Duncan ArcherAfter several months of lockdown it was late summer, and time for a holiday! We had been due to go climbing in Morocco again just after Easter, but obviously that was out. And despite quite a few days and weekends in the Lakes as lockdown eased, we were keen for a proper climbing holiday. The […]
“So we go round this hill, through the broad col, and the control should be just over that hill.” I point towards number #6 and Shane nods his head. Everything seems to fit including the valley to the left. We get our heads down and plough on through the grassy tussocks and heather. Over the […]
This summer Pippa had a conference in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, so like any keen orienteers we thought we’d see if there was any orienteering nearby. As luck would have it there was five days of O only an hour away in the hills! The map samples looked interesting, lots of rock features, and a new European […]
Four years ago I did the Tour de Mont Blanc, 167km, 12,500m ascent, with Shane and Heather Ohly. Similar to the UTMB non-stop race, but we took it at a more leisurely running pace, spread over four days, staying in mountain huts. A wonderful experience, great views and trails, but also very popular for walkers […]
“Safe Pippa!” I yell. They guy next to me at the top of the crag detects my accent and quaint climbing calls (not the American “On belay!”). “You don’t sound local?” he says. “No, we are over from England.” “Wow, have you climbing on the gritstone?” I mumble something about not really liking god’s own […]
“I think this is the right place?” We peer over the edge, contemplating a committing 90m free hanging abseil (so the guidebook says – our rope is 100m), onto a platform that you can’t see from above (hopefully non-tidal…), to do a three pitch E2, which some others did yesterday but said the bottom pitch […]
“I don’t want to get to the finish in second place feeling like I could have tried harder.” These words from Shane are ringing in my ears as we struggle up a long rising traverse, the last significant hill on day 2 of the Original Mountain Marathon 2016 in Galloway. We alternate between “maximum shuffle” […]
Another runner eases past, making it seem effortless, whilst my trainers slap the tarmac, wasting what little energy I have left. Crowds pass in a blur, not due to my speed but because tunnel vision takes over, just focussing on the road ahead. That light spring in the step an hour ago seems a distant […]
I reach up and my fingers feel around for the next hold. There it is, a small but super sharp edge. Foot up, rock over, stand up. I look down to see the rope stretching lazily down to my last piece of gear, several feet away. Confident in the positive holds I don’t even think […]
“I think I can jump that” says Shane, before sprinting down the bank and launching himself across the raging torrent, landing mostly on the far bank, legs pedaling wildly in the foaming water below. We are at the OMM, it is day 1, it rained overnight, and has continued to do so for the first […]