Topping out on the Wills Brown Couloir

Look for the obvious line in the centre of the photo and that'd be the couloir... about grade 4. 6 pitches of 60m (3 of 70-80 degree ice). Height at top of route 4242m.

BIG THANKS

Massive huuge thanks must go out to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, the Mount Everest Foundation, Expedition Foods and Sam at Wykeham Adventure Sports for making this all happen, we couldn't have done without your financial support, excellent kit and high energy sustenance (hurrah for Biscuit Fruit/Brown!).

It was an adventure, an incredible experience and it has definitely whetted all our appetites for more expeditions in the future. Indeed; it was brill!

Photos!

Back from the ooloo

Well it's been an interesting few weeks.... we've chugged along dirt tracks, truck-surfed, been turfed out of our intended climbing area by hunters, ended up in the Western Kok Shaal Too, then At Bashi range, clambered a lot above 4-5000m by a variety of means and set a few rather ace routes on snow, ice and rock.


The mountains have been spectacular, the locals friendly (ooh, except for the hunters...), the fermented mare's milk lip-smackingly good (wouldn't you agree Vanessa :)) and we've managed to have a great laugh on the way (not always that dignified I'm afraid).


Photos take years to download here. So wait out until I get back to the UK and I'll post some shots up for all to enjoy.

It's been excellent everyone. Cheers for such good times :).

Bishkek

Finaly we all made it too Bishkek with a few days to gather supplies, relaxe and watch the national goegraphic channel (the only english tv programme). We have Been in touch with the ITMC and evertthing is going to schedual-ish.

We are all in Bishkek

We have all arrived to Bishkek safe and sound. Sari travelled from Osh (Southern Kyrgyzstan), Sally flew from Heathrow, Eddie missed his flight and spent 36 hours in Heathrow but finally managed to get here and Vanessa found her way from the Down Under. So everything is well and we are all enjoying the beautiful Bishkek and its cafes and restaurants while getting exped things together...

But the ever so annoying visas... Due to the incorrect advice by visa officials in UK, Eddie is the only one with Kazakhstan transit visa to travel home (long story short - he missed his flight while running to visit the Kazahkstan embassy to get his visa...), Sari and Sally just managed to get the visa on their passports after 3 day wait in Bishkek and we hope that Vanessa can sort it out after the exped. Sally is still missing her Kyrgyzstan visa extension but that should be sorted by the embassy while we are on the expedition...

All in all everything is good. We are packing the van today with food and climbing gear and meeting our cook, porter and the driver. On Saturday morning its all go-go. We aim to leave 9am to Naryn, our tomorrows destination that is about 6 hours drive away on a reasonable road. From Naryn onwards to Borkoldoi... its all an adventure, who knows what the roads are like (or if we can even get through!)

We are all very positive about the exped and very eager to head to the mountains. All research and preparations have been made and we have several maps and previous years trip reports with us. First ascents and new routes here we come!

Sari

Bishkek

I have arrived in Bishkek and successfully met up with Sari; after pounding on the door of the flat at 0600hrs (i hope she forgives me...).

The drive from Almaty was pretty uneventful and the landing only a bit wobbly. We are now having fun with visa extensions/additional transit visas... and waiting for Eddy and Vanessa to arrive.

We met with Margarita of ITMC today and looked at our menu and chatted about other options and whether we provided toilet paper or they did.....fascinating (yet rather important) stuff!

The flat is fab and an option i highly recommend - much much cheaper and if you can get past the decor - it has 4 beds in total (if you count the sofa bed) air con, a kitchen, great shower and bath with a balcony for drying kit out on (all for 35 Euros a night), nay bad.

fingers crossed for the visas; just a few loose ends to tie up before we pack up the truck and head towards Naryn and our mountain valley destination in the Borkoldoi.

Lenin Peak Summited

Sari and her climbing partner Artturi Kroger from Finland have summited Lenin Peak (7134m) in the Pamirs in Kyrgyzstan. The team summited Lenin 26th July at 3pm after 10-11 hours climb from the camp 3.

Great start for the Kara Gakar Expedition 2009!

We are now a team of 4....

Well, some bad news; unfortunately Mike is no longer able to join us on our exped. We are all gutted as Mike has been such a big part of the build up and a mainstay of the planning, as well as a darn good friend. I'm sad that we will have lost his cheeky grin and ability to turn everything into an epic (well maybe not so sad about that....).

