Cornwall-Terrifying Exposure

Last weekend (16th-17th March) twelve climbing Ubesters drove down to Cornwall to have a look at what the Sennen and Bosigran areas had to offer…

 Abseiling down slimy cracks to the base of the sea cliffs, prospects of decent, dry climbing conditions seemed low. Once at the bottom of the routes, hopes faded further as climbers slid all across the algae covered ground. But Ubesters are nothing if not persistent, and having got down we had to get out, so one brave climbing officer started to delicately lead a route out while the other started lessons on rope prussicing, a method of ascending ropes using tightening knots. Persistence was rewarded and the clouds opened just as the midday sun reached the west facing rocks.

The sun spent the rest of the afternoon steadily moving across the cliffs which quickly dried to the UK famed grippy granite making good climbs for all standards. Everyone made the most of the conditions; the single pitch granite was addictive and everyone climbed though the sunset to the last light making spectacular views. The day was ended in a friendly pub close to our campsite where the group did the kitchen out of fish pie in the good company of “Louis” the pub pug.

The next day, Ubsters tentatively poked heads out of tents looking for the mist which had made the sea cliffs so slimy, but conditions were looking better so we headed to the next planned stop, the muti-pitch giant, Bosigran. From the car park we walked with the previous day’s climbing excitement buzzing in the group. To reach the higher cliffs we crossed giant grey boulders and traversed the steep high hillside which turned into black cliffs and tumbled to the sea. The theme tune of lord of the rings was sung and Arthur’s tales were imagined by the more fanciful members as we took in the dramatic scenery.

 Once we reached the bottom of the climbs ropes were divided and little groups went off to try various routes. For those who had their first sea cliff granite experience, the steep gradient, exposure and height of the cliffs with the sea below made the climbs a little more exciting than expected. Grades felt more challenging and topping out was even more rewarding.

Plenty of climbs were had and everyone in the group got a lead in, particular mention goes to Zolly for leading the “Big Top” and Emily and Emily for their first outdoor leads! Everyone did really well and both areas are defiantly worth a return visit, even more so perhaps for the unexpected highlight of sighting dolphins cresting in the water which caused even more excitement on top of the climbs! The weekend was ended with a traditional stop in Macdonalds before a long drive home.

Well done to the organizers, drivers, rope washers (wet salty ropes have to be sorted by someone) and everyone for a great team energy which resulted in lots of climbing and fun for everyone.

       Pippa

Peaks 2 (Not quite Snowdonia)

The weekend of the 22nd Feb saw, due to adverse weather conditions, a merry band of UBESters
heading to not Snowdonia but to the dizzying heights of the Peak District. We were met with a
stunningly clear night of which its appreciation was short lived as we pitched our tents and slept for
the day ahead.

Saturday began with a cornflake breakfast out of paper cups and a short drive (for many) to the
Burbage North area where a fun filled climbing day ensued for all.

The group split into smaller four person teams
to maximise the volume of climbs done.
Climbing on gritstone involves lots of
standing on not very much and trusting the
sticky rubber on your shoes which can by a
daunting experience if not expected. For many it
was also an introduction into crack climbing – a
skill not required particularly in the Avon
Gorge but one which can be exceedingly
rewarding (despite being painful!)

As the sun started to set, we trudged back to the cars, removed our harnesses and set off for a well
earned pub dinner in Hathersage before the long drive home.
It was a good first experience of crack climbing and one, I am sure, many will wish to repeat.
Thom

A Weekend of First Aid

A post on our weekend learning first aid is long overdue, so here is a brief look at what we got up to.

Checking for Danger!!

We started the morning in MVB with a rather dramatic introduction to DR ABC.

"CHECKING FOR DANGER!" was the tag line of the morning as we explorer various aspects of first aid from the recovery position to cuts and bandages and even CPR and using a defibrillator. All this in the knowledge that we were totally safe so long as we had our trusty blue gloves on.

Clear the Airways!

