Freeman of the Hill

New Glencoe mountaineering blog

2009-02-10T12:52:00.002Z

I'm not reviving this blog for the time being--it's just too much effort juggling my job and climbing with writing as well, sadly--but for those of you who found my conditions reports from the mountains useful, I have set up a new blog to share information about the Scottish mountains.

It will feature regular reports from Glencoe with a focus on snow and ice conditions, reported to the best of my ability. Here is the link:

http://glencoemountaineer.blogspot.com/

Cheers all, and enjoy one of the best Scottish winter mountaineering seasons we have had for many a year. Safe climbing.

Blog closed - for the time being!

2008-12-09T14:20:00.003Z

Just a quick note to say that I am still alive and well, and have not fallen off a mountain! However I seem to have fallen out of the habit of writing for the blog, probably because my novel is also on hiatus at the moment (that's what happens when you're so far away from all the archives you need for research material!) I'm going to get on top of it again, but for the time being I am very busy with winter climbing, as we have had snow on the mountains for over a month, with only brief thaws.

So it is possible I may revive the blog at some point in the future, but for the time being this is my last entry.

Enjoy the mountains! It's going to be a great winter season.

Winter conditions persist!

2008-11-02T11:09:00.002Z

Glencoe conditions:
Temperatures rising steadily. A lot of snow still evident on northerly slopes above 850m, but the snowline is much higher than this on southerly slopes. When the sun is out everything is melting below about 900-950m. Above 1000m things were still frozen hard yesterday although I am certain the freezing level will continue to go up. Snow at high levels is starting to consolidate and the rime is becoming very thick. In any case today is another calm and sunny day, so make the most of the glorious early-season winter walking and climbing conditions!

Yesterday before work Isi and I went for a quick dash up Bidean nam Bian by the direct route up Coire nam Beithach. As Isi had not used ice axe and crampons in anger for a while we planned an easy route, an out-and-back excursion up Bidean's West Ridge, but what a day it proved to be! At first I thought that the snow would be awful up top, as it was thinning and melting in the coire, but once on the ridge the accumulations were still there and the rime ice was thick on the rocks.

Better still, the views were phenomenal. We could see all the way over to Schiehallion, the Cairngorms, and the Arrochar Alps. With such clear air even I (with my damned short-sightedness!) could make out individual gullies in the Northern Corries on the far horizon. What an amazing day to be in the mountains.

The ridge also proved a delight to climb (I had only ever descended this way before), with a few optional moments of Grade I climbing thrown in just for the fun of it. And for the second time in three days, I got to see the breath-taking view from the summit of Bidean nam Bian, highest mountain in Argyll and the crowning jewel of Glencoe.

Plenty of others were up enjoying the superb conditions, including a team of climbers who had done something in Coire nan Lochan. By the standards of the past few weeks, a group of seven on the summit seemed positively busy!

The snow is still sticking around for the time being, with a lot still visible on Stob Coire nan Lochan this morning, and even the icefalls on Aonach Dubh are still complete. However within the next few days the snow will almost certainly melt, leaving only a few patches before we revert to normal weather, ie. wind and rain! It has been an amazing couple of weeks, though, with some superbly memorable days in the mountains thanks to the early-season conditions.

Winter climbing

2008-10-31T09:09:00.003Z

Glencoe conditions:
Yesterday the snow was down to about 600m and well-frozen just after dawn. As the sun rose the freezing level went up the hill, with icefalls exposed to sunlight melting rapidly. Northerly-facing slopes that remained in the shade stayed frozen well into the day. Snow conditions above 1000m were partially consolidated, with significant accumulations and several inches of rime ice in places. North-facing scrambles and climbs at high altitude are likely to be full-on mixed climbs until they melt. Considerable amounts of water ice in places. Today the temperature is set to steadily rise.

My day yesterday was nothing short of brilliant! As Rachael was in Ediburgh, I planned a solo climb up the Grade II ridge of Sron na Lairig, an Alpine-style excursion to the summit of Stob Coire Sgreamhach. I anticipated the most difficult section of the ridge to be a dry rock climb below the snowline. However, when I got to the hard slab I found it to be completely iced up: a full-on mixed climb. I attempted to climb the awkward groove left of the slab, but it was too thinly iced to be of any use for crampons, but too slippery to be climbable without them. In the end I gave up and turned the difficulties to the right, climbing a short ice gully instead.

The upper crux finally stumped me. This rock tower is unavoidable and is the key to accessing the easier ridge crest above. The exposed entry pitch features highly sloping holds that would be fine in summer, but when covered in ice and climbed in crampons, made it a difficult proposition. If I had brought my ice hammer as well, and had a mate belaying me from above, it would probably have been fine but I have learned not to take risks when climbing alone!

Luckily the ridge was still escapable from this point, so I made a long rising traverse to the right across avalanche-prone snow slopes to the base of a north-facing gully. The gully didn't have a huge amount of snow build-up but luckily the exposed turf was frozen hard, so was an enjoyable and easy little climb (classic Grade I terrain). I topped out to the most amazing views I have ever seen, stretching across Glen Etive towards Starav, with the sun shining on the loch far below.

My continuation took me over Stob Coire Sgreamhach, and down to the deep col of Bealach Dearg, where I got a peek of a winter climb I did in the 06/07 season coming up from the Lost Valley. It looked rather hard, and I'm currently debating whether it can possibly have been Grade II! In any case I swiftly climbed the impressive ridge up to the high summit of Bidean nam Bian, and at last got to see the view from that peak for the first time. It was a humbling experience.

The day was rounded off by a quick traverse of Stob Coire nam Beith, a descent into the corrie, and a pint of Black Cuillin in the pub. Perfick!

Conditions improve!

2008-10-28T17:11:00.002Z

Weather in the glen:
Significant snow cover above 700m, with a dusting right the way down into the valley. Freezing level about 400m but it's fluctuating a fair bit. Reports of significant riming, frozen snow and waist-deep drifts on the summits. Lots of winter ascents being done (no winter climbing that I know of, but peaks are being climbed by their normal routes).

At the moment the weather is so clear, sunny and calm that the snow-capped mountains are displayed at their very best: shining and free from cloud, full of winter splendour even though the valley is very autumnal at the moment. Thanks in part to our beer festival at the Clachaig, and in part to the excellent early-season winter conditions, the number of walkers in the glen is increasing.

Writing is also going tolerably well at the moment. I've temporarily given up rewriting old scenes. My task was to replace the character of George Trevelyan with Sandy Mackay, a change forced upon me by a historical discrepancy. I had not realised what a mammoth task it is to replace even a minor character. Trevelyan only featured in three or four scenes but his personality is radically different to Mackay's, meaning that the interaction with the main characters, and ultimately the outcome of the scenes, are radically different. It was starting to get very tedious forcing my hand every five minutes to make sure that the overall plot wasn't affected.

The main difference is simple: Trevelyan was more of an 'awe-struck newbie'; Mackay is more assertive, more sure of himself, less easily impressed. He is also Scottish and a very experienced mountain walker. These minor differences are playing havoc with the plot on a low level!

I decided to start writing some new material before I got annoyed with the whole thing. I am now working on the scene where Geoffrey comes home to Trinity after his eventful weekend in the Lake District, in which he met John Robinson, O.G.Jones, W.P.Haskett-Smith and the Abraham Brothers for the first time. During the course of this weekend Edward Crowley changed his name to Aleister and had a minor nervous breakdown. I feel a bit sorry for poor Aleister at the moment: an awful lot has happened to him in a short space of time. He has been the victim of a betrayal by a friend, he's had a gun pointed at him, and he's been arrested by the Proctors and warned that if he does not mend his ways he will be sent down. He has also been evicted from his rooms at the Tobacconist's for unruly behaviour.

The upshot of all this is that Aleister greets Geoffrey by smashing a vase over his head (a case of mistaken identity). This is the point in the book where Geoffrey and Aleister begin to part ways, and will lead in a chapter or so to the famed incident where Geoffrey gives Aleister a 'black eye and a jolly good thrashing'. By the climax of the book they are confirmed enemies.

So the jolly, adventurous spirit of excitement in the first part of the book has now given way to a bleaker overall tone, with feuds between friends, the threat of the Proctors, and other factors shaping the personalities of Aleister and Geoffrey yet further. The main outcome is that Aleister is going to lose his grip on reality and become dangerous, and Geoffrey is going to become much more mature very quickly.

Progress is being made, but it's coming slowly!

A wild weekend

2008-10-26T12:53:00.002Z

Weather in the glen:
Squally. Winds light between showers and cloud occasionally clearing, but the showers that hit a couple of times every hour are big and mean, with torrential rain/hail and temporarily galeforce winds. Still not an ideal day to be out on the hills.

The weather was consistently bad throughout yesterday, with most of the walkers in the glen abandoning their plans in early afternoon and trudging back to the Clachaig, very wet! On this wash-out of a weekend my friends in the UEA Fell and Mountaineering Club are walking in the Peak District; I hope things were not too bad for them down there.

Also all over the news is the OMM disaster. For the first time in its history, the Original Mountain Marathon was cancelled yesterday, with hundreds of mountain racers taking shelter in extreme conditions on the mountains. Fourteen are still unaccounted for although I am confident they will be found safe and well. Despite the media uproar about 'irresponsible' runners, everyone participating in the event was adequately equipped and experienced. That said, however, pitching a tent in the kind of conditions on the mountains this weekend is not an easy task.

The debate is currently raging about how this will affect mountaineering in the UK, with some claiming that the public is going to become very unfriendly towards mountain-goers (the over-used phrase 'nanny state' has already been bandied about). Personally I don't think this will make the slightest bit of difference. Everyone will have forgotten about it in a few days, when the media latches onto some new story; and in any case, public opinion is not going to make a blind bit of difference to how we enjoy the mountains. And there are far too many walkers and mountaineers in the UK for our activities to be easily curtailed by legislation. We have representative bodies with sufficient clout to make our voices heard.

Anyway: what with the cold weather continuing here in Glencoe I am hopeful for some more snow on my days off on Thursday and Friday. Keeping fingers crossed.

Don't go up on the hill today

2008-10-25T10:53:00.002Z

Weather in the glen:
Indescribably foul. Storm force gusts, continuous torrential rain, rivers in spate. Very poor chance of survival on exposed high ridges. Mobility at valley level extremely difficult.

Despite the Biblical weather we are getting in Glencoe at the moment, a fair crowd turned up at the Clachaig for the first night of Octoberfest last night. Wolftrain were playing, mostly rock'n'roll and blues, and all fifteen ale pumps were on. We had a range of beers from Williams and Houston mostly, including such delights as Williams Red, Kelpie ale, and Houston Texas. Tonight the Pictoids are playing (a Scottish folk band). I'm particularly looking forward to the Skye ales later on in the week.

Apart from my eventful morning of winter mountaineering on Wednesday, I've done nothing in the mountains all week as the weather is so bad. A few intrepid souls are hopefully staying at the campsite (if their tent is still standing), or the hostel, and even setting off to climb the mountains; however the weather really is too severe for even the easiest walk at the moment.

Winter Mountaineering - a tale to make you laugh!

2008-10-22T21:21:00.004Z

Weather in the glen:
Superb winter mountaineering conditions this morning deteriorated around 1pm. Severe gales and torrential rain setting in for a few days.

Today before work I went for a quick romp up Dinnertime Buttress on Aonach Dubh--at least, that's what I had planned! Due to the dusting of snow I could see on the tops I packed my ice axe. It's lucky that I did!

I legged it up the lower half of Dinnertime Buttress in record time, practically fell-running to be honest as I had to be back in work by 12. When the climb began I could not find the easy Grade 1 variation so instead climbed a rather hard, smooth chimney (perhaps Moderate). This was to prove a mistake later on.

I topped out on the ridge in deep snow. Stob Coire nan Lochan ahead was in the full splendour of Scottish winter conditions, with a foot of snow, frozen hard above 1000m, and significant riming on the rocks. Turf was also frozen above 1000m. I dashed up the ridge, only having to slow when the steep terrain and hard snow necessitated the odd bit of step-cutting (crampons wouldn't have made too much difference here due to all the boulders).

Shortly after arriving on the summit, I saw a lone walker who was obviously lost, poorly-equipped and very scared. The temperature with wind-chill accounted for was probably -10 C, yet this chap was wearing one of those lightweight polythene ponchos and trainers. He had no spare food, no map, and no clear idea of what mountain he was on. After feeding him and having a chat I agreed to escort him to a point beneath the snow-line (one thousand feet below us). He brightened up considerably as we made progress. Securely-cut and stomped out steps seemed to boost his confidence although it must have been slippery work in trainers--I was wearing winter mountain boots.

If you are reading this blog entry, I didn't think to ask your name but I sincerely hope you got back to your car safely after we parted and I hope you haven't been put off the idea of mountain walking.

Unfortunately this considerable detour cost me 45 minutes and a thousand feet of re-ascent in order to start my descent back to Glencoe. By this time I decided to simply reverse Dinnertime Buttress as it is the most direct way from the summit to the Clachaig. I was hurrying and therefore did not take the time to find the easiest way off; I ended up downclimbing the difficult chimney I had done on the way up. I got wedged in the chimney and was unable to move for about an hour! It would have been hilarious if it wasn't so serious--in an effort to free myself I dropped my backpack down the cliff, which cartwheeled through 200ft of empty space into the depths of No.2 Gully. Oh dear!

Eventually some dubious combined tactics with my ice axe freed me from that stupid chimney, and after carefully downclimbing the steep final moves I went searching for my rucksack. I found it at the bottom of an enormous waterfall. Luckily the damage was minimal: a snapped end to my trekking pole, a missing buckle and Camelbak nozzle. Amazingly my camera was still working.

By the time I got back to the Clachaig I was almost three hours late for work! My muscles were burning from a lot of fell-running and strenuously trying to escape from the chimney. Luckily Jack is a climber too and understood the situation, so all was well, even though my being late was at least half my fault for rushing too much and not trying to find the safest way down the buttress.

Anyway--despite the minor epic on the way down it was an exceptionally good morning on the mountain. Just have a look at some of the pictures I took.

More snow!

2008-10-21T14:32:00.003Z

Weather in the glen:
Snow down to about 500m but melting. Cold at valley level, patchy cloud and occasional showers (snow up top). Forecast to deteriorate.

Some mates of mine were lucky enough to get up into the mountains this morning (I started early so could not join them). They did a ridge walk over Stob Coire nan Lochan in fine snowy conditions, but did not require winter gear. Apparently an excellent morning was had by all; I'm very jealous as by the time I get a day off (Thursday) the weather is set to be back to the norm, ie. wind and rain!

For my days off this week I will be doing some solo walking. Thinking about Sgurr na h-Ulaidh ("The Peak of the Treasure") on Thurs as it is one of the only Munros hereabouts I have not yet climbed, and it will also be suitable for filthy weather. =) Might have a look at the Aonach Eagach on Friday if it's not too bad. On Saturday morning Rachael and I are hopefully doing a climb before we have to start work at 3; Barn Wall Route on Aonach Dubh is looking promising at the mo.

Feast your eyes on this, the view from the Staff Bothy at half past ten this morning:

Curved Ridge

2008-10-17T15:50:00.003Z

Weather in the glen:
Clear and sunny yesterday, with scattered showers and a few inches of melting snow on the highest Lochaber summits. Today, milder and more showery but still better than average. High cloud base but ragged lower cloud in places. Occasional clear spells.

Yesterday Rach, Isi and I had a fantastic climb on Curved Ridge, one of the classic routes up the NE Face of Stob Dearg on Buachaille Etive Mor. As a route I have always wanted to do, it was very satisfying to have it all to ourselves in good weather! The climbing was never hard, entertaining throughout and on ribs of excellent rock. The rope only came out for the steep crux pitch on the upper ridge.

The rock architecture and scenery all around was more impressive than I would have believed. Rannoch Wall is a vast, sheer cliff reaching high above Curved Ridge; classic climbs such as Agag's Groove run up and around the face. It's an inspiring mountain cliff and I think Curved Ridge was an ideal initial venture onto this side of the mountain.

The view from the top was lovely as ever, with the huge drop down onto the moor all the more impressive as we had climbed the steepest side of the mountain. A few inches of snow lay around the summit cairn giving it a wintry feel.

We finished the day in the bar as usual, with whisky and hot chocolate making a fine end to the adventure. All in all another classic day in the mountains, and probably the finest weather we've had since we've been here!

Today Rach and I made a trip into Fort William for shopping and ogling at things in Nevisport (I ended up getting a pair of new gloves, as my old ones have worn out). Nearly bought a pair of approach/scrambling shoes as I have been converted to their usefulness. Had coffee, ate pie, got food supplies in Morrisons, then returned home before heading off to the Ice Factor in Kinlochleven ... only to find out it closes early on a Saturday. =( So we only got two routes in before we had to go home again!

Never mind, it's been a great 'weekend' all round.

The Promised Land

2008-10-14T08:59:00.002Z

In glorious & happy memory of those whose names are inscribed below - members of this club - who died for their country in the European War 1914 - 1918. These fells were acquired by their fellow-members & by them vested in the National Trust for the use & enjoyment of the people of our land for all time.

Recently I have been giving some thought to the exact nature of 'mountaineering communities'. This is a nebulous term, but I understand it to mean any community or gathering which has formed, or been formed, for the main purpose of enjoying the mountains. Throughout the course of my research it has often occurred to me that there are many striking similarities between all of the great historic communities of climbers. United by a common purpose, the group quickly becomes very close and develops its own traditions and legends. The gathering-place often becomes a symbol in its own right: a haven, a special place where the normal rules of life are suspended. Evenings are spent in song, music, laughter, games, and general frivolity. The very strongest of lifelong friendships are forged in these places.

Here are some examples of historic climbing communities.
Wastdale Head, 1870s - 1910s
Pen y Gwryd, 1880s - 1890s
Pen y Pass, 1890s - 1920s
Seiler's Inn (the Monte Rosa Hotel), Zermatt, during the Golden Age of Alpine exploration, particularly the 1860s
The Clachaig Inn, throughout the history of British mountaineering
The Trinity Night Climbers, 1890s - 1960s

There are doubtless many others I am not acquainted with.

As I steep myself in the legends of these places, I find that more and more they all seem to tap a common spirit, something in man that responds to the act of banding together to climb mountains. This is particularly notable with the great trinity of Wastdale Head, Pen y Gwryd, and the Pass. Their members inter-mingled a great deal; they are in a sense one entity.

I am amazed at the similarities between these three communities and the UEA Fell and Mountaineering Club that I know and love. The legends and traditions are in essence the same. We have table bouldering, parlour tricks and many of the same feats and challenges, improbable games, that were being played in the smoking-room at the Wastdale Head Inn a hundred years ago. The same spirit is alive and well today. To my mind, there is little practical difference: every mountaineering community or club is in essence the same.

Which brings me to the question of what this means.

To the pre-War climbers who made Pen y Pass the special place it was, and to the pioneers of Wastdale Head, the mountains were a place they went in order to escape from normality and create new and heroic lives. However, this magical place did not last. The Great War of 1914 - 1918 smashed the happy existence of these communities and killed many of their members. In a way, the climbers who fought in the War were often fighting for their mountains, because for them, mountains represented freedom.

Long after the War ended, on the 8th of June 1924, a dismal and foggy day, Geoffrey Winthrop-Young tramped up the nose of Great Gable on his wooden leg, accompanied by hundreds of friends. It was close to the very hour in which George Mallory, another cornerstone of the great Pen y Pass community, died on Everest. At the summit of Great Gable, Geoffrey and his friends unveiled a plaque dedicating the mountain to the memory of their friends who had died in the Great War. They also noted that the National Trust had recently acquired many acres of their most beloved mountain land for the Nation, to be safeguarded and cherished 'for all time'.

Great Gable has become a symbol that represents, in many ways, the spirit of the old mountaineering communities that helped to establish British mountaineering in its own right. It reminds us that the freedom to enjoy the mountains was hard-won and should never be taken for granted.

Geoffrey Young intended the Lake District to be a sort of 'Promised Land' where men could be free and enjoy the benefits of the mountains forever. I think that Geoffrey Young's promised land exists today. It's not limited just to the Lake District, but to any mountainous area where people join together to climb, swap stories, play silly buggers in the hut after a long day on the hill, and make friends. The promised land of the mountains exists within us and always will.

Afar in foreign graves they lie,
Not here where they could wish to be,
"Under the wide and starry sky,"
Upheld by British crag and scree.
And yet we felt their spirits dwell
Amidst the circumambient air,
Above the heights they loved so well,
Austere, enchanting, cloud-capped, bare.
For those who bravely die, 'twas said,
Their tomb is the wide earth's extent,
And Gable is for these, our dead,
Their playground, and their monument.
- W. Snow

Epic plans and chilling in the bar

2008-10-13T23:00:00.003Z

Weather in the glen:
Light winds, mild, patchy cloud and occasional showers. Better than average! There are very few walkers and climbers around at the moment, so please take the opportunity to get some quiet mountains in.

Following a slow weekend in the Clachaig (apart from the habitually manic Saturday night), we are now making plans for our adventures this week. The first objective for Thursday is Curved Ridge on Buachaille Etive Mor: one of the classic ridges on the enormous NE Face of Stob Dearg. I have only climbed the Buachaille once before, via an exploratory scrambling line in Corrie na Tulaich, so this will be my first venture onto this historic mountain face. As one of the 'great North Faces of Scotland' I am looking forward to this immensely. Currently, the weather forecast is surprisingly good, with high winds and showers (snow above 950m) expected.

Our other day off is looking a bit uncertain at the mo but Jimmy has informed us of some low-level crags near Onich that seem suitable. Some of Rachael's friends are coming up to visit so we are thinking of taking a group over and doing some top-roping. Before you hiss and boo, we are told that the routes are virtually unprotectable slabs so I doubt there would be any point in leading anything anyway! ;-)

I have also been spending time writing recently. I'm finding the pub a useful venue for writing: it has tables, chairs, and best of all, an atmosphere conductive to writing fiction. I find it impossible to write in my room (which has no desk or chair) or in the Bothy lounge. I've received a few funny looks and queries so far as I scribble away with steel dip pen in my archaic semi-Italic handwriting, but I'm getting work done, which is the main thing.

On a similar note, I have found a talent for doing the sign artwork in the bar, as I can write in a fairly reliable Roman hand (also Italic big caps). It takes a bit longer to update the board with the list of ales, but it gives it a beautifully 18th century style that I think quite fits with the style of the Clachaig bar. =) I spent about half an hour adding a panorama of the Zermatt mountains to the bottom of the board in the main bar, and then the North Face of Ben Nevis in the Bidean Lounge. Summat to do when business is quiet, anyway !

My mission to find out more about Scottish mountaineering history has begun by reading "High Endevours - the Life and Legend of Robin Smith". An inspiring read so far, made all the more tragic by his early death. Even so, given how much I still have to learn about the history of Lakeland and Welsh climbing, I am acutely aware that this is a very tentative gesture into Scottish mountaineering history.

A traditional day out

2008-10-09T23:39:00.002Z

Weather in the glen:
Wind and rain. Gusting to galeforce, persistent light rain, although the cloud base is fairly high. Mild temperatures.

Today Rach and I climbed B-F Buttress Route on the West Face of Aonach Dubh, a scramble weaving its way up and along complex Grade 3 terrain. It was a very traditional adventure, with climbing varying between steep heather, moss, choss, mud and the occasional rib of good rock! At least half of the climbing was in dank and unfrequented gullies. It's one of those scrambles/easy climbs that is so rarely climbed that the native lush vegetation is still in virgin condition.

The route was fantastic, with several exposed and exciting situations and a crux section involving an exposed traverse of a sharp pinnacle. This was the only section we needed the rope for (and a couple of slings): I belayed Rach across it, then abseiled the pinnacle into the gap myself.

We topped out into a howling gale and struggled up to Stob Coire nan Lochan, as one cannot have a day of scrambling without a summit. =) We decided not to descend via Bidean and Stob Coire nam Beith as the wind was threatening to blow us off the ridge, so ended up going down Coire nan Lochan instead.

All in all a fantastic day, finishing with fine food in the lodge, and ale and whisky in the bar. =)

(I'm not doing any walking or climbing tomorrow as the forecast is abysmal. Might go to the Ice Factor instead!)

Must find more time to write!

2008-10-08T13:43:00.002Z

For remembrance of
JOHN WILSON ROBINSON
of Whinfell Hall in Lorton
Who died 1907 at Brigham
One hundred of his comrades
and friends raised this.
He knew and loved as none other
these his native crags and fells
whence he drew
simplicity strength and charm.
"We climb the hill : from end to end
Of all the landscape underneath
We find no place that does not breathe
Some gracious memory of our friend."

I've been so busy since starting at the Clachaig that I've been neglecting the Veil. Unfortunately I am still at the same point in the story that I was before I left. I think the problem is, conversely, that although I am amongst the mountains from which I draw inspiration, they are not THE mountains of my story. I do not know enough about the rich history of Scottish mountaineering. My expertise is Wales, the Lakes, and the Alpine arena.

To me, Glencoe is special because of personal memories and experiences; it does not resonate with the passion and heroic spirit of the early ages of mountaineering. It is not like Wasdale Head, or Zermatt, or Pen y Pass, places that have the power to awe and humble me simply because I know so much of their stories. Peaks like Great Gable, Snowdon, and the Matterhorn are so steeped in legends that they have become monuments, icons, ideas, far beyond mere mountains. The solution is obvious: I need to learn about the history of mountaineering in Scotland!