Hope it gets better chick.

In Arolla

I flew out to the Alps on the 5th, arriving in Geneva at 7pm, on a sunday. Not even Swiss public transport was good enough to get me to Arolla that night, but the guides on my course were. Paul had also just flown in and ended up sharing his van with me. The course started at 9 the next day and I was introduced to Carry and Sam who with me would be guided by Phil where we headed out to a dry glacier to practice our cramp-on technique and crevasse rescue along with a little exploration down into the depths of the ice world.

We walked up to the Marie rose hut in good weather the next day, only to walk down due to bad weather but we still learnt a lot, braking trail ain't easy. The next outing seemed to be more promising as we walked towards the Dix hut working our war along a ridge as we went. The Dix hut has a stunning position looking at the north face of the Mont Blanc de Chelion. From here we headed up the Pigne d'Arolla on great crisp snow.

I next traveled to Saas to meet up with Sally and we would prove to have a successful 8 days exploring both sides of the valley.

Fun and frolics in Saas Grund, Switzerland

Well its been 10 days of excellent climbing and gaining new heights!  Eddy had 5 days of Alpine intro course in Arolla which he thoroughly enjoyed, and no doubt he'll write a few words of his own.  We bumped into each other in Saas Grund at the Mischabel Camp site - Grita - thanks so much you and yours were just lovely! I thoroughly loved the freshly baked croissants delivered each morning...

We got a little multipitch climbing done in the valley, played on the Mittaghorn via ferrata as a warm up, then wandered up to the Almageller hut to do the Weissmies (4027m) by the South South East ridge early the next morning and over to Hohsaas.  It was a little thundery so instead of doing the Lagginhorn we walked down to Kreuzboden and rode monster bikes down.

The weather looked better the next day so we grabbed our window with both hands and decided to go for the Lenspitz (4294m)/Nadelhorn (4327m) traverse.  This involves a 2km walk-in with 1500m of height gain...to the Mischabel hut.  This was a hut which we had spied from the Mittaghorn, and mountain lust had set in on both Eddy and I's account.  This is a fine fine spot, which I highly recommend to anyone without a fear of heights.  It is a stunningly situated hut, with a gruff bluff warden who has a heart of gold.  He watched us with his binos and fed us without complaint on our late return. An Italian guide had died on the descent a week earlier so we were really careful when we made our way back down to our tents.

The route we did was essentially two AD routes strung together, the traverse is especially compact, consistent and enjoyable, and the descent from the Nadlehorn is swift. We wandered up for about 0345hrs and the sky was clear and sparkled, and then the mountains turn to red. A very good day (although I did drop my water bottle... oops?).

It was an stunning trip and a brilliant warm up for the exped, and we left as storms deposited a heavy dusting of snow at 2000m, perfect timing!  

Sari's away! and the freight and Eddy, and me...

Well our first departure is upon us. Sari leaves the UK tomorrow to begin yet another exciting phase of her already adventurous year. She will be flying to Almaty KAZ on Monday and should arrive in Kyrgyzstan by Tuesday. There she will put the group kit into ITMC storage and set off on some mountain orientated trip no doubt. We will then meet her in Bishkek at the beginning of August: ruddy faced and mountain fit :).

Out freight also flies out on the same day! Thanks expedition foods for all your assistance and patience. It has taken us a few forms to fill in and a fair amount of tail chasing but we have gotten half way there. Now all we need to be able to do is pick up our stuff at the other end... without having to cut off an arm and a leg.

Eddy is off to the Alps tomorrow as well (it's a busy week!) to start his Conville Alpine training course. And I will be meeting him shortly afterwards in Saas Grund for about 10 days of Alpine fun (weather permitting).

Mike has done an excellent job of divvying up the group kit and will hopefully get some decent Lakes weather during July. And he looked a little like a pin cushion on Friday after seeming to get most of his jabs in a 1er...

And both he and Vanessa got their passports back after entrusting them to me.
Phew.

Vanessa has been sending us various gems of Med advice via email and keeping us in the loop with altitude issues.

Only a month to go now....

Sal..

