|
Talisman Newsletter |
||||
|
|
||||
|
Newsletter Edition Number 2 2nd October 2004 |
||||
|
Headline News: Ernest reveals a secret passion for white lipstick
Above Ernest caught on camera...more details inside!
Now booking!
There are some places available on the Christmas / New Year Mountaineering Special which runs from 27th to 31st December 2005
Bed & Breakfast We can arrange B&B at a comfortable local guest house from £20 per person per night.
Call or e-mail to book.
+44(0)07803 617769 +44(0)01479 841576 info@talisman-activities.co.uk
Now Booking!
Spanish Hot Rock 7 day courses, transport & villa accommodation, only £400
Private guiding in the Alicante area from £140 per day.
Call now…
or e-mail Fi & Ron to book.
Also Booking!
Winter Walking Skills
Winter Mountaineering
Snowholing and Survival Skills
Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced Ice Climbing
Winter Munros
We’re on the Web at
The website is full of information, pictures and so much more.
Also Booking Summer 2005!!
Contact us NOW for
Mont Blanc & Matterhorn Experience, Tour du Mont Blanc & Haute Route
Two week alpine walking holiday and an ascent of Mont Blanc with IFMGA Mountain Guides
Contact us to book now!
Talisman Mountain Activities 3 Railway Cottages, Slochd, Inverness-shire, PH23 3AY Phone / Fax +44 (0) 1479 841576 Mobile +44 (0) 7803 617769 E-mail here
|
Talisman Activities Update!
It’s been six months since the last newsletter and how quickly the time has passed! Adventures, trips and courses mentioned in the first newsletter have been completed but more about these below. We’re already making plans for this winter and taking bookings for the winter courses especially the course that is being run between Christmas and New Year. We have the reindeer, we will have the snow and there may even be mince pies and mulled wine too for your Christmas and New Year winter mountaineering holiday! Summer 2004…
Summer for us started with an escape to warmer places to thaw out after the winter. We went to Calpe in Spain where there are many easily accessible crags with bolted routes of all grades. Talk about being spoilt for choice! La Toix was only ten minutes away and great for short cragging sessions, Sella provided the greatest variety of routes, the Penon de Ifach gave multi-pitch routes in a fantastic, coastal setting with the seagulls adding extra excitement! We recced the Puig Campagna and plan to return there for climbing and more walking. Full details and pictures of this stunning area can be found by following the link below www.talisman-activities.co.uk/summer/trekking_europe.htm The next Spanish “Hot Rock” Course is taking place from 30th October to 13th November and further courses will be run in May 2005. The course price included airport transfers from Alicante, transport and accommodation in a luxury villa with a swimming pool and complimentary bucket of sangria! More details can be found at www.talisman-activities.co.uk/summer/hotrock.htm We also have a special arrangement for Talisman clients with a Spanish holiday rental company for new, fully serviced, two and three bedroom villas in the Costa Blanca. Prices start from only £150 per week when accommodation is booked for several weeks during off-peak periods. Please contact us by phone or e-mail if this offer is of interest to you. We were back in Scotland in May only to find that there had been snow and that the easy gullies in Coire an t-Sneachda were still complete. In fact, they were probably in the best condition of the season so we got a few easy ice routes in between rock our climbing trips in May! Compared to last summer, the weather this year has been disappointing with only a handful of days when it has been dry enough to climb in the mountains. We were fortunate in being able to base ourselves in Chamonix over the summer partly for pleasure but also for training and assessment as European Mountain Leaders. This means that next year we will be able to offer more Alpine holiday adventures including the Tour du Mont Blanc and the Walkers’ Haute Route between Chamonix and Zermatt. We will continue to use IFMGA guides for the more technical and higher Alpine routes that you choose to do. Ron’s bit…
This summer the weather in the Alps was electrifying to say the least and we made some record breaking ascents and descents to avoid the storms and lightning strikes. I’ve also found a great way to get Fi moving fast when she’s tired, I just shout "LIGHTNING"!
We were almost struck on one occasion after abseiling off the Rebuffat Route on the South Face of Aiguille du Midi. Fi’s still convinced she was! Anyway, the sun disappeared and the black clouds rolled in. It started snowing halfway up our route just after the crux pitches so there was no other sensible choice but to escape quickly. So after three or four abseils down the white granite slabs of the South Face, we breathed a sigh of relief when we reached and safely crossed the bergschrund on glacier below. We climbed up the snow ridge in a whiteout to the sounds of thunder (Fi’s scarey ridge!) and into to the ice tunnel. But just as we approached the safety of the telepherique station there was a huge bang….it had been stuck by lightning, showering sparks and buzzing all around the metal door next us…we were ok but a very close shave! Due to storm damage we had some time to wait before the cable cars could run but with free hot chocolate courtesy of the cable car company and good chat with the Bristol team we met in the Cosmiques Refuge on the previous evening and, incidentally, whom we had met before when ice climbing in La Grave last January. Small world! They recounted an accident which had happened to a French Guide that day on the descent from Mont Blanc du Tacul and the resultant helicopter rescue. Apparently, I was so engrossed in climbing the crux pitches of our route that I didn't notice all the commotion! The guide had been passing above our Bristol friends with his two clients. One of the clients fell pulling the other client and guide and almost taking them out too! It was an interesting few hours chatting while the telepherique staff waited for the storm to pass so they could repair the damaged cable car cable, again but that’s another story! Despite the near lightning miss and the generally unsettled weather this summer we had a great time ticking off a lot of the classic rock routes such as the North East Ridge of the Aiguille de L’M,La Chappelle de la Gliere, Aiguille Du Tour Table de Roc Ridge, Eperon Des Cosmiques and the South Face of the Aguille du Midi to name but a few. However a lot of the mixed routes were in generally poor or dangerous condition after last years heatwave and the poorish winter so some of our hit list will have to wait for next year.
