30/11/05 *hikkup*

Current status; Pleasantly drunk

Drinks this evening: 1 x WKD, 2.724 glass esof Very YStrong red wine, 1 pint Old Peculieer

Ability to do courseworek at th emoment: Zero!!

Had planned to do some more on my courseworork this evening, but somebody decided to organise a fLat Gathering for Flat 14. Didn't last very long, but it was fun while it lasted. Somebody appears to have a large stash of drinks in the fridge ... or at least they did have one. Now it is mostly gone. I introduced a bottle of Theeekastons' Old Peculier which was well recieved despite not being chilled as it's supposed to be. Although most people seeem to prefer things such as STella and Smirnoff. Not my Cup Of Tea!

Hum. Probably the Mountianian Entries will ahave to wait until tomorrow nowbecause obviously I'm having trouuble typing striaght. For some reason I don't appear to have the ability to absdbdorb such as large amounts of alchoihol as do other peopl.

Maybe I'lll have an eoarly night for a change.

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Sorted!

My new iBook is now up and running, and muuuch faster than the old one. All the data I need has been transferred, including all 6 GB of my iTunes music library, plus 4 GB of photos. It's a lovely machine: they've updated the keyboard and trackpad since the old iBook model, plus given it a slot-loading combo drive which can play DVDs. It's also nice to have a processor that's twice as fast, and ten gigs more hard disk space.

However, I have a grumble with the operating system, Mac OS 10.4. TextEdit, the app I usually use for HTML editing, now automatically reads HTML tags in TXT files and displays it in "preview" mode. This means that I can't use TextEdit for HTML editing anymore, because there's no way of actually seeing the source code. I downloaded an opensource application called CreaText which is far better ... and has lots of goodies for HTML editing, too. Colour-coded tags make things so much clearer.

I have also sorted out the crampons, and am now the proud owner of a pair of Grivel G10s. As it happened, the staff at Venturesport were most helpful, and the assistant spent quite a while going over the important points, since I'm new to crampons. Due to my big hoofs, I have been warned to tread carefully over mixed terrain, because the central extension bar on the crampon is extended to its maximum length and could be damaged or broken.

I have also been warned not to use the crampons on ice slopes at an angle of more than 70 degrees, because these are walking crampons and not designed for ice-climbing. No worries there: the day when we get faces of alpine ice in the Lake District will be the day Hell freezes over! The thing to seriously bear in mind here is that these crampons aren't really up to anything above Grade 1 winter climbs.

So I'm pretty pleased in general, despite having spent far too much money lately. Not that I'm in danger of running out like most people I know (some of whom are already badly in debt), but I'll certainly have to work over part of the Christmas hols at least ...

Please note: I will be posting the final three mountain entries for the Lake District section as soon as possible, hopefully by the end of tomorrow, so watch out for them!

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29/11/05 Crampons, coursework, and computers

Crampons

First things first. After checking out the current winter conditions even this early in the season, I've decided it would be foolish not to venture into the mountains without a decent pair of crampons. I'll need them eventually anyway, so why not get them now while I'm debt free? I'm looking for a pair of Grivel G10s, and after a discussion over at OUTDOORSMagic, decided I could safely order them online.

However, my computer apparently crashed halfway through processing the order (more about this below), and subsequently the order didn't go through. My parents are bringing my mountaineering boots up on Wednesday so I'll go straight into the store and get them fitted properly. A much better plan anyway, because I may find another model of crampon which is more suitable.

My brother can't afford a full pair of crampons, so he's opting for the Grivel Spider, a 10-point instep crampon. I'm still not entirely happy with this, but he'll be spending an awful lot on gear before we go (for him, anyway, since he doesn't have a job) and doesn't want to buy both 4-season boots and crampons. He has an ice axe, though, so if he's careful it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Coursework

It's just hit me that I have about two weeks to complete both of my monster coursework assignments. I started the first one today, and already I know that I won't be able to finish it. To implement complete functionality, you need to use abstracts and interfaces: concepts which, try as I might, I am completely incapable of understanding. I'm going to concentrate on the core classes and get as many marks as I can in that area ... and even then I'm going to have my work cut out.

