Disneyworld 15th Annual Food & Wine Festival

Dennis & I went to Disneyworld to visit the Caffery family and also to partake in the 15th Annual Food & Wine Festival. The Cafferys were great fun (as always) and wonderful hosts.

The first day we went to Epcot Center and walked around the lake. Food samples from around the world [...]Climbing board Climbing blocks Climbing carabiner

J-Tree

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The Pinnacle DVD is here

Hot Aches Productions DVD about our re-enactment of the Smith-Marshall week on Ben Nevis is ready. Tomorrow (Friday) I?m at the premiere of the film in Kendal and will be picking up our DVD stock from Diff there and dispatching orders when we come home on Monday. It?s up in the shop to order if you want a copy, right here.In case you missed my previous posts about our week, this is what all the fuss is about: In 1960 Jimmy Marshall and Robin Smith, probably the best ice climbers anywhere at the time completed a week of back to back first ascents of cutting edge ice routes on Ben Nevis. The first one-day ascent of Point Five Gully, first ascents of Pigott?s Route, Smith?s Route, The Great Chimney, Minus 3 Gully, Orion Face Direct and a traverse of the Grey Corries as their ?rest day?. It was a massive step forward and took the generation behind them a good decade and the development of modern ice tools to catch up. Step cutting these routes day after day was a fantastic feat of skill and endurance. It became a bit of a legend in Scottish climbing, to say the least.Hence, 50 years later, to the day, myself and Andy Turner felt it would be great to go and repeat the week of climbs and make a film about it with Hot Aches Productions. We had a great night after our week with Jimmy Marshall himself, talking about the week at the Fort William Mountain Festival (which you?ll find as an extra on the DVD along with an extensive interview with Jimmy who is now 82). Since then, Paul Diffley has been preparing the edit of the film itself.It recounts the story of Jimmy and Robin?s adventure and achievement, shows off the routes and the Ben itself rather beautifully I think. It did help that we had a stunning week of weather on our re-enactment.Hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it.

About to top out on Point Five Gully during our re-enactment of the Smith-Marshall week on Ben Nevis.

Dave MacLeod

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Conditions Report - November 24 2010

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New colours in the ME beanies

We just got in a lot of new colours in our Mountain Equipment beanies ready for the coming winter. They are in the shop now right here.


In the books section I?ve added Eric Horst?s new book on mental skills for climbers - Maximum Climbing which is just out. It?s a very up to date and comprehensive guide to theory and practice in the psychology of performance in climbing. Horst has drawn on the developments in behavioral and cognitive psychology which has come on a lot in the past few years. Interesting reading (review on the way on OCC soon).Dave MacLeod

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December and January Climbing Events

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Free clips for Chris Sharma ?King Lines? climbing video?

Interested in downloading high-quality clips of Chris Sharma climbing?
Today I checked out the website for Chris Sharma’s King Lines movie - and there’s a new addition!
Early versions of the DVD didn’t feature all of the extras properly, so the website features downloadable clips from the extras.
This won’t replace the need to buy the DVD, but [...]Rock climbing technique Rock climbing shoes Pictures climbing