You may or may not be familiar with the popular social networking site that is Twitter – if you are, great … if not, where the hell have you been for the last few years?! Anyhow, insults aside, I use Twitter. Regularly.

If you do use Twitter, then you may or may not be aware of the ‘Tweeter’ that is Mr. Andrew Bisharat. Andrew is one of the Senior Editors at Rock and Ice magazine. He goes by the moniker of @eveningsends which is also the name of his popular blog/website. A while back now I saw a tweet from Mr. Bisharat talking about a podcast that he was to appear in called The Enormocast.

Curious to know more, I downloaded it and listened. It was good. No, it was excellent and so I downloaded the three previous episodes. Now, the show is in double figures and I’m hooked.

I caught up with host, producer, publicist, composer, cleaner, driver and general dogsbody of the show, Chris Kalous, to find out more:

Chris Kalous

Who is Chris Kalous?

I grew up mostly in the suburbs of Chicago Illinois. I was into rock and roll and the outdoors, in that order, but never climbed growing up. I moved to Colorado to attend University and started climbing there. It turns out I was a better rock climber than rock guitarist, so I went with that (though I still play guitar because women like it more than the climbing). I am poor and not married. It seems that everything I spend time and energy doing doesn’t earn me money, but does earn me friends and great experiences so I got that going for me.

For all of the RCUK readers that live in caves … In three words, what is a podcast? 

Its funny, because this is like the biggest thing I’m up against with getting the word out with climbers “Uh, like on the internet?” “How do I get it again?” “Itunes?” … so three words?

• Free ear candy
• Free internet interviews
• Like Internet NPR (that’s American)
• Like Internet BBC
• BBC but better
• Free roadtrip entertainment
• Itunes free shit
  

Why ‘The Enormocast’ … what’s in the name?

The name comes from an obscure reference in the movie This is Spinal Tap (the quote at the beginning of The Enormocast is from Spinal Tap). I wanted to call it The Enormodome but enormodome.com was taken. Nothing like the internet to show you just how unoriginal every thought you have really is. All the different permutations of climbing names climbinglife.com, climbup.com, climbingthis.com, climbingthat.com, blah, blah, blah were all taken. My friend said it has to be more connected to climbing- he works at Black Diamond- I said “what do the words Black and Diamond have to do with climbing? Or Sportiva? Or Petzl? Or Wild Country?” Anyway, I figured “enormous” is the word you think of when you see El Cap, and its all encompassing, and I love the movie Spinal Tap, and its not the stupid “goes to eleven” reference everyone knows, and… leave me alone, I like the name!

Why should people listen to ‘The Enormocast’?

I have been consuming climbing media forever, and I’ve watched it become more and more whitewashed and commercial. The Enormocast is, and will remain, authentic and true to the rebellious spirit of climbing. Podcasting is the pirate radio of today, no corporate filters, and its the perfect medium for deep information about our sport. I love short videos, but they have no character, no depth. Podcasting can bring that depth. Also, personality comes through more than on the written page as you here someone’s tone, laughter, concern. Also, I really do know a lot of interesting and famous (not necessarily the same thing) climbers from a few generations and have been climbing all over the world for a long time.

Who’s been your favourite ‘guest’ so far, who would you love to feature in the future (why)?

So far is not very long, but the two Hayden Kennedy interviews seem to have really hit the mark of the potential of podcasting.

If you had to listen to one podcast for the rest of your life, other than The Enormocast, what would it be?

The rest of my life? Probably, like everyone else in the States, This American Life because its so well done and can make you cry and laugh in the same episode. I don’t know if its popular in the UK, but its number one here in the States. Its actually a radio show that is just podcasted afterword so that’s one reason its so good- money and a big talented well-payed staff. One of my favorite Do-It-Yourself podcasts is ‘Uhh Yeah Dude‘, two California guys just shooting the shit, but I could see myself getting annoyed with them if it was all I had and eventually wanting to kill them both then I’d have to listen to them on reruns in prison.