The other piece of coursework has to be completed with a partner. Problem is, we only have one lab session a week, and the guy I'm working with didn't turn up to the last one. I don't know his last name or email address, which basically means we're out of contact until next MONDAY. Just over ONE WEEK before the deadline.

I'm going to start working on my version of the system, and when we meet up again next we're just going to have to muddle through the rest of it.

I'm just thankful that I got such good marks in the first piece of coursework!

Computer

My iBook is becoming more erratic all the time: crashing, freezing, overheating to the extent of burnt hands, and peculiar rattling noises. It crashed yesterday in the middle of trying to order some gear through the internet. Luckily the new computer has now arrived, and my parents will be dropping it off on Wednesday morning: big relief!

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27/11/05 Winter is here

The first cold blast of the season has plunged Britain into winter. Looking at the webcams around the country, the Wasdale mountains have a capping of snow (as I write this, Gable is looking particularly fine), and the Cairngorms appear to be under about a foot of the white stuff. Even in the flatlands of East Anglia we had a few damp flurries.

Prospects for an excellent winter hillwalking season are looking up. We're still hopeful for high pressure and low temperatures over Christmas when we visit the Lakes, but of course it's impossible to forecast that far ahead. On the other hand, it's now only a month away!

Exciting, but I'm dreading the prospect of the coursework and exam pressure that's bound to build up over the final three weeks. The last two pieces of coursework for the semester have now been set. One is to construct a program in Java, and the other is to build a complex database using Access. I'm pretty good with Access, having studied it intensively for three years now, but I'm less confident with Java. In any case, I need to start working on them now if I'm going to have them finished.

The exams shouldn't be too bad--this is the first year, after all--but I hate revision. I'm just looking forward to being able to go home, spend a week working at Wyevale, then head off to the Lakes just after Christmas for a week. I'm really keen to do the traverse of Crinkle Crags "properly" (as opposed to a tacked-on walk after Bowfell) and try out some scrambling on the Pikes, weather permitting.

And then, only a month after that, I get to go on a winter mountaineering course in Aviemore over the weekend! I'm now making it to the hills on average once a month, which is great. I feel this is the way I was meant to live my life.

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24/11/05 Fire alarms ... aargh!

I am starting to get really cheesed off with the fire alarm situation here in Paston House. Yesterday morning it went off at 8:45 AM, so of course virtually everyone was asleep, but it was late enough to make us think twice about going back to bed again once the alarms had been switched off. Next it went off at 11:45 PM when I was in the shower. After hurriedly tugging on a pair of trousers and my down jacket, I stood in the cold outside with ice forming on my wet hair: not nice.

And then it went off AGAIN at 3 in the morning ... three times! Nobody even bothered leaving the building, but just stood around in the halls waiting to see if it was the real deal this time. After it cut off (about five minutes later), there were two very short bursts of noise from the alarm, each lasting about ten seconds.

Apparently steam from the showers can set the alarm off, which indicates to me that the sensors are too sensitive. And as for those two quick bursts ... I'm certain that's someone playing silly buggers. Either way, it is time that something is done! Deprivation of sleep is a form of torture, you know.

On the computer front, my iBook isn't being quite so bad as it was before, because I've learned a few tricks to help keep the hard disk from overheating and making that awful scraping noise. Basically, if I have more than three apps open at once (or play iTunes in the background) while transferring files to the FTP server, or doing just about anything else memory-intensive, the computer begins to seriously overheat and slow to a crawl. I am certain that the disk is failing, though, and I've decided it's not worth it to repair it again.

So I've bitten the bullet and forked out £600 for a new iBook, which was more than I really wanted to pay (especially with that £630 bill I've just paid off ...), but I need to have a laptop I can take home at weekends to work on. A Mini just wouldn't work out.

Still, it'll be nice to have a faster G4 processer and a bigger hard disk, not to mention an optical drive that can both play DVDs and burn CDs. And a logic board which doesn't fail every year.

