This is Sooty and Sweep. Adorable. Until they ain't 🤣
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Ran a short rope protection and security course for some hill walking and scrambling friends of mine today. Included improvised harnesses, Italian hitch, clove hitch, assisted hoist, anchors, rappelling, classic belay, belays, prusicks, basic rescue and more. Hopefully everyone came away more confident about having to deal with an emergency situation. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and laughs in the strong winds.
#climbing #scrambling #hiking #rockclimbers #mountaincourses
Our two aren't looking too bad for 10 & 12 years of age.
Daily dog walk through the olive groves. The slopes of the Cerro de Caballo 3009m in the Sierra Nevada rising ahead.
Really looking forward to this. On Friday I am running a short course for hiking buddies recapping how to use a rope for basic protection & security in emergency situations. Came about as a friend always carries a short rope in his pack but admitted he has absolutely no real idea how to use it. Includes:
No harness? - Swiss Seat Harness
Anchors
Lowering on a rope
Ascending using assisted hoist
Ascending using prusiks
Rapelling - Dulfersitz - basic - Prusik backup
Protecting scrambles
Our first frosts of the winter last night but sunshine and clear skies meant an early morning hike up the Rio Lanjarón. Lots of water coming down from the Sierra Nevada. Beautiful colours
#Hiking #Spain #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography #walking
Looking at this photo, now I realise that it's about time I got off my rear end and headed up into those lovely white snows. It's the best early season snowfall for quite some time, maybe 5+ years?
Got to take advantage whilst I can. Better get my head together and sharpen my mountaineering gear.
#Hiking #Mountaineering #Walking #Mountains #Spain #Outdoors #Andalucia
Sat on the summit of Morrón de Enmedio 1080 metres eating our sandwiches and looking at the stunning Sierra Nevada rising above Granada. Stunning views, no wind, warm air (even the volcanic vent variety!) meant lightweight gear. A celebratory drop of anise at the top (traditional evidently) topped off a super day. Hard to believe that we are in the depths of winter.
#Hiking #Backpacking #Walking #Mountains #Spain #Outdoors #Andalucia
Here's a strange image from today's hike in the Sierra Elvira. No filters, no manipulation, nada! Shows a temperature inversion with the city of Granada appearing out of the gloom in the lower half of the image.
Above the inversion layer the Sierra Nevada mountains rise 3000 metres above the city and are in clear haze free air.
The 3 main summits of (L to R) Alcazaba, Mulhacén & Veleta are prominent.
#Hiking #Walking #Mountains #Spain #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
Just love those mountain days when the early morning cloud starts to dissipate and the light constantly changes thereafter. These are the Cumbres Verdes mountains just outside Granada
#Hiking #Backpacking #Walking #Mountains #Spain #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography #Outdoors #Andalucia
I'm looking back today and find I'm missing the tranquility of those unknown hiking trails in Patagonia we frequented. The twisted and torn forests of lenga and birch. The not knowing quite what was round the next corner. A fitting tribute to #SilentSunday I think
Morning Adam. We are passing your way Tuesday, taking our LoRa radios for a walk 🤣 . From the Sierra Elvira we will have line of sight to Granada. Do you have a LoRa radio by any chance?
I am at the final stages of writing a book and am now looking for suggestions and recommendations for self publishing.
Preference is for smaller, more simple personal solutions rather than complex big tech ones, but at this stage I just need some ideas.
Post Christmas morning walk with the dogs. Arko looking quite pleased with himself, for some reason!
Short hike up the Rio Lanjarón and back to town via the Cecarta acequia. Short and sweet. Have a great festive period
Early Christmas present from our local walking group. Says a lot doesn't it, especially the card, which reflects quite amusingly on some of my struggles and inability to find the correct route 🤣 🤣
Is this good or bad? Which path is this?
One path leads to a future where wilderness is a gated asset, a serene backdrop for the ultra-wealthy and conservation becomes a luxury business.
The other leads back to the core principles of true ecotourism and public protection, where conservation benefits ecosystems and local communities, and awe-inspiring places remain for all.
Some of the most insane mountain photography ever from this amazing winter ascent of Cerro Torre by Colin Haley
After many previous failures incl managed hosts going out of business, I've finally got #GoToSocial up & running on an old 2017 mini-pc from home
Allows me to do longer mountain posts with more images & also my grumpy ramblings & failings with technology, without clogging up this Mastodon feed.
As the introductory pinned post states "If you're a mountain person who loves tech (or a tech person who loves mountains), we probably have things in common."
