Ben Nevis Weekend 1st-4th MAR 2013

This blog will be added to over the course of the next few days.

Stopped for lunch at the gate inn at Yanwath near Penrith very nice!

01/03/13 0800 cold clear sunny day here in Glasgow we'll be picking up Ginny the second climber at around 1300 to drive the 100 miles over the mountains to Fort William.
01/03/2013 Arrived Fort William around 1630. Sunny clear weather. Hired a pair of boots that can take crampons. Met up with Adam the guide and he briefed us on the 2 days. Tomorrow we go to Glencoe to learn the basics. Sunday we are going to the top of Ben Nevis using a climbing route rather than the path route!

 Sally & Ginny take in the view at the top of the pass before Glencoe

A nice reflection pic by Sally through the car window

 

07:30 a bit of drizzle falling and some low cloud about.  It looks like it could be a wet day up at Glencoe

18:35 02/03/2013 Phew! didn't do enough training!  We spent the first hour this morning walking up an incredibly steep track into a huge re-entrant where the snow was.  I must admit to being a little disappointed by the amount of snow up there but it was just what we needed to learn "the skills" 

 

We spent an incredibly long time rolling about in the snow learning how to arrest a headlong slip on the snow without an ice axe and then with an ice axe.  After that, cold and wet we put on our crampons and learnt how to walk and climb "the ice".  This was very interesting and the skills needed were not at first apparent until Adam explained the finer points. 

We then descended back to the car and are looking forward to going up Ben Nevis in the morning

See today's pics worth a look here     sorry about this link not working correctly for a while

Adam and Ginny descend an icy stream

 

03/03/2013 07:15  The forecast from a couple of days ago predicted that Sunday would be "the better day".  Looking out the hotel window we cant see any hills!, there's a chance the fog could just be floating around at the town level though.  Fingers crossed! 

03/03/2013 15:15  Back from Ben Nevis not long ago and i have posted the pics online.  We started walking up from thr car park at 08:15 and it was quite a slog up to the CIC hut and then onto the snowline

The knobbly bit in the centre of the picis where we are headed

 

 

We finally get to the snow and put on the crampons and harnesses looking up at the huge granite buttresses above us.  We are doing a climb called the ledge

 Here Ginny is tied onto the rope to Adam i'll beat the back

Well into the climb now

 

The weather was pretty kind and gave us some spectacular views of the climb and the bottom of the valley way below us.

 

Adam tackles the technical bit and we follow. 

 

We finally make the summit just before our 4 hour mark

Plenty of snow on the way down and we make it back to the car in a shade under 6 hours.  Fantastic day All thanks to Adam from http://www.hughesmountaineering.co.uk/ 

 

I uploaded a stack more pics and they can be seen here, enjoy.    I'll put some comments on them later this evening

 

07:30 05/03/2013 A cold frosty start to our day in the lakes, I'll post a new blog with pics this evening once we get back home

 

 

 

Sleep is bad for you!, & "A judge is "not a witness of truth!"

Sleep it appears must be bad for you according to an article in the Sky News  It starts off by saying that lack of sleep impacts on Gene Activity which is linked to heart disease, obesity and mental impairment.  So if you dont sleep at all you wont have heart disease, get fat or be a loony!  dont sleep dont sleep - - - dont - - - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The headline news is full of the terrible balloon crash/explosion in Egypt.  What a terrifying situation to be in!  I see as well that another unfortunate has been killed falling down part of Ben Nevis.  Here's hoping everyone will be safe when we are up there this weekend. A happier climbing story though is in the one sky are running about a woman who climbed Everest twice in a week she completed the feat in May last year but its only come to light just now! 

A twist to the "King in the Car Park" story attached to Richard III who's body has lately been discovered.  It appears now that his "Descendants" who supplied DNA to prove the remains were his want him buried in York Minster rather than Leicester Cathedral which archaeological practise dictates.  It will be interesting to see if they succeed.

The Chris Huhne Vicky Price story gets on to the "stupid" bandwagon today! There's a story in the The Telegraph that Britain's most prominent black Judge, Constance Briscoe has been arrested in connection with the case.  A statement being read in court at Prices's retrial today by a police officer says they are not calling Miss Briscoe as a prosecution witness because "she cannot be relied  upon as a Witness of Truth"  What is going on!!!

A BBC  story that has me smiling is the one that starts "Australia: Where The Good Life Comes at a Price".  I'm sure we all know people who have tramped off to Oz for all the things we don't have here.  Well that's what they would have us believe.  Don't get me wrong its not a bad old patch but it does seem to be catching the same cold everyone else has been signed up to.  The article writer Madalaine Morris starts off with a real rant about the price of Limes in an Oz supermarket being equivalent to £1.50 each while being almost in site of the lime orchards!  Worth a read!

