A small matter of 80 years ago a climber by the name of George Leigh Mallory explained his reasons for climbing Everets as "because it's there" and the remark went down in history. Well these days the old cliche of "because it's there" just doesn't do. It seems now that you have to do it for a cause, or even better for a record. We've had the youngest, the oldest, father and son, husband and wife, highest marriage, highest gold shot, hishest helicopter landing and now the highest mobile phone call!! What's all that about then/ Now everyone knows I'm no technophobe and I love my gadgets even more than the average acne covered teen nerd - but wtf do you need to phone home for from the top of the world?? It's not even as if you've got the job done! The summit of Chomolungma is half the journey, and there's an even better chance you'll perish on the way down than on the way up. Surely climbing a mountain is not about telling the world - it's about the personal feeling you get from it. It seems these days though that personal achievement counts for little and all that matters is the Max Cliffors School of Tell the World How Great You Are.

 

To me technology is there to help, not as an accessory to publicity. Mobile phones do have a place on the hill, as do GPS receivers - but they're there to aid in the journey not to justify it. You won't see Dutch climber Vim Hwalf carrying a sack full of electronics up the mountain - in fact he's taking lightweight to the extreme. Known as ‘Him Manav’ ( the snow man ) this guy is the latest in the line of record breakers - but at least he is doing something different. This year he's climber to 24,248ft on the world's highest peak, and next year he's going back to finish the job. Now there's nothing unusual in that, you may think, but this guy is doing it in shorts and T Shirt!! He's some sort of biological freak whose body works in the opposite way to most peoples - with his heart rate decreasing and core body temperature increasing when subjected to the cold. Last year he went for a barefoot wander around the Antarctic.

 

Back home  in Muddle Earth there's been a few comings and goings. Maxwell  went overboard, presumably thinking everyone who smoked was Mandy in disguise, but this time the fusilade richoched and hit his self destruct button - or was that the ejector seat. With the terror of the red tops now demised we may just see the return of Babe and The Hairy One as people have started to realise the effects of feeding Trolls and are missing their dose of sanity. Top Heart has taken up the mantle of the missing Maxwell, though it may mean fisticuffs with the The Washer (you never get all the socks out you expect) for title of bottom dog. It seems that these days you don't even hae to leave the armchair to join the Max Clifford School - just pick a subject and rant enough and you'll get more attention than an ADHD sufferer.  In a perverse way we've even seen The Washer now change tack by 180 degrees from "I don't find them of any interest" to reading every word of a blog in the hope he can find a chink of weakness to exploit in his Darth Vader style attempt to eliminate any who care to oppose his views. Surprise surprise it even emerges that far from finding them of no interest he's an acknowledged - well in his own mind anyway, fellow devotee!

 

Maybe poor old George Leigh iif asked today would say not "Because it's there" but "because there I can be it" or "because if I don't it'll be my fault, and if I do it'll be my fault so why the hell not".

Well after a long long wait it seems it's finally about to happen! News arrived today that the deal has been done with Anquet to provide the mapping and the techies have been booked to sort the required front and back ends - so the new OM Routes section is finally getting the green light! It's been over 2 years in the making so it's certainly way overdue, but that's the way of things at Magicalia sometimes. The new timeframe looks like the release should be around the end of July, with a live initial resource of over a hundred routes and instant access for user generated routes. The big news is the new live display and map serving. Users will be able to put their routes in with dsplay on the site almost instant, including Anquet generating a 1:50;000 scale map with the route marked on it where a GPS compatible route is submitted. It's also very welcome with some of the latest forum debates.

 

I don't know what it is about forums, but they seem to attract the best and worst of people. Of late the OM forum has been more like a battlefield than the friendly group it's traditionally been. There's been outright personal attacks with Harry in particular taking it on himself to tell everyone around exactly why they don't fill his model citizen role. BG, in particular, has suffered his venom - and there's probably few nicer and more generous people around than Stef. It actually got to the point where Jon had no option but to threaten a complete thread deletion - and that's a srare as an honest politician! I've come in for a fair bit too, with a couple of minor errors on routes due to changes since I last did them. Apparently I'm supposed to individually check every route the day before publishing, while still maintaining a balance of the various regions.! Now if I got paid £500 per route that would be feasible, but honestly am I expected to go to Scotland one week to check every bridge that used to be there and is till marked on the map hasn't now been removed? Then the next week do the same in the Lakes or Snowdonia?

 

The common factor in this argumentative style seems to be the type of people starting the arguments. It's simple to spend your life criticising others, but I for one am likely to take it a lot more seriously if it's constructive and suggestions are made - but in reality those doing most of the whinging seem to be those who offer little or anything and make no positive contributions whatsoever.

 

With the abandonment of the TGO for this year I finally got my computers back - highlight of the year so far, but now it means setting everything up again. I also managed to escape to The Lake District for a while, first on my own and then again with Cathy. With her childhood spent in Langdale it was the obvious place to return to - and the rare occurence of an almost empty NT camp site. Cathy's uncle Dave (aka Trog) was the manager of the NT site for almost 40 years and such a regular at the Old Dungeon Ghyll he not only had his own reserved seat by the bar but even now has a family photo hanging on the wall. It also gave me the chance to recheck this weeks weekly scrambles on Harrison Stickle - so no complaints this time about them not being bang up to date :)

 

With things finally becoming clearer and the summer almost here it's time to try andresume the blog on a more regular basis and get some good kit testing done - so prepare for more ropute descriptions, gear reviews and general ranting.

So after months of planning, research and accumulating kit the Challenge arrives - and with a single swift  strike the ex destroys it all! With the financial settlement due for court soon I asked for the exchange of documents to be brought forwards to the day before leaving - but no, she knew jus how important the challenge is to me so insists on leaving it till the last available date, so making sure I can't go. Thursday morning dawned, and not only did I wake to the empty feeling of not being able to go, but still had to be up at 5 to deleiver Darren to what was supposed to be our joint lift then turn around and go home. That's divorce for you!

 

So with two weeks free and a pile of specialist kit and food attention turns to doing something else. The weather's typically bad for free time, but early next week should see me getting a few outings around the country in places I've neglected. South Wales is calling, along with the North Pennines - and some peace and solitude to reflect. After buying the PHD bag it's going to get some use, and this gives the perfect opportunity. It's also a chance to refresh scrambling skills and chack out a few new routes for OM.

 

With attention switched from the TGO now it's also time to return to keeping this blog up to date, with field tests, trip reports and general musings - so plenty more to come.