Our Pinnacle

3:30 am . It was pitch black and everyone was up including Sebastian and the mules preparing for the day ahead. This was the day the entire trip was building up to. I had considered numerous ways to avoid completing this trek including tripping over on purpose, putting suncream my eyes and even drinking contaminated water but really there was no escape.

We set off in darkness. All was silent besides the sound of heavy boots trudging along the gravel. Today was going to be one long day.

With Sebastian by our sides we passed the spring, our neighbouring expeditioners and a small village where we saw the glorious sun rise. The day had officially begun. Several hours into our hike we encountered a small black puppy. We decided to name him scrappy. He followed us loyally up the path but we soon decided it was time for him to return home. However scrappy had other plans in mind and continued to follow. After Sebass finally chased the confused pup back home we could once again focus on trekking at a steady pace. As the altitude got higher it became more difficult but team support grew. Everyone offered a helping hand and a word of encouragement to make the journey a success.

When we reached the top there was a real sense of achievement and relief. We all celebrated and took photos to mark our achievement. After a well deserved rest it was time to head back down for lunch. Despite this being a much quicker journey it was very unstable and slippery so it was important we all took care. We stopped for lunch by a beautiful stream and after feeding our faces we went for a soak in the water.

With only a few hours left of our journey we packed up and headed down to our campsite for the night. When we finally got there we ate dinner, played games and before long we settled down as it was soon time to sleep. Our decent was to continue tomorrow!

A GENTLE INTRO - the small col

The morning brought sleepy eyes and disoriented faces, our first time sleeping in a tent in Morocco is one we will remember forever. Breakfast was served at 7:00am which consisted of pancakes and bread along with a wide range of toppings and hot drinks.

After breakfast we finished packing and collapsed our tents. We had planned the previous night to set out at 7:45am however we had underestimated how unprepared and disorganised we actually were. In the end we were ready to go by 8:15am. As a collective we took our larger rucksack down to the car and also helped bring down the cooks tent and equipment. We cleared up the campsite so it was tidy for the next campers. 

Now we were ready to set off.

It seemed we had picked up a friendly companion in the form of a dog who we have named Sebastian. Sebastian had a distinct light tan coloured fur with matching eyes. He began to follow us. At first we were apprehensive on whether we should let him tag along but with confirmation from Cliff, Miss Perreau and our guide Mohammed, we accepted Sebastian and enjoyed his constant company.

We started the slow walk up the valley where we passed through traditional Berber villages which were hidden by the incredible landscape filled with vibrant greens and rugged mountains of the high Atlas.

Passing through the village, we greeted the locals in their native tongue which we had learned from Mohammed. The villagers were all ecstatic to see us and would greet us back. Especially the children who always seemed to have a smile across their face even though they're living in a condition much worse than ours. I began to realise how little they have in in comparison to how much we have. 

The intensity of the trek had hit us but we kept the morale at a consistent high with the support of our teammates through encouraging words and singing to distract us. 

The road was fairly treacherous so we made sure that anyone struggling had a helping hand. We climbed all the way through a gorgeous pine forest, to we reached the high point of our day, Tamatart which is a col (a col is the point where two mountains meet, could be referred to as a pass).

At the col, we felt a sense of achievement and was overwhelmed by the view. Being 2150 metres above ground level had meant that weather conditions were very vigorous. Forceful winds blew off our hands which were retrieved by Cliff. Dust continuously got into our eyes and we had to keep applying suntan lotion as we were even more exposed to the sun. 

Sebastian had made it to the top too and was resting under shade. There was a local shop where Sadian and Saif kindly bought chocolate for everyone. 

After being rested we started the descent down along with Sebastian. We continued to sing and be supportive. After 4 hours of trekking we came to the village of Amgdal.

At camp we all unloaded the luggage and setup our tents. Our campsite was hanging over a beautiful village and the scene consisted of mountains, valleys and plants.

We started to relax, cooling ourselves in our very own little stream. Passing by wasa fellow trekking group. Sebastian had noticed them and dashed towards them. He started to follow them. A worried Brinda frantically beckoned Sebastian to come back. Absent mindedly Sebastian took no notice and continued to walk on. Brinda and Sadian tried their best to return Sebastian but failed. We believed he was gone forever and felt betrayed by our beloved friend.

As a group along with Mohammed were went down to an enclosed stream bed. There we bathed out tired muscles in the translucent waters. We climbed boulders and piled up rocks which the local children encouraging entertain themselves with. 

Back at the camp we relaxed with stories and games. The game 'zap' became popular and we included Mohammed too. We dined on pasta, sardines and salad and for dessert we had oranges. Meals in Morocco are always accompanied by mint tea and bread we all sat on the floor together and a sense of family is felt.

