This month’s image was shot during Mick Fowler and Paul Ramsden’s ascent of The Prow of Shiva in the Himalayas. Last month Mick and Paul were awarded The Piolet d’Or for their achievements on this peak.

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For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

NE Ridge Ulvetanna, 1750m, E6 6b, 5.12, A2 (C2)

We made it! And Louis just did a low fly by in the Basler! Can it get any wilder out here?

Ulvetanna’s fearsome North East Ridge allowed us safe passage up and down from her summit but not without showing a few teeth. We’re back in base camp with all our stuff, the weather is great again and we’re all loving life as we leisurely conduct another great gear faff.

In this endless light I have lost track of the passing of days, measuring time in terms energy spent and distance gained. There have been many 20 hour days of intense, gruelling effort and those spent too exhausted to leave camp.

At times in truly savage conditions we have conducted loads of complicated, scary missions and in the process safely climbed and cleaned all trace of our presence from this beautiful mountain.

We’ve all been pushed to our limits, taken a beating but come out top, well at the bottom thankfully. We have just completed the first ascent of one of the finest alpine/big wall lines anywhere and we are about to eat Steak accompanied by The GlenLivet 18. It does not get any better than this. Nice One boys.

We have done it. A decade of dreaming, a year of planning, a month on the ice, and week on the wall and we have done it! It is just starting to sink in that we have succeeded and are safe.

So to fill you in…

After a second gruelling haul and ferrying a bunch of loads along the drop jaw ridge we established a magnificent well stocked wall camp on the plateau of Great expectations in good conditions. The ledge at the end of the ridge is a feature of the mountain.

Sufficiently large and safe to take off your harness with plenty of space for gear, cooking, hanging out etc.

The two Port-a-ledges hung nicely protected from above by a roof and remarkably sheltered from the increasingly present SE wind on the North side. A bivi spot in a horizontal break right at the base of the headwall – the coffin – was more comfortable than it sounds.

The ominous headwall rises for 400m above. It is only in the sun from 7am until 2pm forcing us to begin the arduous process of brewing, eating, preparing and dressing for battle painfully early. On a countdown schedule we had to make continuous progress to be up and down in time for the Russians to pick us up.

Though we had been discussing a couple of route options from afar, up close the line was unmistakable.

A short blank slab that required 2 hand drilled bolts led to wild climbing up a perfect system of corners and cracks for 200m to a giant roof.

Stanley wriggled his way through the Roof slot of despair and we all braved shade and wind up off widths and chimneys above to reach the epic Snow Petrel pillar below the upper headwall.

That was when the Antarctic conditions we’ve spent so long fearing finally showed up! For three days, high winds, low temps and heavy snow battered us and the mountain. Thankfully we were ready.

Our sleeping bags are rated to -50 C and have been havens.

We had sufficient clothing, kit, strength and motivation to push on culminating in an unforgettable summit day during the worst conditions of the expedition.

We reached the epic, pointy summit in -35 C with wind chill, wearing thick beards of ice, and hearts full of joy. The cloud even broke for 5 mins dousing us in sun as we surveyed the panorama.

On the descent we cleaned the ropes until the Pillar.

The most perfect BASE exit beckoned down the east face, a compelling wingsuit line to a landing zone below the ‘rock’ would’ve completed the dream.

We considered leaving ropes fixed from camp and hoping for better conditions but having seen Ulvetanna growl we were too terrified to wait around to be bitten. We continued down to wall camp cleaning ropes, braced for a scary descent in poor conditions, dreams of flight postponed.

The next day we were all exhausted, intimidating clouds finally broke into the fine weather we have been enjoying since, a God send for the complicated descent. 3 endless days of hard, well executed, dare I say fun work and we are home.

Our out post on this glacier that a month ago felt like the edge of the world, now feels like home. Before the run to ABC felt like a serious day out, on our final load it was an enjoyable 3 hour round trip.

The Sun is now much lower in the sky and it is colder, -17 C earlier.

We are almost ready for airlift and keen to get out of here whilst the flying conditions are good.

