Original_Mountain_Marathon

Kendal Mountain Festival Nov 2011

2011-11-19T22:24:00.000Z

Ed Drummond and Long Hope

I arrived early at the Dojo so I could have a catch up chat before he arrived.
He arrived with 10 mins to go, on his own.
Is it Mike?
Yes, I have been waiting 40 mins for you
..... and 20 years, he replied
I knew Ed was suffering badly from Parkinson's disease.
The 'talk' was not what anyone was expecting, but Ed's talks never were what was expected. It was a roller coaster of emotions for me having known Ed in his prime and supplied him with gear including a hanging tent which he used not on one of the big Yosemite walls but the Strone Ulladale route, subject of other talks and the latest free ascent by Dave Mcleod. The talk was courageous in the light of Ed's difficulties and not many got value from it but I did, knowing him fairly well. Occasionally that old smile, that 'zen Buddha smile', like as if all will melt before him and he will prevail, shone out as of old and although his suffering and memory lapses were a painful, the old athletic agility could still be perceived in his feet. Anyone not having seen his 6m high - 3 pole stool act at the BMC Buxton conference 25+ years ago and his poetic re-enactment of being rescued from a big wall in Yosemite could not have understand his nuances here at Kendal.
The prize winning film 'Long Hope' showed Dave McLeod doing a free ascent of the original route, E11-7a!
Ed was interviewed within the film and shown walking out towards the cliff to get a view. He was philosophic about his illness as he looked in amazement that he could have had the energy and drive to do this route in 1970. Dave Turnbull of the BMC did one of the few repeats with John Arran and explained the context that Ed was climbing E4/E5 in that period.

Monday night, climbing wall.

Recounting the story to my partner Pete B and expressing regrets I never did 'Dream of white horses' with Ed.
'You never did it' Pete said, I have done it 5 times, I would love to do it again with you.
'But I'm not ........
'Naah, you will be fine, look there's nothing on 'Dream of ...' as steep as this climbing wall, its just more exciting that's all
.. but just don't pull your shoulder out on the wall like last winter!'
My feet were twitching all the way back home down the lake.
I recounted my chat to Marian; 'look, she said, 'I never did that either and if you do it without me I 'll be pissed off.'

Such is this climbing world made of, it's unlike any other sport.

Other happenings.
The BMC lunch reception with Dave Turnbull giving a 5 minute overview of the last year in the BMC, back to the bar and onto Jim Wickwire's account of the American K2 expeditions of 75 and 78 which I found interesting but whilst many people related to the highly popular film '737' by a retired Welsh Rugby player ( 7 summits, and 3 poles in 7 months) I personally found that a bit boring and at 75 mins far to long. Emmet and Gadd were doing some exciting ice climbing ( 20 min award winning film)and an American team did an ascent of Gasherbrum 2(?) in winter, taking the chance to summit in a forecast 2 day weather window but getting caught in a subsequent snow storm which avalanched them as they descended.
Bumped into Tony Howard and got his signature on his recently published book on the TROLL WALL, climbed in 1965 but forgotten in his attic without being published until this year when his partner Di found it when Tony was recovering from a detached retina. The Boardman-Tasker ward winning book by Bernadatte McDonald about the Polish climbers of the 80's who were the worlds best on big mountains at that time wasn't on sale partly because she hadn't arrived sadly. Here is a blog about it

Plantar F, bikes, Everest, Social media, Al Sloman's 'wake'.

2011-06-05T21:55:00.004+01:00

Patterdale last winter, just how it feels right now!

After pulling out from the TGO-C with plantar fasciitis I was feeling a bit low but it was very interesting reading everyone else’s picture galleries blogs
Here is my picture gallery which covers only the four days in Knoydart of course.

https://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/2011TGOChallenge?feat=directlink
we were also sorry to miss the final celebration which was particularly sad this year because Roger Smith is retiring from his role as the coordinator of the TGO_C. Chris Townsend describe this occasion very well in his blog 'Farewell to Roger'
http://www.christownsendoutdoors.com/2011/05/farewell-to-roger-smith-tgo-challenge.html

But perhaps the most interesting thing of note, other than storms, was Alan Sloman's combination of TGO-C trip with his wake for the 'death of wilderness' caused by wind turbines, DUNMAGLAS protest - a must read and inspiration indeed.

http://alansloman.blogspot.com/2010/12/dunmaglass-protest.html

Al Hinkes returned from Everest and came round to dinner. By a curious coincidence he was guiding an old business friend of mine Malcolm Walker and his son Richard of Iceland Foods who are not mountaineers but who sponsored the expedition with the objective of going to the Northridge 7000 m which he did. Whether he got his money’s worth, half a million pounds that is I am not sure. I remember testing sleeping bags and clothing for a 1986 expedition to K2 base camp by sleeping overnight in Icelends’ new deep-freeze warehouse which had been opened by Prince Charles a couple of weeks before. Malcolm said the publicity he got from us sleeping in his freezer was far greater than about Prince Charles opening it.
Malcolm’s blog is interesting reading about a man used to his comforts/wine not having any.
http://www.icelandeverest.org.uk/index.php/blog/2-my-package/76-summit-fever-and-descent-drama
There was an interesting side agenda to this expedition; Graham Hoyland who was the base camp manager was also looking for his great-uncle’s camera, uncle Somervell that is. That’s code language for saying the body of Andy Irvine which might have a camera on it. In reply to a quick question Graham said ‘no sign’ and that he had ‘persuaded himself never to go back again’.

Anyway with the ‘plantar’ foot problem I switched into bike riding and have done four rides in six days. Some of the rides were done with two golden oldies John North and Pete Dawes, both long-distance record holders and still great athletes.

I also helped Mary B Rose to deliver a one-day seminar at Lancaster University management school this week called IFG innovation for growth. this was the second of two seminars, the first being on collaborative software and this one being social media. Having delivered this successfully I was feeling on quite a high at the end of the week.

Off to Switzerland next week. Have been working for 6 months now on a hardware project for an iconic Swiss brand. Nest week should see us somewhere above Kleine Scheidegg scratching around on the ice with something new. If it works I will tell you all about it in due course.

Mike 5th June 2011.

KEEPING DRY on the TGO-Challenge

2011-05-28T14:58:00.001+01:00

KEEPING DRY - backpacking across Scotland - TGOC #1 report on protecting pack and contents.