On Sunday we headed out to Leighwoods and warmed up to a very choral version of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. But then it was down to Business and this time it was messy!

The first group of First-aiders were meet with mouths blocked with vegetable stew and one casualty even fired the content in the face of their aider!! Quite a shock and quite a mess!!

Then came the fake blood! This time the causalities were awake but not very cooperative and "bleeding" heavily from the hand. To add to the drama the causalities had to be as awkward as possible with the challenge of getting blood on the aider's face.

Fake Blood

We did several more activities through the morning including incident communication and dealing with spinal injuries. Our last practice though was quite a bloody affair. Poor Ben had "fallen" out of a tree and was bleeding heavily from the lower leg, with possible spinal injury and breaks. Blood was literally squirting everywhere and very one pitched in to bandage him up and secure his back. (No Bens were harmed in the making of this excise)


A big thanks must go to Adam Gent from Real First Aid for once again putting on a fantastic and very informative 2 days

Lake Bagging

After a rather dry start the 2014/15 season is finally in full swing. Get bagging those points if you want to be crowned Lake Bagging King or Queen!

To submit your Lake Bagging efforts please fill in this form.

 

The Rules

We are currently in season 14/15. Thus all bags done at the moment count towards this year's awards. The rules of Lake Bagging are as follows:

1. You must be fully submerged in the lake to get one point
2. You get double points for breaking ice or getting FULLY naked (thus x4 points if you do both)
3. You can only bag bodies of natural water named on a 1:25,000 map, not the sea or rivers or swimming pools
4. Only one bag per lake per season
5. The Lake Bagging season runs from 1st October until the Saturday night of the Lakes AGM in May the following year
6. Bonus points can be awarded for occasional heroics (committee decision final)
7. Only Lakes bagged on official UBES Trips count

Have a look at the leader board from last year. Congratulations to Rhodri for acheiveing 22 points. Can you beat him this year?

UBES Nav Training Report

Sunday February 16th 2014

Sunday this week was a long day for the 20 UBESters who took part in Nav training. The day is sructured to teach sixteen  people in groups of four, going through from the basics of mountain navigation to technical micronav in poor visibility.

The day kicked off at 8am with a classroom session in Bristol, highlighting some points about route planning and weather. After that, the group headed across the Bristol Channel to Craig y Nos to do some practical navigation on the hills aroung Castell y Geifr. In a brief respite from the howling storms of this winter , it was a beautiful clear sunny day, and on the well drained limestone hills not even especially wet underfoot.
 

 Group members spent the day practising taking and walking on bearings, relocation, triangulation, distance estimation and a little bit of group management in the complex pitted terrain of shake-holes, little crags and lakes of the Black Mountain.  It is a wide open landscape full of interesting features and perfect for practising micronav and search techniques. We found rivers flowing in to the hills in several places, feeding the national showcaves of Wales at Dan yr Ogof, and even stumbled across the remains of Wellington Bomber that crashed on Carreg Goch on a training exercise in 1944.

After making dinner at the absolute-adventure self catering bunkhouse at Rhongyr Isaf, we had a further discussion of leadership responsibilities and headed out for some night-nav on the hills above Penwyllt quarry, doing some relocation as a big group and then splitting up again to do some further practice of the skills learned during the day. We were finally down off the hill by about 2320 and headed back to Bristol.


 

Rob 

Quality Mountain Days

For people who are aiming to do their Mountain Leader training, or who have allready done so it is important to keep a log of your "Quality Mountain Days."

One easy way to do this is by signing up to UK Hillwalking and logging this online by plotting your route. You can also enter information about the day.

http://www.ukhillwalking.com

You can also equally keep a paper record as long as it has enough detail about where you went, whether or not you were leading a group and the conditions through out the day.



What actually defines a "Quality Mountain Day" is somewhat subjective, and a lot of people seem to miss understand this. To clear this up here is the definition from the Mountain Leader Handbook.