We stayed in the tent till dark where we chatted, sang and played cards. Once out, we gazed            up at the spectacular, pollutant free sky. There we were astonished by the beautiful stars that were glistening against the darkness. We felt small amongst the infinitive sky.

We then headed to bed after an eventful day.

Sabiha

First Experiences

We've just  arrived back bacon Marrakech from our trek to the mountain but you'll here all about that later on.

On our second day, we met our guide, a man called Mohammed who has been a guide for seven years. Afterwards,we took a bus journey to the town of Imlil and our eyes laid upon our first campsite. Of course the first thing we looked for were the toilets, which were non-existant. Next was our first meal in camp, which to our surprise was delicious hot food served fresh from cooking. After lunch we took a "small" walk/mini trek around the town coming back full circle. Getting your footing was Definitely difficult as for many of us this was our first experience, but helpfully along the way we ran into a great group of American charity workers who gave helpful advice and encouraging words as they had already gotten to the top of the path. Well the little trek set our expectations high for the main trek, but on the way back we walked through a small-town engulfing us in Moroccan culture. The town was compact and seemed to have one road of shops, including cattle walking down the middle. From these shops we bought 32 large bottles of water, meaning  our bags became quite a bit heavier making the tiring walk back to camp more tiring.
Back at camp,we experienced our first night camping and it seemed to be a restless one as we sat in a circle and exchanged stories, accidentally disturbing the adults however it wasn't all down to us and halfway through the night, a man with a pick axe appeared, broke some rock and sent water gushing down towards the side of our camp site, he then rearranged the rocks and diverted the water away from us providing us with the sound of running water to fall asleep to.
That was our first experience camping :)
Zaffia

World Challenge - Adventures in Marrakech

First things first, everyone is settling in well to the Moroccan culture and food. The weather is absolutely scorching!! We're still in Marrakech, and were about to set off to our campsite at noon. Our journey here was chaotically exciting, getting through immigration however was a complete nightmare. As soon as you stepped off the plane you're engulfed by the sweltering heat of Morocco. Next was the journey to our hotel,which was definitely an introduction to Marrakech, we passed motorbikes stuffed with people and horses and carriages and took plenty of photos to remember them. after settling into our hotel rooms, we decided to venture out across the market place to find something to eat,Cliff  found a traditional Moroccon restaurant where we  were able enjoy a view of the market square from above as we sat on  the roof/terrace of the restaurant whilst eating traditional Moroccan food and shooed away stray cats. it was really a different yet fun experience as the food took hours to arrive giving us time to try mint tea and bond as  group.

nights in Morocco are as equally  difficult to endure as it is during the day.  but after much tossing and turning we all managed to get a few hours sleep. breakfast was so good. the orange juice,coffee and tea were really refreshing and we tried the super tasty Moroccan honey and marmalade and bitter olives. we're feeling optimistic  for our journey ahead, even though were all missing our family and friends were having a great time and we can already tell that this will be a  life changing experience.

bye for now, as its unlikely that we'll have any internet to update the blog till wednesday. but the next time we do,we would have all have climbed a huge mountain, so wish us luck, until then, byee :)

Zaffia and Priya x

Two day route set

As if my body wasn't suffering enough...The last two days have been spent route setting at a local school wall and the muscles that weren't aching are very much so now!  Richy Reed and myself had taken on the task of stripping and resetting nine lines.  Each line was to have 3 easy routes up to a grade of 6a.  As well as this we wanted to make an impact by moving the large molded volumes which had not been moved since the wall was built 5 years ago.  The idea being to make the nine lines into an area for beginners and for teaching.

Working through lunch today we managed to get most of the routes set and the lines that were left with only two routes done were down to the colour of the holds available to us and not our lack of commitment.

Turning one of the large volumes into a diagonal position reviled  a strange image of what looks like an ancient Bishop and one which looks like a human lung...See what you think in the photos below but we have now named the routes The Bishops Head and The Lung lol.

Thanks to Richy for the hard graft as usual...I appreciate it mate :-)

The wall after the strip but before the volumes have been moved

 Like candy in a sweetie shop

The Bishop

The head grafter

Hard at it

The completed lines

Orion Direct 400m V,5 **** - Ben Nevis

Three days ago I was climbing on Ben Nevis ....Today I'm still buzzing from the adventure and the climbing experienced had that day.



The Orion Face with our route taking the line straight up the middle

I was invited to go and climb by Ashley Preston, a friend I had made 3 years ago while climbing the classic Raven Crag Gully in the Lake District. During our discussions on the numerous belays while waiting for others to climb it turns out that him and his brother (also climbing that day) were the cousins of a very good friend of mine and that they were actually from Billingham (where I live).