The weather gods of Ulvetanna, Queen Maud Land, and Antarctica have been so kind; we don’t want to out stay our welcome.

Al.

Visit Berghaus Online Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, men’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.

You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

Choose from a range of cutting edge waterproof jackets, fleeces, trousers & more from Berghaus.

We have a great community of fans and followers and are committed to delivering amazing content that enhances people’s enjoyment of the outdoors and helps our community thrive.

We’re looking for experts on outdoor subjects who can share their skills and knowledge to help people to get outdoors by giving them the confidence and information to try something new or build on their existing skills.
 

What are we looking for:

We’d be looking for a blog of approximately 500 words or a video to share with our community on your expert topic.

If you’re interested in blogging for us then please bear in mind what we’re looking for:

Authority: Berghaus are a technical, credible brand and we are looking for content that reinforces this position on any outdoors subject and we want our bloggers to be experts in their field.

Unique: Content must be unique.  It can’t be recycled from elsewhere on the web and if you are writing on a subject where content already exists think about how you can make it unique for our audience.

Engaging: We’re looking for content that people not only want to read but share – the best sign of their enjoyment of the content.

Trust: We want our expert blogs to be of the highest standard so you must be knowledgeable of the subject you choose to write.
 

What you will get:

Your content and link on the website of one of the leading global outdoor brands

Promotion through our social media channels where appropriate:

Facebook: 17,000 followers

Twitter: 6,000 followers

Inclusion in our brand email where appropriate

There may also be opportunities to use the content in other Berghaus media such as magazines, or in store.
 

How to submit

Introduce yourself and pitch your idea to us by emailing enquiries@berghaus.com with ‘Expert Blogger’ as your subject line

Tell us how you are technical, credible and an authority in your area of expertise

Let us know any details about your website or background that may be useful
 

Your blog:

Must be unique content and you agree not to publish it elsewhere at any time in the future
We’re looking for quality over quantity so we don’t have a minimum or maximum word count, we leave that up to you, but a general guide would be more than 500 words
Sentences and paragraphs:  Keep them short and punchy
Headings:  Make good use of headings to structure your article.
Lists:  A great way to break up content in to easily readable chunks
Images:  Supply images you have copyright to use to bring the article to life.  Images on our blog are 440 pixels wide but we’re happy to edit larger images if you supply them
No affiliate links
You must not use paid for link building to increase traffic to your guest post.
Format:  We accept blogs in Word, Notepad or in an email
We won’t re-write your article but we may make grammatical changes and other types of editing before uploading
Provide a short bio and use this for your back links.  We allow 2 links, the rest of the article should be you expressing your knowledge on a subject, not an advert

“Adventure is climbing to the limit – pushing the envelope – revelling in that element of risk and my ability to control it. There is a fantastic sense of euphoria when you’ve managed a series of hard frightening moves a long way above your last runner, you’ve reached a stance and know you’ve cracked it.

Going into the unknown is very important whether it’s a new route on a crag or an unclimbed peak in the Himalaya. It’s the intellectual challenge and stimulus of tracing a route up a stretch of rock or mountain and then physically climbing it and solving a problem that had seemed impossible. It’s all about proving the seeming impossible to be feasible.

It’s that element of uncertainty of the outcome. And it’s doing it amongst magnificent scenery in the company of a good friend or friends”.

Chris Bonington

“Adventure means to ‘live a life less ordinary.’ It means cutting loose from the restrictions of day to day life and stepping over the edge into excitement and risk, whether it be travelling in an unknown country or summiting an unclimbed peak”.

Pat Deavoll

“Challenge, passion, physical, unknown, new experience, unpredictable, commitment, difficulties, intense, remoteness, wilderness, discomfort, excitement, exhaustion, no limit…”

Philippe Gatta

“To me it means deciding how to live, you take risks and take the best and worst of it. It’s the attitude of going above and beyond your own limits and sharing these experiences with others”.

Carlos Suarez

“Adventure is something that goes beyond the ordinary in your life. So each person has their own references to adventure. For me, adventure is always a mix between adrenaline, excitement, grand nature, sweat and tears”.