Locally - - -  Phil2 has "recovered" his speedometer and the "repair" has also fixed the fuel gauge!  I couldn't believe the fuel gauge should be showing how much fuel was in the tank when the ignition was off but it did.  Since the "repair" the speedo works when moving and the fuel gauge reads zero when the ignition is off! The "repair" consisted of a "hard re-set" that's technical bullshit for "switching off the internal computer chip and switching it back on again".  To be fair to the garage doing what they did was obviously the way to go and as the bloke said once the electronics were running everything worked again.  Fingers crossed it keeps going! 

At my 6 monthly dental check up my dentist pronounces the few teeth i have left as,  "perfect!".  That's good but I'm confused as to why I'm charged the same as a person with a mouthful of teeth!  Well i mean to say you can get your "Car" cleaned at the "hand car wash" for £5 but your 4x4 will cost you £7 so why not similar pricing for teeth.  Bet they dont get charged like that in Oz!  lol 

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Keith keeps his genitalia! & Fiennes gets bitten!

Glad to report that "Keith" the colleague mentioned in the last blog managed to take head of the note left by Glen and indeed did stack the shelf with the required "Space Invader" munchies therefore ensuring that his genitalia remains in tact! 

A fact I failed to mention in the last blog is that a dear colleague at the Salt Mine, "lets call her Rachael" is now back at work after a bout of Pneumonia, poor old thing not long ago had a bout of pleurisy so she's been through the mangle in the last few months.  In welcoming her back I did ask her if her life assurance is up to date!  

Another twist in the Pistorious case is the fact that his brother Carl is charged with culpable homicide of a motorcyclist in 2008.  It makes you wonder when the next skeleton might fall out of the Pistorious cupboard?!

The "Acclaimed" Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes is to pull out of his latest expedition because of having frostbite.  Apparently he had to fix a ski binding and did it with his bare hands in minus 30c.  With his experience you would have thought he would have known better.  Ok we don't know the full details of why he did it but it smacks of "familiarity breeds contempt"!

Not to be left out of the horsemeat scandal "Ikea" has jumped on the bandwagon announcing that meatballs made for it in Sweden have "traces of horsemeat". Nestle also announced it had found horse DNA in meat supplied form Spain.  Where will it all end!

I was looking at the weather, as we English do!  and noticed that the Temperature has not risen above 5c since the 19th of Feb.  Ok its not really cold but its unusual in England for it to be cold for so long.  Luckily we are forecasted for it to get up to 8c by the weekend.

Finally - Phil2 the Freelander is off to the local Land Rover garage in the morning in an attempt to repair the faulty speedo.  Its been interesting using the "Speed Box" app on the iPhone but it will be good to have the regular one working again.  I'm hoping i wont need a "bank loan" to pay for the repair.  Boris the Defender looks to be in line to be repaired quite soon now after his slight accident a couple of weeks ago according to our insurer!  We have a plan for him after that - - - more later!!!!!    


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Trouble at mill! & a SLIMZENE followup!

Lots of coverage today in the rags about the "concern & unease" surrounding claims that Lord Rennard is a groper!  The "Mail" claims that "Clegg" knew about the claims 4 years ago while the BBC article about the claims say "Clegg" "Knew nothing"  Knowing nothing seems to be a qualification afflicting most politicians!  Another "Groper" appears to be the leader of the Scottish Catholic church although the allegations claim the actions were "inappropriate acts" a much nicer phrase than "groper don't you think! 

The "Express" has a headline of "Blackout Brittain freezing weather puts millions in danger of devastating power cuts".  They seem to have ignored the weather forecast indicating daytime temps of +8 by the end of the week.  Just another vindication of the saying "why let the truth get in the way of a good story!"

I mentioned the story earlier about the lady driver Danica Patrick being in pole position for the latest Nascar race.  Today there's a story about a huge pileup during the race.  I'll refrain from asking if the lady driver was involved! 

SLIMZENE Update:  I have had a few e mails from people claiming to have been "mislead" by the Free Trial offered by the Slimzene and Neucleanse products.  The problem people seem to be having is getting in touch with the customer service people to cancel their orders.  Here then is the telephone number we used (not the one supplied with the product) to sort our problem out 0808 1680207.

Trouble at mill! 
There's a story going round that concerns a colleague, "lets call him Dave" he used to work in the bakery and was a bit of a pain in the Ass!  He then left us and went to be a pain in the Ass on the checkouts! Having a very high opinion of himself he put his name forward to be a team leader.  When he was turned down he gave his teddy a real kicking.  However he also used "inappropriate language" to a customer! and then went home and put "inappropriate material on his facebook page.  Shame i cant seem to get a link to it but, Grow up Dave, get out more and get your head out from your Ass!