But for the time being it's still the history of Lakeland and Wales that enthralls me. I feel that I know the major players quite well (they are my characters, after all) but so far the big names of Scottish mountaineering are still simply names, without people behind them that I feel I know. Robinson's Cairn on Pillar in the Lake District is a place of pilgrimage for me because of the man it commemorates. The same follows for Great Gable, the mountain which symbolises freedom for entire generations of hill-lovers. I feel like there must be a similar history to Scotland.

Exploring

2008-10-06T21:12:00.002Z

Weather today:
Weather turned during the morning, with a lowering cloud base to around 600m and showers approaching the glen. Increasingly strong gusty winds. Mild temperatures.

After work today I went exploring on the buttresses to the right of Clachaig Gully, looking for a new scrambling route. It turned out to be 45-degree heather and choss, with the bare rock sections tending towards the overhanging, disintegrating and rotten! No scrambling interest here, then.

Eventually I found a route I thought would go at around Mod (the left-edge of the crescent buttress). It was delightful slabby climbing, with a big drop and grand exposure to the right, although the crux felt around Diff so I turned back, as I was on my tod and wearing big boots! I must go back and do it again at some point, with a climbing partner and rope.

So for the time being, a scrambling link-up from the Clachaig to the summit of Sgurr nam Fiannaidh has not yet been discovered!

Weather on the turn...

2008-10-05T16:05:00.002Z

Currently still clear and sunny in the Coe, beautiful conditions on the tops for scrambling and climbing on certain buttresses, although northerly-facing areas will probably still be wet. Small patches of snow on SCNL summit indicate very cold temperatures overnight. However, the valley temperature is steadily on the rise and the weather is forecast to turn bad again at some point after Monday, just in time for my days off. =)

Currently not sure what we're going to do. We had been thinking about a bivvying trip (as Rach and I both have Thursday and Friday free) but not with this weather forecast! So it might be something over towards Creise. Also the possibility of a trip to Skye coming up--watch this space.

Last night was a bit mental at the bar as we had live music after 9. Took a while to clear up! All good fun though.

Daily weather report

2008-10-04T16:54:00.002Z

As I now live in the Glen, I suppose it might be helpful to provide daily reports on observed weather. This will probably be more useful over the coming winter but I'll start getting into the practice right away.

Considerable overnight rain, coupled with warmer temperatures, stripped the snow from the mountains. Persistent drizzle and low cloud suddenly cleared in late morning, leading to very clear conditions with only a little high cloud at around 1,100m. Tiny patches of snow still in evidence high on Stob Coire nan Lochan. More snow probably survives on Bidean nam Bian's summit. Temperature at valley level is currently much colder.

Photos taken at 5:50pm:

Snow in them tharr hills

2008-10-03T15:46:00.003Z

Woke up to a covering of snow down to below 600m on Aonach Mor and the Aonach Eagach. Winter has arrived in Glencoe--albeit temporarily! Unfortunately I'm working today, but we're already planning a grand adventure for next week ... just in time for the snow and cold weather to turn to the status quo of wind and rain. ;-)

Mountain days

2008-10-01T20:02:00.004Z

My two days off this week have been well-spent! Yesterday I did an easy walk up Sgurr nam Fiannaidh (the last Munro on the Aonach Eagach ridge), then across to the Pap of Glencoe for a spot of scrambling. The weather improved throughout the day, giving gorgeous views from the Pap.

In the evening, myself, Rachael and Izzie went over to the Ice Factor in Kinlochleven to have a look at the climbing wall. It's a MUCH better wall than the one at UEA, with some brilliant moulded features that seem to be based on mountain volcanic rock. We did a few good routes, myself still sticking mostly to Grade 4 routes as I have not been climbing indoors (or anything remotely hard outdoors) for many months! However I climbed a nice wee roof so was pleased to see I can still do overhangs. We've now joined the Ice Factor so are planning on climbing there every week.

For today, Rach and I had been planning an epic adventure on Bidean nam Bian. The forecast was for whiteouts and blizzards, so we felt rather cheated when the weather turned out to be sunny and warm! In the end we got a lift down to the Lost Valley but spend two hours trying to find the start of our route, as the crag didn't seem to correspond to the guidebook topo. We started along a slippery and exposed Grade 3 traverse thinking it was the easy Zig-Zags we were looking for. In the end we probably climbed 300m more than we needed to!

Finally, after much deliberation, we decided we had indeed found the start of our route. It turned out to be very easy, even for a Grade 1 scramble, but it was a fine way up a big cliff. The short pitch of scrambling in the middle was delightful even in the wet, and reminded me a great deal of Jack's Rake in the Lakes.

After climbing to the top of Gearr Aonach we continued along the ridge to Stob Coire nan Lochan--an exposed, rocky ridge walk--then Bidean nam Bian. The weather had closed in by this point and it became very cold, then started to snow. No whiteouts unfortunately (!) but there were significant flurries!

The descent, over Stob Coire nam Beith and down the valley to the pub, was accomplished quickly enough. In the great tradition of Fell, and indeed wherever people join together to climb mountains and have a good time, we finished our day with the Post-Hill Pint in the bar. Beer really does taste better when you've earned it.

I'll leave you with some pictures from our day:

I'm in Glencoe!

2008-09-28T12:56:00.004Z

Arrived at the Clachaig yesterday after my epic mini-tour of England, including drinks and laughter at the Fat Cat to say good-bye to people in Norwich, and a lovely evening with Grace in Nottingham. The journey up to the Coe was a bit fraught, with double-booked seats on the train and general faffing at all stages. Got there eventually, though!

Everyone here is very friendly and I have a nice little room in the Staff Bothy. Very like student digs, which makes me feel right at home! There's a fantastic view over to Aonach Mor and Sgurr nam Fiannaidh, the first peak of the Aonach Eagach ridge. And the rest of the glen is only a short walk away.

Anyway my very first shift starts in just under an hour. Last night was mental at the bar but hopefully it will not be so busy tonight!

I went for a stroll down to the village this morning. Here are some photos I took:

Just to make you jealous...

2008-09-24T09:42:00.004Z

Here's some photos of the place I'm going to live over the winter! Click on the thumbnails for larger versions. All photos ©Alex Roddie 2007 - 2008.

1. The Aonach Eagach from the Lost Valley
2. The mountains of Glencoe from the summit of Buachaille Etive Mor
3. Glen Etive from the Bealach Dearg

Packing!

2008-09-24T08:22:00.002Z

At the moment my main task is packing for the Big Move. Somehow I have to pack everything I'm going to need for the whole winter into three bags that I can take with me on the train and lug through Glasgow. This includes all of my winter climbing & mountaineering equipment, not to mention all the clothes I'll need, plus a selection of my reference books that I can't do without. It's going to be hard cramming all that stuff into the bags, and even harder actually walking anywhere with them once they're full!

I'm looking forward to the next few days. Tomorrow I'm going up to Norwich for a visit to the Fat Cat with some of my friends who remain there, including James who has just gone up for Fresher's Week and is beginning the uni life. On Friday I am going to Nottingham to visit Grace at Nottingham Trent, which I'm looking forward to immensely--haven't been able to see her since Graduation!

On Saturday morning (very early) I am catching a train from Nottingham to Glasgow, then a coach up into the Land of the Mountain and the Flood itself. I should be at the Clachaig by half past five, and I start work the next day!

I think this is going to be fantastic, all in all. The time I spent in Glencoe and Glen Etive over the summer persuaded me that there really is no finer place in the world than Scotland. And the mountains in the autumn are, I feel, seen at their best; there is something in the burnished veil of bracken shrouding the fellsides that speaks to our heart. It won't be quite like the 'promised land' of Wasdale Head, but the longer I stay away from that hallowed corner of the Lake District the more special it becomes in my memory.

There will be plenty of time to go back to the Lake District in later years. For the time being, I have Glencoe to explore and enjoy!

The Rolls-Holdstock Company

2008-09-21T17:11:00.002Z

Stars? Of a truth; yet stars are born of the night ;
all that is great and human whispers death ;
story and thought of splendour mourn beneath
shadows of doubtful fate and frail delight.
-- GWY (from 'Wind and Hill')

I've been doing a bit of light research on Charles Rolls, one of my secondary characters. At this point in history he is a first-year Engineering student at Trinity, renowned for his habit of racing his bicycle around the streets of Cambridge. In October 1896 he drove a motor-car all the way back from Paris, with the help of his father. It was the first car ever to be stationed in Cambridge.

My original information indicated that he had been an active balloonist since about 1896. I had started to ponder on a possible subplot involving him anchoring his balloon on the roof of his lodgings, then using it to whisk away night climbers in peril. Unfortunately it now turns out he didn't have a balloon at this stage. Never mind!

One thing I have definitely settled, though, is the issue of his (fictional) first company: Rolls-Holdstock. This company is formed for the purpose of developing and marketing Arthur Wedgewood's lightning engine, a device based around an unspecified variation of the vacuum capacitor, capable of harnessing the energy from lightning bolts and converting it into safe power for vehicles. It's pure steampunk and of course nothing of the sort was ever developed, but it's the sort of thing Rolls might have done!

This machine is the centre of the controversy which will, through various misunderstandings and treacheries, result in Holdstock being chucked out of Trinity, Charles Rolls paying off the Court of Discipline with vast sums of money, and Aleister Crowley alienating himself from his few friends. This is the mechanism which will initiate the climax of the book. Geoffrey will be climbing with new friends, Thomas is ruined and in search of some new adventure to make his name, and Crowley is the bitter enemy of of them both.

Addition to the blog

2008-09-19T19:43:00.003Z

Just a quick note to explain the new 'Veil' time' counter that has appeared above. As my story is anchored so strongly in reality, I find it helpful to keep track of the precise time within the framework of my novel. This counter displays the current time from the perspective of my characters. It'll probably shoot back and forth in a haphazard fashion as I make changes here and there, but broadly it'll go forward as a constant reminder of my progress.

At the moment, 'Veil' time' is 7:35am GMT on Monday November the 11th, 1895, and Aleister Crowley is being read a list of his crimes by two Proctors of the College's Court of Discipline.

For Trinity!

2008-09-19T10:53:00.002Z

For Trinity, whose height first brought
the breadth and vision to our thought ;
whose love of freedom bade us look
beyond the hedge-row and the book ...
--GWY (dedication to 'Freedom')

The Veil is progressing well, albeit very slowly. It's taking me a long time to make the necessary changes to the plot. Sandy Mackay is slowly edging his way into the earlier chapters, making the necessary replacement of G.M.Trevelyan, who had appeared a year or so too early in the first version of the story. Mackay is going to become one of Geoffrey's most prominent friends from Chapter VII onwards.

Recently I was contacted by an author currently conducting research on the relationship between Geoffrey Young and Aleister Crowley. It would appear that evidence actually exists that the two knew each other--I had strongly suspected it all along, but at last I am able to put my finger on actual evidence! Apparently in 1895 Young gave Crowley a solid thrashing and a black eye. This fits perfectly with my vision of how the story is going to progress from now on.

Chapter VII is a radical turning-point. The original 'Trinity' of friends, Young, Holdstock and Crowley, breaks down. Crowley is forced to answer for his many vices in the Court of Discipline, but in a moment of weakness offers to do a trade: he will give the Proctors evidence against Thomas Holdstock if they give him another chance. Originally I had envisioned him betraying Thomas out of malice but I think that is being unfair on Crowley. After all, he's going through a very tough time in his life.

As a result of this affair, Holdstock is forced to leave Trinity and Young gives Crowley a thump in the face. Young then moves back to Jesus Lane and concentrates on making new friends. The 'official' timeline of Geoffrey's first year at Trinity re-asserts itself as my story moves closer to historical fact. The main setting of the novel returns to Trinity College for more adventures on the rooftops dodging the Proctors and their dastardly assistants.

However, I've been having fun with the big scandal about Thomas Holdstock and this won't be the last of it. It's still a bit of a mystery: Arthur Wedgewood's mysterious contraption that generates fierce heat and attracts lightning bolts; the involvement of the dashing Charles Rolls who is hell-bent on procuring an airship and anchoring it to the roof of the library, not to mention buying a motor car and racing it around the streets of Cambridge; and Captain Richard Holdstock, absent without leave from the Royal Navy and up to his neck in the whole conspiracy. It's a fairly indulgent sub-plot on my part, a chance for me to add a little taste of steampunk and classic adventure to an otherwise fairly down to earth story. I have an idea how it might all work out in the end.

So I'm having fun. Young is starting to develop more maturity, Charles Rolls is gallivanting around Cambridge like Mr Toad, and Crowley has begun his headlong slide into depravity and dishonour, while still remaining a broadly sympathetic character. All the while, the great North Face of the Matterhorn looms in the background, waiting for its chance to play a final and devastating role in the story. I can afford to have fun and let the characters have fun for the time being. The tone of the entire story (beyond this volume) takes an irrevocable downward turn before very long.

Another death on Mont Blanc

2008-09-14T11:34:00.002Z

Snow and cold claims a British alpinist in Chamonix

So, another death on Mont Blanc. On the Italian side this time. The details of the accident are sketchy at the moment, but the brief description on Chamonet filled me with horror. It is one of the most frightening things I can imagine, left to freeze to death in a ready-made coffin in the snow. It's not currently known what caused his climbing partner to leave him and walk down by himself--perhaps they didn't know that help was on its way--perhaps he thought that if he left his mate in the hole and went down to fetch help, his friend would have a higher chance of survival.

Decisions like that are utterly wretched and kill us a little inside, I think. I have never been in a situation quite as dire as that one, but I have been responsible for rescuing walkers and climbers who were injured, on one occasion, and lost and frightened on another. Always at the back of your mind is the scary little voice that whispers, "If you make the wrong decision now, these people may die."

I sincerely hope I am never in the situation where I might have to abandon my mate in a blizzard to try and get help. High altitude storms in the Alps at this time of year can kill with shocking ease. I can imagine what must have gone through the minds of those climbers, one of them realising he probably wouldn't live through the night, the other knowing full well that this was the case.

So. To most people this tragedy may be just one more statistic in a long, long line of dead climbers in the Alps this year. But I think that a little imagination can be a dangerous thing and that article unnerved me. I had been hoping with all my heart that the accidents would cease and that nobody else would die, but of course that's not going to happen ... mountains will continue to kill us off for as long as we climb them, and that is the reality of what we do.

Good news!

2008-09-13T17:18:00.002Z

I got a phonecall from the Clachaig today, and after having a chat, I now have a provisional job offer for next month. It's not a definite offer by any means, but if I can conclude my affairs at this end of the country swiftly, giving me the chance of going to Scotland sooner, the offer will become more solid.

So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed but it's looking far more likely that I will indeed be spending the winter in Glencoe. =)

In other news, we had a great evening at the Cherry Tree beer festival last night. Loads of people turned up and we invaded the tap room en masse, sampling such excellent beers as Trade Winds, Piddle in the Dark, Keel Over, Doom Bar, and the sadistically named She Sells Sea Shells. Michael and Tuohy made a bet with the barmaids that if they could still pronounce it at the end of the evening, they got free sausage rolls. Amazingly, they managed it!

Anyway, it was great to see everyone for the last time before they all return to their various unis, and although I was feeling a little tender this morning it was great tasting some of the unusual beers as well.

I need to become more organised

2008-09-12T13:40:00.002Z

THERE is a hill that stands for me
beyond the sunset and the sea ,
a ladder of light ascending :
when I have crossed the encircling ray
and lost my comrade of white day ,
it beckons to me , bending
a mountain-way of wind and rain
to draw my feet from the dark plain .
Where stars of slumber kindle on its crest ,
my hill , the high hill , from wandering to rest .
-- GWY, from "Freedom"

Over the past few days I've been writing up my notes that I made at the archives. Unfortunately I tend to write notes in a disorganised fashion, writing down thoughts as they occur to me, and so my information is correspondingly disorganised.

What I really need to do is record all my research in some kind of structured form. Each character needs a file, and I need to make a definitive timeline of events. I have character files already but they are far from complete, and some characters never got their own file (Mackay, Levi and so on).

I'm also debating what to do with the plot. It's the old chestnut of whether to be more faithful to reality, or do what *I* want to do with the story. My overall goal is to create a story that can slot neatly into the historical record without any contradictions, or causing any ripples. It's supposed to be fiction, but entirely plausible, even to an expert on the subject. But I'm finding it increasingly hard to avoid making ripples in the timeline (it's like being bloody Doctor Who at times!) and sometimes I wonder whether I am taking the wrong approach. Maybe I should just jump in and make changes.

On the other hand, one of the things that makes this story special is that it is overwhelmingly real. I've probably invented about 10% of the material myself; the rest is exactly accurate. I think this is a good balance between fact and fiction. It's just a difficult balance to keep to, particularly when I keep discovering new things that upset the plot I've already written.

In the end, I'm going to have to keep driving on with this draft instead of constantly going back and making modifications to what I've done. I haven't advanced more than a scene beyond the start of Chapter VII for two weeks.

The other thing I've been giving some thought to is what to do with all the material I'm not going to actually use! If I chose, I have enough ideas and inspiration to last me for at least two more books beyond the planned three. Between the end of Book 1 in 1896 and the start of Book 2 in 1909 there is a big gap. Lots of exciting stuff happened in that gap. Should I write the book about Crowley's expedition to Kanchenjunga first, or press straight on to the big tragic finale? Not an easy question!

Immediately pressing tasks:

1) Decide what to do with the character of Sandy Mackay. Try to merge him with Thomas Holdstock, or perhaps merge him with G.M.Trevelyan? I don't want to add him in on top of these, but Trevelyan has no place in the story and Holdstock is quite similar to Mackay anyway, so that might work. In any case, something fairly drastic has to happen here.
2) Develop the argument between Aleister Crowley and Holdstock. Demonstrate Geoffrey distancing himself from all the politicking and sniping, and getting on with finding new friends and climbing on the rooftops of the college.
3) Work out what to do with this blasted rock climbing trip to North Wales he managed to fit in at some point in 1895. Only a month left until Christmas now, and the snows have already set in, so this is a problem.
4) Decide if I am serious about the Rolls-Holdstock Company subplot. It's nice giving Charles Rolls a minor role but I am a bit uncomfortable about introducing subplots that are not going to be directly relevant. I have enough in the main plotline to worry about as it is!

The Veil is murkier than ever

2008-09-10T09:58:00.004Z

Peak beyond peak, and range beyond range
flecked with cold glacier, burning, desolate;
uplifted on the ruins of slow change,
defiant of the lightning and the hate :-
signs of those lives apart, divinely strange,
that soar to meet the fierce extremes of fate ;
while from their strength the smooth green vales descending
curve in still sunlight to their summer ending.
-- GWY, Alone on the Summit of the Matterhorn

Yesterday I spent a long day amongst the musty tomes of the Alpine Club archives in London. Thanks to the kind help and assistance of the librarian and archivist, I had an enormous pile of documents to work through. Unfortunately seven and a half hours only gave me enough time to examine the most important and relevant sources.

The overwhelming impression I gained yesterday was that the web of history and circumstances surrounding this field of study is indescribably vast & complex, and would require months of dedicated study to master. I have only been able to scratch the surface. I am plagued by a surfeit of information, which I cannot simply ignore or override with artistic license.

At the same time, I found the experience profoundly emotional.

Some of the most special sources were Geoffrey's letters. I had the privilege of reading correspondence between George Mallory and Geoffrey, and it was simply awe-inspiring to handle letters written by George's hand a hundred years ago. His handwriting is very similar to my own and I found it easy to follow their conversation over the years. One particular postcard contained this message:

'It was fixed up this morning.--Do come here if you can before the 18th & meet her--& we can talk.'

This refers to George's engagement with Ruth, on the very eve of the Great War.

Their correspondence throughout the war spoke of Geoffrey's hardships and George's increasing discontent with remaining at home, until Geoffrey lost his leg and George decided to join up with an artillery battery. All in all I gained a picture of the relationship between these two towering figures of early 20th century mountaineering--and it humanised them. Up until now, I had only thought of them as characters, figures from history, fascinating stories.

But they were real men with lives beyond the plot that concerns me, they had huge circles of friends that I will never be able to understand or penetrate to any great degree. They had people who loved them. After all, this sad tale was not so very long ago. The more I learn, the more heartbreakingly tragic is the story I have taken it upon myself to record in fiction.

Geoffrey's Pen y Pass scrapbook, a new source by all accounts, was also very special. It contains a photographic record of the great Pen y Pass community from its beginning to its death. It also shows photos of Geoffrey in Wales in 1896 as a young man. I have been able to touch his life to a degree never before possible.

Perhaps my greatest discovery was that, despite commonly accepted views, Geoffrey DID NOT learn to climb first on the spires of Trinity College and then in the Lakes in 1896. An unrecorded rock climbing excursion in 1895, with Felix Levi and C.Martin-Jones, took them to North Wales to climb Glyder Fach and Crib Goch. So Geoffrey was a rock climber first and foremost after all.

Despite my frustration with the overwhelming tide of sources that I cannot possibly hope to examine in great depth, it was a very special experience to have the privilege of reading these primary sources, and I have made many discoveries that will enhance The Great White Veil considerably.

Some thoughts on psychotic characters

2008-09-08T13:41:00.002Z

At the moment, Veil it as a pivotal point in the plot, with Edward Crowley in the drastic process of turning into Aleister Crowley. Of course, in real life this was not such a clear-cut event. The forces that shaped his life spun out the change over several years; but it can be broadly agreed that the schoolboy Edward became the Great Beast Aleister during his time at Trinity College.

In order to fit with the plot, I decided to accelerate the process. It's triggered by his addiction to hashish and a particularly disturbing event in which, under the influence of drugs, he decides to experiment with magic for the first time. This event leads to a complex form of psychosis that is proving challenging to follow! I've been reading a fair bit of Freud and Jung lately to keep track of the basics, but in essence it is an extended version of the Jekyll/Hyde stereotype. This kind of dissociation in his psyche is necessary in order to process the changes he is going through at the moment, his evolving sense of identity, his confusion with the world, the intriguing contradictions that make up Crowley's character.

I'm finding him an easy character to write, as I am so familiar with his voice having read many of his books, but truly getting inside his head is a different matter. The contradictions are the hardest to understand, but perhaps the most disturbing scenes to write are his nightmares. I wrote his first nightmare the other night in the dark, and it was pretty bloody scary, particularly as I have drawn from my own childhood nightmares to complete the picture.

Essentially, Aleister's personality has split into at least three separate entities: Elspeth (his 'anima', to use a Jungian archetype, although it's more complicated than that), the great beast (his 'shadow' or 'id', although completely dissociated from himself and visualised as an external creature), and the eye (a red lamp that terrifies him and issues commands). These can all broadly be described as complexes and given his family background it seems appropriate to use Freud's psycho-analysis theory to analyse his condition, particularly given the time period of the piece. There is also the remaining splinter of his psyche, which he has named Aleister, and is ostensibly the personality controlling his conscious actions.

The person he used to be, Edward, no longer exists except perhaps as the collective whole of all of these complexes. Aleister's struggle is going to be to find some sense of peace and balance between these warring influences. The great beast stalks him and feeds the violent swings of emotions that the Aleister complex is prone to. Elspeth haunts him as a vision of perfection, a woman he loves and yet is maddeningly unattainable, and also frightening. The eye exists as a shadow of fear that distorts his dreams and compels him to act in ways he would not normally consider.

The overall result of this complicated process is that Crowley becomes paranoid, secretive, mistrustful of his friends and even more assured of his own superiority in the world. He begins to see himself as invincible and god-like. It precipitates the breakdown of the 'trinity' of friends, Crowley, Young and Holdstock, and results in the disastrous events in Zermatt that will kill Holdstock and all but kill Crowley himself. In short, it's a fictionalised description of how the 'Great Beast 666', 'the Wickedest Man in the World' came into being, and as such it's damn exciting to write about!

Decision made!

2008-09-05T14:59:00.003Z

After a couple of days of thought, I've made up my mind. Today I have been applying for various jobs in the Highlands, particularly the Clachaig and the Glencoe youth hostel, both of which would be amazing. It's also turned out that my friend Rach, fellow-adventurer and veteran of many epic days in the mountains with Fell, also has a similar plan in mind, which is pretty cool!

A lot of ex-Fellers seem to be living in Scotland these days, or contemplating moving out there. It'll be nice to have a network of friends ready-made.

So at the moment I am snowed under with application forms and references. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I really, really want the job at the youth hostel in Glencoe. The idea is pretty damn fantastic. A few days ago I was glumly contemplating putting my climbing gear away for the winter. Now I might have to replace the picks on my Venoms sooner than I thought.

The New Plan in motion!

2008-09-03T15:14:00.002Z

After a casual suggestion made to me on a UKC thread yesterday, a new and potentially epic detour to the faltering New Plan has unfolded as a possibility. If you recall, my original post-UEA plan was to work in Norwich for a while, gain savings, then go and live near the hills. This backfired twice due to having spent all my money on a tremendous summer in the mountains, a decision I do not in the least regret, as the Glencoe - Arrochar stomp in July was quite literally life-changing, as was a whole month spent climbing in the Alps.

So the rather more pedestrian New Plan was born, which involved remaining in Suffolk for six months or so and earning money faster (having fewer expenses than I would incur living in Norwich) before starting again somewhere better.

It has now been three weeks since returning from Switzerland. Despite a lot of effort being put into finding a job, they just aren't materialising; or, at least, the ones that do appear get snapped up before I can react. The problem is the remoteness of my village, miles away from the nearest town, making all but the most local jobs impossible to commute to.

So the New Plan faltered, and I have been spending my time writing and wandering the same old well-worn paths that I explored to death four years ago. I came to realise that it could be a long time before I find anything to do here, and even when I do, it will be simply "a job", a wagepayer, something I need to do in order to amass savings. In short, my time in Suffolk would be largely limbo. I would not be able to climb, or to visit the mountains that now form the scaffolding and foundations of the person I am today.