Now Ash and me have never climbed together and to climb a serious route like Orion Direct took a certain amount of trust in each others abilities. I must admit I nearly didn't go as the 7+ hours journey time for a one day hit was not appealing. However, the conditions being reported on Blogs and on Facebook, and the forecast of settled weather for a few days ahead, made me feel I really didn't have a choice....When am I ever going to have another opportunity.

Full on exposure - Photo taken by some guys on Zero Gully

At this stage its worth giving a little background to the route. It’s a route held in high regard by most winter mountaineers and a very committing route, as once on, it’s very difficult to escape as the belays are not really brilliant for abseiling, saying that there are a couple which would be fine but would need to be linked to others. The other things to consider are the weather and route conditions.  It’s certainly the last place I would want to be if a storm hit. There are limited places to hide from the wind and from spin drift avalanches. The ice/snow conditions, particularly around the crux traverse are the make and break of the route but there are other parts where you want good axe placements. The route never gets technically difficult but all the above add to the apprehension of even starting the route in the first place.

Walking in very early

We decided we were going to be first on the route so we set off from the North Face Car Park at 0510hrs and steadily plodded up the Allt a Mhuilinn towards the CIC hut. While walking your mind drifts from positive thoughts to very negative thoughts...."Do I really want to go through with this?” “of course I do!!!" "Is Ash up to this?" "Am I up to this?" "What if a storm hit, what if people are ahead of us?" Arriving at the CIC hut we were a little disappointed to see there was someone ahead of us heading up into the area where our route started...surely they weren't going to be doing our route. I reassured Ash that even if he did do our route he was soloing (no ropes brave man!) so he would be well above us once we were organised enough to start. The problem having someone ahead of you is they inevitably kick down ice on you and it can hurt if you look up at the wrong time. It turns out that the soloist was no other than another friend Harry Holmes.   (http://climberharry.blogspot.co.uk/) who came second in the Dry Tooling competition last February at Sunderland Wall.

As we slowly made progress towards the foot of the route it’s very difficult to take in the sheer size of the Orion Face and where the route actually goes. A lot of classics are like this and its only once you engage on the route everything falls into place...this route was no exception.
 
I took the first lead up a steep icy wall which leads to the foot of an icy groove around 35 meters. Ash lead off up the groove and looked confident...a few reassuring screws helped and after around 45 meters he made a belay. I ran up the groove with a big smile on my face...this is where I wanted to be!!! A few alternate leads saw me belayed at the crux traverse. It was at this point a fellow North Easterner joined us. Adele Pennington (Everest ascencionist) (http://www.adelepennington.co.uk/) has been ticking off the classic winter routes this winter and we had been friends on Facebook for quite some time but never actually met each other in person. Adele and her partner Dave Barker were very patient with me and Ash and we kept them amused with a bit of friendly banter. We hadn't really given much thought as to who was going to lead this crux section and I was easy either way. Ash was happy to hand the reins to me and as it happened it was exactly the type of climbing I revel in, totally absorbing. The crux is a series of icy/rocky ledges with very little protection available and only once you sink your axe into the neve (snow ice) above do you feel the confidence returning to the rightful place.
 

The first steep ice pitch

Ash on the 2nd pitch in the icy groove

A team climbing Zero Gully

Ash on the 2nd pitch in the icy groove

Ash embarking on the 'Long than we thought' pitch

A couple more alternate leads saw us at the foot of the icy chimney which we knew led to the top. Ash took the lead on this one and what a pitch it turned out to be. Better described as a hanging icy chimney the line swings across the voids and even has a very exposed traverse and pull up a hanging wall but done on perfectly placed axes it was a real pleasure. The smiles were on both mine and Ash's face as we came together at the belay...we knew it was just one more pitch to the top. I got the glory pitch up a steep snow slope with a couple of little rock bulges to deal with. As I approached the top I couldn't wait to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and take in the views I knew were waiting for me there...however, I should have known it was going too easy. Literally three steps from the top the rope went tight...only one reason for this, I had ran all the rope out. This had happened on an earlier pitch and we had to 'simu' climb (climbing at the same time) to get a safe belay. This time around I knew Ash was on relatively safe ground so wasn't too worried. Ten minutes later Ash and me were sharing a 'man hug' and congratulating each other on a job very well done. Adele and Dave joined us and we were soon joined by an Italian pair and a couple of guys who had just climbed Astral Highway.

