Goatfell "Ali's Route"
Being the leaders for this walk at the Festival Andy and I decided to head up Goatfell the other day to see to suss out this route for ourselves. We're really pleased we did because the walk was fabulous, Fabulous, FABULOUS! Why have I never used that route before now!

As described on the website, this is a twist on the usual route to Goatfell, with stunning views that rival any mainland mountains.

From the usual 'tourist path' we cut west across to the ridge heading up from Glenshant Hill and above Coire Chatan passing the site of a plane crash. Awesome views into Glen Rosa, across Brodick to Holy Isle, out to the Kintyre peninsula, and across the rest of the Arran hills.

We went through the Watershoot and Rosa Slabs, popping up onto Goatfell from the west rather than the more usual east. Depending on the weather we may choose to do a more direct ascent onto Goatfell rather than using the Watershoot and Rosa Slabs. Coming down, being on such an adrenalin high, we bounced back down the main path :-)

The photos just don't do it justice. For more photos have a look at Goatfell (Ali's Route) The best way to see it for yourself is to come along and join us during the Festival! GET BOOKING NOW!

Jo Totty

Kendal's Back on Arran...

The Best of Kendal film night was a big success - the hall was at capacity and the HF Holidays curry went down very well.

So... we've decided to do it all again during the Festival itself. On Friday 16 Sept in Corrie Hall, you can see the following films:

The Point of No Return

Kendal "Grand Prize" winner 2010 - about an American team's fateful expedition to China's Mount Edgar.

Argentine Project

Kendal "Best Short Film" winner 2010 - "did you see that?!" mountain biking.

The Pinnacle

Kendal "People's Choice" winner 2010 - Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner recreate one of the most famous weeks in Scottish climbing. (also featuring mountain guide/entertaining fellow Mike Tighe, who's giving a talk the following night).

This time, the food is being supplied by Arran's famous bakery: Wooleys will be providing home-made soups, filled rolls, mini pizzas and more.

Full details are on the mountain festival programme. Should be good!

RB

Feeders

Home Baking

I remember once seeing a trailer for a TV documentary about ‘feeders’. As far as I can gather from the 30 seconds of footage (I didn't watch the programme itself) there are people in America who demonstrate love for their massively obese partners by bringing them obscene amounts of food, to the point that they’re practically immobile and just lie in bed waiting for more burgers to arrive.

If I understood correctly, there are some deep-rooted psychological conditions involved, and I fear my colleagues may be suffering something related. The kitchen at work has a dedicated area for communal cakes, and fresh bakes are added daily – sometimes tasty bought ones and sometimes home-made. There’s such a cake culture that I feel guilty if I don’t partake, and this is especially the case as the walls are adorned with slogans like “in cake we trust” and “cakus uniticus”. I don’t want to be the skinny guy in the corner who doesn’t fit in.

But now I’m having to live with the side-effects. I was up in the hills the other day – feeling slow and full of fat but managing to waddle around a bit, and I found some terrific looking bits of rock that I’m pretty sure nobody’s climbed yet. Once I would have thrown some gear onto my back and headed out to the rocks to sample their delights at the earliest opportunity, guns and abs a-blazing. Alas, I fear that it’s no longer my six-pack that’s rippling, and that I’ll be lucky to lug a bouldering mat into the hills, let alone to climb anything when I get there. At this rate it’ll take a winter of hard training to reach my previous form (meagre as it was…) and by the time I’m ready John Watson or somebody else will have stolen in and picked all the ripest plums.

Maybe there are clinics for the rehabilitation of feeder victims...

RB