Happy Christmas, Bring On 2011

It's been a bit of a chilli December, We ran a Gorge Walking trip during the cold period, Everyone had more layers than an onion, we managed to keep nice and warm with an adrenaline pumping two hour gorge session everyone managed to do the massive 8m jump and finished off with a few beers.

Were now busy packing all our kit for our Winter Toubkal season and it's promising to be a corker with plenty of snow in the High Atlas, January is now fully booked and we have a few remaining places for our February Trips.

2011 is looking good for our Welsh 15 Peaks trips, it's the best and only way to see the best of Snowdonia, spread over 3 days we climb all the 3000er's.

Right I best go and continue packing as I fly out to Morocco on 1st Jan the perfect way to see in the New Year.

Hope you had a great Christmas and santa bought you all you asked for, See you on the hill in 2011.

All The Best The Adventurous Ewe Team.

Morocco

I've just returned from a desert trip in Morocco, it's a magical place the Sahara with breath taking sunet & sunrises and the landscape changes so much.

We started our trek from the small village of Mhamid and then trekked into the Sahara with our trusty camels in tow. We trekkked as far south as possible in Morocco which bought us very close to the Algerian border, the sand dunes in this area are just incredible, we just had to climb them for sunrise, it took us about 45mins to top out on our Everest of sand dunes where we had hot tea and breakfast.

We left the Sahara after 6 Days trekking, it's was a bit of a shock going from the peace and quiet of the Sahara then jumping on the Tube through london, I know where I would rather be.

I'm now out in Costa Rica for a jungle trek so it's going to be a very wet week a million miles away from the Sahara.

Check out our new Gorge Scrambling Video.

Gorge Walking

Kili season comes to an end.

Jambo

Well what a season it's been on Kili, the short rain are just about here and we had our first covering of snow on the mountain last week.

They've been an incredible 3 trips with an average 90% of the groups summiting which is a huge success.
I now have a few weeks to catch up on the boring office work before heading back to Morocco.
Our Winter Toubkal trips are a popular hit this year and there filling up fast.

Toubkal offers the only winter mountaineering in the African continent with stunning views over the Sahara Desert from the summit, plus the very warm hearted Berber people of the High Atlas it's going to be a great winter.

Stu is busy with our Gorge Walking program even if winter is upon us.
Make sure you check it out next spring/summer, saying that we even have bookings in December.

In the mean time i'm going to continue enjoying the warm weather in Tanzania.

Have Fun

Jimbo

Kilimanjaro & Mt Toubkal

Kili Time

I'm currently in Tanzania preparing for my second Kilimanjaro climb in 3 weeks, then I have another 2 climbs before the end of October, Stu will also be joining me on the second climb, it will be his first ascent on Kili and he's very excitied.

All our climbs are on the Machame Route which can be done over 6 or 7 days.

The only thing I would say is Kilimanjaro is getting very busy these days i've never seen so many people on the Mountain.

I've spent the last week with friends helping out on a project building a free medical centre and orphange mainly for the local Massai but it's free to anyone who comes, The kids in the Orphanage are amazing there's a family of 4 children here at the momment who lost there parents to HIV but they seem so upbeat it's very sad to hear but great to see them so happy and being looked after so well, We will be running an event next summer to raise money for the charity so I will keep you posted.

Toubkal

Our winter Toubkal climbs are looking very busy this year with our January date now having a double departure.

Climbing Toubkal in the winter is a great mountaineering experience with very few people on the mountain, you don't need to be a roughty toughty mountaineer to climb during the winter months just warm clothes and a great sense of Adventure.

So keep that Adventurous spirit alive and see you on the mountian.

Kili Time

It's that time of year once again that I pack my kit and head for the dizzy heights of Kilimanjaro.

We ended our summer season with a Welsh 15 Peaks and our final 3 Peaks last weekend, its was a great final 3 peaks with our best time yet 24.20hrs, it was a great effort plus a great amount of money was raised for St Davids Hospice.

