Happy Christmas and New Year

Here's wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year. I hope to meet up with you sometime in 2011.
Keep your Adventures In Mind and when you want make them a reality get in touch.

All the best
Stuart

Christmas Eve in the Drug Tank

Christmas Eve and its still cold in the Lakes. -9C at home at 06.30. A quick ring around and although still feeling groggy I met up with Ben, John and Craig at 07.30 for a quick trip up Launchy Gill. A great start saw us ditching our rucksacks and heading up, its a bit weird not carrying a winter sac but liberating. A few teams were ahead of us but as we soloed a few pitches we soon passed them. Good to see Paulo and Dominic in the gyhll. At the main falls we had a play around. I felt the cold a bit after still feeling unwell and warming up and cooling down
After a cuple of hours Craig had to goto work at Cyclewise in Whinlatter, Ben and John carried on to find another gyhll and I came home for a second breakfast.

Le Tour de Helvellyn en Hiver 2010

I have been working with Joe Faulkner of NAV4 on the first running of a potential classic fell run on the shortest weekend of the year. There was heavy snow at the start at 7.30 in the morning but the day brightened. The roads to the checkpoints proved to be very interesting, the temperature during day remained well below zero and was approx -10C at Askham at the finish.

Have a look at the results and more pics on Facebook and NAV4 website. A long cold day for the runners, marshalls, and a sterling job from Lindsey and her mum in the kitchen. Congratulations to Joe for a great job done on the event and the efforts of everyone involved for putting it together.

Skiing on Blencathra

I set off today on a bright and sunny day after some lunch at home andthought about some skiing to exercise me and the dog. Blencathra looked fantastic as I drove into the Lakes. A skin up Scales Fell ridge to the top and back down in time for hot vimto and a brandy snap seemed to fit the bill.

After climbing up to the top of the combe, the cold northerly 20mph wind was blowing the fine powder around. I put on my skins and set off for the summit. It was such a great day, just wearing a pair of Montane terra thermic pants and a Montane Kyrpton Jacket Iwas toasty going up hill. Click on the link to Outdoor Warehouse for technical info on this new jacket, its a fantastic piece of kit with a great hood, that I have worn for all sorts of Adventures!

Some great vistas today the whole of the pennines lakes and southern scotland covered in white. Sadly my camera battery died and I only got shots on the way up. 20 mins back down after a couple of falls that Keela dog thought was great and exciting. There's supposed to be a bit of a thaw towards weekend and then poss a freeze again. It may consolidate the snow I hope so.

Winter Snow Kayak and Canoe

Here is another option for some winter fun. You just need a kayak or canoe or sledge, a slope and a video recorder. Then slide down and walk back up. Half of it is great fun the other half is quite a hot job. Hows your winter fun going? If you are interested in Winter Skills courses in the Lake District there is some great conditions to be sampled. Feel free to get in touch and come and have some safe fun.

Cheers

Stuart

Winter Climb on Helvellyn 30-11-10

On St Andrews day in unusual conditons for the time of year me and Steve decided on an afternoon climb on Helvellyn. It would mean a quick walk in from Glenridding as the roads are quite slippy at the moment. After a quick bite to eat and gearing up I had forgot the guidebook and with very little visibilty from red tarn we had to guess at a route. After a short time we arrived on the summit wind break, a great relief as we had strong easterlies blowing up the gully. Note our iced up faces as spindrift came upwards. Down Swirral Edge and back to the car at 5 just in the dark. If you have any plans to convert your Summer experiences to Winter get in touch as I will be running some Winter Skills courses.

Cheers

Stuart