Tribevine

I've made a point of not advertising on my blog. However anyone reading this blog should definatley look into joining Tribevine (www.tribevine.com). Tribevine is a free online community based website which allows users to review, rank and discuss outdoor gear. I joined the site a couple of days after it went live. Since then I won the first monthly competition, winning an awesome collection of gear. Tribevine holds a monthly gear competition rewarding the most active users on the site. For me, Tribevine has provided an outlet for my gear passion, and also an opportunity to represent the company at the OutDoor show (see below) I would highly recomend the site as a starting point for any gear hunt. For me Tribevine  As more users join the site gears stronger and stronger providing more detailed analysis and review of gear. Get yourselves on there!

The OutDoor show 2011 - Friedrichshafen, Germany

Well it's official, I am going to the OutDoor show in Germany (http://www.outdoor-show.com/od-en/visitors/news.php). For those of you who might not be aware of what this means, the OutDoor show is the biggest OutDoor gear industry conference worldwide (Nothing like the UK Outdoor show). All the biggest companies worldwide bring their latest innovations outdoor gear. It also hosts the Outdoor industry awards 2011 - one of the biggest competitions for the latest gear innovations. The guest list is closed and available only to trade customers and outdoor journalists. For the last 2 years I have looked longingly at the website and wished I could somehow get there. Well this year is different....
After chatting to Juho at www.tribevine.com , he asked if I would attend on behalf on Tribevine and (along with him) tour the show checking out new gear, and spreading the world about Tribevine. Still after excepting this once in a lifetime offer I didn't believe it until this morning when my tickets arrived!

I am so unbelieveably excited about this I can barely contain myself as I write this! This will be the biggest opportunity to check out the latest and future releases from the biggest outdoor gear companies in the world, as well as a chance to take in the environment, and be around fellow gear junkies. A big thanks to Juho at Tribevine for making a dream come true for me! Hopefully will be joining him for a few days climbing beforehand! I think the website summary of the event covers it perfectly;

Once a year, the outdoor community convenes under one roof.
It comes together at the OutDoor in Friedrichshafen – the point
where the individualists’ trails, the mainstream’s routes and the
specialists’ super tours converge. Be part of it when the branch
gets together to decide where it is going. And experience for
yourself what moves the market outside. On an exhibition area of 85,000 sqm, more than 850 exhibitors from
39 nations present all the relevant brands and a comprehensive range
of services unknown anywhere else in the world. This year’s main
theme – Business Turbo “Fundamental Needs” – demonstrates
how the branch can benefit even further from the boom in outdoor
pursuits. High-tech and design trends are presented by the OutDoor
INDUSTRY AWARD, which is being held for the fifth time.

Awesome gear, top gear professionals, famous OutDoor show parties, What an opportunity.....

Stubai Atomy screwgate karabiner - first impressions

Another prize in the competition I won on Tribevine was a bunch of Stubai's Atomy karabiners. Since they arrived this morning I have been playing around with them, and I have to say my first impression is "solid". They feel great, one problem for me with lightweight screwgates has been that they don't feel strong enough. This karabiner is billed my Stubai as being one of the lightest screwgates out there. At 60g there are several lighter than it, the DMM Phantom, and Black Diamond vaporlock to name 2. However having held both of them neither feel as good as the Stubai Atomy. Stubai themselves have been a company I have never seen much of, they aren't widely available in the UK, however in Europe they are much bigger, and with products like the Atomy it's easy to say why. Stubai make the point that they could have made this karabiner lighter:

"We could have gone even lighter with an aluminium castor, but we couldn’t compromise on the top performance of brass"

The Atomy is also much stronger in tests that the lighter karabiners out there, making it a good choice for people like me who enjoy having lighter kit, but also enjoy the reassurance of strong kit! The Atomy has an anti snag nose, a smooth screwgate action, and is anodised red (which just looks cool!).