Thanks so much Chris, hope you’re getting good weather over the pond and getting out climbing…

Thanks Liam. Actually, sorry to say but the weather here has been awesome and I have been climbing a ton. Hope it gets better there – like a light warm drizzle? that’s climbable in the UK, isn’t it?

So, for regular climbing banter filled with hilarity, debate, nonsense and fun, or simply as Chris eloquently put it … for ‘itunes free shit’, check out the Enormocast Website or check out ‘The Enormocast’ on iTunes. A new episode is released every two weeks.

Also, although Chris didn’t ask me to mention this specifically (…honest, he didn’t) … you can support ‘the cause’ by clicking here.

ENJOY!

THE ENORMOCAST – A slice of climbing life for your listening pleasure is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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Me at the summit of Stob Dearg

Climbing Everest is so much more than the 20 minutes spent on top of the world. An Everest expedition is an accumulation of many months, even years of preparation. The expedition is a journey which requires sourcing finance, attaining the relevant climbing experience and developing an appropriate level of fitness.

Developing appropriate fitness for Everest is very specific. Understanding the obstacles faced on Everest will help you to design an effective training programme. Everest is renown for not being the most technically demanding of climbs, this enables you to focus on other obstacles, namely; altitude, length of the expedition, and the continuous ascent/descent of the mountain.

The greatest hurdle to overcome by far is the altitude. At Everest’s summit, the level of oxygen is only around 1/3rd of that at sea level. As if that isn’t enough, the barometric pressure is significantly reduced (~253 Torr). This forces the inspiratory muscles to work much harder than at sea level. That in turn loads the cardio-pulmonary systems raising your heart rate and lowering your SpO2 (the levels of oxygen in your blood)

The next major problem you face with an Everest ascent is simply the amount of time you’ll spend climbing. You must treat your training as you would for a marathon (or an ultra marathon!). Your body’s ability to work for extended periods at relatively high intensities of up to 50% VO2 max/80% max heart rate is essential. You will inevitably spend very long days on the mountain. Unless your name is Ueli Steck, 16-14 hour summit days are not uncommon!

You should also be aware that high altitude also heightens the risk of medical complications such as HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema) and HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Oedema). Training is unlikely to physically affect the likelihood of these complications arising but feeling prepared and confident will lower any stress brought about by uncertainty. This in turn could have a small effect on the likelihood of experiencing these medical complications.

Summit Ridge of Baruntse

So far I’ve only covered the physical aspects of training for an Everest ascent. You must also consider mental conditioning. Being under pressure for around 2 months whilst on the mountain not only stresses your body, it can provide significant psychological pressure. It is imperative that you have mental fortitude; not only to keep you going when you’re ready to sit down and give up, but to provide you with the mental acuity to solve problems you’ll almost certainly encounter. This will provide you with self sufficiency and the ability to help others, rather than relying on help yourself.

You’ll certainly need a good level of focus and composure on the climb. For example, the cornice traverse prior to the Hillary Step where there is a 10,000 ft drop to one side, and an 8,000 ft drop to the other, both only inches away from you.

Knowing the challenges that you must face begs the question, what type of training is going to be most effective?

Physical Training

The most important systems to affect and induce physical adaptations are: The cardio-respiratory systems (i.e.: decreasing resting heart rate, and increasing VO2 max), the skeletal musculature – increasing muscular endurance (through a greater buffering capacity, more efficient removal of H+, and increasing volume and changing substrate utilisation of mitochondria).

Finally, the key word when considering a training programme is specificity. The training must be specific, or matched as close as possible to the demands faced upon Everest.