Been a frustrating couple of days trying to install automatic webcam image capture & ftp upload to my website. Most programs are far too complex for this simple situation. Ended up with a simple python script. Doesn't help too when my computer wont stop sleeping, suspending or hibernating.
Then, one morning, all at once everything clicks and works fine 😀
In a few days I've gone from a southern hemisphere late spring/early summer to a northern hemisphere late autumn/early winter environment. Nowhere was this more evident than yesterday when hiking in the Vereda de Estrella, near Granada, approaching the north face of Alcazaba. Just glorious autumnal colours!
#Hiking Walking #Mountains #Spain #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography #Outdoors #Andalucia
Back after 3 days of travelling and last night slept the sleep of the gods in my own home. You can't beat nearly 10 hours solid sleep
Looking out from Cerro Paredón near El Chalten towards the east over Lago Viedma to the mountains beyond. Horizontal lines of steppe, pampas, lake, mountains, cloud and sky. A few icebergs can be seen on the lake surface having broken away from the Videma glacier
#Patagonia #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
This is quite an unusual image that we didn't realise we had captured until later that day. This is the magnificent Cerro Torre summit in the late afternoon sun. We knew there were condors flying around but didn't expect to see a paraglider appear in the image too 🤣
The story of our recent encounters with the Andean Condor
The Condor approaching was anything but steady, tossed and jostled by the cliff-face turbulence. She was coming home to find her mate.
With an expert’s grace, she mastered the chaos. She lined up her final approach, adjusted her primary feathers with microscopic precision, and then, folded her wings and dropped like a stone, landing perfectly on a rocky perch just below our vantage point.
Short video of her coming in to land on the cliffs outside El Chalten
Apologies to all my veggie friends for this. I live with a vegetarian and eat almost 95%+ vegetarian food. Love it. But sometimes, especially in Patagonia, you just have to eat a half a sheep.
Our final week here in El Chaltén, Can't believe 4 weeks already. Comfortable here, surrounded by warm, friendly people & a great selection of bars & restaurants. We've been doing lots of stunning trekking routes among some of the most dramatic mountains on the planet.
1 rough week but the weather has been superb. Nothing but t-shirts & shorts lately. Days incredibly long, with light from 4:30 am until 10 pm.
Could easily see myself living here. Be sad to leave. It's been an absolute blast.
Close up images of the summits of Cerro Torrre, Egger and Standhardt. from the Torre valley.
#Patagonia #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
After our failure with photographing the Andean Condor yesterday today we opted for a more static subject. Yes, the magnificent Cerro Torre. I might be biased, but to me this is the finest looking mountain on the planet.
Cerros Torre, Egger & Standhardt mountains. Some close ups to follow.
And guess what ... on the journey back to El Chalten the sky where we were yesterday was full of Condors. Typical eh! 🤣
#Patagonia #hiking #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
The day was perfect, sun-drenched, warm, with only a gentle breeze. Below us, El Chalten lay like a miniature model village. Across the horizon, the entire Fitzroy and Torre massifs stood stark against a brilliant blue sky, their snowy caps gleaming.
We paused to watch tiny, heroic figures of rock climbers clinging to the granite. I was a little envious.
#Patagonia #hiking #walking #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
Yesterday was to be our "Day of the Condor". Weather perfect. A chance to photograph Condors up close. Guess what? You've guessed it, 6 hours and just two small specks in the sky in the distance.
We had drawn a blank. Our quest had ended not with a majestic flap of wings, but with a quiet sigh.
Nice views anyway 🤣
The guardians at the refuge showed us a recent video of the resident Puma at the campsite. It was on a trunk of a fallen tree close to where we had just camped. The Puma didn't seem at all disturbed by the presence of humans.
Travelling back through the forest it's slightly off putting knowing that a Puma could be on the trail just round the corner. I must admit to being slightly twitchy!
Of course to all my fediverse American friends this is the norm I guess 😃
Stream coming down from Piedra Negra to Refugio Piedra del Fraile
#Patagonia #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography #waterfalls #waterfallwednesday
From the pass it was an easy ascent to Laguna Pollone. This is a special place. We sat down, ate some energy bars and just gazed at that awesome, dramatic scene. The reflections of the mountains echoed in the waters of the lake, which still had some morning ice drifting across. All was still. No wind. Such a tranquil moment for us both.
