The Epicentre Blog

Bob Graham Round 1-2/2/12

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Bob Graham Round 1-2/2/12

With the way the winter had been going and being later getting the Bob Graham Round completed in January than I would have liked. I was starting to think that a true winter Bob Graham Round might not be on the cards. Seeing snow in the forecast and getting a snowy run up Helvellyn done in the last week of January. I started to get a bit excited when I saw high pressure for the start of February.

I had a plan to run a round on the weekend of the full moon in February but with perfect conditions and a good forecast once again coinciding with my days off it was hard to resist the temptation to have a go. One of the hardest things was overcoming the urge/need to go winter climbing which is my main reason for existence. In the end I overcame this urge by convincing myself that a winter Bob Graham is a mountaineering challenge and to me standing in Keswick high street in sub zero temperatures contemplating 20+ hours of being on the fell captures the kind of feeling I have before embarking on a big alpine route. Having now done a full blown winter round I wouldn’t hesitate to give it an overall winter grade of IX 1.

Once again I decided to run anti-clockwise, after feeling so good in January I didn’t want to change direction and also it is a lot easier for me to arrange support at Dunmail than it is to persuade someone to come out to Wasdale. Heading down Newlands I could still feel my January round in my legs which wasn’t a good sign. I think the cold was making me slow to warm up.

On the way up the valley before swinging up the hillside on to Robinson I had to stop and put my spikes on because I had hit the snow line and this had coincided with the path turning into a sheet of ice. It was hard work climbing up on to Hindscarth and this set the tone for a day of hard climbs. Once on the top I was a bit disturbed to find quite a strong wind blowing which was making things feel colder than they should have been. I arrived at Honister ahead of my rough schedule which was a good start.

I was aiming to run at a more even pace than last time with the hope that I could run a bit faster over the Dodds. I had a rough plan to try and run a time of around 20hrs.

I had a good run to Wasdale the biggest problem I encountered was dropping out of the snow on the Yewbarrow descent. The transition from snow to frozen ground left me feeling a bit blind and messed my night vision up. Over the whole leg I had a good track to follow which made the ascents not too bad. I stayed on the main path off Kirkfell because the track was good and I didn’t want to head off on untracked snow down the Ennerdale Fell race line.

Once again I took my line up the main path to Mickledore this time to avoid rough snow conditions on the normal ascent. I had my doubts about what conditions I would find on Broad Stand and was ready to loose a chunk of time negotiating Lords Rake or Foxes Tarn. In the event microspikes proved to be the perfect footwear choice for getting up and down Broad Stand, I did have to take my gloves off to make the moves up the corner and didn’t regain sensation in my fingers until somewhere over Esk Pike. Climbing in the spikes must be a bit like how it was to use nailed boots. The coldest stretch of the round followed as the wind once again picked up on the way over to Bowfell. I was pleased to see a track dropping off Bowfell and the descent proved to be quicker and easier than normal with a good volume of snow covering the scree/boulders .

The snow across Mart Crag moor wasn’t too good but there was once again a good track to follow, this track headed all the way to Steel fell and it was good to finally see the sun pop out over Fairfield. I had set off later than last time to make sure that I didn’t get to Dunmail too early for support. This was the best leg of the round for me, I felt that I managed to get into and maintain a reasonable running pace. This time Letty my wife nearly missed me because our car wouldn’t start. Luckily Jim Evans stepped in to the breach at very short notice and came up to Dunmail in his van with Letty to offer me a much needed break. After a good break and quick power sleep whilst I waited for Jim and Letty to arrive, I set off on what I find is the crux of an anti clockwise round. Steel Fell/Fairfield/Dollwagon, three bigish climbs in quick succession.

I was hoping to get into a good running rhythm over the Helvellyn range once up Dollywagon and a quick phone call to Chris who was out on his bike training for the Celtman Triathlon got me fired up. I did manage a bit of a run over Helvellyn and out to Raise but I had a tough time over the Dodds with the snow on the climbs once again robbing me of any momentum.

I was prepared to run the last leg by myself and had consciously paced my food consumption to ensure that I would have enough to see me to the end, so it was a nice surprise to arrive in Threlkeld and once again see Jim and Letty waiting for me. Jim had his running kit on and had decided that it was too good a day to sit in the office all afternoon.

Halls Fell in the sunshine was great and it was good to have Jim along to chat to. Mungrisdale Common was a bit tough with deep snow and no track down to the river. We managed to boulder hop the river so I didn’t get the wet the feet that I had been dreading since Scafell. I did curse the small steps that someone had made on the way up Great Calva but by the time I got the top I was glad that they had been there.

Skiddaw was a battle of fairly epic proportions. We started up a track that was promising but it quickly disappeared. Without Jim I would probably have still been there now. It was shin to knee deep snow all the way and I found it hard enough following Jim’s tracks. It was getting dark which only added to the feeling of how hard it was. I was tempted to down the Caffeine Gel and Ibuprophen that I was reserving for the descent off Skiddaw to power me up the hill but stuck to my guns and saved until we hit the fence.

The nice compacted snow on the descent was great and made for a fairly comfortable drop down to Lattrigg. At the top of Lattrigg we had 15 minutes to get back in under 21 Hours. I decided it wasn’t worth risking a slip on the ice to push for it. At the bottom of the hill we still had 7 minutes to make it to the Moot Hall, after trying to run hard for about a minute we decided to forget about the time and took a more leisurely stroll across the park.

So I got my snowy round done. It was a lot harder than the previous round and I think my time represents a faster round given the conditions . If I had thought a bit more about the snow conditions and the weather that had brought the snow, I might have run clockwise because the snow for most of the climbs would have been better. I think being flexible enough to go when the weather is good at the cost of having pacers and support is important, as having the right conditions is probably more important than having a big support crew. I wore spikes for most of the day which helped to give a more natural running action in the snow. I tried to run at a more even pace than before but did slow down a lot, mainly due to the snow conditions on the climbs at the end. A big thanks to Letty and Jim for their support and the much needed trail breaking up Skiddaw.

Approx Legs Splits:

Keswick: Honister 2hrs 30mins

Honister: Wasdale 4hrs 5mins

Wasdale: Dunmail: 4hrs 30mins

20mins break

Dunmail: Threlkeld: 4hrs 40mins

20 mins break

Threlkeld: Keswick: 4hrs 39mins

Total 21 hrs 4 mins

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

For once it's a fairly easy, Most of the usual venues are worth a look. Moderate to Easy Buttress routes have stood up to the sunshine the best with the turf being in bomber nick and not being reliant on hoar frost that has been stripped out by the sun. For a mixed venue Bowfell Buttress has been seeing quite a bit of traffic as have the Brown Cove Crags buttress routes. The Gullies on Brown Cove are also in great condition as they are holding some old Neve .

Low lying ice is forming but its condition is variable, Paddy visited Bleawater today and found some good ice to climb, Low Water Beck has ice but is not in great nick and all the Ghylls on the Thirlmere side of Helvellyn are holding ice most of them are also still running water. I climbed Birkhouse Ghyll this afternoon and whilst it was running some water you could climb ice all the way.

Paddy Cave and Brian Davison climbed a New route at VII 7 on North Buttress, Bowfell yesterday. The Summer line of the Gibli provided surprisingly amenable climbing. They follwed this with a short new routes on the East flank of Bowfell Buttress.

It is set to warm up over the next couple of days and bring some snow on the fells. The Low level ice will strip out very quickly but things should remain climbable high up through the weekend.

Winter Back in the Lakes

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

It has been a case of keeping the faith that conditions would return to the Lakes this winter. The snow came at the back end of last week falling on a strong westerly/ South Westerly wind which froze exposed ground down quickly. By the weekend a few of the usual high venues were in good condition. Helvellyn, Gable and Bowfell being popular. Ever keen Epicentre athlete Paddy Cave has been our eyes and ears on the fell this week. On Monday Paddy met up with Photographer Dave Willis and had a great day skiing on Blencathra. Yesterday Paddy returned to a crag that he has made his own with numerous first ascents and hard repeats. North Buttress Bowfell. North Buttress is very reliable for conditions and seems to hoar up just about as quick as anywhere, the turf was in good condition having not been burried by snow and Paddy finally climbed Sword of Damoclese, the classic summer E1 that received its first winter ascent around 10 years ago by Mark Thomas. A team also climbed the Gnomon and there was a party on Bowfell Buttress.

It's set to stay cold until Saturday afternoon when it looks like things might change. So make the most of it whilst the sun shines.

Epicentre Helmet Competition

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Helmet Competition/Prize Draw

The Epicentre has partnered with the BMC to help promote the benefits of helmets in their 2012 campaign. The aim of the BMC campaign is to challenge views on helmets, and to encourage people to re-examine the reasons for wearing one or not.

At the Epicentre we are offering some great deals (20% off) on all our Helmets to show our commitment to this campaign, this will be available both on line and in store. We will also be running regular competitions throughout the year in partnership with our suppliers, giving you the opportunity to win a helmet each month.

This month we start with the chance to win a Grivel Salamander Helmet.

How to enter the prize Draw?

All you have to do is send in a cheeky passport style image of yourself wearing a helmet in your chosen climbing discipline. We’ll put the best ones in a regular slot on our blog and you’ll be able to see all the entries in our facebook album.

We’ll crop images to a standard 35mmX45mm passport size.

How you win?

Each month the name of everyone who has entered will be put into a hat and the winner will be drawn from this.

E-mail entries to Competitions@theepicentre.co.uk

Post entries on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/EpicentreAmbleside

Conditions

The winners photo will be announced on UKC/FB and their new helmet sent out. Once received we would like the winner to send in another passport photo of themselves wearing the new helmet, to go on our winners board montage

All photos sent in will go into a montage board...

To get the competition started and to start our helmet picture board campaign, Epicentre friends and staff; Tim Emmett, Kenton Cool, Paddy Cave, Guy Robertson, Stuart Wood & Steve Ashworth have sent in passport images of themselves.

Fun in the Sun.

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Liam made the most of his days off in the sun last week with a trip to St Bees and and Day out on the Grit. It made a welcome break from damp sessions at the Bowder Stone and Hibernating at Kendal Wall.

Summer comes to a Winter Round.

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Keswick high street is deserted, I only manage to run at a reasonable pace down Newlands having made a last minute decision to go anti-clockwise because I’m worried about trees blowing down and squashing me. Chris who was set to come with me decided that the weather wasn’t up to it before leaving home and I guess I knew this too. I’ve always said that you need good weather to get round the Bob Graham but have always secretly wanted to do it in the worst possible weather, this is my chance. The desire drains away rapidly as I have to crawl to get off Dalehead and it starts adding hail in to the mix. I call of the chase at Honister and run back to Keswick through Grange. In the morning I wake up to find my garden fence and garage roof showing signs of the rough night. Great Dunn fell recorded a 111mph gust and there’s quite a bit of flooding.