I'm doing four Kilimanjaro climbs over a 6 week period so it's going to be tough, i'm looking forward to catching up with all the boys in Tanzania plus I have 8 days down time which will give me time to catch up with old friends and maybe go on a bit of a recce for future trips.
Our Jan 3rd Toubkal trip is nearly full only 2 places left, so were putting on another date in early feb.

Best get back to the packing my kit.

NEVER LET AN ADVENTURE PASS YOU BY.

Jim

Gorge Scrambling/Walking

We've been pretty busy round here at Adventurous Ewe.

Between running Three Peaks Challenges and the Welsh 15 Peaks it's been alot of fun.

But we now have a new activity added to our website for all you adrenaline seekers, Were proud to say we are now running Gorge Scrambling/Walking Sessions.

Were starting off in South Wales in the Mellte & Sychrydd Gorges these are some of the best gorge gorge's in U.K. with a huge 11m jump only for the brave.

We will be starting Gorge Walking in North Wales early next year and we promise it's going to be a heart pumping gorge.

Any how onto other things we only have one 15 Peaks left for this year and our final Three Peaks is the first week of September.

Toubkal is filling up fast and our 3rd January trip is now nearly fully booked.

I'm heading off to climb Kilimanjaro again this Autumn in fact I'm doing four Ascent's, which I can't wait for, you just can't beat standing on the roof of Africa.

Stu who has now joined the Ewe, will be running the Gorge Walking and has been working down there in the gorge since 2007(Gollum). So your in good hands, it's an awesome day out and one which will have you talking about it for weeks. Stu will also be running a Promo day for Adventurous Ewe so get in touch and you could get yourself a very cheap heart pumping day out.

Central America to Fort William

July has just been crazy, so much i've been very slack on the blog page, and this is going to be a short update, as i'm just about to head to France on a London to Paris Bike Ride.

We have done a jungle trek in Central America, Three Peaks Challenge plus we even fitted in a Welsh 15 Peaks.


The Jungle trek was in Costa Rica, I was out there looking into a new trekking route, It was so new there were no paths through the Jungle so we spent 2.5 days hacking our way through the rain forest with an unimaginable number of river crossing.
It rained so hard water was running down into my jacket and out through the arms.

Talking of rain we so much rain on last weekends 3 Peaks it just like being back in the Jungle during rainy season.
Everyone battled on and completed the challenge in 23.5hrs.

We did manage to do the 15 peaks in sunshine though who ever said it rains in Wales.

Well thats a very quick update got a ferry to catch.

Summer is here

Everyone completed the 15 peak Challenge last weekend in fantastic style, We had great weather and I think everyone was a little sun burnt by the end of the weekend.

Some members of the group were training for either Everest Base Camp, Kilimanjaro or Mont Blanc.

I'm currently in Fort William starting the 3 Peaks tomorrow.

We also have a group sleeping on the summit of Snowdon tonight as their starting the Welsh 15 Peaks Challenge in 24hrs at 05.00am

It's going to be a fun weekend.

Toubkal

Just returned from a great trip up Toubkal.
Everyone summited and the conditions were great.

There's still plenty of snow in the High Atlas plus with all the spring flowers and the water falls in full flow the scenery was just stunning.
We trekked for 3 days in total which allowed us enough time to acclimatise.
It was along last day summiting then going back down to Imlil for a few beers and a hot shower, but the mountains were stunning plus being on a high from summiting made it easier.

We had a few hours in Marrakech to do some last minute shopping in the souks enjoy a fresh orange juice in the Jemaa El Fna before boarding our flights home.

I stayed on in Morocco to recce Essaouira on the coast which was stunning and the perfet way to chill out after the Toubkal climb.
Were now gonig to be adding Essaouria as an optional extenstion to all our future Morocco Trips. Back in Snowdonia tomorow with a group of four doing the Snowdon Horseshoe, it's going to be a hot day with super views all day.

15 Peaks

Day 1

Snow in May what ever next.

I'm out with Carl & Dave doing the 15 Peaks over 3 days.

3 Peaks Challenge

We've just run our first 3 peaks of the season had the best weather you could wish for.