However ... yesterday a new option presented itself to me, something that solves many of my problems at once and which enables me not only to visit the mountains, but to live amongst them.

There are a number of live-in jobs being advertised in Scotland at the moment. One is at the Clachaig Inn, the legendary mountaineers' pub of Glencoe, reputedly centre of the Universe and a place where the normal rules of physics (and economics!) do not apply! The others are all in youth hostels, scattered around some of my very favourite places in all the world: Glencoe, Aviemore, Glenmore Lodge. The very idea of living in a place that fires my imagination, with the freedom to climb and wander at will amongst my beloved mountains in my spare time, is one I cannot easily ignore.

The idea of buying a one-way ticket to Scotland and staying there for months at a time also appeals to my sense of adventure. I've become so used to travelling and having adventures that it is difficult to adjust to the sheer mundane reality of what people call "real life". Call it escapism if you will, but I feel very powerfully that if I do not have adventures and experience the world while I yet can, I will have missed out on the greater part of all that is magical and tremendous about life. The philosophy of A.Wainwright, Edward Whymper, and Geoffrey Young has made a big impression on me.

So I am giving serious thought to applying, possibly to the Clachaig, possibly to one of the hostels. In a couple of days I will have made up my mind, one way or another.

In other news, after having a chat with the most helpful and polite people at the Alpine Club Archives, I have an appointment next Tuesday to have a look through the AC's collection of unpublished journals, letters and other correspondence relating to Geoffrey Winthrop-Young. The AC Library also holds precious copies of Young's 1899 guidebook to the roof climbs at Trinity College. I hope that my visit to London will yield information about some of the more tenacious problems in my research, such as Sandy Mackay, the exact nature of the original Trinity Night Climbers, and particularly the greatest mystery of all: why on Earth was the friendship between Geoffrey Young and Aleister Crowley hushed up? The circumstantial evidence is too great to ignore, as are the glaring holes in the historical record where I know for a fact that Geoffrey and Aleister were in the same room together and yet neither are mentioned by the other.

Hopefully, by next Tuesday, the great mystery of The Great White Veil might be solved.

Le Grande Melchior

2008-09-02T11:04:00.002Z

Here is a cheer for the New Mountaineer,
That very well advertised man,
His method is risky, I fear,
But he 'does' all the peaks that he can.
And anyhow gets his reward,
A pyramid proud for his bones,
Or else to be "busted" by Ford,
Or drawn, as an angel, by Jones.
-- "The New School", D.W.Freshfield

Thanks to Jon Griffith, who has been kind enough to lend me a copy of Claire Engel's 'History of Mountaineering' from 1950, I have been able to unlock a whole new world of usefulness from one of the books that has been quietly mouldering away on my shelf for a while now. Even before I started to collect antique books for the purposes of this project, I picked up an old volume in the second-hand bookshop in Southwold simply because it appealed to me. It is a copy of Lord Conway's "The Alps from End to End". I never actually got around to properly reading it but a quick skim through indicated it might be of future interest.

Engel's book contains a section of context about Lord Conway. It turns out that his crossing of the Alps was conducted in 1895, which suddenly elevates this unassuming little book to the status of a contemporary source! Reading the chapter on Zermatt yielded some valuable details about the town at the time, notably a conversation that Conway had with Melchior Anderegg, oldest of the Swiss guides, who was running a store near the church at the time.

"Le grande Melchior" was bemoaning the decline of Zermatt as a climbing centre. He complained that most of the tourists were as old and infirm as he was, and that things were not as they were in "old times". Of course this conversation must be viewed in part as a moan that "things aren't what they used to be", but I think there is some truth in it, as other indications show that the number of climbers visiting the town had drastically diminished, even though the actual number of ascents was probably higher. Melchior also complained that most of the tourists were day-trippers, tourists in the modern sense of the word, attracted by the new railway and Gornergratbahn. In fact, Conway shows a great deal of contempt for these tourists, and in his description I can vividly see Zermatt as it is today: awash with camera-wielding sight-seers, with the odd climber forlornly sat on the sidelines.

I was planning on having Melchior as an incidental character in the book. He was acquainted with Aleister Crowley and Thomas Holdstock so will provide a neat little link with the earlier, heroic age of Alpine exploration. This was a period in the history of the Alps when many were complaining that Alpinism was going down the pan, thanks to a mixture of the guides getting worse, all of the major peaks having been climbed, and the Alpine Club still strongly resisting the development of new techniques and technical mountaineering. I think Melchior demonstrates that contrast between the world of the 1850s-1860s and the 1890s.

It has also given me the idea of another spinoff novel, possibly centred around Thomas Holdstock's exploits in the Alps, 1894 - 1895. This idea has been brewing for a while but I don't know if anything will come of it.

In a similar vein, I am trying to get permission to visit the Alpine Club's archives in London next week, to look up some of the rarer documents about Geoffrey Young. Watch this space.

Only a Hill

2008-08-29T16:55:00.002Z

Only a hill ; earth set a little higher
above the face of earth : a larger view
of little fields and roads : a little higher
to clouds and silence : what is that to you?
Only a hill ; but all of life to me,
up there, between the sunset and the sea.

I recently received a copy of Alan Hankinson's acclaimed biography of Geoffrey Winthrop Young. While the book has yielded some important details about Young's life in Cambridge (eg. he lived on Jesus Lane, about 100 yards from Aleister Crowley at 16 St. John's Street), it is also inaccurate in several cases. It's been quite frustrating trying to find exactly where the truth of various points lies, but I have ultimately decided to trust the words of the man himself, and have taken Young's own books to be canon.

In any case, reading the biography has prompted a mild re-shuffle of the 42,000 words I have written of The Great White Veil so far. I cannot use Felix Levi as a character, so have replaced him with Arthur Wedgewood, an engineer who fits the part FAR better. I can also have Crowley abusing him later on in the plot without breaking historical accuracy. Young did not meet G.M.Trevelyan until 1897, which means I have to scrap that character altogether and find a way of introducing Sandy Mackay.

In any case these changes are all for the best, and give me a good opportunity to tighten things up in other areas. The subplot revolving around the dashing Captain Richard Holdstock is turning out to be a lot of fun. The thing I am most looking forward to is Crowley's descent into madness, torn between the conflicting influences of Elspeth and the Great Beast (dissociated parts of his own mind).

I am also looking forward to Book 2, which is going to be IMMENSE! The plot is nothing short of historic, with George Mallory himself as the main character. It is basically the tale of how he became a mountaineer, together with the story of his love for Ruth Turner and their marriage on the very brink of the First World War. After that came the Great Darkness and the bitter decimation of the Pen y Pass climbers.

I'm still looking into the possibility of writing a third book, but I want to. It would finish the whole plot nicely, although it's going to be a bitter ending, with George dead on Everest and Geoffrey Young giving his speech to the massed climbers on the summit of Great Gable, mourning their many dead friends.

One day I must attend one of the annual memorial services on the top of Great Gable, a tradition that stretches back unbroken to that foggy day in 1924 when Mallory died on Everest.

On the Mountain Side

2008-08-27T08:50:00.003Z

Here's one of my latest discoveries, found during a long session in the Zermatt Library of Alpine History: one of Geoffrey Young's 'lost poems'. It is priceless due to the insights it gives into his character and his experiences of the phenomenon of the Third Man. I am still analysing it but it has yielded a lot of information.

ON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE
G.W.Young

He meets me on the mountain side,
Where the white ran of snow
Bursts through the sentinel grey pines
To shatter on the serried lines
Of fir-wood far below;
Or where the bastions of the fells
Surge from the clinging heather-bells
That cloak their craggy side.

I never see him, but his tread
Sounds just before my own;
One thought designs the task of day,
One effort wins the onward way,
Dividing yet alone;
One hope, one vigour of intent,
Swayed by one resolute consent
Of sympathy unsaid.

He waits me at the evening halt
Upon the glacier brink,
When in the hour of mountain peace
The passion and the tumult cease
As the red sun-floods sink
And the pale lords of sovereign height
Watch the cold armies of the night
Mustering their first assault.

He shares the song-time round the fire,
The morn-break bitterness;
He revels in the sheer ascent,
And finds new worlds for wonderment
In every grim recess;
Sure foot to grip the perilous ledge,
Strong hand to grasp the rough glad edge
Of each unconquered spire.

Together on the ice-glazed wall,
Numbered by the slow snow-breath
Oft have we heard the instant pace,
And looked intent upon the face
Of our rude comrade, death;
And our clear hearts have leapt to feel
Muscle and will grace tense as steel
To wrestle one more fall.

He opens an enchanted gate
For each untrodden ridge;
He cleaves the blue precipitous stair
Up the white domes of frozen air,
And moulds the foam snow bridge.
How small the earth to those wide eyes
And the near welcome of the skies
How infinitely great!

In him the sinews of man's strength
Are wrought to vibrant strings;
Echoes of movement to prolong
The secret breath of spirit-song
His hill-born fancy sings;
Health and high heart, accordant powers
To scale life's ease-enchanted towers
And wake fair truth at length.

The seaman loves too late a tide,
And greets me but from far,
The sylvan god of moor and stream
Laughs in upon my dawn of dream,
Gone with the morning star;
But on wild range and rocky crest
The soul of all that's in me best
Mounts ever at my side.

And when I grow too old to climb,
And leave him on the snow
Hastening in another form to meet
Some younger self-discoverer's feet
Mine still the joy to know
That in the years of youth and friends,
When life was fashioned for its own ends,
I found him for a time.

The dangers of mountaineering - some thoughts

2008-08-24T12:02:00.003Z

News of yet another tragic accident in the Alps this morning has prompted some introspection. At 3am, serac-fall on the NW Face of Mont Blanc du Tacul caused an avalanche sufficiently large to wipe out most of the route, including a group of climbers camped at the foot. Eight were rescued and flown to hospital in Chamonix. Eleven have not yet been recovered, and knowing the way avalanches work, they are almost certainly dead by now.

This has been an astoundingly tragic season. According to some sources, one hundred climbers have died in the Alps since June the 1st, of which twenty were on Mont Blanc alone. A friend and an acquaintance were among that number. Another friend was rescued the other day, while yet more people I know return speaking of rockfall, wide open crevasses and treacherous snow slopes. I'm actually very glad I am back in the UK before the conditions turned nasty and things started to get ugly over there.

Aleister Crowley said that "The dangers of mountaineering are ridiculously exaggerated. I have never heard of an accident that was not due to ignorance or folly." While this may have been true a hundred years ago, I no longer think this is the case. Conditions play a huge part and it is not possible to judge them to 100% accuracy, even with a huge amount of experience. Global warming has reduced some glaciers to rivers of choss, while others spawn gigantic crevasses and eat away at the ridges and faces on either side, rendering them loose and treacherous. The Mer de Glace has retreated so much in the last 100 years that the glacier is now encircled by enormous vertical cliffs that were buried with ice until relatively recently.

The fact is that, despite everything we tell to our loved ones and despite the advantages of modern equipment and knowledge, mountaineering is NOT safe. It is an inherently dangerous activity and it is only through the appropriate use of safety equipment, high-quality information sources, and most importantly years of mountaineering experience that we can achieve a modicum of safety in an extremely hostile environment. Mountaineering is a more popular activity than ever, but it is easy to forget that mountains we now consider achievable by anyone were notorious killers to previous generations.

Even Mont Blanc, highest summit in western Europe, is dismissed as a 'snow plod' by many who consider themselves experienced climbers. We would do well to remember that this easy plod has claimed the lives of many climbers of all abilities and ages. Avalanches, crevasses and rockfall do not respect your experience, although experience can help to reduce the risk.

Even on the comparatively small and benign mountains of Britain, accidents happen all the time and people die, particularly in winter. Last winter was a disastrous season for deaths and accidents on Ben Nevis. There is a very dangerous tendency to underestimate the British mountains. People forget that the Scottish mountains in winter are harsher and often more dangerous than the Alps, with shorter days and colder temperatures, not to mention less predictable weather and snow conditions. Even in summer, neglecting to pack a waterproof coat could be a mistake that costs you your life.

I suppose my overall point is that I don't want to hear about any more deaths in the mountains this year, and I would urge everyone to treat the mountains with the deep respect they deserve. Remember that as mountaineers we are never more than a footstep away from death when on the hill. To all my friends still in the mountains, in Britain and abroad, please follow Edward Whymper's wise advise and 'look well to each step'!

The Zermatt Folklore Festival

2008-08-10T08:28:00.000Z

Ye gods it is busy here at the moment! The village seems to have exploded in a frenzy of activity, with blokes in Lederhosen playing Alpenhorns in the street, random choirs, carriages stomping up and down the Bahnhofstrasse at all hours, and of course millions and millions of camera-wielding tourists.

It's making proper research a little difficut! Nevertheless, several hours of activity yesterday allowed me to conclusively prove that the Zermatt of summer 1896 still exists ... mostly. Almost all of the contemporary buildings in the village centre still stand. Towards the train station it is a different story, but I have at last managed to record an accurate and complete picture of the village of the period. It's amazing, looking at old familiar Zermatt with new eyes, seeing it the way my characters would have seen it. I can even point out Melchior Anderegg's shop!

The other thing that enhances the illusion is that horse-drawn carriage is still the main method of transportation here to and from the grand hotels. There are times, in the Hinterdorf or near the church, when the background hubbub fades away and you can almost believe it is still 1896.

Hisorical research

2008-08-08T09:58:00.000Z

As the weather forecast for the next few days is changeable at best, and the chances of us getting in the Monte Rosa hut at short notice are slim, we have decided to make Lyskamm our last climb for the trip. Definitely ending on a high note (despite not managing to do some of the harder mountains, which will after all still be there next year), and it gives me some free time to work on the other side of why I came to the Alps this year: research for The Great White Veil.

The task is to reconstruct Zermatt as it was in the summer of 1896, including everything that happened there, the comings and goings of the famous alpinists of the day: in short, to provide a complete context for the climax of the novel, in which our heroes attempt to climb the North Face of the Matterhorn, amidst treachery, betrayal and violence. The challenge is a formidable one. Zermatt as we see it today is nothing like it was in 1896. Although the rustic alpine village of old was long gone by this time, replaced by a bustling tourist resort, the town was vastly smaller and was radically different. Luckily, some of the old hotels and other buildings are still standing. It is possible to sense a ghost of the 1890s while standing in the Bergführerplatz or Kirchplatz, looking in the direction of the Matterhorn and seeing, in the mind's eye, the assembled guides waiting for the tourists to check into the Monte Rosa Hotel, or the poor English climbers who have begged their way over the Channel and are standing in the square, wide-eyed and youthful, everything they own in a battered knapsack slung over their backs.

The Alpine History section in the library is proving immensely useful. It is equipped with many rare and ancient volumes I have been seeking for ages, including works by Coolidge, Stephen, and Mummery. It also contains the Swiss Alpine Club journals from 1891 until the present day. I need to aquaint myself with the climbing climate of the time, and know exactly what was being done and by whom. The amount of information is formidable but I think I have located all of the sources I need. Frustratingly, the library is only open for a few hours each day and is closed at weekends, although I have also managed to buy a copy of E. Whymper's 1897 guide to Zermatt, which contains much of the practical information I need to know, being almost contemporary.

All in all, I feel a bit like a slightly more bookish version of Indiana Jones, trying to reconstruct an environment and culture that has been lost for over a hundred years. How ironic that, mere months after finishing a degree in computing science, I should be working quite earnestly as a historian after all.

p.s. I have just heard that Ian Jackson has been killed while climbing in the Alps near Chamonix. I was immensely saddened by this news, as he always came across as an extremely sensible and talented mountaineer. My thoughts are with Franco, Dave, and his other friends and family who will feel his loss so keenly.

Lyskamm, the killer mountain

2008-08-06T14:54:00.000Z

Today we had a monster climb, starting from the Rossi Volante bivouac hut. We climbed Castor's West Face in lighning time, crossed the Felikjoch pass, then ascended the West Ridge of Lyskamm. A very fine route to a tremendously high and remote summit (4,479m) ... it really gives you the impression of being in the middle of total wilderness, particularly as we were only the second team on the route.

The return was utterly knackering. We had to climb Castor AGAIN, cross the glacier, retrieve our gear from the feral little hut, then walk several miles back over the Breithorn Pass to catch the cablecar. In total, we have climbed around 1,500m today, walked six or seven miles, and stood on the summits of two mountains over 4,000m (one of them twice!)

Anyway not sure what else we're going to be up to, but Monte Rosa might still be on the cards if the weather improves. At the moment, it's snowing in the high mountains. =(

Lounging aroung in town

2008-07-31T12:59:00.000Z

We're currently having a couple of days off to recover from blister damage, inflicted while marching down from the Schönbiel Hut yesterday. Our attempt on Pointe de Zinal was not successful, thanks to getting lost on a truly awful scree slope in the dark, which cost us three hours and rendered the ascent of the South Ridge unsafe due to the rapidly-melting snow. I was also in a foul mood after floundering around on avalanching shale and mud for hours, and experience has shown that I do not climb well when I'm in a bad mood!

So at the moment, I'm devouring books at quite a rate and writing a great deal as well. My book is coming along very well and the veranda of the Schönbiel Hut, overlooking the North Face of the Matterhorn (one of the most important locations in the book) proved to be the perfect place to write. Some of the ideas I've come up lately have solved many of my plotting problems and things are getting more exciting all the time!

Our next climbing objective, probably for Saturday, is the West Ridge of the Riffelhorn. It's a small rocky peak on the Gornergrat ridge, not a mountain at all by Alpine standards but an excellent rock climbing venue. If I can find out some more about the route, the West Ridge would seem to be an ideal training climb at AD, with some pitches of a similar character to the difficult rock we can expect on the Zinalrothorn and the Matterhorn.

In terms of weather, it's depressingly predictable--brilliant sun in the mornings, then the thunderstorms roll in over the Matterhorn at 2pm every afternoon, regular as clockwork. There was a cracking storm last night with enormous bolts of lightning streaking across the entire sky at the head of the valley. We have heard of several parties being benighted in the emergency refuge on the Matterhorn, and generally having epics ... not the best of conditions to be climbing that mountain at the moment.

Pollux South-West Ridge (AD)

2008-07-27T15:35:00.002Z

Today we climbed the South West Ridge of Pollux, the lower of the 'Twins' (we climbed its sibling, Castor, last year via the West Face). The route is good fun! After a familiar glacier journey over to the Zwillingsjoch, we began to climb the ridge proper. It begins up a steep couloir of snow. Unfortunately there had been some new snowfall overnight, caking the mountains in several inches of powder, making progress a little difficult.

After the gully, we enjoyed about a hundred metres of classic Scottish II mixed climbing, little more than scrambling really, until we arrived at the foot of the dreaded chain pitch. This is a difficult pitch of Grade III rock, traversing a slab on sloping, polished holds, but made more amenable by a fixed chain. It was hard work! Despite a minor slip, I was well protected and never in any real danger. After the slab, the chain diverts straight up a difficult chimney filled with chockstones, then up a vertical face that I found much easier than the slab or the chimney. It's all made more 'interesting' by the high altitude and the necessity of climbing rock in crampons!

The summit was quite epic, with a brilliant view of the laden face of Castor. Several small avalanches occurred despite some teams starting at the foolish hour of 1pm. I would not have wanted to be anywhere near that face in those snow conditions! In fact, I think the route we did was one of the only feasible routes in the area. Most of the big snowslopes were at high avalanche risk.

On the way down, the weather deteriorated rapidly, with a small lightning storm drifting over from Italy making things more interesting. Our glacier crossing was conducted in a whiteout while wet snow falling constantly made the slopes even more dangerous. It was also very hot and humid, probably because we were walking through a thundercloud.

Tomorrow we rest--the day after we're walking to the Schonbiel hut with the intention of doing Pointe de Zinal.

Zermatt

2008-07-25T14:28:00.002Z

Just a quick note to say that we are now in Zermatt, haven of mountaineering and home of the Matterhorn--and it's looking a little less snowy than last year! The town is, as usual, thronging with tourists and the campsite is a little more full, although somehow we managed to get exactly the same pitch as last year.

I just took a stroll through the climber's cemetary, a favourite place of mine as it gives a good dose of perspective. As usual, the experience was sobering, with the graves of so many of the best climbers who died on the nearby peaks. Above them, the Matterhorn looms, as imposing now as it was 150 years ago.

This is an incredible place and it is so good to be back!

Mont Blanc du Tacul, 4248m, NW Face (Normal Route)

2008-07-24T12:41:00.002Z

Today we climbed the Mont Blanc du Tacul. This is the first of the giant trio of 'stepping stones' to Mont Blanc via the 3M route, and sports several complex faces. Our original plan had been to climb the Left Edge from the Cosmiques Refuge, but we could not book the hut so decided to try the easier normal route up the massive NW Face instead. This face is about 750m high and mostly Scottish Grade I snow (up to 40 degrees), but features several precarious bridges over HUGE crevasses. Luckily, these were filled in. There was also debris from some truly enormous avalanches. On this mountain, the key is to be off it as soon as possible before the avalanches begin and the snow bridges soften.

We climbed fast. Both of us are now acclimatised to the high altitude, so we were on the summit in under two and a half hours--well within guidebook time. Others were still plodding up the face hours later, and we even saw some people set off from the Midi station after mid-day ... a very bad idea, given how hot the day was and the dangerous nature of the face when it starts to melt.

We are still tourist attractions! As we returned up the arete to the Midi, tourists were taking snaps, even video footage, of their heroes: roped mountaineers they no doubt imagined to be returning from Mont Blanc herself. James even got a small cheer from the assembled crowd when he spoke to one of the camera-wielding women (cue swoon).

Anyway the huts are all full, and we have exhausted the single-day possibilities we want to do from Chamonix, so tomorrow we shall be moving on to Zermatt.

Foiled by global warming!

2008-07-21T15:43:00.002Z

Today we walked up the Mer du Glace (a big glacier!) with the intention of staying in the Requin Hut overnight, and climbing the WSW Ridge of Aiguille du Tacul the next day. The glacier was brilliant fun, with plenty of open crevasses, ice walls, pressure ridges, the lot--a real labyrinth of ice. Unfortunately, the closer we drew to our mountain, the less favourable the route looked. The approach, described as an easy glacier in both the guidebook and the map, was a jumbled icefall that looked lethal. The 'easy grassy ridge' of moraine was footed by an enormous cliff and looked quite impassable. At the very least, the approach would have taken so long that the route would have been out of the question (it's a long route).

This is all, of course, due to the glacier receding and dropping in level. Disappointed but not overly so, we reversed the line back through the maze of crevasses to Montenvers.

The glacier was also a bit of a graveyard. We found the remains of at least five or six skiiers in open crevasses (no body parts, but plenty of ripped socks, old boots, smashed skis, ski poles etc). The remains were decades-old and had been exposed by melting ice and opening crevasses. They were probably victims of an avalanche up in the mountains As the snow covered the corpses and transported them down the glacier, the remains were twisted and torn apart, finally opening them up to ghastly scrutiny many years later and miles further down the glacier. I can only assume the mortal remains of the people themselves have already been removed for burial.

At the moment we are having a few days of rest, as my heels have been ripped to shreds by blisters and I need them to heal before we try anything else. If we can book the Cosmiques refuge, we will try Left Edge on the Tacul in a few days. If not, we will try to do it from the first telepherique anyway, with the understanding that we bail out if we are too slow. In any case, I doubt we will be in Cham for more than five or six days before we move on to Zermatt.

Our first route of the season

2008-07-20T09:31:00.002Z

Well, we're now back down from our first route of the trip: Tour Ronde's SE Ridge, a mixed climb graded PD. The glacier crossing to the Torino hut passed without incident, and the food at the hut was epic in both quantity and quality, so we were well-rested and psyched after breakfast at 4am the next morning. We crossed the glacier towards the foot of the ridge as alpenglow began to illuminate the mountains in orange and gold.

The first obstable on the route was a 150m snow/mixed gully, steep towards the top. We moved together and climbed it quickly, placing only one piece of gear near the top where it steepened and passed between friable rocks. I would give it a Scottish grade of I/II. Upon topping out on the ridge, we climbed the easy rocks and snowslopes to the summit, which was reached by a final rock pitch of maybe Grade I/II (Mod-Diff in the UK).

The summit (3,792m) was an amazing place, situated at the start of the Brenva Spur to Mont Maudit and in front of the entire Italian Face of Mont Blanc. The view was, quite simply, stunning to behold. We had climbed our route in just under 3 hours (guidebook time!) and were the only ones on the mountain until we were well back down the couloir. An achiement for our first route of the season!

The descent was slower and more precarious, as the sun had melted the couloir and began to release volleys of stonefall and wet-snow avalanches. We abseiled three pitches on fixed gear, which we augmented with our own tat when needed. After that it was a case of downclimbing wet, sugary slush past the bergschrund.

Upon reaching the hut we had an unpleasant surprise. The Helbronner cablecar was not running due to the wind. Thus, we had to quickly pack our things and reverse the Midi-Helbronner glacier crossing in the fierce midday sun. The central crevassed section was a bid nerve-wracking as the whole glacier was melting and slushy. I began to suffer from the altitude as we climbed back up to the Aiguille du Midi station--at over 3,800m, higher than our summit for the day!

All in all it was a knackering day, and I was literally at the last of my reserves when we climbed the final arete to the station. I was having trouble standing upright. The altitude hit me badly, even though I had been unaffected by it on the mountain. Today we're having a rest.