I missed the mid winter round again. Failing in 2010 on the shortest day of the year due to poor planning and extreme cold -20 ish on the summits and also on a previous solo attempt in 2008 where I simply lost the will to continue in zero visibility and freezing fog. The winter round was becoming a bit illusive.

Not wanting to loose 6 months of hard training through a miserable autumn the rare sight of sunshine in the forecast lifted my hopes. Being on the spot means that I can make a last minute decision to have another go. Chris’s plan to join me falls through again so it looks like a lonely start to proceedings. With support planned at Dunmail and Tom, a friend gently persuaded to come and meet me for a run over Helvellyn I once again set off down Keswick high street.

I stick with my decision to run anti clockwise, it makes support easier at Dunmail for Letty my wife and it feels like I’m running home. I also seem to get stuck in a rut running clockwise having run the different legs so many times at the same pace. Heading down Newlands I warm up and make a conscious decision to try and get ahead of schedule early on, I always feel under pressure to get round in under 24 hrs and feeling good decide that if I can get ahead and then settle down I’ll have a better time of it, I forget my golden rule of getting the pace right from the begining.

A glance at my watch at Honister as I run through confirms that I have set off fast, just under 2 hrs, I have a number of schedules in my head from running various things through Bob Wightmans website and know that I will not be able to keep this going. Being able to run without a torch because the moon is so bright is amazing, but I do get paranoid running over Pillar,am I being chased by a set of head torches. Is someone else out on a round? It’s just after 2 am when I arrive at Wasdale.

I still feel good and can’t believe that I’ve kept the pace up. The pressure for the 24 hour round is off and I can relax into my running. I decide to run up the main path to Mickledore rather than follow the traditional line up the shoulder to Scafell. I know the path a lot better and it isn’t sustained at a steep gradient. I ditch my stuff at the bottom of Broad Stand and scramble up onto Scafell. It’s a bit unorthodox but I think I gained nearly 20mins by doing this, I also feel like I had a bit of a rest whilst scrambling. I had planned to be running over the Scafells in the early morning but the moon is so bright that I’m not slowed down by the darkness.

Having lived in Langdale for 7 years, I hit auto pilot as I head up on to Bowfell. Mart Crag moor feels a bit alien as I don’t sink in to the now frozen bogs. I know I am going to be too early at Dunmail to meet up with Letty my wife and 2 Kids. It’s also going to be too early for Tom who has been gently persuaded to come out for a morning run over the Helvellyn range. Fortunately I had planned for this by leaving a tub of rice pudding under the stile.

There’s a nice stair case down Steel Fell where I can only guess recent attemps and successes have toiled up the saturated hillside leaving steps which are now frozen. I am amazed to be an hour ahead of my wildest predicited arrival time at Dunmail.

After eating my rice pudding I set off up Seat Sandal it's just after 6:30am. Now for the first time I start to pay for the early pace. I put my warm jacket and gloves on and back off the pace. On the summit of Helvellyn I take my first real break. With the sunrise just about to happen I remember Chris telling me how good a short power sleep can be, I put my hood up, sit on my map and doze off. 10 minutes later I shiver myself awake again, it was a risky strategy but it worked, I could have been asleep for hours but after a few fig rolls and a sunrise photo shoot, I feel ready to be running again.

Dropping off Clough Head I manage to take a different line to my Dad who has come out to meet me. In Threlkeld I finally meet up with a proper Bob Graham Round support crew. Letty has the hot chocolate and bacon sandwiches ready. At 11.45 I’m ready to take on Halls Fell, I’ve only had to stop one minor disagreement between my 4 and 2 year old and am now joined by Tom and my Dad who has returned from Clough Head just in time.

I pick up a set of poles to get me up Halls Fell and they do the trick. My Dad heads down once on the summit and Tom sticks it out for the onward journey. The usual bog trot is transformed with nicely frozen but not slippy ground. The Caldew is only calf deep and both of us get across without any unplanned swimming. Skiddaw looms in my mind as we descend Great Calva. Once at the fence I go for the Ibuprophen/ Caffeine gell double hit in an attempt to be able to get a decent pace for the descent to Keswick. We pass Letty my wife just before Latrigg and she appears to have inadvertently got herself involved in a minor mountain rescue. Skiddaw and Lattrig prove to be a lot easier in descent than ascent and after a brief jostle with Keswick Market I’m sitting on the steps of the Moot Hall.

With shooting stars, ghostly lights following me, an amazing sunrise and a few new little tricks the whole thing hasn’t sunk in yet. I just want to do one in the snow now.

Today's View from the Ben

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Paddy is back on the Ben today, it definately looks like the place to be today. A rare sunshine Neve day.

Islands. The Inspiration for the film.

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Dom Bush from, Land and Sky Media, Friend of the Epicentre and Local film maker shares his inspirations behind making Islands, his film that premiered at The Kendal Mountain Film Festival last year.

____________________

Its funny you know, I grew up under the shadow of these mountains for so many years, but I never really noticed them. I had other things to do, trees to climb, dens to build and so much mischief to get into. I left school early and moved to the Alps with a group of solid mates, determined to ski and snowboard every day, and spend as much of ours lives as possible, travelling as fast as we could. I remember one day looking out of over a mind blowing alpine panorama and thinking, ‘wow this is truly stunning……but it doesn’t mean as much to me as the place I grew up’. It wasn’t long before I moved home.

‘Islands’ is a film about people and places, it has climbing in it, but it is not in my eyes, a climbing film. The project began when I happened to meet an intriguing guy at the bottom of Shepherd’s crag one day. He didn’t fail to make an impression as he spoke openly about his life, new lines and big challenges. The vision was his and his alone, not a quest for high grades or a pat on the back from the rest of the community; it was evident that climbing for him was a personal journey to find some peace, light and clarity. How strange to find safety in a place of such danger.

I knew after filming with Mike that I wanted to carry the project on and make something that I would be proud to show. A film can only be as good as the sum of its parts, so I chose my subjects carefully, and to an extent, followed my heart and my gut.

My hope was to explain, promote and maintain the heritage and tradition within the climbing community in the Lake District, of which I am now a part. To celebrate some of its modern pioneers and their very individual qualities, and to readdress the balance, by placing equal importance on the person, the landscape, and the activity. After all, they may be people doing extraordinary things and believe me, they are inspiring to watch, but they are only a dot on the landscape.

I want to thank my wing man Matt Pycroft and Mike, Stu, Caff and Adam for being involved in this project. They shaped it just as I did, and I’m very grateful for their contribution. Thanks to all the belayers and extra cameraman too, Harry McGie, Duncan Sperry, Mike Norbury, Ben Scraggs, Sophie, Ali Keech and Dan McCann . And thanks to my girlfriend Hel for putting up with my poverty-stricken lifestyle and resistance to getting ‘a proper job’. And last of all, the sponsors of this film, who have shown their support all the way through, as well as providing valuable bits of kit for this and future projects. Wild Country, Red Chilli, The Epicentre and Alpkit.

Photos Matt Pycroft and Dom Bush.

You can watch the individual parts of the film below, or the full thing on the Land and Sky Vimeo here

Ben Nevis Picture from This morning.

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

It all looking a bit lean for early January. But Paddy Cave is working on the Ben Today, it is freezing this morning so what snow there is, is in good condition. We'll get a full report on conditions when Paddy gets of the hill later today..

Great Britain 2011 Display of Brilliance

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

British Youth Team Captain, Luke Tilley reviews 2011 and Looks forward to 2012.

What an inspirational year for the world of junior British competition climbing! From our home comps to Bulgaria, Austria, France and Slovenia the team has been getting stuck in. The evidence of the huge amount of training and commitement put in by our young athletes and their pure enjoyment of our fantastic sport is not just seen in the results on paper but in the atmosphere and friendship within team events.

On the international stage, like firework travelling through the sky an almighty whoosh of flying sparks, we have been propelled rapidly to great heights by the youngest competing members of our team.

Molly Thompson Smith and Tara Hayes only in their first year of Youth B competition, have been taking their first (not so timid) steps into the terra incognito of international competitions have gone out and both had 6^thplace finishes in Europe!

On top of this Molly made it through to the finals in her first World Youth Championships, finishing in an impressive 8th place, a truly great achievement.

Our metaphor flies on to its ultimate awe inspiring finale of sheer brilliance and flying colour, driven by the oldest member of our team. 2012 has been a great year for Ed Hammer his vision and dedication to climbing both on the competition circuit and out on the rocks led to some milestones in progression and achievement. The results of this drive were realised in October when he finished 2^nd in world for U20’s. The pride and excitement that welled up from the crowd of supporters cheering Ed under the clear Austrian sky framing the inspiring competition wall at the Imst Kletterhalle, was a powerful and moving experience!

Behind these fantastic achievements and international successes there is an important and valued teamd. The whole team has been a credit to those that support us. The atmosphere at our national events has been warm and unbelievably positive. There is no doubt that the standards being achieved by everyone in the team are steadily pushing higher and higher. The outstanding performances at national events, British Championships and Youth opens shows that every climber that has been chosen to represent Great Britain has the potential to make it as far or further than our current stars, all that is required is dedication and belief. We have seen the amazing talent and energy of the up and coming climbers in Youth C underlined by outstanding performances at the recent Sunderland youth open, the lads were well onto the heels of us Junior males, inspiringly so! We are welcoming onto the team an incredible bunch of new climbers who are going to take things forward I can't wait!

More now than ever before the support from the Epicenter, BMC, coaches, family and friends is driving things forward for our national team. Towards the end of the year we have faced the hard news of John Ellison’s Cancer, as a network of friends we are united under the world of climbing in support for him. The energy and passion of team members, management, sponsors, volunteers, supporting family and aspiring young people promises for an exciting year ahead!

Luke Tilley (Team Captain)

Follow the British Team on facebook here.

Weekend Warriors.

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

With temperatures steadily climbing and set to hit 7 degrees on the tops by mid week our flourish of winter is as usual rapidly disappearing. You'll still find enough snow and ice if you aim high and early tomorrow, optimism might be a usefull tool. I would head, to Cambridge Crags as it looked in good condition through the weekend with plenty of ice in the grooves and wasn't threatened by any soggy cornices etc. If you access it from the great slab you don't have to run the gauntlet of the Climbers Traverse.

Through the weekend there was quite a bit going on in the Lakes. On Saturday fresh from a slightly earlier finish to their day on Gable than ours Rich Cross and John Morgan climbed a new route on Scafell Pikes Crag. People steered away from Helvellyn, Paddy reported it being fairly quiet there which was perhaps a good thing as the top out under the big cornice didn't sound like everyones cup of tea. The routes were however in good condition.