Once we had loaded up our supplies we headed off from Snowdonia for the long drive to Fort William stopping off in Glen Coe to enjoy the stunning Scottish Highlands and dinner. With an early 05.00am start on Ben Nevis we made the long climb up the highest mountain in the U.K. The last 200mts of the climb was snow covered and with clear blue skies the views over the highlands was breath taking.

Once on the Summit we had an extra reward as Glenfiddich Whiskey were giving out free samples along with a bagpipe player which was awesome.

After a short break on the summit it was time to return to Glen Nevis jump on our bus and head for Scafell in the Lake District.
We would be climbing Scafell in the dark, were navigation can be tough at times.

We made good time up Scafell, No Whiskey this time just a cold northerly wind to greet us, So a quick photo shoot and down once again to our bus.
Once on the bus everyone was flat out asleep in no time, I must admit our little mobile home was beginning for smell a little fresh.

We arrived at Snowdon at first light feeling pretty tired with very little sleep and aching bones we sorted our kit and started are final summit.

Some of the team wer e in poor shape due to bad knees and had to miss out the final summit.

It was a little strange to be without our full team on our final climb.

We made Snowdon summit in good time and our total time for the 3 peaks was 28.5hrs.

After a celebration hot chocolate on the summit we slowly made our way down the Miners track enjoying the heat of the sun and stunning views of the Snowdon Masiff.

We meet up with the rest of team back at the Vagabond Hostel, then after a hot shower went out for a little celebration drink.

It was incredible weekend and everyone pushed themselves to the limit.

We had the most amazing conditions and it was a great pleasure to do such a tough challenge with such a determined group of people.

15 Peaks (knees up)

May Bank Holiday was our first 15 peaks of the season and thankfully we had fairly good weather through out the odd hail storm but generally clear skies and great views.

Day 1 - We started our challenge from the Northern end of the Carneddau after a 2hr climb we reached the summit of our first Welsh 3000'er. Not bad timing as I think there were a few hangovers in the team.
We had a mixed day of sunshine & hail a bit strange in May really, but we also had some great views over Snowdonia and could even see the Irish coast line at times.

Sue & Steve were really struggling by the end of the day with bad knees so much so it took us about 2.5hrs to descend from our final Peak of the day, Sue was being a complete legend as it was pretty clear she was in a great deal of pain but battled on down with out any fuss.

Day 2 - S tarts off straight up the North Ridge of Tryfan and awesome Grade 1 Scramble and our training ground for Crib Coch on the final day. No hangovers today just very sore legs.We made great time to the summit enjoying some challenging scrambling onroute. Our next summit awaited as we made our way up the loose scree to Glyder Fach then onto Glyder Fawr.

At this point our other Sue had run out of steam, we had a regroup discussed a plan of action, Myself & Dave assisted Sue off the mountain as she was totally exhausted, Bryn & Emma then continued on to finish all the remaining summits for the day not to be beat by this tough challenge.

Bryn & Emma finally finished at 20.30 we headed straight for a beer and some dinner, Pie & Chips all round.

Day 3 - Our Final day and we were now down to 3 of us to finish off the route.

We awoke early morning, all very excited as today we were doing the Snowdon Horseshoe an awesome high level route around the Snowdon Massif, only to look out the window to see Snowdon totally white, I couldn't believe my eyes snow in May.
After a team meeting we decided we would start the route as assess the conditions as the day went. We also had another injury as Emma's knee was in pretty bad shape. You would never believe you could have so many bad knees in one group.

Any how we decided to give it our best shot as the mountains were looking like they just had to be climbed with a fresh covering of snow and now blue skies.

Unfortunately Emma's knee was giving her so much pain we had to retreat and call it a day.

We made a plan to return and complete the Snowdon Horseshoe later in the year when everyone's knees were in working order.
It's was a great weekend, i'm already looking forward to catching up having a beer and finish off what we started.

I've now got 3 days to recharge the batteries before the 3 Peaks this weekend.

I hope everyone has good knees.