Here is a short gallery of our first 4 days pictures

There was one wag, (maybe it was Ed Whymper?), who said that the best way to keep dry was not to get wet. But its not as daft a comment as it sounds. But how on earth they did so in the old days in still a bit of a mystery even having written the whole 170 year history of the waterproof jacket (starting with McIntosh in the 1840’s to Burberry to Helly-Hansen, Grenfell, Ventile and GORE-TEX ) in our new GEAR Timezone section of our website. see link

All animals, birds and even insects need to keep dry and indeed most have very well developed inbuilt behaviour to ensure they do, instincts which modern mankind has lost but can regain through learning. So we learn through experience, listen to others and read blogs, right?

Here is Biagio “I did it my way” Pellegrini, but in this case we understand his 25 years old Gore-tex jacket needed a little assistance. But he and Piero still made it the whole way, on the wettest ever Challenge, bravo!

Here is how Phil Turner did it, as explained on his 3 youtube videos. - However Phil’s waterproofing systems were quite different from Biagio’s (or Marian’s) and my ‘6 bag system’. But make your own decisions and develop what’s best for you. Our methods are inevitably shaped by other activities we do which include the whole gamut of outdoor activities from rock, alpine, greater ranges expeditions, bike, sea kayak, horse riding etc, although every activity needs different tactics.

Here’s how we did it last week over 4 days before pulling out of our intended 15 day crossing of Scotland for the TGOC when I developed plantar fasciitis. Of course it was a team effort in our case but we still had opportunities for using clothing and sleeping and methods of packing which were according to individual needs.
Mike’s 6 dry-bag system.

(yellow) money - seal closure with Velcro overlap. 50g
( red) camera/spare battery/android phone& charger. 825g
( grey) day dry bag - roll over top. extra warm layers + hat + gloves for use during day. Weight variable according to how many layers I am wearing. But most of time my Montane Powerstretch and OMM Primaloft tops were in here.
(Beige) Overnight dry bag - roll over top - is stuffed at very base of pack and is never opened during the day. Everything for overnight is here including sleep bag, wash kit, asthma, full set of dry layers, socks, base layer, leggings,u/pants. 1655g
(clear) maps - Ortlieb system. 200g
(white) first aid - poly bag only.

My total pack weight = 10kg with 3000g of food for 2 for 3/4 days plus 1500g tent & poles and incl pack weight of 1500g but excl G2 camera. So BPL Base pack load = 7Kg. Our calorie intake when without pub ‘grazing’ was around 2700 p/d.

What this 6 bag system allows for or copes with is:

A possible fall into a river, have never fallen into one yet but this could have been the year, so be prepared! Humphrey W said they were seriously considering having to swim the Kingie near the Kinbreach bothy in 2011, but eventually avoided it. In such a case well sealed bags provide buoyancy.
Opening the pack bag during day and when setting up/breaking camp, i.e. when top of pack is open. High level of protection of my camera, ( Panasonic G2 with interchangeable zoom lenses) usually carried in special zip top pocket in my jacket under the waterproof jacket. When (serious) river crossing, it’s put into its red sealed bag and ditto when we hit camp.
Only item not in sealed bags is the tent but the food comes ready in sealed polythene day bags anyway.

Marian: “I use a big dry-bag with another one inside it for my sleeping bag and dry change of clothes. Day food sits on top of the dry-bag, in a ziplock. I tried Mike’s ‘6 bag’ system but can’t make it work for me to stuff neatly in my bag - I can squash everything down and fill all the little spaces with my one big dry-bag, and if I need to have it open during heavy rain, it’s not too bad - anything I might need will be handy at the top, or in a pocket. The top pocket of my pack has snacks and compass, sunglasses etc, and the mobile phone and wallet are in a small dry-bag. My first aid is also in there but in a little waterproof plastic box. Maps are in an Ortleib wallet stuffed in a side pocket. The rear pocket contains stove, fuel and mug, cutlery, insect repellant etc.
RAIN COVERS
Here are people using rain covers, which we don't, because: a) they give a false sense of security, the rain gets around and in, and can pool in the bottom; b) if you fall in the river then you’ve no chance at all of keeping your stuff dry. c) they catch the wind. d) accessing the outer area of pack is slower. e) makes carrying mountain tools very difficult e.g.ice axes - some TGO-ers have used axes looking at past years accounts.
Marian adds, “For backpacking, I used to use a bin-bag inside my rucksack, and a separate rain-cover over it, my logic at the time being that the rain-cover was also for sitting on (in dry weather) to help prevent ticks getting on my clothing during rest stops. But this system wasn’t bombproof. One very wet day, my pack got heavier and heavier, and I realised that I was lugging several kilos of water which had entered round the back and pooled inside the pack cover. Not funny - what’s more, the bin-bag inside my pack had some tiny rips and I was dismayed to find how damp my stuff was.”
WATERPROOF PACKS?    Marian: “So why aren't packs made waterproof, Mike, just like jackets are?”. Mike: “Packs are unlike anything else in that the seams are always under load or stress unlike garments. What’s more, the seams are the best place structurally to insert straps and harnesses of all sorts which makes tape seaming more or less impossible”. Marian, “O.K. but when I was working in the gear shop, all the customers wanted a waterproof pack. Now there are waterproof packs out there, with sealed seams, as you know, so does that mean we can do away with all these dry bags sometime in the future?”
Mike, “Some people will go for totally waterproof packs for sure but they also have problems.
The pockets are of necessity very simplified, however the main issue is that as soon as you open the top flap in heavy rain, water falls in and has nowhere to go but form a puddle at the bottom of your pack and wet the items there. Also the outer fabric of the pack is subject to lots of heavy wear/abrasion and it could puncture without you realising. So the sealed inner bag system is still the most reliable because it’s protected by the outer fabric of the pack.
So my feeling is that the ‘multi dry-bag system within an outer pack’ system is going to be around for some time to come.”
Mike Parsons May 2011.
My report on our clothing layers comes as report #2 where the issues are very different because we have our living, breathing, sweating bodies inside them. I will cover the key natural tech' issues involved which are surface tension and evaporation/cooling effect.

BMC weekend at P-Y-B

2011-04-24T22:32:00.001+01:00

Last year Marian and I enjoyed ourselves enormously at the BMC agm on the Gower in South Wales and indeed it was that weekend which got us back again, creaking into action on rock after a break of several years. So after 3 ski trips and a successful winter climbing seasons we did the same again. We had been to Lamff ( Llanberis Mountain Film Festival) 2 weeks previously and assumed it was too cold to rock climb and as we were helping the organisers, there wasn't much time spare. This time we got out on rock.

