EMFF 2012 - Saturday Morning

THE FILMS

THE LONG HOPE

I have seen this epic film once before in Sheffield, and I couldn't pass up the chance to see it again. Another great film made by Paul Diffley that tells the story of Dave MacLeod's quest to free the Longhope Route. The film portrays the great history of the huge adventure in Hoy that was first climbed in 1970 by Ed Drummond and Oliver Hill. There are also interviews with Dave Turnbull & John Arran who talk about the route, the history and their first free-ascent in 1997. Dave's goal was to free the headwall crack that Turnbull and Arran avoided - he thought a more direct line was possible. The film and the story is fantastic and features some amazing climbing by Dave and Andy Turner to complete the climb in only 10 hours! There is also a very emotional journey that sees Ed Drummond return to St. John's Head to the route. Well worth the DVD purchase, I would say.

BEN

I have had the pleasure of seeing this short film online prior to this screening. A lovely piece by Kate Owen that looks at a few individuals who make use of Ben Nevis and Glen Nevis everyday. It features a local farmer, fell-runner, photographer and climbers Dave MacLeod and Kevin Shields.

WHITE SILK ROAD
This film followed a group of Australian snowboarders to the slightly unusual ski destination of Afghanistan. I found the film, journey and story very enjoyable and quite different to many of the other snowboarding/skiing films I have seen over the years. There was a huge contrast between the war-torn city and the poor villagers who live in the snowy mountains. Some great footage of first descents and of the group teaching the locals to snowboard and build jumps.

Skiing at Glenshee

After a great day bagging Driesh and Mayar yesterday, most of the GWC staff were heading back down the road to Edinburgh to get back before dark. However, as we were this far North I wanted to make the most of the time we had in the wintery conditions. A few of us decided to head to Glenshee to get a day in skiing. I had been skiing in Andorra and Austria before a few years ago but I had never skied in Scotland; this seemed like a good opportunity as there was so much snow about.

A snowy Glenshee with all lifts open!

A group of us left early, said goodbye to the others and set off up the road to Glenshee. As we approached the ski centre, we could see just how good the runs looked; they all had a good covering of powder. I had driven through this way a couple of times in winter in the past but the runs never looked anywhere near as good as they did today. It was also clear that many other folk had the same idea as we did - the car park was rammed with families.

James adjusting his skis, Glenshee

After we had braved the crowds to hire skis, boots, poles and purchase our lift passes, we headed for the slopes. I was a little unsteady at first so took a bit of time to get my ski legs and ski head back on with a few easy runs down on the Carn Aosda side before heading up for a few runs on The Cairnwell. The runs were in great condition and the skiing was just as good (if not better) than what I remember experiencing in Austria a few years ago.

Glenshee skiing

After a while we headed across the road to the runs on the Meall Odhar side. I wasn't sure what to expect here because I had never seen these tows running before today. To my surprise, there seemed to be even more snow and even better skiing on this side! There was so much snow that you could pretty much ski on any part of the mountain and there was little to distinguish between what was a 'run' and what wasn't. We had great fun skiing down the small valley to the North of Glas Maol.

After a full day on the slopes, we were treated to a fantastic orange glow of the sun setting to the West above the snowy Cairngorms - what a day and what a weekend!

Sunset over Glenshee

The Snowy Pentlands

After a tough intro to winter walking in The Lakes, I was keen to get into the mountains further North and do some more winter stuff. Ironically, there had been a ridiculous amount of snow - too much in fact. So much snow that it was hard to actually get up the road to Aviemore and access the bigger mountains. The weather was frustrating me and I wanted to get out in the snow and do 'something' before heading back to school for the new term. To my delight, there was a clear high pressure day so we made the short drive up the road to Flotterstone.

Heading up Castlelaw Hill, Pentlands

Turnhouse Hill and Glencorse Reservoir from Castlelaw Hill, Pentlands

We met James at the car park at the Ranger Centre - which was absolutely rammed with folk walking their dogs. James had brought his skis and was keen to make the most of the deep powder. We headed up the road past Glen Cottage and around the North side of Glencorse Reservoir. Turning off to the right, we headed steeply up the track by the woods up towards Castlelaw Hill. We climbed higher still, as we wanted to gain some height. The weather was perfect; sunny and fresh but without wind. I couldn't believe just how much snow there was and as we struggled higher, the fresh powder came up to well above my knees.

Black Hill and Bell's Hill from Castlelaw Hill, Pentlands

James checking out the slope on Castlelaw Hill, Pentlands

As a result of the deep snow, our progress was slow; I headed on while Emily slogged up and James struggled to climb in his stiff ski-boots in the deep snow. Eventually we reached the Southwest shoulder of Castlelaw Hill and were treated to an amazing view of the wintery scene that lay before us. Every thing was totally white and we could clearly see that the reservoirs had frozen and were also covered in a thick layer of powder. It brought home just how much snow there had been in the last few weeks. We could see lots of other folk walking up and dow the tracks below us but we had the hills to ourselves.

Enjoying the thigh-deep powder on Castlelaw Hill, Pentlands

James skiing down Castlelaw Hill, Pentlands

James put on his skis and set off down the slope but it was clear that he was having difficulty in the deep powder and it wasn't long before he was on his back laughing at how much snow there was. He had another couple of goes and Emily and I watched him reach the bottom safely. Meanwhile we had brought our homemade sledges with us; Ikea bags and some old cushions. We started to slide down but it was pointless, there was just too much powder to sink into and we ended up just rolling and tumbling down the snowy slopes. It was perfectly safe, as there was just so much soft powder. I knew James wouldn't be bothered to hike up the hill for another go on his skis and we were happy enough so we headed back to the carpark to meet him. As usual, Emily had time to make a snow angel and get the most out of all the snow. Great fun!

Emily enjoying the deep snow on Castlelaw Hill, Pentlands

A rather snowy Pentlands from Castlelaw Hill

The snowy Pentland Hills and me

Emily's snow angel, Pentlands