#Patagonia #hiking #walking #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography #backpacking
We emerged onto the flat plain of the Rio Electrico valley, through some old terminal moraines, continuing over a hillside to emerge at a small pass overlooking the Rio Pollone.
What a view! Ahead was the white wall of the Cordon Marconi and to the right Gorra Blanca towered over the valley. We could see our previous campsite at La Playita, the other side of the lake.
#Patagonia #hiking #walking #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
I looked wistfully at the grassy strip outside the refuge. It was there I had laid, battered, bruised, beaten and snow blind after retreating from Paso Marconi in 2010 (photo). Utterly exhausted we had dumped our overweight packs and stretched out in the warm sunshine on the lovely soft grasses to sleep.
15 years later ... @khusky re-enacted those precious moments 😃
Refugio del Fraile is a old fashioned, and at first sight, a somewhat run down mountain refuge that screams "Old Patagonia". It hasn't changed that much in 19 years. The campsite is in a sheltered wood and there are some large wooden buildings that serve as a toilet block and a store shed. We used to cook in the corrugated iron shacks outside that offered some protection from the rain. The refuge sells beer, wine and mountain hearty meals
Beauty of the Patagonian Forest to Refugio Piedra del Fraile.
The forest is a tangled mass of broken, twisted & torn trees. There are natural open glades though that let the sunlight through. It's beautiful. If you are lucky, we weren't, you just might catch sight of the Huemul deer.
Trails now well maintained & wide, nothing like the narrow, thick & spiky bush that tore at clothing back in 2006
#Patagonia #hiking #walking #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
Just back from probably the finest 3 day backpacking trip you could possibly imagine. Mostly just @khusky and I with no others on the trails.
Absolutely whacked. Need some time to recover and process thoughts and images. In the meantime these 4 photos will have to suffice.
#Patagonia #hiking #walking #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
Another image of Mt Fitzroy and Cerro Poincenot from yesterday's hike. I don't often do portrait aspects but given the scale of the mountain I think this works.
Heading off now for a 3 night backpacking trip up the Rio Electrico valley. Hopefully, the weather will play ball.
#Patagonia #hiking #walking #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
Examples today of lenticular clouds over the Cerro Torre & Fitzroy. They appear to be moving real slow but in fact signal very high winds speeds.
Nice to see the very summit of Cerro Torre itself appearing in one of the images. The W face will be plastered with new snow but the E facing side that we can see here is so steep no snow can accumulate apart from the snow mushrooms adorning the summit slopes.
#Patagonia #hiking #walking #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
"I can see the mountains again!"
"I can see the mountains again!"
"I can see the mountains again!"
"I can see the mountains again!"
Braving the Arctic weather conditions, we geared up and left the warm apartment. We made the 300 meters to the bridge over the Rio de las Vueltas before we decided to call it a day and head to the warm and cosy Patagonicus Restaurant for chocolate brownies and a pot of Earl Grey tea.
As we thawed, a single, humbling thought crystallized: Maybe we ain't so tough after all 🤣
Heavy rain here in El Chalten. Also an orange alert for wind with 60-80 kph predicted and gusts of over 100 kph. Wind chill just above freezing. Don't think we'll be going anywhere today.
I know its not #waterfallwednesday nor even #waterfallsunday, but ... sandwiched between brutal weather alerts for wind and rain, we had a precious half-day window. The target? Chorillo del Salto, a popular waterfall just outside El Chalten. A 9km round trip with barely a hill to climb seemed like the perfect, sensible mission.
#Patagonia #hiking #walking #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography #waterfalls
Came across this happy chappy yesterday when slightly away from the main trail.Word balloon time? What's he thinking? 🤣
#nature #animals #southamerica #wildlife #wildlifephotography
The Patagonian weather is finally breaking. After days of settled conditions, the script has flipped: while patches of sun still linger, the peaks are now swaddled in cloud, and the wind has arrived with a vengeance. These are the strongest gusts we’ve felt in the 13 days since we arrived. A proper Patagonian welcome.
I wrote a blog post at https://scribbles.page/patagonia-diaries/posts/a-windy-morning-on-cerro-antenna
#Patagonia #hiking #walking #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
Very windy and cloudy day today. Cerro Torre was clagged in but Fitzroy range kept appearing out of the cloud, especially Aguja Poincenot 3002m, whose summit was often bathed in sunshine.
We did a short half day hike up some lower hills where we came across Condors and Guanaco. When the high hills are out because of the weather you can still have fun.
#Patagonia #hiking #walking #mountains #Photography #Landscape #LandscapePhotography