I saw a publication today that's going to change the shopping experience for our customers.  The little shelf edge price indicators are going to be increased in size from 32mm to 39mm!  Wow! 

I was in a quandary this morning as i was told that today was the last day for a colleague 20% discount.  Normally we get 10 infrequently we get 15 but to get 20% demands a "bit of a shop".  The quandary of course is do I tell Sally and in effect give her a free hand! heaven forbid it could cost £100's.  Luckily i phrased the text in a way that just gave me the free hand for the "bit of a shop" and got away with just under a £100! phew!

I was perplexed by sign attached to a roller in the warehouse.  It had been added by a colleague, "lets call him Glen", an articulate person! to another colleague, "lets call him Keith".  And exhorted him to put the 2 boxes of "space invader" munchies on the shelf and it made it clear this was not the first time nor the second that Keith should have done it.  The last line was a killer which said " If you fail to do this I will sever your genitalia and feed them to a passing squirrel" 

Finally - - - we've had a few snow flurries in the last couple of days, pics below show quite a good one yesterday

Across the River view

The garden looked as if it was going to get covered but the flurry only lasted about 20 minutes

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Food price rise signals! & Some other morsels!

I only mentioned a couple of blogs ago that the "Big boy supermarkets" would use the Horsemeat saga to increase their prices and already the "signals" of such a regime are appearing.  Sky News carries a report which suggests "Consumers are being warned that food bills may rise if high demand for meat testing continues"  Should this cost of testing not be included in the penalties for the people responsible for the problem?
There an amusing twist to this kind of story though if you look at the front page of the "Star" rag.  There's a picture of HM the Queen smiling at a horse with a sound bubble from her saying "Yummy!" The byline underneath suggests that a top notch caterer may have supplied "Dodgy meat to Royal Ascot!"
Yet another Horsey story is that the Armed Forces rations have been contaminated by Horsemeat.  I think its a "given" that anyone remotely connected to and having eaten "Armed Forces Rations"  would welcome Horsemeat after eating some of the "dodgy" meals they had been presented with! 

Mr Pistorious has been granted bail after  "4 Day" hearing!  Pictures of him leaving court are plastered over most news agencies.  If it takes 4 days to grant him bail, I wonder how long the trial might last?

The Daily Express has another "reader grabbing" headline this morning, warning, we are about to suffer the, "Coldest Winter Freeze of The Year"  The follow up story though has some "Chilling" facts about deaths from the cold!

You might read today about the UK losing its AAA credit rating and the "Chancellor" telling us "We are not going to run away from its problems"  Meanwhile at the World Track Cycling Championships in Minsk our cyclist appear to be "running away" with a host of medals with the girls winning the Team Pursuit not long ago and Kenny and Yates winning gold yesterday in 2 events.  Medals for Lance Armstrong however seem to be at an all time low as the US Government now join the growing queue of people suing him because when he rode for the US Postal team and won the Tour de France it was "public funding" supplying the $'s

"Nuns caught drinking illegally" is the header for the BBC  story about a pub in Ireland where they wanted to have the biggest ever crowd of people "dressed up" as nuns, really funny pic and worth read. 
Shock - horror! though as an admission from our "beloved" Ant & Dec, those "northern" cheeky chappy "performers"  where they proclaim from the front of the Daily Mirror that "We've taken drugs" but even more horrendously "Ant voted Tory"  Bad boy Ant - - Bad Boy!
I've never been one for tattoos and a few good reasons why others shouldn't either are displayed in this Telegraph story with some graphic pics of "celebs and their tattoo howlers. - - worth a look

Finally then - - I sat here earlier contemplating that tomorrow I will be back on the job at the "Salt Mine" which is the local Sainsbugs Supermarket.  I then noticed this story in the Telegraph, a staggering 1701 people apply for 8 jobs in a new Costa Coffee branch opening in Nottingham.  The story go's on to trot out statistic after statistic about the unemployed in the area, a  damning proclamation of the state the country is in if i ever saw one!
Hey ho! I shall however, armed with the knowledge gleaned from this story, have a slight (yes only slight) spring in my step as I pass through the sliding doors of the emporium tomorrow and adopt the, "company colleague" persona once again!  As an old and long in the tooth, glass is half empty,"cynic" I don't believe everything i read in the papers - - - do you?

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Did Magna Carta die in vain? & theres a flasher alert!

Brilliant story in the Telegraph today by Harry Mount about the questions asked of the judge by the jury in the Vicky Price case.  It seems to show the jury have little idea what was going on, having to ask the judge to define "reasonable doubt".  The story harks back amusingly to the one of Tony Hancocks "half hour" sketches about a a juror where he asks "Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain?  - - - worth a read

The Daily Express headline today trumpets - - one again, "Arthritis: New Breakthrough" The story claims that "Aspirin & Fish pills combined can beat chronic illness"  A more interesting and touching tale is one of a keeper at Oregon Zoo  who has come up with a novel way to get a sea otter to exercise its Arthritic Joints.  Basketball!  cute video as well.  Note: Otters eat fish don't they? maybe they should get it to try the Aspirin suggested by the express! 

