Topless and Dying.

In a pool of sweat , grasping at each stuttered breath trying to regain some dignity. And yet I stand up smile and say "Well that was pretty fun wasn't it" .

Having suffered some minor set backs in making it to Colorado, I decided to get my ass into gear and get serious about training for this winter. I'm going to be climbing the more technical sections of my final expedition route and trying to get a real idea of what I'm getting my self into. A few of my FD friends did Crossfit already , and I caught one of the days of the world open on Espn. But that gave me no indication of what was to come.

It's a glorious summers Friday , in the unassuming historical village of Clitheroe. The castle, standing watch over the upper-middle class shops that make up the small highstreet. A ways outside this flurry of orthopaedic shoe shops, wedding hat boutiques and pretentious card shops lies an old warehouse and boiler room, Crossfit Clitheroe. Industrial , obviously once derelict. This is no ordinary gym. No mirrors. No standard machines. Just bars , sandbags, kettle bells , and an array of Olympic lifting weights. This is what all gyms would look like. If Rocky had this there would only have been one film , with a quick montage and then him decimating the opponent.

Friday's workout , aptly named 'Start a hero , finish a hero' is in remembrance of a US soldier who died in action. Nicknamed 'Jared' , this Workout of the day (WOD) is 4 gruelling rounds of 800m run , 50 pull ups (scaled to 30)  and 70 press ups (scaled to 50) . I made the mistake of checking what the WOD was , and for the first time, was scared.

That feeling, unimportant as the time starts. And by the end of the first road run the vest comes off. This is going to be brutal. The even mix of men and women start on their sets of pull ups and press ups. Each of them not looking to the left or right focused in the small homemade puddle in front of them. By now most of the men have followed suit, setting off for the second run, bare chested , running almost tribally past a procession of unsuspecting rush hour traffic.

The next 3 rounds were testing , each set harder than the last. But unrelenting , I finish just short of the 45 minute cap with a time of 44.11

If you haven't tried Crossfit or don't know what it is. Go along. Just for one session. I'm telling you, you will never go back to a normal gym again.
This was just a quick update as its been a while, needless to say I'm very excited for this winter.

Now to crawl up the stairs for a shower.

Happy Adventuring and as ever , listen to this =].

The New Plan.

I'm a month out of moving to Colorado.

My touch typing is almost flowless. flawyless. flawless , from the masses of last assignments due.

And then that will be it. Life. Shit.


No no, I'm actually super excitied about getting out there, and starting this crazy new life of mine, which brings me to the goal for the next 3 years. Initially I was going to plan and train for the first solo traverse of the Continnental Divide Trail in winter. I was going to hike , climb and snowshoe along an interesting and commiting 1200 miles of the American Rocky Mountains. Now don't get me wrong, that would have been a seriously fun trip. Dangerous. But fun. It also dawned on me that this trip would have been something else:

Arrogant.

The primary reason for the trip was to push my self as close to the edge as I could go. What. No you idiot. The primary reason for the trip was to raise money and awareness for the organization that inadvertently changed my life and continues to change the lives of hundreds of young adults living with cancer. In my whirlwind of planning a route and equipment and drop points and training and was I going to be the first one. I completely flew past THE REASON. So lets start that again.
With the New Plan.

In 3 years time a group of my friends and I will embark on a truly epic adventure. The plan is to Ski, hike and climb 2000 miles of the Rocky Mountains from Fireside, Alberta to Twin Lakes, Colorado. The time frame is still the same with the hope being that I will arrive at the bottom of Mount Elbert around about 60 days after setting off. The main difference this about the New Plan is the company. I intend to split the trip up into 10 or so legs. On each of these stretches a different person will accompany me. Between each of the legs I will spend a night at a town resting up and resupplying, not at a hotel, but with a family in the settlement. This I feel will be the greatest part of my trip. Staying for just a night with people of the mountain villages and cities and swapping adventure stories and spreading the word about how awesome First Descents is. This will be preplanned. I'm not going to knock on doors until I'm let in. That would be much more dangerous than all the avalanches mother nature could conjure.

So thats it. Thats the New Plan. Which is where you come in. Yes. YOU. If your my friend, and you fancy an epic adventure, let me know. I'd love to have you along.

Stay posted here on my blog for my training diaries , equipment reviews and photos of some seriously epic places and people .

Much love and Happy Adventuring.

Smile and Listen . Listen and Smile . Either way =]

I'd like more time.

I noticed .


My posts can be split into two categories.