Anna Gatta

“Being away from your normal environment, doing something exciting with an unknown outcome. Kayaking, skiing, climbing, biking, camping….anything involving fun and activity, and usually getting connected with nature and escaping the man-made world”.

Karen Darke

“This is such a hard question to answer! I am on a constant search for adventure and it can be anything from new snowboard descents in the remote regions of the world to mountain biking in a wood near my house that I’ve never been to before. I think adventure is about living in the now and most people have a hard time doing that. I do. I’m always looking to what’s coming next but when you’re on the mountain or the wave or wherever your personal adventure is, that’s all that matters. Exploration, trying new stuff, being outdoors are all major factors for me”.

Julia Pickering

Skydiving
Anniken Binz, international Base jumper

“Skydiving was the route into base jumping for me and I love it: the adrenaline rush and the beauty of drifting against the sunset. It puts the everyday problems of life into perspective. “It’s a time-consuming and expensive sport, though, so give that some thought beforehand. I recommend finding an “accelerated free fall” course, rather than “static line” training. It’s safe and easy, and you get to experience solo free fall much sooner. Ideally, find a course outside the UK, so you’re not at the whim of the weather. I really like Skydive Spain (www.skydivespain.com), a dropzone outside Seville: conditions are calm and the plane goes a little higher so you get more airtime. Lots of Brits go, the people who run it are nice and it’s cheap to get there – you can fly into Málaga.
“For somewhere more exotic, I recommend Skydive Venezuela (skydivevenezuela.com) at Higuerote, east of the capital Caracas. You can take a small plane and drop onto an idyllic Caribbean island, then head straight off for a swim!”

Climbing
Leah Crane, 2009 British bouldering champion

“I love the sense of achievement I get from climbing, especially from bouldering, which essentially is free-climbing [without ropes]. It’s the mental challenge of getting to the top – hopefully before the next guy!
“Google your local climbing wall and sign up for an adult induction course – usually £25 or so for two hours. Ideally, choose a centre where you can try both bouldering and climbing: rope-climbing is about endurance; bouldering tends to suit a more muscular build. But don’t assume you can only climb if you’re super-athletic. Patience and technique will get you there.
“Outdoor climbing is a different challenge: when you start, hire a fully insured instructor from your local climbing wall or the internet to take you out. The Peak District is great for novices (www.peakdistrict-rockclimbing.co.uk): I take newbies to Burbage Edge where there is great beginner bouldering on the south side, and rope climbing to the north. Your first foreign trip should definitely be Fontainebleau (www.bleau.info), outside Paris, which is set in magic woodlands, like something out of The Lord of the Rings. Go with friends, book a gîte, and prepare for hundreds of routes, from stupidly easy to insanely hard. It’s awesome.”

Sea-kayaking
Karen Darke, kayaker, sit-skier and hand-cyclist

“I first kayaked in the Hebrides. We happened across a sea-kayaking symposium in North Uist and paddled out to the Monarch Islands, an out-of-this-world place, draped in seals. I was hooked: the feeling of wilderness is very like the one I used to get from climbing.
“It’s a good sport if you’re not super-fit: you can build up from gentler coastal routes. Most cities have a club and even if it’s made up of mainly river canoeists, you can pick up the basic skills. Then head for one of the recognised sea-kayaking centres: good ones include Skyak (www.skyakadventures.com), on the Isle of Skye, and Sea Kayaking UK on Anglesey (www.seakayakinguk.com). Both offer beginner courses – typically two days for around £120.
“Once you get going, try to attend a symposium, which is a big annual kayak gathering where you can get group coaching and try out different boats before you buy. There’s one in Anglesey, another at the Uist Outdoor Centre (www.uistoutdoorcentre.co.uk). Another option is to learn in the Med. A great event for novices is Bibionekayak (www.bibionekayak.com), a symposium that takes place near Venice in June, where you paddle on a beautiful lagoon and can join the Vogalonga, a 48-kilometre (30-mile) regatta on the Venice canals. I’ll never forget that.”