The cold weather is high on the agenda in the news.  In the US they are once again being battered by a severe snowstorm which is due to "peter out Saturday as it reaches the great lakes" unfortunately to be followed immediately by another!  We seem to be escaping the snow at the moment, but don't "hold your breath" 
An interesting article with pics is told by the BBC  about how the nordic countries put out their babies in the cold to nap.  Theres a pic of one pram outside a coffee shop with a device attached to it that displays, to the mum inside the current temperature, which is showing minus 10c.  We seem to shun this practise in UK but I remember it was also a practise widely used when i was a kid. 

Locally:  Phil2 had a trip to the local Landrover Franchise, a busy place called DLS a few miles away in Wirksworth.  Within 5 minutes of arriving they had him hooked up to "the machine" to diagnose the problem.  The remedy though was not readily apparent which was a similar diagnoses to the Darley Dale Garage over the road.  So Phil2 is booked in for the day at DLS and hopefully the problem can be found and fixed.  

A story in the Matlock Mercury  one of our "many" local papers has a bit of a twist to it.  A van driver (male) on route from Chesterfield to Matlock pulls off the road at a makeshift lay by in an area known locally as "the tops".  Its the route over the hills before you drop down into the Derwent Valley.   Enjoying the view he notices a BMW car pass him "a number of times" before stopping.  The driver gets out and "flashes" at the van driver.  The name of the lane on which both vehicles were at the time - - - "Flash Lane" Mmmmmmmmmm!

We decided yesterday to burn off all the cuttings etc that we dump on the land just above the boundary of our garden as the pile was about 6 feet high and growing.  Having reduced it somewhat in the conflagration we were joined by John our neighbour who added a few more bits to the fire.  His 2 children joined us and as we left were seen adding dead wood to the fire.  Later we spotted John carrying food up there so it looks as if they were eating al-fresco in the gathering gloom.  I must check this morning to make sure he didn't make them "camp by the fire all night"  he was "in the military you know!"

Only 2 days before I re-engage with a shift at "the Salt Mine"  I'm rather glad it will be on a Sunday as it should allow me to "ease" back into the routine.  I must remember to interrogate colleagues for blog material!! 

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Just a bit of this and that

The news agencies are devoting a lot of time to the Pistorius case going on in South Africa although they don't seem to be reporting the same case!, depending on which one you read.  The chief detective in the case "Hilton Botha" is taking a hammering though for being what appears to be a complete incompetent.  A huge factor against "Hilton Botha" is the fact that an investigation has been re-opened into a story where he faces 7 attempted murder charges! 
The "attempted murder" charges happened in 2009 - - - he was arrested in 2011 - - - - and then the charges were dropped  - - - but are now being re-instated in 2013.  I smell a rat or maybe its a little infestation!" 

The horsemeat roundabout trundles on with reports of investigations now going on in Italy and Spain.  Locally its reported that "real butchers" (didnt know we still had any) are seeing an upsurge in sales with "jolly" little signs appearing in butchers windows trumpeting the validity of their goods on offer.  Nice to see the "little man" getting his own back! Of course it will all end in tears because the "big boys" will introduce "real meat" at silly prices to get us all back in their emporiums. 

I see Lance Armstrong the disgraced cyclist is now refusing to speak to US "Doping Officials".  - - - A tad late there Lance, a tad late! 

A local council worker has been sacked for stealing computer parts and selling them on E Bay reportedly making £10.000 in the process.  The "Likely lad" took stuff that was destined for the landfill to support "his business".  Apparently one of his managers thought the scheme "A jolly good idea", unfortunately after a whistle blowing e mail,  the court did not agree. 

Our weather has been a mixed bag of late, quite cold mornings have let me test out what "outfits" i'm going to wear in just over a weeks time climbing on Ben Nevis

Really cold and frosty down by the river

A while later the same day it was warm enough to enjoy the rays!

My replacement Freelander, Phil2 visited the local garage yesterday in an attempt to repair/replace what appears to be a faulty speedo.  Alas the lectroninc equipment used couldn't detect a fault so today its a trip a few miles away to the local Land Rover franchise to be put on their "special equipment".  A bit like a visit to Harley Street i fear it might prove to be a costly exercise! 

I had better dig out my sainsbugs "uniform" today as my 2 weeks sojourn is comes to an end Sunday - - - - back to the Salt Mine  - -hey ho!  

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