Will Sim's blog

Haute Route

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:46:00 +0000

In the last week of March i spent a very interesting 5 days shadowing swiss based IFMGA guide Terry Ralphs and 4 clients on the classic Chamonix-Zermatt Haute route. Although i've now finished the initial induction year and am a little further down the long road to becoming a guide, this was the first time in my life i've been with paying clients in the mountains (albeit me observing, and Terry guiding). For me a few myths were dispelled and i got a good glympse in to the world of Ski guiding, which for nearly all IFMGA guides is a bread-winning aspect of the profession, especially in the Spring months.

For most the Haute route needs no introduction, a 120km long ski, up and down hill from Chamonix in France to Zermatt in Switzerland, covering over 8000 metres of ascent along the way. For many avid ski tourers its the "jewel in the crown" of Alpine tours.

Not a very high quality map i know, but gives some scale.

Despite bad weather on all but one day, and very high avalanche risk on all the days, we made it to Zermatt, and i was mega impressed when Terry made the call to bang out the last - crux - day when nearly everyone else was escaping to Arolla with a nasty forecast, commitment!

Everyone looking fresh at the start line. Simon, Mike, Paul, Camilla, Terry and myself. Photo: Camilla Nilsson.

Reaching a Col on day three at sunrise.

Camilla Paul and myself.

Hut life. Photo: Camilla Nilsson.

So myths dispelled...... Perhaps the part of the week i was most looking forward to was meeting the clients. I really wanted to know what kind of people go on long guided ski tours; what motivates them to go ski touring? what do they want to learn? how good a skiers are they? how fit are they? what do they do for the other 51 weeks of the year? But also i was really looking forward to seeing them out of their comfort zones, a little scared, completely knackered, having to dig deep and question whether they're enjoying it. Basically all the stuff which as commited climbers we accept as being fundamental parts of the "pleasure", but things which relative newcomers to the mountains may find offputting and unexpected.
I think all my questions had been answered by the time we reached Zermatt after 5 days of poor weather and hard conditions.

Experience? i worked out that all four of them had clipped in to bindings before i was born, but touring and mountain experience was lacking (although i should watch what i say as one of them had been up Everest!).

How fit? i was very impressed by the fitness of our clients, they were consistently solid at a pace which although slow, was in my opinion impressive when you only do it one week a year. However, any time gained through fitness was rapidly cancelled out by faff, never underestimate the faff factor!

Rope out for a tricky section. Photo: Simon Pickles.

What do they want to learn? This i found fascinating. At one point a client told me that he had got annoyed when a guide in the past had tried to teach him some skills, "Why?" i replied with confused interest, "i don't want to learn how to do it, that's why i pay a guide!" he replied. In the past i always thought that this kind of attitude would annoy me, but i actually think its kinda cool. He doesn't want to give up the time to learn to be self sufficient, nor does he feel the experience would be worth anything more if he was, therefore why bother? simple, and i can respect that.

Camilla de-skinning.

Did they suffer? Yes and no. Not half as much as i thought they may have given the bad weather, but battling a strong head wind in a blizzard on the Glacier du Tour took its toll, and everyone looked very battered by the time we rolled in to the Trient hut.

Nasty weather on all but 1 of the days.

Did they get scared? Interestingly not half as much as i was expecting. I think being completely inexperienced in the mountains means you haven't yet developed your danger sensors. So at times when i would have seriously loud alarm bells ringing in my head, a client could still be plodding away in their bubble of blissful ignorance, a bubble that they have rightfully earned by employing a guide.

Paul, Camilla, Simon, Mike and myself on the summit of the Rosablanche 3336m.

All in all it was a very positive week, which ended with me feeling more psyched than ever for the future. Thanks Terry for having me along and thanks Camilla, Paul, Simon and Mike for being a chilled set of clients who put up with my endless talking about climbing...

Terry relaxing in Zermatt after a hard week.

Its been a weird winter for me, it feels like i haven't really achieved anything in the 8 months since getting back from Pakistan. All i've been doing is jumping through hoops and earning the money to allow me to do so. I just keep telling myself that if this year goes smoothly then that'll be it, i'll be an "aspirant" (meaning i can work in the alps and the end is in sight), and i can be back to being cold, scared and hungry on amazing mountains in crazy places, can't wait!

January

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:51:00 +0000

The first 5 weeks of 2013 were for me a good mix of hot and cold, work and play. After arriving in Chamonix in time to spend new year dancing to the early hours in the Roue de Moulin, i started 15 days of back to back guides courses between France and Switzerland. All were well run, and required some concentration of the sort i haven't had to use since.... well i was about to say school, but i don't think i ever did much at school, so maybe EVER.

So after 3 days being beasted on the ski's by Swiss ski-wad Alex Langeutin in Leysin, 5 days digging snow profiles and studying them in the classroom with Per As and Steve Jones in La Grave, and several other days in Chamonix and Arolla covering stuff in-between, it was about time i went climbing rather than talking about how potentially dangerous it is.
I had some plans in the Mountains, but the weather wasn't playing ball, then i had some plans on the ice with my friend Michi, but the temps weren't playing ball either, so i went for my plan C (which was actually my plan A, i'm just too weak to admit it...) and go hook up with some friends who were being sensible and spending their winter climbing steep limestone in the sport climbing mecca that is Catalunya, in northern Spain.

Here's some pictures

Before the courses started i did manage a route with Dougal and Jon. "Encore une Fois" on the Argentiere Rive Droite, still awaits an entirely free ascent?? Myself on the first pitch.

Swedish guide-trainer Per As takes some measurements.

Snow profile record.

Skiing like a Giraffe with broken legs, through breakable crust on the Grande Envers.

Masriudoms - Amazing crag where we spent nearly 10 days.

Hazel cruising an 8a+.

Pete, Hazel, Howard and my awesome van.

Lamey on an 8a.

Howard crushing.

My plan for Catalunya was to get mileage, then hopefully come April after more time on the woody i may scrape myself up some harder sport. I didn't really try anything hard, but managed a few 7c's all 2nd go, and onsited 7b, which bodes well considering its January! Psyched for a summer of rock.

After a very long - almost single push - drive back from Spain, i immediately started working again and will do until i next have to be down in the Alps in March. This is what 2013 is going to be like for me, lots of stints of guides scheme work with time inbetween spent here in Cumbria.

Talk in Stirling Next Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 20:14:00 +0000

Next Thursday (the7th) i'll be talking for the "Ochils Mountaineering Club" in Stirling. If you're nearby get yourself along to hear about big scary experiences on mountains around the world, should be a good night!

Stirling County Rugby Football Club in Bridgehaugh, Stirling, FK9 5AP, 8p.m. start

Time to head off

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 18:41:00 +0000

Well here i am at the end of a stint of pretty much none-stop work. I guess the most depressing thing about work stints is how you can look back and say you achieved close to nothing in that time. But they have their purposes, and after returning from Pakistan in October with a fair bit of debt hanging round my neck i can leave for Chamonix on Friday debt-free, in my new van, and with a little bit of cash to use before the credit card comes out again!

