Belay Bunny

Safe climbing

2009-04-21T17:50:00.003+01:00

Climbing safety came up again today when a climber on Stanage edge fell off the top of Mississippi Butress in an abseiling incident this weekend. I found it surreal that a fellow climber remarked on a popular UK climbing community website (ukclimbing.com) that Stanage should be bolted "once and for all". Funny how that same climbers profile reveals his "preferred style" is flexing his puny excuse for muscles in a "wife-beater" vest top on bolted limestone!

Anyway, as far as rock climbing safety is concerned, I think the best safety advice I've seen though is Fish Products' website disclaimer...

http://www.fishproducts.com/miscpages/dying.html

Sea cliff climbing hit list

2009-04-21T16:56:00.004+01:00

If you dont already know, my favourite location for rock climbing is sea cliffs. Being a born and bred surfer from a small coastal touristy city on the east coast of Africa, you can see why. Besides the natural inclination to the ocean and sea spray, climbing sea cliffs is very committing. You will have to leave an abseil rope in situ for emergency, check the tides, face a potential shocking topping out and you may even have to traverse into a route with your gear on a bondolier in case a wave sweeps you away which could help prevent you from drowning.

Here is a list of some sea cliffs around the world I would love to climb. This list of course, does not include sea stacks, that's a whole separate list on its own ;-)

1. Table Mountain, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, 1086 m above Atlantic Ocean
2. Cape Enniberg, Faroe Islands, 750 m above North Atlantic
3. White cliffs of Dover, England, 100 m above the Strait of Dover
4. Maujit Qaqarssuasia, Southern Greenland, 1500 m (read more)
5. Verona Rupes, Miranda, a moon of Uranus, 20 km (tallest known cliff in the solar system.)

Considering a truly vertical drop, Mount Thor on Baffin Island in Arctic Canada is considered the highest at 1,370 m high in total (the top 480 m is overhanging) and is said to give it the longest purely vertical drop on Earth at 1,250 m. There is some doubt as to whether this height is exceeded by other cliffs on Baffin Island or in Greenland, however.

Knitting: Stop Start Continue

2009-04-20T17:35:00.007+01:00

I decided to take up knitting again (since I was about 7 or 8 years old) having been inspired to start thanks to my husbands lost beanie. It was a really cool burnt orange beanie he bought from a climbing trip in Lofoten, a rather special place so the hat was sentimental.

Determined to make him another one, I bought a book called "hats gloves scarves" by Louisa Harding and some similar coloured Rowan wool cotton (2 x 50g balls). The book said I would need two sets of needles, US 3 and US 6 for the beanie.

The book has a very good beginning section providing easy to understand step by step instructions on knitting, casting on, purling, decreasing etc. The pictures are lovely and there are some really cool items. The particular beanie I was after (with the roll over brim) was just one of the many designs the book had to offer. What I also liked was that the book suggested using high quality wool and it really showed in the garment images. Seriously, I never wanted fluffy fingerless gloves with ribbons before I got this book!

I was happily surprised at how quickly I picked up knitting again. Every thing was going well till I couldn't help but notice that sides of the piece kept on increasing with each purl row. I had cast on 112 stitches but by row 20, each side had grown diagonally! It made no sense and I knew I wouldn't be able to create anything with this so I had a quick sniff around for beanie designs on the net and I couldn't believe that NONE of the other designs mention something as stupid as:

Row 1: Knit
Row 2: K1, P to last st, K1

The "K1" is totally unnecessary and this is what caused my damn sides to "grow". It looked so ugly on the edges (there were even weird looking holes!) I was really happy to get rid of it. Pity though because it was probably the most even cast on of 112 stitches I have ever done.

So now I am just knitting the following technique:

Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl

And the edges are beautiful and neat! However, I am really nervous about following the rest of the books instructions and designs. You just don't think that for a £14.99 book from John Lewis you are going to get a bunch of bollux for instructions! As we all know, a lot of time and effort goes into knitting and most mistakes are irreversible. I am not sure what I am going to do when it come to decreasing at the crown, I may have to look around on the internet and compare working instructions again.