Met up with lots of friends we hadn't seen for a long time, Vin Machin an hon member of the BMC for his work in chairing the BMC tech committee for many years until the mid 80's, Rob Collister bouncing back from an illness, Polly Sullivan from Kendal MC, and over breakfast Alan Blackshaw and I had an update on the last century; briefly!
Sunday saw us out on rock and why not do something real trad' so Idwal it was starting with a mix of the usual 3 routes on the slabs and then up the headwall via Lazarus.

Marian had brought her old (very old!) guide book which said she had led this in 1977 but didn't comment about getting off. I tried the grotty boggy grassy route up left but backed of eventually because there seemed to have been few other been up there since Dorothy Pilley was on the first ascent in 1927. The other way down left was rather trying.

Here's Marian at top of the slabs.

and exiting ( above ) from Lazarus
Bottoming out at 6pm we decided not to go all the way to the CMC hut above Llanberis as planned but we stayed in the (very close) CC hut called Helyg. It was beautiful in the evening light

and its perhaps my favorite hut of all, full of great Everest memories and a list of CC'ers who were on Everest in the 20's and 30's.

Before we depart for Mallaig and Knoydart on May 12th to cross Scotland on the TGO challenge there is time to catch up on 3 ski trlps and the Llamff and few things in between.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

2011-01-01T15:48:00.004Z

A HAPPY NEW YEAR to all in 2011!

Here is our review of 2010 - an action packed ‘vintage’ year for us both, ski, rock, ice, horse, bike, backpack and new ventures. As always lungs, legs and backs are the weakest links . Or as an engineer might describe us, we are firing on most cylinders but not all of the time and need occasional ‘pit stops’.

Marian as chief adventure organiser got the whole year ‘s programme sorted, 6 or 7 trips so here’s a quick overview of this vintage year. We departed for Aviemore for Xmas 09 and had some good snow-sport during which time I struggled with asthma, worst for many years. On return and before the new year we signed the contract for the sale of the OMM business after a very long, stressful and confrontational period. Freedom!
Got the asthma under control and departed in Marian’s RAV for the Ecrins where we skied for 2 weeks, on and off piste as guests of of John and Eve Brailsford.
Marian pushed me hard to improve my horse skills and so local lessons saw me succeeding to canter without stirrups. Alas the horses down there in Uruguay didn’t move the same and after a few days I was suffering badly ( with a trapped nerve in my back) but I was determined not to miss the next trip so it took 2 visits to the Osteo’ to sort out and a massage one hour before departure to Norway.
We also had a few days in the Argentina/Brazil rain forest & Iguazu falls with a guide; M was so pleased to count 110 birds entirely new to her.    http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/2010ArgentinaRainForestIguasuFalls?feat=directlink
Jotunheim ski tour - with Eagle ski club.
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/2010NorwayJotunheimenEagleSkiClubTour?feat=directlink
May. TGO Challenge, crossing Scotland West to East in 14 days   - Marian did a great mapping job here during Autumn 09, she planned the routes and all I had to do was the map reading and navigation on the ground when we got there. I invested in a new camera, a Panasonic G1 Micro 4/3rds with 3 lens, pancake lens to make small enough to carry in top pocket plus 14-28 and 90-180 zooms.Hope you can see a difference!
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/2010TGOChallenge?feat=directlink
From April onwards rock climbing life began anew, highlights were
BMC agm on Gower
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/2010BMCGowerClimbing?feat=directlink
Eagle Front revisited, Alan Hinkes at the sharp end!
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/EagleFront25YearsOn?feat=directlink
June was punctuated by a rather different activity with a visit from John Brailsford back to Sheffield, his first return in 50 years. So what did we do? Visit steel museums to gain an understanding of innovation in the metal working sphere. In this series of pictures we try to tell the story of crucible steel making. and just to show we are not totally mountain obsessed!
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/IronAndSteelInnovationInSheffield?feat=directlink
Jul/Aug saw us take a month away in our campervan to the Val Bregaglia in SE Switzerland.
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/2010ValBregagliaClimbingClubMeet?feat=directlink
In August I took daughter Heather and grandson James to Saas-Fee, Switzerland, great fun!
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/JamesWithHeatherMikeInSwitzerlandAug2010?feat=directlink
Sept 1st was the start of my new roles as ‘Innovator in Residence’ http://www.lums.lancs.ac.uk/news/20131/innovator-in-residence/
Sarah Howcroft, one of the founders, now running ‘Rohantime’ interviewed me on this new role.
http://rohantime.com/10899/mike-parsons-talks-to-rohantime/
Bike riding with John North and Pete Dawes took precedence over running and by Sept I was fit enough, just, to ride round the Lakeland passes, i.e. a ‘Fred Whitton’ in 2 days, organised by our neighbour Christine Varley.
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/2010TeamPatterdaleBikeRide?feat=directlink
Sept saw the start of the ‘Tricouni relationship’; no official announcements, no web sites yet but this is a project to design ‘gripping devices’; for shoes and boots.
Early Oct backpacking in Assynt with Petesy McFarlane:
my camera battery failed but my blog and particularly Petesy’s blog tells all.
Oct - Dec teaching innovation 2 days per week at Lancaster Uni
December, stunning weather and and ski and Ice climbing in Cumbria
Patterdale sunsets were simply stunning during Dec.
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/PatterdaleSunsetsNov2010?feat=directlink
Dockray - Glenridding ski traverse, with Pete Boyd.
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/SkiTraverseDec5th2010?feat=directlink
new ice route, Xmas High Five with Alan Hinkes at the sharp end.
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/XmasHighFive?feat=directlink
Coniston ice climb, late Dec.
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/LowWaterGhyll20101221?feat=directlink

Nov/Dec, Marian had foot reconstruction operation in Whitehaven hospital to solve a long standing problem. Right now she is back on her feet, taking it carefully and getting further every day, but no ski or climb until end Jan.

Assynt - my furthest north in Scotland

2010-10-17T17:39:00.004+01:00

Patterdale, October 9th 2010. FURTHEST NORTH trip with Petesy MacFarlane.

This picture is the Moine thrust, c 410m yrs old, great view but an amazing geological discovery helping support tectonic plate/continental drift theory when finally proven in 1907. Also go to Petesy's blog for the full flavour.

This year has been a vintage year in terms of trips and a list of link to the picture galleries is below.
Recent activity; week before last I cycled with 7 friends including John North and Pete Dawes ( both golden oldies of endurance running and cycling) around the Fred Whitton challenge circuit starting in Patterdale and over all 7 passes in 2 days. Here are a few snaps.