On Sunday the weather improved and Bowfell was on the agenda. Brian Davison, (complete with leashless axes), Paddy Cave, Tom Greenwood and myself headed up to check out a few projects. Paddy and Tom made a first winter asent of Moonshadow an impresively steep looking E1 summer line high on the left hand side of Flat Crags, at VII 8 it looks like it could be good value! Flat Crags corner also looked like it at had seen an ascent.

Rich Cross and an ever growing raiding party from Sheffield were in debate about what line to climb on Bowfell when we arrived. Rich eventually settled on the summer line of Rubicon Groove an E1 to the left of Central Route. Malcolm Rudge, Huw Davies, Mick Lovatt, Nick Wharton and John Morgan and partner all climbed the classic Bowfell Buttress by various variations which looked to be in good condition. Brian and myself climbed a new line to the right of Bowfell Buttress which gave a really nice top pitch in a great position. It was a nice day to be out on the crags and even better to get off the hill in the daylight.

If you're out and about and get some good shots of your winter climbs in the lakes feel free to share them with us. e-mail me at steve@ theepicentre.co.uk

Please have mercy on our Souls...

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Paddy Cave, Thomas Greenwood and Steve climbed the first winter ascent of another classic summer line on Gable Crag Yesterday. The climbing was harder than Snickersnack being more technical with harder to place gear and less solid tool placements, Paddy compared the climbing to The Secret in terms of technical difficulty grading the route VIII 9. Another great addition to the crag.

A minor navigational error in the dark and snow on the walk out made for a slightly more scenic trip back to Honister!!

More Pictures in our facebook album here.

Helvellyn Conditions Report

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Just back from an evening run up Helvellyn with Epicentre staff member Chris Stirling. The Ridges were in great conditions and exposed turf has frozen down, there are some big patches of neve about and some water ice here and there. The head wall is plastered and I would expect V corner to be iced up, I would take care with the snow basin and the exits on the Red Tarn face, there's a good build up of new snow that has fallen today sitting on top of the snow that thawed and refroze last night, the snow was a bit slabby on the exit slopes to Striding Edge. Striding and Swirral were in great winter condition.

Winter has finally arrived !

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

We waited for a while but it's fair to say that we have had our first blast of winter. Paddy Cave was out on Monday as was Woody. Marginal conditions were found and carefull route choice was the order of the day. Paddy ended up on Bowfell Buttress and Woody at Hen Crag.

On Tuesday Paddy traded Axes for Skis and had what looked like a great day skiing over the Helvellyn range.

Steve braved the journey North on Monday night and once getting over Dunmail Raise in the snow, headed to the Ben. After a long drive and a tough walk in it was 3 am before Brian Davison, Viv Scott and Steve got to the CiC hut. Deep snow made getting around the Ben difficult and the prospect of suicidal avalanche conditions didn't encourage venturing too far from the hut. After a team put a track in to the Duglas Boulder, Steve's team and others including Dave Mcleod and Blair Fyffe all headed to the same area. Cutlass was in good conditions with a good bit of ice in the corner.

There is a lot of ice forming on the Ben, It's very wild up there today and looks set to stay windy and cold with snow. Keep an eye out for the SAIS conditions reports as things need to settle down. Remember that the A82 is closed between Glen Coe and Fort william this weekend

The hint of winter in the Lakes is currently turning into flood water and the road between Ambleside and Windermere is flooded. It is set to get cooler again tomorrow with perhaps a hint of new snow on the tops but it looks like we'll have to wait a bit for climbing to come back. Watch this space.....

A Hitch Hiker's Guide to Skye.

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In early September, I was lucky enough to be granted a week off from the shop. I decided to use this as an opportunity to travel north of the border and explore one of Scotland’s most beautiful Islands, the Isle of Skye. With my destination set, all I needed was a willing travelling partner who would be able to handle spending a week living in close proximity to me without wanting to throw me head first off Skye bridge . For those of you who know me, you’ll know that the list of possible candidates could probably be written onto the back of a small postage stamp! After much deliberation, friend of the Epicentre, Matt Rowland was selected as the lucky candidate. Some say he was selected for his spirit of adventure, his unflappable calm under pressure and his unnatural tolerance towards his fellow man. Others say (me) that he was selected as he was the only person who could get a week off work.

With the destination and travelling partner confirmed, the matter of travelling all the way from sunny Ambleside to Skye was next on the agenda. It was decided for budgetary reasons that public transport was not a realistic option. As we had no car and walking obviously wasn’t an option it looked as if a week in Langdale was a more likely option, until Matt had a very rare brain wave. “Let’s hitch there”! I immediately dismissed the idea, I really didn’t fancy becoming a mad lorry drivers pre Little Chef morning snack! As far as I was concerned, if you hitch, you die! After squabbling for what seemed like hours we reached a compromise. The plan was now to get a train North of Glasgow and then attempt to hitch from there. With a plan now in action we were set to leave the next morning.

After many hours of travelling we arrived jetlagged in Glasgow central station. It was decided that trying to hitch out of Glasgow city centre would probably take about a week so we turned to our bible, Matt’s 2008 AA pocket sized road atlas. I had never been shown on my Mountain Leader training how to take a compass bearing from a road atlas but I thought I’d take one anyway. Using my compass skills I decided that to reach the Isle of Skye we needed to head north from Glasgow. The cheapest option was to travel by train to Crianlarich and then hope to hitch from there. After a few more hours we arrived in Crianlarich. We walked down to the main road to put mans good nature to the test and see who would pick us up.

My thumb reluctantly forced its way out and I slowly raised my arm into the universal hitching position. This wasn’t that bad I said to myself then five minutes later my worst fears came true! A white van skidded into the lay-by and a couple of drunken Glaswegians stumbled out and insisted that we get in the van and come with them to Glasgow. Now, I don’t know about anyone else but I was always taught as a child to never get into a van full of drunken Glaswegians with a passion for young lads wearing gore-tex. This advice from my parents proved vital in my quick decision making and my heroic response to them. I politely told the gentleman that we wouldn’t be joining them on their journey to Glasgow as we had just come from their fine city and our journey was taking us north. Amazingly this proved a satisfactory answer for them and they were soon distracted by a nearby bush in which to unleash the 10 pints of Tennants they had probably had for breakfast.

Despondent, we retreated to the hotel and sat outside on our rucksacks where I lectured Matt on the Dangers of Strange men in white vans and the possible scenarios that we could have found ourselves in had we got into the van. Matt didn’t seem to find it at all concerning as he already knew how he was going to die! Apparently it involved a bottle of single malt and a ditch! This shock confession of how he envisaged his passing from this world troubled me for some time until the next thing I knew a massive Toyota 4x4 pulled up alongside us. Oh here we go again I thought when out of the window popped Rupert.

10 minutes later we were on the road north towards Fort William. As luck would have it, Rupert was heading towards the top of the country and agreed to take us all the way to the Skye Bridge. Half an hour later I was relieved that I decided to sit in the back and Matt in the front. To say Rupert was the strangest man I have ever met wouldn’t be fair but he was certainly in the top 3. A top tip for any hitchhikers out there is always sit in the back and let your mate sit in the front, that way you can sleep while they have to endure hours of boring, pointless conversations about sandwiches and 4x4 vehicles (Rupert’s favourite subjects) Finally after an amazing trip through Glen Coe and a lengthy stop in Fort William we arrived on the Skye Bridge. After an emotional farewell to Rupert our Adventure could finally begin.

After spending the first night in Broadford we travelled by bus up to Portree in the North of the island. Portree is the capital town, ideally located for access to the north of the island, to the magnificent Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing. Our accommodation for the week’s trip would be a Macpac Minaret tent kindly loaned to me by Epicentre’s Steve Ashworth. It proved to be a valuable piece of kit on the trip, even if it was cramped at times with two people. But once I had washed the taste of Matt’s feet out of my mouth in the morning it wasn’t too bad. We had pitched our tent at the Torvaig campsite approx 1 mile north of Portree. At £5 each per night it represented amazing value with views to match. I would highly recommend it to anyone thinking of camping in that area. We would use this as base camp where we could acclimatise before our final epic push towards the summit of Storr! (2358 ft)

One of the main reasons I had wanted to re-visit Skye was to go and see the Old Man of Storr. The summit of Storr itself is part of the Trotternish peninsula and the rocky formations below its steep cliffs are known as the sanctuary. The sanctuary is the product of an ancient landslide and subsequent erosion that created the rock pinnacle known as the Old Man of Storr, well that’s what the notice board told me anyway. That morning we began our walk towards the Storr. The plan was to walk along the road until we could hitch a lift, fortunately after a few minutes a local man picked us up with me, this time taking a rare visit to the front seat. It was only a short journey, and even I can survive a 10 minute conversation about the weather! The ‘Into the Wild’ soundtrack by Eddie Vedder blasting out of his stereo acted in my defence in the war against idle chit chat and was the perfect accompaniment on the drive through the stunning scenery. The walk starts from the roadside and follows a nice track up through the forest with the occasional break in the tree line to savour the amazing views over Loch Leathen.

After a short walk the Old Man reared into view. To say the Old Man is impressive would be an understatement and took my breath away and is certainly one of the most impressive and iconic natural sights the British Isles has to offer. I had heard that the Old Man rising 50 metres high had first been climbed back in 1955 by the legendary Don Whillans. Having seconded well over 10 V-diff rock climbs in my remarkable rock climbing career I was keen to scramble up to its base to see what all the fuss was about. Armed in my fell running shoes, the finest Icebreaker Merino wool courtesy of The Epicentre and my trusty bum bag (Yes I use a bum bag, stop laughing) I scrambled up to the base. The views of the Sanctuary from here were amazing and was something one might see in The Lord of the Rings movies rather than Scotland. If you are inspired by atmospheric landscapes then this is the place for you. After Matt and I had picked our jaws up from off the floor we followed a footpath up to the top of Storr itself. The views from up here were equally as impressive as I edged my way closer and closer to the edge of the 200ft high Storr cliffs to get the best picture taking angle. As we approached the road on the descent the heavens opened and really tested my new Patagonia stretch ascent waterproof Jacket which fortunately proved its worth. Walking down the road back towards Portree we were picked up by two American ladies who must have taken pity on us and gave us a lift back to the campsite.

The rest of the night was spent exploring the area and the many pubs of Portree where myself and Mathew drank responsibly all evening before returning to base camp where I slept outside under the tarp in the clear Scottish night air while Matt snored away in the tent.We spent the next day or so exploring but were unable to venture too high as the weather was awful with strong winds. It was decided it was time for our next destination.