Technical data:

Breaking strain 26 kN / 8 kN / 10 kN
Gate clearance 16 mm
Exterior dimensions 101 x 54 mm
Weight 60 g
Tested to Norm CE EN 12275, EN 362, UIAA 121

Overall I like them a lot! They feel strong, but also lightweight. Not quite as light as my current Zero G Neutron karabiners, however they feel so much more solid, and I definitely think these will find their way onto my rack!

Petzl Ange Finesse - First impressions

I recently won a set of 5 Petzl Ange Finesse quickdraws (amongst other things) in a competition on Tribevine , they arrived this morning from Finland and I excitedly opened the package! The Ange Finesse is Petzl's latest innovation in climbing hardware. The Ange is Petzl's latest karabiner, and is combined with the Finesse;  a 10 mm wide Dyneema® sling. The Ange comes in 2 different sizes the Ange "S" (Small) and the Ange "L" (Large). The different karabiners can be combined with the Finesse to provide a quickdraw tailored to your needs as a climbing. For example:

Ange S on top and bottom, combined with the Finesse sling would provided minimalist weight

Ange S on top and Ange L on bottom with the Finesse sling would provide a good balance of weight and functionality, as the Ange L on the rope end would provide maximum gate opening size.


Ange L on top and bottom, combined with the Finesse sling would provide maximum usability with the large gate opening sizes.

However at a price of over £110 for a set of 5 these are not cheap! But are they worth the money? I guess time and a day at the crag will tell! One thing that strikes me about these quickdraws is that considering how light they are (63g each) they feel quite substantial. The gate opens very wide due to the single strand/post gate, and it has a gate opening size of 23mm (Ange S). The Ange Finesse has some other good features; A small groove in the karabiners keeps the sling in the correct position, Petzl's MonoFil Keylock ensures snag free clipping, and the rubber clip at the rope end ensures the karabiner stays in the correct position.

The Ange S (28g) is not the lightest karabiner out there, is it 2g heavier  than the DMM phantom (26g), 5g heavier than the Camo Nano (23g), however the clean nose, and snag free clipping does make it a smarter choice than both of the above.

Overall, the Ange Finesse seems to be very well designed and built, and I look forward to taking these out for a day to see if they live up the expectations! And definitely incredibly chuffed to have won these!

Petzl Meteor III ....what's all the fuss about?

The Petzl Meteor III is a helmet that seems to have become synomymous with hardcore climbers and mountaineering instructors, but why? What makes this helmet better that the others? And more importantly why is it £70; much more than other high end helmets. Well luckily a friend still hasn't picked his up from my house where it's sat for ages, so in order to discover why it's so good, I thought I would leave my trusty Grivel salamander in the locker and spend my 4 hour climbing session today wearing the Meteor.
The helmet itself is very ventilated; perhaps one of the reasons it's so popular with world class climbers and instructors. The helmet comes in one size (53-61cm),

and is easily adjusted via the clips at the back. Personally I found these buckles dig into the bag of my head a little bit when first putting the helmet on, however it's fine after that. The shape of the helmet is odd, it comes down very low on the forehead (lower than I would normally have my helmet). The thing with this helmet is that when you are wearing it you feel cool, you feel like a real pro. Perhaps it's because of the helmets reputation for being used by the pro's, or perhaps it's because is does actually look pretty cool when it's on. I did also find it keeps my head nice and cool. In the past I had found other Petzl helmets make my head sweat because of the daft foam they insist in padding out the front of the helmet with. The Meteor III however has foam inside more like cycle helmet foam, and at 235g it's incredibly light. I wore it the whole 4 hours with no problems, and barely noticed I had it on!

So in summary.....yeah its cool, and if you can pick it up on offer, definately worth getting, £70 is a bit steep, but it will keep your head nice and cool - a rarity in climbing helmets!

Mountain Equipment Sleeping bags - new purchase....