Early stages of the new woody - a lot of time has been spent hanging off this recently.

For the first 14 or so days of January i have back to back courses for the Guides scheme in France and Switzerland. A mixture of climbing and skiing with a lot of listening and learning will make a good change from milking and feeding cows all day, and i'm really looking forward to it.

Something new and tricky on Scafell, unfinished business.

Retrieving gear after a very near disastrous attempt on the summer E2 "Scansor" on Stob Coire nan Lochain, with Greg Boswell and Adam Russell in early December.

Hopefully from mid January onwards i'll get some climbing done for myself - depending on how cold and snowy this January in the Alps turns out to be - before returning to Cumbria for some more work before February.

Talks

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:46:00 +0000

Here are the details of some talks I'll be doing in the next few months. If you're anywhere near at the time make sure you come along!
20th November

This talk, "The Alps and Beyond" for the Lancashire Caving and Climbing Club will be roughly an hour and a half long, probably with a small break. Famous and not-so-famous routes on the N faces of the Alps, from classics like the Eiger North face to obscure testpieces on the North face of the Grandes Jorasses will be covered. This will lead in to accounts of scary times on big mountains in places such as Alaska, Patagonia and the Karakorum.

Location- Bradshaw Conservative Club. 77 Lea Gate Bolton BL2 3ET

1st December

As the evening entertainment on the night of the STS drytooling final at Glenmore Lodge, I'll be doing a talk entitled "High and Dry". The talk will be about mixed climbing on big cold faces of mountains all over the world, and how skills learnt in drytooling can be transferable to pitches on long hard alpine routes. Really its an excuse to show loads of gobsmacking photos of incredible routes and get everyone psyched for the large and the cold!

8 o clock start (ish)

7th February

For the Ochils Mountaineering Club in Stirling, this will be along the same lines as the talk in Bolton in November. "The Alps and Beyond" will hopefully inspire, or make you appreciate your warm bed at home in equal measure!

Location - Stirling County Rugby Football Club in Bridgehaugh, Stirling, FK9 5AP, 8p.m. start.

Please email me if you have a question.

Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:15:00 +0000

Although i landed in London on the 23rd September, it seems like i'm only just getting myself sorted after what seemed like a mammoth trip to Pakistan. After a long trip i usually find i can unpack my bags in about three days if i'm motivated (really lazy i know), but i'm now on day 17 back in the country, and there's still some unpacked hold-alls on my bedroom floor. Almost straight off the plane from Islamabad, i spent 5 days in N Wales on a BMG induction course, which although interesting and a good few days, has prolonged my resettlement time...
The expedition was a mixture of frustration and satisfaction, as they always are. A trip of two halfs would be an accurate summary; the first half full of good weather and climbing, the second half being full of bad weather, tension and frustration. However, as this report will illustrate, a lot of climbing was done, perhaps even more than we had expected.

It was on the 3rd August that i got on the train to head down to London. Its funny, but sometimes i think that the transition from West Cumbria to the leafy, red bricked terraces of south west London is a bigger shock to the system than that of Heathrow to Islamabad. Sitting in a pub that night, Jon and I talked about the last couple of months: I had been at my parent's home in St.Bees, working a lot and training and climbing when i could. Jon had had an extremely active and productive summer for both work and play, and as he told me stories of racing up Europe's largest alpine route in a single-push, and hanging out of helicopters filming base jumpers rocket past the Eiger, i was feeling a little hungry for adventure. Not for the first time sat in that pub in Fulham, i started to wonder what the next 7 weeks would bring.

A massive Mosque in Islamabad.

Our journey to base camp went more smoothly than either of us could ever have imagined. Flights took off when they were meant to, the jeeps didn't break down, the weather was kind, and our porters worked hard and without fuss.
After a day in Islamabad - the highlight being our air conditioned hotel - we flew to Skardu and got our first sight of Baltistan. Unlike further East in the Himalaya, the Karakorum is very dry and not "jungly" like you imagine the lower valleys in India and Nepal. All settlements are perched on fertile, green, irrigated plateaus on the banks of rivers. Some of these are pretty spectacular and look Tolkienesque. Skardu, where we spent a day before travelling further in to the mountains, is a dusty small town, where the smell of two-stroke oil and soundtrack of beeping horns create an atmosphere of excitement as you try and work out what is for sale and what is just junk lying around.
The 6 hour jeep ride to Hushe was one of those journeys that you don't want to blink on. Here's some photos-

After a hot and tiring day in Islamabad, we were excited to see Nanga Parbat from the flight to Skardu. The Mazeno ridge is on the right.

The Indus River.

Loading the jeeps with kit for the journey to Hushe.

On the banks of a tributary to the Indus.

The reason the journey went so smoothly - Haji Ghulamm Muhammad - the man to know in Skardu.

Me and our Liason Officer, Major Akhtar Hussein of the Pakistani army. Akhtar took time off from fighting the Indians in Kashmir to come and make sure we weren't there under false pretences....

A typical Balti village.

The Hushe valley.

On the first day of the walk in.

At basecamp.

At basecamp, we were pleased to meet up with Jesse, Shingo and Aaron, three Americans we'd be sharing a basecamp with for the next month. Like most Americans, they were good fun, and didn't mind having the piss taken out of them, even if they didn't understand our sense of humour.

Also at basecamp were Ali and Ali, who were mine and Jon's cooks, and Fida and Abas, who cooked for the Americans. These four were great company, and over the weeks i learnt a lot about Islamic culture, which coming from a place in the UK where there are no Muslims was all new to me.
In many ways the Ali's made the trip, and in more ways than making us nice food.

Nayser Brakk

The immense Nayser Brakk, 5200m - an Egyptian couldn't have done better. We climbed the right hand skyline arete.

Nayser Brakk is a gem among mountains, and the right skyline in the above photo has become the "classic" of the valley, with a number of ascents. Ours went well, with the odd routefinding error, more due to stupidity than there being tricky route-finding!

900m of loose scree to start.

The first of about 6 pitches to the summit ridge.

A cool crack at about 5000m. The last pitch to the arete was a great spicy hanging slab at about E3 5b, in spitting rain, baggy shoes and with a thumping altitude headache!

We climbed the route up and down in a longish day. It was only our second day in basecamp, so needless to say i was suffering with a migraine on the 5200m summit. But it was great to have done such a line on day 2.

Jesse and me bouldering. With such good bouldering a minutes walk from BC, i was determined to stay strong on this trip, but my current strength is proof that it's impossible!

FA on Sulu Peak

A couple of days after we climbed Nayser Brakk we decided to climb the circa 6000m (height depends on who you ask and what map you look at) Sulu Peak, which is a very proud looking mountain half a days walk from BC. Initially we were just going to climb the central couloir, which is a C1200 metre couloir similar in steepness to the Couturier on the Aguille Verte. But after thinking about it, we decided to make use of the good weather and try to climb the long spectacular arete which runs NW from the summit of the mountain, which to our knowledge would be its first ascent.

On the first day we climbed around 500 meters of loose buttress to reach a large snow shoulder before the meat of the arete. We pitched our first-light here, and did our best to sleep, but being early in the trip, we'd still not quite mastered breathing!