Adventure racing
Brent Edwards, Team Orion

“What I love about adventure racing is you get to travel – and race – through some of the most remote and spectacular landscapes on the planet: high mountains, remote gorges, you name it. The buzz of racing in a team is unique in endurance sports, but the main appeal for me is it’s just so damn hard! Completing a race is an awesome feeling.
“Newcomers don’t have to be extremely fit, but a bit of experience in running, biking and maybe kayaking will make things easier, and somebody on your team needs to be good at navigation, because that’s key. Google a local club – there are plenty around – or just form a team with your mates and have a go. The website www.sleepmonsters.com is a great resource, with an events calendar, training tips, the lot.
“Train by planning some fun missions with your team, then seek out a nearby race that’s aimed at beginners: they are usually six hours or less – as opposed to three to 10 days, non-stop, on expedition races! Perhaps my favourite event is the XPD in Australia (www.xpd.com.au). It’s expedition length, goes into some amazing terrain, but caters for recreational teams as well as serious athletes, because you can take as long as you need to finish.”

Adventure sports: The essential kit
For sports such as climbing and mountain biking, you need fast-drying, super-breathable clothing. Our Technical Fit Tee is the ideal base layer – high wicking with exclusive silver ion technology to combat odour. There are short-sleeved and long-sleeved versions. For the mountains, Men’s Baffin Island jacket is unbeatable: great all-round weather protection, including total protection from the wind, thanks to the GORE-TEX® WINDSTOPPER fabric.

What about a bag to store your stuff? Mountain biking, adventure racing and other adrenaline sports demand a light, easy carrier, and our Octans 25 Rucksack does the job brilliantly. The comfortable and sturdy backsystem with airflow channel is ideal for fast-moving activities over rough terrain. There’s also several multi-purpose pockets for storing all your essentials

Visit our Athletes page to find out more about our athletes or leave a comment if you’ve tried any of the activities above.

The festival, which kicked off on Monday 4th October will run throughout the month, consisting of three themed nights – Action Adventure, High Altitude Adventure and Elemental Adventure (featuring Asgard Project) – at more than 30 cinemas nationwide.

Tickets for the festival can be claimed online at www.adventurefest.co.uk Simply choose a cinema from the venues around the country to get a listing of the screenings available and print the e-ticket to take along to the cinema. Tickets are allocated on a first come first served basis.

IMS is a well established international platform which discusses, celebrates and casts a new light on the mountains in all their different facets.  It will be held at venues in Brixen/Bressanone at the foot of the stunning UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, the Dolomites.

Berghaus athlete Mick Fowler will be appearing at IMS.  Mick, a former winner of the annual Piolet d’Or mountaineering award, will give an adventure climbing lecture during the event, covering everything from exploratory climbs on sea stacks and chalk cliffs in Britain to first ascents in the greater ranges.  He will also talk about his first visit to the Karakoram, his climb of the north west pillar of Spantik in Pakistan and, finally, his recent successful expedition to China which saw him and Paul Ramsden complete the first ascent of the north face of Sulamar.

Mick Fowler comments: “IMS sounds like it will be a fantastic event, with a great line up of speakers.  Chris Bonington spoke very highly of it after he appeared there last year and I am really looking forward to visiting a new area to me, talking about my adventure climbing experiences and co-leading a group walk, in the hills with Steve Venables.  Hopefully, I will be able to get a bit of climbing in too!”

Mick will join a host of world renowned climbers and mountaineers at IMS, including Reinhold Messner, Hans Kammerlander, Simon Moro, Doug Scott, Kurt Diemberger and Stephen Venables.  For more information about the International Mountain Summit and to book tickets, visit www.ims.bz.

The Wildest Dream is now showing at cinemas across the UK, to find your nearest cinema visit www.thewildestdream.com

The festival, as always, will screen the very best adventure sports films for audiences to enjoy on the big screen and what’s more tickets to all screenings are absolutely free.  For more info and to claim your free ticket visit http://www.adventurefest.co.uk/2010/