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22/11/05 Imminent disaster

I may be only days away from a hard disk failure on my iBook. All crucial data (eg. coursework) has been hastily backed up onto a pen drive, but I can't make any bigger backups at the moment because I don't have access to a CDR drive. I'm just hoping the thing hangs in there until the weekend when I can dump the contents of the disk onto one of the computers at home.

Despite my firm belief that Macs are more stable than PCs, I've had a lot of trouble with this one. First it was the logic board. Second, it was the logic board again. Third it was the CD-ROM drive, and now I'm facing the prospect of complete hard disk failure. The thought of losing everything on the disk is very scary.

Even more scary, though, is the price Apple charges to install a new hard drive: about £250. Do I really want to spend £250 on a rather sickly and accident-prone computer? I don't know, but I'm beginning to think a Mac Mini and cheap monitor would be more cost effective. And certainly a hell of a lot more reliable.

If blog posts and updates to site suddenly stop, you'll know that the computer has died. I will at the very least post an update at the weekend. Please wish me luck!

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21/11/05 Trip report posted

After many hours of effort dedicated to the wellbeing of my readers, I have completed the two-part trip report for the Snowdonia Fell Club trip. Read the big news here! It is also linked from the main page and North Wales section.

The other big step forward is that my site is now listed with both Google and MSN search. Visit numbers are already rocketing. Would you believe I've received nearly 900 unique visitors since the site was launched only thirteen days ago?

Here's a quick request to amateur webmasters. If you've found my site interesting, and your own site has relevant content, please link to me! Drop me a line (see main page for email address) and I'll link back to you.

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Back from Wales

I'm now back from my weekend in Wales. The weather was superb, and according to an old man one of the other groups met on Snowdon, the views haven't been that clear since 1979!

Given the amount of ice up high, I changed my mind and decided to do the Bochlwyd Horseshoe instead. This epic high-level traverse incorporates Tryfan North and South Ridges, Bristly Ridge, Glyder Fach summit, and also Glyder Fawr which we added on to the route just before dusk. Given my recent experience with the North Ridge, I was appointed pathfinder. I actually managed to find the Cannon stone!

My job as pathfinder really meant something when we got to Bristly Ridge, which is considerably harder. I scouted a route up a difficult gully, and led the first party towards a ledge halfway up the face of the cliff. My task was then to find the most difficult route and show everyone else how to avoid it! This was actually great fun: I took the last 10 metres of the gully direct, which was nearly Grade 3 given the complete lack of decent holds. A very stimulating climb, despite being the most technically difficult thing I've done in my entire life. (You may applaud.)

The sun began to set as we descended from Glyder Fawr, and by the time we arrived at Idwal Cottage it was dark and very cold. It was a demoralising blow to find that the cafe had shut: no chance of two bottles of lucozade to revive stiff muscles this time!

The next day, I went with Rachel (the second walkleader from Saturday) and a few others up Snowdon via the Miner's Track. This is probably the shortest and steepest route up Snowdon, and turned out to be very strenuous, but the views accross to Snowdon are staggering:

When we reached the top, we found a scattering of snow, a big crowd, and epic views extending from horizon to horizon. Don't listen to people who whinge about the summit cafe and train station: Snowdon is one of the finest mountains in Britain.

All in all, a very enjoyable weekend with fine people and fine walks. Big thanks to the Fell Club committee for organising the trip!

I will post a fuller account within the next few days.

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18/11/05 Here we go!

Everything is now sorted for the trip. Weather is still holding ... in fact there's even a chance of a temperature inversion, although maybe that's too much to hope for. Visibility in all mountain areas of the UK is in any case excellent, and is expected to remain so for several days.

If you haven't been keeping up to date: I'm going on a trip with the UEA Fell Club to Snowdonia over the weekend, and expect to climb Crib Goch, Crib-y-Ddysgl, and Snowdon, plus maybe one other. I will post a brief report here on Monday, and a more full account (to be linked from the North Wales page) later in the week. Expect lots of pictures!

Please wish blue skies and frosty air in my direction.