On one side we have the adventury (great word), fun posts with interesting pictures of where I've been. On the other side are the posts about things I've read, watched or discovered and wanted to share with the world. And then obviously the ones that mix it up in the middle.


I also noticed that I hadn't posted anything in 2012 ! So here it is . Enjoy. 

__________________________________

A film editor friend of mine shared this on the old FB. Just take a second to read it.

Woah that was quick ! Let everyone else catch up ( witty blog banter . Lame right ?) . 

  I have rewritten this bit about 6 times now. I launched into exploring each of the points , interesting considerations and my views but you don't need those. Instead I'm going to let you mull that over , while I talk about a brilliant article I read in last months CLIMB by Dave Mcleod. In the article he explored reasons why people become stagnant in there climbing improvement. Performance in sport can split into 4 areas as below. 

 However proficient you may be in these, they are all restricted by the participants lifestyle. Mcleod suggested that by quitting your job and taking a lesser paying job closer to climbing venues, you'll spend less time earning money to go climbing. And more time actually going climbing. Wow that was heavy. Number 5 on the list says take a break so here's a joke.The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. 

After all that rambling and a joke the tone turns morbid for a second. Life this past 2 years has really shown me how fragile it is. Yes people say all the time " Seize the Day" ,"Live each day as your last", etc. However simply saying it is not enough. You have to come to terms with the how definitive time is. You will never EVER in the whole of your life have another 2011. Ever. So whyy spend time doing stuff that in no way contributes to anything you want to do. " My parents told me to" , "It's what everyone's doing", "It's the best paying job". All pathetic excuses to do anything for any period of time. 

Do it because it's what you want to do. 

One of my best friends Paul Mc Intyre a medical student at Nottingham shared one of(in my opinion) the best life philosophies I have ever heard. With pictures . There is a lot of writing so far. Apologies. 

         Life rule .1                                                                    Life rule .2

    Do what you want                                                          Don't be an arsehole

                                 

                     

These kinda work like the robot laws from I.robot. Don't do Rule .1 if it breaks Rule .2 

I know the topic of LIFE isn't exactly light. But it is there to be lived. Oh and New Years Resolutions - Good luck with them and share them (number 3 on the list) !

Hope your 2012 is as epic as I hope mine will be. Get after it , Happy Adventuring. 

Ps. Wrap this song around your head. Loud. 

Reconnecting when I should be reflecting

Hey big wide world.

So right now I should be doing an assignment on reflection (presses snooze button). Instead I thought ,I'd tell anyone that actually reads this old (electronic) rag , what's happening this winter with the adventurist.

Last Thursday after truly insightful conversation with Simon Baker, I set about contacting various organisations to really get some wheels on this expedition train moving. The most important of which I feel , is the massive grey cloud over the whole thing, nutrition. So I emailed the head of sports nutrition and bio mechanics at arguably the best sports science Uni in the country, Loughborough. He replied registering his interest to aid however he can. This looks to be a truly promising and exciting link.

As winter is finally here, I'll be road tripping up to the Lakes and Scotland with some of my fearless comrades =] . With this will come a whole tonne of gear reviews , from ice axes and crampons to hooded base layers and  waterproof trousers. I'll also be undertaking a mini solo expedition late January up north of the border , so stay tuned for a whole host of awesome pictures and a full trip report from that.

In the mean time, get after it ! There's a whole world out there just waiting for YOU.

Keep Adventuring and I'll leave you with this.

People are good.

   After what was quite an epic night out ( started at 10pm , got in at 7am ) , I sat down on my bed and started to watch the below video on First Descents and another cool non- profit that works with Native American tribes. I just deleted a big paragraph because my opinion on peoples quick judgments is not at all important. What is important is that you watch some of the video below. Take it in, and change.

http://byutv.org/watch/937a3970-27a0-4c49-82f6-278f8ea92f60#ooid=hwd3B0MjoOXn83l_V3r2ZP5eOAXHhHI9

I watched the First Descents portion of the video with re-ignition. I needed reminding of the amazing work that the staff at FD do and more impressively the awesome tasks that the participants take on from day 1. I say again . If you have cancer , have had cancer , know someone with cancer. Get in contact now ! Fly out to the US and prepare to have your life changed . For those who have never had cancer get involved . Donate, Run a race volunteer , or just tell someone else about it . This is not a company , not a organisation. It is a family . An ever loving group of people that though separated sometimes by oceans, is still connected. Help it grow.

Love and Blessing to Nicknames Family.
I never had the pleasure of meeting you ,but my god you seem cool :)

You know its time to head home ... When you've got wet balls : The Bowfell Story

A paragliding friend of mine once told me how cool it is to fly up in the clouds. He called it the White Room . Sounds pretty cool right ? Poetic even. This is not always the case.

