Gold In The Lakes

Team 'Awesome'. Kate, Kerry, Olivia, Adam (aka Kevin), Raj

This week I was working for Adventure Expeditions, on an Open Gold in the Lake District, starting and finishing in Keswick. After initial preparations, the team set off on day 1 from Keswick on Wednesday morning. Everybody left the Youth Hostel happy, but 9 hours later when the 2 groups arrived at the wild camp, people were less happy with their saturated boots - it had been wet and boggy to say the least. At this point the twins, Sarah and Erica, pulled out the genius card - newspaper - and so by the next morning their boots were dry again - they've learnt form their previous expeditions with wet boots!

Sarah, Erica, Martin and Dean

The next morning turned out to be a low point of the week for many, as the hill ascent was long and slow, and even this early in the exped, people had experienced emotional highs and lows. This long day was rewarded with a real campsite at the end with the best of all features - a shower... The weather for the entire week was showery, some heavy downpours, low cloud and fog, but warm and light winds. So it was a wet week, but not 'too' awful (easy for me to say - I was assessing and not walking for the 4 days!).

'We're happy on the inside!'

By the end of day 3, when they had completed the long climb up to the second wild camp, the team were in good spirits - and even the approaching ominous black clouds didn't stop the laughter. Adam found a good solution for wet boots (below). Kerry and co. managed to find something to laugh at, at every campsite. On the last night, the object of humour was Kerry's dish - a Roasting Chicken dish!

Modelling his new footwear, which is very OTM, colour coordinating with his outfit

Kerry showing us her chicken roasting dish - 'Why have you brought that to eat from?' - 'Cause it folds!'.

Grisedale Tarn

Photo for the Adventure Expeditions website. Kate, Olivia, Kerry, Dean, Martin, Raj, Sarah, Erica (sorry if it's the wrong way round), Adam (Kev)

Photo for fun - look excited!

'Look upset' - wow - Kerry looks really upset - acting career ahead of you Kerry...

I cycled down from Grisedale Tarn - but soon found myself flying through the air separated from my bike - my bike had clearly pressed the 'eject' button. I landed somewhere on the floor, and looked round at my bike in disgust (and wished I had better suspension and brakes!). One of my first thoughts was - this is going to ruin my climbing holiday next week. 36 hours later now, and my arm is a lot better, and mobility is improving - but the bike is still in the dog house! Climbing is clearly a safer sport!

The last day was 18km down from the wild camp, off the hills, and back into Keswick to the Youth Hostel. The weather did not co-operate, and it rained for the entire journey. Upon completion at the hostel there were lots of tired legs and rotten feet - but all 9 have successfully completed their gruelling Gold Qualifying Expedition. Congratualtions everybody - I've sent all these photos and more to Cat.

Day 3 And 33 Degrees!

The groups had a night out under a fantastic clear sky at over 2000m. It was a little cold for them however, so they were zipped up inside their tents early. So they didn't see all the shooting stars and satellites that we saw.. Some of them had a difficult night, with upset stomachs (!), and some of them had their first wild toilet experience! Most of them appreciated the beauty all around them. Here you can see Phil carrying the mini poo shovel on the outside of his rucsac, for fast access! After they descended from their camp they had to get through the town of le Monetier les Bains - on market day! So I made sure none of them bought the rotisserie chickens or ice creams on offer! Just pitta bread and peperami for lunch!

Whilst waiting I was watching all the other activities going on, on such a hot day!

Team Awesome managed to find something they were allowed for 2 minutes... They had to check the picture to work out what suitable face to pull! Phil wins!!

With all the teams safely through the town (sans poulet!) I had time for a little diversion.. I found a cheeky via ferrata set in my van and set off to use it... I headed for 'des Mines du Grand Clot' close to our basecamp. The route is 2000m long with altitude gain of 775m. The photos here show the fun little chimney section. Awesome...

I wanted to test my fitness because I'll be climbing with Matt Leggett in a couple of days, and he's always mega fit, so I ran up it in 75mins, and back to the van in under 3 hours.

Via ferrata quickly gets you to some stunning positions. However, I was doing this in the full heat of the day.. Phew! (luckily I never sweat!)

The view of la Meije from the top.

A great little village I had to pass though on the way down - le Chazelet.

On the way back to the van I was checking out potential for winter ice climbing in the valley! Here is 'Cascade de La Pucelle' - winter grade?

The groups all got to their night 3 campsite alright, although some of them are really suffering with their feet unfortunately. Generally spirits are high, and success is round the corner (quite a lot of corners!) for them all. The bags must be a lot lighter now, now that all that food (and tins!) have been eaten.

Let's hope tomorrow isn't as hot for them. They still have over 500m height gain to do in the heat of the day!