Headcase Helmets

Reading the headcases article in the latest summit magazine brought to mind a scenario that I witnessed at the Roaches a couple of weeks ago.

I work as an Outdoor Education Instructor in Staffordshire and regularly take groups scrambling at the Roaches. On this occasion I was taking a small group of 12 year olds down the Devil’s Toilet gully just to the right of the Yong Area. At the same time there was a pair climbing next to our descent, the first climber had already led the climb and had set up on top, but was waggling the ropes. The Second was still on the ground, arms crossed and shouting ‘no…it’s just not working.’ It became clear that the couple were climbing with just one helmet. The Lead had obviously worn the helmet to climb and was attempting to send the helmet back down to the Second via the rope, not very well thought through as the rope was still clipped into the quick drawers from his ascent. As a result the helmet was now stuck on the top piece of gear and of no use to anyone. The Second would now have to climb without it and retrieve it when she got to the top, bringing to mind computer games where at the end of a level, when you have defeated the fire-breathing dragon, you are rewarded with extra lives. The Second was obviously embarrassed that my group and I had witnessed this so I quickly moved them on.

It led me to question who should be wearing a helmet and when. You could argue that the need for a helmet had passed, that whilst the Lead was climbing both were most at risk, the Lead from falling and the Second from falling rocks. Although in such a well-climbed area many would say the risk of falling rock was minimal. I have to say that after witnessing such bad decision-making I’d be reluctant to trust the set up on top, I’d want a helmet. But all arguments aside, the situation I witnessed was ridiculous, made even more so by that fact that just to left of the Yong Area and are the steps that lead up to the Upper Tier; if they were that bothered the Second could have just run up and got the helmet.

Mountaineering Museum

I had an idea of starting a Mountaineering Museum: you could collect lots of different types of climbing gear, do displays on different mountaineers and climbers, show loads of amazing photos, do timelines of different ascents of mountains. I don’t mind admitting I got a bit excited about it! You could combine it with a climbing wall and offer it for school trips, exercise and education; schools would love that. I even had plans for the website, which would definitely be interactive, I’d invite people to send in pictures of their beloved climbing gear and tell us a story about it, where it came from or where they have used it.

I used to work in a museum, I used to love leaving my desk and going to look around the collection, I actually learnt something new every day, but it was all about pottery because I was at The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery; a mountaineering one would be so much better.

Shame I didn’t think about it before the Olympics, there might have been a bit of funding going spare. Still I’ll keep it in mind for in case my rolling contract stops rolling.

Campervan Food

I recently went away for a week in a campervan, we went around southern Ireland, started off in Dublin from the ferry port and went all the way south, then all the way west, then north to level with Dublin again and back across east. It was a fantastic week for loads of reasons but what I wanted to write about was how excited I was about cooking in the van for a whole week!

I enjoy cooking and have a small but varied cookery book collection. I take great pleasure in searching through my spice rack to find the right tubs, some of which are my own mixes for specific dishes. I tend to cook a recipe once from the book then try to recreate it with usually not the right ingredients, just what I happen to find cheap in the supermarket. I suppose that makes me quite resourceful in the kitchen ingredient wise, but not utensil. I have been criticised more than a few times for my lack of sympathy with my washer-upper, mountains of crockery, pans, pots and cutlery litter the sink by the time I’m finished. I saw cooking in the van as a bit of a challenge; we had two gas hobs and a grill, limited pans and utensils and not much space for my beloved spices. I prepared a box of tricks before we went...

Box of tricks: Olive oil, garlic, stock cubes, salt and pepper and an Italian herb mix (I wish I’d thought to add flour and maybe some thyme).

I also insisted on taking a sharp knife (I’d tried with swiss army before but it’s just not big enough) and a baking tray for under the grill. I wasn’t allowed much more, the driver wanted to keep things simple.

I had a few dishes in mind that I thought we could manage, but wanted to avoid the usual ravioli pasta with stir in sauce (although we did have this at the bottom of Carrantuohill after a soggy walk up and it did taste amazing!) We ended up with…

Cahore Point Creamy, cheesy, bacon and veg Pasta with home made garlic bread

Dungarvan Chicken Fajhitas

Carrantuohill Fruity Balti with Basmati rice and naan bread

Carrantuohill after the mountain A Well Deserved Rest Pasta and Sauce

Brandon Bay Thai Green Curry with noodles and chips (yes chips!)

Best Dish Doolin Sausage Casserole

Lough Ree Spag Bol a la Washer-Upper (I had a well deserved night off!)

I saw my real achievement of the week as the chips with the thai green curry, my washer-upper is fussy about having chips with curry so I thought I’d try it. It was pretty simple to do….

1.Cut the potatoes into chip shapes.

2.Boil them until soft

3.Put in baking tray sprinkle with oil and salt and pepper and put under grill

4.Leave for as long as you can bear it, so they go extra crispy (or chippy if you like)

5.Serve!