28/09/06 108 PEOPLE SIGNED UP!

It's been a busy day! This morning, Frankie, Richie and I dressed up as pirates and bundled huge amounts of props, rum and sweets into the car in preparation for Socmart. This event occurs twice every year, and is an opportunity for societies to grab lots of new members. We'd been planning this for a while and ended up with an awesome stall.

By the end of the day, 108 people signed up to join the UEA Pirate Society. Despite Concrete (the UEA newspaper) getting us confused with the American Football team, various forum members getting us confused with Gamessoc, and all and sundry getting us confused with the Deviants, we managed to create quite a presence and pretty much everyone visited our stall. I got to say my spiel about what the society was all about several hundred times.

The event was a massive success and we've exceeded our quota in order to become an official society five times over. The only problem now will be fitting everyone in the pub at once!

The day before (Tuesday) was a bit more relaxed, with a couple of lectures in the morning, lunch with Frankie, Grace and Richie, and after that Frankie and I met up with Fitz in the pub for a few hours. The poor bloke was a bit hungover (lol--this is Fitz we're talking about here ) but I'm really glad him and Frankie are friends again. It's the start of a new year, new opportunities and fresh starts for everyone, and past differences have been buried.

We also did something we swore we would never do ... accessed the forums from the pub! I happened to have my laptop with me, and it turned out that I could pick up the wireless signal from the Hive (my new lurking-place in between lectures). That of course resulted in half an hour of forumage while we laughed at the new posts and earned some very funny looks from other people in the bar.

I would say that things appear to be back how they used to be in the 'good old days' again, but I think in time we'll all look back on this period as the good old days.

Posted by Alex at 1:15 AM

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26/09/06 It's good to be back

It's fresher's week again, and campus is once more packed with students! We were in the union bar night before last and I don't think I've ever seen it so busy. That was after being asked to leave the Mitre (it was our pub quiz night) due Frankie and Richie not buying drinks ... quite a cheek, since I always buy at least one pint and if we have any other friends with us they will as well. And there's no rule that says you have to buy drinks in order to play the quiz. Especially since Richie was driving.

Anyway we bumped into Mikey in the uni bar and also saw Francis (the communications officer for the Union) who looked absolutely knackered!

Lectures started yesterday, and were actually quite fun. I saw loads of people I knew down campus and 'stalked' several others ... that's a Phoenixism for seeing someone without them noticing you. Spent about an hour in the Hive with Grace herself showing her pictures from Scotland, and in the process convinced her that she never, ever, wants to go mountaineering! They now also have wireless internet in the Hive, which is where I'm typing this.

Later I popped along to a meet-up in the bar for computing science-studying forum members. Only about five showed up, and that's including me, Chris and Fitz, all of whom are veterans of forum meets and pretty much always turn up. I guess it just goes to confirm the popular stereotype of CMP students ... socially retarded and would rather stay at home than meet new people.

I was actually secretly pleased with myself that I didn't understand several of the geeky-type conversation topics. Proves there's hope for me yet.

Anyway I'm really glad the new semester has started and it's already a load of fun. Hopefully I'll get time to do some more work on the website soon.

Posted by Alex at 10:25 AM

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23/09/06 My day off

Had a pretty good day off today. Tidied my room (a bit), sorted out the washing machine (which was smelling foul--added some Nikwax and now it's as good as new!), wrote some material for the site (hasn't been uploaded yet, sorry), and waited for the postman. Posty was actually good enough to knock this time! Two parcels came, both courtesy of Ebay: an old but rather nice Hummingbird vertical ice hammer for James, and a selection of ice pitons and a deadman to add to my winter climbing rack.

All this is going to be important for the coming winter season. We're planning to spend up to two weeks ice climbing in Glencoe and Glen Nevis--plus a good bit of traditional mountaineering as well--and given that we'll be venturing onto Grade II mixed terrain I thought it important to have some ice pro as well as the usual selection of slings and nuts. Through Ebay I've managed to find a rather nice ice screw, a 'snarg'-type ice piton, and a 'warthog'-type ice piton. Also got a new DMM Deadman bundled with the whole lot, for only £20!

