SINGAPORE (Team Geared Up) - I watch Russell Davies blog for my interest in mobile technology and was pleased to see this little expedition of his. On his first (and last?) ascent of Ben Nevis he strapped Nokia N95 to his chest strap on his rucksack and set it to post live photos & GPS location to the internet every minute.

On the way up it worked for precisely three minutes. But, on the way down it worked for a bit longer, so this video is about an hour of descent from the top of Ben Nevis, compressed into a minute, down to about 1000m, where it stopped working. Not sure why. I like it though, it works as proof of concept. I’m not sure what the concept is exactly, but it’s proved.

Watch Video:

a bit of a descent of ben nevis from russelldavies on Vimeo.

The Flickr set of photos is worth looking at too.

Quirky, but a nice project.

-Robin

(Image Credit: Russell Davies Flickr Set)

DUBLIN, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) - The Mountaineering Council of Ireland have organised the Spring Meet once again, and it’s being hosted on the 17th and 18th of May in Glendalough Wicklow.

The all important bit is what’s arranged:

Saturday
Arrival (Glendalough International Youth Hostel) and Registration 09am to 10:30am
A range of all-day Hillwalks departing 10:30am
Climbing (for experienced climbers only, information on where to climb available at registration)
Dinner in Glendalough International Hostel from 6.30pm
Night Walk 9pm

Sunday
Dawn Chorus in association with Wicklow Mountains National Park and Birdwatch Ireland 5am – 6.30 am
Leave No Trace Awareness Workshop 10am - 1pm
Introduction to Climbing 10am - 1pm
GPS Training 10am – 1pm

Registration has to be in by 2nd May and all details can be found on the MCI website here.

As part of this, they’ve also organised a Youth Meet.

This is to offer young people a chance to go hillwalking, climbing or bouldering.
The event is aimed at young people who have some experience already, but would like to build on their skills. There will be experienced MCI volunteers on-hand throughout the day to give advice and guidance.

The meet is aimed at young people aged 15-18, and is also open to under 15’s who are accompanied by an adult.

to book onto this, check out the MCI page here.

Image Credit: Andy Kelly on the boulders of Glendalough.

- Neal :) -

LONDON, UK (Team Geared Up) - Eoin & myself took my London flatmate out for a jaunt in Wicklow (Ireland) 3 weeks ago to give him a first taste of the mountains. We also took the opportunity to wind-test the Mountain 25 by The North Face. This tent has been everywhere with me, but not out of place in a photo of Everest South Col it has never yet maxed out in European ranges - this was the closest test it would face.

We left the carpark in Glendalough at 10pm in dry gusty conditions and pitched in the most exposed place possible on the very summit of Camaderry in gale force conditions at 1am with nothing but a very low peat hag to shelter the stove behind. Unfortunately most of the photos are from the morning but that night we got absolutely battered, shaken, pelted-apon, and the sky pretty much fell on us. The wind really hit the tent to a point where it was questioned would the poles potentially snap.

Nope. The tent held fast like a limpet to the ground. It never lost its shape. Above my head on the seam where the wind was driving the rain through in, I had a drip fall, but nothing much to worry about considering the conditions outside. I expect the silicon fly on the 2007 model would not have experienced this.

What a fantastic tent! Apart from getting this gear test in, the other advantages of sleeping on the summit of a mountain are the morning photos you can snap from the tent door!

You can view the Mountain 25 specs here, also note, a new 2007 model is available.

We also past some Irish MTB riders coming flying down off the Spink boardwalk at about 2pm on Sunday, I got some quick snaps - is this you? do you know them? Looked like a whole lot of fun!

(Photo Credits: All by the author, full Flickr gallery available)