As Matt is a big fan of his single malts he wanted to visit the Talisker Distillery. So we walked down into Portree in search of our next lift towards Talisker. After about 30 minutes outside a lovely petrol station forecourt a long wagon pulled over. I hoped my concerns about human eating lorry drivers wasn’t about to come true! The driver turned out to be lovely guy who drove us all the way to Sligachan where we would hopefully find our next lift. The weather was wild and the wind was picking up the water as it raced under the Sligachan Old Bridge which offers a perfect viewpoint to the mountains beyond. The distillery is in the small village of Carbost and we walked a great portion of the way except for a few short lifts of a climber and a Brazilian couple who took us to the distillery. The fact that it was torrential rain may have explained why people were reluctant to stop and pick us up. Once at Carbost we booked ourselves onto a tour of the distillery which cost £6 each but included a complimentary dram of 10 yr old Talisker which was a welcome addition to warm us up after hours in the rain and cold. Despite the fact that I can’t stand Whiskey I drank it anyway and even resisted the urge to nip to the shop and buy a can of Coke and a packet of cheese & onion to go with it. I had been on the tour in the past but still found it interesting and was a good way to spend an hour out of the rain. Matt looked like he had died and gone to heaven especially when he saw the bottle of 30 yr old in the shop which he very nearly parted with £250 to fall into a ditch with. The distillery established in 1830 offers and interesting insight into the history of the island and whiskey making and I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting the area. That night was spent in the Carbost inn with a few drinks before venturing out and getting some shut eye.

The plan for the rest of the trip was to hitch down towards Glen Brittle and walk our Way into the Cuillin mountains and over the ridge to hopefully get some amazing views down to loch Coruisk and work our way around eventually to Elgol. The weather however had other ideas and to venture into the mountains would have been dangerous. The Cuillin are a different beast to that of Loughrigg and Wansfell back in Ambleside.

The decision was reluctantly made to return to the mainland and use the remaining few days to camp over in Glen Nevis where we explored the area and took in the views of the impressive steal falls along with countless other impressive sights of Ben Nevis.

After many hours and several hitches we arrived back in the Lakes. The trip had been a good one but not being able to get into the Cuillin had proved disappointing and made the trip less adventurous than we had planned but worth it all the same.

David Candlin, (Equipment Specialist)

Islands the Movie.

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Here's the first instalment of the Land and Sky media film, Islands. The film premiered at Kendal and features our very own, Woody... Part 2 is out on Wednesday and Part three follows on Friday.

Islands Chapter 1 from Land and Sky Media on Vimeo.

Sharp Edge

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Steve has been out running the fells in an attempt to supress the frustration that winter hasn't yet arrived in the Lakes. Greasy conditions make running the ridges a bit more exciting.

Mera Peak & Baruntse Expeditions

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Epicentre Athlete Paddy Cave is just back from his latest guiding trip in Nepal. Paddy had a great trip and was succesfull on Mera Peak and Baruntse, here's a taster with some photos, we'll catch up with Paddy soon and look forward to hearing about his travels.

Trip Report: Rodellar

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Here's another great trip report from Mark Richardson, friend of the Epicentre and a confirmed fan of steep bolted sportiness.

Rodellar 2011

Rodellar had been on my list for a climbing trip for some time. I had heard from several well travelled climbers that it’s probably one of the best sport climbing areas in the world, with a great selection of crags all within easy walking distance from a village base set in an idyllic valley! Sounds good!

Rodellar is situated in Northern Spain, North East from the city of Huesca in the Sierra de Guara National Park an area of outstanding national beauty. We looked at several different ways of getting here, fly and hire car, ferry to Santander or drive through France across the Pyrenees into Spain. We opted for the later, mainly because we all hate the experience of the squeezey jet style of travel into Europe, being herded like cattle from pillar to post, and the cost of the Ferry option to Santander made the drive option an easy one.

The journey took 27 hrs to get there! A bit of a nightmare due to one of the tunnels into Spain being closed, but eventually we turned up several hours late knackered, and ready to crash. The choice of accommodation was a refuge called the Kalandraka (www.refugio-kalandraka.es ) again another recommendation from a friend who had been here, and having now being here a great venue with good food and a superb terrace to eat your breakfast from in the morning.

With only 5 ½ days of climbing this was going to be an exploratory visit, with the emphasis of a broad brush approach to as many crags as possible..

Still feeling a bit van lagged form the journey we woke on day 1 to blue skies, a warm breeze and Eagles and Vultures soaring above us! After a quick breakfast we went straight into the valley....As you walk into the valley you quickly get an idea of what this place is all about...big and steep! The valley’s orientation is North to South with crags on either side, giving you options to keep in the shade throughout the day.

I had read a great article on UKC form Keith Sharples about the “land of lactic” and the style of climbing here, so the weeks before I had designed my training around lots of high end aerobic power sets on a steep 45 degree board... that should work?

Day 1 was the crag Pince sans rire, with some easy steep routes on the left hand side from 6b to 7a, the right hand side has some fantastic looking 30-50meter routes from 7a+ to 8b+! How Many days did we have!!

Day 2 & 3 was Surgencia....WOW! And double WOW!! This crag is the dog’s nuts! The left hand side has 28/30 meter vertical stuff with the middle sector giving 40-50meter routes soaring up this amazing featured wall. As you walk into this crag the main line up the centre is the obvious “El corridor de la muerte” which is given 8a, further right is the classic pumpy 7b+/c of “Sayonara Baby. We could have spent all week here!

Day 2 evening we finished off at the Egocentrismo crag, with a quick blast up the 7a+ of “Pequeno Pablo” Big jugs, yeah!

Day 4 was an easy day at “Piton d o Cuervo” & “Nuit de temps”. That afternoon and evening we went for a walk down the valley and had a look at the Southern end of the valley at crags like “Laperne” “La Palomera” & the huge cave of “Cueva de los Cazadores”, totally amazing!

Day 5 was back at Egocentrismo, this is great crag steep, with big moves on mainly positive big holds. It is the classic crag for thugs! Recommended routes here are...

7a, “de 8 a 14”,

7a+ “Pequeno Pablo”,

7c “Egocentrismo” and the hanging corner/groove of 7a+” Daniel”

Then we went down the river bed to finish off the day at sector La Palomera with John getting on the long 45 meter 6c of “Las puertas del caos”

Day 6 was just an early morning visit back down to Egocentrismo for a couple of hours before we left and to tick a bit more of the crag. By this time aching bodies and sore skin signified the end of this brief trip.

The journey back was much better, we went via the more Northern tunnel which brings you into French town of Pau. Giving a journey time of 14hours from the refuge to the ferry, that was more like it!

Overall...

What a great place! Loads of rock and I mean loads, it really is an inspirational area for the sport climber, what a place to get fit. There were even sectors that we didn’t even get to, in particular “Alcanadre” and the big crag of “la Piscineta” this will have to wait till next time.

Rodellar is famed for its steep long routes of which there are plenty, but there is also a good selection of more vertical crags on the shorter side giving climbers in the mid 6’s to 7’s plenty to go at. Equipment needed, maximum 20 draws, and an 80 meter rope will do.

Did the training pay off? Sort of, having never been on these types of routes before it is a bit of a shock to the system, stamina is the key here and lots of it, I was defiantly doing the right type of training I just needed more of it and also more time on the routes....there’s always next year!

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The poor summer was all about taking the opportunity when you could to get some cragging done. Now the nights have drawn in and we are in the depths of a poor Autumn this is certainly the case!

The last day of September was the start of a brief spell of sunshine, desperate to get out on my day off I contacted all potential climbing partners, twenty calls later and still unsuccessful. Eventually Nick Wharton told me to get in touch with his mate Steve Scott. I did, and Steve was keen and fancied a trip to Iron Crag. I fancied going higher, but Iron turned out to be a good call. We had a cracking day; starting off on The Steel Band E2, then Steve led the best E2 in the Lakes, Hiddenite and I finished off with the classic Marble Staircase E4, superb! I returned Nick’s favour as he was struggling to get someone to go out with the day after by putting him in contact with my mate, Ben Scraggs. They opted for the high option and went to Gable Crag, it was slimy and greasy so they circumnavigated Gable to climb on the Napes.

Last Wednesday I arranged to go out with Mark Roe, one of the students I met at the boulders the other week. The morning looked damp and dank and the weather was set to get worse as the day went on. I got a text from Mark suggesting a trip to the climbing wall, but we took a punt and headed for Trowbarrow. On arrival a few of the walls were a bit wet but the Assagai wall was dry, so we got to work immediately. First I set off on A Sense Of Doubt, E3/4 which is brilliant then got straight on Scary Monsters E5 and dispatched it before the rain set in. Two great routes ticked on an unlikely climbing day.

After a few trips to the wall I was desperate to get out last night, it’s only a couple of weeks before the clocks go back! Again it looked unlikely but I persuaded Mark that we would get something done. At 5.30 we raced off to Middle Scout hoping that Elvis would be dry, we walked up but there was a big wet streak down it. You win some you lose some but you’ve got to take the punt if you want to get something done. We retreated to the wall and got really pumped.

Land and Sky media film teaser

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

We've already seen Woody's account of the day filming but here's a teaser from Dom Bush over at Land and Sky media for the film that they have coming out at Kendal Film Festival.

Teaser 2 from Land and Sky Media on Vimeo.

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

It’s that time of year when Steve starts getting giddy with thoughts of winter climbing and it gets harder for us ‘real’ climbers to get some routes ticked! More and more trips to the wall and quick bouldering hits are the order of the day as the nights draw in and after work sorties get increasingly difficult due to time constraints.

Last Friday I had enough time to hook up with my old climbing buddy and ex school teacher Caval Gregg to tick Memoirs of a Lunatic E5 6b at Trowbarrow. I fell of the last move earlier in the year so was keen to finish it off. I made short work of this and then started to look at the much more impressive route to its’ left. When I was a lad this wall was known as the Great Unled, gazing up it looked impossible. The Asylum was put up in the mid eighties and at E5 6a, I was always under the impression that it would be really hard for the grade with minimal gear and friable holds. It was a route I always wanted to do. This wall is very sharp and wears fingers quickly so the plan was to return after work on Saturday for the send! Saturday it rained! But I managed to keep the faith, made a call to my man on the ground Caval, 3pm in Carnforth and it stopped raining, the roads were drying out. A frantic drive to Trowbarrow and the route was on, and what a fantastic route! Just enough gear (peg, rock 1, RP4), technical wall climbing and solid enough, a 3 star experience in my book. Ben Robinson followed up.

Monday evening struggling to find a partner I ended up on Langdale boulders where I met my old mate Bill Birkett with his lad Will. Bill was getting back into his climbing after a nasty injury whilst Will, fourth generation of the Birkett climbing dynasty was looking every bit a ‘Birkett’. It was also nice to see the return of students from Ambleside’s St Martin College climbing at the boulders. Mark, Tom and Tom looked like they were having a cracking night and I’m sure I’ll be doing a few routes with them in the near future

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been a good few weeks since the last round up but it’s been a busy month at The Epicentre, all the lovely new winter stock has been arriving. It’s also been an appalling September with never ending rain! Being a climber in the Lake District you need tenacity and you have to seize the moment when you get a break in the weather.