Exped prep update

Kyrgyz visas have been stamped on our passports, we are waiting out on our Kaz transit visas, ITMC has all our details and are now preparing our permits for travel in the Borkoldoi region. Expedition Foods has provided us with a fab menu and are freighting the dehydrated foodstuffs to Bishkek for us. The ropes have arrived from Sam at Wykeham Adventure, 4 x Beal Cobra II 8.7mm 60m Golden Dry, and 2 x Booster III 9.7mm 60m Golden Dry . Very nice. And all of the above have been paid for, phew.

Everyone has the right kind of insurance and their flights; we have 4 x 15 kilo sports bags booked to supplement our weight allowance. I spent the evening figuring out all the weights of our equipment (did you know that the average thermal base layer weighs 320g? fascinating stuff) and putting the info in a table so that Mike can allocate who carries what this week. Eddy has been set the fun challenge of finding reasonable yet easy-on-the-pocket accommodation, and ITMC have been warned off to collect our freight and the customs and excise figured out (not cheap!). Vanessa is gathering all the components of our med kit to bring across from Oz, and luckily can write her own letters of permission for the drugs etc (since she is one!).

So it is all still ticking over, vaccinations and diamox need to be sorted out, the group kit distributed and our new ropes gently used a little before departure (kid gloves - no falls please) to get the kinks out and see how they run. The Booster III are meant to be surprisingly slick despite the relatively high diameter and require skilled handling.
Happy days, even if it is lashing down outside.

S'all sport

Portland, Spain and Devon, all very good for climbing. Mixing good Friends and relatives for company.

In Weymouth my grandparents put me up for a few days and despite changeable weather I had a very enjoyable time. when the weather was bad I sat and played games, pick up sticks is a strong choice, and if it was good we went out to Portland and clambered around.

Spain provided much more consistent weather which meant much more climbing, it also meant swimming, siestas and barbeque's. All this in the name of training, I feel dedicated. The whole region of Costa Blanca is amazing for climbing and I feel I have only scratched the surface. A return trip in the winter is high on my list of priorities.

Right now I'm sitting in Devon, Bideford, planning, plotting and most importantly climbing. I have now been offered a place on the Alpine Apprenticeship course thanks to the Benjamin Brabner Memorial Fund in July. If you want to read more go here.

What everyone is up to...

Mike is back from Norway (and coinicidentally, living 5 minutes walk from Sally's house on Ullswater!); Sally is back in the Lakes concentrating on her dissertation (the development of a climbing guide book to Morocco); Ed is off swanning, sorry, training hard, in the Costa Blanca; Sari is on a climbing road trip through Europe and is now in the Dolomites after 10 days in the Verdon Gorge... and Vanessa is enjoying the onset of winter in Victoria, Oz.

We're a busy bunch. :)

Snow on the Cumbrian fells in June....

Well, before the rain started on Friday we (Sally and a mate called Brains (yeah, I know...)) had an perfect week of climbing goodness. I played in North Wales with friends at the weekend on Llechog and Cromlech, followed by an unparalleled 4 days of stunning weather in the Lakes.

We bagged excellent routes on Black Crag, Gimmer, Dow and Shepherd's. Eliminate A, Murray's Direct and Fisher's folly to name only a few. And oh how gorgeous is North West Arete on Gimmer!

This was all interspersed with great coffee, awesome breakfasts and a little gear shopping.

happy sigh.

oh and to top it off, at the very end of the week after highs of 26 degrees centigrade plus, we had snow on the fell tops, an arctic low and very heavy rain. I love the variety of British weather!

Sally's Bank Holiday weekend

Last weekend was a stunner. I spent it in the lakes catching up with old friends and climbing classics.

Saturday started off rainy, miserable and pretty horrible so we elected to go for a jaunt up Launchy Ghyll in Thirlmere. A smasher of a grade 3 scramble; you are guaranteed to get wet from head to toe and no walk in. I introduced the guys (Russ and Gillie) to the joys of socks over your shoes - i for some unknown reason had a about 4 pairs of old holey ones in the car... We didn't take many photos because, well, it was rather wet.

Afterwards we warmed up, changed our clothes and had some great coffee with warm chocolate muffins at Good Taste in Keswick. Then we wandered over the Borrowdale to see how dry Black crag was looking. Well, it kind of drizzled but mostly it was warm and sunny, but we still popped up Troutdale Pinnacle and there wasn't a queue. Lovely stuff.