Spring Time

Were enjoying this fine weather up in Snowdonia at the moment.
Snowdonia Nat Pk is so dry it's unbelievable and there's still pockets of snow on the tops which makes the Park looks stunning.



We have been busy running navigation courses over the last few weeks.
All the course's have varied from the NNAS Award Scheme to Mountain Leader Refresher Course's and Night Navigation.

Next weekend is the first of our Welsh 15 Peaks of the season and the forecast is looking good.

Everyone on the May Toubkal Climb have been trying to squeeze in some training and reports from Jamal our man in Morocco is that all the snow has now cleared and it's warming up nicely, which is great news as were camping.



See you on the hill

Jim

Welsh Ridge Walks

Spring is finally here and we've also had some great sunny days.

It's been a fab winter, but were happy to see spring finally arrive.

Our first weekend this spring was spent doing some of the lesser known walks in Snowdonia, but just as stunning as the popular walks, the bonus being it's very quiet and free from all the more popular routes.

On Saturday we headed out for the Nantlle Ridge, with stunning views of Snowdon and the coastline plus some easy scrambling the Nantlle Ridge is a must for all those looking for something new away from the crowds.

Once we had got over the initial shock of a very long steep climb onto the ridge and were rewarded with magnificent 360 views.

On the ridge the route starts on a broad ridge then narrows into a smaller brother of Crib Coch the great thing about Nantlle is you can take the more challenging route or the more relaxed route.

Sunday we climbed Cnitch known as the Matterhorn of Wales this is one of those quiet parts of the National Park that when your there you think why have I not been here before it's simply stunning again great views of Snowdon, Cadir Idris and the Coast.

There's a short scramble to the summit which just adds the whole experience once on the summit it was lunch time before following a short wide ridge then finally descending to our start point.

Both these routes get very little visitors which make it's such a special place.

Remember mum's the word.

Scottish Winter Skills

We Loaded up our Land Rover for what was going to be a slow trip to the Scottish Highlands.
The joy of driving a land rover, well we would be going slow enough to enjoy the stunning Scottish Highlands but get a very numb backside in the process.

Arriving in Aviemore and the sun was shining, Wow this is going to be a good week. Of course it was't to last about an hour in fact.

So our winter skills started off ice axe arrest then moving onto snow pack asessment and winter navigation skills and finally crossing step ground.

After 3 days practising all our new skills in strong winds and zero visability we headed out on our expedition.

Once on the Cairn Gorm plateau we were down to zero visability so good navigation was need to find a venue for our night in a snow hole.

After 3 hours digging we finally had our cosy little home and a brew on.

Everyone had a good night's sleep if not a little damp.

The folowing day we spent practising our navigation before covering some steep ground decending Fiacaill Ridge and finally a controlled bum slide into Corrie Sneachda.

After a hot shower we headed out for a curry and well earn't beer..

Everyone then headed home the following day.

I stayed on a few days to make the most of the last few weeks of winter conditions, another day on the Cairn Gorm and then climbed gulley number 4 on Ben Nevis in glourious sunshine before heading back to Wales justv in time for more snow.

What an amazing winter this has been, lets hope we continue to have more winter like this year.

Rjukan Ice Climbing

We arrived in Norway with a bang that was our landing the runway was a sheet ice pretty scary.

Outside the airport it was blowing a gale and about -12 the adventure had begun.
Our first 5 days in Rjukan were really cold average daily temp -16 so it made the ice really brittle so it was coming away in huge pieces. One of our group ended up with a split eye and great black eye.

We headed for the lower gorge for the first 2 days then we checked out Ozizmosis these were great intro's into the area and ice climbing.
Norway is'nt cheap and £5 a pint at happy hour we only had a couple of beers before maxing out the credit cards.
With such cold conditions and huge amounts of snow our next planned adventure to MAEL was going to be full on.
MAEL is a true adventure with an absail into the gorge then a 4 pitch WI 3 cllimb out for the hard core there a WI 4 & WI 6.
After a long full days climb everyone was rewarded with 5ft of snow towade through a tough but awsome day.
It was time for a rest day for me but the remianing of the group climbed every day.