I'm looking forward to climbing some classic routes on Stob Coire nan Lochan such as Pearly Gates II*, Dorsal Arete II***, NC Gully II**, and Forked Gully I/II*. The Ledge Route II on Ben Nevis also looks fantastic. All we need are decent conditions next April and we'll be sorted!

Posted by Alex at 7:15 PM

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21/09/06 Apologies

I haven't posted or updated in ages. That's partly my fault for being lazy, but I've also been working overtime at the Co-Op this week and sorting out stuff for the pirate society. This morning Frankie and I went down campus to have our interview recorded for Livewire (the UEA radio station), and to print off our posters and fresher's handbook.

I am slowly working on both of the outstanding trip reports. The latest one to Scotland will be posted first, closely followed by the July trip report. I hope to have them up and running soon, and will certainly be able to put in a good amount of work on Saturday. However next week I'm back at uni ... well I've been back at uni for nearly two months, but what I mean is that my lectures and seminars start next week!

Good news is that I passed my resits with flying colours, which means I'm into my second year. Woop!

Will post again soon.

Posted by Alex at 7:30 PM

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11/09/06 Back!

I've been back since Friday evening, but I've been so busy over the weekend I haven't had time to post! The trip was a bit of a mixed bag, with a few minor disasters (the weather, Angelika twisting her ankle and forcing us to abandon the Lochaber Traverse, and more weather) and a few outstanding days. Unfortunately Angelika didn't have much fun, either sitting in the tent or looking around Fort William while I was in the mountains.

After we evacuated from upper Glen Nevis, I managed to do the Ring of Steall as part of a two-day bivvying trip (minus Stob Ban, due to appalling weather), and Ben Nevis via the tourist route, in a very respectable total time of 6 hours. In total I climbed six Munros. I'll be posting pics later in the week when I have some time!

On Saturday I went for a job interview at the Co-Op on Dereham Road, and on Sunday I had my first day at work. It's a very short day and surprisingly varied, so the time flies by, unlike the monotony of working at the Wyevale tills.

Posted by Alex at 2:15 PM

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1/09/06 Where I've gone, etc.

In nine hours, I will be catching a train from Norwich up to Fort William. The details of this trip are discussed pretty comprehensively in previous posts, so I won't dwell on them here ... but I think it's safe to say that I've never been on an expedition quite like this one. Historically I've managed to keep backpacking, bivvying, and mountaineering more or less separate (with a few exeptions). This will be the first whole trip to combine all three at the same time.

So it's the Lochaber Traverse, and possibly also a traverse of the Mamores, over the next week. The weather forecast is dire but nevertheless I am sticking to a lightweight approach. The only indulgence I have allowed myself is a nice warm sleeping bag. Everything else that isn't essential to survival has been ditched.

Looking at the big picture, I'm very happy with the way this trip has been slotted in. Building up to the big trips to the Alps in 2007 and 2008, I had planned a week of winter mountaineering and climbing in Glencoe next March, but there was still a gap in my experience.

The way I see it, the last two trips have helped consolidate my technical mountaineering ability at climbing grades up to Grade 2 (and above, for short pitches). This trip is Alpine in scale, but without the snow and technical climbing. Next March will be Alpine both in scale and in technicality. I think that leads nicely up to June next year when my brother and I will be heading off to Grindelwald to take a look at some of the mountains around the Eiger.

Anyway, I will be back by 9PM on Friday. The day after I'm going for a job interview, and the day after that I might be working (at the Co-op, Dereham Road, where Richie works ... Frankie and I are going to be splitting the weekend position, one day each). I'm afraid that I still haven't finished the July trip report what with being busy with one thing and another, but it is a priority and is now right at the top of my growing backlog of updates.

Regulars, I'd appreciate it if you wished me luck and kept me in your thoughts. This expedition is a bit more serious than the usual three-day jaunt to Langdale or Ogwen.

Posted by Alex at 1:15 AM

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