What I've been up to recently.......

Have been up to various bits and bobs recently. The weather has been fairly restrictive in terms of getting outside climbing but I have been doing quite a bit at Kendal wall. Have also been doing a bit of running. I also took part in slightly different activity to usual with Calum and Fergus, camping in the forest (the natural way, despite the saucepan pasta). I have the odd photo below if you're interested.
Have also got hold of a second hand bouldering mat for when the weather picks up a bit. Headed down to Coudy Rocks in Appleby on Tuesday, but the boggy ground meant my shoes were too slippy on the rock to do anything other than easy grades, with large foot holds. Still at least I completed one boulder problem even though it was rather easy 'In the Corner' V2, I filmed it though so put it up.

An evening run across the pennines.

This is one of the joys of living in Cumbria. A 10 minute drive/40 minute cycle and I am at the foot of the North Pennines. Certainly one of the countries most spectacular and quite probably most underated mountain ranges.

Joely (my sister) had a friend over called Hannah. Hannah goes to the same uni as Joely in London but is from Norway. I took them up Scafell Pike. It was my 5th time as the highest person in the country but there first.

The mighty buttress of Sca Fell Englands 2nd highest peak taken from Scafell Pike

Preparing tea

We all decided that we would try and 'live off the land' for a night. You can tell by the photo that we weren't quite successful, as I'm pictured next to Fergus cooking pasta but it was over a camp fire though (however that was lit using a fire lighter and some dry kindling from back home)! But it was hard enough keeping it going in these camp conditions. Me and Calum finished our shelter after tea (pictured below). They were surprisingly water tight. We were quite envious of fergus at first as he had a very comfy bed of moss, while we had only fern. But I was secretly rather amused to find that our simple bed of firn had dried out by the fire, while Fergus' moss held its and then soak his sleeping bag when he lay on it! Thanks for a great night guys and the photos Calum (better late than never!).

The completed shelters

Sorry I had to remove the video to stop it messing up the page!

The rain had finally stopped, so I went to Coudy Rock in Appleby to try and use my bouldering mat, before it came back again. The rock was dry, but the ground certainly wasn't. This meant my shoes weren't dry enough to do anything too technical and grippy. But I did manage to do 'In the corner' a nice little V2 with usable foot holds. Only slipped once! 

The Yomp

On Sunday, I took part in the YOMP. Last year I completed the 23 mile course in 5 hours 47mins, mainly walking and the odd bit off running (in heavy walking boots). I did however receive the 'Hellgill cup' a few months later in the post for the fastest 16 and under male in the full Yomp. This year I had the intention to mainly run it.

I arrived quite late and registered. I was stopped on my way out by women from mountain rescue telling me that they're would temperatures on the summits of -5 with gusts as well so I needed a following list of items which I hadn't brought. One of the other people from Kirby Stephen Mountain Rescue took me across the road to their base where they happily leant me a waterproof jacket and a 'Lowe Alpine' Bum bag. I was treated particularly nice seen as I had been so stupid to come so un prepared.

I set off not long after. I ran the first half relatively well, mainly walking on the steepest parts as 'tactics', so I didn't exhaust myself for later. After running down Wild Boar fell and checking in at the half way point I had clocked a time of 1 hour 55 mins, not a bad time really, considering it was the steepest part of the course. After that though I was lacking energy. Running on any ascent at all seemed to be pretty difficult and even the flats were getting harder. I hadn't had very much for breakfast, only a cereal bar, mainly relying on the fact I had stuffed myself on Pasta the night before. However I soon needed more energy and my hands were so numb, if I touched one, I couldn't tell if it were my hand or my fleece without looking. This made it very hard to open up my Bum bag and get out the 'fun' sized mars bars I had picked up from the refreshments after registration. Luckily they're were plenty of Marshals about and one very kindly took of her wooly mitts and got them out for me. When I saw them I remembered reading the book 'Feet in the Clouds' by Richard Askwith, where he was handed to 'fun sized' Mars bars by his friend after a long run over the Lakeland fells, with the comment "They would be a lot more fun if they were twice big." At the point I read that I remember thinking "Why bring them instead of a full sized one?" Yet here I was opening two 'fun sized' Mars bars half way up a hill in the cold. The temperature seemed to be more like 5 degrees C with a wind chill of about 3 below. Which probably makes sense seen as it was about 9 degrees C in the valleys.