With these things in mind, some examples of ideal training exercises for Everest are:

• Running for over 2 hours @ over 50%-60% max heart rate
• Cycling for over 3 hours @ over 50% max heart rate
• Hill walking for over 6 hours with a weighted pack

Great view of the summit ridge of Baruntse

There is a final method of training which is currently being investigated by scientists and has exceptional potential as a training method for all athletes, especially high altitude mountaineers. It is known as dynamic apnea training; which is essentially the restriction of breathing during exercise. This form of training has been used by many mountaineers and climbers including Bear Grylls prior to his record breaking Everest climb. Apnea training is one of the only methods of training which can induce physical adaptations to the lungs such as an increased lung volume which is both a notoriously controversial subject and an area that sees almost no adaptations from any other sport. The most obvious method of apnea training is swimming. A progressive programme should be used to gradually induce adaptations, so for example, swim 2 lengths normally, then attempt half a length without breathing. Gradually build up until a normal length then a full underwater length is achievable; then repeat this for 60 lengths. Remember that many free divers and apnea trained individuals exceed 7 continuous lengths underwater in a 25m pool without breathing.

**A note about apnea training: apnea training at you respiratory limit should ideally be done with a partner due to the risk of blacking out. Never attempt solo apnea practice in a pool where there is no life guard**

Mental Training

You may be wondering where the psychological training comes in. The answer is simple – every cold rainy morning that you haul yourself out of bed to run, every sacrifice you make that brings you closer to your goal of climbing Everest is building your psychological strength. The longer you allow yourself to prepare, and the harder you work, the more prepared you will be.

And this is why Everest is all about the journey. An Everest expedition itself is only 2 months. Yet you will have been training for those two months for the past 2 years (you may have been dreaming of climbing Everest for much longer than that). An Everest ascent is simply the accumulation of everything you have learned, worked for, sacrificed and gained. It is the final piece in a very large puzzle, and the final destination of a very long journey.

If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a comment below.

Preparing to Climb Everest is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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James McHaffie climbing 'Dawes Rides a Shovel Head' onsight. Raven Crag, Langdale

When we saw the following film at the Kendal Film Festival in November, we were blown away by the excellent stories unified & produced by Land & Sky Media. It’s the first film to feature at the festival from Land & Sky Media and it was received with a very warm welcome. It’s been a long time coming, but we managed to get hold of Dom Bush, the main man behind the film and steal a few words from him.

Islands: Traditional Tales of Lakeland Climbing is a three part film which gives an insight into the world of hard traditional ascents in the birthplace of rock climbing, the English Lake District. Featuring fantastic footage of first ascents and hard repeats of routes from E6 (5.12c) to E9 (5.13c) by Wild Country and Red Chili climbers Adam Hocking and James McHaffie, as well Lakes stalwarts Mike Przygrodzki and Stuart Wood, it also includes interviews and commentaries from Lakes legend and Wild Country climber Dave Birkett and the indefatigable Leo Houlding. It’s a sensitive and cinematic documentary film, that represents the Lakes and it’s characters in a simple and poignant way. And with sport climbing and bouldering gaining popularity, this film provides a deep and sometimes comical perspective on the great British trad climbing tradition.

Adam Hocking working 'Return of the King' on East Buttress Scafell

“My hope was to explain, promote and maintain the heritage and tradition within the climbing community in the Lake District, of which I am now a part. To celebrate some of its modern pioneers and their very individual qualities, and to readdress the balance, by placing equal importance on the person, the landscape, and the activity.”

“I would like to thank all the individuals involved in this project, they shaped it just as I did, and I’m very grateful for their contribution. And of course, the sponsors, who have shown their support all the way through, as well as providing valuable bits of kit for this and future projects. Wild Country, Red Chilli, The Epicentre and Alpkit.”

Dom filming Stuart Wood on the first ascent of 'The Big Link', Hodge Close Quarry

There are exciting things afoot, so keep an eye on what’s going on with Land and Sky Media. You can follow on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/landandskymedia

Or keep up to date with content and inspiration on the Land & Sky Media blog – http://landandsky.wordpress.com/

All Photos from Dom Bush & Matt Pycroft

Islands: Traditional Tales of Lakeland Climbing is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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These objectives can be anything from doing your first E1, increasing your climbing grade from 7a to 7c or doing a specific route.