 The location for my latest adventure was a up in the Langdales. Louis, Paddy and I planned to do a route know as the Langdale horseshoe with a cheeky extension to the highest point in England , Scafell Pike. The day started off with some epic disco tunes from Gloria Gaynor and The Jackson 5. After a short journey including some questionable driving from Paddy , we arrived in an extremely gray Lake District. Thick fog clung to the mountain quietly jeering " Your going to have a fun day with me up here". However the first mile or so was fairly easy going and the weather not far from Amazonian. Muggy , sweaty but dry. I spent the first half of the day in just a t-shirt I was so hot. 

This tropical weather faded quickly as our ascent continued. The fog got thicker with each metre gained and as we topped out of what is known as 'the band' , Mr. Wind joined the party. We made short work of a small section of flat and sped past what , that day must have been the most miserable group of high school girls ever. I did not envy those teachers. 

The thing you should know about Bow Fell is that shes a deceptive little bitch especially in the fog. You'll see what looks like the summit , there are even rocks that look like Cairns. But we weren't there yet. Yesss there it is . Nope still a fake one. Finally we reached the summit . 

Now I thought that the teachers of those girls was as bad as a day on this mountain could get. But they were nowhere near the title of worlds worst job on that day. Though commendable they took second place. The winners of worlds worst job on the mountain goes to ( drum roll please.) The two radio check point men stood at the top all day ! Congratulations ! You see, on this wet and windy day in East Cumbria several hundred ridiculously fit and equally crazy fell runners gathered for the Langdale Horseshoe Fell race. The men at the summit were a radio checkpoint and they were in it for the long haul. 

We quickly scoffed down some lunch before making an executive decision that it was time to call it a day. Once we'd planned an escape route , we were of in search of the pub. We made light work of the descent and after the best views we had seen all day and a fantastic 'legs over head' epic fail from me we got back to the car we enjoyed 8 caramel short breads and 4 maple donuts for TWO QUID !! 

Gear of the day goes to the Patagonia R1 hoodie. This piece is super lightweight, an excellent fit, and as warm as fleeces twice its weight. The hood and offside zip are awesome at keeping the heat from escaping from your head even if fully zipped up you do look like a condom crossed with a ninja. This piece is seldom going to leave my pack and I can't wait to use it in colder climates. 

We should be able to see this peak in the distance .... 

Shepherds , Running and Google Earth

It been a while but I thought I'd check back in with the world of blogging .

This is kind of the first mention on here of my FD challenge... Well I say its an FD challenge I should say obsession. The next 2 years of my life are going to be pretty much dedicated to achieving this massive goal.

The first stage of my massive undertaking is getting fit, which includes the devils exercise itself. Running. Ergghhh , even the word makes me sigh with misery. But its a means to an ends. BodyPump on the other hand is where its at ! Epic cheesy club tunes. Burner of a work out. Rivers of sweat dripping off which ever scrabby t-shirt I've worn that session . Now that's what I call fun =]

Climbing is also going to be a big part of my trip, with some of the snowy faces reaching a daunting 70deg angle. Snow isn't unseen in many parts of the world at this time of year . However here in England we've hit a mini heat wave providing me the perfect excuse (not that you really ever need one) to go climbing .

Sheperds Crag was the venue and starting the day , I was not as psyked as Loz for the climbs to come, but I digress. Our first route of the day, Ardous (MVS, 4b), had it all. I led the first pitch .A chossy slab with ample gear and a fair amount to hold to. You reach a comfy belay nest through a somewhat bold step across. Pitch 2 changes things up , presenting climbers with a right wandering crack which is much steeper than it first looks. Hand holds are scarce and emphasis lies solely ( pun intended ) with your feet. Massive spike to start a  pitch with protection a plenty. The final stretch of this 3 star beaut is a bold traverse with great problem solving. The crux definitely gets the heart going with a ' will they/ won't they stick ' moments for your feet before gaining an average top out . Definitely deserves the 3 stars its given.

Now for the dark horse of the day. Fisherman's Folly (VS 4c) wasn't happening for us on this particular day. So we moved over to CDM . With cobwebs in most of the cracks and an encroaching tree to the right this climb needed some TLC. The neglect is understandable as its within sniffing distance of the 3 star fisherman's , however with some traffic CDM would be cleaned out and bumped up to a 3 star route. The gear is bomber, the route is steep and the moves just flow. Brilliant route . Go climb it.

Must get back to google earth . This expedition isn't going to plan itself...