Last night I watched a great DVD called Reel Rock 7, the cinematography was stunning, if anyone is interested in mountaineering or sport climbing I highly recommend it.
One of the features was a bout the American team that achieved the summit on the fearsome Meru central
previously there had been 30 failed attempts to climb this peak, next year there will be a film released called "Meru" about the climb



in this pic you can just make out the headlamps of the climbers

on the summit


fancy this for a camping holiday?
no this pic isn't rotated, that the right way up


location of the last pic

There was also a feature about the world's best solo free climber Alex Honnold.
He set a new benchmark for solo climbing when he hybrid climbed the three most difficult peaks in Yosemite in 24 hours, a mindboggling feat.





he started at 4pm to avoid direct sunlight on the face, one of the climbs was through the night
again the headlamp is just visible


great pic


how do you fancy hanging on by your fingernails with no safety rope above 3000 foot drop?

That's absolutely amazing! And vertigo inducing just looking at those shots, Mart!

yep, that guy's crazy
I can understand the appeal, but I'd get scared 15 foot off the ground

That looks fun Mart...all of it Get to the top and jump off, with a parachute of course lol.

StarsChildren wrote: more of a wingsuit fan myself

Yup, wingsuits look like great fun too... but would still rather start with a plain ole parachute first.

anyone thinking that climbing looks fun but they don't like heights should try going the other direction

there's quite a lot of interesting climbs underground with the added benefit of being surrounded by pitch blackness so you can't see the 300 foot drop below.
and there are some stunning sights underground, haven't been for years but the discovery of Titan cave a few years back has got me itching to go again.

My sister's done a bit of potholing, and when she describes getting into a spot where she's wedged for ages in awkward positions, it gives me a panic attack!

Gilly wrote:
The first time I went caving I was dropped into the deep end, literally
it was Berksfell in flood conditions, it's a grade 4 and they only go up to 5
There's a section there's a quarter mile of crawl on your back with just your nose above the water and the brim of the helmet scraping the rock ceiling
by the time we got to the bottom the flooding was bad, white water in places, and freezing cold meltwater
luckily it's a through cave so we didn't have to come out the same way

I swore I'd never go again after that, went again the next weekend, it's addictive
did a bit of climbing but never unsecured, caving's better

Yep, that's just the kind of 'adventure' my sister describes, to see me go

Even walking in caves where you can stand upright and see marvellous stalagmites & stalactites gives me the heebie-jeebies!

Thanks for posting, mart. That free climber is insane and inspiring at the same time, it all makes for fantastic pictures.

Gilly wrote:
I can handle caves to an extent but if it got a bit squeezey I'd give it a miss. Wookey Hole is one thing but Wookey Catflap is not for me.

hugorune wrote:
I might have to steal that one.

martg wrote:
Help yourself mate.

Isn't our Ms Pumpshaft a caver? Meaning she explores caves as opposed to living in one - I don't want to be accused of calling her Gollum.