And more from Fi...
Whilst over there, we joined up with Andy and Mandi whom we met on an earlier winter mountaineering course. Andy is a regular on Ron’s courses but this was their first mountaineering trip to the Alps and it really was a case of in at the deep end as within a matter of days from arriving in Chamonix, they had summited Mont Blanc du Tacul (4,248m), slept out under the stars on the Vallee Blanche - a high-altitude bivouac at around 3,400m, ice climbed on the Mer de Glace and somehow even had the time to visit Zermatt to see the Matterhorn.
Ernest also joined us in Chamonix to find out more about all things Alpine and had an exciting trail breaking traverse of the Valley Blanche in a Scottish whiteout. The following day was a complete contrast with blue sky and sunshine. We had crystal clear views across the Alps and the towering peaks that Ernest passed through the previous day. It looks like the mountaineering bug has bitten as well for he is determined to return to climb Mont Blanc and is returning this winter to do another Scottish winter mountaineering course along with his daughter.
Ian, Elaine, Philip and Paul arrived at the end of August and had some very hot cragging days at Les Gaillands. They explored many of the walks in and around the Chamonix valley and Ian and Paul also climbed Aiguille du Tour with an overnight visit to the Albert Premier Hut. Ian, Elaine and Paul are all past participants on Talisman courses and took the skills they have learned in Scotland to give them a greater enjoyment of their holiday in the Alps. In the last newsletter we mentioned Rob Wheeler who was heading off to the Arctic to take part in the Fujitsu Polar Challenge. He suffered mild frostbite and had to withdraw from the actual race but well done to him for getting that far as even the training must have been a challenge in itself. The Polar Challenge was filmed and recently shown on television illustrating just how harsh and unforgiving the Arctic environment can be. Rob got off lightly with mild frostbite to his hands, if you saw the program you’ll know what we mean. Ioan also headed out to the Alps for his first Alpine season and was successful with his first attempt on Gran Paradiso (4,061 metres) in September though he did say the altitude made it so much harder! We haven’t heard how his companions got on with their attempt on the Matterhorn but it was still plastered with a lot of fresh snow when we left in early September! Hopefully Ioan will be returning this year for some more technical winter climbing fun! Winter 2005 Activities…
There’s no snow yet but there will be loads! We’re convinced of that and even when it’s a poor winter, there are always places to go where snow can be found! The courses for this winter cover everything from the basic winter walking skills through to survival skills and snowhole expeditions! The Winter Walking skills course is excellent grounding for those who want to walk in the Scottish mountains in winter. No previous winter hillwalking experience is needed for these courses. The Winter Mountaineering Courses take the skills a step further enabling the participants to go off and explore the more challenging hills. Belay techniques, basic rope work and more detailed navigation skills are covered. Then there is also the snowholing trip which can be included in the Mountaineering Skills Course. This is a planned snowhole trip and therefore reasonably comfortable as sleeping bags, food and stoves are taken along. Ice climbing courses will be run on demand for those who seek an introduction to this exhilarating experience and for those who look to improve their techniques. These are very much tailored to the needs of the individuals. Walking days, navigation courses and winter skills courses especially for women can be arranged by Fi. And more…
Nepal This year our planned trip to Nepal did not happen due to the difficult political situation. We have fond memories of Nepal and feel that, at this time, it is not right to return. Next year may be different and we continue to watch the situation closely as it is still our aim to trek and climb Mera and Island Peak. WinterNet The weather and conditions are so important to anyone heading onto the hills in winter be they walker, climber or skier. Conditions at Cairngorm will be regularly updated just as soon as there is snow. WinterNet is sponsored by Talisman Activities and by making use of digital technology, provides up-to-date photos from Cairngorm. Reports from local folk are regularly posted giving a useful source of information to help in your assessment of the snow conditions. The site also gives access to many other useful websites – weather forecasts, the SAIS avalanche reports, web cams and reports for Ben Nevis and Glencoe. Snowdon Lodge Anja and Carl, who joined a winter mountaineering course last winter, run the Snowdon Lodge. They provide comfortable bunkhouse accommodation close to Llanberis Pass, the main climbing area in Wales, where we may base a course next summer if there is sufficient interest. Photos and Videos Many photographs and video clips are taken throughout the courses by Talisman and the course participants. As more and more people are using digital cameras, we have been able to bring together all the photos and video clips taken during each course to produce CD and DVD’s. This means that everyone joining the courses gets a visual record of their experience to take away. Ron has a 30 GB portable hardrive that can accept any type of flash memory card so we are now able to download everyone’s photos daily if required and burn them on CD/DVD. And finally…
We are always open to suggestions for new courses, trips and adventures that you want to undertake. We are not a big organisation that needs you to fit in with what we can provide which means we can provide what you want (to a certain extent!) Just give us a call or e-mail to chat these over. We are Ron Walker, Talisman’s owner, creator and web master, qualified Mountain Instructor and Mountain Leader and Fi Chappell, newsletter editor, qualified Summer Mountain Leader and trainee Winter Mountain Leader. Both are outdoor enthusiasts who find it very hard to stay indoors!
From the rambler to the scrambler let Talisman be your guiding light for safe adventure activities! Future newsletters will follow but if you don’t want to receive these, e-mail us at newsletter@talisman-activities.co.uk and type REMOVE in the subject header. Newsletter Edition 1 can be found here |
|||
