I’ve never really been one for going to the gym. Staying fit, for me usually means trying to eating well and keeping active. I mostly train for climbing by going climbing. Training for mountaineering is mostly done by going mountaineering. But here by The Cottage woodshed, ‘Log Gym’ is our dedicated workout zone! It’s well Read more

A crazy busy day at The Cottage, with the expedition research machines working at maximum capacity! There are some super exciting plans formulating for us this year. So far today, having spent much of it at the computer, I’ve been involved with planning, train journeys, hire cars, buses, flights, campervans, insurance policies, ski huts, climbing Read more

Back indoors again, but this time training slightly differently. I’m going to be taking a small team of students on an Ice Climbing trip to Norway in a few weeks, so today was spent doing some preparation. We had a bouldering session, but instead of holding on with our hands, we used some ice axes Read more

I’ve been out on a training day with a team that I am going to take trekking in the Alps this summer. Conditions for hill walking were less than ideal first thing and the 90mph winds were going to make walking difficult and my ability to teach anything severely reduced. So we did what all Read more

Hash House Running is basically a non-competitive form of cross country running. Traditionally, a member of the team would set off on a run, ahead of the pack, leaving a small trail of flour for the rest to follow. A set of symbols would be agreed and the ‘Hasher’ would do his or her best Read more

Noticed that the evenings are starting to stay lighter a little longer! Still too damp for climbing outside today, so had a bouldering session indoors to keep the fingers limber!  Read more