On a final note, I did also come across quite a few user comments on the net relating to youtube.com instructional videos stating they couldn't understand how to knit but had all the knit kit at home. I would probably suggest they should start off small and simple. Why not try a simple scarf? The worst thing would be trying to crochet a complex cardigan for the first knit, although its totally tempting when you see some of the stunning designs! You're like: I have needles, I have wool, I can do that! ...um no, not quite. Start off small, its extremely satisfying creating something with your own hands so don't give up!

I am not a road cycle tourer

2009-03-31T11:32:00.010+01:00

Last week something was niggling me and even though I knew what it was, I still went ahead and did it. Not that I am bummed that I did, because there's not many opportunities I turn down, but because I have reached the realisation: I am not a road cycle tourer.

It started with my husbands friend from work who bought himself a cycle touring bike and, knowing Richard and I were mountain bike enthusiasts, asked us if we would like to join him for a long distance ride from London to Oxford. So we agreed and the logistics were planned: 40 miles from North East London to Windsor on Friday afternoon and 70 miles from Windsor to Oxford the next day. We'd then spend the Saturday night in Oxford and take a train back to London on Sunday. It sounded great although initially I noticed I really wasn't really that excited about it, not in the way we plan a climbing trip or discuss a new mountain biking route. Then, as it got closer to the Friday, I thought more and more negatively of the whole trip and it actually started to feel like a bit of a laborious task. However, being the adventure loving gal that I am, I still decided to be a part of the challenge and see what would happen even though it was obvious my instincts were not that interested.

Setting off on Friday was good fun. We rode through London and into Richmond park then along the Thames bike path (4). And then we rode and we rode and then we rode some more. Basically we just rode flat and straight and that's about it. Now on a mountain bike with non-locking front forks and a rucksack this actually is not much fun. Basically you are on a boulder hopping machine built for off road tracks in the woods, cliffs and peaks but instead you are bubbling along a tarred path alongside a never-ending river. You don't speak to anyone and the scenery is quaint but repetitive and by no means spectacular.

So by the time we got to Windsor I was pretty frustrated and bored. I made the decision to head back to London the next morning while the guys pushed on with their bikes to Oxford. I really could not see myself doing another 70 miles of that absolute tedious, dreary and unexciting activity. At that moment I came to the conclusion that I was not a cycle tourer. I need something more than just peddling. I need to feel a challenging uphill and then death defying downhill and turn to my partner and grin from ear to ear because my jaw is still in tact. I need to play in nature, get muddy and feel like I have really enjoyed embracing the experience with my companion, my bike, my body and the outdoors.

If you go into the Peaks, Wales or the Lakes, you will notice cycle tourers are usually solitary riders. They cruise passed you on on the road on their own or in a pair and what you just saw is what they will be doing for the next 6 hours. Mountain bikers however, you will recognise because they are usually in large groups with good chat, they are off road and on the dirt tracks, single tracks, forest tracks and bouldery down hills. They look cool and look like they are having fun because the ups and downs and exploration of the peaks is far more interesting than riding along a wearisome road with gas fumes.

Anyway, I am not completely dissing the athlete who prepares and trains for long distance cycle touring. All I am saying is I think it is suited for solitary people who are not very exciting. That's all. If I wanted to get somewhere on the roads I would use my car...explore nature, now that takes a mountain bike. I am glad I know where I stand, erm I mean sit!

Fantastic weekend climbing in Pembroke

2009-03-23T10:13:00.004Z

Awesome sunshine and amazing weather on the Pembrokeshire coast.
We camped overlooking a spectacular view of Star Rock.
Richard lead Buff (VD), Fel Gwyr (D) and the exciting and popular Sea Mist (HS 4a).
I lead Urchin (S 4a) and dropped my set of nuts half way up it! No pun intended!!