So the current focus of my time is finding a new winter down sleeping bag. I have wanted a decent one for a while, and I am determined not to spent another winter season shivering through with 3 season sleeping bags. Sometime ago I settled on a Mountain Equipment down bag, purely because I love Mountain Equipment kit and I am yet to be let down by a piece of gear I have bought from them. So based on this I have been looking into various options and currently have a choice of 4, below is a summary of my research into the bags:






ME Titan 850: Comfort limit: -12°C, Extreme: -31°C, £220 RRP, 1495g
ME Zero 750: Comfort limit: -13°C, Extreme: -32°C, £330 RRP, 1190g
ME Snowline: Comfort limit: -17°C, Extreme: -37°C, £370 RRP, 1510g
ME Dreamcatcher 850: Comfort limit: -10°C, Extreme: -29°C, £240, 1685g

So quite a selection and all around about the same (ish) ratings. Looking more closely, the fill weight of the Titan and Dreamcatcher are 850, whilst the Snowline and Zero are 750. The pack sizes are pretty much the same within a couple of cm, so not enough to make a difference. So why are the Zero 750 and the Snowline so much more. Well it comes down to features, the Zero is designed to be lightweight, and has a 300-400g weight saving on the other bags. For someone looking for maximum performance and minimum weight this would be ideal, but I have to ask myself is the 400g (max) weight saving worth the extra money, in my opinion not at this stage of my career, weight is always an issue but I can't justify £90 more than the Titan for a bag that is so similar in other specs. So in this case, the Zero 750 is out. Next looking closely at the Snowline, at £150 more than the Titan and the most expensive option of the group, it has  some additional features that justify that price. The Snowline features a drilite outer to help protect from moisture and snow. It also has higher temp ratings (slightly) than the others. At this stage I am not discounting the Snowline, as it does justify the extra money. The dreamcatcher however will be joining the Zero, as whilst it is the 2nd cheapest, its heaviest, with the lowest temp ratings, therefore Dreamcatcher is out. Then I come onto the Titan. At £220 it's the cheapest, with good ratings, and decent weight. Definately a contender.

So with 2 options that have got through the "interview phase", we come onto the next stage; best price. After lengthy research the best online prices are:

Snowline: £295, http://hillanddaleoutdoors.co.uk/productDetail.php?productId=240&brand=11

Titan 850: £178, http://hillanddaleoutdoors.co.uk/productDetail.php?productId=313&brand=11

Curiously both sleeping bags are cheapest on the same site: Hill and Dale Outdoors Ltd. Good discounts however. The question is; is the discount on the Snowline enough to justify buying it over the Titan? The price difference is £120, and the Snowline price is discounted by £75, and the Titan by £40. The weights are the same, the difference in comfort temp is 5°C, and extreme temp is 6°C, with the Snowline being the warmer bag. The Snowline does have the advantage of the Drilite outer protecting from the moisture of Snowholes, and damp bivi's. The fill power is less on the Snowline however, it uses goose down which provides 20-25% more insulation than duck down. The Snowline also has a higher ratio of down to feathers (Snowline: 93% down/ 7% feathers, Titan: 85% down/ 15% feathers), so is a much higher quality bag.

There is no doubt that the Snowline is the better bag, and for the extra £120 you get a lot. But it is an extra £120....the Titan is a good bag at a great price. I think I have a dilemma now!

MLTE training books

The MLTE training books have been a stable fixture on my shelf for some time now. While doing my ML and SPA I found myself daily referring to both "Hillwalking" and "Rock Climbing" for answers to nagging questions in my head. "Winter Climbing" is an excellent reference point for winter mountaineering of all types. All 3 books are well written, and full of useful guides, diagrams and information. In my opinion these books are ideal for outdoor instructors working towards qualifications, or just climbers who want a good reference guide. The MLTE also produced a DVD with all the diagrams from "Hillwalking" in order for instructors to use them in training. Each book is broken down into logical chapters, and covers all the aspects of the MLTE mountain qualifications as shown below:

Hillwalking: Mountain Leader Summer (ML-S) and Walking Group Leader (WGL)
Rock Climbing: Single Pitch Award (SPA) and Mountain Instructor Award (MIA)
Winter Skills: Mountain Leader Winter (ML-W) and Mountain Instructor Certificate (MIC)

Great series of books and well worth investing in.