Using a Scoring System

Climber with a high ranked score for stamina on Ergometria – Sector Wildside Sella. Picture courtesy of Orange House Photos

To help you design a training program a good place to start is to look at your current ability. Try honestly (if you can’t be honest get a friend to do it for you!) giving yourself a score between 1 to 10 (1 being given to your worst attribute and 10 to your best) for each typical climbing characteristics such as finger strength, explosive power, lock off strength, power endurance, stamina, technique, body fat percentage etc. So for example if you find that you are getting pumped fiddling in wires on a E1 or making those clips on a 6a, but can crimp your way up Font 6c boulder problems, then score yourself a 3 for stamina and a 10 for finger strength.

Then consider your objectives/target routes for this year. Let’s look at two approaches. One where you have specific routes in mind and another where you want to improve your grade to a certain level.

Targeting Specific Routes

For the specific routes, what type of climb are they? Are they long Gordale stamina test pieces or crimpy Peak power endurance routes? How do these routes compare with your key strengths and weaknesses? It may be helpful to score the routes with a similar system that we did for ourselves, with a 10 for the dominant route climbing characteristic and a 1 for the least dominant. Let’s try this with a typical Peak District sport climber wanting to peak for a holiday in Spain. The objective for the holiday is to a do 7b+ steep tufa stamina test piece. The scores may be something like the following:

Typical Tufa Pulling in Spain

Clearly we have a mismatch in the key strength attributes. To achieve success on the route, the climber is going to have to include much more stamina training on overhanging rock and include more bouldering/route work using pinches/slopers with long locks. Building these elements into your training program now will maximise the possibility of success on your chosen route.
Remember that the scoring system is specific to the climber or route concerned. So if a fingery 7a is your maximum grade, then you won’t get up a stamina 8a, by focusing on just your weak elements. You will also need to make gains in your strong areas, however these can be done at a lower level than your weak points.

If you have specific information about the route then you are at even more of an advantage. At this time of the year you need to be looking at replicating the types of moves found on the route within your training program. For example if the hard sections of the route are primarily small layaways, then create a systems type model using layaways or boulder problems with layaway holds.
If you have access to your own training board then you can be even more creative and build a replica of the types of moves found on your project.

Targeting a Specific Grade

There are two approaches to improving your climbing grade. The first is to use a balanced training program to improve all your climbing attributes. The second way is to focus your training effort improving specific attributes which will allow you to skip a number of grades.

Creating a Balanced Training Approach

This is the slowest way to improve your climbing grade but does result in a more balanced climber and one who is capable of operating across all the different route types within their grade.
To achieve this it’s important to develop a training program that has a mixture of all the different climbing attributes. The program must be specifically tailored to place strong emphasis on the weak areas. Remember to still train your strong areas, otherwise you will find yourself in a position where you just become good at your previous weak elements!

Focusing on Specific Attributes

Focusing on your strengths – a fingery, power endurance route in France

When looking at your score you may have one or two attributes that are particularly strong. For example you may be one of those lucky people who have naturally strong fingers, but have to put in a lot of work to make gains in stamina.
So why not focus on these strong attributes and select your routes carefully so you play to these strengths. Using this approach it’s certainly possible to jump your grade from 7a to 8a, with a good winters training. However the resulting climber will be fairly specialised in a certain style of climbing and the number of routes they can do at the new grade will be limited. You may well find yourself in a position where on some types of routes, that focus heavily on your weak points, that you still climb at your old grade.
To correct this at some point you will need to spend time focusing on the lower scoring attributes, before you will be comfortable at this new grade.

Over the next few months we will look at different training techniques to help you achieve your climbing goals and show how these can be incorporated into your training programs.

We will also provide our readers with advice on how they can best achieve their climbing objectives. Please post your comments at the bottom of this article and our contributors (including myself) will offer guidance on how you can improve your climbing.