The first bivi, on a snowy shoulder on the ridge.

Jon looking up at where we'd be going in the morning.

In the morning we set off simul soloing (which is how we climbed a lot of the route) up and round a very loose rock wall, to get in to a linking couloir, which we hoped would take us to the arete.

Just after first light.

After about 2-300 metres, the couloir narrowed and we climbed some steps and steepenings to the ridge.

Kapura and Drifika in the background.

Breaking trail, with a long way to go.

Looking back from half way-ish.

A mixed step not far from the top plateau.

Steep snow in the sun - a nasty combination. Chogolisa behind.

Our bivi on top of Sulu on a convenient plateau.

After taking many aspirin and trying very hard not to be sick i managed a bit of sleep, but it wasn't a good night. In the morning, feeling sleepy and very rough, we downclimbed the huge couloir on the east face of the mountain, and reached basecamp late in the morning.

Descending a laborious 1100 metre couloir early the next morning.

Our return to basecamp coincided with "Eid", which is the end of Ramadan, so we all had a big feast. Here Ali 1 and Ali 2 present a cake and some fried chicken - the Ali's could work miracles with their single kerosene stove!

The "swimming pool", about 2 minutes walk from basecamp, where we washed and swam when it was hot enough.

Sorting supplies at BC

Beatrice

With the weather still seeming ok, we wanted to squeeze in another route before we committed to our big objective up the valley. Beatrice is an attractive mountain just under 6000 metres and not too far from BC.

With an early start we made the schrund after 3 or so hours walk. We needed to climb really fast, as the broad lower couloir looked like it would slough badly when the sun came round on to it. With this in mind, we left our ropes, rack and harnesses at the bottom and got on with it.

Part way up the huge initial couloir.

Nearing the top of the initial couloir.

We ended up climbing the chossy cracks on the right, then rejoining the couloir higher up. Starting to really regret leaving our rope and harnesses behind now!

Jon hacking through the summit cornice.

Summit.

We climbed mostly snow and ice couloirs and chossy rock to within 20 metres of the summit, when all was replaced by bottomless snow. Knowing we had to down climb every meter of the mountain, it was with a little apprehension that we left the summit, but all went well and we made a quick descent.

Link Sar Attempt

Link Sar was one of the really big plans we had for the trip. At 7041 meters Link Sar is one of the bigger unclimbed mountains left in Pakistan and stands opposite the grand east face of K7 (6934m). Link Sar's faces are broad and complex, and not without serac dangers. However, after some scouring with binoculars and checking out other possibilities, we settled on what we believed to be a very attractive line on the face almost exactly opposite Urban, Kyle and Haydens cool new line on K7.

Me and Jon checking out the face a few days prior to going for it.

Jon getting a forecast via email. Much thanks to our Goal Zero solar set up.

The face is hugely forshortened and distorted in this photo, but our line went through the initial rock on a diagonal ramp to reach the snowfield at half height.

We bivvied a fair way from the schrund in distance and height, and were shocked the next day when it took many hours to reach the schrund through the dangerous valley above, this took a lot of time and energy that we, perhaps naively, hadn't anticipated correctly after our recce.

A mouse had eaten parts of our rope, resulting in three nasty core shots which we only noticed at the bivi. This was a bit off putting as we had decided to rap the whole face after climbing it!

Jon's hydraulic legs punch a deep track up the lower gully.

Almost half height on the face, in nasty warm snow, which we were scared would slough in the sun.

Threatening weather above, as we work through a steepening.

A bottomless traverse, which took us almost 2 hours to gain less than 100 metres.

What felt like a long way up the face, our pace slowed to a slow crawl as we hit bottomless snow. The weather had been threatening all day, and it was finally starting to snow. We made an effort to find somewhere safe to bivi, as we were currently sat in a network of flutings which would become deathtraps if the snow continued. Jon went for a look above, but to no avail, and i abseiled down on to a small snow fin which looked from above like it could be chopped at for a platform. When i got down there it wasn't the case. After a small discussion and assessment of our situation, we started to rap the face on the first of many, many v-threads. The weather forecast had predicted snow to turn in to a bad weather system, but not so early as this, but that was just one of many things not going right that forced us to bail. On the descent i started to feel very ill, i'm still not sure whether it was altitude or not, but i don't think i've ever felt as ill in the mountains as i did when we crossed the schrund later that night.

We bivvied not far from the schrund, in the dumping snow, and returned to BC the next day. Although it hadn't gone to plan, we were only half way through our trip, and were confident that we'd be back up there soon to finish it off, with far better tactics and knowledge of the snowy hell that was the top half of the face. We weren't to know what the weather had in store for us.

Bad weather and Haithi Brak

As i've already mentioned the trip was one of two halves, and on the 2nd or 3rd September winter arrived. We'd talked to several friends about weather in this part of the Karakorum, and we'd decided that September seemed like a reliably stable time. However, we'd also heard from some people that there's the risk of it being bad due to wintery weather systems starting to arrive.

After two days of this colder nasty weather, Ali and Fida were both repeating "weather very bad this month sir, not good September sir" and as much as we appreciated their worry we did our best to ignore them, until it became obvious they knew what they were talking about.

Movie night.

After many many days of consecutive rain and snow, we did manage to salvage the last part of the trip somewhat, by climbing a beautiful rock peak of about 5400m called Haithi Brakk, even if it was in a white-out.

The summit is the largest rock spire left of the snowy central peak.

The weather cleared briefly near the top. This gendarme is the summit just to the left of ours on the previous photo.

We climbed around 1000 metres of easy couloirs and gullies, until a shoulder between a large gendarme and the summit tower. The summit tower had some decent, if a little loose rock climbing, and a mixed pitch to a summit the size of a small coffee table with 1000 metres of air on either side. We had been told that this summit was unclimbed, but after finding some tat, we thought it very doubtful!

Chossy rock.

The final exposed mixed pitch to the summit.

Last climb of the trip.

Return Journey

Ali 1, Fida, Ali 2, and Abas. Some of my fondest memories of the trip are of conversations with these guys at basecamp.

We walked out from BC on the 17th September and once back in Skardu started the torturous journey down the Karakorum Highway to Islamabad. Other than clearing part of the road in the middle of the night that had collapsed in front of us, and a slight delay due to riots on the road against the "anti Islamic film" made in America, the journey went well, and about 30 hours after starting we arrived in Islamabad. In Islamabad we dodged more riots, (on one day we weren't even allowed out of our hotel due to riots going on outside), moved our flights forward by two days, and located the secret bar (yes it does exist!).

Porters walking out.

Akhtar and the van on the Karakorum highway.

So, what next? Paying off my credit card bill with lots of work on the farm, building a woody in a barn at work, preparing for the next BMG course and finding a way to buy a van with no money. Possibly some cold stuff in the Alps and Norway in a few months time also, but lets wait and see.

There is no way i could undergo trips of this size if it wasn't for the invaluable support of my sponsors, for which i am very grateful - buy their kit, it works!