The plan for tomorrow is (if we can book the COsmiques hut!) to climb the Left Edge on Mont Blanc du Tacul, an ice/mixed route at AD+: considerably harder than Tour Ronde. If we can't book it, we're thinking of doing Aiguille du Tacul, an easier but longer route from the Requin hut.

I'll post again in a few days!

I'm going to the Alps

2008-07-16T05:54:00.003Z

It's off to the Alps for us today. The journey is going to be pretty tiresome, with loooong waits in Cambridge and Luton. We arrive in Chamonix a little before midnight. In total, we are staying in the Alps for four weeks, until August the 13th.

At the moment, conditions on the mountains are far from ideal, but I have high hopes for some consolidation weather to quieten the avalanches and get rid of some of the new snow.

We do not have any set objectives, but there are many fine mountains we would like to climb. The Matterhorn is still a good option for our final peak after we have built up more experience of AD rock routes.

I will post on here with updates whenever I can. Until then, wish me luck!

It's graduation day

2008-07-15T06:52:00.002Z

My ceremony is at 4:30 this afternoon. I find myself fairly unconcerned about it, but nevertheless it'll be interesting seeing how silly I look in the gown!

Grace's ceremony is at 9:30 this morning and she has just left with her family. Needless to say, she looks gorgeous. =) She deserves this day so much more than I, having fought so hard to get the grade she needs, and having been successful in all her endeavours. Whereas I, the technophobe who wants to try and make his living from the mountains, may never use my degree again!

Still, the process of getting my degree was important in many ways, and made me realise the true value of being passionate about what you want to do, and pursuing that dream. So the piece of parchment I will be receiving today has great symbolic value to me.

I'm not so sure today marks any particular milestone or new chapter in my life, however. Finishing my last exam felt like more of a turning-point. But I suspect the biggest milestone of all, the true turning of the page and refilling of the pen, will be the big adventure in the Alps. Only one day to go now!

Hurrah!

2008-07-13T17:25:00.002Z

Thanks to a minor clear-out of the gear boxes, I have been able to make over £100 on Ebay by selling off surplus climbing equipment! Some of it is old, like our first ice axes which aren't really up to the sort of climbing we do these days; and some of it is stuff we bought second-hand when we were building up the winter climbing rack, and had some funny ideas about the things we needed.

I haven't managed to sell the really ratty old ice pitons (that are not much use to anyone, and were advertised as 'emergency abseil anchors'!) However, the good-quality drive in ice screws have been sold, as have all of my spare rock pitons, including the old Warthog which has been carried on many a climb but never actually needed. I also made a few quid on the short quickdraw tapes that have been sitting in the bottom of the box, never used, as 10cm is too short for a quickdraw intended for Scottish mixed / Welsh scrambling / mountain trad / Alpinism.

So a jolly good haul in total, and it's good to see my old ice axe going to a new home where it can be used, instead of sitting in the corner gathering dust.

More good news: I have bought the Alpine Club's Mont Blanc Massif: Volume I guidebook to help us plan routes. One particular route stands out as a real possibility. This is the Left Edge on the Mont Blanc du Tacul North Face Triangle, otherwise known as the Contamine Grisolle. As the least serious route on a pretty monstrous Alpine face, it takes you into some awesome surroundings without being utterly desperate (in normal conditions, anyway).

At AD, it is within our grade, and in fact looks like a more sustained and more committing version of Castle Ridge. It's a mixed route and contains sections of steep ice climbing (about Scottish III) so will be a job for two ice axes each. I've always wanted to climb an Alpine North Face, and a route like this would be an ideal introduction to this sort of climbing.

Oh and I get to see Grace tomorrow, so I am a happy chappy. =)

Packed

2008-07-11T15:44:00.002Z

The bags are now packed for the Alps. Using our dodgy scales we reckon my hold bag weighs 17 kilos (same as last year) and James' hold bag weighs about 15 kilos. Luckily, we have a bigger hand luggage allowance this year, so I can put all of my clothes, my books, camera, and travel documents in the hand luggage.

I've made some more lightweight gear choices this year which I'm pleased about. I'm using the Alpine harness instead of my lovely comfy regular harness. All of the karabiners in the climbing rack are now wiregates. More of the slings are now Dyneema instead of the furry old nylon slings from the scrambling rack (one of which was left to protect our retreat from North Trident Buttress anyway). I invested in a brand new ice screw which weighs about half the amount of the ratty old one. I'm taking my summer sleeping bag instead of the massive down bag. So all in all, I reckon I've saved a couple of kilos, which is not to be sneezed at.

We also saved a bit of weight this year by not bothering to take the petrol stove. It's cheaper to run than the gas stove, and far more stable, but the damn thing ALWAYS burns your pasta as it has no decent flame control! So in the end we've settled with the Rocket, and will load up on gas canisters when we get to Cham. It may be easy to knock over but at least you can cook on it, and it weighs next to nothing.

Most importantly, since I now no longer have to pay for a deposit and rent, I decided to buy a new pair of crampons to replace the old ones. They were frankly in a dangerous condition with squared-off points and anti-ball plates that actually collect snow, then compress it into a block of ice underneath your foot! The new crampons are made by DMM (the Aiguille model) and seem very solid. They fit my boots well and have very aggressive spikes--just what I want for the sort of mixed climbing we'll be doing in the Alps, and in Scotland this winter. I'm sure new crampons will make all the difference on steep snow. Even coming down off the Ben in March, I was having to dislodge snow from my boots with every step and generally teetering around on blunted points, in danger of taking a serious fall at the steep section near the Red Burn.

Now all that remains to be done before we leave is to clean up the house in Norwich (or at least do my part in the cleaning, as we don't officially finish the tenancy until the end of the month), and then attend the graduation ceremony on Tuesday.

The journey to Chamonix begins on Wednesday at something past nine in Ipswich. It's going to be a long day, with lengthy waits in Cambridge and Luton. In theory, we should be in Chamonix by 11:30pm. I hope the campsite isn't full--and doesn't mind late arrivals!

Climbing

2008-07-10T17:33:00.002Z

James and I have been doing a bit more climbing these past few days. Of course, being in Suffolk, the routes are all on trees! Luckily we have two superb beech trees five minutes from the house, with a selection of 50-foot jamming cracks (that widen into chimneys) well-furnished with nut and cam placements. All of these cracks bar one have now been climbed.

The Tunstall Crack is my favourite route and really does have everything! Grade 3,I+ climbing with some difficult moves, a well-protected crux and a fine awkward chimney to finish. The view from the top is also splendid. I've now soloed it once and led it twice, and have found that the crux is a LOT easier with the knowledge of that hidden hold!

Twisting Crack and Bloody Hell Crack on the other tree are also excellent routes, both harder (Grade 3,II) and with poorer protection. Both feature overhangs that are sustained for 3-4 moves and the possibility of ground falls from the crux. The footholds on Bloody Hell Crack are really quite dodgy and I had a cam fall out of the crack on me today as I was about to get past the overhang ... rather hairy stuff. I also did the direct continuation today, straight up the chimney, which is a fine pure 'udge' route up the widening cleft between the trunks.

The route that has yet to fall is the Sudbourne Crack. This route is very difficult and serious. I originally gave it the grade of 3,III but I am now thinking Grade 4 might be more suitable due to the dubious protection (the crack flares badly at the crux) and the blank section. As with most of these routes, the hardest bit is getting off the ground.

I even failed to climb it with aid the other day! I literally laced the crack with gear, climbed a little way up on my makeshift etrier, but totally failed to establish myself on the crux. There's nothing for the feet at all--it's like trying to stand on 80-degree glass. The smooth crack is very difficult to grip.

I've now tried it on abseil as well, and know I can climb the moves above the crux easily enough (although they are horrendously overhanging!) The problems are as follows:

1. I can't get off the ground. The holds just aren't there.
2. The protection at the crux is dubious at best, and consists of a No.2 soft nut hopefully poked into the crack.
3. The only good protection for the first 6 metres is only one metre above the ground, too low to be of any use at all.
4. Falling on the protection beneath the crux would result in a ground-fall from 5 metres up. Not a death fall, certainly, but it could break an ankle or a leg. At least there are no branches to hit on the way down.
5. Even if I could get up to the crux, I doubt I could stick to the crack for long enough to reach the good holds at the overhang.

All in all, a fine humdinger of a route representing a real challenge! I daresay I will succeed on it one day, but for the time being it looks like Grade 3,II is my top grade on the medium of the smooth beech crack.

I wonder what the grade of this route would be on rock? The rock it most resembles is smooth limestone, but of course there are occasional 'jugs' in the form of branches. The flared cracks require a special touch!

When I come back from the Alps I really must get myself over to Staverton and seek out some harder climbing on oak trees. I suspect I will be able to climb harder on oaks, as although the holds are small and the routes tend to be steeper, at least there are holds in the first place!

Looking back - an analysis of my degree

2008-07-07T17:37:00.002Z

Now I've had time to examine my detailed marks for the past year, and ponder on what it means, I've been able to draw some conclusions about my degree in general. Ever since the first year I had been feeling that perhaps it was not the right course for me. If I really think about it, I took the wrong course at the end of my first year in 6th Form, when I dropped History as I was becoming rapidly bored with the syllabus.

Anyway. During my second year I went through a period of being pretty positive about my degree, and thinking about working as a systems analyst. I did very well indeed in my second year, getting high 2:1 for pretty much everything and working efficiently, as I had chosen a good selection of units. They were challenging, but I was in the mood to be challenged.

The third year was entirely different! My units were not entirely suited to me, with some requiring more programming than I liked, as I am not a programmer (I had decided to focus more on the analysis side of computing science). One particularly shocking piece of coursework for Information Retrieval turned out to be a bit of an epic for the whole group, for entirely the wrong reasons, and I managed to help negotiate an extension for that one.

In the end I became increasingly disenchanted with computing science all in all, and became convinced that a career in this direction would kill my spirit. After all, for me a career is nothing more than a mechanism designed to generate money that you need in order to live your life: I have never confused a career with a life, as I do not consider either jobs or money to be a valid definition of personal success. This philosophy may not be very practical but I believe it very powerfully, that as human beings our worth is measured by more important means than our capacity for generating money, which is after all nothing more than an arbitrary by-product of a civilised society, and has no importance in itself.

So despite my deepening contempt for computing, I worked hard. The final presentation for my dissertation was abysmal, as were several of my exams.

Nevertheless, the final results are vindicating. I got a surprisingly high 1st in Networks (which I did not expect!), and a very high 2:1 in Systems Engineering (0.6% short of a 1st). I even got a 2:1 for my dissertation, which proves that my worries about the presentation were entirely unfounded and that, as I half-suspected at the time, the examiners were just testing me.

The clincher came from Information Systems. I got a low 3rd for that unit, thanks to my poor performance in the exam ... it was never a good unit for me, as I disliked the lecturer and found the material very difficult to understand.

All in all, I am pleased with my grade of 2:2 and do not regret taking this degree, although if I had a time machine I might go back and change things so I could have taken History, a subject which inspires me, instead of a subject that progressively deadened my soul. Nevertheless, I think this proves that if I am determined enough to see something through, no matter how depressing and difficult I find it, I'm capable of finishing it.

As it turns out my career is taking an entirely different direction. It took a very special trip to Scotland to make me realise that my future is in the mountains: the area where I have always measured my own self-worth, as the mountains enrich our lives. In the short term this is going to mean some financial hardship as I have sacrificed much this year to be able to go on four trips to the Highlands and a very long trip to the Alps. After I get back, I will be very poor by my usual standards, but hope to start full time work immediately.

Just not as a programmer! =)

Things progress!

2008-07-01T10:27:00.002Z

Went to view a house yesterday, on Bury Street. The first good omen was that the location could not have been better -- it is just off Unthank Road, situated between two good pubs, two minutes walk from the shops, and on the No.25 bus route. The second good omen was that, inside, it is just like our old house at Turner Road, which is a house I loved living in. It is also cheaper than our current house, the water bill is included, and the council tax situation is better than I had expected.

So today I am going job-hunting. If I can find something to do (Cotswolds or Venturesport would be nice), things are looking up for a year in Norwich while I get my ML. After that, who knows, but I would like to move somewhere a wee bit closer to Scotland to give me a better chance of getting logbook days for my Winter ML. So, the New Plan is turning out well so far !

In other news, I now have more time to write, but as usual, research is getting in the way. My current phase of research is focusing on Aleister Crowley, one of my main characters. I have read an excellent biography on him, the conclusion of which may be summed up by "Crowley was a latent genius, before his time, but also the most selfish person alive". This fits with my image of him. The biography also revealed many vital details not included in The Confessions of Aleister Crowley.

I have also read his Liber Al vel Legis, the holy book for his religion, Thelema, began in 1904 at a time he called the Equinox of the Gods. In a strange way, a lot of the things he says in his book make a great deal of sense, and I can see a mind of great ability working behind the mumbo-jumbo. The Law of Thelema, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law", is not as simple as selfish hedonism ; it urges people to find their true calling in life, and not to be restricted by others. Crowley's works on Thelema have taught me a lot about his character.

He is the most fascinating and 'real' character I have ever worked with. As a nineteen year-old young man in his first year at Trinity, escaping the black hole of his neo-Puritan family, he was just beginning to discover himself. There is so much scope to develop this powerful character. Luckily the new subplot, revolving around his newly dissociated personality, will provide a great opportunity to demonstrate how he started to turn into the person he would later become.

One thing's for sure : this will not be the last book I write with Crowley as a main character, even though the other two I have planned will feature no more than a cameo from him. Crowley undergoes his major transformation at the end of this volume, and I am keen to capture him at a slightly later date as the darker sides to his personality are revealed. I am very keen to pursue my idea of writing about his expeditions to the Himalaya with Eckenstein.

But for now, I need to force myself to stop adding to the enormous bibliography revolving around this novel like a small planetary system, and start writing again !

I'm back - trip report

2008-06-25T11:08:00.003Z

Well, as it turns out I'm back early. I was dogged by bad weather and in the end I decided to give up while I was ahead. Bivvying with minimal gear is always a gamble and becomes abject misery (and a danger) when the weather is cold and wet.

Nevertheless it was a fantastic trip, one of the best I have ever had--and that was without doing any 'real' climbing! Just goes to show I can still find just as much enjoyment in the mountains without feeling as if I have to climb routes. The time with Fell was great, particularly since it will be my final trip with these lovely people. We climbed Ledge Route on Monday, Buachaille Etive Beag on Tuesday and the full traverse of the Grey Corries on Wednesday. This last one was particularly special as it was my last ever walk with Fell, and was pretty much a perfect day in the mountains with friends.

After Fell departed, the weather improved. On Friday I climbed Buachaille Etive Mor by way of a new scrambling line, Headwall Buttress in Coire na Tulaich, an exploratory Grade 3 route that turned out to have a very tricky exposed crux requiring a bit of udge and knee to overcome. Better than slogging up scree anyway! The rest of the ridge was amazing, pure classic ridge walking. I then dropped down to Glen Etive and walked the length of the glen before climbing to 750m on Ben Starav's interminable North Ridge and bivouacing for the night.

The bivouac was cold, very cold, and I awoke at about 3am with the dawn. The last thousand feet of the North Ridge were rocky and narrow, and the ridge topped out directly at the summit, an elevated platform that epitomises everything that is perfect and triumphant about a mountain's top. The sun burst over the mountains to the north and painted golden hues over the double temperature inversion in the deep valley below. Cloud, lit from within by the fires of dawn, boiled over the long ridge I was to traverse that day. It was the most incredible sight I had ever seen, a moment of such breathtaking beauty and power that I don't think I am quite the same person I was before. I am only just starting to understand the extent to which that day has changed me inside.

It was the very best of days. I crossed the entire ridge from Ben Starav to Bridge of Orchy, climbing every mountain, crossing every col, moving into the wild pathless terrain. Freed from the tyranny of time or a strict plan, I just kept on walking ... and walking. I climbed ten mountains and walked well over twenty miles. As I dropped down to Bridge of Orchy, finally very tired as the wind rose and it started to rain, I felt a level of satisfaction and contentment that made the long miles and many weary re-ascents worthwhile.

Unfortunately, a day of abysmal weather halted my plans. I did not want to head out into the mountains in 50mph winds and torrential horizontal rain. I trudged to Tyndrym, got thoroughly wet, and contemplated bailing out on the trip altogether. However, all the signs were telling me to stay behind: the bus was full, I'd missed the last train, the hostel was a perfect place to sit out the bad weather. So sit it out I did, and I got my second wind as I began to plan how I would spend the last day of forecasted good weather before the rain set in for good.

I caught the bus to Tarbet, walked through Arrochar, and climbed high into the Arrochar Alps. This is not exactly a wild corner of the Highlands but it makes up for it by the surprising nature of the mountains. The Cobbler is a cracking peak, with an exposed final scramble to the summit (Doorway Route, Moderate). I also climbed Ben Ime and Ben Narnain, both fine mountains. Luckily the weather held.

That night I bivouaced in the park by the sea wall, fighting off the midgies which attacked in swarms. The forecast was for continuous rain after that point for the forseeable future. My day had been so good that I decided to end on a high note while I was still enjoying myself.

So I missed out quite a few of the mountains I had planned to do, but great hills such as Ben Lui and Ben Cruachan are waiting for me next year. Despite the setbacks this trip has been the most enjoyable I've had in a long time: good craic while Fell were still around, and long days of solitude in the mountains after their departure.

It has also convinced me once and for all to register for the Mountain Leader Award. A career in outdoor education or leadership may not pay huge amounts, but after three years I have finally decided that this is what I want to do. A few of my friends have pursued careers in this direction and are now doing amazing things. I could have a job like that too--mountain walking is one of the view things I am naturally really good at and will never stop enjoying, which makes it prime career material! Since this is not something that is going to happen overnight, I will pursue outdoor jobs in the broader sense in the medium term. Writing for outdoor publications is something I've already got a toehold in. I've also decided that for the short term at least (maybe six months to a year) I want to stay in Norwich and see if I can get a full time job at Cotswolds or Venturesport.

So this trip has finally convinced me that I should not have to settle for a job I don't want to do. My heart really is in the Highlands and if I put in the effort I can do the thing I love above everything else as a career.

Off to Scotland for me!

2008-06-14T15:05:00.003Z

I'm now packed and ready for the Glencoe trip. This will form the first half of my summer in the mountains (the second half being the Alps). We're leaving early tomorrow morning for Glencoe, where I will be staying with the club for a few days, doing some walking and hopefully some climbing--although at the moment the weather is looking a bit grim after Tuesday!

On Friday or Saturday I will be setting off by myself. The plan is to climb most of the major peaks between Glencoe and Glasgow (well, Balloch to be precise; I'll take a bus through Dumbarton and the outskirts of the city). The total distance is roughly 120 miles, although given my generous allowance of 12 days I may decide to go off on digressions away from my main route if I make good time. I plan to climb quality Munros such as Ben Starav, Stob Gabhar, Ben Lui and Ben Narnain, not to mention many more. I hope to finish in the Arrochar Alps.

I'm going to bivvying. I wanted to take my ex-army Goretex bag, as it is more spacious and durable, but unfortunately I can't spare the space, so I'm taking my Alpkit bivvybag instead. I just hope I don't trash it before we go to the Alps!

So it's set to be quite a journey, although I daresay if it rains things will be utterly grim. I have, however, made some changes from my usual backpacking rations. My mistake in the past has often been not to pack enough food (as I always worry about pack weight). This time I've made sure I've packed enough food to last me until Tyndrum at least. So I should have no excuse for knackeredness this time. =D

See you on July the 3rd!

Connections

2008-06-13T20:30:00.002Z

At points I have felt concern that The Great White Veil is in danger of turning into a novel artificially crammed with celebrities. However I no longer think this is artificial. The connections that my research has uncovered reveals that, in fact, it is more than likely that the trio of main characters would have known many of the most famous figures of their day.

Take Edward Crowley. In 1895 he is on the verge of his personal spiritual revolution. I intend to present a hypothesis to go some way towards explaining why his personality took such a surprising U-turn. He soon became involved with organisations that seem completely against everything he believed up until that point. As a staunch atheist with a hatred of religion, he would seem to be the last person to join a mystical cult. However, Crowley is a man of infinite contradictions and in the story I hope to describe some extraordinary events which are hinted at in The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, but never directly alluded to. Of course, artistic license is being used liberally where no evidence exists.

It is known that Edward Crowley became involved with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn at some point during his time at Trinity. This mystical organisation involved much of London high society, which Edward despised but nevertheless there is some evidence he did move in these social circles. He knew Oscar Wilde, who was a friend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; doubtless Doyle and Crowley would have talked, as they shared many interests. In addition, Bram Stoker was also a member of the Golden Dawn and a friend of Doyle's. It is known that Crowley made an enemy of W.B.Yeats at some point. Yeats was also an acquaintance of Bram Stoker. I believe this is sufficient circumstantial evidence to assert that Edward Crowley knew Bram Stoker.

Of course, it may very well be that Bram Stoker (and indeed many of Crowley's other famous incidental acquaintances) have no place in the story, but the deeper I delve, the more I am convinced that this semi-factual story I am engaged in probably involved, at some level, most of the big figures that are remembered today from that period of history. It should not be forgotten that Bram Stoker wrote Dracula during his spell of teaching European folklore and folk-magic, notably tales of vampires.

Given the recent split in Crowley's personality, and the genesis of the psychotic entity he calls 'The Beast', I find it hard to believe that he would not have gone to Stoker for advice at this early stage in his involvement with the mystical and supernatural world. I find this intriguing because in many ways Bram Stoker was very much like his character Abraham Van Helsing (they even have the first name).

I am also starting to become very enthusiastic about the Elspeth subplot. Crowley believes he has found the only woman worthy of his affection, but Elspeth seems inextricably tied to the Beast in some unfathomable way and ultimately Crowley is forced to ponder whether or not she even exists. Eventually, Elspeth and the Beast contribute the Crowley's breakdown and the dramatic changes in his character that lead him to join the Golden Dawn and change his name to Aleister.

There is a lifetime of material here. I cannot fit it all into this novel! Unfortunately the rest of the series is planned to revolve around Geoffrey Winthrop-Young and his circle of friends, with Crowley no longer playing a role due to the feud. I feel that is a shame, as Crowley is one of the best characters I have ever worked with.

I think I'm going to have to write some more books about the young Aleister Crowley. His expedition to K2 might be a good opportunity.

Life after uni

2008-06-11T08:50:00.004Z

In the end, as suspected, my time at university went out with a whimper rather than a bang. The final exam was a nasty piece of work but I did my best. All that now remains of my university career is to collect my coursework, get my results, and (fingers crossed!) graduate. It's a strange feeling, to think that this is probably the last time I will be living in Norwich. Still, the second year was the best, and the third year was filled up with a bit too much work to be as much fun as it could have been.

I'm currently chilling in Suffolk for a few days before striking off again. The weather has been hot and humid, the forests flooded and mosquito-ridden, making forays into the wilderness interesting affairs! My efforts to build a hut in the Scotland Fens region were foiled by the ground refusing to support the roof poles, so I ended up building a fairly standard lightweight shelter in a day of intense tree-felling and foraging. Don't have time to spend any time there now, but will probably do so when we get back from the Alps.

Tomorrow I'm heading up to Norwich for a few days, to pack a few more of my things and make ready for Scotland. I'm getting excited about this now. For some days I will be staying with Fell at Lagangarbh in Glencoe, walking and climbing, before I strike off by myself to take in most of the mountains between there and Balloch, just north of Glasgow. The journey will take 12 days, which includes time for digressions to either side of my main route.

Luckily I now have some time for more writing. I am at a crucial point in The Great White Veil at the moment, when the two main characters undergo formative experiences in a 'splitting' of the storyline (which has, up until this point, been the same for both characters). Geoffrey develops his love of mountaineering which will last for the rest of his life, and Edward Crowley begins to explore his spiritual side as his character becomes darker and more like the Aleister Crowley of later years.

With luck, I should be able to finish the first draft of this volume in a few months. Rewrites are going to take time, though. At least I am making progress and the story is staying fresh and exciting!

Well that could not have gone worse!

2008-05-27T15:04:00.001Z

Had to present my dissertation this afternoon. It went wrong from the start. I had been very confident about this--after all, I have put a lot of work in and know my stuff--but it just didn't work out.

First, my supervisor was 15 minutes late. He meant well (and has always been very supportive), but this served to annoy my second marker, a man I'd never met before.

Second, I am starting to lose my voice for an unknown reason which knocked back my confidence. So instead of sticking to the plan, I started off by giving my justification of the format of my project: a user manual instead of a program (it's a computing degree). There are some very good reasons I ended up writing a user manual, but under the second marker's impatient stare they ended up sounding like excuses.

This served to make him skeptical of the entire project.

Less confident than I usually am in presentations, I decided to wade in and just talk them through the project without following the schedule. Bad idea. I found myself jumping back and forth and explaining things badly, leading to critical (or even trick) questions from the second marker. His skepticism deepened. I expect critical questions but it seemed as if he really couldn't give a damn about what I had to say. Probably trying to get me ready for the business world!

Eventually he started going off into digressions and talking about random stuff completely unconnected to my project. It was very off-putting! He looked very bored and kept staring at his watch.

I ended up missing out some of the material I had meant to cover and generally made a pig's eag of it. I had been completely unable to convey why my study is actually a very complete and useful resource--instead it sounded as if I had been forced to do an investigation because I couldn't be bothered to do any programming! From his line of questioning it was clear he thought the entire project was worthless.

The final insult came when the second marker said "I suppose you might as well give us what you've done to read through then, as a formality--it wouldn't be fair on you otherwise."

I'm quite bewildered, really. The last two presentations I've given on this topic, both far more formal occasions and under more pressure, were brilliant. I am usually very confident presenting my work (which I after all know inside-out).