But I was not looking forward to last weeks trip to Scotland, suspecting it would be horrible weather but Marian was all positive and up beat about going to her favorite Scotland and I had promised Petesy to go so he could interview me for an article commissioned by Trail mag on mountain marathons. He chose a location in the far NW, the Assynt.

Well what a surprise, it was brilliant clear weather, wonderful for photos ( of which I got few, battery failed so these are Marian’s.) The geology of the area was not only picturesque but has an amazing scientific history and the pic here is of the world famous Moine thrust. see geologic description. A big scientific argument raged for many years between men of opposing views; that the older layer could not be on the top. Eventually not only was this proven but the long horizontal layer was eventually recognised as a fault, first ever of its type. It all eventually fitted in with and helped support tectonic plate/continental drift theory and so it was proven that Scotland/Scandinavia was originally part of
Canada. Here is a link to Marian's Picasa gallery


To get the full wind blown effervescent description of a rather windy night you have to visit Petesy's blog, he did three blogs on the same trip with such great pictures

More links for 2010
links to my 2010 Picasa galleries ( not all 7 trips were recorded)
Argentina and Uruguay, Mar 2010.
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/2010ArgentinaRainForestIguasuFalls?feat=directlink
Norway Ski tour Jotunheim
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/2010NorwayJotunheimenEagleSkiClubTour?feat=directlink
TGO Challenge, May 2010
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/2010TGOChallenge?feat=directlink
Swiss/Italian Alps, climbing club meet. July /Aug 2010.
  http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/2010ValBregagliaClimbingClubMeet?feat=directlink
Switzerland, Saastal with daughter Heather and grandson James.
http://picasaweb.google.com/theomm.mike/JamesWithHeatherMikeInSwitzerlandAug2010?feat=directlink

bergell or val bregaglia

2010-07-24T20:57:00.002+01:00

our first acclimatization walk was the hottest day we have experienced anywhere. we started up the south facing ridge at 2pm at alt 220m and walked up to the rifugio brasca at 1200m in the val codera,which is s west of the piz badile. day 2 was cooler as we crossed the passo barbacan at 2500m and onto the gianetti hut. day 3 was the toughest with 4 ridges to cross,all 2200m+ to reach the rif Allievi. at this point the weather was about to break so wishing to avoid cabled routes in a storm, the following day we headed down to Val di Mello and then back to our campsite in Vicosoprano. Much heavy rain followed and the guys who set out hopefully to the Rifugio Sasc Fura to do the Badile NW ridge came back without having even started, reporting snow just above the hut level.

Blogger: Original_Mountain_Marathon - Basic Settings

2010-07-08T20:13:00.001+01:00

Blogger: Original_Mountain_Marathon - Basic Settings

Well life is really worth living; we have been away 5 times since December, June was the first complete month we have been at home and the cragging has been just great. Blog under

redesign, new (micro 4/3rds, more later) camera turning out good pics, of to the alps for a month shortly.

mike's 2010 new year post

2010-01-05T10:53:00.001Z

Thursday 31st of Dec 09, Marian and I sold our shares finally in OMM to Ark consulting of Lancaster, the current distributors. For the first time ever I am no longer in business and have no further design involvement. I must thank all users who gave such good product feedback and especially the lead user group who gave me such wonderful support. This was certainly a notable highlight in my product design career.
Jen of course continues as ever with the event and has my support as always. I attended Jen's post event meeting a few weeks ago and there was a great deal of discussion over the feed back received and the collaboration between teams was really encouraging. The location for 2010 was and still today is in the balance between 2 areas and final decisions will be mid Feb.

I will be continuing my academic interests in innovation at Lancaster University Management School. This work, always jointly with my colleague Professor Mary Rose,is very interesting and mentally stimulating. It also means I am able to help the next generation of young outdoor product designers through the Innov_ex conference design prize. In contrast to this,last teaching term we reviewed 135 (non outdoor product) innovations presented by students as part of the course work, and 'wow' does it keep us up to date on what is going on in the wider world. Linked to this we opened our final MSc Innovation workshop on Collaboration, Social Media and Cloud Computing for a few members of the Outdoor Industries Association. A blog on this follows shortly on the Innovation for Extremes website

Read on for a review of the rest of the 2009.

There have been some fantastic views from the house windows; the morning Saturday Dec 19th 09 was fantastic and the beginning of a new weather scenario. The sunlight was glancing off the snow flecked flanks of Place Fell out back, and out front Striding Edge and Helvellyn were in full sunshine, wow!
When it's good in Patterdale it's very very good, but when it's bad it's awful!

We didn't get flooded in Nov 09 may I hasten to add, Patterdale had 11 inches of rain in 24 hours but Borrowdale 14, both seemingly impossible and all-time records since records began. Maybe it would be better to live in a place with more sun but we should be thankful that we haven't been impacted by the weather which seems to play bizzare tricks around the world and has had such a severe impact on so many lives and businesses in Cumbria.
This time last year we were both getting out of shape and so Marian, ever the expedition organiser got several trips sorted. I started the year at 75kg and was 70kg by August but have added some back now.

First trip in early January was a traverse of Gran Canary (Island off Africa in the Atlantic). The walking was great, doing our own nav through little trod country and very steep barrancos, but it was rather cold and all the accommodation and restaurants were built assuming all year round 20+degrees, but it wasn't, and it rained too. Here is the link to this picasa web gallery.

Next came 2 weeks lift-assisted off-piste skiing in early Feb with great powder, staying with John and Eve Brailsford in Vallouise, Ecrins France; no pictures here. This got the thighs working again although regaining my former level in powder may never happen although I strive.
April saw us in Nepal, an Everest Base camp trek with KE travel, starting from Jiri and crossing the grain of the country so up down up down for days until we got to Lukla which is where most fly into, and then onto 5,400m at Everest base camp. had some amazing chance meetings but that a longer story. see picture gallery

During May I started to do more activity and got back into Thursday night running again with TNRG (Thursday Night Running Group, started by Paddy Buckley years ago and we still see him turn out at 80, amazing) where the meets are often in central lakeland and do all the typical circuits as as evening routes including Blencathra, Fairfield, Skiddaw and Helvellyn. I had to use some guile to take part, starting 5 mins early or taking the odd short cut to make the pace but it was just great. Cragging also restarted after many years off and that too was a 'creaking into action' game. I have continued on the indoor climbing wall every week since summer departed with Dave Sproson, and not forgetting Pete Boyd and occasionally Marian, who has had foot problems for some years now but has finally found rock boots to put orthotics in.And she loved it!