Fun in the sun - Clissold Park London

2009-03-11T15:38:00.001Z

Rich and I snuk out for a quick frizbee session at lunchtime.
The sunshine is lovely!

Bike ride to Alexandria Palace

2009-03-07T14:28:00.005Z

Went on a lovely bike ride this morning with Rachel and the two Richards from Islington to Ally Pally. The sun started to come out and we stopped for coffee and sarnies at a singing Italian cafe. We left Rach and Rich at the Archway intersection while Richard and I carried on to Camden for more cake and hot chocolate at our favourite organic shop/cafe/market where we always get treated with loads of free food to test. On arriving home, we realised I had been riding the whole way with a back wheel not actually connected to my bike! While fixing my brake in Hampstead Heath, reconnecting it was somehow overlooked by Richard. Great!

My 10km run along Regents Canal

2009-03-06T12:11:00.002Z

It was such a sunny beautiful morning, I just had to take some photos along the way. Excuse the blurriness of some of them, I was running!

My favourite photo at the moment

2009-03-05T09:49:00.006Z

This is an incredible picture of my husband Richard leading an ice climb by the side of a road in Rjukan, Norway. We were there for a week in Februay. He was on serious leading form this holiday. Pretty damn impressive seeing as the last time we ice climbed was a year ago in Canada.

We had an amazing trip and I got to lead an awesome multi pitch in the lower gorge which was the highlight of the trip for me. I wish I got the chance to do more leading, but we had another climber with us and sometimes you just don't get as much stuff done as you would like when there are other people to consider.

I just wish we could ice climb more often, once a year is just not enough!

Result with the defective ropes!

2009-03-04T15:15:00.001Z

So after letting the Outside Shop in Hathersage know about the defective static rope we bought from them, this is the response we received from their Store Manager:

"I will be speaking to DMM (the UK importers) as soon as I can to discuss the problem . I will, of course, replace your 25m with new cord. I don’t have another reel in stock at the moment so I’m hoping DMM can assist with that. Can you give me a delivery address for the new rope? If you could drop it into us the next time you’re in the shop, that would be great. I’ll get our DMM rep to pick it up from us. I should be able to send you a new 25 metre section early next week. Hope that’s ok. Apologies for the inconvenience this has caused and I’ll let you know any news as soon as I have it."

Wow! What great service! I must say, it was very strange reporting faulty climbing equipment. Not something I have ever had to do before...and hopefully not again in the future.

Defective Mammut static ropes

2009-03-02T23:37:00.001Z

My husband and I were in the Outside Shop on Saturday around lunchtime to purchase 25m of static rope. The Mammut rope had been cut from a brand new reel. We headed off directly afterwards to Burbage S and rigged a top rope. Whilst packing our kit away at the end of the day, I ran through the newly acquired static rope and found a bulging lumpy section in the middle of the rope. After inspecting it closely, we found the bulging bit was being caused by the inner cores "Info Tex" (which is an inlay-band in the rope core with the rope data on it: producer, testing standard, rope type, production period, material) poking itself through the rope sheath. Thinking it was some some of manufacturing 'tag' or sticker (could clearly read the number 2 on the plastic) we pulled it but that just resulted in the core fibres coming through. Clearly the rope isn't usable (25m rope with defect at 12m) - and the initial info text tag poking through the sheath is some sort of manufacturing defect. The state you see it now is after we tried to remove the plastic poking through resulting in the core fibres spilling through the sheath. Having never seen anything like this with any rope (old or new) we're at a bit of a loss as to what to do. We're assuming that the issue needs to be reported to the manufacturer and probably some sort of investigation done - maybe we need to report it the BMC? We'd also like to have the 25m section replaced....will let you know if the shop are willing to replace it.

You never forget your first...

2009-03-02T23:31:00.000Z

No special welcomes, no silly speeches or a bit of foreplay to who ever is out there listening. I know that just like losing my hymen the first time...I was glad it was over and out of the way so I could get on with it. This is my sexy blog and I cant wait to burst open its tender little seal.
Job done!