Me starting the Crux traverse

 

Relaxing after reaching safer ground

Ash above the belay following the traverse

Ash moving towards the Icy hanging chimney

Ash looking rather happy

Peace to the world - Rather happy myself

 

The view from the top

We said our goodbyes to everyone and started the long plod off the hill. The views and weather all around us could not have been better and we felt like two kids who were enjoying Christmas morning with all their toys. We descended via the Red Burn a steep but quick way off the hill. The Burn takes you almost to the edge of the Half Way Lochin. Another hour saw us back at the van in the Car Park with a can of cider to celebrate...Just what the doctor ordered!  What a totally great experience the whole day had been...

The parties at the top

 

Starting the walk down

 

To get this feeling of satisfaction requires commitment, confidence, organisation and a certain amount of skill and we had certainly given it everything.  The drive back home to Teesside via Carlisle was a long one and unusually for me required a nap along the way, but definitely worth every minute behind the wheel.

Fantastic weather from the start of the day to the very end

 
 

 

Great End in Great Nick!

With the weather being the way it is currently, I always feel I will miss out if I don't get out there and enjoy it, so yesterday I decided there were a few routes on Great End (Lake District) that I hadn't done.  

 

My partner yesterday was a real blast from the past and I last saw him (David Hetherington) in 1992 at a 10 year school reunion...not that I remember him being there as I was distracted by one of my ex-girlfriends who was also in attendance ;-) and looking rather striking. 
 

 

Facebook seems to be great for this type of thing and I have others from school who I chat with as if it hasn't been 30+ years since leaving school.   Following David (Hez) on Facebook I was aware that post school he got into the outdoors a little more than he use to.  He is now one of those crazy people who do ultra marathons and likes his hill walking.  We nearly met up a couple of years ago to winter climb in Scotland but it fell through so when I give him the opportunity of joining me yesterday he went out of his way to make it happen, this included rearranging his work shift and informing the kids that the family taxi driver was not available.  As we arrived at the car park at Seathwaite the car in front opened its door only for another friend to climb out.  Simon Gee runs his own film production company (http://reeltimeadventure.com/) and has had a few films shown at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival.  We climbed a few hard routes together a few years ago including a second ascent of a route called G - Force up in Coire Fee Southern Cairngorms.
 

 

Walking up Grains Ghyl (Grrrrrrr!) in the cold early morning air, Great End slowly came into view and how magnificent she looked bathed in sunshine and snow.  We geared up at the bottom smiling and looking at the fun we were about to embark on.  Simon and his mate (Andy) joined us as we were about to set off.  They had heavier rucksacks due to the fact they were planning to snow hole and Simon brought along all his Mountain Rescue toys.  The usual ritual of a brew of mint tea and honey while we kitted up and we were soon heading up towards the start of our first route, South East Gully (SEG) grade III.  

 

 

 

 

I had come up a few years ago to do SEG but on that occasion the route (snow and ice) was falling down around us so we had made a decision to move onto an adjoining buttress.  No problems this time around the cold temperatures everyone is whinging about are helping to hold onto some fantastic conditions, in the gullies at least.  A pretty straight forward first pitch leads to the first real ice section.  This steepening can be a little intimidating for the in experienced/novice and I wondered how Hez would handle it.  I should have had no fears as he came over the top of the steepening with a huge smile (or was it wind?) on his face.  A couple of more straight forward pitches with the occasional rock overlap to deal with and we were at the top.

 

 

We descended down Custs gully (Grade I climb) which is rammed with snow at the moment so that we could get in the vicinity of Window Gully Grade III, our next objective.  We traversed in above the initial snow plod to arrive at the foot of the first major pitch.

 We had a quick bite to eat and then set off.  This pitch climbs the gully over a couple of ice bulges to arrive at the foot of a 12 foot wall of ice and the belay.  Hez came up after been bombarded from the ice being sent down from the couple climbing ahead of us.  It was obvious he was enjoying the climbing, the situation and I'm sure his old pals company :-).  The wall of ice was good value and this took us to the 'Window' from where the climb gets its name and to the steep right hand finish up another wall of ice opposite the window.  The pitch was dispatched with no problem and I ran out a full ropes length to near the top.  Hez joined me at the stance (actually seat) and we turned around and admired the whole of the Lake District still in its winter clothing.
 

 

 

 

 

The walk down Grains Ghyl (which I absolutely hate and despise) was made a tad easier by the snow cover making the bone jarring cobbles less of a problem, this along with the chatter of a couple of other climbers (Matt and Nigel) we had met on SEG earlier in the day.

 

 

 

A great day once again this winter made even better by the company and the reminiscing through the whole day ....Oh and well done Hez, not bad for your first ever 'real' winter routes.