Tuesday 8 June 2010

New Website

Check out the new website at www.theorangehouse.co.ukwww.theorangehouse.co.uk

Friday 12 June 2009

Hard Rock Tour - We need to start collecting again!

On the 13th of July it will be the 2nd year anniversary for the start of Hard Rock Challenge. The day that Mark and Richard climbed Coronation Street in Chedder Gorge and 5 weeks and 60 routes later they finished on Moonraker in Devon.

London Mountaineering Club last month invited Rich to come and do a talk and slideshow, they put a further 265 pounds in the pot. Thanks guys!

We now need more places and clubs to go and visit to raise more money.

Anyone that is a member of a club that would like the boys to come and visit please get in touch, no charge is made to the club just a minimum donation to Mountain Rescue.

email sam on mailto:sam@theorangehouse.net

Wednesday 6 August 2008

Trailer for the best British climbing film :0)

Finding your way around this blog!

Now that this blog is archived you might find it hard to work out the story!

Can you see on the left hand side "blog archive" well you need to click on that and then on 2007, it has a little arrow that when you press it gives you more options for the months, then you can be more specific and go through the dates as you want to.

Thanks and happy reading!

Sam

Thursday 13 September 2007

New Video Link

Check this out!

http://www.army.mod.uk/news/army_news_current_stories/hard_rock_climb.htm

Kendal Film Festival Confirmed


Good news is that after lots of emails flying backwards and forwards to John Porter we now have a slot at this years Kendal Film Festival.

Sunday 18th November - 12.30pm Malt Rooms


I am so happy as it means a few things :-

Firstly, I get an excuse to come back to the UK, everyone thinks I am mad but I do miss the old place, and even though this year I saw it at its wettest I still loved it.

Secondly, we get to see all our friends again. We made the most amazing contacts this summer and hopefully we can call them friends and continue to see them lots. Sir Chris was a charmer which I am sure most people that know him will confirm. David Simmonite and I get on like a house on fire. In fact I am sure Rich would say too much as one night when Dave slept in Cheryl we stayed awake talking until the small hours like a couple of teenagers!

Some of the Mountain Rescue people we will stay in contact with, especially the young couple from Cornwall as they offered to take us surfing next summer. Julian from Wasdale we will also meet again and hopefully next time he will go climbing with us.

Stephen Reid was a great support during the challenge and it was so nice when I was alone in the van and I would get a phone call asking how we were getting on. I even remember on a very wet day in Aviemore when he had taken the trouble to check the weather report for me for North Wales.

Alot of these people we will hopefully see at Kendal and if not during one of our less stressful trips to the UK.

Monday 3 September 2007

Trying to get back to normal!

I don´t really know if I am coming or going at the moment. We got back from the trip and I had 2 days before I left again to watch my eldest boy Daniel play cricket for Spain down at La Manga. It was the European Championships and they did really well. Three wins out of five and only getting beaten by the champs from last year and this years winners, Guernsey. You can check out the details here CricketEurope.net

I have just finished an article for Mountain Rescue Magazine, it was nice just writing down everything in one go, I didn´t even need to look back at my journal! I will post it whole on here once the magazine has been published.

Rich now has the daunting task of going through the 100´s of hours of video tape. Not a job to be taken lightly. Simon did try to keep a log during the trip but time ran out on us everyday.

One thing writing the story out in full did, was bringing back some of the not so nice memories from the trip :-

Out of touch with the real world! - I never realised before how much we rely on mobile phone coverage and the internet. It was such a weird feeling know that people could not get hold of me. I did put an automatic reply on my emails which explained why I could not get back to people, but I still worried. It didn´t really bother Rich as he leaves all that stuff to me and Mark did have his small pda which he used in the back on the van whilst on the move!

Places like Petes Eats which is a cafe in Llanberis, ended up been a god send! they even trust you to tell them how many minutes you use and pay downstairs. The internet cafe in Fort William was also great, the guy even set me up with a tab which he kept open for 2 weeks inbetween the visits.

No sharing with Rich - Some days if I had time between cleaning the van, shopping and cooking I would take Tufa for a walk. The one that stands out the most was my day in The Cairngorms. The boys had set off for the second time to climb King Rat and Goliath, I chilled in the morning on the campsite and then decided to have a bimble around the loch! little did I know it was a 9 mile round trip.

I was so amazed by the view but was very very sad that I had no one to share it with. I even got a little tearful when I looked up to the crag he was climbing on, knowing that I was not going to see him for a few hours.

We will go back to alot of the places we visited this summer and I am determined to take the time to enjoy all the beautiful places together.

A few more photos from the collection :-

Another great Mike Robertson photo - Rich using the tree on North Crag Eliminate!

Almost too warm to climb and this was Wales - The boys on The Big Groove
Stephen Reid took this photo of the boys on The Crack in the rain

Friday 24 August 2007

Back in Spain and its raining!!!

I don´t believe it, we are back home at The Orange House and its raining and really windy, what did I do in a past life to deserve this? (don´t answer that anyone!).

Feels weired to be back and a bit sad really, so much planning and now its all over. Rich is happy though, he went climbing last night with Keith (better not tell him its nice in the UK at the mo!) and he put the draws in his 8a, he claims his climbing has suffered during this trip and says his legs have grown.

Here are a few more photos from the trip:-

This is one of my favourite shots, when the cloud started to clear around the Old Man, I was snoozing in the tent on top of the cliff and I got a call over the radio from the boys saying "wake up, you might be able to see us". If you click on the photo you can just make out Mark´s white helmet.

Tufa chewing on an antler that we found on the road to Ballater. Anyone going up that way I can recommend the local campsite. It is council run and the guy Dougie was lovely, he charged us 10 quid only and then gave it us back to put in the pot.

This photo was taken on the way out of Wasdale campsite. I had never been to The Lakes before and really liked the place. We will be going back next year but not rushing around quite so much!

I am just going through David Simmonite´s photos and will upload some of them in the next hour, he reallys not a bad photograher (she runs and hides!).

The boys on Coronation Street
The boys on Shibboleth
Rich on Elder Crack
Mark on Suicide Wall no 1

I will be away for the next week as my eldest Dan is playing cricket for Spain in the European Championships down at La Manga. Wish them luck everyone, they will need it!

I will update the blog again when I get back, that will be in a little over a week.

Sunday 19 August 2007

Hard Rock Fest - same again next year!


This blog will now be updated once a week!

Look at that happy face!

We finished the last climb on Berryhead on Friday afternoon and had some time to enjoy a lovely meal on the way to The Mill Adventure Centre. Rich was falling asleep during the short drive but strangely he came alive when we arrived at The Mill. "Can you set a route for us Rich?" asked Keith. "Of course I can" replies Rich.


Prize giving


Jon Tate during the dyno comp

The whole weekend went really well, although more people would have been nice! Thanks to the following :-

Paul and Dave at The Mill - See you next year guys
Celebrity climbers - Steve McClure, James Pearson and Mikey Robertson
The Crew - Thanks guys and well done for not feeding Tufa any burgers!
Attendees - Thanks for showing up and buying tickets and taking part
Cotswold for the prizes and Auction items - lets hope we see you all next year as-well!
and most important thank you goes to Keith from Rock and Rapid Adventures, we really could not have had such a great weekend with you.


Keith from Rock and Rapid Adventures working out the comp scores