Rjukan is a world class ice climbing area with over 150 water falls to climb with climbing routes to suit every level.
We headed out for the Krokan area once everyone was feeling strong this area had some of more technical climbing in the area there were some pretty knarly ice colums to be climbed for those good enough of mad enough.
We spent a couple days in the upper gorge there was some full on multi- pitch routes to be climbed including the world class Lipton good knows how people manage to climb it.
After 10 days we were all well and truly wasted everyyone climbed really hard but we all left Norway very happy and planning next years rtn trip.

Winter Skills

Fantastic weather here in Snowdonia over the weekend, we had clear blue skies and great snow conditions for the winter skills course.
Both days were spent in Cwm Lloer learning and practising new skills.
Sunday managed to bag a few summits on the Carneddau and the views over Snowdonia were just magic.
There seemed to be alot of people on the hill who must have though it was mid July , with very little equipment, there were no crampons or ice axes to be seen, even a pair of boots would would have been good for some walkers.
The mountains in the U.K. can be very dangerous places to be with the wrong equipment so make sure you have all the right skills & kit before heading out.
You don't want to be in the paper come monday morning !

Sorry about that just a little rant.
lets hope the winter conditions continue.
Were of to Norway in 10 days to enjoy some world class ice climbing.
Have fun.

Toubkal Jan 2010

After a short 3hr flight from the U.K. we touched down in Marrakesh to a perfect temperature of 19c, We then headed straight off for some lunch and then spent the afternoon wondering around the sights and souks of Marrakesh.
A short 2hr drive through stunning valleys we finaaly arrived at out guest house in Imlil.

After meeting our Moroccan guide Rashid the evening was spent getting our kit ready for the climb and a quick briefing before our early morning departure for the refuge.

The forecast for the next 3 days was possible snow on day one and two and and clear skies for our summit day.

The snow line was at 3000mt so things were looking good, our climb to the refuge at 3200mt would be quicker and easier.

As soon as our donkey's were loaded up with all our food and supplies for the next 3 days we slowly made our way to the refuge at 3200mt a climb of nearly 1400mt so a big day at altitude, it took us nearly 7hrs to reach the refuge stopping for tea along the way, thankfully the Moroccans like drinking tea just as much as the us so we were in good company.

Everyone was feeling pretty good with the altitude just a few mild headaches.

Once at the refuge it was tea time once again then we had just enough time to practise our winter skills and play around in the snow.

We awoke early the next morning to a total white out the wind was blowing at about 40kph which would mean we could only spend the day in the valley due to high avalanche risk.

All though we did manage two short walks up to 3400mt to help everyone acclimatise along with playing in the snow, plenty of tea and the odd game of cards.

By mid afternoon two of us headed out to check the conditions on the summit ascent route only to find the snow pack in very dangerous condition and a high risk of avalanche.

We would need a miracle for us to summit the following morning.

After another great evening meal and a birthday cake plus more tea and of course a game of cards we headed for bed praying for the conditions to change.

We woke early to check the weather only to find a foot of snow on the door of the refuge and the wind still blowing strong so we decided for the leisurely breakfast as we couldn't make a summit attempt in such adverse weather conditions.

After breakfast we started to make our way back down to Imlil along with everyone else staying in the refuge. Its was hard going trying to break a trail in over a foot of snow and of course the strong winds.

Finally after 1hr on the trail the weather finally broke and we were rewarded with breath taking views of the High Atlas and only our foot marks in the snow, it was like a winter wonderland and the snow was as low down as 1500mts which was not to common in Morocco.

Once back in Imlil we had time to chillout wounder around the village before dinner and a few celebration drinks.

Another early start back to the airport but to finish off our adventure we found ourselves stuck on the road due to a landslide so it was all has on deck or rocks in this case as we cleared the road and finally to the airport.

Despite not making it to the summit due the weather we had a great trip with alot of laughs and the trail back down after all the snow fall just made up it.