Steve and myself had an after work sortie to Castle Rock to climb the rarely climbed Eliminator E3 5a 5c. The route was excellent but the protection was pretty much non existent on both pitches. Make sure you feeling confident if you get on this one!

Mark Richardson came up from head office and was desperate to sample some Cumbrian sport climbing after work, the weather was appalling but we took the chance and headed to Chapel Head. We were rewarded with a dry crag and the cloud cleared to give us some sunshine. We tipped off Nick Wharton who arrived ten minute after the phone call. Mangostine, Perverse Pepre, Route of all Evil and Bleep and Booster were all knocked off for a great evenings cragging. Nick Wharton and myself had a lovely evening at Scout Scar, there were lots of teams out and it was a good social, Nick was also getting some shots for the new FRCC South Lakes guide.

Between all the horrendous Rain in the first three weeks of September there was one day of glorious sunshine on the 15^th, I had the fortune of being on Raven Langdale with Dom Bush where we were being photographed by David Simmonite for an upcoming magazine article. We climbed Pluto HVS, Gamekeeper E1, Centipede Direct E2, Armalite E5 and I got a bit of a spanking on Finetime E5. It was a cracking day out with splendid company.

As the nights draw in Climbing walls are being visited again and I’m even dabbling in a bit of bouldering. Steve is getting happier and happier as Winter looms. Watch out for the MixedMaster reports!

Great Results for British Team.

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Having been caught up in Lakes activity recently and focussing on finding dry rock in between the showers we missed bringing you news from the Epicentre sponsored British climbing team who were in action at the World youth Championships in Austria last month.

In the best result for a British climber Since Simon Nadin won the first ever World Championship in 1989 Ed Hammer finished second.

“In the finals Ed was in first place right up to the final climber and then he was pipped into a brilliant 2nd place for his first ever podium place. “

Not a bad place to bag your first podium Ed well done. Ed is still over in Europe at the moment but we hope to catch up with him soon for a first hand account.

Molly Thompson-Smith our youngest competitor showed great promise for the future finishing in 8^th place in her final. Molly was competing in her first year of international competition, definitely one to watch!

For a full report head over to the BMC website

For a Move by move account and a sense of the excitement surrounding the competition check out the British Teams facebook page Psyched.

Competition Time

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

We've teamed up with Tendon to bring you this great competition. Head over to our facebook page, leave a caption for the photo as a comment and you could win a Tendon Smart 10X60m rope. Woody will judge the competition, entries will close at midnight on the 15th of September. See our range of Tendon Ropes here.

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Epicentre Athlete Paddy Cave is back in the country after a guiding trip to Kyrgyzstan, after a new routing trip, Khan Tengri 7010m was on the cards. It was yet another succesful trip for Paddy. For a full report on Paddy's trip head over to Mountaincircles and check out his blog.

Will it be an 8000m peak next Paddy?

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

It’s a fond farewell to Callum and Liam as they both head off on separate trips to the States. They're both starting their trips in Yosemite, where Callum has his eye on a possible second ascent of Continental Drift and Liam is hoping to bag the mega classic Nose. Good luck to them both!

I had a family camping trip to Fisherground, Eskdale this week. The Lakes bouldering rockfax has a section devoted to this area. I left pretty disappointed with the bouldering as I often do in the Lakes. The Lakes is a fantastic climbing destination but our Yorkshire neighbours beat us hands down for bouldering!

On Monday night I teamed up with my old mate Mike Wilson and my new mate Dom Bush to bag another classic E3. The Ghost on Castle Rock has a reputation for being quite bold, I was surprised to find plenty of gear and the climbing was fantastic. It was good to see Dom climbing as he is quite often hanging off a rope filming climbing for his company Land and Sky Media. Dom showed he is no slouch climbing smoothly. A great evening was had by all!

Dom posted a new article about his day filming with me at Hodge a few weeks ago on his blog over at Land and Sky Media. If the screen shots are anything to go by it looks set to be a great film.

Adam Hocking is back from Holland this week with the ‘bit’ firmly between his teeth, so look out for some exciting news in the near future.

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Rain, rain, rain, rain...........

The last week has been appalling with the rain coming in last Tuesday evening and showing little respite till Sunday. The staff were raring to get out on Sunday evening and at closing time, it rained!

Callum has been training hard on his secret ‘woodie’ , Liam has made Kendal wall his second home whilst Steve and Cappa have resorted to fell running.

Last night I was desperate to get a route in and hooked up with my old mate Mike Wilson. Chapel Head would be the obvious choice with the dubious weather, feeling the need for a proper route we took a punt on Raven Thirlmere. It was just about dry enough and we did the excellent, Close To The Edge E3 5c 5c, Mike drawing the short straw and getting the wet top pitch.... good lead Mike!

Whilst it has been raining Dom Bush over at Land and Sky Media has taken the opportunity to get back to work on his film due out at Kendal. He sent us through a screen shot of Woody in action at Hodge. It looks like being a great film and we can't wait to see the finished article.

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Sitting in the office while the rain is banging on the skylights I feel contented to have been out climbing five in the last seven days with a good mixture of people and venues. Last Wednesday The Epicentre team had a great day in Langdale testing new Mountain Equipment product. For my part I did Paladin E3 5c on White Ghyll with Nick Bullock, the route was fantastic and can be highly recommended and Nick was a joy to climb with. I used the new Arrow Pull on, the perfect cragging top, they’ll have to rip this off my back to get it back!

On Friday Steve and myself had a walk up to Goat Crag, it was a bit wet when we set off but we took the chance and were rewarded with the mega classic Athanor E3 6a 5c 5c. Also at the crag were Lakeland legends Rob Matheson and Keith Phizacklea who were cleaning up the top pitch of The Voyage in true altruistic style. This terrific crag really could do with more traffic to keep these fantastic routes clean.... go and climb them!

After a day at work on Sunday as soon as we closed the doors it rained, we were thinking about a session at the climbing wall but opted for a bit of top roping on Middle Scout, a good pump. Sunday evening saw Mike Wilson, Liam and myself heading to Chapel Head Scar where Mike dispatched La Mangostine Scatoflange F7a very quickly.

After a trade show on Tuesday I met up with my friends James and Sophie at Raven, Langdale. James warmed up on Trilogy E5 with Sophie. Sophie and myself followed him up R and S Special E5 (I would argue E6 with anyone). Then James did what he came for and made an onsight ascent of Dawes Rides a Shovelhead E8 6c.

Matt Pycroft was on hand to film it for Land and Sky Media, watch out for these guys films.... they’re good! After following James up Dawes it was back to Ambleside for the ultimate climbers fuel... Dahl.

See more photos in our facebook album

A Day out with Mountain Equipment.

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The Alpine summer season is well and truly with us, some of the Epicentre staff are resident in Chamonix and we look forward to hearing about their adventures. In the Lakes we are fortunate to have a great Alpine training ground on our doorstep. Routes and crags can be linked to give great days out. The Epicentre teamed up with Mountain Equipment last week to have an Alpine style day out in Langdale.

Langdale is a great Alpine venue with some great circuits for the aspiring Alpinist at any grade. Try looking at circuits of starred routes, classic routes or putting together natural circuits of crags, (e.g. Upper Scout, White Ghyll, Pavey, Gimmer, Raven, East Raven). A day of 2 halves was planned and Nick Bullock was the lucky Mountain Equipment Pro Partner assigned to the task. We opted for a short circuit of Middlefell, Gimmer and Jakes Rake in the Morning, with Woody leading a cragging mission to White Ghyll in the afternoon. Nick had the added Alpine ambience of an early start having left N Wales in time to meet us at 8:30 am at the shop.

Having promised that we wouldn’t be out for a run, Nick and Rich looked a bit surprised to see team Epicentre kitted out in running gear with minimal climbing kit, it was going to be hot and we did have to get a move on to be back in time for Woody to get out in the afternoon.

Middlefell, Ash Tree Slabs and D route didn’t disappoint and we were glad of the ME test Javelin jacks, (a new soft shell for next spring) as there was a welcoming cool breeze on the crag. After a quick dash down Jakes Rake with occasional stops to take pictures of Nick in his newly acquired Mountain Equipment T shirt we were soon back in the car park to see Woody ready for action. Nick was gearing up for some Lakeland Sandbagging.

Nick and Woody had a nice afternoon climbing the classic E3, Palladin at White Ghyll. Everyone was back at the shop before closing. It was great to get out on the hill with Mountain Equipment and have the opportunity to put their Summer 2012 Softshells to the test. The jackets we tested didn’t disappoint and once again Mountain Equipment look to have a great line up for next spring.

See more photos of our day out in our Facebook Album.

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The BMC Open Youth Competition was held at EICA Ratho on Saturday 30th July 2011.

The event was a lead climbing competition that involved two qualifying rounds and then a final.

It was open to young climbers born between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 1999 who are eligible to compete for Great Britain.

Additionally, GB Team managers were looking at perfomances in the event as it is used as part of the continuing monitoring process for the GB Climbing Team.

The competition was a great success with 74 competitors taking part. Rivalry was high in all the categories with some competition first timers putting in some excellent performances.

Results can be seen on the BMC website.

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Last week kicked off with Steve and myself heading off for some business meetings in the North East. In the evening we headed to Bowden Doors with Allcord MD Kieron Mckenzie and Sales Manager Andy Moir. Keiron and Steve ticked some classics while Andy and myself warmed up on The Trial E3 5c then spent the rest of the evening getting spat off the top of His Eminence Font 7a+.

Callum went out with Mike Wilson on Wednesday evening and bagged some of the classics on Nab Crag before spending the rest of the week on his infamous ‘woody’.

The Keswickians!

In the mid 90’s three youths appeared on the Lakes climbing scene, Adam Hocking, James McHaffie and Wez Hunter, it was clear they were very talented! At about this time the Hardest sport route and the first 9a in the UK, The Big Bang was put up by an on form Neil Carson at Lower Pen Trwyn.

I had the pleasure of having a short day out with Wez and Adam on Friday at the great Iron Crag. First up I watched Wez make The Iron Man ,(E7 6c) look like a VS. When I mentioned this to him he humbly retorted, “well I had a go on it yesterday.” Adam then flashed the route comfortably. We then headed to the upper crag where I led a new route to the right of Ambalite, Iron Curtain E5 6a. Back at the bottom of the crag we started talking about James McHaffie and his recent efforts on Big Bang, Adam said there would be nobody happier than himself if his mate made the coveted second ascent. The following evening when my phone started ringing with Caff on the screen I new straight away what it was about. Caff commented, “no alcohol, dieting, thousands of sit ups, thousands of pull ups… it was all worth it!” An insight into the commitment to bag a 9a. So back to the Keswickians, James climbing 9a, Adam crushing cutting edge trad lines and Wez quietly ticking very hard trad routes….top blokes!