I left the room feeling I had totally failed to get across anything useful at all, and that all I had done was peddle excuses. Looks like I'm not actually that much good at maintaining confidence when anything disrupts my concentration. =( I suppose only having got three hours of sleep last night might have had something to do with it as well...

Update

2008-05-26T09:55:00.003Z

Things are ticking along over here--two exams left to go, one of them on Thursday (eek), and a coursework demonstration at some point over the next couple of days. I'm currently in the library revising and putting the finishing touches to my demonstration. It feels a little odd to think that I've got less than two weeks until my degree is over.

Anyway, plans for the monster trek are now more or less complete, and I've bought all the maps I need (four in total). Just have to book the train ticket now. I've discovered that if I walk back on the west shore of Loch Lomond instead of the east, I get to take in the Arrochar Alps (including the Cobbler!) and finish closer to my bus stop with less road-bashing to get there, so this looks like an excellent idea. I'm looking forward to it.

Something else I'm looking forward to is a bit more proper bushcraft when I get back to Suffolk. I want to set up a Mesolithic camp somewhere in the forest, possibly on one of the old hut sites but more likely in Little Scotland, which has a water supply (if questionable) and more abundant food sources, including fish. I'm quite keen to live there for a week to try out some of the skills I haven't used in a while. I've also discovered a new way of making thermoplastic glue from Birch trees, which may solve the age-old arrow binding problem: at last, no more mucking around with messy glue made from resin and shredded bark! I reckon I will build the hut and set up the settlement before Scotland, make all the weapons and tools I need, then actually live there for a while after we come back from the Alps.

I tried cooking some dandelion roots from the garden last night to go with my dinner. They require a lot of boiling to get rid of the bitterness but are not at all bad, rather like potato.

Oh and I've been doing a little more climbing, too. There are some unremarkable Grade Zero routes down by the lake, not worth recording but an entertaining diversion for a minute or two. However, I have discovered a monstrous oak tree with several very difficult lines. It's near the Sainsbury Centre and has great presence. Here are my appraisals of the different routes (from ground level). As with most oak trees, all of the routes refer to the initial pitch to get into the shoulder, beyond which the difficulties ease. The final route is probably the hardest obvious line I have yet seen on a tree on campus. I intend to try and climb Good Craic but it looks rather hard for the grade so I may want to find a belayer and use a rope.

GOOD CRAIC Grade 3,II+
The obvious line on the reverse side of the tree, with small but incut holds and a committing overhang. An owl hole provides the only good hold on the line. Possibility of a serious fall from 15ft.

BLANK PAGE Grade 3,III / T3+
The intimidating line to the left of Good Craic, taking the major overhang direct. Likely to be exceptionally severe to 'free' although aid points are not at all obvious.

SAINSBURY PILLAR Grade 4 / T4
The side of the tree facing the Sainsbury Centre. Climb the overhanging face direct on minute holds. Exceptionally severe and unprotectable until the shoulder is reached (a fall from the shoulder may break a leg).

Freedom: the beginnings of an epic plan

2008-05-21T08:52:00.002Z

After these past few months of coursework, deadlines and exams, I am looking forward to some adventures in the mountains next month. Since I currently have no set plans for late June it seems logical to stay behind in Glencoe after Fell Club departs, and have some fun there.

Originally I thought I could do a 2-3 day bivvying trip around the valley, but I was left with two problems:

1. What to do with my climbing gear? I would have to leave it behind in my tent and pay for a pitch. Booo.
2. I would have to get a bus back from Glencoe to Glasgow in order to catch my train. Boring.

In order to solve these problems, an obvious solution presented itself: ask Fell to take my kit back with them to Norwich, and then walk to Glasgow myself.

A quick look at the map confirms that the shortest route by road is 86 miles. Away from the roads, the landscape is a virtual wilderness, interrupted by only the occasional track and isolated croft. There are also lots and lots of huge mountains, many over 3,000 feet, including several distinct mountain ranges. And I intend to stick to the high ground.

I have not managed to get all the OS maps I will need for this journey yet, but a rough estimate puts the total distance at over 100 miles and crossing maybe 15 Munros, including some right out in the wild where only Munro-baggers ever go. Such a journey would take several days and would require real commitment of a kind I have rarely experienced in the mountains before. I would be penetrating deep into regions more remote than I have ever visited ... and that includes our visit to the Alps.

Despite the obvious logistical challenges, the idea is inspiring in a way that only a bivvying trip can be. I am almost tempted to leave my watch behind to gain freedom from the tyranny of time. There is an attraction in descending to the valley after days in the mountains, not even knowing what day of the week it is.

Bivvying represents freedom, and the bivvying trips I have conducted in the past have been the most memorable I have ever spent in the mountains. The nights are either wondrous, comfortable experiences under a blaze of stars, or shivering misery as the rain pelts down on the thin layer of Goretex between you and the sky, slowly trickling through the entrance and saturating everything you own. The mornings are cold and the days are exceptionally long and arduous. Sometimes the food runs out and you know it's two days until the next farmhouse; who knows how far until the next shop.

But it is true freedom of a kind we rarely experience in our lives today where so much risk and uncertainty has been taken away from us. To put back some risk and uncertainty, to be free from the pressures of our lives and be entirely unfettered by any constraints save the ones imposed by nature, is I feel one of the most worthwhile things one can do in life.

This will take some planning, but I do not want to plan it too much. Far better to give myself a week and a few maps, and to find my own way to Glasgow.

At the moment it looks like I will be starting at Lagangarbh in Glencoe, climbing Buachaille Etive Mor, then some of the remote mountains of the Blackmount before crossing Ben Starav, the mountains around the Bridge of Orchy and Crianlarich, and finally finishing over the Ben Lomond range before dropping down to Glasgow and catching the bus through the suburbs to the train station. There are a few places where I can re-stock on food along the way.

Hey, it'll get me fit for the Alps! ;-)

Tree climbing at UEA - new hard route

2008-05-09T10:09:00.002Z

After a session at the climbing wall this morning, I went to have another crack at the giant oak tree in the circus meadow. It's an inspiring tree that I've tried to climb twice before but failed. Every route to the stance at the top of the first pitch is more or less blank, and you really have to search for the holds! They are fragile, small, and usually sloping. Eventually I chose the least steep route, on the NW side, which is stretching the definition of a slab but is more in the character of a slab than a wall. The holdless bulge at mid-height was interesting. Downclimbing was very unnerving and I had to jump off from the stance 11ft up (ouch).

It's a good route though because a fall from the hardest section is completely non-serious, so the grade of 3,I+ I have given belies its difficulty. A pitch of that technicality (about English 4c) 40 feet up a tree would make the entire route Grade 4. I reckon the other side of the tree, which is significantly overhanging, can be climbed at 3,II+ but the handholds just aren't there.

Here is the entry for the route.

CIRCUS SLAB AND CONTINUATION** 30ft Grade 3,I+

First ascent: A.Roddie 9th of May 2008 (solo, dogged, third attempt)

A fine route, taking the easiest line to get up to the big saddle about 11ft up. Technical for the grade but relatively non-serious due to the difficulties being concentrated in the first pitch. Start on the NW side of the tree roughly facing the circus, and ascend the slab on delicate, small footholds. Handholds are poor and fragile. The slightly overhanging bulge at mid-height requires a dynamic move for shorter climbers. Once at the concrete-filled saddle at the top of the first pitch, continue left along the more easy-angled trunk on slightly better friction holds. Downclimbing requires care and it's best to jump off from the saddle, or abseil.

Alpine stuff

2008-04-27T11:09:00.002Z

Only two and a half months before the big trip to the Alps, the highlight of the whole year!

The dates have now been set and the flights will be booked soon. We will leave on July the 16th, the day after graduation, and should arrive in Chamonix Mont-Blanc at some point that evening (or maybe early the next morning). The plan is to stay in Cham for a week, doing some acclimatisation in the Vallee Blanche, brushing up on crevasse rescue skills, and hopefully climbing Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit if we are fit and the weather is good. A (tentative) bonus goal will be the Traverse of Mont Blanc, which involves a full crossing of the entire range.

After our time in Cham is up, we take the scenic train through the Alps to Zermatt, haven of mountaineering and home of the Matterhorn.

We will stay in Zermatt for three weeks. We do not have any fixed objectives, but mountains we are considering currently include the Rimpfischhorn (PD+), Dufourspitze (PD+, but the second highest mountain in the Alps), Zinalrothon (AD-), Obergabelhorn (AD but long and hard with it, so this is very tentative), and of course the Matterhorn itself, which goes at AD but includes 1,700m of climbing at Diff standard or harder.

At the moment the idea is to live as cheaply as possible. Luckily our expedition grant has reduced travelling costs to £125 each, and insurance is going to be cheaper this year. We will be walking everywhere instead of taking cablecars most of the time, to get the full 'Alpine experience'! That means most mountains will take two, three or four days to climb. We will also be bivvying instead of staying in huts most of the time, and probably living off oatmeal, pasta and sausage for the month.

It's going to be quite an adventure! Unfortunately we will be there in August, which is the busiest season, but it also gives us the highest chance of favourable conditions for the Matterhorn.

We got an expedition grant!

2008-04-21T16:48:00.002Z

UEA has a Travels and Expeditions Committee which organises giving out small grants to students going on expeditions. Since I am totally skint, I applied for a grant a few months ago, giving them a rough outline of our planned trip to the Alps this year. The stated goals were the Matterhorn, Zinalrothorn, and Dufourspitze, with other secondary goals (the training peaks). I had to give a complete risk assessment including the probability of death by avalanche, crevasse, altitude sickness and so on.

Apparently the 'standard' grant amount is £50 but we have been awarded £150! That should pay for most of the travel expenses, which is fantastic. This will significantly cut back the cost of the trip overall and make it more affordable for us to stay for three or four weeks.

I've also finished one of my essays today (my paper on the role of standards in systems engineering, due in on Thursday), so I'm a happy chappy.

I hate the third year

2008-04-19T13:49:00.002Z

I am currently spending as much time in the library than I am at home. My semi-permanent residence has become a little concrete box on the 2nd floor. I enter there at 8:30 in the morning and leave at 8:30 at night. Work is getting done, but there's a lot of it left to do and not much time left to do it in.

The thing I am most hating at the moment is Networks. Three times a day, without fail, I have to go to the labs to make measurements (this takes half an hour a pop). I could have written a program to do it but was too lazy, so now I am unable to get into a decent flow of work on my dissertation because I have to go and do Networks stuff every few hours. It's bloody annoying.

And now I have to contend with papers written in the most unintelligible technobabble the world has ever seen. I actually have to use a bloody dictionary to translate the thing. Whoever wrote it obviously thinks they've awfully clever in using words like 'deleterious', 'modosify', 'consonant' and 'subjuncticated'.

Maybe in a few weeks I will emerge from my hole, blinking in the sunlight, confused that the outside world has moved into summer while I've been sweating away in front of a computer screen for the past few months....

It's at times like this that GWY's poetry keeps me going!

And in my darkest hours of urban depression,
I sometimes take out my dog eared map
and perhaps a dried blade of grass will fall out,
And remind me that I was once a free man of the hills.

Some ponderings on climbing in general

2008-04-15T16:26:00.002Z

It's been a while since I posted, which reflects the lack of attention I've been giving to my book, due to the amount of time I'm having to put into my course. I've hit a better balance now though, and have written a few scenes in the last few days. I was also asked to do a review on the new biography of John Wilson Robinson for UKClimbing.com, which I'm very pleased with--he was a key figure in the early development of rock climbing, and a character in my book.

Anyway climbing has been progressing well lately. Something's been puzzling me, though. Since coming back from the Ben a few weeks ago I have not trained, hardly been running at all, and have been concentrating on work. Virtually no exercise. Why, then, did I find myself climbing better and harder than ever before at my first visit back to the climbing wall?

Winter climbing is supposed to do wonders for your confidence, but destroy your rock climbing technique. I've found I have improved dramatically in both areas. I can now solo routes I would have wanted a top rope for before, and my arm strength has increased massively. I am also faster at figuring out moves (this has always been my biggest drawback).

While the new routes at the wall stumped me a bit, perhaps with slightly more "realistic" (read: harder!) grading, my visit today had me soloing up to 5a onsight and with ease. I'm really pleasantly surprised. The last route I did before going up to Scotland was a steep 6a with horrible little holds that I really struggled on. My finger strength has obviously suffered a little--I'm not as good with very small holds now--but I am so much better at powerful moves and excessively steep lines.

I can even try my hand at bouldering and not feel totally incompetent now! Did two problems today, both extremely steep and featuring a prominent overhanging roof at the top. I think experimenting with a different technique might have paid off. My arms are definitely stronger (I can now hang off the fingertips of one hand for several seconds), but I was able to go for the final hold due to high footholds and upper body tension. It felt surprisingly straightforward. The overhanging 5a slab on the other side of the Numbers felt very easy.

Given my progress this year, I'm really keen to do some more trad climbing in the mountains and find out where my limits are. I know I can climb VDiff with big boots, so Severe won't be a problem. I'm actually fairly confident I could at least second HS and VS with a little practice too.

All this will improve things immensely when we go to the Alps. James and I are looking at a number of routes at AD, including classic such as the Zinalrothorn and Matterhorn-Hornligrat. I'm also considering meeting up with some other people I know and trying something a little harder, once I've done a few more routes. If I can climb HS or VS, there's no reason why I shouldn't be okay on a D-graded Alpine route with a more experienced partner.

Going off on a tangent

2008-02-02T19:56:00.000Z

I'm spending a lot of time working (or, more often, trying to work!) on my dissertation, so am not left with a great deal of time to write. I never seem to have a day, or half-day, in which I can immerse myself back into the story and make solid progress. However, I am progressing well with general research, and I'm finding The Confessions of Aleister Crowley very useful. It's a rather stodgy tome that wanders all over the place, but it is fascinating and it's giving me deeper insights into Edward's character.

It's becoming increasingly clear that Edward Crowley is the strongest character in the book. Due to his oddities and fascinating contradictions, he is a marvellous character to write, with his mood swings and dare-devil attitude. Geoffrey Young is taking more work because I know less about him. His books are helping, but the overriding impression is that he has nowhere near the force of character that Edward has. Edward is powerful, passionate, mysterious, and a near-genius; Geoffrey is rather quiet, given to introspection and solitude, still settling into Cambridge life, and is a novice mountaineer. Nevertheless, I'm currently working on scenes that develop Geoffrey's character so hopefully this poor balance will settle down.

A problem I've recently become aware of is that George Trevelyan and Thomas Holdstock, both peripheral characters, are not very different either from each other or from Geoffrey. The main issue here is that everyone is being eclipsed by Edward. I'm going to have to apply serious work to this. In fact I suspect it may mean replacing Thomas Holdstock altogether, and merging him with Felix Levi. Thomas is the only fictional character in the book and I'm finding him increasingly superfluous.

I think it's a shame that Edward won't feature in the second two volumes, because he really is amazing! However, I am consoled that I will have George Mallory instead, and I can't wait to write about him. If anything, George has an even more potent and vivid character than Edward.

However, I don't want to waste Edward Crowley, which is why I'm giving serious thought to a spin-off novel.

After Edward's accident in 1896 (no spoilers yet!) he underwent a transformation. He looked increasingly inwards, renaming himself Aleister because he thought it was a name destined for infamy, and applied his considerable energies to black magic and the occult. However, he antagonised the magical establishment of the day, and by 1898 he was a marked man. Several attempts were made on his life. He fled England, met up with his friend Oscar Eckenstein (also a friend of Young's) and went travelling in Mexico and America for some years.

In 1902, Eckestein led an expedition to the Himalaya, with the objective of climbing Chogo Ri, the mountain simply marked as "K2" on the British survey map of the Karakoram of Pakistan. K2 is the second highest mountain in the world and still regarded as the most deadly. In 1902, it was only the second 8,000m+ peak to be attempted after Nanga Parbat, the killer mountain that had claimed the life of Alfred Mummery and his companion in 1895.

Eckestein and Crowley were a firm climbing partnership and they ran the expedition jointly. However, Crowley's increasing split from reality resulted in stormy arguments, mistakes, and disasters, ultimately causing the deaths of many sherpas. Crowley's temper was notorious and on several occasions he threatened fellow climbers with a revolver if he didn't get his way.

The expedition was ultimately a failure, but Crowley did redeem himself somewhat when he was the only expedition member to recognise a case of pulmonary oedema and insisted that the group descend, thus saving the climber's life.

if I do write "The K2 Book" it will be quite an adventure! The challenge will be to accurately portray Crowley, not as the monster he appears at first in this period, but as a complex character tormented by internal demons and the beginnings of his addiction to Heroin. In 1902 he was not a bad man, certainly not yet "The Wickedest Man in the World", but his habits were difficult to understand and his love of magic and enigmatic rituals frightened many.

In any case this is a project for the future. The Everest Trilogy will occupy my efforts for a long time, probably years. It's inspiring that there is so much to write about, and the great story of the renaissance of British mountaineering from 1895 until 1924 is an enormous tapestry of adventure, exploration, romance, and an increasingly tragic thread as more and more of the pioneers die in the war or on the mountains they love.

I think I have finally found the one story that I can spend years writing and never tire of. And the beauty of it is that there isn't any end: even once I have exhausted the possibilities of Geoffrey Young's circle, I can go forward in time to the "Silver Age" of mountaineering, or back in time to the Golden Age of the 1850s and 1860s.

All I need is time to work on it!

Some words on the decimation of the British climbing community in the Great War

2008-01-28T10:37:00.000Z

On the 8th of June, 1924, Geoffrey Young and some five hundred of the surviving British mountaineers made the ascent of Great Gable in the mist. Their goal was to dedicate the new monument on the summit to the members of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club--and also the Climbers' Club of Wales--who had fallen in the Great War. The war had decimated British climbing. Nothing was ever the same again. The Pen y Pass reunion in 1919 was a poor shadow of the pre-war years.

This event in 1924 marks the end of an era in British mountaineering--the era dominated and guided by Geoffrey Young and George Mallory, and begun in 1895 when Geoffrey started at Trinity. I think it is the height of tragedy that, at the very moment Geoffrey was reading his euology at the monument, George Mallory lay dying near the summit of Everest.

This will be the closing scene for the final novel planned in the Everest Trilogy, I Hold the Heights. Geoffrey's eulogy provides a fitting final closure to this increasingly tragic tale.

"Upon this mountain summit we are met to-day to dedicate this space of hills to freedom.

"Upon this rock are set the names of men--our brothers, and our comrades upon these cliffs--who held, with us, that there is no freedom of the soil where the spirit of man is in bondage ; and who surrendered their part in the fellowship of hill and wind, and sunshine, that the freedom of this land, the freedom of our spirit, should endure.

"By this symbol we affirm a twofold trust : that which hills only can give their children, the disciplining of strength in freedom, the freeing of the spirit through generous service, these free hills shall give again, and for all time.

"The memory of all that these children of the hills have given--service, and inspiration, fulfilled, and perpetual--this free heart of our hills shall guard."

-- Geoffrey Young

Afar in foreign graves they lie,
not here where they would wish to be,
"Under the wide and starry sky,"
upheld by British crag and scree.
And yet we felt their spirits dwell,
amidst the circumambient air,
above the heights they loved so well,
austere, enchanting, cloud-capped, bare.
For those who bravely die, 'twas said,
their tomb is the wide earth's extent,
and Gable is for these, our dead,
their playground, and their monument.

--W.Snow

Poems that Geoffrey Young never wrote

2008-01-23T10:01:00.001Z

For the purpose of my novel, I've known for a while of a growing problem: that Geoffrey Young wrote vast quantities of poetry whilst at University, much of which was never published. His hobby of poetry must be addressed in the story, yet I have very little to go on, since all of his poetry books have been out of print for decades and are exceedingly rare. I have only been able to locate April and Rain, one of his later volumes.

So, I knew I would have to write entirely new poems in Young's style. Having never written poetry before, I thought this would be incredibly hard.

Actually it turned out to be quite easy. I was shocked at how fluidly his words just flowed out of my brain and onto the page. I guess the character must be working pretty well!

Dreariness
by Alex Roddie (supposedly by Geoffrey Young in Nov. 1895)

DREARINESS, like the chill wind
that blows from the fen,
is a sickness.
Here I sit, a willing supplicant
to the shrine of knowledge,
yet my books are without passion
and hold no fire.
How I wish that this dreary Cambridge scene,
framed by curtains, hemmed in by rain,
would rise up in proud peaks
like the summits of my dreams :
noble, wreathed in mist's secrecy,
land of forgotten heroes and adventures yet to come.
In my dream of idleness I climb
those mountains of my mind,
grip rock, cut ice, kick deep into the timeless snows,
and in time
stand upon that proud pinnacle :
the apex of my ambition,
the dawn of my adventure,
the cure of my sickness.
But alas, the dream fades ;
naught now beyond the curtains
but November rain.

Research on Wastdale Head in 1896

2008-01-15T00:10:00.000Z

Lately I have moved the focus of my research for GWV onto the flourishing climbing community that existed at Wastdale Head in the 1890s, and particular, the interactions that Geoffrey Young and Edward Crowley had with members of this group. The more I read, the more I am convinced that Geoffrey and Edward must have been friends whilst they were at Trinity. The crossovers are too numerous to mention. I am currently postulating that the reason neither mentions the other to any significant degree in their works is the 'big argument' which occurs at some point in 1896-1897, which roughly corresponds to Edward's transformation into Aleister Crowley.

More and more evidence is pointing towards this theory. Plot devices which I originally pulled out of thin air have started to take on a surprising amount of credibility; and with a little bending into shape, in most cases they fit the evidence perfectly. Almost the only thing I am going to have to make up outright for this book is their attempt on the Matterhorn-Nordwand. Everything else about the lives of these young climbers is turning out to be just as extraordinary as I had imagined.

In any case, Geoffrey met John Robinson, one of the original Lakeland climbers, in late 1895[1]. An account of Geoffreys's first 'official' rock climbing trip to Wastdale indicates that he may have got to know Robinson better, and also met W.P.Haskett-Smith, the man who invented rock climbing itself in 1886. It is also certain that he knew O.G.Jones, the famous exponent of headpointing and combined tactics, who climbed Kern Knotts Crack in 1896.

Crowley knew and disliked Jones[2], and although he does not explicitely say so in his autobiography, it seems fairly clear that Crowley was on hand when Jones made the controversial first ascent of the Crack. He then climbed it free simply to annoy Jones. I know that Geoffrey was at Wastdale Head at about this time. The British climbing community was tiny at that point, but it seems to big a coincidence--I have become convinced that Geoffrey and Edward did know each other as early as their first term at Trinity, even if they refuse to acknowledge it in their writings.

They would also have met the great Willie Naismith and W.Douglas, members of the Scottish Mountaineering Club who also observed the first ascent of the Crack[3]. In the cited SMC journal entry Naismith mentions that "Mr Douglas and I paid a first visit to Wastdale Head, where were gathered a large number of climbers. We received a kindly welcome, which made us feel at home at once, and added greatly to the pleasure of our trip." Since Jones, a predominantly Welsh climber, was there, this indicates that some of his friends may have joined him to view the historic ascent (which apparently attracted quite a crowd).

It becomes clear that Geoffrey was probably there, Edward was there, and that they would have met many aquaintances both old and new: in short they would have mingled with almost every single prominent figure in British mountaineering of the 1890s.

From the perspective of plotting this is pure gold. After several chapters of mucking around in Trinity and climbing on the rooftops, Geoffrey is starting to miss the mountains and begins to plan an excursion to Borrowdale one weekend. He meets John Robinson at the train platform in Penrith. The next weekend, Edward, Thomas Holdstock and George Trevelyan go with him up to Wastdale Head, they 'borrow' a hay rope from somewhere (even though the use of a rope in rock climbing was not common at that time in Lakeland), and enjoy the hospitality of the Wastdale Head community in its halcyon days. They will meet Haskett-Smith and Jones on that trip.

Later, in February 1896, Edward will propose a trip to Wales. They visit Pen y Pass, renew their acquaintance with Jones, and meet Archer Thomson and A.W.Andrews (basically the only other climbers regularly operating in Snowdonia at the time). This will set the scene for the great Climbers' Club of Book Two and Three.

And then, of course, in May--just before their visit to the Alps--they go back to Wastdale Head to witness the ascent of the Kern Knotts Crack, and do some pioneering routes of their own.

It's all coming together! I just wish I had more time to work on it.

References

[1] On High Hills, Geoffrey Winthrop-Young, p.23
[2] The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, Aleister Crowley
[3] Journal of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, Vol.4 No.3 Sept 1896, p.174-175

At last, some material on Geoffrey Young

2008-01-12T12:41:00.001Z

After much searching around, I have finally managed to lay my hands on rare copies of two of Geoffrey Young's books: On High Hills, an account of his exploits in the Alps, published in 1927; and The Grace of Forgetting, his autobiography, published just before his death in 1952. I am currently reading through the first book and making notes. This extraordinary volume has filled in so many of the blanks about Geoffrey. It details his hillwalking excursions with his father and brother as a boy, to the Yorkshire Dales, then the Lakes, and finally Cader Idris, Snowdon, and the Glyders in Wales. It describes how his love for long-distance walking in the mountains became a passion for mountaineering when he started at Trinity, fuelled by his obsession with Whymper's Scrambles Amongst the Alps.

