Adventure Outside

03/11/2024

A great personal day spent in the Langdale Valley scouting out new canyon descents.

We spent the day exploring the middle and lower sections of the incredible Dubgeon Ghyll.

This amazing ghyll winds its way up to to Pike O Stickle from the New Dungeon Ghyll car park.

The descent has dozens of waterfall abseil, including a massive 26 metre waterfall with a deep plunge pool at the bottom.

Who would like us to start offering Dungeon ghyll as one of our guided adventures?

31/10/2024

A wonderful, if drizzy morning spent in the beautiful Duddon Valley.

The Family group from Kent did extremely well, taking on some of the Classic climbs on Stonestar crag.

We discussed route choices, and gear placements, as well as the basics of anchor building.

On the rock we talked about climbing technique and movement on the rock, which was especially important given today's somewhat damp conditions.

We all had a great morning, and I look forward to seeing everyone again for their next big adventure.

27/10/2024

We had a wonderful day out on mixed craft on Saturday paddling the length Ullswater, England's second longest lake.

Starting with a journey on the Ullswater steamers ferry, we picked up our boats in Glenridding and Paddle all the way to Pooley bridge.

The weather was on our side. With a nearly perfect tailwind we completed the journey in only a few hours!

Let us know if you would like to join us to Paddle the length of one of England's lakes!

03/09/2024

The weather gods have frowned on us.

After a long drive to the Dolomites to climb the South face of the Marmolada (a 2 day climb with a mid height bivi) the weather gods have decided it wasn't to be.

As a backup we chose to climb a classic Dolomite multi pitch, the Piaz arete. After climbing a 'bonus pitch' thanks to the ever rubbish Rockfax guidebooks, we eventually got on route and began choss bothering in Classic Dolimite style.

Topping out just as the last gondola left should have been a problem, but thanks to the discovery of the refugio on the route down we had a blast. Great coffee, strudel and the refugio came with its very own pet pig. Who knew that high altitude pigs were a thing??

Aside from getting rained on a little it was another fine Italian mountaineering day!

Bede was on it with the bomber belays!

30/08/2024

Yesterday we returned from a successful climb of the Cassin Route on the Piz Badile. One of the 6 Classic North Faces, the route tops out at around 3250m with 800 metres of vertical climbing to the summit.

After a slog of walk in with heavy packs on day 1, taking in around 1900 metres of ascent we bivied above the SAS Fura mountain hut.

A 4am alarm saw us at the back of the pack as 4 other teams walked past us. Who would have expected to be the last awake at 4am! After stashing some gear we made our way up another 650 metres to the Col at the start of the route.
By 7am we were on the route and moving well. We quickly passed one team who were retreating as they realised that they couldn't keep up the pace they would need. Staring at nearly 1000 metres of pure vertical granite does throw on to sharp relief the scale of the challenge ahead.
Unfortunalty we made a navigation error on route that set us well behind and this set back meant that we topped out the route just as it got dark.

We now had an option. We had completed the route but had 200 metres of scrambling/easy climbing on a knife edge ridge to the shelter on the summit of the mountain. We opted not to do this in the dark and, as we stared at a storm brewing on the horizon and hoping that it didn't come our way, we set up for a night's sleep on a 1.5 metre wide spit of rock.

There was no other way to sleep other than partially hanging in my harness, as the ledge sloped downwards. Meaning that I spent 8 hours hanging on the rope that night while trying to steal some sleep, with only the occasional panicked awaking as I dreamed of falling off the edge of my ledge.

Day 3 saw us with another full mountaineering day. We descended the Piz Badile North Ridge. A feat that is more difficult than ascending it, due to the constant difficulty of stuck ropes and winding traverses. Down the Ridge in 5 hours and back to the hut in 6.5 there was coffee and cake to be had, before finishing the descent to the valley and another 14 hour day!

29/07/2024

Today felt like I was being reunited with an old friend!

My Kibo hasn't seen the light of day for many years, after I unceremoniously shoved it in the shed it has had little to do.

I'm not sure it has done any, and certainly not many miles since I rode it through Morocco, Spain and Portugal in 2017(?).

But after the better part of 7 or 8 years with no care and attention, she came back to life today with nothing more than a new gear cable and a new inner tube.

Still sporting the tyre that I bought in Xinjiang in 2015 for a grand total of about £2.50 (which has proven to be more reliable than any schwalbe marathon I have ever got my hands on!). And of course the Brooks saddle, which still holds the perfect mould of my backside from riding her 30000km+, I think I could ride her round the world again tomorrow ... if only I were still in the same kind of shape!

I've had little to no interest in cycling for many years now, but the spark seems to be drawing into a flame again. Helped throughly by the perfect conditions to be riding the back lanes of the South Lakes in this week.

Fingers crossed the Kibo will be hitting some African dirt roads this winter in the first of 2 efforts to cross Africa from South to North by bicycle.

First picture - My first ride in years.

Other pictures -From when she and I were doing more impressive things.