Lift Off

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:20:00 +0000

Tomorow Jon and myself fly to Pakistan, and if all the travelling goes well, we should be established at our basecamp in the Charakusa valley by next saturday, fingers crossed!

Scafell from work. My boss wasn't happy last time i put up a photo of his farm as he said it looked dirty..... So here's a nicer one.

Jake on the Gravity Wave project. Although the weather's been pretty bad this summer in the UK, i've been out a fair bit, but mainly on the legs, with lots of hill reps.

The awesome Goal Zero "Sherpa 120" solar set up. Powering weather forecasts and much more at basecamp. We've always had big issues with solar panels in the past, but it looks like for this trip we've got it sorted.

I'll be here next week. Basecamp will be on the moraine in the bottom left of the photo.

Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 19:48:00 +0000

In the first week of August myself and Jon Griffith are going to Pakistan. Based from the Charakusa valley in the Hushe region of the Karakorum, we'll have about 40 days to get something big done. The coolest thing about this trip is the idea of not having one fixed objective. Although its fun focusing on one line or idea, and letting it singly absorb all your thoughts and energy, I've learnt from the last expeditions I've been on that the most important thing is to have a variety of options and to keep an open mind, as whether you'll even get to step on to the thing you want to do is probably around 80% luck.

Big faces and no routes. Credit Urban Novak.

So we're just gonna get ourselves there, and try and treat it like a climbing trip - "Hey that looks good, lets get on it."

I found out a few weeks ago that I've been accepted on to the BMG/IFMGA guide scheme. So the day after our Islamabad - Heathrow return flight, i will be in Llanberis for my first induction course, starting the long process of becoming a guide. I'm expecting it to be a hard 4 years which will require a lot of work, patience and sacrifice, but hopefully fulfilling and interesting, with one of the coolest jobs in the world at the end of it.

Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 19:53:00 +0000

Not for the first time this week, i logged in to Facebook this morning to be greeted by an album of photos from a friend's successful Alaskan spring. To counter the liquid jealousy that started coursing through my body as i sat scrolling through the photos, i reminded myself of what you gain when you think you're missing out.

Although devoid of big adventures and hair-rasing, digit-freezing routes, the last few months have been crammed full of more pleasurable activities.

The awesome crag of "Euskal" Val Pennavaire Italy. Lots of trips to this valley over the last couple months.

A classic 7b+ at Bionassay - the best sport cliff within 30 mins of Cham, (by a long way....) . I've spent a lot of time here in the past, but i've still barely made an impression on the amount of great routes there.

A slide we triggered skiing in the Oberland this Spring.

Rob Greenwood teetering up the bold classic "Supernatural" on Gable last weekend.

I'm off to Pakistan in August, which gives me plenty of time to train like crazy and work the rest of the time. Details on the Pakistan trip to follow...

The best type of climbing.

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:31:00 +0000

Spring, well maybe even summer, has well and truly arrived in the alps. The last week of March saw me in t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops fighting against the sweat on valley sport crags with my friends Adam and Mike.

The beautifully settled weather was now in its third week, and it was with not even the slightest bit of regret or jealousy, that when my friends Jon, Jesse and Maury headed up to the Dru for another winter mission, i headed through the tunnel in to Italy for a few days clipping bolts in the Sun with Amanda, Heather and Benjamin.

The idyllic Val Pennavaire is the main climbing valley of "Oltrefinale", a relatively new, almost world class sport venue in between Genoa and Monaco. This narrow valley clothed in Olive groves and limestone outcrops is a far cry from the alps, and after a few days makes you want to buy a van, find a beautiful 8a climbing girlfriend and become a sport climbing hippy who never would be so stupid as to set foot on a north face...

The beginnings of a road trip.

Ahh limestone...

The river that runs thorugh the bottom of Val Pennavaire is a good place to spend the parts of the day too hot for climbing.

Whether it be for sport climbing or skiing, no Italy trip can be undertaken without huge amounts of Pizza and ice cream.

In terms of climbing, i felt reasonably strong for the start of the rock season, onsighting lots of 7a's and getting 7b+/c second go. With no Alaska this year, my sport climbing motivation is reaching dangerously high levels!

Manitua

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:23:00 +0000

I'm an alpine climber and my experience of big walling is pretty much zero, but a route on the north face of the Grande Jorasses which could almost be classed as a "big wall" has been on my mind for several years. "Manitua" splits through the centre of the extremely compact and steep monolith which forms the left flank of the Croz Spur. Starting up the Croz couloir then traversing towards No Siesta, before launching through the wall and moderate mixed ground above the Croz icefield and the Croz its self, Manitua could be described as a "mini-big wall" sandwiched by an alpine winter north face.

The line. Credit: GMHM Bohin/Ratel/Perillat

First climbed by the legendary Slavko Svetecic in 1991 in summer, the wall section was given 6c and A3, with a single bolt placed on the blank crux aid pitch, which was ripped out by a falling Remy Escoffier, making this pitch a real spicy one. As it stands in 2012 the route has seen a handful of summer repeats, and a smaller handful of winter ascents, which in this vogue, makes Manitua a very cold, slow and heavy ordeal.

The legendary Slavko Svetecic. The year before he put up Manitua, he soloed the Harlin on the Eiger in 26 hours in January. He died on Gasherbrum IV in 1995.

I first became aware of the Manitua wall when i was about 12, and i was flicking through an oldish "High Mountain Info" Lindsay Griffin piece about Mauro "Bubu" Bole, who over several trips over several months in summer had redpointed a free route based around Manitua at about 7C as far as the Croz icefield. Although that ascent was not what really inspired me, a photo from a helicopter of Bubu crimping on to a blank 7C granite wall 700 metres up a big north face, tantalizingly close to the snow field of the croz really stood out as one of the wildest photos i'd ever seen, and made me aware of this crazy corner of the Jorasses.

Since then i have stared over at the wall from the Colton Mac, Walker and No Siesta, and it never fails to take my breath away.

A view from the Walker a few years ago. If you look real close you'll be able to spot the offwidth bivi.

Another shot from the Walker, albeit very tilted.

It seemed like as good a time as ever to get on the thing this week with a solid forecast, and relatively (for March) nice temperatures. Jon was keen and most importantly so was Geoff Unger, an American friend and guide living in Chamonix. Geoff has a decent amount of aid and walling experience behind him, but very little big alpine mileage, in fact this was to be Geoff's first north face. With a third person being absolutely crucial on a route like this, we felt that as a three we had the necessary skills and experience to give the route a good shot.

Geoff

Due to a very unfortunate slip about 2 hours away from the safety of the Boccalatte hut on our descent, one of our bags containing two cameras, several of Jon's SD cards, two sleeping bags, about 15 cams and some lesser stuff went for a long ride down the glacier never to be found, which is unfortunately reflected in this blog post by the photos starting at day 3.....but i will do my best to paint the scene leading up to that point.

Walking down the Midi arete i realised that i hadn't been on ski's since last June in Alaska, so with our huge bags full of aid kit and food for 5 days i clipped my Phantom 6000's in to my 150cm approach skis and took the Vallee Blanche easily down to the junction of the Leschaux glacier.