CAMP Air Cam failure - conclusion

A while back I wrote about a friend who had experienced a problem with the CAMP air cam - see below. Andy sent back his set of 5 cams to CAMP for testing. 2 of them failed the strength test and were replaced by CAMP. The 2 cams that failed the test had a batch number of cams that were recalled. These should therefore have not been on sale by Black's in the first place, as they (as all retailers of these cam's) were contacted to inform them that this batch was faulty and should not be sold. Pretty piss poor on Black's part if you ask me? So please if you have any CAMP air cam's, get them checked out, even if you just email CAMP with a batch number to check yours are ok, last thing you need if your cam to collapse half way up a route. Good service by CAMP, and good that they followed this through and tested all the cam's replacing were needed, appalling work by Blacks. Thanks to Andy for passing on this info.

Climbing games book - Paul Smith

From a climbing instructors point of view, when working with groups it is very good to be able to make the session as fun as possible. Incorporating games into a session can be a great way of warming up, coaching, and building on a "toolbox" of skills that the group can draw upon. When I first started leading sessions I knew a few games, but always found it useful to try and pickup more. One evening I googled "climbing games book" and found this. The book is excellent, and was exactly what I was looking for. Each game had different symbols indicating what the game focussed on (e.g. Balance, core etc). It also clearly explains each game. The book is also split into different sections for reference. I have passed this book around all the other instructors at work and  we all agree this book is a cracking piece of literature for an instructor. It is especially good for anyone going for an SPA assessment and looking for a few coaching games, I personally used games from this book on my assessment and the guide running the course was very impressed. The book can be picked up on Amazon.co.uk for £5.07 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=climbing+games&x=0&y=0), and is definately worth investing in!

An example of the books format and layout can be found here (pdf. Format)

Alpine dreaming....

Whilst I have spent a decent amount of time in other countries, I haven't actually headed to the alps. This September will mark the end of that. Looking like I will be heading to the alps, the objective (amongst others) will be Mont Blanc De Cheilon. At 3870m the Peak is a famous for being a great beginners peak. The route we are looking at is an alpine PD, including glacier crossing, basic snow and ice climbing, and some scrambling/rock climbing. Personally I am in no rush to "push my grade", and rush into this. I am looking forward to a nice, chilled few days with a great peak at the end. The peak has a lot going for it from my point of view, not least of which being that the area is German speaking, and I have a decent amount of German! I have been doing

some research into this, and have come up with 3 good points of interest for anyone looking at first time alpine routes in this area.

1) http://map.schweizmobil.ch/?lang=en ; this website gives free access to 1:25k mapping of the Swiss alps. Very useful, and can be printed out in pages.

2) http://www.aacuk.org.uk/membership.aspx the Austrian Alpine Club (UK branch) is worth joining. For £32 (if born 1986 or before, £42 if born after), you get discounted rates at huts, alpine rescue insurance, access to a Bergsteigeressen (Climbers meal), and many more benefits.!

 3) http://www.summitpost.org/mont-blanc-de-cheilon/150218 ; summitpost is awesome, and provides excellent information on routes/peaks etc

In the next few months I will produce a detailed equipment guide of what I'm taking (time to revive the cut away photoshopping methinks....)

A busy few days of expeditions

So it's been a while since my last post. Had a very busy couple of weeks, with 4 seperate expeditions out and about. Sadly this has taken its toll on me and I've contracted some kind of plague that has caused my asthma to flare up. Highs and lows certainly!

First 2 expeditions, were practice walks around the Roaches and white Peakarea. Fairly straight forward couple of days to be honest, involving quite a bit of walking along the Roaches ridge. Took the liberty of getting a bit of bouldering in while I was there too. Overall it was short and sweet, decent weather, not sunny but overcast and dry! Had a couple of the group suffering with the cold a bit, but aside from that all good.