After a boogietastic night out in Ambleside we staggered to Shepherd's crag on Sunday (after about 3 hours snooze) where we proceeded to have all sorts of fun. I thrashed my way in bad style up behind Ed's graceful and smooth ascent of M.G.C. The sun blazed down on us all day.

Then on Monday as the weather just kept on giving - sunburnt shoulders and freckles galore - we headed to Langdale for a bit of easy classic fun on Gimmer (the last time I had been there I had been dragged up numb hands in the wet up Intern...brrr.). We popped up via Middlefell buttress, wandered across and bagged Ash Tree Slabs and D Route. I truly enjoyed D Route - what a fab severe!

Later that evening we discovered an amazing veggie restaurant (and i'm no fan of no meat) called Fellini's in Ambleside. And the joy's of an up and coming Red wine (grape: nero d'avola) from Sicily, wow. I was sold.

I'm sun browned, food sated and blissed out. Good times.

Sally B

Sally is interviewed.

I would like to report, albeit a tad tardily, that Sally has been interviewed by the Herald for winning an award from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. Click on the photo for a larger image.

Six days at PYB

Plas Y Brenin is a fantastic place with great instructors, Carlo, Tamsin and Paul but the most impressive thing of all was the wonderful spread of food supplied to us. Forgetting the training a regular day consisted of up at 8 for toast and tea followed by a full English (2 sausage, 2 bacon, 2 hash brown, 2 fried eggs and some backed beans) and then some cereal. 9.15 We would look at the weather and decided where we were going to go. 11ish would be mid morning snack provided by pyb in packed lunch form, we would then sporadically snack on the left over till about 2. 5 was the glorious tea and cake time, no matter what we were doing we always made it back for tea and cakes before a de brief and some class room based revision. At 7 diner was served, the started was a home made soup with bread rolls followed by the main course and pudding. To finish the day I would go bouldering with some guys from the group, Alex, Charlie, John, Neil, Ian and Richard. If the weather was nice we went to RAC boulders or if it was bad at pyb’s wall which had a free duke box and a friendly atmosphere. So even before we talk about getting into the hills there was a lot to fit into a day and the work on the hills was invaluable and most of all enjoyable.

The only way is up.

Eddy

Thanks to the Mount Everest Foundation

Sally has managed to persude the Mount Everest Foundation to give the expedition some gratefully received funding. Thank-you to all the folk at the MEF, we promise not to spend (all) the money on beer.

In return we will deliver a report to the MEF, which will appear on their website around 2010.

Sally's Feet!

Just couldn't help myself. Check out this link to see my feet earning a new gortex jacket in the Dolomites. It is the first of the new promotional stuff - I think that there is some sort campaign launching in June; but until then, let these 2 photos whet your fancy!

A Scottish Shindig- Mike's memories

Sally, Eddy and I have recently spent 2 weeks in Scotland, climbing, scrambling and getting to know each other a bit better. Unfortunately Sari and Vanessa were unable to join us with work and several thousand miles getting in the way.

Eddy has gone backwards in time to relate his experience. I shall try to move forwards.

Day 1. After a bimble up Aladdin’s Mirror and down his couloir I met Sally in a coffee shop in Aviemore and learned not to let her get anywhere near laptops or other electrical equipment. Eddy turned up later by train and the party commenced.
Day 2. Sally, Eddy and I headed out to Corrie nan Lochan for a session on self arrest, digging holes and then to try a route. Milky Way looked in and despite being full of wet unconsolidated snow gave 2 reasonable pitches. Neil and Caroline joined us for the digging and sliding then went up the central couloir.

Day 3. Crap weather persuaded us to follow the advice of the nice folk in Cairngorm Mountain Sports and we all headed over to Cummingston for a gentle day of seaside cragging. Eddy was seen to climb in his slippers!

Day 4. Fort William was warm with a sea level temp of 9 degrees. Eddy and Steve headed off to the Ice Factor, Sally, Carolina and Beth went for a walk and Neil did something else. I had a relaxing day in the sun fixing odd faults on Sally’s car.
Day 5. After an hour or so working on bucket seats, buried axes and stomper belays, Eddy, Beth and I slogged up Observatory gully to the base of Tower Scoop. The freezing level was higher than forecast, recently fallen wet snow was sloughing and sliding and bits of cornice were tumbling down, all of which contributed to a decision to abb off after the first pitch and head home.

