Richard's blog

Month: August 2016

  • The Third part of the Saillon VF

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesYesterday afternoon after two top rope climbs in Dorénaz we drove to the Via Ferrata de Saillon to climb this one. It is a via ferrata that I know well. This time I decided that I wanted to try the third part of the Saillon VF once again. What makes the third…

  • Paragliding from Plan Praz to the Mont Blanc

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesIn this video we see someone paragliding from Plan Praz to the Mont Blanc. To do this the individual finds ascending air at a number of points going from 2800 metres up to 5000 meters before finally landing on the summit of the Mont Blanc. This video gives you a practical example…

  • Colin Furze and the 360 Swing

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesWhen you have lengths of pipe, a welder, a water container and a big enough garden you can get up to some mischief. Colin Furze and the 360 Swing are an interesting demonstration of this. In the first two videos you see him build the structure and in the next two videos…

  • Gallantry and Rock Climbing

    Gallantry and Rock Climbing

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    Reading Time: 6 minutesGallantry and Rock Climbing are a good combination. In Rock climbing the person with more experience or comfort helps the person with less comfort. In some cases it might be helping people walk on trails and in other cases it may be walking at the pace that is comfortable for others. According…

  • Squadron Scramble – book review

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesSquadron Scramble is an interesting book to read in post-BREXIT England because it highlights aspects of the Second World War that BREXITers forget about. It looks at how the main character had to flee France via Dunkirk as well as the situation that Polish airmen had found themselves in. First they lost their…

  • Climbing Virtual Reality, Uniform and Grip

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesClimbing Virtual Reality tuition is an interesting idea. Learning to climb is fun because it is a physical and intellectual challenge. The first step is to familiarise yourself with the sensations of climbing and learning to see where foot holds are and where hand holds are. When you begin the hand holds are…

  • FIFAD Day 8 – Sylvain Saudan and the winners

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesSylvain Saudan was at the FIFAD event on the final day from 11am onwards both to project two of his films and to speak about his experiences as a pioneer of extreme skiing. During the conference he presented his film about the Grandes Jorasses descent as well as his trip to Denali.…

  • FIFAD – Day 7

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesWhen we watch the news and when we read articles from France we often hear about the disadvantaged youth and the mischief that they get up to. Par-Delà les Hauteurs, shown at FIFAD, is a documentary about a team of youths who go to the Alps and experience the mountains for the…

  • FIFAD Day 6 – Women and Extreme sports

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    Reading Time: 3 minutesOn the 6th day of FIFAD two films stood out. One looked at a wheelchair bound woman who still had the urge to go climbing and the second film looked at a woman who went from riding snowboarding lines in winter to base jumping in summer. By having these two documentaries the…

  • Twitter Ethics and the Olympics

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    Reading Time: 2 minutesSports and live events are Twitter Cash cows, as a result of which the will of those contributing to twitter financially is given priority. I have seen two or three tweets about the speed with which olympic anim gifs and other content is removed. In one case I saw that content is pulled down…