 

The full handbook which explains everything about the course can be found online here:

http://www.alleyns.org.uk/alleyn/documents/doe/Assesors/ML%20Handbook.pdf

 

Hopefully this should clear some things up! Any more questions then let me know,

Laurence

Kyrgyzstan Report

Last summer a joint UBES and UBMC expedition comprising of 2 Bristol Alumni and 4 current students traveled to the relatively unexplored Eastern side of Kyrgyzstan. In particular the Djangart valley, which borders with China.

As with all expeditions of this nature there is an awful lot of planning involved and this trip was no exception with grant applications and research being undertaken months in advance.

The expedition lasted just under 3 weeks with a few days spent in the capital Bishkek either side. Whilst in Kyrgyzstan the team encountered multiple challenges from crossing fast flowing rivers and digging latrines through to heated discussions with ex-Russian military helicopter pilots.

It is without doubt that the trip was a success on multiple levels. Seven world first ascents where recorded with all of those above the height of Mt. Blanc (4810m).  In addition multiple further objectives for future teams were identified .3...............

It is also worth noting that an expedition such as this cannot take place with out the generosity of others and their thanks go to: Alpkit, Buff headwear, Berghaus, MEF, the University of Bristol, the Alpine Club and Dicks Climbing.

More information about the expedition can be found on the trips website and in the official trip report:

http://www.djangart2013.co.uk/

http://www.djangart2013.co.uk/files/Bristol_Djangart_Expedition_2013.pdf

Will

Steep ground and rope skills training

Thanks for everyone who came along to the Steep ground and rope skills training today! As usual we weren't blessed with the weather, so had to make do with what we could, utilizing the union foyer!

That said it was still a very worthwhile afternoon spent teaching the current walk leaders, and leaders of the future skills in how to get groups over steep ground and emergency rope work procedure. All essential skills to keep UBES groups safe on the hill! Watch out for other training sessions coming up this term!

For those of you who came along here is a link to the book in which all of the skills (And everything on the mountain leader syllabus is covered) I would highly recommend getting a copy if you are interested in learning more of these skills

and wanting to lead groups. (I got mine second hand for £4.50)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hill-Walking-Official-Handbook-Mountain/dp/0954151100

Also here is a link to the UKH (UK Hillwalking) website. It is very useful as you can plot your route easily, and it stores it in your logbook. Essential if you are thinking of doing ML training any time soon, and very useful even if you aren't! To plot a route, go onto the route card section on the top bar, then select map my route on the side menu. For climbers, its the same log in as your UKC account, but everyone else will have to create a free account.

http://www.ukhillwalking.com/

Any Questions on anything then let me know!

Also any suggestions of how to improve training sessions or of what other skills people want to learn will be gratefully received!

Scotland Winter Skills!

To kick off our experience in Scotland, fourteen of us took part in a winter skills course with two MIC instructors, Rich Bentley and Ken. 

Our first day started with a walk in to the north face of Ben Nevis, looking out for signs of avalanche risk, such as cornices. We carried on up into the Coire where we spent time trying out walking with crampons (in deep, deep snow), learning how to perform ice axe arrests on our front and back (floppy seal, alert seal!), and then bumsliding down.

 On day 2, we used our new found talents to tackle a ridge, ultimately summiting Stob Coire nan Lochan, at 1115m. As we slogged in, the weather slowly improved, and we were able to eat lunch at the top with a stunning view across the Highlands. The ridge included a few interesting winter scrambley bits (aka, a rock or two), and it was enough to whet our appetites for the week to come. 

All in all, a great introduction to Scottish winter, and I’m sure all of us can’t wait to get out there again next year!

 

Click here to see what the guides had to say about us!

http://www.mountainmotion.co.uk/blog/winter-mountaineering-ben-nevis1/

http://www.applemountaineering.co.uk/2013/12/28/plenty-snow-ben-nevis/

Written by Rebecca Millington, Photos by Rosie Stanley and Mountain Motion