Month: June 2011

Ama Dablam 2011 and Everest 2012

Another busy day. Looked after the kids because Ali was on the 10 in 10 event (10 mountains around Buttermere in under 10 hours raising money for MS. Unfortunately in the pouring rain and thick mist). Met up with them fleetingly at Honister.

Took a booking for Ama Dablam so that expedition is now nearly full. And have managed to get some more pics from the 2011 expedition on to the Everest 2012 website.

More to follow …

A slideshow for a small audience

Gave a small slideshow presentation … for Grace’s class. Really great to manage to show them all what it is that ‘Grace’s Dad’ does when he goes away. Just kept it short as they are 5 & 6 year olds but it was nice to get them answering questions about what they thought the various pictures were of like; ‘what’s in the cylinder?’, ‘so why do we use oxygen?’, ‘what’s that animal?’ etc etc. Loads of questions at the end as well – so they seemed to have been interested in it all. Which is cool.

Have eventually managed to get back to being on the top page(s) of Google and Yahoo again. Hadn’t realised that being away for 2 months would have such an impact on the various websites and we were on a lowly page 3 and even Page 4 for some keyword combinations. Yikes!

Launched a new website last week and we’re on Page 1 of Yahoo and Page 3 of Google already. Yip yip. Page 1 here I come.

Climbing, Ama Dablam and Project X

Well it’s been a while but I’ve managed to clear my post Everest in tray, catch up with the family and start to get out and about a bit.

Supported Fiona Grove on her Bob Graham Round and what an effort she put in. I was sort of (post expedition high) tempted to join her but I’m glad that I didn’t. Supported leg 5 and when we got in to Keswick it felt like I’d done 3 or 4 of the legs back to back. Absolutely nothing left in my legs after being severely depleted on Everest.

Have had quite a few Ama Dablam enquiries for this year and next (the mailing list for enquiries for Ama 2012 has topped 20 already) and have met various people for the next couple of expeditions.

Got out climbing with Ali the other day and turned up to the crag without my harness (it’s been a while. In fact this was my first summer rock route since last September). So I tied in around my waist and climbed old school – but I tell you what you don’t half feel vulnerable when you haven’t got a comfortable padded harness on. So we pootled up Eve and had a great time.

Have managed to get some interest for me to do a lecture circuit next winter. Not quite sure how many venues but it will probably just stay in county. Although, as I write, I’ve just remembered a couple of venues who were showing interest before I went away. So I’ll get that lined up and publish a programme accordingly.

Am also in talks with various people and comapnies regarding ‘Project X’ – a massive personal undertaking that I have planned for next year.

In the meantime don’t forget to check out the various video clips from the recent Everest expedition (embedded in the Blog – see below) and I have added a 5 part series to YouTube of an hour long film I made of the expedition. If you are interested in having your own copy then get in touch and I’ll drop it on to dvd for you (there’s a £5 charge to cover P&P).

Sit back and enjoy the show.

And lest we forget there’s the B&B. We appointed Suzanna as housekeeper to run the show whilst I was away and are keeping her on until the autumn. She is doing a terrific job and keeping the place in tip top condition. This is great because not only does it mean that we can go away for our first ever summer holiday, but it also frees me up for the climbing bookings that I have throughout summer and will make the run up to the next Ama trip that bit easier as well. Plus plenty of time and energy to devote to ‘Project X!’

Watch this space.