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

Sledging On the Lawn

Here I am with Keela my dog having a bit of fun on my front lawn in the first powder snows of winter.

Snow on the Lawn

Here is the sunset over Blencathra in the Lake District today. The snows have arrived and the roads are bad. Please consider your journey and pack acordingly for a safe day out. I will be running some winter skills courses in the Lakes if the snowy conditions continue. For you to transform from Summer walking to Winter safely contact me now.

Take care

Stuart

GYHLL SCRAMBLE VIDEO

A bit of personal Gyhll Scrambling or Gorge walking here in Cumbria. If you want to join in get in touch. Cheers.

Stuart

C2C Oct 2010 Movie

Here is a video I made about a recent C2C coast to Coast Trip on a very wet and windy weekend. Hope you enjoy it.

Outward Bound Old and New

For all the old and new Outward Bound staff and students have a look at this.

Click on the links below.

Big Jack Charlton Ex England 1966 World Cup winner.

Has a Break in the Lakes.

Some great footage.

Stuart

AiM Greenland 2010

Click on the pic to start a slide show of my recent Greenland trip. I was working for BPE Expeditions and was trying some sample Montane kit. I had a good group and I think they will be taking away a great deal from a very cutting edge frontier adventure personal development expedition.

Gyhll Scramble in Lake District

Personal Gyhll Scrambling in the Lake District. Having a great time out, get in touch if you want to come along and enjoy the fun. Enjoy the sunshine and don't waste the water.
Keep up to date and have a look on You Tube for more Adventure In Mind Videos.

Gate Gill near Keswick Cumbria

Had a day out on my day off having a busman's holiday and going Gyhll Scrambling with Keela and Sarah.
We went to a Grade 4, in some places, Gate Gyhll near Keswick in Cumbria. A really hot day meant no water in the hardest parts.


This meant that the harder sections were made easier whilst moving Keela dog around. She is really getting very good. Having a Ruff Wear harness from Outdoor Warehouse in Windermere on helps with lifting and clipping onto if needed. Some sections are a bit loose with a tree down across the whole river bed.



I would advocate the use of helmets and in some gyhlls the use of a rope to protect yourself. We had a great safe day out then into Keswick for a beer and some food.

Adventure In MInd Spring Movie

Long Time Since Last Time

Its been a Long Time Since Last Time. We have a new government and the Summers on its way. Been playing and working and now have time to catch up on here with a summary.

Have been out and met some great folk. Worked with Mountain Guide Chris Ensoll on a MLTA workshop in the Lakes Teaching Movement on Steep Ground. Worked with Caroline and Paul Lewis, Pete Stacey in the Peak District assessing D of E assessors. Chris Ash and his mates in the Peak on an Adventure Race navigation course. Played on the Lakes Segways and worked with Proactive Development on their Lakes PDC.  It seems a long time since Steve Hamer and the Bolton girls had a winter day on Helvellyn, but it was a great do. 

If you have any Adventures you may have in Mind get in touch over the summer. 

Missing Links

Hello its been fairley quiet on here for a short while. Which is a double edged sword as that means it has been a bit busy in the world of Adventure In Mind. If you have an Adventure you want to make real get in touch.
Cheers

Avalanches in the UK

There has been lots of snow and its not consolidating very well at the moment please be very careful when planning and travelling to the hills in the next few days. These are a few items that have happened with some very sad consequences.
http://climateox.org/2010/02/27/skiers-swept-2000ft-by-avalanche/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8535461.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/8529033.stm

For more information on avalanches please get in touch. Consider wearing a transceiver. Use the SAIS  and various weather forecasts for your planned area. Be adaptable!

Take care and plan safe
Stuart

Blue Sky Snowy Lake District Days

Just a few pictures of the 20th Feb just before it started to cloud up to possibly bring some more snow.


Some hoar frost crystals twinking in the sunlight and fresh tracks in the powder snow along with long shadows as the daylight diminishes.



Come along and enjoy the adventure.There have been reports of avalanches near to Helvellyn so tread carefully.

College of West Anglia Snowshoe Course

Last week I was lucky enought to be asked to lead some students from College of West Anglia on their Snowshoe course in a beautiful remote part of the French Pyrenees near to St Giron. We had a mix of weather during the week meaning that Bruno Steve and I had to mix the course up somewhat so we could get to the venues safely.

We covered some basic Avalanche transceiver work and snow pit digging and anaylsis.




The group were very keen to explore this ancient method of alpine transport. They managed to climb some remote and snowy cols and peaks up to 1800mtrs.

The return travel was not without its eyebrow raising moments as we had to travel across country at 20mph due to the snow, then rediredt to another airport to fly out on our already delayed flight back to UK. I had beeen on the go for approx 19 hours when I finally got to bed.




If you ever though an alternative and cheaper means of Alpine Entertainment than Ski-ing get in touch to arrange a Snowshoe Holiday that all the family can take part in. Try it in the Julian Alps of Slovenia and explore somewhere off the beaten track

Feburary ML Training and Assessment

I have been working this week with two great groups on an ML Assessment and Training with Chris Ensoll.



There has been some white stuff around which has added to the candidates tales and pleasures.
It was a little cold overnight on the expedition but everyone had a tremendous time and left smiling.

Myself and Chris have been testing some new Montane kit in some very testing enviromentswith some very favourable results. Please get in touch if you want to know more.   If you are planning to do Mountain Leader Training or Assessment dont hesitate to get in touch and set yourself a date. Next week I have a couple of days to catch up with home life.

Cheers Stuart

Alpen Glow and Moon Rise

After a great cold day out with the dog on a low level walk around GlenRidding and Grisedale, Nordic and Celtic Names for the valleys, (Get in touch if you want to more about the Nordic names) .
 There was almost an alpenglow on the mountains of Nethermost.



 Then to top it all a beautiful moon rise over, Ullswater, showing a lunar halo and Venus. Somedays the office shouldnt be tided up, it's just right. Have a click on the terms mentioned and come out to experinence them for yourselves.

Short Break In Scotlad

Here is a short video of Ski Touring that I did this week, in some good winter conditions in the Cairngorms. I stayed on after doing some Winter Training with Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team. The weather at the weekend was great and then during the week deterioated. 85+mph Northerlys today and white out conditions.

If you would like to gain some winter skills whilst the snow is still around get in touch and a course tailored for your needs can be set up. 
Have a great Adventure in Mind ?