Turbo Charged New Year’s Training Resolutions is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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In recent years this trend has continued, with visits from Team America in 2009 and Japanese wonder-kid Toru Nakajima popping over, both showing us that we’re not the only people that can climb on Our hallowed grit stone. Through to the World-beating Czech, Adam Ondra turnng up on our doorstep earlier this year, proving that our sport climbing IS pretty good after all … it’s fair to say that the scene here on the humble shores of Blighty is most definitely a far cry away from the washed-up image that is all too often depicted.

As if to further prove my point; now comes the turn of the Australian bouldering sensation, Chris Webb-Parsons. Chris has relocated to England for a short spell to test his mettle on some of our finest boulders and also to train for the Bouldering World Cup in 2012, basing himself in the Peak District, he has certainly picked the place to do it.

Webb Parsons, who was actually born in England, has climbed routes up to f8c+ (Aus 34), bouldered up to font8c+ (V16) and also won the Australian Bouldering Championships back in 2007. The fact that a world-class athlete such as this has chosen to move here shows that we truly do have some of the best climbing & training facilities on offer.

Since relocating a couple of months ago, Chris has already been busy at work and has managed to send two font8b’s Keen Roof at Raven Tor and Serenity, a classic Mike Adams problem on a limestone roof deep in the Peak District.

Below is a video from Black Diamond made by Outcrop Films, of Chris bouldering on’t'grit and also training at a particular wall in Sheffield. Recognise it? You should do.

Enjoy:

-

Chris is sponsored by: Black Diamond, Moon Climbing & Australian Industrial Rope Access

Video: Webb-Parsons Comes to UK is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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“The joy of climbing is a private thing between me and climbing…Our relationship is complicated” Andy Kirkpatrick

The US magazine Climbing once described Andy Kirkpatrick as a climber with a “strange penchant for the long, the cold and the difficult”, with a reputation “for seeking out routes where the danger is real, and the return is questionable, pushing himself on some of the hardest walls and faces in the Alps and beyond, sometimes with partners and sometimes alone.”

I think it’s fair to suggest that Andy Kirkpatrick is at the forefront of extreme alpinism and mountaineering as we know it. Not only this, Kirkpatrick  is a wonderfully talented speaker and author, touring around the world regaling his tales to crowds of people with his humour injected presentations.

As you will know from our recently featured Cold Wars review, Cold Wars is the second in a series of autobiographical style books from the man himself.

So far it has received widespread critical acclaim and is being hailed as one of the finest pieces of mountain literature to hit the shelves, ever.

One such review is that of John Horscroft. Below are a collection of his observations and evaluations:

“His prose may verge on the miserabalist at times but, for those who prefer a bit of meat on the bare bones of a climbing tale, this amounts to a feast.”

“…Kirkpatrick allows us to see into his troubled mind with punishing clarity in an almost unprecedented fashion. He illuminates the barely suppressed fury of the professional climber…”

Visual Collective, based in Manchester have worked with Andy to put together a short video about the book and some of the motives and feelings behind why Andy does the things he does.

I’ll say no more … enjoy:

About Andy Kirkpatrick:

Brought up on a council estate in one of Britain’s flattest cities, Hull-born Andy suffered from severe dyslexia which went undiagnosed until he was 19. One of his greatest strengths is his ability to talk about his life and his climbs in a way that is totally accessible to the non-climber and allows the audience to experience the risk and tension of big wall climbing. Andy is sponsored by Patagonia, Petzl, OR & La Sportiva. If you get minute, check out Andy’s excellent web site.

About Visual Collective:

Visual Collective is a multimedia production studio. They manage commercial and documentary video & photography projects that engage, enrich and inspire. Based close to Manchester city centre; right at the heart of the city’s creative industries they encompass over 10 years of experience in visual story telling and project management and are rated as a RAR+ Recommended Agency. The VC team has a wide range of talent and expertise; with roots in the video, photojournalism and design industries. They have come together under a single vision to create compelling content that harnesses the power of multi-platform media.