The second expedition was more of a trudge. A group from a university outdoor education course wanted a 3 day expedition during which we would cover all the skills involved in ML training, prior to them doing their ML training in a couple of weeks. I was really looking forward to this, as I have helped out a bit on ML training courses, so was really looking forward to working with some older groups on more technical navigation.I really enjoyed the expedition, albeitthat it involved carrying a big pack and wild camping. The first day involved moving from Gradbach, over to Goyts Moss, where we would wild camp in Goytsclough Quarry. The day got off to a 'brilliant' start as soon as we left the bus at the dropoff and it was slinging it down! It rained constantly until we made it to the campsite, and thankfully the rain stopped long enough to pitch camp. 

The second day was dry but VERY windy. We headed over Axe Edge where I would estimate the wind was 20mph gusting 35mph. At one point I almost got completely cleared out. From the Buxton Road we headed down into the maze of footpaths and made our way to our campsite at the base of Chrome Hill. After pitching tents we heading up Chrome Hill for a cheeky summit. After getting down the wind got faster and faster, and the forecast didn't look brilliant either. During the night the wind was battering my small Macpac Microlight to the point at which it was little more than a bivi bag. I got out of my tent around 11.30pm and found most of the group sitting in the back of the Land Rover. After a brief chat we decided to get the hell out of there, we struck camp in 10minutes and drove back to the centre, to doss down in one of the classrooms. On the friday morning I ran an ML ropework session for the group. Then promptly slung my kit in the minibus and headed over to Snowdonia for a weekend of DofE gold training.....

The weekend involved 2 mountain days. One group day in the Moelwyns, and one leader training day in the Glyders. The Cnicht day was awesome, great weather, great group, and enjoying being out. We headed up and over Cnicht, and then down to Llyn Y Adar, and continued over finding small

features on the way. Sadly my plague developed overnight and I spent the 2nd day on Anglesey with the group rather than on the Glyders. I was very proud of the guys and girls from my DofE gold  group, having trained them from Bronze level right the way up  to Gold level.

Overall my kit performed very well over the course of the expeditions. Didn't have any problems at all. There were some valuable additions however....

 1) My new Adidas "Predator" Boots. They were comfortable throughout all the expeditions, and definately worth the money! I found them great whether on damp Peak District footpaths or on grade 1 Snowdonia scrambles.

2) Sealskinz socks; brilliant on all expeditions, kept my feet dry and toasty the whole time.

3) Kongur MRT; incredible jacket, kept the wind and rain out very well.

4) Jetboil; brilliant as always, so simple, light and easy for cooking boil in the bag meals, and making brews.

However there was one kit "loser"....

Macpac Microlight; brilliant for warm summer nights, useless in winds or if you on expedition and carry a big pack. Sleeping in it felt like being in a coffin, and had to store my bag in a survival bag outside the tent. That said it did survive where a Terra Nova and a Vango didnt (the groups tents broke in the winds).

Overall a tough but rewarding few days!

CAMP air cam failure

I said I would post this up for Andy. Basically he went to place his cam for the first, and as he retracted the lobes the 4 wires came free. Andy has personally contacted CAMP for an answer on this, so will post up anything new as and when I hear about it. My advice would be if you have one of these to contact CAMP directly. In addition I would be interested to hear from anyone who has had a similar problem to this. UKClimbing.com have said they will look into it. Personally when I looked at these cam's in Blacks I wasn't that impressed with them!

A quiet day at Harborough - a short climbing video

A short video composed of footage from my video camera and helmet camera.I focused on trying to create a short story of one climb from start of the day to completing the route. I created it with Windows Movie maker (I do have other software but prefer the simplicity). Enjoy!