By about 3 quarters of the way through the course, I was reduced to no more than a walk and a little trot down the hills. Even walking up the steep bits was tiring enough and Running on the flats was exhausting. By the time I got to Nine Standards and the guy said the rest is downhill I suddenly heard myself go 'Yey!' I was soon annoyed at myself for sounding so incredibly wimpish. The Down hill bit was much harder than I'd have thought. Pains in my stomach had me walking quite often. Luckily they're was one last check point where I could take a swig of water and that seemed to help the pains a bit, so I could at least run with it. It was about 40 minutes before i had made it to Kirby Stephen. And a further 8 minutes before I was back at the School. With an over all course time of 4 hours 52 minutes.

So I had a time I was relatively happy with and in theory the fastest 16 and under. However when I asked the organisers said they couldn't present me with the Hellgill cup, as they are not supposed to encourage competitive running over that distance anymore. However they might quietly send it me in the post like last year.

Thanks for reading,

Ethan

A week in the life of Ethan

I have realised I haven't really been posting regularly and I think it is because I haven't really viewed anything I do in my normal week to significant but I suppose it might be of interest to a few people........

I'll start with last Saturday........

I went to Kendal wall at my usual time of 3:30pm. I get the bus from Orton and get a fantastic view of the Howgills, from the high road up to Kendal. I arrived and had a bit of a boulder before meeting up with Adam (climbing partner). We went into the main hall to do some routes. I was very pleased to have lead a 6b+, although I had to hang on the rope 2 holds below the top for a minute (to try and get rid of the lactic acid eating at my arms), before completing the final move to the top. Feeling good after this, I thought I would attempt to lead a 6c+. I struggled to even start this and after falling of on a sloper before getting to the 4th quickdraw, decided it was better to spend my time on a different route, so I did a quick 5+, just to avoid a mental block about climbing that line, before moving on to the huge over hanging 6b. I got a bit of the way up but after a few falls decided to come down. It was very nearly time to go and my arms were almost dead, I had decided it was one for next week.

I was pleased to be picked up of the bus in a 4litre Jaguar, that Mike and Val who were staying for the weekend owned. I think my blog entries need a picture in them to make them more exciting so here's a pair of cool (but rather random) pictures Mike took on Sunday of me losing in a race to the other side of the river against Val (I thought my route would be quicker but it turns out legs are faster than arms).

 On Monday I went for my usual run up to the road on Orton Scar, after school. Although it's only 7mile it is a great bit of training as it involves a lot of uphill in it. 

By the way this entry will only involve the active things I do in my week, otherwise there would be a lot of 'what I watched on telly tonight' kind of thing and 'What I had for lunch today'.

On Tuesday (After school) I went for a run to Jack Daw scar in Kings Meaburn and back. I took a new route through fields on a badly marked public footpath, which involved me getting lost and wading across the river once or twice and at one point trying to run out of a farm yard I'd ended up in accidentally. Luckily the farmer didn't spot me and mistake me for a thief, fleeing off into the distance. 

I finally ended up at Jack Daw Scar, after sticking to the river like glue for 3 miles. I decided to run back on the road as it would have been stupid to head back the same way. I arrived home with wet trainers and socks, but I had, had quite a nice little adventure for an after school run; wading across rivers and worrying about being shot by angry farmers all added to the excitement of taking a new route without a map. Jack Daw Scar is actually a nice little cliff with quite a few good routes up it, ranging from I think Severe to around E3, I would be very keen to go climbing on it in the summer, if I had the equipment.

On Wednesday at school (and you won't often here me talk about school on this blog) I was given a little note from a teacher that one of her neighbours had written to me. This wasn't just any neighbour however, it was Leo Houlding one of the best Rock Climbers in the country and possibly the world. When I got home my 60m Edelrid Python climbing rope I had ordered arrived in the post, this would give me the length to climb on the main wall and the King Kong wall at the climbing wall. I then went to Kendal wall and did a bit of bouldering up in the Green Room and Marmot Loft.

On Thursday I did nothing of note (Lets call it a rest day).

On Friday I went for a short run (short because I forgot my head torch and had to come back early).

And today (Saturday) I finally got the chance to go to Kendal wall and use my new rope on the higher walls, only to find that there was a competition thing on that took up most of the main wall and the higher walls. So we just did some bouldering instead.

