Touching the Void is coming out on DVD in early April. I've said before that this is an excellent film, well worth the Bafta it won, which was British Film of the Year. I saw it at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival in November and then again in London, when it came out on general release.
The DVD has the film, plus a documentary of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates on their return to Suila Grande. I've already ordered my copy, it is also available as on VHS.
If you have no idea of what I'm writing about, then read my previous article. Or read the book film tie-in edition or the original edition, there now appear to be many reprints of this book, given its success as a film.
climbing: March 2004 Archives
Cairngorm was the first Munro that I have climbed, on the way up we saw these pretty patterns caused by the forming rime. Rime is formed as the water condenses out of the air onto the colder surfaces of the rocks at higher altitude, an interesting fact is that the rime always grows into the direction of the prevailing wind, even though it looks the other way around.
Sir Hugh Munro created a list in 1891 to classify any mountain that is 3,000 feet or higher, the list was never finalised, so there is some argument over the exact number, but many accept 284 as the total. The Scottish Mountaineering Club, I think have the right to alter the list, which happens slowly.
I've now climbed three Munros, Cairngorm, Ben Macdui and Sgor Gaoith (pronounced skor gui), I've no plans to do them all, but those are three nice mountains. If and when we go back to the north of Scotland, then Braeriach, Sgor Lochain Uaine and Cairn Toui are definitely on the list, plus a trip to Torridon, which has to be of the most photogenic places in the UK.