The approach from here was a sweaty one, dressed for a winter north face the sun beat down on us until we crept in to the shadow. Its such a weird feeling setting out on a route which will take a long time, you casually stroll over the schrund and it begins. When climbing a route such as this you don't just have to slow the pace of the climbing, you also have to slow the pace of your thinking, chopping it in to small stages, because if you start thinking about the last bit of the route, in 4 or 5 days time, it just seems too far away and unlikely to even contemplate.

That afternoon we climbed about 300 metres, up the Croz couloir then branched out across the ramp beneath the monolith. I led and Jon and Geoff followed with the big packs at a slow pace, until i found a small snowfield which looked like it would yield a bivi after some work. That night we spent on three small ledges a few metres apart, in partial sitting positions.

This is a shot from No Siesta, but we spent our first night on the face here, and the enxt day launched up the wall above. Currently it is much much drier than this.

It was crucial the next morning to get stuck in to the start of the difficulties as fast as we could, as we knew that to stand a good chance of reaching the Croz icefield on day three, we would have to fix a pitch above the bivi, to save time the next morning. So it was with much annoyance that we crawled along the horrible brittle black ice in the morning trying to access the start of the crack system. After an involved traverse in from the left, Jon reached the start of the crack system, and it was time to get the etriers out.

Immediately Geoff got going, lowering down in to the opposite corner, then back cleaning his way up level with us and then just kept going. A few pitches led us to the incredible "Offwidth Bivi". We hadn't had much practice before hand with regards to our hauling set up, but things had gone relatively smoothly, Geoff would fix the ropes, i'd jug the dynamic while wearing one of the big bags, cleaning the pitch and sorting the rack, while Jon would jug the free static and then haul the other big bag. We were going without a haul bag, which at times was a little scary, but with care it worked OK. Although not exactly mentally draining, jugging and hauling on these pitches was extremely physical and tiring.

Behind Jon is the offwidth that all three of us squeezed in to for the night.

While Jon started to excavate the Offwidth we would be sleeping in (just imagine sleeping inside a 40cm wide pipe), Geoff fixed the long first pitch of the next day. I have to say that that night was the most surreal bivi experience i've ever head. We could just and so fit three of us lying down in the offwidth, by shuffling to the very end and slightly overlapping heads/feet, but forget doing anything once in there, it was like sleeping in a straight jacket, and even my relatively narrow shoulders were squeezed against the sides of the crack all night. We took some good photos from inside the crack, its a shame no one will ever see them! It was a crazy feeling to be sleeping inside the mountain, halfway up such a wall and not tied in.....

The mornings were of course tough, cold and tired, my socks were also wet for the whole route after the warm ski in, and i never quite managed to dry them out. Geoff started jugging the free hanging static back up to the highpoint of the night before, while i jugged the dynamic, and cleaned the pitch which has some wild swings through a roof. Geoff however had the biggest wake up that morning when 4 metres away from the anchor, he found a serious core shot in the 11mm static.

Geoff jugging the static, while i clean the pitch from the dynamic.

We semi short fixed the next pitch, and i led off while Jon was still jugging the pitch before. A brilliant free pitch up a steep ramp for 50 or so metres with gut renching, base jumpable exposure. Flash pump while dealing with heinous rope drag on the steepest bit felt pretty wild straight out of bed.

Here we could finally see the last three pitches of aid climbing to the Croz icefield, the last one being the crux A3+ pitch. Jon put in an awesome effort jugging this diagonal pitch while wearing the heaviest bag, and joined Geoff and myself somewhat red-faced.

Myself jugging a pitch near the top of the shield.

The aid kept coming following a fantastic line through this phenomenal bastion overlooking the Colton Mac, and Geoff was ploughing through at a decent pace. These pitches were going diagonally leftwards, which resulted in some extremely scary swings on the static for me, while jugging and hauling. Jon would lower me out over the abyss with the big bag between my legs for maybe 20 metres until the anchor was directly above, and i could start jugging, then Jon would start cleaning.

Jugging and hauling fast so try and make as much ground as we could was pretty tiring.

Up until the last pitch, the aid was on the whole pretty straight forward. This pitch however was the infamous A3+/4 pitch with a snapped bolt, spicy slab and invisible bat-hook placement. It was hard to watch as Geoff worked at unlocking the sequence high above on the lip of the roof, it would be destroying to not make the Croz icefield that night. We could almost touch the thing, he was literally 5 metres away from it when he made a very unstable top-step move on a thin blade and fully extended attempted to poke a C3 in to an out of reach crack. Twice he came down hard on the pin on his etriers as his strength ran out. But third time lucky and we were through.

Geoff on the crux.

And again.

Another scary jug through thin, increasingly gloomy air saw us on the icefield. A big relief, above us the top third of the Croz spur looked like a dawdle in comparison. It was now late and pitch black, after cramponing up and sorting the ropes and huge rack, i traversed the whole breadth of the icefield in haste to find a cave/boulder feature i knew existed and thought we'd be able to dig out. After bringing the others across, a tiring digging session began until we all had a bum seat and the ordeal of sorting kit and melting snow could begin.

Dosing as we operated the stoves, we felt relieved that we were on easy ground, albeit with another cold night and big day (or two) still to come.

Third night on the face, Geoff falls asleep with his torch still on, while we melt snow.

The alarm went at 5.30 the next morning and the ritual of stoves, freeze dried mush, boots on, sleeping bags away and so on began. Jon led off up bullet hard black ice for about two rope lengths while myself and Geoff seconded with the big bags. The original way that Svetecic went to reach the croz spur took three moderate pitches of rock and placage to join the croz 200metres from the top at the breche on top of the tower. We decided that in its current, disgustingly dry state that this would be very unwise so we took the right side of the tower up on the Croz. This decision was confirmed as a good one when i looked down the pitches from the breche to see some horrible rotten rubble. Only one of the repeats i know of have repeated these three pitches, whether that was because of conditions i don't know.

100 metres of bullet hard ice to start day 4.

The big bags really hurt on the upper Croz.

The horribley dangerous top pitches were an unwelcome sting in the tail for our tired minds.

So close!

The day dragged on, with the big packs now full of all the excess rack crunching our shoulders and zapping our energy even more. I took over the lead again on the final tower (we went direct at the top of the Croz rather than the goullotte on the right which has become popular of late). I was shocked by how dangerous the climbing was, these last pitches do carry a reputation but i find it hard to believe that anyone could accept the risks currently on this section; tottering piles of jenga in steep grooves, which require you to pull on them rather than tip toe around. I downclimbed certain that if i went further a rope would be chopped or much much worse. I then traversed left in to a wide corner then broken spur which yielded two also loose, but justifiable pitches until i found myself standing on top on Pt croz with the sun on my face and the realisation that we'd just climbed Manitua. Well i say realisation, but i usually find these never actually sink in.

Can't quite believe it.

Another Jorasses descent dragged on and on, but could have been a lot worse if it wasn't for the firm snow. So close to the Moraine and Boccalatte hut a careless yet understandable mistake resulted in the aforementioned loss of a bag. A night of disturbed sleep and cramping muscles in the hut and another 4 hours of painful trudging and down climbing the next day saw three tired and dishevelled climbers stumble through the forest at Planpincieux on to the ski du fonde track, to the curious gazes of glamorous Italian families enjoying a saturday stroll.