With this new found fitness we departed early July for the alps in our new campervan purchased 4 days beforehand, reading the manual as we went.The original high version of the Haute Route was our first objective with 2 other members of the ABMSAC (British Members of Swiss Alpine club) Ed Bramley and Myles O'Reilly. Here are the pics. Climbing continued in Saastaal for 2 weeks afterward with the joint climbing club meet of AC/CC/FRCC et al. We enjoyed 4000m peaks, high level via ferratas and valley crags.
Came the autumn and we attended several climbing club dinners, including FRCC and Alpine Club and having catch ups with old friends was just great.

OMM event went very smoothly this year, we made some changes to the formula and Jen led the whole team to a very successful new level of performance, a real bounce back from last years media storm. Here are the web galleries for great storm year 2008 and this year in mid wales.

Teaching and conference organisation at the University was yet again more successful, partnering Mary B Rose for everything. We had a small celebration in Dec 09 of 10 years of collaboration together, first on the book and then in research and teaching from which came some highly successful work. The innovation conference in April 09 went well, we created a short 5 minute film and the subject of innovation in the context of climate change is quite challenging for us to do because this is not our firstline subject. We gained the sponsorship of the OIA, Outdoor Trade Association which was great recognition especially from the university point of view.

Xmas 2009, Marian and I we had 4 good days skiing in Aviemore Scotland, back was creaking well, asthma showing its bad side again, no climbing, too much snow, which for Aviemore is a strange turn. Here are the pics taken on a walk/nordic ski day.

As lungs and limbs still seem to be holding together we are planning a similar amount of action next year. This includes a Nordic ski traverse of the Jotunheim in Norway, alpine skiing, rainforest exploration in Brazil & horse trek in Uruguay. I have been taking riding lessons the 3 weeks prior to Xmas, despite some back problems which seem to go back to a car crash I had in Aug when my car was written off when another driver hit me in the side.

Best wishes to you all for 2010.
Mike Parsons, Decollage, Patterdale, Penrith, Cumbria, CA110NL.
Jan 5th 2010.

Mike's blog #7

2009-11-30T11:56:00.001Z

Mike's blog #7 Monday 30th November 09, Patterdale Cumbria.

The rain stopped last Saturday,after 3 weeks, it then snowed. Looked pretty but it was the wet stuff you can ski on without skis!
We grabbed a brief a much needed outing around Angle Tarn to avoid the risk of what the Norwegians might call cabin fever and then shot off to Shap Wells Hotel for the Alpine Club Dinner. Its surprising how bad weather often brings up the subject of the 2008 OMM, its almost imprinted on the psyche of the outdoor community now. There are also some interesting analogies. Our crux problem in Borrowdale in 2008 was telecoms or rather the absence of them. The Nov 2009 storm disaster in Cumbria did not seem to be a communications issue, unless you are living here. We as the local community struggle frankly to get information which will allow us to make travel decisions and this is in strange contrast to the amazing number of communications devices, from mobile devices to desk top, from email to Facebook to twitter and not least the news media with their satellite dishes. In one scenario in Cockermouth the 'Beeb' presenter was speaking to frustrated shopkeepers who couldn't access their properties because of the Police barriers,and saying 'this situation is unsustainable' until eventually there was some movement by the Police and he said; ' ah, it sounds like 'gold command' has been listening into the broadcast and something is happening'.
Ok, so what is 'Gold command' and why is it the media and the Mountain Rescue have much better communications than the Police and Fire Service? I am going to talk about that as I recount, step by step the whole story of OMM 2008.
In the meanwhile I have been to Jen's OMM 2009 team debriefing and will bring you updates shortly.
Mike Parsons Nov 30th 09.

mike's blog #6

2009-11-15T22:06:00.000Z

Mike's blog #6

There is certainly no doubt in my mind that Jen and her team bounced back this year with great determination in organisational terms. This was certainly tangible and its always heartening to get personal thanks from competitors. Thanks this year were often accompanied by compliments on the quality/smoothness of the organisation. Our teams and team leaders were better identified this year to help both competitors and teams themselves. There were many good memorable 'communication moments' (unlike last year!) and one of them was Steve the Yorkshire Scouts team leader having one earphone linked to his bus start team on their own network and the other ear linked to his team member at the bus drop points near the competition start point by the footbridge.

There were inevitably some areas of problems and issues. .............delays at bus pick up on Sunday being one. However if the weather had been bad the village hall was already open and ours to use. The bigger problem was queing for meals. What Jen and team try to manage is the flow of teams coming in and that done by staggering starts from 7am Sunday. However there doesnt seem to be an answer to the syndrome that when the weather is good following and bunching occurs to a severe degree.And Sunday morning was clear.

I am always impressed by the on-the-ground problem solving capability of the teams and this is getting better as links and telecoms between the are improved. Every year there are a host of unseen issues which must be averted unseen but this year there was nothing underneath. I am sure the team will apply their joint problem solving ability to the clear weather bunching, but its a tough one.

I had some astonishing replies to this blog telling me there were mobile connections in locations we clearly knew had none and that some previous year results were posted earlier. I always think it's amazing how anybody who knows nothing can comment, all part of life's new web 2.0 environment. One thing we learnt to our cost (every year is a learning process) is that when only one mobile service connection is available then that one service can go down during the event weekend. It did just that in Brecon Beacons a few years ago. The service was fine during several pre-event visits but come the Friday night of the event weekend we lost service, to our surprise and frustration. Comes Monday morning the service came back on. Enquiries showed that any mobile service provider is allowed to shut down any mast without notice for a limited period and without warning. OFCOM should really be more vigilant as more and more people turn off their land-line connection and rely solely on mobile. The other issue is that mobile service covers only around 75% of the land surface of the UK whilst most city people are blissfully unaware of the fact.

Selected pictures. We have opened a web gallery of c.100 selected pictures of the 2009 event and this is available as a slide show. Previous events are also viewable. Caption will take me several hours more sometime next week but if if you see someone you know please add their names in the comment box provided.

The 2008 big storm story;
I arrived back at the event HQ just after 7am and Jen said; 'I have already taken the first press call' but little did I know what it foretold. Rob Howard arrived later in the morning by which time I had journalists actually queuing to ask questions. Rob said 'Mike do you realise what you have done? You have knocked Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and the global recession off the number one news headline.' What followed was several days of press storm and by Monday morning there were 2,000 stories online around the world and all 7 national UK dailies carried at least one full page.
What follows here is the story of what happened and why and the aftermath.
Press 'subscribe' to follow the story directly in my blog.

