00.001-08:00

Having now watched the Lava falls video many times I'm pretty sure the boat comes out without the oar frame which means for any of you tightfisted scottish people out there there must be a free raft frame (aout $600) in the bottom of lava if you want it - go and get it.

So "the canyon". I'm not too sure how I ended up knowing how to raft, or even if I actually know how but here I was accepting the fact that I was meant to know what I was doing on a river running between 9,000 and about 15,000 cfs (thats 3-4500 cumecs for you people who like decimal) somewhere in the US of A. The Colorado River is dammed above Lees ferry by the Glen Canyon Dam and below by the Lake Mead Dam. Inbetween it is 300miles of the Grand Canyon with one access point about 80miles down where you can hike to the rim in about 5 hours a possible take out at Diamond creek (@ about mile 220) and a whole lot of rapids. The rapids on the colorado work a little differently from normail with basically anything around a 2+ to 3+ on the normal scale given a rating from 1-10. This suprisingly seems to work though as ever the guidebooks seem to have not graded some things which were definitely rapids while others seemed fairly inoccous.

Our plan was to raft from Lees Ferry down to South Cove on Lake Mead, taking 25 days and all our food and gear in 4 oar rigs. We outsourced to an outfitting company for our food, transport and one boat and Outward Bound (who most of us do or have worked for) kindly supplied the other boats. The trip was way more of an exploration than I think I expected with a lot of layover days to drink cofffee, play guitar and time to go for a wander around. The canyon itself was amazing, I would continually find that I had got sucked into staring at some impressive scenery to suddenly find that if I turned round that there was something as equally amazing all around. For me one of the beauties of the trip was that no-one knew more than 2 or 3 people and therefore the whole first 10 days just really felt like getting to know people. Also with it being winter there were no guided trips and we really only saw a couple of other people in the whole 25 days. Yes we took beer. Yes we it ran out near the end.

The good news is I managed to retrieve the deleted photos and most survived. The bad news is no videos. Anyway heres some more photos.

The gear piles up next to the snow in Flagstaff (with Eric in the photo)Unkar rapid (6) from above (the weather is about to change...)Yes we had a couple of cans of beerAnazasi granaries in the wall above the classic view of the river.Yes Ryan really is a big enough geek to play chess against himself. (2nd last layover day)Redwall cavernScouting lava falls, late in the (9)Jeff and Kai get the stove going after a late pull into camp (night 2 or 3)Jeff gets the right line almost perfect.. until the end. (Peirce ferry rapid) Kai tries to find a way around in a side canyon.You shouldn't really be able to do this. The raft that popped (day11?)Rowing into the evening light, lower river (below specter rapid)

Jeff at warp speed in specter rapid (6)

The Joy of the Unemployed (Grand Canyon part 1)

2009-02-15T10:41:00.000-08:00

The year has started incredibly. From an epic new year across scotland with Robin I then got back to my parents house to hastily pack and jump on a plane to New York. After the usual abuse of a scottish new year (both the consumption and for my accent) it was great to be in New York with Becca who quickly changed my diet (dont worry folks i wasnt quite converted to veganism(okay so thats only funny if you know the difference between the average scottish diet and beccas!)). It was great to see some of New York (in 4 days!) with my own personal tour guide though our attempts to do any hiking were soon twarted by the ice everywhere. Very quickly it was time to leave and fly on to phoenix arizona. I thought I was being met there by Ryan and Kelly but as it turned out Ryan was still miles away. This meant that Kelly and I were going to stay with "grandpa" (Ryans Grandpa) I quickly realised, after warnings from both kelly and Ryan (on the phone), that this was going to be an experience. Really staying at Grandpas was great, kelly had leftovers in her truck which we ate so that we could tell grandpa we had already eaten, Grandpa talked to kelly most of the time while I pretended to be interested in American football, he only smoked 12 cigarettes in the evening we were with him, kelly only had to use her inhaler a couple of times in his house, he only swore at the TV a few times (including telling Bill cosby to get back to Mexico), he took us out for breakfast and promptly out ate us both(with whipped cream on everything) and the next morning we headed back into Phoenix to see if they sold new lungs. And then it was off to Flagstaff to meet the crew for the Grand Canyon rafting trip.

Unfortunately at this stage my photos are very limited as I am computer illiterate and seem to have lost most photos at this stage but I will see what i can do......... watch this space, some more posts to follow.

The crew, from left. Kai, Jeff, Caitlin (me behind), Sabari (Sage and Eric in front), Levi, Ryan, James and Timbah. (taken at Redwall cavern day 4 or 5)

The rafts tied up at camp, 3rd morning.

Ryan and Kai chilling on a Layover day (day something? maybe 7)

So while I desperately search for all the photos and videos i think i've lost above should be the famous "where are the people, take a photo" video of some folks running Lava falls (one of the biggest rapids on the grand canyon) taking the wrong line and paying the price. This will have to do till I can find the video of Kai getting the line spot on (river right is the correct line, these guys run middle and end up in "ledge hole") enjoy.....

