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ldmountaincentre

Rich Visits The North Face Kalymnos Climbing Festival

Earlier in the summer I was offered the chance of a trip to Kalymnos (Greece) with The North Face as a Summit Series Specialist retailer to take part in the four day Kalymnos Climbing Festival they sponsor. Having climbed on the island earlier in the year of my own accord I was knocked out by the sheer scale and quality of climbing such a small Island has to offer. So naturally I jumped at the chance. The logistics were pretty simple; a quick form to fill out listing my climbing... Read More

Life from Machermo: Reuben Tabner

The first three weeks in Machermo has been busy for the IPPG team…   The First Three Weeks at Machermo The season is now well underway at the Machermo Rescue Post, and the numbers of trekkers passing through the valley is steadily increasing as the main trekking season has now started. All the doctors have been kept busy, seeing a mix of locals, porters and trekkers, presenting with problems from toothache to HAPE and HACE, and we have had four helicopter evacuations already, including one from Dole, (two hours walk... Read More

LD Welcomes Rab

History The original seed of an idea for Rab® was started when Rab Carrington found himself stuck in Buenas Aires en route to Patagonia in 1973. His expedition was postponed by a dock strike in the UK which delayed his equipment. He turned instead to working for a friend Hector Vieytes, sewing sleeping bags for the Argentinian Army. He didn’t realise it then, but he was learning the skills with which he would redefine the future of technical mountain clothing and equipment. Throughout the 1970s, Rab Carrington was a key... Read More

John Shedden’s Fjällräven Classic 8th-12th August 2014 (Part 2)

Day 4 Alesjaure Mountain Hut – Kieron – Abiskojarure (22km) The first part of day four follows the path close to the west side of Alesjarure for about 6 or 7 kilometres to a point where the little boat that ferries tourists and trekkers up and down the lake drops people off. Here you can go for a swim and there’s a Tepee and wooden benches for getting changed. The path swings away from the end of the lake and rises slightly to what is I suppose a vast mountain... Read More

John Shedden’s Fjällräven Classic 8th-12th August 2014 (Part 1)

The last minute call to join the Fjallraven Classic Trek in Swedish Lapland, as a guest of Fjallraven, came just a couple of weeks before the event. A call from our rep Ross explained that someone had dropped out and a place was available but he needed to know by the end of the day. Thankfully when asked if I could go my diary magically became clear for that week, decision made there followed some frantic web searching to find flights. The Fjallraven Classic is a 110km trek through the... Read More

LD Welcomes Stepchild Snowboards

New to LD Mountain Centre for the 2014/15 winter Season is Stepchild Snowboards a true rider owned and rider operated brand. The whole ethos is snowboarding, owned and run by JP Walker, Simon Chamberlain, Sean Johnston and Brad Richmond. Stepchild isn’t about cheap bits of wood covered in marketing trickery and flashy graphics; it is about producing quality snowboards for the street, park, mountain or powder. Stepchild is about riding and producing tough durable snowboards.   We will be stocking the Sleazy Rider an all mountain directional twin that can... Read More

25 Hour Adventure

With waves at Tynemouth looking sparse on Saturday a plan to surf became an impromptu trip to wild camp in the Cheviots. Upon reaching Wooler, the black cloud hovering over the hills turned this into a spur of the moment drive up to Loch Lomond where we pitched the tent before walking to Balmaha to find a cunning hiding place to escape the Midgies….the pub. The clear night and long, long….long days meant that Loch Lomond spent the evening doused in a silver light and the calm water was only... Read More

Coffee on the Go

We’ve got our share of coffee connoisseurs here at the LD, so when we’re shipped some free samples of Coffee bags by German Company, Life is You, we had to test them out and compare against our resident coffee brand, Growers Cup. Growers Cup produce great coffee, packaged in a filter bag. All you have to do is open the top, add water and in a few minutes, out comes quality coffee for you and a friend. They’re ideal for campers, travellers or anyone who fancies a brew on the... Read More

Blowing up Mountains

The Atacama Desert in Chili has some of the clearest sky in the world, perfect for star gazing. On the scientific level, its the perfect area to gather images of deep space, which is why it is to become the home of the E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope.) To make way for this, ESO, the organisation behind the telescope, have used explosives to level the top of a 3000m peak. The Telescope is set to be the biggest in the world and will likely perform a pivotal role in future... Read More

Stone Nudes

The BMC recently posted a video belonging to American climber and photographer, Dean Fidelman which discusses his 10 year artistic project, Stone Nudes. Over 100 climbers from 3 generations have featured in Stone Nudes, climbing in many classic locations. You may look for Fidelman’s work for the oddity of someone photographing nude climbers, but when you see the collection you realise it is much more than that. The images are dramatic and silent in their depiction of the climbers. Take a look at Stone Nudes for yourself