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17/11/05 Less than a day to go

My gear is now fully packed for the Snowdonia trip tomorrow. I'm still not sure what kind of accommodation we'll end up with, so I've taken my fleece sleeping bag liner just in case ... the only sleeping bag I have with me is pretty cold in anything below about 10 degrees C. I gather we'll either be staying in a BMC hut or bunkhouse of some description. It's in or near Bethesda, and that's all I know.

The weather is still holding. There's a good dollop of snow on the 'gorms and Nevis range, and that sprinkling on Y Garn--if it isn't just a very hard frost--is still there. The Ogwen weather station is showing air temperature varying between 1 and 5 degrees during the day, which means roughly -3 to -9 on the summits, without taking wind into account. Needless to say, I'm taking my microfleece and down jacket!

In other news, someone has been playing silly buggers with the fire alarms in Paston House. Night before last they went off at 2 AM and weren't switched off until 2:40, which meant everyone was standing around for ages in the freezing cold wearing pyjamas and dressing gowns (although obviously many of the more nocturnal students were still up). There had also been a pyjama party at the LCR earlier on, and guess what: someone had set off the fire alarm then too. So there were some people who had to endure TWO fire alarms that night ... in their PJs both times! It's a wonder nobody got hypothermia!

The fire alarm went off briefly this evening too, at about nine, but obviously nobody had gone to bed yet. A few people were in the shower at the time, though, which was unfortunate. At least most people thought to put on warm clothes on this occasion!

Whoever is responsible for this will probably be lynched.

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16/11/05 SNOW!

Looking at the webcams around the country, I can see that there is snow in the Cairngorms to well below 3000 feet, snow on the tops in Glencoe, some on the Nevis range, and even a smidgen on Y Garn in Wales! Average temperatures are currently about five degrees, and there have been widespread ground frosts overnight.

The weather is uniformly calm and brilliantly clear, thanks to a front of high pressure moving in from the north which is expected to keep things crisp and cold for the rest of the week. And the snow is moving south.

If the weather holds until the weekend as it is expected to, the conditions will be absolutely perfect for the Snowdonia trip. I love the mountains in autumn and winter, and with a sprinkling of snow they'll be even more spectacular ... expect to see some stunning photos when I get back (fingers crossed!)

Actually I just remembered we'll be there for two days, not one, so on top of the Snowdon range I'll probably be doing something else on the Sunday. I think they're usually shorter walks, but I'm really hoping I'll get to climb Tryfan again on the second day. That would be perfect.

I'm starting to get really excited about this trip!

15/11/05 Lots of updates

The North Wales section has now been fully updated, including mountain entries for Glyder Fach, Pen yr Ole Wen, Y Garn, and Tryfan. These are the only Welsh hills I've climbed so far, but look out for more very soon. I am also in the process of updating the Lake District section; there are currently only a few of the Southern Fells left to go before I start on the other two categories. I expect to be able to add between four and six new Wainwrights (as well as updates to many others) after I come back from my Langdale trip over the New Year.

My new Scarpa SL boots are proving to be very good. I'm wearing them everywhere I go around the campus at the moment to get a feel for them before starting on any long walks. They feel very comfortable straight away, if a little stiffer and more cumbersome than I'm used to: great for winter use, obviously, but I think I'll prefer to keep my Brashers for summer walking and scrambling.

The only niggle at the moment is a slight case of heel lift, which may lead to blisters. I'm temporarily fixing it by putting a wadge of folded bin liners under the heel section of each footbed. When I go into town tomorrow, I'm going to look for some proper heel-specific volume adjusters, and also a new sock combination, possibly the 1000-mile variety with some kind ofliner. Does anyone have any suggestions about this? I'd really hate to have to go back to the bad old Blister Days again, when every walk was a painful experience!

On a more positive note, they're forecasting a possibility of snow for the rest of the week! Yeah!

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13/11/05 Stunning weather

Winter has arrived across Britain. As I check the webcams from different areas of the country, I see blue skies, glorious carpets of golden bracken, and crystal clear visibility. The Ogwen Valley weather station is showing winds of less than 20mph for the first time in weeks. Here in Suffolk, we had our first frost of the year last night. And this beautiful winter weather is forecast to continue for at least a week, with a good chance of snow in the North and even Wales. Ben Nevis and the Cairngorms already have a sprinkling.

