Hiking, Scrambling, Mountaineering, and Climbing

This is my all time favourite. My arms nearly fell off.

https://www.bergsteigen.com/touren/klettersteig/reinhard-schiestl-klettersteig/

All good points, I’ve never had a snobbish attitude towards it- appreciate its origins and anything that gets people up and enjoying the mountains is a good thing.

I think in my head it would feel somewhere between work(years of trees and a bit of industrial/events access) and sport climbing.
The thought of getting lots of mileage in for fitness does sound like a wise plan. I was woefully unfit for a trad route recently and had a far more enjoyable weekend doing sport routes instead.

Have you seen the crazy reusable screamers from the 80s made with Velcro or just looping through rigging plates?

http://www.verticalmuseum.com/

If you’ve never browsed the vertical museum site before you’re in for a treat.
I’ve ended up hunting down one or two random bits of kit I spotted on there..

Sounds fun and something I'd like.

I think we all want a go on the M.A.D at some point..
http://www.verticalmuseum.com/VerticalDevicesPage/Ascender/Motorized.php

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All good points, I’ve never had a snobbish attitude towards it- appreciate its origins and anything that gets people up and enjoying the mountains is a good thing.

You've got it in one there. It opens up terrain to people of pretty much any ability level depending on the route. And the equipment is cheap. Not to mention the routes themselves are free.

Have you seen the crazy reusable screamers from the 80s made with Velcro or just looping through rigging plates?

http://www.verticalmuseum.com/

If you’ve never browsed the vertical museum site before you’re in for a treat.
I’ve ended up hunting down one or two random bits of kit I spotted on there..

No, haven't seen anything like that...think I've got a nice internet hole to fall into after dinner!

I’ve been falling down that rabbit hole for years on that site. Endless pages of meticulous tables, pictures, measurements and notes on pretty much every device ever conceived.

I used to really want a zyper when I first started doing tree work, a dodgy via ferrata lanyard that was already obsolete when I started but loads of the older guys loved them for fliplines and work positioning in small fruit trees.

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Have to admit, it's beautifully simple.

Especially compared to what I was using today. So much stitching.

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And you know, I didn't fall today, so the Petzl Zyper wouldn't have killed me...

The best bit of info I learned from that site was of the joys of the sprung sticht which I now use for all belaying and abseils.
When we went to Yosemite our guide hadn’t seen one in years so he dug his out and had a blast using it all week and showing me a few nifty features.

They come up all the time on eBay if anyone wants to give one a whirl.
http://www.verticalmuseum.com/VerticalDevicesPage/Belay/StichtBelayPages/Sticht0675.php

Pretty sure mines a trango but seen same pattern by multiple brands

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has a dangerous reputation for being "safe". You can only fall once on via Ferrata. Your screamer will only deploy once and then you have to be rescued.

This is what always freaked me out - I once did a huge vertical route near Briancon- it wasn't too technical but had big exposure and I had visions of hanging in mid-air for hours until the rescue came. I don't think I could ever do the routes with wire bridges for this reason

What do you use as a static lanyard for just taking a rest on during via? A sling or an adjustable wotsit like the Petzl connect?
I just got one for sport climbing as looked neat but doubt I’d use it for anything else.

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Thanks to previous advice I have booked onto the 3 day stretch of the South West Coast Path from Abbotsbury to Lulworth Cove.

Next question: I want to set up an ebay search for some hiking poles. Don't think I need anything great, just want to buy something second hand rather than new. Does anyone have some brands I can put in the search box? I know nothing about hiking poles.

Decathlon (cheap, good), Leki (huge range, well known brand, spares readily available), Black Diamond (light, solid, not too pricey) That's as far as my research went when looking recently for my mum. She ended up with the 3-piece carbon jobbies from BD as her friend had the same and the handles were comfortable.

I have black diamon folding. Good.

Black diamond Distance Plus FLZ

Black Diamond are good. Mine are ten years old still going strong

I bought a pair of BD from @HatBeard and have used them for 500km+ of hiking on trails, rock and ice in the last two months. Can recommend.

I initially thought they were too weight weenie compared to my old fizan compact 4 but they've been brilliant. Light as fuck too.

Although that's a good point...I've got a pair of Fizan Compact 4s in very used but perfectly ok condition...yours for nowt I'd you want them!

Some sets have a loop attached to the screamer that you can attach a crab to. This is fine for leaning back and resting. Here's mine. (Unzipped for extra detail)

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Oh I see. That’s a pretty nifty little arrangement I must say! Cheers for posting.

I seem to remember reading somewhere there’s a slate quarry in wales with a modern via route on it? Possibly at an outdoor centre or something. Might give it a whirl.

Edit - looks like there’s a few around the country but all look like they’re privately owned/operated and pricey.

Pricey and very stag/hen do oriented. More like Go ape than a KS.

Yes that’s the impression I got from their sites. Will hold off and just give it a whirl next time we’re in France.
To be fair tho go ape is pretty fun..

Our plan is to knuckle down over winter with some indoor stuff. Yonder just down the road.
Is the Castle still top dog in London for indoor leading?

Well that was a big fucking day! South > North traverse of Hochwilde/L'altissima on the Austrian/Italian border.

Started off at 5am below freezing and under a bright moon and finished the day in hot sunshine. Lots of glacier travel with a dump of fresh snow making progress a little slow. Some nice short ice pitches to get up and over a massive bergschrund (50m+ deep!) Followed by about 2.5hours/500m of extremely exposed but pretty easy grade II climbing. We had to abandone our plan to climb Anakogel on the way down because gurglerferner has lost 30m of thickness this summer and the side of the mountain was thawing and falling away. We went up the whole length of Langtalferner and down the whole length of gurglerferner on the way back.

Probably the last climb of the summer season.

Highlights: setting ice screws to belay my guide over the bergshrund...felt like the first moment I didn't have imposter syndrome in a committed situation. Finding the tracks of a wolf in the snow. The views. Being able to take on this route at all.

Lowlights: 10 hours to cover 18km with an average HR of 130bpm. I'm absolutely, completely, broken both above and below the waist. Loss of glacier ice...it impossible to convey how bleak things are up here this season.

Will link my insta when I've posted some photos.

Awesome!

Our mountain guide, Gabriel, just invited me to join him on the Ober Gabelhorn Arbengrat in July 2023.

https://www.summitpost.org/arbengrat-wsw-ridge/554588

There's nothing technically intidimating on that route but I've sure got a lot of conditioning work to get on with. In fitness terms, its probably twice as hard as what runined me yesterday. Just the descent to town can be a 9 hour grind.