Category Archives: World Rock

Oct 27 2009

Autumn in Yosemite

Rich - Steck-salathe

Steck Salathe - Wish I didn't eat that last Ginsters..

Just back from a States trip with old mate Nick Williams. It was my first visit to Yosemite and I was amazed by the scale – I’ve seen plenty of big lumps of rock around the world but Yosemite is hard to beat for easy access. El Cap, 1000m of granite, 15 mins from the car park…! Anyhow we knew we would probably get our arses kicked – Yosemite cracks require specific skills, so we headed to the Needles to get psyched and tune in to the granite crack scene. The Needles are the polar opposite of Yosemite – no crowds, cool high altitude cragging with a proper wilderness feel and we had a top time climbing some of the classics like Airy Interlude and Thin Ice before heading over to the Valley. We had a few days of grim weather in Yosemite (it rained 8 inches one day…) but managed to climb some of the long classic free routes such as Middle Cathedral, Higher Cathedral and the Steck Salathe on Sentinel Rock. The Steck Salathe is an old school sandbag – 16 pitches of relentless wide cracks, only around 5.9 but some pitches feel like Curbar E3…  Respect to Royal Robbins – squirming  the notorious ‘Narrows’ on sight back in the 1950′s at age 18! We ended our trip with an attempt on the Rostrum, one of the best routes in the valley, but annoyingly it lashed down with rain just 2 pitches up and we had to escape to the exit gullies with a couple pitches of very wet aiding. Definitely one to go back for anyway!

Jul 15 2009

Climbing in the Bugaboos

Thanks to Bill Thomson for the following pics.  He, Rich and Al MacColl are just back from a 2 week guided climbing trip to the Bugaboos in Canada – more pics/report soon…

bugaboos 1

 

Sep 15 2008

Picos de Europa – Naranjo de Bulnes Week

Just back from a sucessful trip to the Picos de Europa Climbing  in the premier National park in Northern Spain, where we nailed the Matterhorn of Spain – the Naranjo de Bulnes.  This is my favourite mountain region in the whole of Europe and always a joy to visit, with a richness and wildness of landscape seldom matched anywhere.  In the Picos, chamois and eagles are a daily sight, rather than a rarity! 

Other highlights of the week included a remote bivouac in the western massif in order to climb the South Face of the Pena Santa and an ascent of Asturcone in the Hermida Gorge.

Immaculate rock on the S Face Direct of the Pena Santa de Castilla.

W Face of the Naranjo de Bulnes – the Matterhorn of Spain.

Malcolm Roberts on the S Face Direct of the Naranjo de Bulnes.

Postscript:

Just when I thought I’d lived up to family traditions on the Naranjo de Bulnes…

I was chatting to my mum on the phone last night – when she first tried the Naranjo (after a 6hr walk in all the way from the bottom of the Cares gorge), they got caught in a massive thunderstorm 1 pitch from the top. 

There were no bolted abb anchors back then (or camming devices to protect the route for that matter – they hadn’t been invented yet), just some manky pegs that flexed as the others abbed on them – so rather than risking an anchor failure she down climbed the whole route in the pouring rain (believe me, that doesn’t bear thinking about) - then slept in a cave for the night, soaked to the skin.

Needless to say, she went back to finish the last pitch and finally reached the summit a few years later with my dad - though even as a kid, I definitely remember him taking a new rack of Friends with him…

We are not worthy!

May 30 2007

Torre Cerredo & Naranjo de Bulnes

Up early hitting the trail at 4am this morning for a spot of ultralight ‘run-alpinism’ – ie trying to run from Poncebos (alt 200m) in the depths of the Cares Gorge, up to the summit of Torre Cerredo at 2600m (the highest peak in the range) and back before starting a family day out…

All went well at first, passing the Lueje hut at 2000m just after dawn and 2.5hrs, but there are still extensive winter snowfields around high up and a lot of fresh snow too, so I ended up being forced out onto some pretty steep exposed terrain on the east face of  Torre Labrouche rather than following the normal line.  This lead eventually to the fore summit, Risco Saint Saud where I decided to call it a day due to all the fresh snow – fell running shoes aren’t quite so good as crampons on verglassed rock!

Completed the round by traversing across to the Naranjo de Bulnes and a long 2400m descent (ouch!) down past Bulnes to the start point after 7hrs running and climbing.

NB – A bit a advance notice, we are actually organising a ‘Naranjo de Bulnes‘ special week in September 2008 – so if you are interested, then save a weeks holiday and give us a shout!

Early start – moonlight over Arenas from the apartment.

Pico Los Cabrones from Risco Saint Saud summit.

Traversing snowfields above Vega Urriellu.

West Face of the Naranja de Bulnes.

May 29 2007

Bulnes – a land that time forgot

Had a lovely evening run up to Bulnes last night. It’s amazing that such places still survive in western europe – this tiny village in the heart of the central massif of the Picos still has no road to it. In 2001 an underground funicular railway was finally opened to connect Bulnes to the outside world and provide a sustainable source of visitor income to keep the village alive.

On the way down to the valley I met the local farmer and innkeeper at dusk, returning from the upper pastures – still using a donkey to carry loads on the narrow mountain trails as has been done for 100′s of years. Take a look here for a few more photos of the village of Bulnes.

The village of Bulnes, nestled under the Naranjo de Bulnes

A land that time forgot

The village square

May 27 2007

The Picos De Europa

Just a bit of info about this amazing area of northern Spain, for those of you not in the know.  The Picos is one of the wildest mountain ranges in europe and for the most part still untouched by mass tourism. 

Home to the Naranjo de Bulnes – the most famous mountain in Spain – it’s a regular venue for keen climbers and alpinists (not to mention cavers, as the area also has some of the deepest caves in the world).  I’ve been coming here since I was a kid and it’s really not changed that much in over 30 years.  There’s also a couple of general slideshows on the range to be found here: picos scenery, picos flora. More to follow shortly..

The Western Massif

 

Waterfall near Tielve

 

 Gentians near Pena Vieje

 

Dec 3 2006

Sardinia 06 – report

Al guided a trip to Sardinia this November with 2 clients Matt and Steve, enjoying awesome weather and ascents of many island classics including the mighty multipitch pinnacle of Aguglia di Goloritze. Well done boys! Next years trip will go ahead at around the same time, but we’ll be fighting over who goes I’m sure… See some Sardinia Rock Climbing Photos here on the website.