Take a look at this gorgeous photo my brother took this morning in Tunstall Forest:

I always feel happier when the weather turns cold and clear. I love sunshine but only when it's cold. Hot weather kills my enthusiasm for just about anything.

The good weather is a godsend for me, because I was starting to get worried about the trip to Snowdonia next weekend. The hills are still enjoyable in low cloud and rain, but after a while you start to yearn for the huge views again, and the chance to walk without being encased in a heavy waterproof coat. I'm praying that conditions will be bright, cold and clear next Saturday!

I'm also happy because I've survived half of my first semester at uni, I've finished all my coursework for the time being, and I have absolutely nothing to worry about. All bills have been paid. All my work has been handed in on time. And, perhaps most importantly of all, I've discovered a place in Norwich where you can buy Theakston's Old Peculier by the bottle. Yum.

Life is good!

(Photo (C) James Roddie 2005)

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12/11/05 Resolution issues sorted

I've now fixed the sidebar section on all pages. Apparently on higher monitor resolutions (ie. 1280x960 or higher), the sidebar tended to expand to fill any remaining screen space, which makes things look cluttered and inconsistent. I've now set the sidebar on all pages to a fixed width of 165 pixels. The site can now be viewed comfortably at any resolution between 800x600 and 1280x960 ... I wouldn't recommend going any higher, because the image caption text will be too small.

As far as I know, everything on the site is now working, and that includes all links and images. If you have any problems, please let me know. My email address can be found on the homepage. Note that the address is spamblocked, so you have to type it into your email client yourself. Alternatively, leave a message below, or on the comment form on the main page.

A big piece of good news is that I have been accepted for the Fell Club trip next weekend! We'll be staying at Bethesda in Snowdonia, and a number of hikes are being organised covering the Glyders and Snowdon range. This is the biggest Fell Club trip ever (over forty people), so there's bound to be a great deal of choice of routes ... I'm very keen to try out Crib Goch, but that obviously depends on the weather. The Ogwen Valley Weather Station has been showing consistently galeforce winds for a couple of weeks now. And I don't fancy the idea of tackling Crib Goch for the first time in a gale.

Still, I've never been to the Snowdon range, so I suspect I'll end up climbing Snowdon by another route if the weather turns out to be poor. And at least I now have a waterproof coat that I can trust, instead of the old, worn-out one that made me gibber at the sight of an approaching raincloud!

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11/11/05 Welcome to the new site!

As you can see, I've now transferred the site over to the new domain. It was a lot easier than I expected: just a case of cutting and pasting new links. I've also cleaned up the sidebar and added a few more useful sites. My priority now is to complete all of the fell listings in the Lake District section.

In other news, I have finally finished my Computing coursework after a week of frantic activity. While people in other subjects were enjoying a leasurely reading week, our evil lecturers decided to pile masses of work on us. I had Coursework 1 for the systems analysis module due in on Thursday, and that was a massive piece of work, far more complex than I expected ... it ended up as ten pages of data flow diagrams. I also had to complete the most difficult programming worksheet to date. That took up about three hours of my time last night just to finish the last question.

Each of these worksheets is worth 10% towards my final coursework mark for the module, so I can't really afford to do badly on them. They started off innocently enough (I was actually starting to think that university was easier than A-levels), but every week they've become harder and harder, and now this ...

Still, I got it finished, and I handed it in on time. I just wished they could've timed the two pieces of work better--in different weeks, for preference.

Oh, and I bought a new pair of boots on Wednesday, in anticipation of my trip to Langdale in January. My Hillmasters are still going strong, but I doubt they'll be supportive enough if we're lucky enough to get snow and ice. So I went into Venturesport, and after trying a few different pairs on, settled for the Scarpa SL-M3s. I've heard a lot of good things about them, and they feel reassuringly solid. The sole is far stiffer than I'm used to, but that's all for the good! I finally have some boots that are capable of taking crampons (which I'll need for the Aviemore course in February).

I still don't know whether I have a place on the Fell Club trip to Snowdonia next weekend. I'll post an update once I know more.

