Journal Archives - Robin Beadle

2024 Spring Update

Robin Beadle — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 04:11:00 +0000

2024 started well for me on my final expedition of the old year and first of the new in Kenya. Over the holiday period I led 2 very successful trips for AP with team members reaching the summits of the 4 highest points of the mountain, Batian, Nelion, Point Lenana and Point John. Unfortunately I picked up a bug on the journey home and was slightly off form for the first few weeks of the New Year, which combined with the very wet weather slightly reduced my appetite for mountain biking back home. I had recovered by the time Rebekah and I headed out to Chamonix for a couple of weeks social skiing with old friends and clients, and a pretty good time was had all round. And now, in early April, I am making final preparations for my first big trip of the year to Lhotse in the Khumbu region of Nepal. It is very exciting to be returning to Nepal, meeting up with friends and colleagues and leading a small group to make an attempt on an 8000er. After that I will be returning to the Pamirs, Tien Shan and Norway, and available for guiding in the Lake District between trips. Watch this space!

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2023 Spring Update

Robin Beadle — Thu, 04 May 2023 13:58:14 +0000

Currently I am focussing on UK based activities and expeditions outside of Europe once again. This is because of the considerable obstacles to working in Europe since Brexit, which have unfortunately impacted my ability to work as a guide in the Alps. 2022 found me guiding in Central Asia for Adventure Peaks, and also on the Antarctic Peninsula, both being new and exciting destinations for me. In 2023 we have already been busy climbing, alpine / expedition / crevasse rescue training, scrambling, and mountain walking including the National and Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge events, and mountain biking in our spare time! I have expeditions scheduled to Morocco (Mount Toubkal), Kyrgyzstan (Peak Lenin), Georgia (Mount Kazbek), Nepal (Himlung Himal) and Mount Kenya all with Adventure Peaks. Exciting times!

You can read more about our worldwide trips on our Expeditions Page.

We’d love to help you plan and prepare for your own trips by sharing our wealth of expedition experience and knowledge with you on one of our Alpine Preparation or Expedition Training courses closer to home, or simply by climbing, scrambling or walking with you as you gain additional experience and skills.

Please get in touch to discuss your plans.

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Happy Christmas!

FIWebteam — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 09:08:27 +0000

It’s hugely exciting to be launching our new website and we want to take the opportunity to wish all our friends, clients and prospective clients a very Happy Christmas!

With the challenges presented by Covid and Brexit it seems likely we will be focusing on our Lakes based activities for the time being, and we hope you enjoy the selection of images we’ve chosen for the site and posted on Flickr of the best our home area has to offer.

We would love to be sharing an alpine ski season with you this winter. Watch this space. We haven’t given up hope and if it becomes safe and reasonable to do so we will be heading out to our base in the Chamonix Valley at some stage, maybe for some late season ski action.

But right now we will be enjoying our local fells, and whenever travel is possible or if you live close by we look forward to welcoming you here.

We hope you have a very happy Christmas and wish you all best wishes for the year ahead.

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Chamonix Climb and Ski

FIWebteam — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 16:08:14 +0000

Dave and I were climbing and skiing around Chamonix last week. It was a very brief visit and we wanted to stay local so our options were limited. The skiing was very good after the recent snowfalls, but access to the ice climbing was less than ideal and a lot of the climbing in this and other areas was under too much snow. We climbed several routes at the Crémerie and the Argentiere Left Bank and had one day skiing. Dave had done a lot of skiing in the military in the past but it was his first time on skis for 20 years! Like riding a bike, it soon came back and by the end of the day we were off piste in the trees with ideas about trying some ski touring in the future!

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Spring Update

FIWebteam — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 16:07:35 +0000

The highlight of my spring was certainly the few weeks I took out from our biomass boiler project to ski and climb in the Alps! Kevin and Billy came to Chamonix for a week in late March to check out the Alps for the first time and did some introductory snowshoeing and mountaineering. The excellent spring conditions suited them well, and with low avalanche risk and fantastic spring snow conditions being the rule (with powder as well at times) we had a great time skiing too. Rebekah and I did a couple of good day tours and also several days around the lift system. Then Louise came out for a weeks intro ski touring and enjoyed fantastic conditions and weather. I was fortunate to team up with Charlie Boscoe, Matt Livingstone, Phil and Nora for a couple of fun days skiing before heading back to the UK.