COLD WARS – Video Profile is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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It was only my second visit to the RGS and I still marvel at the history and atmosphere contained within its walls. The bar is situated in the map room and it is difficult not to be overawed by the knowledge that surrounds you. 150 years ago great men stood in this room and laid their plans for the great expeditions of the British Empire. In one corner Livingstone hangs shoulder to shoulder with Captain Scott. In another corner hangs a portrait of Sir John Hunt, leader of the 1953 Everest expedition, brooding over a large model of Everest itself, and all around are drawers filled with the maps these men pored over and themselves created.

Sir Chris spoke first, explaining how the Nordwand had been a constant presence in his formative years as a climber, rearing its face every so often to tempt him. He spoke with great humour and, to be honest, some dodgy accents, on his early attempts with the great Hamish MacInnes and the brusque but utterly dependable Don Whillans. He spoke of his terror at finding himself bivvying below the Difficult Crack with MacInnes while still a schoolboy and he spoke with great eloquence of his and Whillans’ involvement in the rescue of Brian Nally following the death of Barry Brewster on the second ice field, the interview with Brian Nally following the rescue is heartrending.
Finally in 1962 Sir Chris made the first British ascent with Ian Clough, but even this victory was tinged with sadness after two climbers following Clough and Bonnington were swept to their deaths by falling rocks. The final chapter of Sir Chris’s talk was given over to telling the story of John Harlin and his team’s attempt to climb the Nordwand by a direct route. Harlin’s initial plan was to climb the route Alpine style, however this changed to siege tactics when it was discovered that they were competing with a German team. As has been documented many times John Harlin fell to his death when a fixed rope parted. Sir Chris was one of the first to Harlin’s body. It is his emotion when reliving this, the pain obviously still so real and raw, his voice faltering and tears falling that will stay with me. His presentation was modestly delivered, illustrated with a few photographs and no fuss; his tale of triumph and tragedy needed little else.

After a brief interval where the great Doug Scott auctioned various pieces of Eiger memorabilia with expert comic timing, it was the turn of Ueli Steck to speak. Ueli isn’t a huge guy and dressed in a black t-shirt he seemed to blend into the stage but his quiet manner and soft spoken, dry, sharp wit hide an athlete of immense power and skill. He joked to start with that the only reason he makes the incredible speed ascents, for which he is rightly famous, is that his wife likes him home for lunch. He makes light of the training and commitment involved and then explains that he’d like to show us some “nice” pictures and so we sit enthralled by videos of his various ascents to a pounding rock soundtrack (I wonder if it’s the first time a guitar solo has been heard in those hallowed halls?). We travel with him to the Nordwand where he seemingly effortlessly runs up 70 and 80 degree faces punching his axes into the ice like a boxer before sprinting along the ridge to the summit, then on to an onsight climb of the Colton-Macintyre route on the Grandes Jorasses and up the north face of the Matterhorn, all three faces in around seven hours of climbing, before he whisks us off to the Himalaya and his stupendous 10.5 hour ascent of Shishapangma. He brings us back to earth with the revelation that less than a month after Shishapangma he reached the third step at 8600m on Everest only to turn back as “no mountain is worth losing fingers or toes for…” Good sense indeed. Steck is an incredible climber truly deserving of the epithet “The Swiss Machine”.

The evening ended with a Q&A session and finally an array of Nordwand summiteers lined up on the stage, but what still, and will always stick with me is the emotion attached by Sir Chris Bonnington to the awesome and terrible North face of the Eiger.

The Eiger – Triumph and Tragedy, and an Evening at the RGS is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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At 40 years old, being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes is not the best news for anyone to receive. Put yourself in the boots of a professional expedition mountaineer; spending days, weeks and maybe months at a time away from civilisation… receiving this news would surely signal the end of such an extreme career?

Jerry Gore, now 50, received this exact diagnosis from his doctors on January 31st 2001. His pancreas was failing and he would be dependent on insulin injections for the rest of his life.

Ten years on, back to the present. Jerry has set himself a challenge: An 8000m peak (Lhotse), mixed M8 in winter & french 8a sport climbing all in 12 months.