That's quite a typical week for me really (apart from Leo Houlding writing a note to me). So you now know that I am doing something when I haven't written for a while, just all of little value in terms of writing.

Comments are welcome as always. You might have also notice the new look my blog has got. The main thing to notice is the box just below the navigation bar at the top of the page, where you can enter your email address and receive my new blog entries by email then if you want something else to notice there is a little survey box you can add an answer to. It is just a way for me to know a bit more about the people who read my blog (if there are any?). Also I have been told by my Mum to make it clear that the way to leave a comment is to click the button at the bottom of the entry that says "comment". I thought this was quite self explanatory but my Mum clearly thinks differently.

Thanks for reading,

Ethan

High Street with Rex

Haven't written in a while but have suddenly done a lot because of my half term holiday. I spent all of last week (Monday-Friday) at Glenmore Lodge on a Winter Skills course where despite there being little amounts of snow I learned a lot and had a great time. However I won't write about it, as it was more of a skills course and the photos weren't too great as it was often misty. What I do want to write though is about a little trip out I had with Rex.

Sunday morning was extremely clear and the wind was rather tame, so I decided to go for a little run with Rex. I had been thinking of running on the Lakeland fells for a while now and had decided for some time that High Street would be the main objective of my next exploit. I always wonder about long runs across the fells and about the endurance required. My regular run is usually a 7 mile run crammed in after school on Tuesday's and Friday's, I don't have much opportunity to run any other week nights and the darkness puts me off going much further. About a third of time I run I am running up hill, but it is still a relatively friendly ascent when looked at from a 'fell running' point of view. But even the best struggle to run up the steepest of slopes in the middle of a long distance run. But it is hard to find a happy median. Even when you have the energy to run up steep ground, is it economical to do so if you have a full days running ahead of you?

The last time I saw Haweswater it was on a small walk along the road in the rain with my family and the dogs (Zak and Rex). I didn't really appreciate such beauty back then as I was much younger, so was probably more concerned about getting wet and cold. But today I didn't see how anyone could have overlooked it. The weather was fantastic and the views were magnificent.........

I set out with Rex from the car park at the bottom of Haweswater and headed for the ridge up to High Street. The Ridge was long and rather steep and it wasn't long before I was reduced to walking up it. Rex on the other hand managed it well, only walking because of me, and still going for the odd sprint further up the path. I find this rather frustrating as I spend my weeks running and climbing while he lies around half awake waiting for his tea most days! However I think most humans would have struggled to ascend the ridge by anything other than a walk, so I didn't feel to put off while watching Rex pounce about in front of me. After all I was still managing to do a bit of jogging when the slope relented every now and then. It wasn't too long before we reached the summit and we had overtaken all the walkers in our site (I was glad it wasn't the other way around!). Hills such as Cross Fell, Great Dun Fell and Murton Pike dominated the sky line to the North of me sitting smug at the other end of the Eden valley, whilst hills such as Helvellyn and Blencathra stood out to the west along with the rest of the Lake District. And as for where I was standing 'The Roman Road' a track pretty much unnoticeable today which was used centuries ago to travel between the 2 forts of Brocavum near Penrith and Galava in Ambleside. Being a huge plateau the summit was also used to hold summer fairs on in the 18th and 19th century where the locals would gather on the 12th July to watch the horse racing and meet up with old friends, often returning livestock that had strayed away from their shepherd.

After a short break, the run was mostly downhill on to The Knott where I realised that I was limited to taking only 8 photos as I had left my memory card in the other camera at home. However I did get a couple of shots of a contented looking Rex once he put his tongue away and stopped searching for leftovers, that the Ravens flying overhead had clearly beaten him to. It was then on to Rest Dodd, which did actually look a bit of a rest as it was quite a bit lower down than the previous two summits but once getting to the bottom of it I realised I was much too drained from the big slog up High Street to run up it in one burst, so stopped half way up it for a bite to eat and a drink. It wasn't long before I set off down towards angle tarn (not the one near Esk Pike) and back down into Patterdale, where I slipped on a fleece and my walking trousers before the gentle stroll along the pavement to Glenridding where I had a quick look around before sitting outside the Traveller's Rest with Rex, who was having quite a lot of fun hassling people on the way out of the door. And I enjoyed watching him too as at least half the people who walked past him gave him a stroke, many passing comment about what a nice dog I had.

All in all an active Sunday and a nice end to the holiday I had just had.

Comments welcome.



Ethan