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Isn't technology wonderful these days? I was getting comfy in the bedroom with my lap top (isn't it great not having to sit at a desk?) to burn some DVDs when up popped Paul on the screen - Skyping (we even have a verb for it now) all the way from China. Our paths didn't cross in the UK so we haven't seen him for quite a few months now but we are already planning a get-together when we go back in the Spring. If you haven't had the pleasure of Paul's wonderful blog tales and snapshots of life in China yet, check it out at:
www.oceanofmorality.weebly.com - sure to put a smile on your face.

 
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One pitch to go
Re-enlightenment: Before China, one of my great passions was winter climbing in Scotland. It's been a long time since I last enjoyed the mixed pleasures of a day on the hill in full winter conditions: ice, powder snow, spindrift avalanches, freezing hands and the ever-present fear of failure or benightment. So I dug my kit out of the attic and discovered a couple of rusty ice-axes in the garage. No sign of the crampons (they must be in Aberdeen) so I borrowed a set from Lesley's stepdad, David, along with a headtorch. This latter item  proved very useful later. Alec was keen to climb in a fairly nearby mountain range called the Fannichs. We settled on a long mountaineering route called "The Resurrection" on the wild NE Face of Sgurr Mor (1110m), about an hour's drive from Craiglea, where we're staying.

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Launching off up the initial ice pitch.
Suffering: The walk-in proved to be a relatively painless and sociable 3 hours, but finding the start of the route turned out to be quite tricky in the cloudy conditions. Thanks to some splendid map-and-compass work by Alec, along with judicious use of the altimeter, we found ourselves under the cliff in roughly the right place. Looking upwards all we could see was swirling mist and the ghostly outlines of steepening craggy bits.

After a leisurely gearing-up session during which the cloud refused to budge we eventually set off up a likely looking ice-fall. I made sure Alec led the awkward-looking Grade 4 icy ramp-line as my 9-year layoff from ice-climbing was making its presence felt on my psyche. It wasn't so much the technical difficulty, but the feeling of unfamiliarity with the situation was playing with my nerves. On top of that I had failed to find my trusty "Dachstein" woolly mitts in the attic and was relying on an inferior glove combination to keep my hands warm. Result: frozen digits on the first pitch followed by a nausea-inducing bout of painful 'hot aches' at the belay as the blood returned to the capilliaries. The second pitch (which I generously offered to Alec to lead) was a full 50m runout of more (thankfully secure) ice, leading to the first of the route's two huge snowfields. By this time I was over my moment of suffering and thoroughly enjoying myself.

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Photo copyright AK 2010
Epiphany: Here the character of the climb changed completely and we experienced the most wonderful and sudden moment of realisation as the clouds parted for a brief couple of minutes to reveal the huge open face above us, pristine white rimed cliffs separated by icefalls and topped by drooling cornices againt a blue sky. Quickly we traced a line of least resistance up to the final headwall before the clouds, which had been boiling around below us in the corrie, rolled upwards and enveloped the mountain again.

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Heading for the top, high on the face.
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The final grovel over the cornice onto the summit
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The summit - 4.15pm
Resurrection: The lower icefall pitches had taken some time, so it was late in the day when I belayed some 20m below the cornice at the first decently secure belay - a wire in a heavily excavated crack - that we had found on the entire face (see first photo at top of this entry). The previous 450m had been protected by ice screws, dodgy spikes, hopeful pegs and the last resort of axepicks in frozen turf. Alec's final pitch of the day took him over the cornice to this sound belay directly round the summit cairn of the mountain. Success!

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Note the iced up hair quiff
Crucifiction: After the euphoria of escaping from the face all we had to do now was get down. More exacting compass work from Alec led us over another mountain (Beinn Liath Mhor Fannaich) via an atmospheric sunset where the light finally went and we dug the torches out. By now we were pretty much out of the cloud and we trundled slowly down the mountain on helpful snow to the dark depths of the glen below and the approach track. Here my feet (in too small, ancient boots) were feeling the effects of the last few hours of step bashing and I was just complaining about the pain in my toes when the sole of one boot popped off at the toe. Great - an excellent excuse to buy a new pair! All that remained was half a mile of Basil Fawlty-style one-legged goose-stepping and I was back at the car. A good day out.

