SafariQuip

01/05/2018

Swimming anywhere? This might help you save someone's life.

Mention drowning and we all tend to envision a person in the water waving his hands, splashing and screaming for help. That’s not even remotely close to what a drowning person looks like, writes Mario Vittone in this week’s Lifelines: Safety And Rescue At Sea blog.

12/04/2018

Shocking!

26/03/2018

Our Castleton shop (Adventurequip) is closing today after 25 years. Safariquip is continuing as a web only business under new ownership and we wish them every success in the future. Julian, Joy, Iain and Christine would like to say thank you to all our customers for their support over the years - it's always been great that so many people come back to us. See you on the hills (or other nice places)!

23/03/2018

Not many people can do all of these, especially all in the same day!

All round climber, author, speaker, blogger, film maker etc

19/03/2018

Not much depth of snow but sizable drifts in places. It came on an easterly so Mam Tor is bare, but the RH side of Back Tor is well covered (Grade II). In the Winnats the south side is well frozen with a mixture of spatter and drifts but Elbow & Matterhorn Ridges are stripped. -2C at 400m at 8.30 but above freezing in Castleton at 9.00. At least two people have snowboarded the drift in the pic, and Cave Dale would be feasible too.

17/03/2018

Convenience comes at too high a cost! Why do we need everything to be packaged in plastic? And for all other uses, we can't think of a greater incentive to recycle, re-use or replace with an eco-friendly alternatives.

17/03/2018

Not much snow fallen but it's pretty icy above 350m, ground not frozen below that. -1C at 400m at 8.30. Winnats ridges are snow free but the pass road is nasty. Smaller high brooks on Kinder are probably frozen - Red Brook & the ones on the Northern Edges should be worth a look.

12/03/2018

Quite high on the list of bonkers things to do, but he did raise lots of money for Alzheimers research.

12/03/2018

Quite an image, and amazingly just taken with natural light filtering through the ice (on a long exposure), no flash or artificial lighting at all.

06/03/2018

At least it didn't say "Help, come now"!

A family found the message, dropped in 1886 by a German ship, on a remote beach in West Australia.

06/03/2018

Excellent video of Kinder Downfall on sunday from Deezel, gives a real feel for it.

Me soloing the winter Downfall climb - 03-03-18 in easy conditions on a busy day.

03/03/2018

How often do you see this on a weather map? Welcome to the Costa del Peak District!

03/03/2018

Pinnacle Gully and Speedwell Ridges in the Winnats yesterday evening. Looks pretty much the same this morning (with added mist). The Pass and the Rushup Edge road are open, the Sparrowpit road is nasty, roads to Castleton & Edale are fine.

02/03/2018

Strong east wind (60mph gusts this morning) and dry snow so Mam Tor and most of the Winnats have been blasted clear. The Pinnacle Gully icefall is still there and it looks as if there is a streak of ice and snow up the gully itself. The main road into Castleton is ok but the top road is closed by big drifts by Mam Nick car park.

01/03/2018

We're open as usual again today. The walk in to Castleton was a bit different this morning. Realistically, we don't expect record sales. I think we've only been closed by weather once in 25 years.

28/02/2018

About 5cm of snow fallen but with quite a lot of drifting. -2C at 400m at 8pm (plus windchill). Not as much cover on Mam Tor as you might expect, as the wind was easterly. Winnats is well plastered and the turf is solidly frozen. Pinnacle Gully was quite icy last night (and below the white fluff presumably still is).

27/02/2018

Only a spatter of snow on Mam Tor but the turf is well frozen. Lots of ice about and the Kinder cloughs are well iced (and for those who don't already know, the Downfall is in)

20/02/2018

Useful article on the various ways using a smartphone instead of a map can let you down and ways of coping with some of them. We would argue that even if you're primarily navigating on a phone it always makes sense to take a map too - they weigh very little and could save you from a tough night out or worse.

I have a controversial opinion: that although smartphones are not a substitute for navigation skills, they can in the right circumstances substitute a physical map and compass. Agree or disagree, i…

19/02/2018

Re-imagining our hills with glaciers!

The last Ice Age ended 10,000 years ago, but the mountains of Britain and Ireland remain as evidence. Peter Roberts has had a bit of fun drawing the glaciers back in...

17/02/2018

From the world's northernmost pub (in Svalbard) to the southernmost (in Tiera del Fuego) - the world's longest pub crawl!

It took Ben Coombs seven months to drive from the Arctic Circle to the southernmost tip of Chile.

14/02/2018

A heart warming photo, and a great story too.

Pikin the gorilla was due to be sold for meat but was rescued just in time.

14/02/2018

The snow in Mam Tor Gully was pretty soft last night (with a huge sagging cornice) but it was a cold night (-1C at 400m at 9am) and things are a lot crisper this morning. Kinder would definitely be worth a look, but do it now - it's forecast to get much warmer this afternoon.

13/02/2018

Not quite yesterday's glorious conditions but still plenty of snow on LH half of Mam Tor (most snow on RH side melted yesterday afternoon). Winnats ridges bare. Snowing lightly above 300m and a fair bit of ice about from last night's freeze. Rain down in Castleton but forecast to turn to snow then clear up to a good afternoon.

12/02/2018

About 5cm of snow fallen, with lots of drifting. Mam Tor well covered and some ice about. Sunny so Elbow & Matterhorn Ridges stripped already. +1C at 400m at 8.15 and turf not well frozen.

10/02/2018

Watch this standing up. It's much, much too close to the ground to enjoy watching in a seated position.

10/02/2018

Ok, here is the painting I've been scared to post ,because it means a lot to me. It was also the result of a dream, as apposed to a consciously planned drawing. I have given it the title 'Memories and Remorse' and I'm hoping it is self explanatory to most people.
One of the most amazing moments in my entire life was stumbling across wild elephants in their natural habitat. They are incredible and literally take your breath away.The more I read about them, the more fascinated I am . It is so abhorrent that hundreds of thousands of elephants have been and are still being killed to feed the ivory trade. What a sad, sick world we live in sometimes. It is unbelievably sad to think that our future generations may never get to see an elephant :(
I would be delighted if this painting could somehow help raise some awareness and money towards helping this cause. I have entered it into the David Shepherd Wildlife foundation Artist of the year .. but I am also very aware of how tough the competition is. Whatever the outcome, I am pleased that I got to paint it. I won't give up! I will keep practicing and keep striving to paint from the heart.

03/02/2018

The snow's back again, about 2-3cm at 400m at 8.30, +2C. Still snowing, sleet below 300m. On Mam Tor there was still some of the fall from wednesday left on the LH side and the turf was frozen yesterday morning, so the Gully and Spare Rib would be doable (but it's fairly wet snow).

30/01/2018

Sadly the UK won't get the eclipse, but we will still get a full moon that's 14% bigger than usual.

And it will be super... kind of

26/01/2018

RIP Liz Hawley. If Himalayan mountaineering has had a definitive source of information then she has been it for the last half century.

The most intimidating person in Himalayan mountaineering is a 92-year-old American woman with a walker. Elizabeth Hawley (most often addressed as Miss Hawley) has lived in Kathmandu for nearly as l…

26/01/2018

This weekend it's the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, the biggest bird survey in Europe.All you need to do to take part is download a list from their site and spend an hour in your garden (or a public park) noting down the birds you see.

The dates are in! Join us for Big Garden Birdwatch 27 - 29 January 2018. Registration opens 13 December 2017! Find out more