I find it fascinating that Geoffrey's introduction to the mountains was, to all intents and purposes, identical to mine. Like me, Geoffrey's appreciation of the mountains is primarily aesthetic. He loved the mountains because they spoke to something fundamental in his soul. His prose is magical and haunting, with many passages that resonate particularly strongly with me. For example:

"The wind from those snows of Glaramara, from the dream-heights of boyhood, from the fairy palaces of childhood, blew upon a tide of longing for greater glacial peaks which had been rising steadily and imperceptibly during all the years of unconscious preparation." (On High Hills, p.31)

Best of all, the book has a description of Geoffrey's very first experience with true rock climbing. I had always assumed that Geoffrey was a relative novice at mountaineering. For the purpose of my book, his climbing experience was limited to years of hillwalking, and a single winter couloir on Scafell, a few months before he started at Trinity. On High Hills confirms that this was indeed the case.

Geoffrey was no stranger to popping up to the Lakes at weekends on the overnight train to Windermere or Penrith, but his first true climbing trip was undertaken with 'friends' (Thomas and Edward, perhaps?) They borrowed a hay-rope and made a full traverse of the Pillar--this refers to the pinnacle now known as Pillar Rock--then climbed Napes Needle in the mist. The fact that Geoffrey's first taste of rock climbing involved an uncharted descent of Pillar Rock West Face and a solo ascent of Napes Needle says much about his talent, and experience as a scrambler. It also gives greater credibility to his experience a night climber at Trinity.

Anyway I have decided that, no matter how much work I have this semester for my degree--and there will be a great deal--I am going to keep working at The Great White Veil and plans for its sequels at every opportunity. I have to maintain momentum in order to make the progress I need. I also have to make another trip up to Cambridge at some point to spy out some answers to some geographical questions I have.

In other news, James and I have just returned from a climbing trip to the Cairngorms. Conditions were very cold and snowy, with little ice; we managed to climb one classic ice gully, The Runnel, nominally Grade II but easily III,4 in the conditions. We had a bit of an epic on the Groove variation actually, which was a murderous IV,4--necessitating a careful retreat. I am returning to the Cairngorms next weekend for some more climbing.

Hungover! - and new novel titles

2008-01-01T18:01:00.001Z

Well, last night was certainly a bit on the immense side! We all ended up going to the Railway in Fram, which serves most excellent Adnams Broadside, albeit a tad on the expensive side at £2.90 a pint. I had rather a lot to drink--rather too much, I suppose, as for most of today I have been nursing the most monumental hangover. James, Michael and I also stayed up until six o'clock enjoying a range of deep and weighty conversations in the annex.

Anyway I have come up with some possible titles for the other two books in the Everest Trilogy (as I have come to call the planned series). Both titles are quotations from Young's poetry, and have some resonance or metaphorical significance with regards to the subject matter of the volume.

The second book is to be named This Short Span. This comes from the poem The Cragsman, one stanza of which reads as follows:-

In this short span
between my finger-tips on the smooth edge
and these tense feet cramped to the crystal ledge
I hold the life of man.

I love this poem for its imagery. The title is a reference to the fact that the joyful, prosperous period of the Pen y Pass parties ended with the onset of war across Europe; indeed Cottie Sanders once remarked that it felt too good to be true, and that it was not destined to last. The war had a devastating effect and killed so many of the original Welsh climbers.

The third book is to be called I Hold the Heights. This, of course, comes from Young's melancholy poem looking back on his days of climbing that were now over, brought to an end by the loss of his leg in the war. It also captures the spirit of loss that settled over that tight-knit climbing community after George's death.

I have not lost the magic of long days
I live them, dream them still.
Still am I master of the starry ways,
and freeman of the hill.
Shattered my glass, ere half the sands had run-
I hold the heights, I hold the heights I won.

I did think long and hard about re-naming the first book, and keeping the title The Great White Veil for the third book, because it would be even more suitable. In many ways, Everest is the great white veil--it's the killer mountain, the unconquerable monster, the grave of many of the bravest and the best. The verse of Knight Errantry it belongs to could have been about George and Sandy Irvine, even though it was written many years earlier. But I cannot think of a better title for the first book; and besides, the Matterhorn is also a formidable mountain, and the name is evocative of the vast, sweeping facade of ice and snow that is the Matterhorn-Nordwand.

All that the wanderer's heart can crave,
life lived thrice for the lending,
hermit's vigil in dreamlit cave,
gleams of the vision that Merlin gave,
comrades till death, and a wind-swept grave,
joy of the journey's ending:
Ye who have climbed to the great white veil,
Heard ye the chant? Saw ye the Grail?

I think this stanza perfectly captures the spirit of mountaineering, and it has so many facets that can be applied to Everest, George's death, and the undefinable quest for perfection that is the summit.

Epic Plans

2007-12-30T20:43:00.001Z

At some point over the past few days, I have stepped over a shadowy borderline in my work on my novel, The Great White Veil. Occasionally, when one is writing a novel, there comes a point where you realise that the scope for the story you have in mind spans far beyond the bounds of a single volume; that the setting, the characters, the story and the plot transcends just one book. And thus trilogies are born.

In the past, I have embarked upon trilogies but never completed them. Typically I either get bored, realise the story does not need two more volumes, or find something better to do. This is because up until now, everything I have written has been straightforward fiction, based on events and characters entirely of my own devising (with the minor exception of Project Cold Witness, but the constraints of reality in that instance were very loose).

However, the events from 1909 - 1924 revolving around the small core of Welsh climbers are entirely real, and exceptionally well-documented. I have already established several of the main characters, notably Geoffrey Young and George Trevelyan. Unfortunately Edward Crowley leaves the mainstream British climbing scene in around 1897 at about the time he undergoes his self-transformation into the 'magician' Aleister Crowley, but there is scope for a spin-off story regarding his expedition to K2 in the early 20th century.

I suppose it was always natural that I would write about the Pen y Pass parties before the Great War, given that was how I originally got interested in this period of mountaineering history. The primary allure is the opportunity to work with the character of George Mallory. He is one of my personal heroes, since his outlook on mountaineering is very similar to my own. His tragic death on Everest in 1924 is well-known, but what particularly interests me is the young George, in his period of prolific exploration and rock climbing in North Wales from 1909 until 1914. His character is colourful and very real, brought to life by the countless books, films, papers and letters about him. He was Geoffrey Young's protege, and one of the most energetic climbers of the age.

I would also have the opportunity of using Oscar Eckenstein, a gruff Anglo-German who looked at climbing from the outlook of an enginner, and helped to popularise his short ice axe and modern crampons in 1909. I have a pair of original Eckenstein prototype 10-point crampons, hand-made by Henry Grivel of Courmayeur, from around 1910. After 1897 Eckenstein was the only man who could tolerate Aleister Crowley, and the only person Crowley would deign to climb with.

Overall, though, I just love the idea of the huge parties that swamped Pen y Pass every Christmas and Easter before the war; the long days on snow-capped Snowdon and Lliwedd pioneering new routes, followed by wine, conversation and merry-making long into the night, in the cosy farmhouse of the Gorphwysfa. It's a lovely image of the pioneers of British mountaineering from a different age, made poignant by the knowledge that so many of the original Climbers' Club perished in the war, which commenced mere weeks after George married Ruth Turner. The Pen y Pass reunion in 1919 was a shadow of the pre-war years.

And then, of course, from 1919 until the heartbreaking end in 1924: the growing business of Everest, George's greatest ambition but also a mountain he grew to hate, eventually seeing it as a job to be done, simply because he would not be the man he was if he did not.

I believe the story I have begun in Trinity College in 1895 does not come to a natural conclusion with the attempt at the Matterhorn-Nordwand the following year. Geoffrey Young is still a young man, and it is his influence which nurtures the Pen y Pass community, and his proteges who went forth and conquered the highest peaks and hardest climbs of the early 20th Century. The story does not truly end until Geoffrey's death in 1953, but it comes to its spiritual closure with the death of George in 1924, an event which shattered the lives of so many around him and brought the culture of the Pen y Pass community to a final end.

So, I am going to commit to the trilogy. It is going to take a long time to finish, but I have the energy to see this one through. The story is not merely any old story like the others I have written, but forms the background to the way my mind works, and its many characters and plots were formative in the inspiration of why I took to the mountains in the first place. Taken as a whole, it really does have everything: friendship, epic struggles, conquest, exploration, romance, history, triumph and tragedy. I think it is one of those rare instances where history pans out like a novel, which makes it an ideal subject. It's going to take a good deal of research to get everything in place, but I enjoy the research at least as much as the writing, so I'm not worried about that!

As I see it now, here's a rough outline of the trilogy.

Book 1 : THE GREAT WHITE VEIL (1895 - 1896: the Trinity Night Climbers and their pioneering exploits in Snowdonia and the Alps, including their incredible attempt on the North Face of the Matterhorn)

Book 2 : Unnamed, but definitely another quotation (1909 - 1914 or 1919: the Climbers' Club and the Pen y Pass community, including the rise of George as one of the finest British climbers)

Book 3 : Unnamed (1919 - 1924: George and Geoffrey try to come to terms with the decimation of the British climbing fraternity, and George begins to set his sights towards the highest peak in the world, and the mountain which will eventually claim his life: Everest.)

Happy Christmas, all!

2007-12-25T09:07:00.001Z

Just writing a quick one to hope everyone has a very happy Christmas. The weather here is dull, wet and mild, so not very Christmassy at all really, but it's been fun so far nevertheless! I am looking forward to turkey and beer later on. =)

Things are going pretty well on this end. Plans for the Cairngorms are progressing, and we plan to head off next Friday, hopefully to do some climbing in the Northern Corries and also on Braeriach, conditions permitting. At the moment the conditions are looking okay so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Work is also coming along on the novel, and I'm finding the story a lot of fun to write. At the moment, the three main characters are at the Trinity Mountaineering Club's introductory dinner of the Michaelmas Term 1895. The President has just announced the dreadful news that Alfred Mummery has been killed on Nanga Parbat. It's interesting seeing the reactions of each character. Thomas, a friend of Mummery's and an occasional climbing partner, is deeply shocked. Edward feels nothing for the loss of the man, but sees the incident as a loss to the climbing world (Mummery was the only climber who could come close to his own ability). Geoffrey did not know Mummery, but this is the first time he has heard direct news of a climber's death, and gets a sense of how dangerous mountaineering can be.

I'm going to need to make another visit to Cambridge to spy out potential escape routes, climbing routes etc. for the Night Climbers. I also need to write to Trinity to ask for some information on the College in the 1890s ... and a look at some of the records in the Wren Library would be good, too.

I have also decided how the novel is going to end, on the North Face of the Matterhorn, with the three climbers pitted against the mountain in a desperate battle for survival ... on a face that is decades beyond the capabilities of their equipment. How this pans out is going to be very interesting to watch. I've often wondered what caused Edward to make such an abrupt shift into the irrational, magic-obsessed Aleister Crowley: perhaps some experience here will provide the trigger. And I can confirm that there is going to be a death, too.

In any case I'm already having ideas for a sequel, based around Geoffrey Young's "Climbers' Club" of the early 1900s at Pen y Pass. The great thing about this idea is that I get to use George Mallory as a main character ... and Oscar Eckenstein! This is my real area of expertise as an amateur alpine historian, so it is particularly exciting. I haven't decided upon the scope of the story yet, but 1909 - 1914 at least sounds possible.

Weekend

2007-12-09T01:45:00.001Z

Grace and I went Christmas shopping today--town was absolutely heaving, although the bad weather doubtless kept many people in! Ended up bouncing suggestions off each other and coming up with some pretty good ideas I think. Glad that's sorted!

Haven't really had time to do any writing today, but hopefully will tomorrow. I shall be spending the afternoon in the lab, working on the Information Retrieval database--which is coming along nicely now, at last--but I have the evening free. I'm in the middle of a very exciting scene so I'm anxious to finish it off.

Have had some more ideas for the Alps next summer, too. Dufourspitze (highest peak in Switzerland, second highest in western Europe) is still on our list, as is of course the highly prestigious Matterhorn, but I liked the idea of a big ice face, so had a nose around to see what I could find. Breithorn's immense North Wall looks quite feasible at our grade. The climb consists of 1000m of snow and ice on one of the biggest faces in the region.

It's an ambitious undertaking, and of course may involve an 'Eiger-style' bivouac on the Wall if we get benighted--that means putting on all our warm clothes, flinging a windproof sack over our heads, anchoring ourselves to the face, and suffering until the next morning! But the line is inspiring, the wall looks fantastic, and (crucially) the descent is very easy, which all stacks the odds in our favour.

If we actually complete every route we intend to do this summer, we'll have done some pretty incredible things. It's perhaps too much to hope that the Matterhorn will be in condition in July, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It really is the ultimate mountain, and a successful ascent would be a major milestone in my life.

Below: a rough topology of the 'Triftjigrat', our possible route on Breithorn's North Wall. Click on it for a bigger version. (Photo taken by James, from the Riffelhorn, July this year.)

Getting there! - and work on the novel

2007-12-06T09:48:00.001Z

As the semester draws to a close, I'm finding that I have a little more spare time. Only one major piece of work remains: the giant Information Retrieval experiment. At the moment we are in the process of feeding vast reams of data into a database (at the moment it has in excess of two million eight hundred thousand records). We're a little behind, but hopefully lots of progress will be made today, and it's not due until Thursday.

A few days ago I picked up North Face again, and wrote a couple of thousand words, which I'm very pleased with! It felt good to be writing after a hiatus of a couple of months, and made me determined to find time to do it more regularly. The book's word count currently stands at a shameful 5,000 words. Back in the old days I'd have finished the first draft, and would be well into the rewrites, by now.

It's a good sign that I'm just as inspired as ever by the story. The characters, in particular, are startlingly real and have already attained the level of development where they will direct scenes and events 'by themselves', without much input from me. This curious phenomenon of emerging assertiveness is not usually observed until much further into a project. I'm attributing it to the fact that every character in the book is a historical figure that has been extensively researched by myself--Edward Crowley in particular, who is a fascinating person despite his latent psychosis. At this stage in his life--the Bohemian scholar, chess master and most talented rock climber in the world--this is simply manifest as a form of arrogance which arises from the fact that he genuinely does not care what others think about him, so feels no need to downplay his achievements to make others feel better. Curiously, this arrogance is blended with charisma and absolute honesty, which makes him something of an enigma to the other students, and he quickly becomes popular, even though he doesn't give two hoots about popularity.

He is also exceptionally skilled at almost everything he turns his attention to, and in fact I'm having a hard time not portraying him as some kind of super-human! He almost beats the Trinity Great Court Run, along with Thomas Holdstock, and has already succeeding in soloing the first open-buttress winter climb on the North Face of the Lliwedd.

One aspect of his character I have not yet addressed is his belief in magic and demonic forces, yet contradictory rejection of the existence of any kind of god, heaven or hell. At this stage of his life it is still somewhat in the background: it is not for several years that he will transform himself into Aleister Crowley, the one who was later labelled the "Wickedest Man in the World". I have also not explored the seedy, womanising aspect of Crowley either, although it will later become very important.

In any case, I'm having a lot of fun with this book and I am looking forward to the themes I can explore and the places I can take the characters ... or, more accurately, the places they can take me.

Oh and I'm thinking of changing the name. North Face is not quite working, because the focus is moving away from the ultimate climb on the Matterhorn Nordwand and more towards the remarkable emergence of a new generation of bold, tradition-defying mountaineers. I'm liking the poetry of Geoffrey Young (my main character at the moment) so I think I will us a quote of his. The Great White Veil has the right tone about it, from the poem "Knight Errantry" by Young, written in 1909:

There is a region of heart's desire
free for the hand that wills;
land of the shadow and haunted spire,
land of the silvery glacier fire,
land of the cloud and the starry choir
magical land of hills;
loud with the crying of winds and streams,
thronged with me fancies and fears of dreams.

There are perils of knightly zest
fit for the warrior's craft;
pitiless giants with rock-bound crest,
mystical wells for the midnight rest,
ice-crowned castles and halls, to test
steel with me ashen shaft;
realms to be won by the well-swung blow,
rest to be earned from the yielding foe.

All that the wanderer's heart can crave,
life lived thrice for the lending,
hermit's vigil in dreamlit cave,
gleams of the vision that Merlin gave,
comrades till death, and a wind-swept grave,
joy of the journey's ending -:
Ye who have climbed to the great white veil,
Heard ye the chant? Saw ye the Grail?

Slightly less doomed

2007-11-23T22:21:00.000Z

Today has been a productive day, and a big relief. For the past week we've been running ourself ragged trying to get the blasted Operating Systems coursework working. It's a relatively simple mutual exclusion Semaphoring system, and the report was due in yesterday. Our report was pretty pathetic. It mostly consisted of excuses, and explanations of what would have happened if the software had actually worked.

Today--a day too late to save the report!--we managed to find some help and sorted it out in twenty minutes. It was a very simple problem, but (I'm heartened to find out) not an obvious one. That makes me feel a little less stupid. The thing now works perfectly, so with luck we can claw back some of the marks when we do our demonstration next Friday ... which is worth 60% of the marks anyway.

On my other units, Information Systems is still at red alert status: some progress has been made, as we have at least sorted out our login problems with Postgres and created the database. However, I am having problems with the JDBC driver, and to be honest I'm not good enough at information retrieval to build a search engine from scratch in a week! This is the worst unit I've ever taken, and it was literally the last choice, but that's just the way things turn out. In a way it's eerily similar to this time last year when all of us were working on similar problems without having much of a clue.

My dissertation is chugging along in the background at the moment (that means I haven't touched it since the Interim Report). I need to do some more research over the weekend, and hopefully write up an experiment and interview schedule, so it looks like I'm making progress when I report to my supervisor on Tuesday. Luckily this won't be such a chore as the other units: I genuinely care about my dissertation topic because it's fascinating, and suitably dramatic (finding solutions to avoid the downfall of mankind: that's my kind of project!)

Anyway. Had a top weekend in the Yorkshire Dales last weekend, which was the first time I'd been there in years, despite it being my childhood stomping-grounds. I'm having a lot of fun with Fell this year, particularly now I am in a position of greater responsibility since the walkleader training weekend. Official walkleader assessment doesn't happen until after Christmas but I acted as a 'B' walkleader in Yorkshire and it was a lot of fun, navigating and bringing up the rear and making sure everyone was happy!

Plans for this winter are looking grand, given how cracking the early season is turning out to be. The Cairngorms, Craig Meagaidh, Lochnagar and even some Nevis routes all appear to be in thin condition, and modern mixed routes are being climbed left, right and centre! Fingers crossed, a good build-up will have accumulated by the time James and I go in January, which will make the classic snow and ice routes climbable as well. Indications so far are for an absolutely brilliant season, possibly one of the best in years (hastily touches nearest available wooden object).

Despite stress from our courses--luckily a little reduced of late, but it's still there--things are generally pretty good for Grace and I, although there is of course the sense that we are nearing the end of the first semester of our final year, and the time is not so very far off when we have to stop being students, and turn into 'real people'!

Another trip on the radar!

2007-11-11T17:37:00.000Z

I've just come back from a couple of days at home in Suffolk. Everyone is well there, especially Amber the supersonic furball, who spent her time alternating between extreme laziness (her usual state) and hyperactive bounciness! James and I also met up with Michael, who had come back from uni at Brunel in London for the weekend, and had a pint or two at the pub in Blaxhall. There are rumours of an epic New Years annexe party at Michael's place which I must make sure I attend.

Anyway since I won't be able to go to the Cairngorms with Fell in January, I proposed a trip of our own to James before semester begins again. After a little planning, we decided it should be feasible, if the Northern Corries are in condition. Signs are positive for a good winter, so I'm hopeful. The plan will be to drive up to Aviemore some time after the New Year, and spend two or three days climbing some of the ice gullies in Coire an t-Sneachda. The plan is to get some more Grade II experience under our belt before we head out to Ben Nevis over Easter, where we hope to climb some of the classic Grade III ice routes on the North Face.

Plans are also a little more solid for the other expeditions over the coming year. It looks set to be a bit of an epic year actually, with two winter climbing trips, an attempt on the Cuillin, and several hard Alpine peaks to look forward to.

Back here in Norwich, Grace and I are both stressing massively over work. There's so much of it in the third year! My Information Retrieval paper has been finished and handed in now, but the Interim Proposal is due on Thursday and I have a LOT of work to get through. Quite apart from the 5,000+ words on the Proposal itself, I have to do absolutely shedloads of research and practical work before I can even start work on the report. And then there's the utterly bewildering Operating Systems project and the big Information Retrieval project to look forward to as well. Grace is just as up to her ears in work as I am--more so, in fact--and we do not have a great deal of spare time!

Anyway, I'm hopeful that things will tail off a bit in a few weeks and we can have a few pub sessions / DVD and wine nights. But in the meantime it's nose to grindstone time!

Oh and I am cooking a roast chicken this evening ... mmmmmmm.

News from the front line

2007-11-04T15:50:00.000Z

My workload has exploded over the past week. On top of ongoing work for my dissertation (which I'm behind on), I have an evil essay I don't understand on query relevance feedback due in on Thursday, a BIG interim report on the dissertation, and two thoroughly gnarly programming exercises. At the moment I'm grappling with the relevance feedback essay, and wading through about a hundred pages of scientific papers and journals looking for references. It's not a lot of fun.

Disregarding work, though, things are pretty good at the moment. I am taking planning for Peru seriously and have decided it is definitely going to be viable in 2009 or 2010. I already have a guidebook and a couple of maps, and have discovered that there are quite a few unclimbed peaks and major ice faces in the region--not to mention lots of surprisingly accessible and feasible routes that have only been climbed two or three times since their first ascents in the '70s. Most of the normal routes in the Cordillera Blanca go at AD or D, which means ice climbing up to Grade IV in most cases (the high Andes are predominantly ice mountains, not rock mountains like the Alps).

I have also bought a pair of lightly used second-hand ice axes. They should be arriving in a week or so. They're DMM Venoms, more suitable for icefall and mixed climbing than my current axes (which will be fine for James to use, since he will probably not be leading the routes). They're also reasonable for general mountaineering tasks, too--not radically curved like more modern technical axes.

I was working last night, but after I came home from work we decided to have an impromptu drinking / DVD session which lasted until 2:30am! First time we've done that in ages, due to work mostly, but it was a lot of fun and we got through a LOT of wine (some of us rather too much!) I think it was nice for us all to just have some time to have fun and watch some films together in the house, instead of everyone being busy all the time! I'm looking forward to workloads slackening off towards the end of the semester.

Anyway--I must get back to my daunting pile of research papers, even though they are so mind-numbingly dull I feel like bashing my brain out with a mallett!

Grand plans

2007-10-30T21:24:00.000Z

To distract myself from tedious research for my dissertation, I'm working through some goals for where I want my climbing to be heading over the next few years. I think I have found a worthy objective for my first venture into the greater ranges of the world: Alpamayo in Peru. At 5,947m / 19,511ft it is a very large mountain, and although it is nowhere near the highest in South America, it's still over a thousand metres higher than anything in Europe ... and an incredibly beautiful mountain, too. In fact, it was voted the most beautiful mountain in the world.

I chose Peru for two reasons. Firstly, the idea of the Himalayas does not appeal to me. It's arid, difficult to get to, and incredibly hard due to the extreme altitude and other conditions on the hill. Also it conjurs up mental images of commercial expeditions, red tape, litter, and disasters.

However, the film Touching the Void was the single greatest inspiration for me, and when I really think about it, that film was what truly got me into technical mountaineering. The mountain landscape depicted in Void is vibrant and beautiful--a wonderful contrast between the lush green paramo and the pure ice of the summits. On a more practical note, it's far easier and cheaper to fly to Lima, get a bus to Huaraz, then trek for two days along the Santa Cruz valley to arrive at Alpamayo Base Camp.

Logistically, although Alpamayo is often climbed in traditional expedition-style, naturally I will only consider an Alpine-style attempt (not due to any sort of ethical notion, but simply because it's cheaper and I can't be fagged with all the faff of organising a full-blown expedition). That means a team of two carrying everything we need in our packs, except for food and other supplies which will be carried to Base Camp on donkeys. The climb requires two camps above Base Camp: a Moraine Camp (Advance Base) and a Col Camp (Camp 1).

From the col, the climb of Alpamayo's South-West Face is graded at between AD+ and D. It features ten pitches of steep ice and snow culmunating in an extremely exposed summit ridge. Depending on the exact route, the ice varies between 50 and 70 degrees, which equates to roughly Scottish III or IV. Apparently the easy (AD+) route is currently closed due to ice mushrooms closing off the final pitch. The French Direct route is graded D and equates to Scottish Grade IV. It is also longer.

Obviously, a climb of this kind of scale and difficulty is something that we'd have to work up to! However, it isn't as far out of our league as it sounds, and I'm fairly certain it would be a realistic proposition in as little as two or three years (whether it will be financially realistic is another matter). We are already very well established at the Alpine grade of PD and have made very positive steps into AD terrain. My plan for this coming year is for James and I to become firmly established at AD, and everything that encompasses: Grade III ice, and minimally-protected rock climbing at VDiff and Severe in big boots. This will be accomplished by a season of Scottish winter climbing, an attempt at the Cuillin Ridge, and an Alpine season featuring AD climbs such as the Zinalrothorn, Breithorn Traverse, and Matterhorn.

The following year (2009) we can concentrate on testing the boundaries of what is possible at the D grade, which entails Grade IV ice. After that it really is just a case of waiting for the right opportunity to plan a trip! I believe you need permits to climb in Peru, but the costs are negligable compared to climbing permits in the Himalaya. As always, the biggest cost will be travel, and possibly equipment (insulated boots, maybe new crampons, warmer sleeping bags....)

This is indeed an expensive hobby!

Life is gooood!