Harborough Rocks: Helmet cam footage BETA

Finally managed to get out to a crag today, and test out the helmet cam. If you read the article 2 below this one, you can see how I mounted the helmet cam to a Petzl Meteor. Atko is currently gaining a few leads for his SPA training, so offered to lead a few routes on cam. Overall during the day the camera collected over 1.5gb of HD footage, totaling 45mins. I have uploaded a small section to youtube (below) in low resolution, however you get the idea. One thing I hadn't taken into account was the orientation of the camera in the mount, so you will see from the footage that I had to rotate the footage on its side to get it the right way up. In future I won't make that mistake again! Atko lead a few climbs, they have all recorded very well and we can consider this a successful test! More to come over the coming months! Enjoy!

Link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAd_Ayw6UTw
And here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m56QJukR49k
Download short vid here: www.electronicmountainleader.co.uk/helmet cam small.wmv

I also can't resist talking about DMM Offset wires after a crag day, anyone who has used these will understand why! They are incredible, they just fit everywhere! Throughout the day all of the wires were placed at least 3 times each! I would seriously recommend that anyone starting the build a rack at the moment take the plunge and spend the £40 on these. Or better still wait until the outdoor show and blag a set for £20! Well worth it. All in All a good day at the crag today, took some HD footage on my video camera, and helmet camera which I will be compiling into a video over the next few weeks, just need to learn to use Adobe Premiere first......

Adidas walking boots......no wait hear me out!

I've been looking for a decent pair of walking boots for some time. At present I have B2 and B3 boots, but no B1 walking boots for scrambling etc. I have looked and tried on a number of boots, but non I have tried looked good enough or fitted well enough to justify splashing the cash. I liked the look of the Salomon Quest, and they fitted well too, but they didn't have that something extra I like to have with anything I buy. Anyway long story short I was mooching around Manchester today  (where it turns out there is 100 outdoor shops....). I went into the Blacks there, where there was (for once) a helpful lad working in the boot department. I clocked a pair of cool looking boots. These turneed out to be Adidas Terrex GTX hi FM. I instantly liked the look of these boots, and whats more

I'm sure I recognised the shape as being the same as the Salomon Quest I had tried on before. A quick chat with the guy in the shop revealed they were in fact the same boot (albeit with some reworking by Adidas), as Adidas and Salomon were owned by the same parent company. So now I was very interested, a boot that had already fitted well, but a cooler looking version, and at half price (£59.99) I invested. They look awesome, they fit brilliantly, and more importantly they shatter the stereotype that many of us have that Adidas can't make outdoor kit. Indeed the emergence of sports companies making gear, is

part of an ongoing trend started by Nike with their ACG (All Condition Gear). Looks like Adidas has hopped on the band wagon, and I am very impressed! These boots remind me of being young and when the "must have" football boots were Adidas predators. Therefore from now on these boots will be known as my Adidas Predators :) The next few months will reveal whether thesee are everything I hope for from my boots!

Helmet cams, Metoffice and Twitter

So for Christmas my girlfriend got me a small camera designed for recording outdoor pursuits. Naturally (and lets face it this is true), everyone has thought about using a helmet camera to record them doing something cool, so for me this was the ultimate piece of coolness for my kit collection. The camera included a 4gb microSD card, a mount for bike handlebars, and a mount for webcam use. Sadly the mount supplied didn't fit my bikes handle bars, and the transfer cable seems to be a bit dodgy. So eBay provides! £4.98 got me a new mount (helmet compatible and an SD card adapater). The new mount arrived the other day and is 1000x better than the one that was included. This one had flexible rubber straps to attach the camera, and to attach to whatever you want to. This means you can attach to a helmet by passing the straps through the holes in the helmet (see picture). Sadly this doesnt work on my grivel salamander due to the lack of vents in the helmet. However it was fine on Petzl Meteor and a Giro Indicator.So I fitted the camera up last night,

and with a planned trip to Harborough rocks tommorow, I figured it would be the ideal chance to get some good BETA footage. Sadly the Metoffice had other ideas. When i went to bed (11pm) the Metoffice was forecasting overnight rain, but dry from 4am, then sunny from early throughout the day. Sadly (in truest form with the Metoffice), when I got up it was slinging it down. The 'forecast' had then been updated to say rain throughout the day. Now honestly, what use is that? The past 3 times I have relied on the Metoffice they have let me down, as a geography graduate, and dabbler in meteorology, I appreciate the finer subtle details of weather forecasting, but HOW do they keep getting it wrong, there is a huge difference between "Sunny all day" and "wet all day", as Reynolds said "it is the only job in the world where the can get it wrong everyday and not get fired". So instead of being at the crag today I am sat updating my blog. The last thing I wanted to mention was

