Ramshaw Wrestling

Monday and good forecast saw a team assembled, Graham and Dan (home from Uni) plus Dave Vince on his 50th birthday. We fancied somewhere a bit different and so tootled over to Ramshaw, not unexpectedly we had the place to ourselves. I soloed a few easier ticks that I had never done, and we tackled off a few of the E1s on the crag and a varied bunch they were too:
Louie Groove (E1 5b) - very mild at the grade despite the boldish last move. An oddity for Ramshaw as it is delicate and very short-lived.
Sneeze (E1 5b) - a tricky little monkey with a hard layback start, a precarious middle, and a rounded top-out. The 'definitives' two stars is a bit generous, and the suggestion to leave the ropes behind is just odd!
Alcatraz (E1 5b) - another that felt low in the grade (it used to be HVS), but a steep and imposing line with a nice wriggly off-width to finish and good gear throughout.
The Untouchable (E1 5b) - a hanging bulging crack reached by a tricky little traverse. The crack is pumpy and leads to a 'lovely' finish on fist jams - very tasty!

Party Time

That's that then! Time to reflect on a superb three weeks in Lofoten, the highlight of which was probably Friday 13th. We had a gentle day scoping out Alan and Mark as they steamed up Vestpillaren. They were on the top of Festvågtinden at 6:30 and still made it to the Nord Norske Klatreskole at five minutes to eight, just in time for the guidebook launch.

The evening was a great success, the beer flowed, yarns were spun and Thorbjørn was the perfect host - my glass never got less than half empty all evening. Sadly Arild Meyer couldn't be there (a bad back from too much DIY) so we called in for cakes and coffee the next day, after clipping a few bolts at Finvika, just to say hello.

The party wound down at about 2:00am and "Lutta's Taxi Service" ferried everybody home, before we bedded down we checked out Vagåkallen bathed in the early morning light - quite superb. 

Midnight Sun

Two weeks up here now and the sun hasn't sent, and won't for about another six weeks - which is all a bit strange. Even stranger is that once again, the weather has been great for us.

The Lofoten guidebooks have yet to arrive and everyone is waiting with bated breath - last thing we heard, they had made it as far as Oslo, so at least things are moving along.

We have climbed (new routes and old) fished, and hiked, and Colin has been plodding around up amongst the snow and ice that still blankest the core of the islands.

Everywhere is very quite, we have hardly seen another climber, which is great - just how we like it!

Serious Arctic

Back to Lofoten one more time, only on this occasion we flew, clutching a bevy of copies of the new guide. One hour thirty, Manchester to Oslo, one hour fifteen Oslo to Bodø, a three hour drive to Skutvik and a two hour ferry crossing to Svolvaer. It sure beat the usual five day trek to get here. Two months earlier then usual it is all a bit strange, lots of snow on the mountains, a daytime high of 7 degrees at the moment, and the racks that cover the island decked out with cod, looking like miles old grey socks drying in the wind - very pungent!

Sherri caught SIX cod in half an hour fishing in her favourite spot, and we had a pleasant day doing the great classics of Gandalf and Gollum - we had the crag to ourselves, which was great!

Busy Boy!

Three books published in less than two years - and all fat ones at that! Eastern Grit was a rewrite, so that was less of a task but Northern England and Lofoten Rock were done from scratch. Working on two books in parallel was quite an undertaking, but having both volumes roll off the press just a couple of months apart has been great - all three are crackers too! My bookshelf is starting to creak and crack a bit!
What I need now is a bit of a vacation, well at least once I have got the Western Grit rewrite out of the way - should only take about eight months!

Westward Ho!

It was a great journey home. 8 hours 15 minutes from Chamonix to Zeebrugge (570 miles) - the French motoway network is superb. Then it was an overnight ferry to Hull followed by a 70 min drive, and now its all over!
We brought the weather back - as per usual, and apart from heading to Nottingham for the printing Lofoten Rock I have been using the sunshine to get stuck into the photography for Western Grit 2.0. Today was superb in the Chew Valley, we had to wait a couple of hours for the sun to come round onto Dovestone Edge - but we coped!

Wow!

Dawned bright and clear - first time for a while, so we packed up fast and headed for the Aiguille du Midi cable car. The brilliant conditions meant it was filled with young snow-boarding types - suddenly I felt old! I caught a glimpse of the Frendo Spur as we flashed past and our comfy bivi-site from about 30 years ago!

12600' meant we were really puffing on the stairways - but it was superb to be up there above the clouds. We explored the area then took the 'bubbles' across the Valle Blanche to the Italian frontier where the views of the Brenva Face (another venue from half a lifetime ago- the whole experience was breath-taking.