2007-10-23T14:22:00.000Z

I'm really glad I made the change from working at weekends to working evenings during the week. It means I can get properly involved with the Fell Club, to an extent that was impossible last year. In the past three weeks I've been on the same number of trips, to Snowdonia, the North Norfolk Coast, and (this weekend past) the Peak District. The latest trip was particularly good because it was the walkleader training weekend with Peter Parker and his dog Storm, teaching us micro-navigation on the Kinder plateau. We also spent many a happy hour in the Old Nag's Head, a very fine pub.

Being able to escape to the hills so often is wonderful. It means I have to work harder during the week, of course, but it means that the days of looking forward to one short trip every two or three months are past. And every single trip this semester has been blessed with absolutely perfect weather. This weekend we had temperature inversions and sunny skies on both days.

I'm also going to the Lakes this weekend too. I'm really looking forward to maybe climbing some hills I've never been to before--breaking out of the usual Langdale cycle. Nice as Langdale is, it would be good to go somewhere different for a change!

In other areas, my job at the Co-Op is turning out to be pretty good, just working 6-10 two days a week. The course is starting to fit together too--I'm on top of my project, have started work on the evil essay, and even Operative Systems is turning out okay. I am lucky enough to be with possibly the most amazing woman in the world. And my plans for future expeditions over the coming year are seeming more and more exciting.

Life is good!

I've gone over to the dark side

2007-10-11T21:28:00.000Z

Today, after my beastly lecture on Probabilistic information retrieval, I headed into town and bought myself a pair of climbing shoes. This is a significant step for me: in buying footwear solely designed for technical rock climbing, I feel I have moved over the ill-defined line between "mountaineer" and "climber". I always considered myself a mountaineer first and foremost, but recently I have become increasingly interested in climbing for its own sake ... and you can't rock-climb properly in a giant pair of winter mountain boots!

The shoes themselves were the only pair which fitted me, a nice middle-ground pair of Scarpas for about £60. I would have preferred something cheaper for the use I had in mind for it (nothing long and extremely hard for me), but my feet are an odd shape!

Later in the day, I went over to the climbing wall at the UEA Sportspark. I had registered as a competent climber some days previously but this was my first visit to the wall. Since I had no partner, I was limited to the bouldering cave, which featured many obviously overhanging lines, a fiendish roof, one subtle overhang and a nice easy slab.

After conquering the slab, which felt like Moderate in trad grading to me (I have no idea what indoor gradings mean), I tried the left-hand route. This was ostensibly vertical, but featured a prominent bulge at head-height. Luckily the holds were incut and positive. I finished it on my second attempt, and was quite astonished that I could actually climb a "real" overhanging route. I have no idea of the grade, but it was harder than anything I'd ever attempted in the mountains, and very reliant on arm strength. It's a route you have to force up in a strong surge rather than climb by finesse and balance.

A little while later, my friend Rachael from Fell Club turned up to try the wall herself. We explored the inside of the cave and tested many of the overhanging lines. We also tried to make sense of the set routes and grading system, but it was bewildering: holds of the same colour are meant to signify routes, but there seemed to be little order and the guide on the rear wall wasn't much help! Also, none of the routes were properly graded, although some of the pitched climbs had French grades chalked on the wall next to them.

While Rachael climbed around in the cave, I tried an interesting but very overhanging line on the inside surface of the easy slab. The holds were very small and it was quite strenuous work. Each time I nearly topped out, only to fail on the final move: it was all a question of shifting my weight onto my left foot, which I couldn't do because almost all of my weight was concentrated on my fingertips. Again, I have no idea of the grade, but if it was on a mountain route I wouldn't be surprised if it was E1 at least. I later climbed about a third of a pitched climb ascending a corner, which had "5a" written next to it ... that's a technical grade which is normally found on British rock routes between Hard Severe, Very Severe and Hard Very Severe. I found it interesting but not too difficult: rather like the crux on Skyline on the Riffelhorn, only easier due to the rock shoes and reasonable oxygen levels!

The difference, of course, is that I was never more than about three metres above the ground, and the consequences of falling off were zero (the floor was nice and soft!) It's all very well being able to climb a few moves at that standard in a bouldering environment, but altogether different being able to lead at that standard outside.

Anyway, it's a fun wall and a lot of the longer pitched climbs look really interesting, so I'm sure we'll be climbing there again. I have all the gear I need here in Norwich, and it's only £1.50 a session. =)

Finally!

2007-09-21T14:46:00.000Z

After two months of searching, and handing out over 20 CVs and covering letters, I have FINALLY got a call back. I was rung this morning and asked to come along to fill in an application form (a formality, I was assured) so that they could invite me for an interview.

As luck would have it, it was the Co-Op that rung. Not exactly my first choice, but it IS close.

That is all!

The semester is about to start

2007-09-19T17:15:00.000Z

For the past few days I've been heading down campus to spend a few hours in the library. The reason for this is that I'm finding it increasingly hard to work in my little study room--there's something about it that just seems to induce procrastination! At the moment I'm working on my novel, which is coming along slowly but surely, and my first piece of coursework for the 3rd year. The assignment is to produce a preliminary technical report and workplan for my dissertation project, which will take place over the coming few months.

It's actually quite an exciting project--a Systems Analysis task regarding the long-term survival of data over a number of decades. It's also quite liberating being given complete control over the lifespan of the project, and the freedom to set my own deadlines and individual tasks.

I'm actually looking forward to going back to uni properly! My units this semester aren't the most exciting (Operating Systems Kernels and Architecture, and Information Retrieval and Natural Language Processing), but they are useful, and lead onto better things next semester. OSKA is actually going to be the most challenging unit I think: three hours with Dr. F first thing on a Monday morning can't be good! Luckily, those lectures don't start until the second week.

The really good news is that Grace is coming home on Saturday. =)

The job search continues

2007-09-10T13:52:00.000Z

Not a great deal of progress or luck on the job search front. I handed in a batch of CVs to various places about a week ago, and haven't heard a peep out of them yet: just like last year really. Michael informed me that the Vue cinema had a lot of vacancies, but when I went down there today, the place was shut up and operating on self-service mode, so I couldn't speak to anyone. I will make another visit tomorrow.

At the moment the most promising way forward appears to be the Co-Op just round the corner. They are advertising for part-time staff, and although I was looking forward to a change from working at a Co-Op, I decided it would be stupid not to apply. So I sent my CV and a covering letter in yesterday. Hopefully I'll hear something soon.

Writing is moving slowly too. I'm spending a great deal of my time bogged down in research--which is fun, and certainly essential, but it doesn't feel as if I'm progressing very far (in real terms, I am still in the first chapter). In fact I am almost convinced that I should yet again scrap what I have written so far and start from scratch. I think the first chapter is heading in the wrong direction and snowballing a bit. Its only purpose is to introduce the characters, and specifically to demonstrate Edward's climbing abilities. I can do that far more concisely and with less fuss. I guess I want to start the book off with their first day at Trinity, an environment which will be featured throughout the book, rather than a random ice gully in Glencoe.

I've also been thinking further about next year, and am becoming increasingly convinced that James and I should consider an attempt on the Matterhorn next July. Although our climbing is not yet up to standard, we are planning on attempting Skye's Cuillin Ridge Traverse that summer, which has been described as an ascent of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn back to back; in any case the technical standard and character is much the same. The key to success on the matterhorn is fitness, acclimatisation, and speed. We have plenty of time to get ourselves ready.

The semester is going to be starting soon, and I am looking forward to it, despite the inevitable pressures of the third year. Which reminds me, I really need to get cracking on my dissertation!

WOW!

2007-09-07T22:42:00.000Z

http://www.noordinaryjoe.co.uk/news_item13.asp

I have just found out that, this November, the sequel to Joe Simpson's Touching the Void will be playing at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival: The Beckoning Silence. This is one of my favourite mountaineering books and describes Joe's inner journey as he comes to terms with the deaths of so many of his climbing friends, and his resolve to do one last, great climb ... the 1938 Route on the North Face of the Eiger.

Unfortunately the festival is slap bang in the middle of the semester so I won't be able to go and see it. =( Still, it'll be out in cinemas soon enough, and I hear it was filmed on location on the Nordwand itself so should be something to see indeed.

In other news, my ebay-acquired 1930s tweed jacket arrived today. A lovely jacket actually, and I'm seriously considering experimenting with classical mountaineering equipment and clothing next time James and I go climbing in Scotland. That means one of my long, wooden-shafted ice axes instead of a pair of modern tools. Should be quite an adventure.

Oh, and as of today Grace and I have been officially a couple for six months. =D

Plans for next year's adventures

2007-09-05T11:20:00.000Z

Now that the summer climbing season is effectively over, I'm starting to put some thought to the things I want to get done next year. This year has been a good one: I've done a bold new solo ice route in Glencoe, long-distance fellwalking in the Lakes, a trip to Langdale with Grace, Alpine climbing in Switzerland, and to round it all off four days of bivvying and scrambling in Snowdonia. Maybe not as prolific as 2006 but I have improved as a climber and broadened my horizons as a mountaineer.

Next year I perhaps won't be able to go on quite so many trips, being my third year at uni. So I want to go new places and do new and adventurous things.

The first big trip is going to be Easter. James and I will set out for the North Face of Ben Nevis, and get some quality ice climbing in, possibly up to Grade III. I am still undecided whether to go 'traditional' or 'modern'. There's a lot of appeal in experimenting with climbing in tweeds and woollen gloves, wielding a yard-long ancient ice axe, but I'm not sure even I am that masochistic! It's something I'll decide closer to the time. In any case, we hope to apply our Alpine experience to the classic snow gullies and ridges of Ben Nevis.

Then it's onto the summer climbing season. We need at least one training trip for the Alps (more on that in a minute). The temptation would be to go for the safe option of Snowdonia, but since I have now been on four trips there I feel like spreading my wings. The natural conclusion is the Black Cuillin. The Cuillin is the most Alpine range of mountains in the UK, utterly barren, utterly uncompromising--and at a very technical standard. I think we are finally good enough to pit ourselves against it. A two-day crossing of the Skye Ridge would be the most ambitious and epic undertaking we have ever attempted.

And then of course it's off to Zermatt in July! Originally we had our sights set on Chamonix to take on Mont Blanc, but for the classical mountaineer there's little else to do there (I don't fancy climbing the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses, thank you very much). Zermatt is a wonderful place with so many mountains we have yet to climb. Next year I want to do Monte Rosa and the Lyskamm, and possibly even go and have a look at the Matterhorn. Let's face it: the Skye Ridge is about at the same technical standard.

So, if everything goes to plan it is set to be a great year!

Update

2007-09-04T14:38:00.000Z

Time for a much-belated update....

The trip to Wales was pretty damned good! Didn't get to do all the mountains I wanted to due to the weather (two days of rainstorms), but I did get two very good days in, and climbed some old favourites: Tryfan of course, Bristly Ridge, and the Snowdon Horseshoe. The last one--including Crib Goch at long last--was immensely enjoyable and has become one of my favourite routes anywhere.

I would like to thank Nigel for his kind comment on one of the below posts. It's good to hear that my old website is still serving as a source of information and inspiration for people! One of these days I will get around to properly updating it. The problem now would be the sheer amount of stuff I've done since it was last updated!

As for the robots, I've built a couple more 'photovore' bugs, a rather brutal little Turmet beast (rolls over and over, smashing other robots up), and began work on a Nv-powered walking machine but it was too much of a headache configuring its chaotic neuron core. I think robotic evolution has pretty much run its course now, so except for one more project that's going to be the lot. I have plans for a two-limbed Turmet (a "turbo robot", or Turbot) which will be able to chase light sources.

Work is continuing steadily on North Face. I have written most of the first chapter, although most of my work so far is going into continued research and development. I now have a number of new books about climbing at the turn of the last century, particularly Geoffrey Young and his Pen y Pass parties: fascinating reading. It also contains a lot of asides about George Mallory, and it is interesting reading about him as a young man when he was climbing new routes in Snowdonia. The book is progressing, but it is going to take a lot of planning and preparation before I can start writing it at my usual marathon pace.

Michael has moved into the new house now, so I'm not living by myself anymore, but he's out most of the time so I am still effectively living alone. I'm counting down the days until Grace gets back ... less than twenty days to go! The other day I figured out that, since we got together in March, we've actually been apart for almost half that time. =( Ah well, work must happen, and she will be back soon enough. Bex is coming back sooner I believe.

I'm also looking for a job myself, now that my Gap Year savings are at last starting to run dry (thanks to the trip to the Alps). At the moment, WHSmiths and Venturesport look most promising. I'm waiting for calls for interviews with crossed fingers.

Oh, and another antique ice axe is on its way to me--£4.99 off Ebay, a bargain, and it's a rather nice Stubai Short Model from the early '50s.

More robots

2007-08-13T10:59:00.000Z

Now that the first batch of solar panels and motors have finally arrived, I have been able to finish the first two robots. The first, Symet, displays fairly directed motion when placed under a strong light, and can even avoid obstacles. However, this is an aspect of the machine's mechanical design: electronically, Symet consists of a single Solar Engine and has no sensors.

The second bot, a 'photovore' which I call the Differential Solar Engine Machine (DSEM), is far more complex. This beastie has a brain (the Differential Solar Engine) which consists of two virtual neurons. Each neuron acts as a 'half' of his brain and is hooked up to a light-sensitive eye. The behaviour hard-coded into the machine was simple: if one side of the machine has more light falling on it, direct more power to the other leg, ie. move in the direction of the brightest light. In theory, this should have resulted in predictably stupid and simple behaviour.

However, something interesting is happening. DSEM is displaying emergent behaviour patterns which it was not designed to do, and has already shown remarkable adaptability. He only has a simple brain, so development is very slow, and of course he has no memory to speak of. This form of low-level, emergent intelligence is common in very simple robots, and is similar to the way insects operate. Here's an approximate timetable of his development so far:

0 - 2 minutes of life: Uncertain staggering movements
2 - 10 minutes: Begins to zig-zag directly towards table lamp; when directly under brightest point, is attracted to reflection on the wall and heads for that
10 - 30 minutes: When directly under brightest point, now turns sharply and walks back the way it came.
30 - 50 minutes: Collides with Symet. Tries to force its way 'through' Symet.
50 - 70 minutes: Begins altering walking pattern to adapt to the situation. Eventually adopts a much faster gait with shorter steps, which succssfully pushes past Symet.
70 - 120 minutes: Starts to exhibit moth-like behaviour. Will now circle the brightest point of light without actually stepping into it, while recharging the solar panels at the same time. It seems to have found the optimum pattern for extracting the maximum amount of energy from the environment.

Of course all this behaviour is lost if DSEM is in the dark for a while and loses power, but is fascinating to watch!

I'm now planning a more evolved version of DSEM, featuring four eyes and a four-neuron brain (a Hex inverter chip bodged to the task!) This should exhibit even more complex behaviour. According to Mark Tilden's paper on intelligent machines, four neurons is the minimum brain complexity required for complex, survival-oriented emergent behaviour, so this should be interesting. Just got to wait for the chips to arrive: the four-neuron brain requires a beefed-up solar engine to drive it, but in terms of number of components is actually simpler than DSEM 1.

Spontaneous trip!

2007-08-11T08:50:00.000Z

Completely out of the blue, I am heading up to Snowdonia next Thursday for some scrambling, lightweight backpacking and bivvying. Originally the idea was for James to join me, so we could take the rope+rack and do some rock climbing; East Face of Tryfan and North Face of Glyder Fawr looked awfully tempting. Unfortunately, he is unable to come due to work and social engagements, so it's going to be just me.

Weather permitting, this is set to be a lot of fun. I've always wanted to do a solo bivvying trip, and despite my extensive experience of bivvying in the forests and heaths of Suffolk I have only done three mountain bivouacs so far. It's the best way to experience the mountains and you can get stuff done that you simply wouldn't be able to attempt without your trusty green Gore-Tex sack.

The idea is to climb Tryfan North Ridge the first morning, followed by Bristly Ridge, Glyder Fach, Glyder Fawr, then follow the chain north towards Elidir Fach. I will then drop down to the Pass of Llanberis, climb up to Pen-y-Pass, and climb every summit in the Snowdon range (including Crib Goch) before getting the bus back from Pen-y-Pass. I have four days at my disposal and can camp anywhere thanks to my bivvy bag, so there is plenty of scope for extending the route if needs be--my basic route will probably only take me two to three days. I plan to climb twelve to thirteen mountains and complete about four Grade 1/2 scrambles, two of which--Tryfan North Ridge and Bristly Ridge--I know well. Crib Goch is a total unknown, but of course I know it by its fearsome reputation.

In other news, writing is going very well indeed for North Face. I'm on the second scene, and wrote 3,500 words last night--replacing the 2,500 I had done the previous day, as it turns out, because I wanted to make the first scene more dynamic and relevant. Scenes and chapters are turning out to be rather longer and more involved for this book than I have been used to in the past. I'm assuming that is a good thing!

Plotting begins for North Face

2007-08-07T18:47:00.001Z

After several weeks, at last I feel that I have done sufficient research and character development for North Face--at least, enough to support my existing knowledge of Alpine history. The only hole is Geoffrey Winthrop-Young. I lack specific details about him since all of his books seem to have been out of print for forty years or more. However, I've gleaned enough about the man from George Mallory's biography to have a fairly good mental picture of his character.

Edward Crowley is, strangely enough, my favourite character in all this. Originally I set out to make him the villain of the piece, but I just can't bring myself to do it. He's ended up as a sort of rather lonely, tragic semi-hero. True, he does some bad things, but then again he had a very troubled upbringing and I actually identify with him in a lot of aspects. And there's no denying he was an absolute genius when it came to mountaineering.

So, I have now started on the skeleton plot for the novel. I have a number of important subplots and story-arcs already set down in rough form, but I need to write a solid plan: scene-by-scene to begin with, but later on it can be less formal, as the story begins to take on its own, less predictable form.

I'm starting out at the Clachaig Inn, March 1895. It's the Easter Meet for the Scottish Mountaineering Club (famous faces such as Sir Hugh Munro, William Naismith, and Harold Raeburn will be there and play minor roles), but there are also Englishmen in Glencoe--some of the first ever, attracted by the uncommonly good mid-season conditions. Geoffrey Winthrop-Young is about to embark on his second season of winter mountaineering and is awaiting the arrival of his father, who has been delayed by his coach becoming stuck in a snowdrift. Edward Crowley is climbing astonishingly hard new routes and, as usual, not bothering to tell anyone about them. Thomas Holdstock and David Fox are ticking off the gullies on Stob Coire nan Lochan and the Buachaille.

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the four young men to each other--they will, after all, soon be studying under one roof at Trinity. I also intend to show off Edward's almost inhuman skill at ice climbing and instill a sense of awe and respect for this man in the other three. I want to get across the sense that Edward is inventing an entirely new discipline of climbing all by himself. This idea of defying tradition and climbing anything steep is going to be absolutely central to the plot. Later, it will lead to their unprecedented idea of attempting the North Face of the Matterhorn.

More news from Trinity, 1895

2007-08-06T11:31:00.000Z

In my search for more information about Geoffrey Winthrop-Young (research for North Face), I have uncovered yet more astonishing facts about the completely remarkable set of people who were in their first year in 1895. The coincidences are starting to stack up! What's more, considering what a small college Trinity was at the time, it is highly likely these people would have known each other.

I already know that Edward Crowley and Young were starting at Trinity in 1895, but today I found out that none other than Charles Rolls began his study of Engineering there in that year. Rolls is, of course, the co-founder of Rolls Royce and the first Briton ever to break the speed limit--at that time, 4mph--and was thus responsible for the speed limit being raised to the crazily fast 12mph!

In 1896 he owned the first car ever to be based in Cambridge. He was also at Eton until 1894, which makes it possible that he knew Thomas Holdstock, one of my other (fictional) characters. This is made even more likely by the fact that they are both rather reckless, daredevil sorts who spent their ample allowances on excitement, adventure, and excess.

Unfortunately I can find no evidence of Rolls being a mountaineer, but I'm sure artistic license will allow me to make him a member of the Trinity Night Climbers Club--the very first Cambridge organisation for secret climbing on the college buildings at night. I'm not entirely sure how Rolls is going to fit into the plot but he's such a compelling character that I'm going to have to make room for him somewhere.

I'm finding that historical figures make excellent characters. So much of the work is already done for you--the person is already real; you just have to find out the information. Edward Crowley, in particular, has developed a "voice" of his own with shocking ease. As an exercise I've been writing extracts from his journal, and it really is like stepping into the brain of another person.

Little robots

2007-08-04T16:31:00.000Z

I've been spending the past couple of days building small robots--or at least sourcing parts for them! The idea actually came to me late one night while trying to sleep. I used to build robots years ago and I thought it would be fun to have another go at it.

The first one was actually built from a kit I bought from Maplin for about £10. It's basically a small red beastie that crawls towards light sources. It runs off batteries though, and since it is drawn towards light it gave me the idea of equipping it with a solar panel to actually make use of the light.

The second one, which is currently about 3/4 finished, is going to be solar-powered. The solar panel and motor are in the post but I've built the control circuit and capacitor banks, which also work as part of the structural supports. The basic idea is that it uses a 'wobbling' gait to mechanically move away from obstructions. Since it's run from a solar engine built around a large capacitor bank and flashing LED / transistor network to regulate power bursts, it has no switch and will run indefinitely. It's a very crude example of an artificial life form.

Here's what it looks like at the moment. The motor will be mounted vertically in the middle, and the solar panel on top.

Some more parts are also in the post thanks to Ebay, and I have some ideas about a couple of other small ones based around a hybrid of the above principle and one with two motors.

Back in Norwich

2007-08-01T16:19:00.000Z

I'm now back in Norwich after a few days in Kent with Grace's family. Yesterday we started the mammoth task of cleaning up our old house and moving into our shiny new one--a process luckily made easier by the presence of Bex's mum and her industrious efforts over the past few days. The old house ended up very clean and tidy indeed, and given how difficult the landlords are being lately we thought this was very important indeed! They have nothing to complain about at the moment ... but, just in case, we have compiled a list of everything that's wrong with the new house, for use as leverage.

There isn't much wrong, actually, but we'd been told the place had been "as good as professionally cleaned", yet there were still huge amounts of toenail clippings under the sofas, and grime in the oven. Generally speaking it's a great house and I'm sure we're going to enjoy living here over the coming year!

Perhaps the best thing from my point of view is my own little study / spare room. It's the smallest room in the house, which I am renting, but I'll be sleeping with Grace (our room is massive) so I get to use my room as a study. I've already bedecked it with as many books and maps that I can lay my hands on, plus a string of Himalayan flags from the bookcase to the roof and of course a selection of ancient ice axes. The only problem is the rather cheap MDF furniture, which was not glued together by the landlords and hence is very rickety.

Anyway, Bex and Grace have now both gone, leaving me to wait for Michael to move in (he should be here some time over the next few days). Grace won't be back until mid to late September, because she's very busy at home what with work and getting ready for her driving test. There is however a chance I may be able to go and visit her, or her come and visit me, some time before she comes back. I hope so: six weeks is going to be the longest we've been apart.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be spending my time working on North Face, which is coming along quite well in the prewriting stage, and doing a spot of jobhunting around Norwich.

Back to the real world - and writing

2007-07-24T15:01:00.000Z

I'm now back in Norwich, having spent the weekend at home, largely bivvying in the forest and sending a large number of my possessions away to be stored to avoid extra stuff during the move. We're moving house next Wednesday and this week the house has to be cleaned and tidied in preparation for an inspection. Shouldn't be too bad; most of the work has already been done.

In any case life has been on hold for the past day while I finish the last Harry Potter book! I found some parts of it a little tedious: there was a general tendency to prefer long scenes of exposition over a more dynamic way of conveying the information, and although this is all very well and good on occasion, it happened rather a lot. However the climax and ending more than made up for this and I think overall it was a great book. Now I've finished it, I can get on with other things!

The good news is that, now I have a little time on my hands, I've started writing again. The Alps was just the inspiration I needed to kick another lingering idea out of the cobwebby corners of my brain. Project Cold Witness is, I still maintain, a novel very close to completion and certainly has its moments, but it is too inextricably linked to the person I used to be before I came to university, and I'm a different person now. Occasionally I still feel a burst of enthusiasm for finishing off PCW, but I would not be able to concentrate on it for long enough. I've moved on.

This new idea is far closer to the real me. The central concept is very simple: what if, in the increasingly stagnated and conservative mountaineering climate of the 1890s, some young and talented climbers made an early attempt on one of the Great North Faces of the Alps? The Matterhorn immediately sprang to mind--I am familiar with its enormous, overpowering presence, the sheer inaccessibility of its north wall, and all the history that goes with it. Being a university student myself, an Alpine mountaineer, and someone with a good amateur knowledge of Alpine history, I believe I'm in a good position to tackle this idea.

It was easy to select the exact setting and date. In 1895, Alfred Mummery (the grandfather of 'extreme' mountaineering) died in the first ever attempt at an 8,000m peak, and Edward Crowley and Geoffrey Winthrop-Young were both in their first year at Trinity College, Cambridge. Both of these men would later make huge impacts on the world of Alpine climbing, and Aleister (then called Edward) is a singularly fascinating character. I've read his autobiography, and although he was unquestionably mad when he died in 1946, the young Edward Crowley intrigues me. He was the most technically excellent climber of his age, but never sought any credit for his achievements and displayed many sociopathic tendencies.

This is going to be a book about the first ever attempt at the North Face of the Matterhorn ... a fictional attempt, but it's entirely plausible. It's also going to be a book about how obsessions, particularly obsessions with an especially deadly or coveted climb, tear personal relationships apart.