Last Scottish Fling

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:06:00 +0000

Ten days ago i made my last trip up north to Scotland for this winter. Along with employees of Outdoor Research in the US who had come over from Seattle to see what all this scottish winter business is about, and the guys from the Mountain Boot Company in the UK, we spent 3 very soggy but fun days up on the Ben, staying in the CIC hut, which managed to keep its roof on for the duration of our stay.
On the first day we caught what might have been (but hopefully not) the last decent Scottish conditions in a while, and i had a great day climbing with Alex Kutches, the president of Outdoor Research, and Glyn Padget, sales director for OR in the North of england. We climbed Comb Gully Buttress in alpine conditions. I climbed this route years ago with one of my original climbing partners, and so the day was also a little nostalgic for myself.
The next couple of days were soggy to say the least, but i think the Americans left having had a "good" experience.

Alex Kutches, OR president, beginning to understand what is required of clothes in Scotland. Credit- Rich Bentley

As i say, that's Scotland over for me this year, but i had some great little trips with good friends and did some decent routes. I'm in Chamonix now, trying to sort myself out; find a new place to live, train, and hopefully climb some big stuff. And even start to think about big big stuff, a trip to Pakistan in the summer is starting to take shape.

Talk in Cockermouth

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:18:00 +0000

This Wednesday (the 15th), i will be giving a talk in Cockermouth about the world of hard alpine climbing. I will be talking about the fun times, the scary times, the cool places, the really cold places and all illustrated by awesome photos blown up on a projector for full impact.

If you're free, get yourself to the saints rooms http://www.saintsrooms.co.uk/ for 7pm. It should be a fun night.

More info here - http://www.saintsrooms.co.uk/contact-us/will-sim-talk/

International Meet

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:14:00 +0000

I've just returned from hosting at the international meet at Glenmore Lodge in Scotland. I'd always wanted to attend an international meet, as they always seem to be a fun week packed full of socialising, climbing hard and meeting interesting foreign climbers.
For me the week wasn't about trying to climb hard stuff, it was about making sure my guest had a great time, and would leave having had a great experience of Scottish climbing. It was therefore a pretty chilled week as far as climbing went.
When myself and Greg arrived on the Sunday night, we excitedly located the "partners board" so we could find out who we had the pleasure of tying in with the next day......

Takaaki "Taka" Negato was to be my first partner of the week, and i made sure the drinks flowed slower than usual that night, i needed strength, for the next day i was going to be tied in with a real life Giri Giri boy!! (albeit a severely jet lagged one)

Myself on Ventriloquist VII 7.

And on the spicy crack.

Taka walking up Auricle VI 7. Taka is one of the most stylish winter climbers i've climbed with, impeccable footwork whether on a grade 4 or grade 8.

Myself on the long second pitch of "Nocando Crack" VII 8, and Matej from Slovenia seconding "The Vicar" VII 8.

After 2 days everyone changed partners. I then climbed with the lovely Martina Kratochvilova from the Czech Republic for the remainder of the week. Unfortunately my camera became very temperamental for this period......but lots of fun was had, with routes done in the Gorms and on the Ben.

Martina, myself, Jen, Polish Guy, Rob and Matej try and escape the damp confines of Newtyle quarry. This was the only day too warm to climb.

Martina leading off on the Ben. So to avoid the crowds on No. 3 gully buttress, and to give Martina a "bigger" Ben experience, we climbed a line based on "Smooth Operator" VI 7, but taking the steep bits full on, so Martina could practice her fig 4's.....

Simon persuades the ladies that "White Goods" is the place to be. Other "Goods" crew members; Dave A and Dave G prop the bar up, and were the last standing on this night.

Last night antics, Nick gets an idea, Martina and Viv shield their eyes. (Not sure whats in my mouth?)

Driving past Carlisle on my way back to Cumbria i was greeted by a totally white mountain vista, so my plans for hanging up the axes for the next week may not follow through.

"The Gathering" movie.

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:47:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, Justin Tracey and Jenny Crook from "Reeltime Adventure" asked if it would be ok to film us on something. We were ok with this and so they came up to Lochain and shot us on "The Gathering".
Here's the end product, a great little movie which does the route justice.

The Gathering, VIII 9, Second Ascent from Jenny Crook on Vimeo.

A Change of Allegiances

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:54:00 +0000

Over the last three years, i have been been lucky enough to be supported by Marmot. This sponsorship has no doubt been key to allowing me to climb as much as i have since i left school, and i owe a lot of the mileage i currently have in the big mountains to this fact. Big thankyou to Marmot and especially Martin Panton, who has always offered good advice.
Recently however, i have been talking to the Mountain Boot Company (MBC), the distributor for OR, Scarpa and Grivel amongst other brands, and have decided to take up a sponsorship deal with them. This is exciting as these three brands in my opinion make some of the most advanced climbing gear in the world at the moment, and MBC are a company that are definitely going places, and are an ever increasing force within the UK. Looking forward to it.

Northern Corries

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:17:00 +0000

After the extended warm and wet period of the last two weeks, myself and Greg have packed the climbing in to the last two and a half days.
      On Friday we headed to Coire an Lochain, for what was a sociable day with many friends. Adam, Greg and myself climbed "Daddy Longlegs" VIII 9 and "Fallout Corner" VI 7, and i soloed something easy in-between.
      On Saturday myself and Greg were tempted in to Sneachda to look at something new, but on arrival we deemed it out of condition so walked back over to Lochain and climbed "The Gathering" VIII/IX 9, which was a great route.
       On Sunday we had a late start, and arrived in the corrie to see a lot of black rock. Just for the sake of doing something, we climbed a line at the very top of Y gully left hand. It looked a bit scrappy but it was something to do. I won "rock paper scissors" and headed up, soon realising that rather than being scrappy, it was in fact an incredible quality, long pitch of climbing. Nothing hard, and with good gear. Not sure if its an existing route or not, but probably one of the best pitches of 6/7 i've done in Scotland.

Greg on the great first pitch of Daddy Longlegs

And again, the tricky move on this pitch is just above Greg.

Myself on the crux pitch, which starts with a wide boulder problem.

And again.

And higher on the same pitch. Credit: Mark Chadwick.

Adam on Fallout.

Greg cruxing on "The Gathering"

And again Credit: Justin Tracey - Reeltime Adventure.

Myself on the awkward crack and groove of pitch 2.

And higher up the same pitch Credit: Justin Tracey - Reeltime Adventure.

Myself on the brilliant route we did on Sunday, which tops out on the RH side of the cornice, just left of Grumbling Grooves.

Its been great over the last few days to hang out with Charly and Matthias, two Austrian climbers i first met last year in Patagonia. Its brilliant to see such talented foreign climbers enjoy Scottish climbing. Ive seen some phenomenal climbers climb, but Charly is definitely up there amongst the very most impressive.