One of the most inspirational figures in our sport right now, Jerry demonstrates exactly how to stare adversity in the face, laugh, and then push on, even harder.

As if all this weren’t enough on a climbers CV, he crossed the Iceland Icecap in 1977 (aged 16), summitted Mont Blanc at 17 and climbed the 7000-meter giant, Manaslu North, in the Himalayas at 22. In short, Jerry Gore is a beast.
Not only an amazing talent in the climbing world, Jerry is also a canny business man. One half of AlpBase.com, Jerry and his wife Jackie, have been organising chalet holidays and mountain courses in the Ecrins Massif since 2003. As owner-operators their time is spent organising quality accommodation & adventure packages for their customers.
With this next challenge in front of him, Jerry is really pushing his physical and mental limits. Will he be up to this ultimate test?

Below is a video of Jerry talking about coping with his diabetes and training for his Super-8 goal. This will eventually be released as a full film…we’ll keep you updated with the details.

From all the team at RCUK, good luck Jerry.

Video courtesy of The Lanterne Rouge Film Co.

A Man On A Mission – Super 8 is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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“Why the hell does Sussex need Search and Rescue? I mean it’s not exactly mountainous is it? It’s just Crawley, Brighton and a few fields after all.”

I expressed this thought to Mrs. W as we started shopping and she said “Well why don’t you go and ask what its all about” I’m pretty sure she’s regretted saying that ever since….. I went back and spoke to one of the chaps who did a damn fine job of persuading me that getting up at two in the morning to go and bash about in the woods in the rain was fun and off I went with a leaflet and the web address in my pocket.

At home I did a little more research and it turns out that the majority of counties in the UK have a search and rescue team of some sort whether it be a Mountain Rescue team or as in the case of Sussex and many others a Lowland team. The Lowland teams are governed by an organization called ALSAR (Association of Lowland Search and Rescue) and they in turn by the UKSAR Group chaired by the department of transport which includes all the recognised search and rescue practitioners, Police, Military and Volunteer. (Can anyone call themselves a Search and Rescue team? Yes, they can, however will anyone use them? Probably not.) These volunteer teams are set up in conjunction with the local Constabulary and can only be called out by them, other teams have evolved out of different backgrounds, SEBEV (South East Berkshire Emergency Volunteers) have grown from what was a Cold War organisation, the original purpose of which was to provide aid in the event of a Soviet attack, hence their headquarters is in a fallout shelter, with the diminishing of that particular threat they have diversified into Search and Rescue.

SusSAR were formed in 2002, others, like Surrey Search and Rescue (SurSAR) are more recent additions to the SAR family having only formed in 2010.

So a couple of months after my encounter with SusSAR in Sainsbury’s and having filled in an expression of interest form I found myself at a new members evening at the Black Lion in Patcham just north of Brighton suffering what can only be described as death by PowerPoint at the hands of the then chairman, where a lot of questions including the “why?” were answered. It turns out that Sussex is one the most heavily wooded counties in the UK,

“So what?” you might think, “surely the infra-red camera on the police helicopter can see through trees?”

Well, yes it can but it relies on the thing it’s looking for being hotter than the surrounding stuff, which is fine when the thing you’re looking for is a hot, sweaty criminal who is legging it from the old bill, but when the object of the search is a sixty year old grandmother who went out for a windy walk on the downs six hours ago and hasn’t come home for tea then there’s a fair chance that her external body temperature is pretty close to the ambient temperature of her surroundings and to search for her you going to need people, as many as you can get and they are going to need to know what they are doing when it comes to searching, and that means training.

“Hang on! Training? Aren’t you all just walking in a line across a field prodding the ground with sticks, I’ve seen it on the news, you don’t need any training for that!”

