Robert Craig has put up his favourite photo of the year here. That got me thinking about mine, and here it is:
It was taken by Dave in January and shows me on Ben Ledi. Some more photos of the day can be seen here on Dave's blog.
My favorite photo that I took was of a group we passed who were being instructed in winter techniques in Coir na Tullaich on Buachaille etive mor (below)
The one that Craig chose was a close runner up.
13 comments:
WOW... that is a great picture.
I've nothing on that level - I don't go up mountains often (erm - ever really)
It was such a good day - you dont get many of them. We even got above the clouds.
The version on Dave's blog pops up full size whn you click on it. How do you do that then?
Not sure how you do it in that it just always seems to do it for me - I think.
I just up load a large picture and it works.
How are you adding you pictures?
Maybe it is because you are uploading only a small picture?
Could be, Some things i've uploaded in the past just pop up when I've loaded them - using the photo upload option). Might try again tomorrow. Time for bed
Nice picture Billy! Though, mountaineering...buuurrrr. I give you props. If I had balls, I wouldn't have enough to brave ascending up glaciers. Of course you've seen 'Touching the Void'. So, I stick to rock climbing ;p However, the pictures are breathtaking.
Thanks Susie. Having balls can be problematical when climbing - those harnesess aren't comfortable when you fall.
I just climbed my favorite mountain today and forgot to charge my camera battery - doh
The book version of "touching the void" is my favorite book. He describes his ordeal so well.
One of the best lines from the docudrama is this:
"At 16, I asked all these monks some serious questions and they didn't come up with the answers, and I just decided I didn't believe in God. And I always thought, you know, if everything hit the fan, then I might turn around and say, you know, a couple of Hail Marys, "Can you get me out of here?" And in all those days, I never did once, not even in the crevasse. I never thought of some God or some omniscient being that'd lean down and give me help, and I feel, actually, if I had believed that, I just would've stopped and waited for it, and I would've died. And so in a way, that's why that loneliness, I think, came in. I was 25, I was fit, strong, ambitious. I wanted to climb the world and I was dying. There was no afterlife, there's no paradise, there's no heaven. It's just dead. And I really didn't want to lose that. I've got immense respect for other people's religions, be it Christian or Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim. I just…I don't happen to have a belief, and I've tested that atheism, so, um, I respect my own lack of belief now. Before, I was never quite sure."
Billy,
Oh yes, I loved that line in the movie when I watched it many years ago even though I was not a nonbeliever at the time.
I don't know how anyone could make the decision to travel further into a crevasse. All the handicaps of your mind at that point. Perhaps the handicap of denying death made one smart/stupid enough to descend further...handy indeed! I know he only had two options, stay or travel into the crevasse but damn! It still takes balls!
Harnesses? Just a nice pocket for the family jewels, no? LOL. I say just chalk em' up really good.
As for the camera...I hate it when I do that!
Billy,
That's an awesome photo, and, indeed, an awesome quote from Touching the Void...
Though it's really nothing to do with either these pictures or Touching The Void, I remember once (in the days when I still had satellite TV) watching a mountaineering documentary, and a wise old climber saying that the problem with some of the "tourists" that have a bash at (particularly) Everest nowadays, is that their plan is to get to the summit...This, he averred, was potentially (and sometimes, tragically, in actuality) fatal: when on a mountain, he said, your initial plan must be without exception to reach the summit, and then get down again.
That's always stayed with me - it's no good having half a plan...
Mark_W
Hi Mark,
That is very true, and coming down is harder and when most accidents occur. It also reminds me of what my karatae instructer used to say that delivering a punch or a kick is only half the technique. You also have to get your arm or leg back without it being grabbed
Hi Billy,
I like the photo. I see that you took Craig Ferguson's advice and wore a jacket.
The big money tourist climbing of Everest pisses me off.
Here's a question:
Do you think that Mallory got to the top?
Do you think that Mallory got to the top?
I think it's possible. I went to an exibition that had some of his gear, and all I can say is that he was a hard bastard. Very few modern climbers would even consider attempting what he did with the primitive gear and clothing that he had.
PS, there were nae wiggly beezers in ma pocket
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