(Footnote: I've added a collection of links to other blogs I read at the bottom of the page. They are mostly writer's blogs, so I didn't think it was appropriate to put them in the sidebar, since this site isn't about writing. But they're down there, so take a look!)

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10/11/05 Transfer in progress

I have now begun the task of transferring this site over to the new domain, which is located at www.alexfellwalker.co.uk. Please bear with me while I fix all the links and make sure everything works. It'll take a few days to sort this out, but it's lucky I've made the switch early in the site's development ... much easier to keep track of things.

The updates on the Lake District section of the site may have to be suspended for a couple of days while I make the transfer. At the moment, all of the entries for the Southern Fells as far down as Coniston Old Man are working. After the transfer, the Lakeland fells will continue to be my priority for updates, followed by the North Wales section.

Thanks to Guy from the WasdaleWeb for hosting the site! I'll probably put a (small) ad up somewhere, instead of the existing link in the sidebar.

Edit: The new domain is now working smoothly, so if all goes well everything should be transferred by next Thursday. I've put a "LAUNCHING SOON" message up for the moment.

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9/11/05 I am not amused

Some feeback from the folks over at OutdoorsMagic has indicdicated that this site spamms them with popup ads. I don't see these ads when I load the site on my machine, and there aren't any ads on the page either. I think that Angelfire is loading some kind of cookie onto my machine in order to ensure I don't get popups ... but everyone else does.

This is annoying, and is bound to irritate people. I'm going to move over to a proper domain as soon as possible ... www.alexroddie.net isn't taken yet, so I think that's what I'll go for. I'm making the arrangements for the transfer as I write this. Hopefully by this time next week the site will have been relocated, including this blog, so you won't have to put up with popups fror much longer.

On a more positive note, I attended the very first UEA Student Forums social event this evening, which was held in the Blue Bar on campus. A surprisingly large number of people turned up. Unfortunately I had to go home early to finish off some courseowrk (grumble) which is due in tomorrow afternoon. But I had a lot of fun, met loads of new people, and tried the new guest ale in the pub: Wherry Best Bitter. Very nice ... similar to Adnams Explorer, only without the signature Adnams flavour (on account of being a Norfolk ale, not a Suffolk one). I shall look out for this one in future! It's also faar easiler to stomach multiple pints of this than a strong ale such as Broadside (for example), being much lighter.

Th9is only reinforceds my belief that Real Ale is infinitely superior to your bog-standard mass produced lager or beer.

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A quick update

Have fixed a few links around the site now, so coherency is a little better. Note that I've cheekily transposed the visitor count from my weblog onto the counter for this site: the actual visitor count is around 60! :-)

Anyway, I am now free of my dungeon room in Suffolk Terrace, and have moved into the lovely new accomodation in Paston House. The rooms are slightly smaller, but you get a massive desk, a comfy bed, decent lighting, and a BATHROOM! With a SHOWER! Such opulence!

It's a little further away from the Square and Lecture Theatres, but not far enough to make a difference ... and it's closer to both the bus stop and the shop, so I'm not complaining. The only downside is the awful view over the building site (although to be fair I've got a few interesting photos of the sunset with the big crane in the foreground).

So all in all, I'm pretty pleased. It actually feels like a place of my own rather than a dormitory room.

Here's a shot of the sunset from my window:

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8/11/05 So ...

I've given up with Blogger for the time being. Never trust a system that deletes all your posts, that's my motto! I had a look at Bravenet's weblog system, but all those damned adverts annoyed me. So it looks like I'll be operating on manual for a while.

If you haven't seen this site before, I'm not surprised! This is a project I've been working on for a couple of months now. Some areas work, some don't. Generally, most of the lower-level pages still have to be created (you'll probably get a few 404 errors if you take a look around), but the majority of the directory pages are up and running. There are some nice pictures scattered around the place, so have a wander, and enjoy!

Please note that I've literally only just created this page, so it isn't linked from anywhere else: you have to literally type in the /blog.html at the end of the domain name. Sorry!

I'm going back to Haloscan for the time being, so I hope the whole lot hangs together ...

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