So, what was originally a bold statement between four young friends against the stodgy views of the conservative Alpine Club becomes a race--a race for the prestige and fame that will come from being the first men to have ever climbed the North Face of the Matterhorn. Inspired by Mummery's achievements, and armed with many new technical innovations that were years ahead of their time, these four men perfect their technique climbing bold new routes in Scotland.

It's a thrilling idea. Trinity College seems the perfect setting, the characters (several of them being real historical figures) feel astonishingly real and well-rounded, and the story--a thoroughly old-fashioned blend of competition, betrayal, and a race to the top--is symbolic of the recognition extreme climbers were struggling for in the 1890s.

Of course, it will be a bittersweet victory. The North Face of the Matterhorn was not officially climbed until 1931, but there are plenty of reasons why the disgruntled Alpine Club would refuse to acknowledge an ascent by people they regarded as unconventional upstarts.

The story needs some rounding off at the corners, but I'm not far from being in a position to start writing it. And, uniquely for me, this is a novel for which I can draw from all my personal experiences: university, Cambridge, the Alps, Scotland, mountaineering in general.

The name is provisionally NORTH FACE.

Expedition report ... warning: lengthy!

2007-07-18T08:34:00.000Z

Here are the reports I posted on Facebook during the trip. Photos coming later.

Mid-expedition report 8/07/07

I have finally managed to find an internet outlet in Zermatt! This place is amazing, and despite its heavy tourist presence and obviously developed nature, it still manages to convey a powerful and very tangible essence of Alpine history. I can look straight out of the tent door at base camp and see the Matterhorn, loaded with snow, its summit reaching higher into the sky than I would have imagined possible. Walk down the main street in the town and you pass landmarks every few minutes: the Monte Rosa hotel, where Edward Whymper stayed in 1865; the square where Zermatt guides have gathered to meet every week for 150 years; the famous church; and of course the graveyard, filled from head to toe with memorials to famous climbers, most of whom lost their lives on early attempts on the Matterhorn, Breithorn, and Weisshorn.

The weather here is far more "British" than I had been led to imagine. The first few days where characterised by cold, blustery rainsqualls. Despite this, on Tuesday mid-morning we decided on impulse to make a start on Mettelhorn, which at 3,400m was our first objective. The plan was to reach as high as possible that day, make a high camp, then summit the next morning and descend. As it turned out, we climbed 1,500m in increasingly inclement conditions, finally stopping at a col (3,100m) because I was suffering from the altitude.

We dug a snow cave and settled down for the night. Although my snow cave started out very well, I hit a 45-degree bed of water ice while digging, which meant it was impossible to cut a flat floor for the cave. We went to sleep sloping against the walls of the cave and constantly slipping downwards, with the result that part of me was always resting against ice and my feet were sticking out into the deep cold and snow in the entrance trench. The temperature plummetted overnight and we awoke to find our gear (and feet!) buried under about a metre of spindrift. All of our gear was frozen solid, including rucksacks, crampons straps, and spare clothing. Worse, my down sleeping bag was soaked and I was badly cramped from my uncomfortable and claustrophobic position.

Nevertheless, we awoke just before dawn, weakened but still alive! After packing our gear, we set off across the glacier towards the final summit pyramid of Mettelhorn. It was very cold indeed and despite our long rest, I was still having trouble breathing the thin air and my headache was coming back (both signs of poor acclimatisation). The wind increased, it started to snow.

However, just before we reached the summit dome, the clouds cleared and we were treated to a stunning dawn view over the valley, towards the tremendous ice walls of Monte Rosa, Lyskamm, Breithorn, and the Matterhorn itself--all plastered with fresh snow. A thousand metres below us, cloud boiled over Zermatt. It was worth all the cold and discomfort!

The final climb was not too technical (Scottish Grade I), but in my weakened state it took a lot out of me. I led the climbing but James made all the decisions, being the only one of completely sound mind. After ascending a 50-degree ice wall, we finished up a mixed slope of boulders, new snow, and ice-filled cracks. The summit was amazing but deadly cold: air temperature alone was below -10, and wind chill must have taken ten degrees off that. Not anticipating the poor weather, neither of us had thought to pack our down jackets and thus were wearing only thin fleeces and waterproofs.

We descended that day, then slept a great deal! Next day the weather had improved somewhat, and we took the Gornergratbahn up to Rotenboden and made the ascent of Riffelhorn, an absolutely amazing little rock summit perched above the glacier at 2,927m. The weather was sunny, despite occasional snow flurries, and the rock was dry and of excellent quality. I'd grade the climb of Riffelhorn East Ridge at Grade 2+ overall, with two crux pitches of note, each of which qualified as Moderate. We moved together over the whole route except for the two hard sections, which we pitched. The vertical abseils on descent were conveniently equipped with bolts. In character I'd say it was similar to Tryfan North Ridge, only shorter; more difficult and exposed, but generally less serious due to occasional bolted sections and a mountain railway at the foot!

After a rest day, yesterday we decided to go for something a bit more serious. Cima di Jazzi, a 3,800m Monte Rosa outlier, was suggested, to be reached via the Stockhorngrat. We took the train as high as it went, to 3,089m, then started along the ridge. Our first mistake was to underestimate the technicality of the Stockhorngrat. We had anticipated a swift walk along the ridge to reach the glacier, but instead we found ourself faced with a fairly serious rock arete with steep, exposed snowfields and sections of crevassed glacier. The climbing didn't really go above Grade 1 scrambling, but we had to climb it in big boots and crampons and route-finding was something of an issue.

In the end, we settled for the summit of Stockhorn (a bit over 3,500m), which turned out to be a superb summit in a remote location with an absolutely amazing panorama of mountains surrounding it--all the 4,000m peaks of the Zermatt and Mischabel areas. Unfortunately, despite a reasonable air temperature the sun was out and we had forgotten our sun-cream! On the return, the glacier softened, making progress slow and necessitating much step-cutting down steep terrain we had simply front-pointed up on the ascent. On two notable sections of glacier, I kept falling into small crevasses, in some cases up to my chest. It was slow going and by the time we got back to the station, it was after 5:30 and we were both badly burned on our faces by the intense radiation being reflected off the glacier.

Today we're recovering from our bad dose of sunburn and revising our objectives. From the amount of snow still about, my slow acclimatisation, and our questionable experience of snowholing, it is clear that Nordend is out of the question if we want to get down alive. It seems likely that our ultimate objective will now be the South-West Face of Pollux, with Breithorn West and Central as possibly our only other venture into 4,000m+ terrain.

The truth of it is that the Alps are menacingly huge for mountaineers from a background of Welsh rock and Scottish winter. I had not considered how much of a factor high altitude would be, and there are psychological factors too--all those gravestones in the churchyard, memorials to hundreds of climbers who failed to come back. You just don't realise what the Alps really mean, how serious they really are, until you're here in Zermatt with the Matterhorn towering above you.

This is by no means to say that I'm not enjoying this immensely, but it's clear that I have somewhat overestimated my own abilities. I have progressed so fast in Britain that I thought it would be the same over here. Clearly the Alpine environment is one that should be taken slowly and steadily, building things up gradually over a number of years.

In any case I'm back on the 16th! Please wish me luck for the rest of the trip.

Quick update 11/07/07

Not much happening here in Zermatt at the moment. Weather is highly dodgy, quite cold (about 7 degrees in the valley and -4 at 3,000m), big clouds and sporadic rain and snow. The mountains are being loaded with fresh snow down to about 2,500m and right now the Matterhorn is completely plastered, putting it out of bounds for prospective summiteers. There are few climbers here, but the ones who are hanging around are mostly just dossing in the campsite, like us.

James and I are taking this time-out to recover from our severe case of sunburn. In my case, my skin has almost stopped flaking off in chunks by now, and it seems as if my nose is almost entirely intact again ... quite a change from the peeling, bloody mess it was two days ago! My lips, however, are still quite bad, my lower lip particularly. A viral infection of the coldsore variety has colonised the blistered skin and I suspect that's going to prove more of a problem than the sunburn wound over the next few days.

I've been buying and reading no end of books to pass the time, but Zermatt's a pretty cool place to 'vegetate' in and I can't say I'm bored, even if I would rather be climbing. In any case, the weather is set to improve a little on Friday, so we are planning on climbing Breithorn that day. The plan is then to head up to the glacier behind Breithorn on Saturday, stay overnight at a rather feral 12-birth hut near the Zwillingsjoch, then summit either Pollux or (probably) Castor, before returning to base in time to strike camp and head back to the UK.

Final report: Castor West Face with Variation, 4,228m, PD 15/07/07

We're now back in Zermatt after our final climb of the season. On Friday morning the weather looked promising, so we packed our gear and took the first cable car up to the Klein Matterhorn station at 3,800m. It was quite amazing flying over the glacier in a box of metal and glass packed with skiiers and fellow climbers ... the mighty north faces of Lyskamm and Breithorn looming large in the near distance.

We were on the glacier by 8am. From the south, Breithorn--mighty mountain wall when viewed from Zermatt--seemed utterly unappealing, and since every single other climber in the area was making a beeline for the summit along a well-worn, easy track, the idea of climbing this mountain suddenly lost its attraction. For many people, this is their first and only 4,000er. Why blend in with everyone else, we thought? There is no point in climbing a mountain just to say you've done it, or to add another summit to your list. I have climbed seventy-two mountains and feel no need to plod to the top of another one just to make it to seventy-three.

We decided on something more worthwhile, more difficult, and most importantly, something that appealed to my sense of what a climb should be, emotionally and ethically. Some people say I have a massively romantic view of mountaineering in exactly the same mould as George Mallory, and I guess that's so. A major climb must mean something to me.

Castor was the perfect choice. At 4,228m, this mountain is not a soft touch and is more remote than many of the other Zermatt 4,000ers. It has a mighty outline, a massive but elegant pyramid, rising in slopes of pure ice and snow to a finely-wrought summit ridge. It has many famous and epic climbs. Haunted by images of the summit view I'd glimpsed on the Internet, I knew we had to climb this mountain.

On the first day, we crossed over into Italy and traversed two miles of glacier, reaching the hut--run by the Italian Alpine Club, and reachable only by abseil--at about eleven o'clock. This seems to be the watershed point after which it becomes excessively difficult and dangerous to climb in the Alps. The sun is unbearably hot, the previously hard snow and ice reverts to a metre of nightmarish slush, and the cliffs begin to release volleys of stonefall and avalanche. We remained for the rest of the day in the hut, acclimatising (the hut is at 3,700m) and trying to sleep, but at that altitude sleep is rather difficult.

It was actually a pretty cool hut to stay in, with a superb view, and beat snowholing by a long way. Instead of getting up weakened, cold and wet, we awoke at 2:45am ready to face the mountain.

Since the hut is perched right on the edge of a cliff, reachable only by a difficult rock-climb or a 100m-high face of sixty-degree ice, it took us an hour to get down onto the glacier. To begin with we followed a line of steps down the steepening face but this soon became impractical. We resorted to building hasty ice anchors (mostly of the buried axe variety) and belaying each other down pitches of steep ice. It took a while, but it was a lot safer than moving together over that kind of terrain!

We walked above the huge bergschrund at the foot of Pollux, then made our way towards the foot of the face. Castor loomed huge above us: our route took a 550m face of mixed snow and ice, averaging at 35 degrees but exceeding sixty degrees at many points. The lower part of the face was a tedious, zig-zagging plod on excellent snow. As the line steepened, some front-pointing was required and after we crossed the bergschrund (luckily mostly filled in), we abandoned the track and struck a line directly up the face towards the narrow ridge. This final pitch of climbing exceeded seventy degrees, although luckily the sun had only just come up so the ice was still of excellent quality.

We topped out to rosy sunlight illuminating the harsh, icy wilderness of Lyskamm and Monte Rosa, and looking down into the deep valleys of Italy. The atmosphere was incredibly clear. Mont Blanc loomed a gigantic dome on the horizon, and other ranges could also clearly be seen, such as the Ecrins. To the north, Taschhorn, Dom, and the frontier crest culmunating in the Weisshorn; further still, the Bernese Oberland, home of the Jungfrau and Eiger. Zermatt nestled far, far beneath in the shadowed valley. Glaciers stretched in all directions.

It was an incredible summit. The final ridge was a fine crest of perfect snow. The summit of Castor, despite the cold and the wheezing from the rarified air, was the embodiment of everything that is magical about mountaineering. It's in places like this, although exhausted from the climb and the stresses of altitude, that you can appreciate the raw beauty of the wilderness, and see deeper into what makes us who we are. Summits are places of revelation and self-discovery. You only spend a few minutes there, wary of a descent on melting snow, but those minutes burn themselves deep into your mind and are a source of inspiration for years to come.

We descended from Castor's West Face very tired, but uplifted. Not only had we climbed a significant 4,000m+ peak by a route that was harder than the average new alpinist's big climb, we had met guidebook time (two hours for the face) and completed the route in perfect style. However, by the time we rounded Pollux's bergschrund, the glacier was in a dire state and we knew we would have to spend another night in the hut. James' skin was starting to burn again.

But there was the problem of how to get back to the hut! Put off by the dire state of the snow, attempting the steep ice face was tantamount to suicide. We decided on a fifty metre, mixed line weaving between snow gullies and rock buttresses. In the end, it took us an hour of exhausting, frustrating climbing, some of the most dangerous climbing I've ever done. The rock wasn't too bad but the snow was now melting slush down to a metre, and on a sixty degree face, this is bad news. By the time we reached the hut, I was totally exhausted and in a foul mood.

Later that afternoon, some Italians arrived in the hut. We resented their intrusion into 'our' little world at first, but they made an effort to be friendly and discussed routes in broken English. Turns out they were making an attempt on the full Breithorn traverse the next day. They awoke at 3am and after half an hour of clattering about left the hut. This morning, when crossing the glacier beneath Breithorn West Twin, we saw them on the ridge, two moving specks between rocky spires.

We were back in Zermatt by nine this morning, and it was a surreal feeling, being whisked down from the intensely cold, alien environment of the glacier straight to the middle of town. Walking through the town centre was also very odd: both of us carrying heavy packs, heavily laden-down with rope and ironmongery, James still wearing his down jacket, both of us with disintegrating skin from having spent forty-eight hours at high altitude. We received many odd looks from tourists, but also a few nods from fellow climbers. It felt good to be returning to base camp having proven ourselves worthy.

I spent this afternoon relaxing on a bench in town, enjoying the sunny weather and recovering. We're catching a train early tomorrow morning out of here and will be back in Norwich by midnight. I'm looking forward to going home, but I'm going to miss Zermatt a lot as well--this place is unforgettable and I know I'm going to come back here many times. There is so much left to be climbed. Breithorn by a worthwhile route; the Lyskamm; Monte Rosa; Strahlhorn; and many others. In fact we're even thinking about coming back here next year instead of having a go at Mont Blanc. The Alps deserve a gradual introduction. Why rush straight to the biggest and most popular?

In any case, the five hundred pictures we've taken will take a bit of sorting out, but I daresay I'll be uploading some of them over the next few days!

The expedition begins

2007-06-30T21:50:00.001Z

In just over 26 hours, my brother and I will begin the long journey to the Matterhorn Base Camp in Zermatt, Switzerland. Although the Matterhorn is not in our game plan this year--too much snow, not enough experience--we are staying in Zermatt for two weeks.

We are scheduled to spend the first week acclimatising to the high altitude by climbing a number of mountains around the valley, starting off modestly with peaks such as Riffelhorn (2,927m), Mettelhorn (3,400m) and Cima di Jazzi (3,800m). Our first 4,000m+ peak will be Strahlhorn, a remote summit in the Mischabel mountain range. Other possible objectives, made less serious by taking advantage of the Glacier Paradise cablecar, include the high summits of Breithorn and Castor.

Our main climb is scheduled for the second week. We aim to climb Nordend, third highest mountain in Europe. It is located in the remote Monte Rosa mountain range on the Swiss/Italian border, and at 4,609m, is well over half the height of Everest. Unfortunately, cold and snowy early-season conditions have ruled out the possibility of a "pure" Alpine-style ascent, and therefore we have adopted a hybrid style somewhere between Alpine-style and Himalayan siege tactics. Although we will be carrying all our gear in our packs rather than establishing camps and fixed ropes, we are anticipating several bivvies (in snow-caves or safe crevasses) and may hole up several hundred metres below the summit to wait for optimal conditions.

Currently, the snow is piling in thick and fast in these mountains. Coupled with a strong wind, avalanche risk is high and temperatures are very low (we are anticipating windchill of -40 or below on the summit ridge). Clearly, high-altitude storms may force us to abandon the ascent but based on recent reports we believe the mountain to be climbable unless the weather worsens.

If the expedition is a success I will be back on the evening of July the 16th, hopefully with hundreds of pictures! Please wish me luck. This is our first Alpine trip and we'll need it! If this season goes well, we are planning on making an attempt on Mont Blanc via the Italian Route next year.

Wrapping up loose ends

2007-06-28T13:06:00.000Z

I spent the morning over at my old house on Highland Road, helping Dan weed the front and back gardens in preparation for the termination of tenancy on Saturday. Although I technically still pay rent there I have shared Grace's room here at Turner Road since early April. The front garden wasn't so bad, the back garden rather worse--very overgrown, although the weeds were shallowly rooted and were easy to pull up.

My old room is currently filled to the brim with Frankie's stuff which I am assured will be removed by mid-day on Saturday, when Dan and I will pay another visit to clean our rooms and make sure everything is done. The kitchen and bathroom are in a rather feral state but apparently Frankie and Richie are taking care of that ... since I've spent the past couple of days painting our bathroom, I'm not complaining!

I also have to replace the chair in my room which has become inexplicably broken since I moved out.

On the expedition planning front, I now have my Swiss currency (about 450CHF) and have removed a few more items from my base camp bag to cut down on weight. However I added two more 60cm slings (as spare runners / footloops), three more wiregate karabiners and a DMM "Revolver", a special krab with built-in pulley which may be incorporated into a hauling system or to reduce rope-drag on extended runners. This small amount of extra gear will provide a safety margin in case we have to leave any gear behind for abseils.

I'm also forcing myself to eat far more than I normally would this week, in an attempt to put on weight. I already had some body fat on me, but given the fact that it is difficult to digest food at very high altitudes, it's important to build up reasonable reserves in the form of fat and glycogen stores (from high-carb foods such as pasta).

Conditions-wise, the mountains have recently been loaded with snow above 3,500m due to a series of high altitude storms. Reports suggest that most of the higher crevasses (and, critically, the bergschrunds and rimayes) are now well snowed-over, which will make glacier travel far easier. I am concerned about the possibility of wading through deep powder, which is never much fun, but I'm hoping that the current sunny spell will consolidate the powder with sun-crust.

Unfortunately, windslab is going to be a fact of life at the moment. Reports suggest large cornices and significant deposits of windslab on the Swiss face of Monte Rosa, which could represent avalanche hazard: clearly this will have to be assessed on the ground, but I'm hoping after a week or so conditions will have improved. Apparently the wind on the Swiss / Italian border ridges is brutal, with pre-dawn windchill possibly exceeding -40 Celsius. We have gear to cope with temperatures that cold, but it will not be pleasant!

The fact that this is our first big, real, serious expedition into a high and remote mountain range is very much at the forefront of my mind. I've passed many watersheds these past three years: from walker to backpacker, backpacker to hillwalker, hillwalker to scrambler, scrambler to all-round mountaineer. I've resisted the temptation to identify myself as a rock-climber, even though I have climbed up to V.Diff standard and possibly higher, because I believe this is too narrow a discipline and I prefer to align myself to the more general, traditional standards of the mountaineer. However, my experience up until now has been limited to the Lakeland fells in all seasons, Welsh summer mountain routes, and Scottish winter climbing. I've climbed a lot of mountains but my highest has been Ben Nevis at 1,344m.

I am about to cross over the line between a mountaineer of the British mentality and a true Alpinist ... and boost my personal altitude record fourfold. It's a big change, the biggest up until now, and one of the last true turning-points a mountaineer will experience (after this there is only really an increase in standards and experience, or a branching-off into another discipline, such as sport-climbing, waterfall ice, bouldering etc.)

It's going to be a hard line to cross, both physically testing and mentally challenging, but if this expedition goes well it can only be onwards and upwards from now on!

Expedition logistics!

2007-06-26T08:11:00.000Z

I'm back home in Norwich now. Our room is amazingly clear at the moment because Grace has packed all her stuff into boxes, in preparation for moving house at the end of July. To save space I have moved most of my stuff into the empty room formerly belonging to Mark. It feels strange without Grace here and, once again, being more or less by myself in the house (with Bex only here in the evenings and Rach only occasionally popping in) is making me miss Grace more than ever. A month is a hell of a long time! There's a chance she'll be in London on the day I come back from the Alps though, so maybe I'll get to see her before I make my first visit to her house.

In any case, it's a busy week for me. Planning for the trip (now rather grandiosely named the "Monte Rosa Expedition 2007") is almost complete. Travel documents are finally sorted our and in order, as are our base camp bags: mine only weighs 15kg, which is quite an amazing achievement, considering that I'm carrying 35m of rope, an ice axe, helmet, harness, set of slings and basic rack of climbing hardware including ice screw and half-set or nuts ... not to mention the stove and pans! Luckily James has agreed to carry the tent, which at 3.1kg is the heaviest single item.

Weather in Zermatt is currently looking good. Recent snowfall ensures that the bergschrunds will be covered-over, and the weather is decently cold: we can expect daytime temperatures of about -5 to -10 on the summits, and night-time temperatures of no colder than -20 outside (which should mean a toasty-warm -1 in our snowhole!) Of course, at base camp it will probably be blisteringly hot as always.

Here's a shot of the final climb to Nordend's summit (on the left). Our route curves left around the bergschrunds and séracs, although we will snowhole in a suitable drift in order to get a decently early start on our summit day.

Dispatches from the vertical world

2007-06-23T14:42:00.000Z

The past couple of days have largely been spent up various trees in the forest. Bug Bowl has seen its umpteenth ascent, both in big boots and crampons (to simulate rock climbing in crampons: oak bark is surprisingly like gabbro!) I also climbed Mallorn for about the tenth time and established a 40-foot vertical abseil using the double rope method with a prussik on the down-rope, which turns out to be far easier and safer than the technique I was using before.

Today I climbed a rather tricky oak tree away from my usual climbing venue. The first attempt was done with boots alone, but a blank section of trunk about half way up would have made this extremely hazardous without resorting to aid slings. I abseiled back down to fix my crampons then dashed back up to have another bash at it. I finished at the tree's top and made a 50-foot free abseil off an overhanging branch, swinging in empty space and frequently getting speared by rogue branches!

I then got some further practice of ascending a fixed rope, the technique we'll use if either James or myself falls into a crevasse when we're in the Alps. I've developed a more relaxed style now which is far easier and less strenuous.

I'm in Suffolk until Monday, then it's back to Norwich for a week before we head off to the Alps. Grace has gone back to Kent until late July so I won't see her for a whole month, but there's a chance I might be making a visit to say hello to her parents once I come back from the Alps. Even so, it's a long time!

Hello

2007-06-21T10:56:00.000Z

Long time, no update again ... it's been a rather busy time! My exams are now over, and overall I think I did quite well. Won't know for sure until the results are out, of course. I know I worked very hard for these exams but was it hard enough? Time will tell.

Grace and I recently came back from a week-long stay in Langdale. Weather was mediocre, with a few spells of rain, but overall nothing to complain about! The lack of Langdale's usual strong wind meant the midgies were out in force, and we all got bitten quite badly, despite the welcome influence of DEET-50 insect repellent.

Together we climbed Pike of Blisco (my third ascent), Lingmoor Fell (my second ascent), Side Pike (twice: my second and third ascents), an aborted attempt at Jack's Rake, and Bowfell (my fourth ascent). Grace now has a fairly real idea of what camping and mountaineering is like, I think! We had a great time and I really enjoyed spending some time camping "properly" (ie. non-feral), like I used to in the old days.

Luckily, it's now only ten days until the greatest adventure of all, our first expedition to the Swiss Alps. Preparations are almost complete now, except for the final paring-down of the climbing rack to fit the weight limitations. This is our first climbing tour outside of the UK and, I hope, our introduction to the world of Alpine climbing and the greater ranges.

The plan is to acclimatise on Mettelhorn, Stockhorn and Cima di Jazzi, then attempt Strahlhorn, Breithorn, and Nordend, the third highest mountain in Europe. With luck this will prepare us well for remote Scottish winter climbs next Easter and an attempt on Mont Blanc via the Italian Route next July.

I'm also starting to think about possible trips to the greater ranges in future years, and Peru looks quite doable after two or three seasons of Scottish winter and summer Alpine ... not necessarily the Huayhuash region as featured in Touching the Void, but more likely the Cordillera Blanca, which is more accessible to foreign travellers and has a clutch of high 6,000m+ peaks which go at F+ to PD+.

All in all, the next few years will prove to be very exciting!

Groan

2007-05-31T01:03:00.000Z

After two days of getting not very much work done due to the sheer dullness of the revision material, it's now 1 day and 30 minutes before the first of my two last exams: Internet Technologies. I only got a few hours of sleep last night and today I HAVE to do all the remaining work. It can be done, but given my recent track record it's going to be tight!

The problem is that I'm losing self-motivation very quickly. Going to have to try a different strategy today, eg. finding somewhere to sit in the Library without a window to gaze out of.

In any case things are now looking up because Grace is coming back TOMORROW! I can't wait to see her, although I suppose in a sense it's a good thing that she's coming back tomorrow and not today, otherwise there would be absolutely no chance of me getting my work done!

Not long to go now, and then we can all have some time off. I'm looking forward to 21st birthday celebrations and a relaxing trip to the Lake District with Grace.