#5 Mountain Marathon blog; Sunday afternoon

2009-10-28T15:56:00.000Z

#5 Mountain Marathon blog; Sunday afternoon

The starts on Sunday are planned very carefully to ensure that we try to get everyone off the course before 5pm but just as important is the spreading of start times to ensure there is a steady flow of arrivals but bright weather always causes bunching (misty weather spreads everyone out) so the bright weather unfortunately created queuing for the bus pick ups.

Prize giving is always, in retrospect, a pleasant and enjoyable happening for us but the lead up to it I find is often stressful and I know Jen feels the same. Everyone is waiting semi patiently but anxious to begin the journey home whilst we are awaiting the completion of the prize rankings who can arrive hours later than the #1 winners and we are anxious to avoid embarrassing errors. The prizes were presented this year by John Evans, the Chairman of the Elan Valley Trust which owns a proportion of the area we used. He gave the assembly a quick historical overview of the land which had a right of 'freedom to roam' 100 years ago and these rights, amongst other issues, are now cared for by the Elan Valley trust. He closed by saying we were 'welcome back'; indeed sustainability for us is about just that; behaving in a responsible manner, as an event and individuals to ensure we are always welcome back.

Often at the course closing time, the hunt begins for those either still out or are at home in the bath and forgot to hand in their punch. This time it was different. Michael Napier came to Jen and I at 17:02 in the HQ and said, 'The last team has crossed the line and punched in and there are 16 people between the finish line and the HQ here'. What was more remarkable was that the finish was 10 miles away from where we stood and the finish had been videoed continuously (aka video streaming) for several hours back into the event centre (shown on plasma screens) by the SPECTRA SHADE system and through the OMM website. But the computer doesn't tell us if the tags have been handed back so we visually check the special tag storage boards that all teams had handed in their punches; 4 were missing and Jen called, 'oops, will mail them back'.
Ed Nicholas the commentator interviewed most of the winners and many others who were happy to talk and share their experiences. These were recorded and posted as pod-casts within the 'video' tab in this event section; something we haven't done before. We confused some viewers when the video streaming showed Ed Nicholas interviewing teams for a podcast. Why didn't we have sound? Well every household in the country pays the BBC an annual license fee and only they have the budget for the bandwidth needed to do it. And the 'Beeb' only comes to see us on those certain occasions we want to avoid!

#4 mountain marathon blog

2009-10-24T22:53:00.004+01:00

Have been chatting to the Raynet team this evening, some of whom also do the first aid. For the last 10 years at least, this team has installed a radio network linking key points around the course back to HQ and the safety backup they provide is well proven. Last year MR and RAF MR teams were pleasantly surprised to see this already in operation when they arrived. To enhance the visibility of this, the manned points where help could be obtained were specially marked on the maps this year and proved their worth yet again. From the first informal accident reports I heard we had about about the same as last year but no calls were made on MR services because all injured teams were able to get themselves to a road or vehicular track. Our team did a great job here, quiely and efficiently without drama. I was pleased to note we have had a very high success rate reaching the overnight camp and expect lots of certificates and several 20 year club sweats will be awarded.

#3 blog 4:45 Saturday 24th; day one of the OMM

2009-10-24T16:43:00.005+01:00

Chatting to the early retirements in the cafeteria was fascinating because we were all able to see the video streaming in from the overnight camp onto the 42" plasma screens. You can see this by clicking on web cam on the homepage but there are bandwidth constraints so if you can get a connection, come back later.
As I cant move from here under our new self disciplined 'resilience' rules, Marian and Pete have gone to the start and finish to move banners and hardware around for tomorrow's finish.

The first timed results went up at 15:50 today, probably the earliest ever. Don't celebrate yet on your friend's behalf because they could be overtaken by later arrivals so these are interim results. These timings were followed closely by Rob Howard's report on what happened in the Elite event when Steve Birkinshaw and partner made a serious error and missed a check point on the run in.
I have tried and tried since our first online reporting in 1999 ( probably the first ever UK internet event reporting) to create a lively and interesting real time story but telecoms/connections/systems/ were never remotely adequate.
Today its happening; thanks to the Spectra sponsorship and good team working.

Reporting possibilities for tomorrow look like a basic video camera on the prize giving with the HD camera trained on the finish line and maybe some interviews of winners; but we dont have enough band width for both at once. Ed Nicholas is the commentator. Am having interesting discussions with Howard our web master to see how we can use the facilities creatively tomorrow.

mountain marathon blog #2

2009-10-24T13:14:00.005+01:00

The key to this new event formula is the movement of all 3,000 runners to the start which is half and hour away. and on time and without creating lateness out of the starting lanes. Jen was on site early March 09 checking the feasibility, although the area had been in planning for a good 2 years. The execution by the teams this morning was impressive. Whats more, because runners retiring cant get back there is a bus service, with marked bus stops running along the side of the reservoirs and kitchen staff at HQ are on duty all day, bus drivers will pre-warn them to prepare more food if there are large drop outs.

More about the 'digital arena'. We have been careful not to over promise to even ourselves let alone runners or audience but the capability is now unfolding as at 2pm today. I just overheard Roger (Smith) the course controller, talking from HQ to Jen at the campsite, 'what, send you an email to the middle of nowhere!" But even more remarkable within a few more minutes we could see live streaming video pictures of the overnight camp download, situated in a barn with hens pecking around and with finishers already arriving (to view - press the web cam button on the site home page). What makes it remarkable is that this farm is in a remote part of central Wales and there are no mobile signals or land line. Just as interesting but another twist, Up and Running upgraded their systems so shop purchases were bar coded and scanned and auto updated via SPECTRA satellite link to their central warehouse data base.
here's a few pictures as flavour,

day one!

2009-10-24T09:10:00.003+01:00

Arrived at event HQ Thursday pm and spent Friday doing all reporting prep functions: physical and digital. The 'physical' is getting all signs on buildings, whats where and banners up at starts and finishes. getting heavy stuff in by 4x4 and so on. Had to ensure we were well ahead of the game this year because Jen's new safety/emergency operation rules means I have to remain at HQ all Saturday, plus either Jen or Roger.
But the new digital world we are emerging into is just something else; we have more comms this year than perhaps the total for the last 40 years! I did my first press call at 07:45am Friday with Radio Cumbria using the satellite network set up by SPECTRA our telecoms sponsor. More later on all this.
New logistics flowing amazingly smoothly this morning and am referring to the busing of all to the starts; Steve, the team leader of Yorks Scouts team had one ear into his local team network on the site and the other into his mobile in touch with his team at the bus drop off 30 Min's up the road. Ensuring that this runs literally like clockwork is key and so far it is. Just amazing, 45 buses in all in 3 batches of 15 and each one run to a timetable which is shown by each bus stop, any 'lates' going into a corral and released only when there are other 'lates' or no shows. Fingers crossed there are no accidents (ie other road users) on the road which would disrupt the flow .
Just viewed the streaming video camera picture now being tested from day 2 finish which is 15 miles away and this will be streamed into 3 plasma screens in the refreshments area for all finishers and of course the website, more later plus some pics.