Day 5. Buachaille Etive Mor North Buttress and Agag’s groove were the venues for today’s fun and frolics. Awesome scrambling, great views and fine company.
Day 6. “This is smaller than I thought, we should get 2 routes in” “That pitch was the most mentally challenging climbing I’ve ever done” 2 quotes, 1 man, 1 route. Oh deluded eyes, overconfident toes. Slow careful padding. Eddy and I started up the Pause on Etive slabs around lunchtime and so began our ordeal of dry rock, slippery rock, comfortable belays, overlaps, freezing belays, blank rock, off-route, shivering, blanker slabs, wetter slabs and a final god given gear filled hold festooned corner. 9 hours. Thank you Roy and Sally for waiting so patiently, and to the guys who found my sadly broken camera.
Day 7. Resssss……zzzzt…….
Day 8. Rannoch Wall, B.E.M. Superlative rock, awesome positions, and sadly a goodbye to Sally, who headed home to resurrect her fizzed out laptop and save her MA!
Day 9.Chill, shop, slippers and a new camera!
Day 10. Glen Nevis, a different type of rock, sunburn and a rope that is now a bit shorter.
Day 11. Tower Ridge. Beaut! We appeared to be the only folk on the ridge which was just as well, my guts being in pretty poor shape. Strong winds followed us all day. Words will not do justice to the effect of sunshine, warm dry rock and solid snow where folk had gone before. Eddy attempted to set up a tyrolean over the Gap, but Paul and I elected to cross the normal way.
Day 12. The Boke.

So after a great 2 weeks up north, we know each other better and the day moves nearer.

12 weeks to go.

20 days and 1500 miles

This is a brief account of what I have been doing for the past few weeks and I’m writing this going backwards in time as I find it easier to remember that way.

For the past 20 days I have travelled from Avimore to Portland in search of trad, sport, scrambling and ice climbing. Using public transport and a little help from Sally, Bruce, Roy and my Dad, I’ve had 14 days climbing. The most recent of which was a trip to Portland where we were blessed by its micro climate giving us sunny but windy weather. The first day consisted mostly of getting used to the sharp overhanging rock, in the morning I flashed The Sod and after a few falls I got up Mindmeld. That afternoon the sea made its power felt so the deep water soloing was reconsidered. We went to Neddyfeilds area the next day with quality easy access climbing. Here The Accelerator was on sighted after some encouragement and Nameless after a few falls on the main cliff. After some nourishment I moved up to the boulder wall above the cliff and found out Pete, founder of Pete’s groove and Pete’s rib had a good eye for a line.

Three days were then spent travelling, reading and catching up with some emails when I could find time. I had a day to spare in the Peak and after a night drinking to the demise of Jasper my loyal dog I didn’t start early but I got to Newstones around mid day. My Dad and our dumb but fun dog Rupert joined me bouldering. The gritsone gave me a reminder I’m only human and Rupert played in the heather and rabbit holes. The Sly Stallone dyno was light relief and the awkward slab by it relaxing after the long routes in the mountains.

Rewind another 2 days for travelling and I’m in a lovely little wooden house facing Loch Linnhe being entertained by Bruce and Bruce aka Mike and Paul. From the 13^th to the 21^st this had been my base, 3 of these days where spent doing constructive tasks like creating a raft out of 2 recycling bins, a push bike, some wood, what we can find on the beach and lots of string. The result was a majestic beast called a Boke (boat bike). The other 3 were spent cragging on The Bauchaille north buttress, Glen Nevis Cavalry Buttress and the Etive moor slab and each provided their own entertainment. Agag’s Groove and January Jigsaw provided some good consistent climbing with The Pause and Mainbrace being great fun climbing in interesting positions. One day was spent on Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis and what a beautiful day it was! On the walk in the peaks shining through the mist as the sun glinted off the snow at the top, then climbing up to the base of the scramble emerging into a clear blue sky with the clouds below us lapping at the gullies. The route was mostly rock by this point but higher up some mixed terrain was encountered and the snow was in great condition so we summated with relative ease.