Charly casually onsighting "Torchlight" at Birnham yesterday

It was great to blow away the Christmas cobwebs, and i'm now really looking forward to the international meet next week. Although slightly jealous of what Mr Griffith got done at the weekend!...

On t' farm

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:25:00 +0000

I got an email from someone the other day asking about jobs in Chamonix. After writing as helpful a reply as i could, (which must have read quite depressingly....), i got to thinking just how incredibly lucky i am to have a job that i can come back to, almost as little or as much as i want when in the UK.
         John, the farmer i have worked for on and off since school days is a bit of a legend. This November i basically said to him i wanted to work as much as i possibly could, until it got cold in Scotland when i'd want to be climbing, he said OK and that was that. Although it doesn't always work out as well as that, and there are times when not much work is going, i don't think there can be many jobs around where you can do that!
          Farm work is physical, interesting, varied and as far as casual work goes, well payed. Over christmas we've been keeping the farm ticking over, and i've been milking every day which has timed well with the warm and wet mingfest that Scotland is currently undergoing.
       The forecast is looking better for next week, time to head north again i think!

Id drive tractors over tranfer vans any day! literally.

The cows aren't usually covered in this much shit, they've just been refusing to lie on their mats recently.

Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:18:00 +0000

With tales of metre deep powder day after day from friends in Cham, i should be very jealous sitting here in the unseasonably warm UK. The promise of more great routes in Scotland in January however is keeping me quite sane. Although i have been getting some flashbacks of swooping between trees, mind-numbing face-shots, and the excitement of first lift up the midi, running out of the lift like a pack of grey-hounds after a rabbit.

I remember last winter, some friends went off to the Dolomites in search of the legendary limestone couloirs (very different to granite couloirs) found there. It wasn't until i saw this movie of their trip that i understood what they'd gone looking for. Check it out, it will make you jealous.

Dolomiti from Felix Hentz on Vimeo.

Lochnagar

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:16:00 +0000

Just back from another great trip with Greg. This time we headed to Lochnagar, intent on a particular route. Unfortunately that didn't all go to plan, but the climbing we did and the consolation route were easily equal to anything i was expecting of the day.

Neither of us had been to Lochnagar before, so it was another fully "onsight" day. An icy drive, dodging deer rabbits and ptarmigan up Glen Muick saw us bedded down in Greg's car at the road head.
We timed the walk in pretty well, as it was just getting light when we dropped down from the col in to the corrie. "Crazy Sorrow", which goes through a large overlap on the Tough-Brown face was quickly identified and we started to brake a trail in its direction.

A spacious car, the key to a good Scottish winter.

I must say i wasn't particularly impressed with the line. Mullin obviously wanted to find a roof that he could monkey over on axes - there's nothing wrong with that! - but there seemed to be far better lines on the face. With this in mind, i thought it would be cool to climb a more direct start to the route, adding some climbing and line. A slither of ice visible halfway up the initial slab gave me something to aim for, and resulted in a brilliant, delicate pitch of bold 7.

On the first pitch, reaching the ice after some thin moves.

Greg pulled up to the roof on pitch two and started to work out the moves. There was clearly going to be a lot of luck involved in the sequence, the kind of thing that you can get right or get wrong, and if you get it wrong you'd be very lucky to stay on. After some climbing up and down, he committed and took a small fall on to the bomber peg, which is at waist height.
After a couple more looks, combined with myself leaning out to see above on the slab, we concurred that there was zero ice on the slab above, which is clearly visible in photos we'd seen of Pete and Guy's ascent, which was the first true ascent. With this evidently being a crucial condition needed for this pitch (and by the sounds of it the next one also), we decided to rap off and go find something else to climb.

Eyeing up pitch 2.

After a short flick through the guide, we searched for a fun sounding route nearby. "Scarface Wall" fitted the bill and we set off up Raeburn's to find it.
The route was great, but not straightforward, with huge amounts of snow. After a quick "Rock Paper Scissors" i took pitch one, tenuous climbing on bad gear. Greg took the next pitch, which had a pull on to a ledge that led to a thin move in to the next groove.

Pitch 1 of Scarface Wall VIII 8, lots of annoying snow stuck to this pitch!

Pitch 2, a steep pull on to the snowy ledge on the left, which is then traversed.

I then took pitch three, which was an awkward diagonal crack, with a scary loose block at the top (extra scary when you hook both sides of it and it starts to lever off!).
At this point, with all the independent pitches done, and where our route joined another, we decided to rap in to Raeburns and down climb that, so we could get back to our bags swiftly.

Another great day! i thought Lochnagar as a crag was awesome, with a pretty mellow approach. I remember reading about Eagle Ridge in cold climbs when i was younger, and ever since then Lochnagar stuck in my mind as a seminal Scottish cliff. I'm pleased i've now been there.
Its getting soggy and warm over the next few days, so i've headed south to Cumbria, where i'll be for Christmas, working when i can, and training (and eating and drinking) when i can't! Mega psyched for more Scottish action in January!

Stone Temple Pilots

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:53:00 +0000

After last week's routes myself and Greg had a real yearning to do something big. Maybe its the alpinist in me, but i really like the idea of routes which have a bigger feeling than just cragging. Scottish mixed climbing has to be one of the most time consuming and energy-absorbing types of climbing i know of metre for metre, so i was motivated to try something long with hard pitches.
         Discussing what to go for, we went through the decision process something like this; lets go do something in the North West - lets do The God Delusion - lets do something on Shelterstone so we know the crag ready for "Temple Pilots" in the future- fuck it, lets just do "Stone Temple Pilots"
          Good weather and an 86% moonphase was on our side, but we were very aware that neither of us had been to the crag before and there was going to be a lot of hard climbing.
          We left the car at 3.30am and broke a not-too-deep trail up and over from Sneachda in to the Loch Avon basin and across to the crag, stashing one bag and some kit half way. Greg set off up the first pitch at about 6.30 in pitch black and fairly heavy snow. By the time i'd seconded it it was light, and i led through in to the corner above which was great fun technical climbing.

Greg setting off on pitch 1 in quite heavy snow at 6.30am.

Myself seconding the same pitch.

The linking groove of pitch 2.

Some easyish ground and a boulder problem led to the crux wall which Greg slowly but confidently dealt with. I must say that Greg is a total animal at the moment.

The higher you go on this route the steeper it gets.

Myself on the crux pitch. Very steep and sustained but with mostly sinker hooks.

A techy and insecure feeling slab.

The next few pitches we have no photos of, which is a real shame because it was some of the meatiest climbing. Greg lead a steep crack and techy traverse which led to a turfy groove for 30 metres. After realising that he was belayed in the wrong place, i didn't follow all the way to the belay, and instead lead up right back on route.
Now dark, and with tired cramping muscles, the next pitch looked pretty full on. I started up it feeling weak but felt better once committed, a brilliant sustained pitch (photo from Pete and Guy here- http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=165064) which completely wasted me.

Greg eyeing up the very hard 4 metres above, on the last pitch.

Chuffed but feeling a little fried on top.