OMM 2009

2009-10-14T16:43:00.001+01:00

Its a long long time since my last blog in October 08 and and its not supposed to be a pun when I say much water has gone under the bridge since then! Yes quite a lot.

The period following the October 2008 event was extremely intense with 25 or so interviews over several days. The outcome was finally balanced by the outdoor community at large saying to the press; 'you have got it wrong' for which we were extremely thankful.

I will eventually take you through step by step and blow by blow account of what happened last year. For now lets look at what the changes are and why in the next few following blogs. More later ...........................

Friday 24th dawned clear and even dry

2008-10-24T09:28:00.001+01:00

Friday 24th dawned clear and even dry patio stones outside.
I was still very anxious that something further could go wrong after such an horrendous day yesterday when one of the team planners trapped in Seathwaite and cut of from the rest of team in Seatoller was actually waist deep.Not only was it a problem of physical structures and car parks etc but I didnt know if all of the 100 controls had been placed before the storm hit. Jen called at 8am and sounded brighter than at 10pm last night. Clear decisions had been taken and I posted these immediately on the website and by bulk email to all runners.

I talked in a previous blog about building robustness into the organization but I was beginning to think that events had overcome us on this occasion. That we survived is entirely due to the tenacity of Jen and her team and the flexibility of the organisation to adapt quickly to new circumstances.

By yesterday the course planning team had already been in place for 4 days placing controls and cross checking the positioning. However the small infrastructure army normally arrives Thursday and so was already on the move from around the country and was then caught up by the many roads which were flooded. When I called Terry of Up and Running to say 'its on' I have never heard a man sound so relieved. He had set off in his 10 ton van full of shop stuff anyway knowing all uncertainties so he could be ready poised nearby when access was clear. I ran another set of emails to all in my team ie reporters and shop and the ARK boys (the new OMM distributor) who are both shop support and have 2 teams competing.Rob Howard of Sleepmonsters was already on his way and when I gave the final green light he said, 'sounds like I have plenty of interest to report on when I arrive;
yes Rob!

Phew, we are still moving!

2008-10-23T22:21:00.000+01:00

Thursday 23rd 6:45pm. One day to go and 3,000 hopeful runners are watching weather reports around the country, just like us.
It was a very tense day and looking like we might fail for the first time in 40 years. At midday the Seathwaite valley was literally waist deep and by late afternoon it was clear that others were picking up what we already knew and messages were coming up on the OMM forum showing Borrowdale was flooded. I went down to Windermere to see Charlie at Outdoor Warehouse, 'here's the new Ultra 15 pack I promised for test but I cant promise you a run this weekend, its touch and go, on the brink'.Then I moved to Ambleside to see Mark at Climbers shop and collect the display banners he used for a window display. Again talking about the new Ultra and Mark had spotted a nice but needed update and wished me 'best of luck' as I left.
I knew we needed lots of it and some really skilled planning. Getting back home to Patterdale was not easy and the prognosis grim. I talked through all possibilities with my wife Marian and John (North) who's advice is always sound.
Jen called at 6:30 from Seathwaite, 'we are on' she said. Phew!
I began calling and writing and emailing.Getting the message out that we weren't down and out. The next 3 days are going to be tough because we are 1/2 day out of synch.

Thursday 6:45pm. It was a very tense ...

2008-10-23T22:17:00.001+01:00

Thursday 23rd 6:45pm. One day to go and 3,000 hopeful runners are watching weather reports around the country, just like us.
It was a very tense day and looking like we might fail
for the first time in 40 years. At midday the Seathwaite valley was
literally waist deep and by late afternoon it was clear that others were picking up what we already knew and messages were coming up on
the OMM forum showing Borrowdale was flooded. I went down to Windermere to see Charlie at Outdoor Warehouse, 'here's the new Ultra 15 pack I promised for test but I cant
promise you a run this weekend, its touch and go, on the brink'.Then
I moved to Ambleside to see Mark at Climbers shop and collect the display banners he used for a window display. Again talking about the
new Ultra and Mark had spotted a nice but needed update and wished me
'best of luck' as I left.
I knew we needed lots of it and some really
skilled planning. Getting back home to Patterdale was not easy and the prognosis
grim. I talked through all possibilities with my wife Marian and John (North) who's advice is always sound.

Jen called at 6:30 from Seathwaite, 'we are on' she said. Phew!
I began calling and writing and emailing.Getting the message out that we weren't down and out.

OMM 2008. As always we try to improve...

2008-10-23T08:29:00.001+01:00

OMM 2008. As always we try to improve what we do each year whether that be event or product. The new omm website site has much improved past event info and all past reports and times and pictures can be found from this page.This years reports are again using tabbed page designs making access much clearer.

The weather has been a constant stress factor with so many events of all types having been canceled this season. This year I havent been to the HQ when it wasnt raining really hard. Rob Howard's report just up said Seathwaite has 60" of rain a year, the truth is more like double, even Patterdale where I live gets up to 120" and we are only #2 in the rainfall stakes. Jen has been monitoring the HQ location and car parks on almost a daily basis and check point placing started Monday in poor conditions. (If there any rivers in spate which we think will be a problem they will be roped.) Since the year of the ‘Howling Howgills’ 1998 we have certainly built greater robustness into the event support structure and added more each year, which certainly costs. The team meetings seem to come up with ideas for all contingencies. After an hour talking about flood contingencies someone said, “But how do we unfreeze the (specially installed) water pipes if we have -6° like in Langholme”? Laughs and ‘well if only’!

Mountain Heritage Trust

2008-04-26T14:00:00.004+01:00

Mountain Heritage Trust exhibit and Rheged, Penrith.