Twitter. I have heard "tweeting" talked about a lot recently, and it wasn't something I had ever done. However I decided to give it a go, and actually it seems very cool. All the major gear companies, mountain centres, and organisations seem to be on there. So having "followed" all of them, I can now access their tweets about latest releases, competitions etc. Seems very worthwhile. I can also update my tweets by texting a number (at no charge), which updates my profile. I have also added a gadget to my blog which allows a display of my current Tweet, so anyone who is interested can see what I am up to/working on. (I don't expect many people will be, but I think it's cool!). Thats all for now anyway, I will get some helmet cam footage up soon, and also update on whether Sonim's 14 day replacement quote is accurate!

Landrover S1 - Not as invincible as advertised?

I have had the Landrover S1 for some time now, and this is the second time it has broken. The first time was not a hardware issue - the phones software stopped working causing the phone to freeze up. In fairness to Sonim the phone was replaced with no questions asked, however I did miss having the phone when I was in Morocco.

This time however I dropped the phone to the ground by accident (baring in mind the company claim the phone can withstand 2m drops onto concrete), the resulting damage can be seen in the picture (left). The screen has a giant crack in it, whilst I should point out the  phone has continued to function fine despite the screen being mangled, I decided to (for the second time) take advantage of Sonim's "3 year unconditional guarantee". A short phone call to Sonim later and I had an address to send my phone to in order to recieve a replacement, no questions asked; except "what is wrong with it". Can't say fairer than that I suppose.
My issue is that the phone broke in the first place, surely a phone that claims to be literally bomb proof should be able to withstand damage from impacts on the screen? However credit where credit is due, Sonim really do follow through on their guarantee to replace the phone, no questions asked, if it breaks, so in this regard, I can't fault them as a company, great customer service. Overall I still like the Landrover S1, I had been having a few problems with the Microphone when calling people, as my voice came accross very quiet. So hopefully this will be fixed with the new one. The waterproofness of the phone however is still outstanding and is yet to let me down, even when I dropped it in the lake the other day! 14 days until the Landrover S1 Mk 3 arrives.....

A week of orienteering.....soggy sarnies and too much running

So this week at work was a GCSE orienteering group. I like to get involved with this each year, as the group are usually good fun to work with, plus I get the constant reassurance that my navigation is better than a 15 year old novices! We used a number of venues away from the centre to increasingly test the students over the course of the week. I lead a number of evening training sessions throughout the week aimed at helping the students develop skills, copy of the powerpoint I put together for a quick contours introduction can be downloaded here. From my point of view the courses involved me running around as quickly as my legs would carry me in order to avoid the inevitable "Sir, you suck I beat you", chants from the group. We used 2 parks in Leek, Knypersly reservoir, and Buxton Country Park. The week got off to a bad start for me when I forgot my water bottle, not a huge issue I took one from the staffroom. Upon reaching lunchtime at the first site, I reached for my "gourmet" sarnies I had been gloating about (BBQ chicken and cheddar in cheesey rolls), I discovered the water bottle had leaked everywhere ruining my delicious food! Needless to say the water bottle received an apt reward for its betrayal...