What a route, just totally awesome, and very intense. I'm pretty inexperienced with regards to top level Scottish mixed, we both thought that the X grade was pretty big sounding. Having now done the route both myself and Greg can certainly see why the route gets the grade. That many pitches of VIII and harder certainly equate to something much harder than the pitches themselves.
Awesome job Pete and Guy putting up such a great route. Some brilliant route-finding.

A Good Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:07:00 +0000

I just stumbled upon this http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=38888&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter , its an interview with a friend from Chamonix called Korra. Korra is a very modest, very impressive climber. His humble, soft voice i find inspiring whenever we chat.

Mixte Ecossaise

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 11:55:00 +0000

For the last few weeks i've mostly been working on the farm, my usual job when in the UK, milking cows, shoveling shit and enjoying my Mum's cooking. I find that November is a good time to be working in the UK, as there's not much going on alps-wise and there's always Scotland to provide a fix. I've decided that this year i'm going to try and be Cumbrian/Scottish based until at least the end of January, when i'm hosting at the international meet. This way i can get properly stuck in, rather than climbing a route or two then dissapearing to climb big stuff. Scotland is awesome, i have always loved the place, the weird and wonderful style of climbing, and its great to get involved with something that has a real energy and exciting vibe about it at the moment, and which is undoubtedly going through a period of accelerated progression.
I have lots of plans and ideas for the next couple months, and myself and Greg Boswell, along with James Dunn got off to a good start this week. I drove up to Greg's with an open mind, and within a few minutes we had a great plan revolving around the Ben, even if the forecast was pretty dire!

On the way we climbed "Defenders Of The Faith" IX 9 on Beinn Dorain. It was a great route, even though it was just one main pitch on a pretty much roadside crag. Greg was super steady, in fact i'd say he cruised it.

Greg resting on Defenders.

I expect this one will become a proper classic, similar in popularity to the neighbouring "Messiah", a super fun VII (but which i think is more realistically a steady VI).

After the obligatory chip shop stop in the Fort we walked up to the CIC on the Ben that night. After a failed mission to drive my car up to the top car park, we broke a trail through a white-out and arrived a bit late at the hut.

The next day we headed up to the Echo wall area in very high winds and deep snow. After an abbortive atempt of something new and cool looking we settled for the "Great Chimney" which was no pushover in heavy spindrift.

The Great Chimney

Thursday we dubbed "escape from the CIC", as this is what we tried to do. The hurricane hit hard, and when we looked out the window and saw debris blowing up towards the Orion Face, we investigated the outside of the hut, only to see the whole of one side of the roof missing.
As the hut got wetter and wetter we decided to make a run for it. We only made it 50 metres, getting picked up and thrown back several metres by the wind before we could even cross the river!
We resided in the hut for the rest of the day, hoping that we'd manage to get something done once the hurricane had blown over!

Passing time durring the storm, some time around the time of this shot was when the roof came off.

We woke to a still, cold morning and broke a trail through heavy windslab to the base of No.3 gully buttress. We had decided to do "Knuckleduster" a summer HVS which a few years ago Blaire Fyffe and Steve Ashworth climbed the first two pitches of under winter conditions, giving it VIII 9, before trending of rightwards. We thought it would be cool to climb the whole line.

Myself on the great first pitch, heavy glazing made gear hard work.

Greg on the crux, this pitch is only about 15 metres, but packs a punch.

Pitch three, looking for the 4c crack.

Found it.

Greg charging up the short top pitch in the dark.

After the second pitch, we decided to follow the line, rather than veering off rightwards. I went straight up from the iffy belay, placed a high runner then made a fun move around the arete to a steep wall, where a 4c crack split its right side. The pitch was totally awesome and sustained with some spaced out feet.
Greg swiftly led the short top pitch in the dark, and we rapped "Winter Chimney" before making a tentative descent down a loaded No. 3 gully. I'd say "Knuckleduster" is a top drawer route, with sustained and brilliant climbing, get yourself on it!

Robin Clothier assessing the damage yesterday morning.

So, a fun few days. I'm in Cumbria at the moment, but will be headed back north as soon as i've done a little more work.

Talks

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 11:28:00 +0000

             I've just done the last of a few talks/lectures i had planned for this month. I've found it extremely rewarding and fun to talk about what i do to people who's understandings of who i am and what climbing is vary from extensive to zero.
          Its been really fascinating to see how the talk is absorbed by both the climber and the none-climber in an almost equal measure, and although extremely cheesy to say it, it has been very pleasing to have someone come up to you at the end and say they were "inspired".
     Although i'm now in danger of sounding like the kind of person who normally i would be intensely annoyed by, i have to say that.......this brief insight in to spreading my fascination and enthusiasm in climbing has shown me that one of the missing parts in the jigsaw, that for me has to be looking a little more complete to be convinced that climbing is an entirely meaningful and worthwhile thing to be involved with in an all-consuming way, has just began to fall in to place. It is possible for other people to "get" the very specialist area of climbing that is Alpinism, and even if not interested in partaking in it, people find it uplifting to hear about.
         The last talk i did, i was asked to talk for 20 minutes as an after-dinner thing for a Manchester based mountaineering club. One thing that became apparent was that talking for short times is much harder than talking for longer, as when you are talking you have no sense of time, and when talking for twenty minutes, you have to time it so that you feel like you've only been going for about 30 seconds!!

Some things i've been talking about:

St.Bees, my original playground and a very special place.

Precarious living on some of the Alp's hardest lines.

How to climb the Eiger North Face in a day.

The story behind this photo.

Patagonian faces.

And what it feels like to be completely wasted with no back-up plan.

Talking is something i'm hoping to do a lot more of in the future, so please spread the word. Whether it be for a club function, a general gathering of people, a school etc. please get in touch. Email: willstrjumpking@hotmail.co.uk .

On Saturday i took a day off from the farm i work at when i'm in the UK, and went along to the Alpine Club China symposium in Shap. Much was learnt about this fascinating area and many ideas were wizzing around my mind on the drive home. Talks from Bruce Normand on Edgar and Chris Bonington on Kongur were my favourites. But definitely the most fascinating part for me was sitting with Bruce and his laptop for a couple of hours afterwards, looking at hundreds of unique photos he possesses from his travels in the Chinese mountains. This guy knows a lot.....

Cumbrian winter ethics.

noreply@blogger.com (Will Sim) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:34:00 +0000

There's a lot of exciting energy bounding around the UK at the moment, regarding what could be a very significant Scottish winter season. Its an exciting time, with this particular climbing sub-discipline going though much progression and change.

Where are we going to be at come April 2012? is it going to be normal to walk in to the Ben in fruitoots? Will you be laughed at when you own up to "only" climbing grade VII? Will there be guerrilla warfare in Cumbria, with anti-toolers guarding Gable with de-icer?

Its exciting to watch this particular "discipline" evolve. Although great fun, its also important to remember that Scottish mixed style climbing, especially in the harder grades is ultimately an extremely contrived game (not that climbing isn't already....), and just a bit of fun.
Its interesting to step back from the people endlessly debating the conflicting issues surrounding it (which sure as fate, will never be happily resolved), and take a look through some humour tinted glasses, as this movie does perfectly.