21/05/2024

FLASH SALE 50% OFF.

EMAIL US BY MIDNIGHT TONIGHT to book onto tomorrows SLATE QUARRIES ULTIMATE ADVENTURE 2pm session for 50% OFF!

We have a limited number of places still available. To get this adventure half off get in touch by the end of the day.

The Ultimate Adventure has Abseiling, Jumps, Deep Water, Scrambling and Underground lakes!

What more could you want!?

12/05/2024

We had the pleasure of having Louise and her family to join us for the Slate Quarries Adventure Experience.

They braved some of the biggest abseils in the Lake District to explore the tunnels and caverns of Cathedral cavern and Hodge Close Quarries.

We had an amazing day with these three awesome people and can't wait to see them again for their next adventure.

To book the Slate Quarries Adventure Experience please visit our website.

For a little more added adventure check out the Slate Quarries ULTIMATE Adventure, where we don wetsuits and Buoyancy Aids and not only abseil to the depths of Hodge Close, but take on jumps, scrambling and even explore a dark underwater lake (if you dare!).

10/05/2024

🌞☁️Spring has sprung! 🌞☁️

We had a great morning run this morning enjoying an amazing cloud inversion over Lake Windermere.

A cloud inversion, or temperature inversion is when the normal temperature distribution of air – warm at the bottom, colder as you go up – becomes inverted or flipped upside down. This means you have a cold layer of air trapped at ground level, overlain by warm air.

The start of Spring is one of the best times to catch cloud inversions so remember to get out early and enjoy your mornings while the weather is good.

We were out on Gummers How today. Gummers How is a great walk which is relatively short and accessible for people of all abilities and fitness. It rewards your effort with, in my opinion, the best view for the lowest challenge in the whole National Park.

Happy Spring 😁🌞🌱

06/05/2024

We had a wonderful day with Chris and Phoenix on Derwent water today.

Paddleboarding is great for everyone in the family, whether they are big, small or furry.

23/04/2024

Lovely shout out from the team at Blueprint Subsea and the Westmorland Gazette.

It's great to see recognition of a fantastic effort put in by the blueprint team for a really great cause!

14/04/2024

Yesterday we had the pleasure of guiding the Blueprint Subsea team around the Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge.

The Y3P is an amazing event that sees participants tackle the three highest mountains in Yorkshire and a massive 24 miles of Hiking! This is no small challenge.

The Blueprint team are fundraising to support St Mary's Hospice and Keswick Mountain Rescue.

Despite driving rain and 50mph gusts the team never waivered and morale stayed high throughout the challenge. We had a great day with them and hope you will support them in their cause!

Donation link below:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/blueprint-subsea-1711445180085?utm_term=WpwnK98Y2&fbclid=IwAR1doM6ybwOmmvSTupsZAr1comoOizorb1FYRkB0f2vvMkQErvtiHfcWTVA

03/03/2024

We had the best student today on our Navigation refresher day in the Lake District.

Ziggy was ever so slightly distracted by collecting sticks, but still managed to grasp the basics.

Check out our navigation courses on our website. We have dates still available in March, but they're filling up fast.

Link in Bio.

01/03/2024

Learn to Navigate in the hills and Mountains.

Come along to one of our navigation courses and learn all the skills you need to navigate, and keep yourself safe in the hills.

We have beginner and intermediate level navigation courses. If you choose to do both days we offer a great discount aswell.

All our courses move at a steady pace, giving you plenty of time to absorb the material, so that the learning sticks!

Check out our website for our course dates, they're filling up fast!

In this one day Beginner Navigation Course we will work on ensuring you are comfortable with using a map to navigate around footpaths and bridleways in Upland and Lowland areas.  This course is ideal for those who have little to no experience of navigation, as well as those who are familiar with us...

28/02/2024

A day of two halves!

The first picture is our group enjoying a quick hot chocolate in our emergency shelter due to the 'character building' conditions we were operating in.

The second is our afternoon hot chocolate stop at the Coniston boating centre.

Both halves of the day were equally rewarding for our awesome group, but for totally different reasons.

As Billy Connolly once said. 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing'.

And it was all topped off by a visit from the bravest Robin I've ever come across.

19/02/2024

Todra Gorge!

After many years exploring Morocco we finally made it to Todra Gorge, home to beginner and intermediate friendly bolted climbing, as well as massive multi pitch routes and everything in between.

Thanks to the incredibly friendly people, the amazing culture, great food and relaxed atmosphere Morocco is about as close to perfect as it gets for a climbing trip.

Thanks to the roadside nature of the climbing, and the friendly bolting Todra is a great first destination for anyone wanting to climb somewhere with a little adventure (once you have learned the necessary skills.)

Adventure Outside can teach you everything you need to know to climb safely and securely, allowing you to take yourselves on adventures to incredible places.

Or if you prefer...

Watch this space as explore developing climbing trips to Morocco, suitable for beginner and intermediate climbers who want to develop their skills in this amazing place.