Today was a day of emotions. I was called by Maxine the MHT curator to say that sadly be National Mountaineering Exhibition at Rheged was closing down and could I come and pick up my packs which where there on loan?
I had been closely involved together with Mary B. Rose at Lancaster University management school in researching and writing for some of the displays when it opened in 2001, the year of foot and mouth disease. The idea of the exhibition was a spark of inspiration from Barbara James and eventually the BMC took it up and an amazing exhibition was created, designer John Sunderland of Jorvik fame and Tony Blair the Prime Minister opened it.
The two packs will no longer be on display to the world so it struck me it was worth an effort to take some rough pictures and give a little bit of information. The Everest pack of 1973 was Pete Boardman’s, who summitted in rapidly deteriorating conditions, closely following Dougal Haston and Doug Scott. This was Chris Bonington's 1975 Everest expedition, the first to successfully climb the southwest face of Everest. In the picture you can see that they were using a pack frame and the lower part of the double side pocket is made from a breathable fabric and the exchange valve was stored inside it to ensure that snow didn’t get in and freeze it up. The oxygen tube leading to a face mask came out of the pocket through the small horizontal draw cord sleeve. You can see that the zip pullers were ‘winterised’ in other words had very large long web pullers for use with expedition gloves, something rare in those days.
I need to check the weight but it will be somewhere around 1.8 kg.

The second pack was a MACSAC, designed by Alex McIntyre and made for many of the world's leading expeditions to the Himalayas during that period. It had 80 L capacity and weighed 890 g.Yes those figures are correct! To further enhance capacity the webbings were left very long indeed for strapping on the sort of ridiculous loads you are sometimes faced with on an expedition. The flap of the pack is signed off by the leading members of the expedition, Andrez Zawada is notable as the leader. Indeed Polish expedition climbers have succeeded in the majority of old the successful winter 8000 m ascents.

It's worth talking some more in a later blog about these packs and the expedition they served in the through the 70’s to the early 90’s.

WINTERS

2008-04-25T16:18:00.002+01:00

Strange things winters, they never do what you want them to do nor when you want it!
In an earlier blog I talked about possible lost skills because tough conditions didn't last long enough. Nowadays we just have to go when it's there and adjust as rapidly as possible. I had a week off-piste skiing in the Ecrin/Dauphinee, France with good conditions getting better just as I came home and two weeks in the Pyrenees which were just not bad but awful, with everything from sunshine on green fields, to storm bound days in huts, to pouring rain. But Dave W-J and Eagle ski club were good company so it was a good trip anyway. I snatched two days of skiing directly from home in Patterdale by leaping onto my skis, on waking to find snow down to the front door. Easter Sunday was just amazing and we traversed from Dockray Head to Glenridding via the Dodds. I was using Nordic ski gear and my old leather telemark boots finally gave out that day. I got home and determined to preserve them in some form with a label on, 'these boots did Greenland and Kashmir amongst other things'. But that left me musing as to why I was still using boots which were made in 1982. Within the same period had gone through something like five pairs of alpine boots; and that's not because I do more Alpine skiing than nordic, there was a period of 12-15 years when I did not touch an Alpine ski. Somehow there are some outdoor products that you just learn to love and can't give up. This very theme is coming up next week at our conference at Lancaster University management school - 'innovation for extremes' www.innovation-for-extremes.org ( this year's theme; 'innovaton in the context of global warming' where Ed Douglas and Chuck Kukla, amongst others will both be talking in different ways about sustainable products and how it might be possible to design products which are much loved and thus lasting a long time; just like my old ski boots now on the wall!

I will report in a couple of weeks with a link to what they have to say.

allthings-OMM: 40th

2008-04-07T21:39:00.000+01:00

allthings-OMM: 40th

The 40th event was a great occasion.

2008-04-06T09:41:00.000+01:00

April 08 - Organising the OMM event is all year round work. The final decision on the location needs to be made at the latest by February each year but ideally we have been able to pin it down 12 months ahead. Until we go firm in February we sometimes have to switch to our second choice, all of which is unseen and unheard of course. Having the second choice is critical to ensure the continuity year after year. All sorts of things can happen and go wrong and we 'lose' a location, because maybe new SSI's are discovered, or change of land ownership, or difficulties of getting decisions where the land is owned by commoners and subject to consensus decisions between many people. In some cases the price being asked might simply be too high. Yes indeed we often have to pay for land which you as individuals can use freely.
A myriad of permissions have to be obtained before we can commission the maps. The 1:40,000 scale maps we use are specially commissioned and if it's a completely new area without mapping to the quality we require, about six months work is needed. This 1:40,000 scale was created specially for the event by Harvey maps in 1977. The maps for the 1976 event in Galloway had been particularly inaccurate and we wanted not only great accuracy but to use the selected area of the Howgills, a custom map was essential because all commercial maps available divided the area into four parts! It's interesting to see that last year the BMC published a series of Lakeland maps in conjunction with Harvey's and the scale was, you guessed 1:40,000. 4 maps covers the Lake District.

REAL WEATHER

2008-03-28T17:02:00.000Z

This winter we have had snow in the valley on two occasions which is twice more than normal! On each occasion January 4th and Easter Sunday I scrambled to gather up skis and boots and waxes (I usually go nordic on these hills) and go out immediately because otherwise it's gone. A lone traverse into Deepdale was my first sortie and a traverse of the Dodds from Dockray head to Glenridding via Raise with John G the second.
It set me musing about the small detailed mistakes I made in terms of dealing with the conditions which brought me round to the issues of global warming. It struck me that the learning process only happens if you have sustained 'real' weather and we have time to reflect on how to adjust our techniques, clothing and equipment. With global warming it's not that we don't get cold difficult 'interesting' conditions any more it's a question that they occur and disappear suddenly. When one has had a set of learning experiences then some how the old brain and muscles can dig out old tricks quite quickly. But what of the next generation? Will it lead to more accidents and or a lower level of competency with certain conditions?
But what of the implications for equipment design? All designs have some user experience assumptions built into them built around what outdoor people are doing and want to see in terms of improvements.
I am thinking hard on this one.

40th

2007-12-27T20:13:00.000Z

The 40th event in October 07 went well; A TV film, great courses, Route Gadget, commentator wired to last control and a few other things. Doesnt sound much on paper but we all worked like stink to upgrade all aspects of the event especially the competitor experience and for once there are no stories to tell of near misses!
The whole year has been one hectic rush to restructure the business, event and product on modern and sustainable lines with some progress of note. Notable is the new design web site with content management editing facilities I can delegate out with passwords; this means in theory we can have a team keeping it up to date instead of me always 'burning the midnight' and getting less and less fit.
Since Sept I have been running an invitation only innovation forum on Google groups with some leading edge users who are keen to input their ideas and even try their own stitching with bits provided by me. The results after 3-4 months are impressive, at least as dwgs that is. The toughest job is now producing protos when many problems have to be solved and deadlines met. This is really exciting and a new way forward.