A few days earlier whilst we were staying in Corpach we had attempted to gain the summit but decided against it after watching 2 avalanches happen around us, though Steve and Carolina had managed to beat the rise in temperature and got up early and succeeded. After There initial early morning success the pair started again up Agag’s Groove. Those that wished for bacon and egg pancakes however got a bit of a later start and headed up a nice scramble up The Bauchailles north buttress where we could see Steve and Carolina topping out so we waited at the top for them to scramble up to us. The first time I Met Steve he very kindly took me ice climbing at the ice factor. We learnt a few things that day about ice climbing but mostly how to mount a suspended log with crampons and axes, I still can’t think of a real life situation for this but it was fun.

From Ice climbing to climbing by the sea in my T-shirt, Cummingstown provided a very nice bit of climbing in the dull rainy weather that had spread across the rest of Scotland. Here we met a group of climbers from Fort William who had done the same as us to escape the bad weather. The crag was small but had plenty of inspiring lines and the rock was good if a little sandy. Now were back to the first day of climbing and this was spent on Glen Coe. Here Mike taught me self arrests, something I have to say I enjoyed as I felt like a penguin sliding on its belly each time I went down our smoothed snow slide.

Over these 20 days I’ve covered around 1500 miles and done all the types of climbing I know how to do and some that I didn’t. Let’s just hope the summer keeps on giving like this. I am hopeful as I’m off to Wales in 5 days to do my summer mountain leader training with Plas Y Brenin.

The only way is up. Eddy

Musing

To quote Richard Turner from the article 'The Best Laid Plans' in the NZAC Journal 2008:

'It seems to me that you can't plan adventures. Trips get planned, whilst adventures unfold as a series of deviations from the plan.'

Mildly warm and slightly damp Spanish Rock

A fine few days have been spent climbing in El Chorro, and although the weather wasn't great we still got some excellent routes done. We stayed at a friendly place called the olive branch, which was beautifully located and gets a big thumbs up. Plentiful wine was consumed and a fab Tapas bar discovered in the next village down. The evenings were spent talking rock-shop and catching up with friends.

In between the showers, and cloud - brief spells of glorious sunshine chased away the blues; down jackets were slipped off and sun glasses donned and we really felt as if we were on holiday.

A wintry N Wales

A rather fine, but chilly and windy weekend was spent in North Wales at the end of January, by several members of the Kara gakar team. We did the fabulous scramble up Clogwyn y Person Arete, Parson's Nose then down Crib Goch.
A toddler sized loose block somehow failed to wipe out Sari (I had an image of her squashed under it like a bug as I raced up to see if she was okay - but she was smiling and seemed unperturbed), then a couple of us took a tad longer helping a girl get down off Crib Goch (a couple of hours longer). She was petrified - I have no idea how she managed to get so far along the ridge. But the winds were gusting hard and it was freezing. The MRT helicopter kept hovering overhead bless 'em.
A brilliant night was had in the CC hut, (great chilli Seth) and the next morning we woke to the sound of hard gusts hitting the hut and watching all the water freeze white into falls before our eyes on the sides of the LLanberis pass. Beautiful.

Tim and Sari had set off early to have a bash at Trinity face and had a stunning day (although they walked down the train line as the wind was too strong to descend the usual way). But the rest of us opted for the less scary option of walking in the Moelwyns looking over into the clear and snowy Snowdon horseshoe.

Winston Churchill Fellowship

Sally Brown - the leader of the expedition - has won a Winston Churchill Fellowship for Adventure Exploration and Leadership. Check out more about what this means on www.wcmt.org.uk

A Good Start.

Flights have been purchased, the in-country logistics and and transport sorted out (through ITMC).
Maps are being perused and objectives considered.

Now we are starting to think about team preparation and equipment needs. An equipment list is going to be gone through this weekend by myself and Sari - so if any team members have any suggestions send them ASAP.

Other things in the pipeline:

Dehydrated food and med kits are also the next step.
Freight (when, cost and weight of kit)
Visas (I'm applying for these in June)
Vaccinations (everyone's individual responsibility)
Insurance (ditto)
Grants.

We are also going to have a series of get togethers in the run up to the exped.

I will be Scotland 7 - 17 Apr for anyone who wishes to join me and the Alps for 2 weeks in July (I'm flexible as to dates).

We need to get as much mountain time in as we can for fitness, skills and and honing our mountain sense.

It is all coming together :)