Kevin and I had a full day out scrambling around Langdale the day after I arrived home, and then we headed up to Scotland for the Easter Weekend.

I’m out again tomorrow in the Lakes with John and Nick. We have a trip to Skye planned for May ahead of the summer alpine season, where my bookings start in early June.

I still have dates available during the spring and summer, but my diary is filling up and the framework is now in place. Please contact me if you are hoping to head for the hills this year!

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Lorton Gully, Grassmoor

FIWebteam — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 16:06:43 +0000

Today John, Nick and I found ourselves in Lorton Gully, Grassmoor, which is a superb Grade 3, three star gully scramble with a real mountain ambiance despite only being minutes above the road at Lanthwaite Green. We had really dry conditions but still managed to find a few extremely slippery holds. It would certainly be entertaining in spate! In the amphitheatre directly above the tricky section Nick proudly produced his brand new Jetboil stove and brewed us all a cuppa. Top man! We continued up the regular scramble following the left hand branch, which conveniently ends on the North West Ridge path to Grassmoor. We resisted the temptation to continue to the summit and opted for the direct descent of the NW Ridge (itself a decent scrambly path to round off the day) to the car, and the fastest route to the Royal Oak in Braithwaite. A very wise decision as it turned out because we just beat the rain and enjoyed some much deserved liquid refreshment thanks to Messrs Jennings!

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A cold day on Dow Crag

FIWebteam — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 16:04:04 +0000

Kevin and I had a rather cold and windy but mainly dry day on C Ordinary Route today. Last time we were on Dow Crag was in March this year when we climbed the scrambling route up B Buttress via Easy Terrace and it’s continuation to the summit. Since then Kevin has really been bitten by the climbing bug, is progressing through the grades and most importantly is enjoying being out on the crags each weekend! Hopefully some alpine summits will follow soon!

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Off to Skye

FIWebteam — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 15:59:24 +0000

Over the May Bank Holiday Weekend I was on Dow with Karl on Saturday and in Sandbed Ghyll with Kevin on Sunday. The ghyll was an “interesting” trip that I haven’t done in a long while. Very slippery in places! Tomorrow it’s off to Skye for a week with John and Nick. Let’s hope the weather picks up a bit!

Posted in Lakes, News, Scotland | Leave a response

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Skiing New Year 2017

FIWebteam — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 14:57:23 +0000

With the lean conditions in the Chamonix Valley we headed through the tunnel to Italy over the New Year period and found good snow and some awesome tours: Tête Entre Deux Sauts, Becca di Feluma and Becca di Tos. We finished our trip with an easier day on Mont Fourchon. On the descent we enjoyed a drink at the Grand St Bernard monastery and visited the chapel and museum to pass some time before Carrie’s train back home. This was followed by an amazing night time ski down the deserted piste with highly reflective way-marks back to the car.

More photos on Flickr

All best wishes for 2017 and my resolution is to update my website more regularly!

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The Works Dry-tooling Venue

FIWebteam — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 14:56:34 +0000

Given the alternative option was a fell run, it was a no brainer to head to The Works to give dry tooling a shot last week. Ian had some time off, a pass out and had been on a recce to check out the premier venue in the North West for this activity, which happens to be very close to our homes. Amazing we’d never thought of going there before!

It was a logical choice for a winter’s day without winter conditions and we were up for a very mellow day out. We took Ian’s van up to Hodge and he busied himself cooking lunch whilst I switched my G14s to monos for the first time (again, why did I never try this before…because I’m a traditionalist I guess), and put an older pair of picks on my Nomics.

Eventually though we just had to leave the comfort of the van and get on with it, and found a gentle but sportingly bolted introduction with a couple of M4s on the People’s Slab. Bitten by the bug we checked out the steeper and popular Industrial Sector and made plans to return in the not too distant future.

Great work and thanks to the guys with the motivation to create this awesome facility.

Here’s the guidebook:

The Works dry tooling venue guide sheet

And the Facebook Group

The Works Drytooling Group

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