Ah yes, the walking in a line with sticks thing, that’s all well and good if you’re looking for the carving knife that Mrs. X used to dispatch the dastardly Mr. Y who I’m sure was very deserving of her ministrations but if its that bloke who went out ten hours ago on his mountain bike and hasn’t come back for breakfast that you’re searching for, then its about as much use as a chocolate teapot. Mainly because it isn’t quick enough but also it just doesn’t cover enough ground. As I have since found out on various training evenings and weekends, the science of search is mind-boggling and relies, rather coldly, on statistics and the acceptance that we simply aren’t going to find everyone we go out looking for. However the tactics and skills we are taught and use give us the best probability of finding the majority of missing persons, or in SAR parlance Mispers. So you wont see us marching in lines across fields.

If you do see us, you’ll see us in teams of four moving quickly across the landscape, searching sectors that have been set out by our search controllers working with Police Search Advisors taking into account the statistics gathered over years of searches and the landscape we’re in. You may see us working with other teams (Lowland Search Dogs – Sussex, SurSAR, Hantsar) as we all help each other and train together. We’re able to do this successfully because we’re all trained to the same syllabus. You may even hear us laughing and joking as we go, because, believe it or not, we’re probably enjoying what we are doing. I hasten to add that this in no way reflects our attitude

So, who are SusSAR? Well, we are from all walks of life, everyone from students to the retired, teachers to engineers, cops to farm secretaries. We have one thing in common, we’re volunteers. Why, you may ask, do we volunteer to get woken in the middle of the night, don rustly nylon clothing, drive half way across the county and tramp around in the woods for hours? A couple of reasons – there’s the stock answer – “Because I want to help and give something back to the community” – then there’s the answer I gave when asked why at the new starters evening – “Cos it’s a great excuse to buy Gucci outdoor kit”. There are those that join for the perceived glory, they don’t last long, and there are those that see it as a different hobby.

No matter what the reason for joining, we all learn very quickly that what SusSAR do is bloody hard work. Not only are we committing ourselves to the hours of searching, there is also the fundraising aspect. SusSAR is entirely funded by donations; we receive no central funding whatsoever. Consequently many of our Saturdays are given up to standing outside supermarkets with collecting tins, of acting as marshals for events where the organisers then make a donation, or standing on stalls at country fairs to raise awareness of the team. It costs about £12000 a year to keep the team on the road, everything from fuel for our search support vehicle to uniform for the troops.

When I joined I didn’t know what to expect, there was a great deal of stress put on fitting in with the team, which I found a little overpowering to start with, I soon came to realise the importance of teamwork when its pitch dark and you’re in the middle of nowhere 60 miles from home. Now nearly two years down the line I’m proud to say that I’m a fully operational member of the team, I’ve made good friends and intend to carry on learning, I’m doing a mountain bike searching course in a few weeks time and searching.

We SAR types have a saying “The Misper comes first.”  That is the ethos that runs through everything we do, our training, the decisions (sometimes difficult) that we make, the fundraising we do and the lives we lead.

Can you do anything to help? Yes is the simple answer. You can join up – Here’s a list of lowland teams, or a list of Mountain teams, if you ever see us standing outside your local supermarket with a collecting tin drop a quid in the pot or you could undertake a sponsored event for us, a friend of SusSAR has just run the Barns Green Half Marathon on our behalf and we have two fabulous ladies running the Brighton Marathon for us next April, if you have any ideas, get in touch through our website.

You Can Join a Search and Rescue Team Even if You don’t Live Near Mountains is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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3. Join the 2012 British Bouldering Team

The video below shows the Cumbrian Stone Mason putting his biceps to good use and sending the longstanding winter project Without Rime or Reason at the internationally renowned bouldering venue … The Bowderstone.

The video, shot in HD and with incredible editing, documents the ascent perfectly. The soundtrack, provided by another uber-strong beast of the old school (whom shall remain anonymous for now) creates just the right atmosphere & for me, increases the quality of the footage ten fold.

I guess this goes to show that the forty something Rock Legend still has it in him to consider himself firmly placed amongst the elite climbers of Our world.

Congratulations Dave, you have really pulled it out the bag this time.

Birkett Opens Winter Line on Bowderstone?! is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

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3. James McHaffie Sends The Big Bang 9a, Lower Pen Trwyn, North Wales