Chris Smith

SW Turkey Paddling

chrisfrankiesmith — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:04:58 +0000

Lake District Climbing

chrisfrankiesmith — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:54:14 +0000

The one night, one day climbing adventure started with a midgey infested boulder at Badger Rock in Kentmere. I thought my little brother leaving the deet in the car was pretty stupid, later I discovered my older brother leaving the sleeping bags in Preston was much more stupid.

The next after a misty start we climbed mossgill which surprisingly was mossy and wet. There were three of us and we got lost on route – it took us 7hrs to top out on Scafell :-/

Good day though!

World Challenge Expeditions – Norway 2008

chrisfrankiesmith — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:08:17 +0000

16 year 9s, 2 teachers, an assistant leader and myself, nominally tagged Expedition Leader! We had about 9 days in Norway and then a couple of days either side for travelling from and to Newcastle-Stavanger by ferry.

We completed a four day trek in the higher reaches of the Setesdal valley with clear blue skies and patches of snow still clinging to the north facing slopes. In the whole time we only saw 3 other people.

Our trek ended on the banks of the River Otra, here we met up with our canoes, resupplied with food and set off on a 4 day, 3 night canoe trip. Above the dam at Evje the Otra is more reservoir than river, some of the team had fishing equipment and caught brown trout and rainbow trout to be cooked on the fire in the evenings. Campsites were on beaches and islands.

Apart from one days paddling in a thunder and lightning storm the weather was fantastic. To round off the trip we paddled the short section of fairly steep white water below the Dam. The team rafted it and the leaders stole some kayaks (a battered redline, spoon like paddlers, ribbed BA and Roma helmet – classy!).

For more information on World Challenge Expeditions click HERE.

Moroccan Water (Some of it White)

chrisfrankiesmith — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:56:15 +0000

I thought I’d better put some photos up from a paddling trip to Morocco – its a brilliant Easter destination; good weather, amazing food and even a bit of paddling hidden away in the Atlas mountains….

[All Photo's are courtesy of David Fairweather and his rather large peli box full of technical wonders]

We got lost on this huge and beautiful lake as we paddled around trying to find out driver – the lake marked the end of our two day descent.

The locals didn’t seem surprised by our arrival, this river is commericailly rafted, not quite a tryweryn but as close as Morocco gets (and hopefully ever will). Its the remote gorges, a feeling of complete removal from the real world while being so close to Europe that is Morocco’s big draw.

Everywhere we went to locals seemed to continue to be friendly; from giving us their spare tire to fix our second flat in as many hundred meters; to letting us sleep on their floor for a very small price; to seal launching from their living room into a river which springs from underground caves into a perfect crystal clear grade 4 rapid.

And last but not least – there was some amazing white water. Yes we did have to drive around a lot to find it, yes we (Chris E) had to battle with our driver to take us anywhere vaguely non touristy and yes we found our fair share of empty river beds. But the white water we did find was clean, clear and very good quality and above all it was in a brilliant and remote landscape.

Happy Days

Awesome Walls Stockport II

thewhitebits — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:08:35 +0000

Climber: Lizzie Bowler, Photographer: Mark Alderson

BMC Leading Ladder Finals @ Awesome Walls Stockport

Awesome Walls Stockport is rapidly approaching its 5th month of climbing and it can boast an active infancy. Youth Climbing Series (Round 1), BMC Leading Ladder Final (results), Route Setting Course, opening of the Awesome Cafe and a whole host of internal climbing courses, sessions and parties.

The routes are fresh and well set, the weather continues to force us inside, its not a bad place to keep fit!

Wildcatz promoted to Div 2

thewhitebits — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:43:52 +0000

In a crazy turn around final tournament we managed to get the right results to steal Manchesters top spot and win the Div 3 North national polo league: with the new rules this means automatic promotion.

It was all very exciting – we only beat Manchester with a last minute lob shot of a goal. It came down to the wire with Selkirk as well. Definitely a very close battle for the top two positions. It leaves Manchester to fight through the play offs to regain their Div 2 position.

Many thanks to Duncan and team for organising the league.

The Peaks: Frosty Froggatt

thewhitebits — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:10:53 +0000

10 in the morning and it was still -2 degrees. Already talking about the deep fried brie wedges we’d be eating after the days climb, we headed to the impressive edge of Froggatt. Waterways were icy, the grass was frosted, the grit was perfect.

Nick Bamber on Tody’s Wall – Impressive E1 Lead [Photo: Chris Smith]

Rob Coppage topping out on Diamond Crack (VS) [Photo: Matt Smith]

Nick Bamber leading Three Pebbles Slab (debatably an E1)! [Photo: Chris Smith]

Bouldering in the setting sun – Downhill Racer, Froggatt

River Moose – New York State

thewhitebits — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:06:16 +0000

It was August and September 2007 when we went exploring the North Eastern States of America for some paddling; we knew we’d get the Yough and the Gauley and the Beaver and some other good dam releases, but at the same time we were disappointed that we would miss the October Moose Fest. However some locals persuaded us it could still be a jolly, even at low summer flows so we went and investigated….

I’ve seen pictures of this drop when there’s actually some water – quite a terrifying hole forms at the bottom. [Chris and Nick]

Chris on a little slotty drop further down the Moose

There was some definite scrapeage between the drops – when the river widened there wasn’t really enough water. However the weather was amazing and when we did get to the drops they were fun and picturesque.

Bottom of the Slot – Tom goes deep

One car was always an issue – at the end of this run Jo and I had a long walk back to the car. It was quite intimidating: crazed dogs, suspected of rabies, even the squirrels were a potential threat. It was a real wilderness walk!

Chris: The final drop of the day, just a huge reservoir and our long walk.

Awesome Walls Stockport

thewhitebits — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:46:48 +0000

This 23.5m Lead Wall is the Tallest in England

There aren’t many indoor walls which allow you to get into a position where your belayer looks a long way down but the lower off looks even further up. A truly awesome wall; and with two 5+ routes its accesible to a lot of people (as long as you have a 50m rope!).

In Liverpool they turned an old church into a cool climbing venue, here in Stockport they have done the same with an old mill. The old tiles are still visible in places,the original stone archway remains in tact, as far as indoor climbing goes, its an inspiring place to climb.

Awesome Walls Website

Black River Gorge: New York State

thewhitebits — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:41:57 +0000

This river runs throughout the summer and has some sweeeet play waves as well as some pretty big drops – it was fairly low so the gorge wasn’t too pushy. The Poop Shoot still provided entertainment and butterflies for all (good downtime opportunities…).

Pete was still playing around with his fancy new digital SLR and as you can see I’ve been playing around with photoshop!

Scally #1

Scally #2

Like most of the rivers we paddled in the States (Summer 2007) the water was really warm; even though we didn’t have the sunshine it was still a thermal only type of day. Special thanks to Tom for nailing the ‘slot of depth’ and surprising us by passing through it with relative ease…

Play Wave in the Gorge:

The Big ‘L’ : I think this is the Inner City Straits Playwave on the Black River Gorge : Either way it was very fast and superfun.