Last night Liam, Will Walker and I headed to Chapel Head Scar and got a bit of climbing done before the heavens opened followed by a hurried stripping of the routes and a quick dash to the car in the pouring rain. It did make me realise that I quite like sport climbing. Lets hope it stops throwing it down soon so we can all get some more climbing in.

The Big Bang, Repeated

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

James Mchaffie, has made the coveted second ascent of The Big Bang 9a. This is has to go down as one of the most significant repeats of a sport route in the UK. Neil Carsons mid 90's test piece has been tried by many but unrepeated for 15 years. Caff commented " 2 months of dieting, no alcohol, 1000's of pull ups, 100's of sit ups and now it all seems worth it." Good one Caff.

Summer Holiday Guides

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

We skipped a round up last week with the appalling weather the week before, but things have picked up and we’ve had a glorious weekend. Ben Scraggs and myself had a day with Land and Sky media http://landandsky.wordpress.com/ filming a new route at Hodge Close on Friday. The Big Link E6 6b 6b starts up First Night Nerves then traverses into Stagefright, a hard traverse then leads to the easier climbing on the flake of Command Performance to the bolt belay. The top pitch is all new climbing, it traverses from the belay on undercuts to the top peg on Ten Years After, then a hard traverse leads to the wall between Ten Years After and Wicked Willie, the only runner being the peg on Ten Years After. Land and Sky Media owned by Dom Bush are currently making a Lake District climbing film, so far it looks fantastic, keep your eye open for it.

Callum headed south to Pembroke with Rob Lay where they spent four days bagging loads of mid extreme classics. In total they did fifeteen routes including the mega classics, Zeppelin E3, The Butcher E3, Rocktopia E1, Naddyyn E5 and a Head in the Clouds E4. Sounds like a great trip!

Tom Hurndall and myself had an early start to enjoy the sunshine at Nab Crag, Thirlmere on Sunday. We kicked off with a real gem, Mega Drive E5 6a has a steep bouldery start that leads to a technical wall above ….. Brilliant! We then finished off on a 3 star E1, Red Dwarf. This was miles better than it looked.

Last night Callum, Liam and Ben went to Chapel Head for a spot of sport climbing. Callum did War Hero 6C+ and Ben had a go on my own Shades of Mediocracy 7a. Lets hope for another great week.

Summer Holiday Guides

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Chapel Head is finally open and has proved a firm favourite with The Epicentre staff this week. Callum and Liam went there on Thursday, Callum onsighted Electric Warrior 7b whilst Liam just missed out on Interstellar Overdrive 6b+. The pair went back on Monday, Callum got Phantom Zone 7c first redpoint and Interstellar just evaded Liam again.

Dave Parton, Ben Scraggs and myself had an alpine start on Saturday (had to be back early for the family) and went for the dry option at Shepherds Crag. Ben kicked off leading MGC E2, I then led Ker Plunk E5 6a, dropped my ropes at the top then Dave and Ben both led it. The three of us then did Wildside( E3 6a) and Wild Sheep (E2 5b). Dave and Ben then had a tussle on Inclination, a tough E4 narrowly missing out..... next time!

Confusion at Lightning crag???

Ben Robinson, Adam Wilkins and myself went to Lightning Crag on Monday evening armed with Bilbo’s topo. On the topo two routes are listed very close together on the same compact piece of rock. West Wall (E5 6b) put up by Tom Walkington in 1988 and Eskdale Hero (E4 6a) added by Paddy Deady in 2001. To add to the confusion Jim Arnold claimed Sundays Child (E5 6a) between them in 2004. My conclusion is that they are all the same route! What has thrown Paddy and Jim is the peg, on the first ascent this had a big long sling on it and Tom stretched out left to clip it, this is stated in the Langdale guide. The best description, grade and stars for this route are Jims (see the FRCC site)

Summer Holiday Guides

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The school summer holidays are only just around the corner. Over the next few weeks we are going to profile some of our favourite outings for kids. We're starting with the classic Scramble at Raven Crag Yewdale.

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

With the arrival of some much needed good weather , it’s been a productive week for the Epicentre Climbers. There’s been lots of activity all over the Lakes. Callum and Rob had a couple of days camping at Pavey ticking the classics; Bracken Clock, Astra and Capella. I had another trip to Black Crag, Wrynose on Thursday evening to make a rare repeat of the Dave Bates route, Hang the Gallows High E6 6b, a very necky arête! I finished off with Pocket Way, the easiest E5 in the UK. On Saturday evening I went to Raven Langdale with Will Walker where we both led Armalite E5 6a.

Epicentre friend Chris Stirling led the way on the bouldering front with an impressive ascent of Cloning Technology Font 8a at Woodwell. Lots of the harder climbs in the lakes have seen repeats, Epicentre friend Dave Parton had a productive week with ascents of The Cumbrian E5, Esk Buttress and Mother Courage E4 at Pavey . Adam Lincoln has started a great thread on UKC, Lakes Clean Routes List, lots of climbers are listing what’s being done and what state the routes are in. On this thread Pete Graham reports pulling a chockstone out of The Vikings on theNapes making it somewhat harder. Adam Hocking continues his purple patch with an impressive looking new E7 on Cam Crag Langstrath. Last night Liam from the Epicentre did Pocket Way on Black Crag, The easiest E5 In the UK and Will Walker did the easiest E2 in the UK, Glass Slipper.

Relentless Rage E7 6A Second ascent?

Last night Epicentre Athlete Callum Storry and myself went to look at Duncan Booths 2003 Gouther scare fest Relentless Rage E7 6a. I gave it a good brush and had a rope on it and then asked Callum if he fancied a rope, showing good moral fibre he declined, pulled the rope and flashed it! In what were very muggy conditions this was a fine effort from a great climber, who is clearly on form. I’m pretty sure this is the second ascent.

More pictures of Relentless Rage can be found on our Facebook page:

Summer Cragging Gear

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

So far it feels like summer in the Lakes has been a case of picking your moments and making an educated dash to the nearest quick drying crag. Things have changed over the weekend and long may the wall to wall shunshine continue. The range of gear stocked at the Epicentre is carefully chosen by staff who are out on the crags at every opportunity, here’s a few of our summer cragging favourites;

We’ve chosen the Chaos harness as a favourite after Liam entered into the full the spirit of staff training on a recent day out with Neil Gresham and Black Diamond. The Chaos Harness gained its wings and allowed Liam to see another day.

Rock shoes are always a tough call as the variables affecting how you choose what to put on your feet are wide ranging and come down to what you as an individual are used to and the style of climbing that you are into. Our staff are active across the full spectrum of climbing activity from Bouldering through to Big Walling. We all have our favourite shoes and we’ll hopefully help you to find yours. Woody has become a great fan of the Scarpa Vapour, it is as he put it his “cheat shoe,”and they have already taken him up a number of new routes this season, Callum has been putting the Evolv Pontas Lace through their paces, if they’re good enough for Chris Sharma they can just about keep pace with Callum, Liam is a confirmed fan of the Five Ten Anasazi and Steve whilst more at home in a pair of Phantom Guides than a pair of rock shoes as been putting his Evolv Bandits to good use racking up the milage.

The Crux T from Mountain Equipment and the Tech T lite from Icebreaker are both great choices if you’re after a T shirt for the crag. The Tech T lite has the benefit of staying odour free, this has been well tried and tested by Epicentre staff. The Patagonia Nano Puff Pull on or Vest are great additions to the summer cragging wardrobe, they replace a wind proof, fleece and if you’re prepared to chance it a waterproof, all you need to take is one light weight jacket that packs into its own pocket and can clip on to your harness, you’ll become so attached to the nano that you wear it around the house, to work etc etc. What trousers you choose will depend on where and what you are climbing, Patagonia lightweight climbing pants are a great allrounder , if you’re heading for the mountain crags the simple guide pants also from Patagonia are a good choice, not too warm on a hot day, great to climb in and they will turn a bit of a shower.

In the Lakes it's always worth having a lightweight waterproof in the bottom of your pack just in case, the Patagonia Torrentshell pull over or the Mountain Hardwear Stretch Cohesion jacket are both well suited to this roll. If you like being super light and want a jacket to boost a soft shell up to cope with more serious weather then the Houdini from Patagonia is worth considering it is a great choice for Alpine summer trips but would be a good insurance policy sitting in the bottom of your pack on a day out at a Lakes mountain crag.

We have some great deals on Hardwear at the moment if you’re looking to top your rack up for a summer on the crags. The Inferno quickdraw from Metolius stands out representing great value for money at £12.00 being light and very strong. Tendon ropes make a great addition to our gear section ,with a good range of ropes at great prices, our pick for a summer on the crags is the Ambition 8.5 X 60m, we have a deal on a pair of these great allrounders at the moment so don’t miss out.

The stand out piece of new hardwear this summer is the Gridlock Screw gate from Black Diamond. A great belay carabiner, simple design makes the risk of cross gate loading a thing of the past and keeps the carabiner in the best orientation for ropes to pull smoothly through it.

When you’re looking for a rucksack to put all this kit in then the Osprey Mutant 38 is hard to beat, it performs all year round from big days out in winter to summer evening cragging trips. Simple clean design makes it an Epicentre favourite.

For lounging around after a hard day at the crag Prana, Patagonia, Royal Robbins and howies all do some great casual wear that adds a bit of style to a summers evening.

The Epicentre Rock Shoe Line Up.

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Yet another week of rain dodging and trying to find dry rock to climb during our poor summer. Callum headed out East to the mighty Kilnsey and did Metal Guru 7c. Callums' partner and Epicentre friend Rob Lay had a good day getting Pantomime 7b+ and the awesome Obsession 7b+ at Malham.

I headed North for a climbing stag do in Glen Coe over the weekend, after travelling up with Dave Parton we stopped off at The Bendy and did the two classics In Sein E3 5c and The Roaring Silence E4 6a. The next day the stag, James Ditchfield took the rest of the team over the Aonach Eagach ridge, while Dave Parton and myself went to Aonach Dubh in hope of some extreme rock ticks. It started raining when arrived and the top of freak out and spacewalk were wet, but we did manage to get the classic Crocodile E3 ticked. Sunday the rain was even heavier so we had a walk to Creag A’ Bancair but it was wet!

Monday was a lovely day so after work Callum and myself headed up to Black Crag Wrynose. On the way up we met Liam who was on his way down after bagging a few severes. We warmed up on the classic needle arête E3 hoping to bag the E6 on the right…….. then it rained!

Steve has switched to his default rain mode and has been visitng the dark side of fell running. Hopefully the sun will bring him back to reality.

