November Grit

Mild, foggy and still; this November's had its damp days but the eastern rim of the Peak District emerged from the cloud on Sunday around lunchtime while I was out with Tim on Baslow Edge. Sarah and Catia had headed off for a walk in the fog an hour previously and we'd found the silver Baslow Grit to have good friction underfoot.
Neither of us had done much climbing at Baslow. It's a low edge with short routes so we carried bouldering mats, intending to climb without the restriction of rope and harness. Once the sun burned through the mist we climbed on in the bright autumn warmth for a couple of hours until the arrival of the women and, just as importantly, the picnic. You can find more pictures by clicking here.

Castle Naze

I've not been keeping up with the blog but I don't think it's down to a lack of things to report. Economically times remain difficult but I've been working hard to generate possibilities and painting a great deal.
The turning back of the clocks each year means the end to evenings out on the gritstone crags and I've not been very dedicated in recent times to finding opportunities to climb during the shortened daylight hours. I also find motivation harder when the rock is greener and more moist though, I know - the winter is supposed to be the best time for grit climbing.
Anyway, I'm determined to climb outdoors throughout this winter taking advantage of the best of Peak District weather at weekends. I may even sneak away for the occasional midweek foray if Fidel can free his hectic daily diary!
To that end I've had a couple of Sunday cragging trips to Castle Naze in the last month with Jill, Paul and Fidel. I like Castle Naze despite it's diminutive size. The rock is mostly good (if you ignore the 'top-outs') and clean. There's protection on most routes and there's plenty in the medium grades, though I've found some of the HVSs well up to their grades. Here's Jill on 'The Fifth Horseman' and Paul on 'Nozag'. Click here for more pictures at Castle Naze.

More Drawing

The new term has started for the Eccleshall Library Life Drawing Class. I've managed to get to a couple of afternoon sessions and have made a few drawings that I'm pleased with. My greatest challenge is to not overwork by drawing for too long. The shorter poses of up to 20 minutes have more life and energy in them. the marks are more powerful and sweep across the form, simplifying it into forms. If I draw for longer the drawing often becomes fussy and cramped - I can't seem to help getting into the superficial detail.

Autumn approaching

I've been away from this blog for a few weeks now, focused on other things and probably just a bit lazy! I've just finished working for Endeavour (www.endeavour.org.uk). I've worked part time for this young person's charity for some years now, charged mostly with organising their annual Canoe Challenge fundraising event. Whilst I like to think the event is better than it ever was, we've always struggled to raise money from doing it so we've decided to give it a miss for 2011 and I've moved on to new things.
So, I think the current double-speak is that, 'it's a new opportunity for me!' I'm looking for something to add to my 'portfolio' of work. I'll take a few weeks to make some decisions whilst keeping busy trying to raise my game and being proactive on my training & development freelance work, my painting and my walks leading. I've been planning next year's walking holiday for my Suffolk based group and painting hard in my garret. Some pictures of painting to come in the next few days but here's a taken during the 2010 Canoe Challenge.

Summer in Ailefroide

The dust has settled after our trip to the French Alps and I'm only now getting around to writing a note for this blog. Catia, Fidel, Tanya and me spent two weeks camping at Ailefroide surely one of the best campsites for climbers in France - a controversial claim but if I can't be subjective in my own blog...?
Anyway, the setting always reminds me a little of photos I've seen of the Yosemite valley; granite cliffs towering above grassy meadows and conifer woods. The camping ground extends right across the valley bottom and there's enough room that even when busy there seems to be plenty of space. We arrived to the early evening smoke of many camp fires.
We quickly settled down into the camping routine, breakfast coffee and croissants then out to the crags to climb. We spent some time on the Ecoles d'Escalades and later Fidel and I had a couple of days on longer routes, including the easy 12 pitch classic Palavar les Flots.

Mont Pelvoux from the Glacier Blanc Refuge (more pictures here)

We went walking too and ended the trip with a mini expedition; firstly a night at the Glacier Blanc Refuge followed by a 4:30am start to attempt the 3300m high Pic du Glacier d'Arsine. That 'Facile' route turned out to be a tottering pile of rubble and felt a bit unjustifiable so we retreated from the col at 3200m. After a second night, this time at the Ecrins Refuge we settled for a tour of the dry Glacier Blanc, wandering through the maze of crevasses and winding our way back, eventually, to the valley.

Painting Demonstration

I spent yesterday down at The Gallery, Williams Yard in Melbourne doing a painting demonstration in the gallery. The main aim of this was to be available to people thinking of enrolling in the painting course I'm teaching there in October.
I always find it interesting painting with an audience - perhaps it brings out the show-off in me. People said nice things and were surprisingly interested in the spectacle of rapidly drying acrylic paint! I went with one blank canvas and a second painting, of Mount Kenya, that was well underway. In the morning I worked on the Mount Kenya painting which was inspired by visiting and climbing the mountain in 2001. I'd taken many photographs on that trip and subsequently made a number of drawings and paintings. This, the latest in the series was a morning view of the upper part of the mountain from Shipton's Camp from where we started our climb up the North Face Standard Route. It's still in progress but nearly finished.

I also began a painting of Froggatt Pinnacle a rock feature on the Eastern Edges of the peak District, well known to climbers.

Camping in Langdale

I've found that it's always worth the effort to get away when the weather's good and last weekend we found time for 36 hours in the Lake District. Catia and I met up with two nephews, Jake and Aaron (They'd brought along John, their dad) who had reserved us a place on the Old Dungeon Ghyll campsite. It was an opportunity to remind ourselves of how to put up the big tent before next week's holiday in France.
After getting settled in on Saturday we headed out for a walk around Crinkle Crags. Anything's better than the 'ordinary' drag up to the saddle between Pike O'Blisco and Crinkle Crags so we took to Browney Gill, scrambling up over slippery rock and through a narrow ravine. The Bells took to the water in a small pool on the way, but not for long.

From there, up and over the Crinkles with great views all around, taking in the short, sharp step up to the highest point on the ridge. It is one of my favourite walks in the Lakes. From there we took the descent down The Band and straight into the pub to re-hydrate. The rest of the pictures from this web album can be found here.