LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - An interesting post appeared on climbing.ie during the week, and a suitable debate has followed. The author is ‘Arther Aggs’, specifically not ‘Arthur’, any idea who this is? Is it an anagram? maybe, so from now on I’m going to call him ‘Garter Gash‘.

Hi all, just to let you know, and give you warning that you will see me over the winter digging holes at the top of most of the main popular climbs around the quarry. I am going to be putting in some metal stakes for belays. All stakes will be tested for suitability and once finished will be clearly marked and identified as to the details to contact for further information. I hope this will open up climbing without the continued strangulation and suspect dependancy of little yellow bushes.

Garter Gash has proven he’s not a fly by night staker! and come back with some great answers to his critics including the statement:

Consultation will be taken with the MCI, all passing trade in the quarry and the council.

Looking forward to finding out who it is, and your opinion, so get voting YES/NO:

-Robin-

(Image Credits: Both Creative Commons Licensed, Fantastic “B&W of Dalkey Quarry” by Phil Pankov and “Lee at the Top of Dalkey Quarry” by Padraig Woods)

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - A film crew joined us at EC2K7 last April to film a promotional video for Scouting Ireland’s 2008 Jamboree.

I was asked to get their camera women up a very big tree and rig her & the camera up there ~ 25m high! They then did takes of some of the Scouts climbing, myself tying them in, and a bit of chat too. The whole video is actually excellent and I suggest you watch at least the first few mins of it to get a great idea of what outdoor adventure in Ireland means to youngsters. It is very professionally made.

I’ve embedded the video below, but to watch yours truly waffle about the challenge of scaling a 25m giant tree using the bark as handholds you should jump to 7m 57s (click).

You can watch the full Scouting Ireland Jamboree 2008 video here. Thanks to ex-TGU blogger Darran for arranging the online version.

-Robin-

(Video Credit: Scouting Ireland)

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - All Climbing Blog alerted me to the video featured on UKClimbing of Rob Lamey on the first ascent of The Heel Hook Look 25m F8a, a deep water solo on Little Orme.

The Heel Hook Look climbs across the obvious right-to-left rising break on Craig y Don Lower, Great Orme, Llandudno, North Wales.

Sorry to echo the same story, but some people won’t have picked it up and we like a bit of video now & again!

-Robin-

DERRY, NORTHERN IRELAND (Team Geared Up) - Climbing all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks is old hat, so a new generation of adventurers is gearing up for what could be mountaineering’s next great challenge — getting down them on skis.

Heading into Nepal’s Himalayan mountains this month is Fredrik Ericsson, a 32-year-old extreme skier from Sweden, who will be trying to get a head start in what he predicts will become a race to take his sport to new heights.

“There are not that many people trying to ski all 14 8,000s (26,400-feet mountains), but I think in a few years there will be,” he told AFP before heading off to attempt the first ski descent of Dhaulagiri, the world’s seventh-highest peak.

“I hope to finish all of them before I am 40,” said Ericsson, who has already chalked up one “8000er” — Gasherbrum II in northern Pakistan — and has skied down from just below the summit of another, Shisha Pangma in Chinese Tibet.

“Skiing all the 8,000s is one of my big goals. I am not sure if I am going to make it. So far I have done one and a half… and if I am going to do all 14 I’ll have to go back and do that one again,” he said.

The first to make it up and down all 14 8,000ers on foot was Italy’s Reinhold Messner, who completed the challenge in 1986. He was closely followed by Poland’s Jerzy Kukuczka, who used no oxygen, and put up several new routes.

Since then a steady stream of climbers have completed the challenge or have died in the process. Several sporadic ski and snowboard descents have been made, with several fatalities also recorded.

“In Europe there is anywhere between 50 and 100 doing extreme skiing. I myself know about 20,” said the Swede, who skied cross-country to school as a child in the icy Scandinavian north and has been extreme skiing professionally for five years.“It’s not that big but it’s growing,” he said of the sport, which essentially consists of descending hair-raisingly steep slopes, sometimes on sheet ice, where the slightest error can result in a very long fall and possible death.

At 8,000 metres there is also just one third of the oxygen there is at sea level and even the simplest task — let alone performing a jump turn — in the so-called “death zone” can be incredibly difficult.

“Avalanches are the thing you can do the least about, because you can never be 100 per cent sure,” said Ericsson, who will not be using supplementary oxygen but will spend around a month acclimatising at the mountain’s base camp.

If all goes to plan, it will be four days walking up — and then the first ever ski descent of the 8,167 metre Dhaulagiri.

“I’ll get back down in around five hours,” Ericsson said

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - While The Great Climb was cancelled due to weather, Dave posts on his blog that he’s completed the Hell’s Lum climb that was to be done on the day.

It’s the most dangerous lead I’ve ever done, and right now, I’m not sure exactly how I feel about it.

Falling off from the crux or above would have meant death. 80 feet to the gully bed. In the moment of the lead, I screamed at myself twice at the top of my voice because the reality hit me of where I was and what I was doing.

The BBC filmed it on the day, and while the live broadcast didn’t happen the footage will be shown on TV in the near future.

To Hell and Back E10 6c *** 80m
The route climbs the big smooth vertical wall right of the waterfall in Hell’s Lum, crossing Chariots of Fire higher up to finish up the smooth overhanging headwall. A fall from anywhere on the second half of pitch one is unlikely to be survivable.

-Robin-

(Image Credit: Dave takes a minute at the top of ‘To Hell and Back’ E10)

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - Remember Ski Greenland? They’ve now published all their photos on Flickr from the Icecap.

Mustard & Matt have published over 200 photos - here’s a few of the gems. But do take a look at all of them.

-Robin-