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

With the traditional lakes summer weather (rain) it’s been all about tenacity, picking the right venues and going out when it dries up. Callum has led the way this week with a bold E8 and a sport 8a under his belt! First up hot on the heels of Adam Hocking, Callum made the third ascent of The Ego Has Landed, James Mchaffies scare fest from 2000. Callum made light work of it with minimal practice and a smooth ascent! A few days later via a trip to his grannies, Callum popped into Malham to make a quick ascent of New Age Traveller 8a.

In the North Lakes Adam Hocking continues his awesome form with an ascent of the un- probable direct into One Step Beyond. It looks ridiculously hard and superb, The Keswickian E8 7a.

Steve and Woody had to go to head office on business in middle England but managed to sneak an evenings climbing in at The Brand in Leicestershire, escorted by Mark Richardson and The Brand guru, Rob Richmond an excellent evening was had before the regulation downpour. Steve and Neil Toothill did the classic crack Sailaway HVS, while Woody and Mark did the excellent Fast Forward E5 only getting wet from the rain and not an unplanned plummet into the waiting pool.

Last night Woody was not the most popular taking a team of 6 to a quarry that he visited ten years ago and thought might have been quite good …. It wasn’t! There was a bolted line there that Nick had a crack on, we soon left heading for Hodge and then it started raining. Adam and Woody managed to salvage a route at the rain friendly Thrang Quarry.

Lets all pray to the Sun god!

Outer Hebrides

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Steve is back in the Lakes after a wet and windy cycling trip to the Outer Hebrides, stormy, cold conditions with a fair bit of rain gave the full Scottish summer experience. With wind burn being more of a concern than sunburn. With a 3 year old and a 1 year old in tow the trip was definatley in the true spirit of the Epicentre (for every adventure),

The Beaches and the occasional glimpse of sunshine made everything worthwhile. Highlights of the trip being a couple of very chilled out days on Berneray and a great day in the sunshine down the West Coast of Harris. Running 10 miles down a beach on South Uist on a Bank Holiday weekend and not seeing another person was also fairly special.

Steve borrowed a Nemo Alti Storm tent to use on the trip. " Usually gear for a trip like this has to earn its stripes and have a proven track record, the Nemo tent gained respect after it's first night standing up through a fairly hefty storm."

See our range of NEMO tents.

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Last Monday, Steve, Woody, Will and Adam went too Helm crag and knocked off two E2’s and an E1 in glorious sunshine, we all left a bit disappointed, the rock quality is pretty poor, our first and last visit! On the Wednesday Callum and Woody managed to get Punchy Patterson E3 and Anvil Arete E2 at Tilberthwaite done before succumbing to the dreadful midges. Liam managed to drag himself away from pulling on bolts, for a bit of aid practice at the quarry.

Callum had a great day at Gogarth on Saturday kicking off with the Park Lane / Doomsville combo E2 5b followed by Strike E4 6A and finished with an impressive onsight of Blackleg E6 6b, a very productive day! Unfortunately the rain came on Sunday morning so Callums weekend finished with a day at Kendal wall.

Last night Woody, Nick Wharton and Will Walker did a new route on Raven Crag, Walthwaite. The route takes a very direct line on the light wall, it starts as for ‘into the light’ but where that route goes left this tackles the wall direct to give Light Fandango E5 6b, all three led the route. To finish the night the three did a new route on the left arête of this wall that went at E3 5c, A cracking evening!

Activity Update

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Well the weather in May was certainly a contrast to the glorious sunshine of April, with more than our fair share of rain, despite this a lot has been done in between the wet days. Since the demise of a load of rock and the crucial sling placement on the start of Ten Years After, it had not been climbed so Woody and Ben ascended it reporting that it felt more like E5 6a than the old grade of E4 5c, the first decent runner being the first peg at 40ft!

All the Epicentre staff had a great night at Trowbarrow last week, after leaving the rain in Ambleside it was a beautiful evening, with Assagai and Memoirs of a Lunatic being climbed. Epicentre Athlete Nick Wharton and Woody had a productive evening at Millside Scar, probably the only dry crag that day.

The Yorkshire Limestone has been a firm favourite with the younger staff, Liam has been ticking his way through the 7bs and Callum made a very quick Ascent of Herbie 7c+.

Ben and Woody had a trip to Castle Rock to do the uber classic North Crag Eliminate.

Hot of the press!

Adam Hocking has repeated The Ego Has Landed at Eagle Crag. This super serious route was put up in 2000 by James McHaffie and Woody, it has not seen a repeat until now.

Nice one Hock!

Crag Profile: Raven Crag Threshwaite

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In preparation for the imminent lifting of the Bird Ban and as a taster for the new Eastern Crags guide, Nick Wharton, Guidebook Author and Epicentre Athlete shares another favourite crag with us in this profile of Raven Crag Threshwaite.

This excellent crag, situated in the lower part of Threshthwaite Cove, is one of the best crags in the Lake District for the climber operating at E3 and above. It has more stars than a night at the Oscars; but these have not been scattered too liberally, all the routes really are that good! The rock on the main area of the crag is solid and compact lending itself to tremendous climbing on edges and thin cracks. Where protection exists it is generally bomb-proof! The upper section of the crag is dominated by the huge Shield which offers exposed and technical climbing on perfect rock. The lower section gives some tremendous wall and crack climbing with its upper tier bounded by prominent grooves which are deceptively steep.

There is a Raven-induced bird ban in place currently, but this is due to be lifted on 14 June, so you have just about got enough time to get some fitness and prepare yourself for an assault on this, one of the best crags in the Lakes.

Approach:

The best approach is from the Patterdale to Kirkstone road turning off at the small hamlet of Hartsop. Continue through Hartsop to a large parking area at the end of the road. An easy and pleasant three-quarter of an hour’s walk follows Pasture Beck up the valley. As you leave the parking area, turn right. Follow the track over the bridge and through the gate. The track bears left and initially follows the wall, eventually bending to the right into the valley proper. From here, the crag can be seen on the right, slanting diagonally up the hillside.

At the bottom end of the grade range is Redex at E2 and the excellent GTX and Grand Prix, both at E3. It is really only once you step up to E4 that the crag comes into its own. The following are the best offerings at this grade: Top Gear, which sweeps across the shield, scene of the famous ground-sweeping fall by Pete Whillance who slipped from the finishing ramp when it started to rain! Next on the tick list should be Boy Racer and Running on Empty. The latter has some very thin moves after the move right, but all very well protected. At E5 High Performance is a brilliant thin crack. Its close neighbour Liquid Engineering has recently been upgraded to E6 and is also very good. Also at E6 is Internal Combustion which takes a direct line up the middle of the shield with its crux very well protected by two pegs. Also taking a direct line up the left side of the shield using improbably small holds is the immaculate Road Rage at E7.

Well that should keep you busy for one or two visits. The routes really are as good as described and the crag is in a beautiful location. So get your act together – never mind going bouldering again are scuttling off the bolts again, get up to this amazing crag and start pulling – hard!

British Junior Team at Ratho

Tue, 24 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Climbers from around Europe descended on Ratho at the weekend for a European youth cup event, it was yet another great competition put on by the team at EICA Ratho.

The GB team had some more great results with some real positives from our female athletes. Kitty Wallace finished in 5^th Place in her female youth A category. Considering Kitty’s recent elbow injury which has not helped in her preparation for this event, 5^th place is a great positive for her going forward. In the female youth B category Tara Hayes finished a fantastic 6^th place with Molly Thompson-Smith in 12^th . For both of these athletes this was their first European event and their results bode well for the future.

Ed Hamer finished 10^th in his male junior category against some very strong climbers, keep at it Ed!

The Premier Inn are now part of the group of sponsors involved with the GB team which adds further support in helping the team achieve their potential for the future.

Thanks to Lukasz Warzecha for his great shots of the action.

Winter Condition at Lower Scout?

Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

On a recent trip down Langdale, Ben and Liam noticed a white streak down the starred HS Cub's Crack on Lower Scout, on closer inspection the route had been painted with what appeared to be a chalk based paint. This paint has withstood the recent heavy rainfall and has casued a considerable visual eyesore.

We are aware of some filming that has been going on for an "alpine " scene for a film in the area and can only presume that the paint has been used to make Lower Scout look more believable.

We would urge whoever is responsible for this act of vandalism to come back and make sure the crag is left in the state that they found it.

Hodge Close

Sat, 07 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The good weather has finally broken and we are getting some much needed rain in the Lakes. Woody managed to dodge the showers last night and grab a rare ascent of Haggis E6 6a at Hodge. Despite an off putting guidebook description Woody reports superb if a bit run out climbing!!!

British Team in Austria.

Tue, 03 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

British junior team Captain Luke Tilley recently spent a few days in Austria on a training mission with a group of Britains top young climbers, here's his account of what sounded like a productive few days and a great looking wall.

With the world championships drawing ever closer and a whole winter of fitness and strength building behind us a small team headed out to Austria to start making things a little more specific. Tara Hayes, Ed Hamer, Molly Thompson-Smith and myself have just returned from a short but very productive trip. Accompanying us was Ian Dunn the Manager, Tom Randle the coach and Carol Hayes the Physio.

Ed and myself had visited Imst 2-3 times before, always for European competitions. The Imst Kletter Halle is an incredible, intimidating indoor arena with no 2 metres of wall at the same angle. The girls had also visited the Imst wall last year for the Youth colour competition but none of us were prepared for the new competition wall. Constructed for the senior world cup last year. We stood under it awe-struck, completely blown away by the sheer size of the structure. It is a giant freestanding cave in the middle of a snow capped, mountain valley. The roof at the top of the 15m prow is 6 quick draws in length and then capped by a steep headwall, totalling 30m of super steep terrain. It makes the Ratho articulated wall look small!

Ian had been in contact with the owners of the Kletter Halle and not only were they expecting us, we had been lined up to demonstrate climbs for a regional junior competition. This was quite a daunting prospect, having seen first hand what the Austrian junior team are capable of and knowing that the Imst and Innsbruck area is the main source of climbers for their national team.

Our first day was onsight practice on the new wall to get used to the routes we would have to climb perfectly in front of 80 odd competitors the next day. The route setters were still at work while we climbed and were keen to hear our opinions on them. Climbing on that wall is beautiful, the length, exposure and steepness is on a different scale to what we are used to. We were all lowering off and raving to each other about the journey we had just embarked on.

Saturday was the big day for the junior competitors in the region but I suspect we were feeling the nerves more than they were. However all the routes went to plan even though Tara and Myself had to demo ones that we had not practised the day before. Everyone felt the pressure stepping onto the routes in front of so many expectant, super strong juniors and we would all agree that we could not have asked for better practice for the World Championships. The rest of the day was taken up with onsight practice (Ed flashing 8a+ and I managed a 7c+ onsight) in between sitting in the sun watching the finals of the competition, Tara and Molly made friends with some of the Austrian lads and we had a play on their skateboards. This was a fantastic day and a great experience for us all.