Tourist in my own country

2009-01-04T08:43:00.000-08:00

New year celebrations are never done to the same effect anywhere but in Scotland. Today is January 4th and I have just made it home. It was not all one combined party but rather lots of things tacked together (the good old tradition of first footing). After a mammoth family christmas I headed North with Robin on the 28th of December looking for snowy bits in the mountains. The first problem arose when we almost ran out of fuel getting up to Braemar and the second when we realised we only had four matches for two nights. The Third problem was that I used the last three matches trying to light the stove on the second night (in the Garbh coire of Bheinn a Bhuird). The fourth problem was that it was very cold and we kind of needed the stove to melt water (and cook dinner and breakfast) and the last problem was that my thermarest sprung a leak. All that aside the weather and remoteness of bheinn a bhuird was amazing and it felt very strange to be back in scottish winter and not in a white out. We then headed back to Braemar to join a massive crowd of people for hogmanay (new year) Impressively this lasted from the 30th to evening of the second with people even making it to climb hills and mountain bike inbetween the massive drinking sessions. Bob and I fitted in one day of rather scary ice climbing (the water was running underneath it and all the screws kept bottoming out after 5 cm). Robin and I then continued our road trip across scotland visiting friends and ending up at a massive local music session on Loch awe side with "big gill" (i should explain that gill is not big but is marginally bigger than "wee gill" (sorry big gill))Looking into the Central cairngorms from the North top of Bheinn a Bhuird Robin about to give the tent pegs a whack in the Garbh coire (for the climbers -the ice line about robins head is "the flume" (iv 4) the one to the left of it is a grade 2/3 and the far right of the picture is the bottom of mitre ridge (VS is summer or vi 6 in winter)Robin pretending he hasnt bust his ankle with the cairngorms in the background Some of the usual suspects - Ninian, Little Rich, Sue, Iona, Wee Ben, Stu, Bob, Paul and me on new years eve day. (taken by Jus) Little Rich celebrating his 100th munroWee Ben carrying his Paraglider above Glenshee (to later fly off Glas Maol)

One of many trips to the recycling

Frozen Heather A fragile state (bobs head as well as the ice as he proved by being sick on the first belay ledge!)
The joys of Scottish winter climbing - a 10cm screw tied off after 5 cm. Nothing like a confidence booster!

Its been strange and amazing to be back in scotland all at the same time. Whats most alarming is people asking where I'm from or not understanding me when I order drinks at the bar. It also feels weird to have no idea what things should cost and having to look carefully at notes to check how much they are worth. Amazingly the weather has really been the best thing about being home (as you might see from the pictures)(okay and the people) It is so unusual to get a high pressure system in winter when you want it and the only bad weather day was the 1st which gave an added excuse not to do anything too strenous with a hangover...........

One country, lots of systems

2008-12-22T00:36:00.000-08:00

It feels hard to write about chinese sport climbing back in Scotland fully ensconsed in a family christmas but here goes. I finished work in Hong kong drank too many beers and ate too much food before hopping the border north into china. I jumped on a sleeper bus and was soon standing in the main street of Yangshou. It was 4 am. I wondered up and down the street in the dark until a kind fellow on a motor bike agreed to drive me closer to where i wanted to be for a mere 20rmb (2 pounds). Everything was closed. At this point I decided to sleep on a bridge in west street (where the climbers hang out) till dawn. This turned out to be pretty cold as i had forgotten to bring any trousers but it seemed the logical solution. That day after agreeing with myself (around 7 am just before the sun rose) that it would be a bad idea to do any climbing having not really slept i promptly went climbing. The first day was a bit of a shock as I was not really ready for the redpoint/projecting sport climbing mentality but i dragged myself up some beautiful climbs. The rest of my 9 days saw me teaming up with a variety of climbers including eben farnworth (who some of you should know). Eben and I went and climbed some good old fashioned trad and even managed to claim a first ascent of a big unclimbed (and obvious) crack line (2 pitch 5.10a (HVS 5a) Chinese Very Severe) Trad limestone in Yangshou is definitely more of an adventurous experience than an aesthetic one though it is a lot of fun to trundle massive blocks to scare the nearby sport climbers. Unfortunately the drill we hauled for the belays ran out of juice after one bolt but at least it backed up my belay that was crumbling everytime i shifted body position...... Essentially it was great to be out in a beautiful place, eat cheap food and escape hong kong. I am now back in scotland enjoying the family life. Trad Climbing ? (racked up and ready to go)

Why do i always have to lead these pitches? the final big wide crack.

Its a hard life but someone has to do it. The Li(?) river at sunset with some of the many towers

The first belay ledge with an excess of gear.

Drilling my first ever bolt with ebens shady chinese drill
Eben climbing above my high quailty belay.... you can see the quality of the rock below and to the right of the blue piece of gear...

No. It really is a hard life

Access, Yangshou style

Eben cruising up the 5.10b cracks of the birdman