And while we are at it Thermos Hydro Active Sports Bottle, best price: £4.99 from Amazon, is the worst designed water bottle I have ever seen, I mean the thing has a flimsy cap with a weak rubber seal which, if knocked will come undone instantly, do not ever buy one of these water bottles!
The week progressed very well, with my evening lectures seeming to make a difference to the group, the teachers seemed impressed, and the group were doing better than any previous year, so I was feeling pretty chuffed! I managed to get hold of a copy of the map for Thursday, and calibrated it using a product called OziExplorer (useful piece of software for calibrating .jpg files into geo referenced maps). This was very effective during the thursday, especially for getting the control points in exactly the right place! All in all I was very happy with the orienteering, once again (as usual) my Osprey Talon 33, proved the most comfortable bag I have ever owned,  even running up and down hills all day it didn't chafe or hurt at all. Once again highly recommended!

My ME Fitzroy also kept me toasty warm whilst waiting around in the wind and cold for the group to come and collect various orienteering points around the place! Enclosed is a small JPG of the orienteering map of Buxton Country park, well worth a visit! Excellent park with decent toilets etc, worth a walk over to solomons temple as well, with a good view across the quarries.

Summer rock climbing rack

I recieved a message today (via my contact me on my blog for the first time woop!), asking what is in my summer climbing rack. So this a brief response for Dave Harrison (thanks for you mail) and anyone else who is interested, as to what I carry on my summer trad rack:

10 x wild country oxygen quickdraws (various lengths)
3 x sling draws (60cm slings)
4 x D shaped screw gates (Zero G neutrons)
2 x DMM/Mammut Boa
1 x Metolius nutkey (saved me £24 to date!)
1 x Petzl Reverso3 belay plate + DMM Fatboy
1 x Petzl Reverso + HMS
7 x DMM 4CU cam's sizes 0.5-4
Black Diamond wired hexes
DMM Wallnuts 1-11
Zero G Spectrum wires 5-13
Zero G Spectrum wires 1-4
DMM Offset wires

1 x 60cm sling + karabiner
4 x 120cm slings + karabiner each
2 x 240cm slings + karabiner each
1 x 400cm sling +karabiner

2 x prussik loops

+ Harness, helmet, rockboots and chalkbag


All the above won't come on every route, but this is what I have, however I customise what I actually carry depending on the venue and route.

Why old style pierce top stoves are bad!

As the title suggests really, I witnessed an incident a Peak District campsite a few months back that highlighted to me the reason these stoves should not continue to be used for expeditions with young people. Whilst waiting for my DofE group to arrive I was sat in my tent observing another group cooking (no idea where they were from). As I watched, one of the young people busted out an old style pierce top stove. These were replaced a number of years ago with the safer, more reliable, resealable stoves. Curiously I watched the events that unfolded next, where the young person mounted the gas canister, and lit the stove. Before I had chance to shout to them, the whole stove had gone up in flames, I ran in and grabbed the stove hurling it away from the tents into the empty camping field, I quickly extinguished the stove, and turned the gas off.

I promptly headed over and gave the leader of the group an earful. It should be noted that in these cases I do not blame the young people, I blame the leader who allowed them to use the stove in the first place. Pierce top stoves are too dangerous, and too easy to use wrongly. So this is a plea to any scout groups, cadets, dofe groups, schools or anyone else who still Show Allhas these stoves squirreled away somewhere......Bin them now! Afterwards I collected the stove and took some pictures for instructional purposes, so that others can see the results of using these stoves incorrectly. The main issue is if they ignite, it is very difficult to deal with as the stove becomes a fireball, something that for a young person on an expedition will be very scared of.

The issue occurs when the arms securing the canister are not placed correctly, when the canister is is punctured a leak occurs, and when the stove valve is turned on and lit, the pressurised gas sprays out of the canister and lights instantly, and continues to flow. The best case scenario is that the canister remains attached to the stove, the worst case scenario (something that I have seen before), is if the canister becomes detached from the stove, the pressurised canister then blasts off like a rocket with a trail of fire behind it. Obviously this represents a huge hazard, not least of which hitting another young person, or a tent, or vehicle. The question we have to ask ourselves is "is it worth the risk", when resealable stoves are available from £9.99?....Food for thought.