An early morning mountain run followed by pancakes cooked by Carol for breakfast was the perfect way to start our final day at the Imst Kletter Halle, with so many routes available and grades up to 8c it was depressing knowing that we could not try them all. As we arrived Angela Eiter was there training on an 8a+… with one foot in a cast! We had attempts on the final routes from the competition, all doing well on them (As good or better than the Austrians, admittedly they were all 16 or under) there were especially encouraging performances from the girls, who are about to embark on their first year of international competition and were climbing much higher than a number of older competitors! The best performance of the day was a near onsight 8B by Ed, with plenty of other big efforts from everyone else. We made the most of the day and were kindly left the key to lock up after ourselves when owners left to go to the crag, it pays having a manager who is friends with so many international climbers!

Packing is always a sad occasion especially when you have been living the life! All wasn’t over though as our flight was not until 7pm the next day. Leaving Imst we spent the morning at the Tivoli wall in Innsbruck. This is where all the top Austrian climbers train and during our session the boulder cave slowly filled up with our heroes, Mario Leckner, Jakob Schubert and David Lama casually doing a few problems. Molly and Tara were doing 7a+ reps power endurance as Ed and myself did some Aerobic capacity to finish the trip off.

All in all a fantastic trip and a brilliant experience that we all have benefited from. Everyone feels more confident about the upcoming World Championships and are psyched to make it count!

A big thanks to Ian, Tom and Carol for taking us, a brilliant chaperone team that had all aspects of climbing covered, it is not often we go away with the manager, coach and physio, it certainly made the trip enjoyable and valuable.

Writen by Luke Tilley, Team Captain,

Woodys' Weekly Round-up

Tue, 03 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The weather continues to be amazing and every crag is bone dry! On Thursday Epicentre friends Chris Stirling and Esther Seddon went to the ‘in vogue’ Iron crag and did the classic Marble Staircase and the stunning Hiddenite, one of the best E2’s in the Lakes. In the last week Steve has ticked all the classic rock routes and done a lot of running between them (training for anything Steve???).

On Sunday Woody struggling to find a partner drove to Langdale Boulders, grabbed a partner in the shape of new employee Ben Robinson and climbed the mega classic Cruel Sister, superlatives cannot do this route justice, brilliant! The following day Epicentre Athletes Nick Wharton and Brian Davison headed to Gimmer and climbed Eastern Hammer, Equus and Poacher. Liam and Esther headed to Dow and did Pink Panther, Tarkus and Leopards Crawl.

Last night Steve and Woody had an after work jaunt to check out Colin Downers new E2, The History Boys at Bram Crag Quarry as the new guide warrants it three stars. The route did not disappoint a great find. They finished off with Bobby Dazzler and Bonne Chance.

Get out on the crags and enjoy.

Crag Conditions and Staff Activity

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The weather is absolutely stunning in the lakes and all the high crags are bone dry. The beautiful weather is set to continue through the weekend so take the oppurtunity and get out there!

Here at The Epicentre we have all been getting out and making the most of the fabulous conditions. This week Woody and Nick Wharton kicked off with a rare ascent of Midnight Movie on Gimmer (see blog below), after this they finished off with a couple of sport routes at Hodge Close. Liam went out with Epicentre friend Esther Seddon and did DDT at Goat crag. They then went over to Reecastle where Esther cruised up Guillotine and Thumbscrew. Callum went to Hodge Close with Steve after work on monday to test his healing broken ankle on Behind The Lines. Callum left with a lot of pain but this did not stop him leading Devils Alternative E6 6B on Sherherds Crag on the wednesday!

Liam and Steve had an after work mission to Pavey Arc on wednesday evening to do the classic Astra. Nick Wharton and Woody went to the esoteric Kirkstone Crag and climbed the most obvious line on the crag, the striking arete to the right of the Great Game to give a new route, Old Magic E4 6A.

See you on the crags.

Midnight Movie

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

'The old team' of Epicentre Athlete Nick Wharton and shop manager Stuart Wood managed to find a route on Gimmer that they hadn't done. The rarely climbed Midnight Movie( E4 5b 6b 6a) gave a tremendous trip up the crag with three fantastic contrasting pitches! The first pitch was a steep juggy wall, the second gave very technical face climbing and the third was a pump fest on small and awkward holds (top lead by Nick!). The route was first climbed in 1982 by Rick Graham and Bill Birkett and can be thouroughly reccomended.

Nick Wharton following the second pitch of Midnight Movie, Gimmer.

Evolv Staff Training

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The N face of the Eiger.

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Last week Epicentre athlete Paddy Cave climbing with Mike Thomas spotted a spell of stable weather and headed to Switzerland with the aim of climbing the classic 1938 route on the North Face of the Eiger. New snow low down on the face hampered progress but conditions improved with height. the pair were rewarded with some awesome views from the summit.

Major new Route on Dow Crag !

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Abrahams Covenant E7 6C 30m. 19/4/2011

The route tackles the huge overhang/ roof above Abrahams Cave. Arrange some good cams in the breaks and tackle the overhang via some hard moves, boldy move up to some good jugs and the next protection. From the jugs some very hard climbing leads to the wall above. Continue more easily to the belay.

James Mchaffie

Stuart Wood

Raven Walthwaite

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Last night saw the Epicentre staff accompanied by Epicentre Athelete James Mchaffie visiting Raven Crag Walthwaite. As a classic afterwork venue at 10 minutes drive from the store and a 5 minute walk in, it was a great choice.

Will Walker and Adam Wilkins sampled the three star HVS Tritus. Woody set about completing unfinished business on "into the light" Whilst trying the line last week Woody tweaked his finger and fell off onto the one and only runner narrowly missing the ground.

In the spirit of competition Ben Robinson ( Ambleside resident and friend of the Epicentre) tried to beat Woody to the route and duely fell off ripping the cam out and putting a large and rather uncomfortable looking hole in his behind. With the graphic facebook images of this injury in his mind and the niggling doubts about the integrity of the cam placement and strength of the tweaked finger, Woody put on a good show making short work of the crux rock over.

Crag Profile: Iron Crag Thirlmere

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Epicentre Athlete and FRCC guide book writer Nick Wharton gives us the low down on Iron Crag Thirlmere; With a spell of good weather on the cards and a run of Bank Holiday weekends coming up it could be a good time to try somewhere different.

Iron Crag is discreetly tucked away in a secluded valley behind Raven Crag, Thirlmere. Perhaps because of this it is relatively unknown and usually very quiet. Yet it is a tremendous crag for anyone climbing at or above E. It’s two separate buttresses are quite different and will appeal to two different audiences. The left-hand or Upper Crag is ideal for E1-E5 whilst the right-hand or Lower Crag is strictly for grown-ups only with a grade range of E4-E9 with most interest clustered around E6 & E7.

Access is easy, with parking on the A591 Keswick to Ambleside road at Roughow Bridge. A pleasant 30-40 min walk-in up the secluded valley gains the crag (after a ferocious final slog up the hillside). The rock is solid, clean and does not suffer much from seepage. The crag gets the sun in the morning until about 1 o’clock.

Upper Crag

The routes here are quite amenable for their grades. At E1, Solidarity and Granolithic Groove are both very good. Steel Band has just scraped into the E2 bracket for the new guide and is excellent. Well and truly in the E2 grade is Hiddenite – possibly the best E2 in the Lakes!!! It gives great climbing with enough protection, in a superb position. E3 is a bit of a gap – Clearpoint is the only route at this grade and isn’t really up to the standard of the crag. However once we reach E4 there are 3 top-class routes – all quite different. Marble Staircase is a bit of a gift, albeit very good, with a well protected crux (take a large cam) moving left out of the corner. Amabilite, the latest addition to the crag, has tremendous climbing with a couple of run-out sections, but above very good gear. Kryptonite is steep and fingery with a long crux sequence above the thin crack. At the right-hand end The Quest and Black Gold are two really pleasant E5s, both quite steady for the grade.

Lower Crag

Shift up several gears and brace yourself. This buttress will take no prisoners. It is steep, very steep! Recently cleaned and re-pegged by the boys of the North Lakes Job Club, there has never been a better time to “warm up” on Committal Chamber (E5) before throwing yourself at such classics as Western Union (E6 6c), Phoenix in Obsidian (E7 6b) or even pitting yourself against the new Iron Man (E7 6c). Once you have breezed up all of these you might cast a glance towards Dave Birkett’s 1992 route If 6 was 9 (E9 6c) – still only two ascents in nearly 20 years?

This crag is fantastic and greatly appreciated by all who know it. There are really worthwhile routes for everyone climbing in the extreme range. Give it a try you will not be disappointed. The new Eastern Crags guidebook, published by FRCC will be available any day now.

Board Stupid

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000

What do you do when it rains 364 days of the year?? No you don't go slime climbing.....No you dont go to the pub....you blow your nose, brush your teeth put on your dirty shorts and stinky shoes and get on the Board!!!!!

The Board was founded in 2009 by young climbers Rob Lay, Liam Taylor and Sam Anderton, over the last couple of years its future has been uncertain. Moving house was a big moment in the boards life, and its future hung in the balance, however it now rests safe and sound in a secure location somwhere in Ambleside....

Be a Master

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000

We've had dynamic ropes, sticky rubber, front points, camming devices, leashless tools and now Grivel have added the Reparto Corse line of Ice Axes. The Force and the Master will take winter climbing to the next level next season.

Not only is this a revoltuion in design it shows that Grivel are serious about setting the standard with their approach to research and development. The "Reparto Corse" division at Grivel does sound like the gear designers dream.

Why wait to experience the latest in ice axe technology. The Grivel Master will be available at the Epicentre from tomorrow. You will not get this tool anywhere else in the world. Phone us now to reserve your piece of the future.

Ready for the Crags.

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In Ambleside at the moment there’s a good vibe around the climbing scene. The new Ambleside wall is helping fuel enthusiasm, the “box” Ambleside's old school wall at the University of Cumbria has been opening up some evenings and boards have been springing up in people’s garages, kitchens and living rooms. With the days getting longer it is only a few weeks now until we can get out in the evenings.

At the Epicentre we are keen to see the harder routes on the Lakes mountain crags getting some of the attention they deserve and to try and recapture some of the vibrant scene that surrounded these routes in the late 80's and 90's. Continuing on from our winter conditions reports, our keen staff and climbing team members will give up to date conditions reports from the crags. What’s clean, what’s dry, what the state of insitu gear is etc. In an attempt to drive a new wave of activity in the fells we are offering replacement pegs to anyone who has been cleaning a route and needs to replace old and dangerous in situ gear. We will also have a routes book at the shop where you can record what you’ve been up to and spread the word. So break out the lycra, dust off the retro head bands and go for it.