Ski Touring in the Lakes

It’s taken me a little while to write this up, but me and Stu had a proper mountain day ski touring in the Lakes last week.
There was really good snow cover, a bit hard, due to freezing conditions, but great fun non-the less.  The best and definitely funniest bit was skiing and navigating in a complete whiteout.  At one point i skied headfirst into a big bank of snow I just didn’t know was there.

Skiing up onto Stybarrow Dodd…we could still see at this point!

Looking West towards Keswick.

The Back (north) face of Stybarrow Dodd.  It was ICY!!

Stu looking very relaxed as always.

River crossing on skies…how did it all end?!

It’s gotten warm and wet since, but it’ll be back for sure and we’ll keep posting when it does.
Cheers
Mark

Caving in Marilyns Pot

Had a brilliant day today with my mate exploring down Marilyns Pot which joins Disappointment Pot (it’s rather nice actually!) then on down into the Gaping Ghyll system…which is huge!

We managed to fight, wriggle, squirm and swear our way along the very muddy and low and long New Hensler Passage at the bottom of the SRT which takes you eventually to the bottom of Bar Pot, etc.

Unfortunately as we had taken a few wrong turns along the way and were on a dead-line we had to turn around here and go back through the MUD. Argh! so much MUD! 

So no Chamber of the Winds for me today, but a great adventure and a better understanding of the cave gained. And I’ll be back.

Cheers for now

Mark

            

                   

Indian Summer (well, a weekend!)

We had a great weekend on the North Yorkshire Moors with some friends.  We spent Friday at a crag called Scugdale, ticking off all the classics, either solo or with a rope for the higher ones.  Brilliant crag with lovely rock.

Sat and Sun were both spent Mountain Biking.  Both 43km and 30km respectively!  We’re both very tired and to top it off I’ve got food poisoning and am at home today, writing this to take my mind off stomach cramps, lovely!  Still the weekend was great.

Cheers Mark and Ali

Amazing Caving

 

Me and some pals took a trip caving in the Dales recently to an amazing cave, full of the most stunning features.  Here’s a few photo’s which don’t do it justice at all…

Underground Adventures in the Lake District

With the Lakes receiving 1 months rain in a day (it’s deja vue for Cockermouth residents!) we decided to head underground today and recce a future Adventure for Quest 4 Adventure.

Borrowdale and the North Lakes are famous for their mines and one in particular, the Graphite Mine at Seathwaite, is especially interesting.

It was the major source of ‘Wad’, a very pure form of Graphite back in the 1800’s, very hard to mine and left behind a maze of passages, both horizontal and more importantly, vertical, to explore.  It’s owned by the National Trust who are happy for people to explore at their own risk, and a reasonably risky place it is to the unaware.  Not from collapse so much, but from the numerous shafts in the floor.

So, some years ago, some explorers decided to place safety anchors in the rock to allow abseil descents of the system.  And that’s what we did today.  Down 4 levels and along about 1 kilometre of passage, although there’s far more to nose along.

     

It’s not super pretty, but it is very interesting and a marvel of mans ability to change the world.  There are kilometres of passage, all dug by hand, with railway lines still place.  It’s an amazing adventure and a special hidden world to explore and will be going onto our list of Guided Adventures in the Autumn.

Best of all today..it was dry!

Technorati Tags: caving,borrowdale graphite mine,abseiling underground

Keswick Mountain Festival

It's here again! The Keswick Mountain Festival is back and we're up to all sorts of cool stuff.

Ali was up Blencathra via Sharp Edge yesterday, and it even stayed dry! Today she's on Helvellyn via striding edge (in the drizzle!) and I'm off up Blencathra in the dark later with 12 keen beans for a night walk. Then off to the pub for chilli after...lovely!

Tomorrow there's canoeing in the morning and afternoon and later a moonlit (well probably cloudy!!) canoe treip on Derwent Water.

There's still spaces on stuff and it's a great chance to snap up a bargain and have a great adventure.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.keswickmountainfestival.co.uk%2Factivity-providers%2Fquest-4-adventure%2F%23activities&h=_AQE4BT6y

There's also all sorts of cool free stuff to see and do in and around Keswick, so come along...it is going to get drier on sat and sun I promise!

Mark

National Trust Campsite activities

Hi folks

Easter was a bit chilly eh? But it's still sunny and adventurous in the Lakes.

We're running our great outdoor activties from the Low Wray and Langdale National Trust campsites again http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/holidays/camping/camping-in-the-lake-district/adventure-activities/

and above is the timetable of everything that's going on.

It's a real bargain at £25 per person, even if you are just one person. And you can book at the receptions or over the phone, follow the link above,

See you there, we're running activities in all the school holidays and at other times on demand.

Cheers

Mark and Ali