 
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Despite the thaw, which has improved road conditions throughout much of the rest of the country, the road/track down to Craiglea (situated at 170m on the Black Isle) is still in pretty bad shape. It's been impassable to normal cars for weeks now (which means we collect our mail from the local post office) and even with a 4WD the trip out to the main road can be pretty dicey. In fact, it's worse than ever as the compacted snow turns to water-covered ice. It's not much better to run on either. After a mornining spent clearing horse muck from the field Lesley and I took the opportunity for some exercise, running back to the house while Annie and the girls drove. It turned out to be twice as long as expected, though this is nothing new when going out with Lesley, who tempts her running partners with "fancy a short jog?" The snack bars and torch should be a give-away by now. We had to take a round-about route as the direct way through the forest was closed due to forestry operations. This last 3/4-mile stretch on snow and ice was much more fun than the preceding 4 miles on tarmac. When the going gets tough...

 
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Me and Edie with Queen and Polly
Granny's three horses need lots of hay because all the grass is covered in snow. This is a picture of when we went to get the hay from Farmer Chris Swift, who lives quite far away from Craiglea. We went in the car and took the small trailer - that is not the bigest trailer in the world. We couldn't get the big horse trailer out because there is too much snow at the house still. When we got to the farm we spotted two sheep dogs, called Queen and Polly. We played with them while Dad, Granny and Farmer Swift loaded the hay onto the trailer. You can just see Farmer Swift up there in the barn. We got twenty bales in this load. It was really good fun when we went down the hill from the farm because it was so slippy and thay was wobbly, even though we tied it on with long ropes. It's very good that we got this job done otherwise the horses would be hungry for hay until the snow melts and the grass appears again.

 
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Edie was ecstatic (almost as much as Lesley) to discover she is going to appear in April's edition of Animals and You, her favourite magazine. A few days ago we emailed them this photo and a poem, which read:
I love the magazine, Animals and You, this is Tigger, she loves it too! She likes the pictures of furry pets best, and she sits next to me while I read the rest.

Edie loves animals so much she spent £10 on membership of the RSPCA. Freda is now looking for a way to win a prize and we have entered about 20 competitions in the last 24 hours.

 
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The FISHfund parcel of books and learning resources has arrived at Yutang Middle School. The students and their teacher, a PIE trainee, have been busy covering them with sticky plastic and displaying them for all the English Corner visitors to browse. The teachers and students have worked hard over the last year to demonstrate to the school leaders the value of English Corner. As a result they have been given an old classroom, some tables, book shelves and even an old TV and DVD player. It's often the case that we have to prove the worth of something before it will be backed-up. Nowhere is this more true than in China. A proposal isn't enough and these students and teachers know that actions speak louder than words.

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A selection of the books now housed in Yutang English Resource Room, including some titles donated by Freda and Edie. We sent over one hundred books in total.
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It's rare for middle school students to get the chance to do pair work, let alone boys and girls working together. It's even more unusual for the students to be doing something with practical value for their school lives, other than cleaning their dormitories or classrooms. From the minute the box of materials was opened the students began a life skills education project, learning how to organise and look after resources, how to work together and solve problems.
Many thanks to Lesley Oglesby and other FISHfund sponsors. As promised, 100% of your donations has been put to direct and valuable use in poor, rural schools in Simao Prefecture, Yunnan.
 
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Freda was determined to spend the night in her snow den, despite a forecast of gales and sub-zero temperatures (-6 degrees C). Equiped with down and fleece clothing, a four seasons sleeping back, goretex bivvy bag and camping stove, there was no holding her back. She reported feeling, "a bit lonely" at about 9:30 pm so Ali crept in alongside her - not quite as cosy given that Freda had all his gear! Her bladder woke her at 7:30 but otherwise she slept through the night. Asked whether she had any interesting dreams she replied: "Not really, but I did dream that there was a wolf outside the den. That's probably because I read some of Soul Eater before bed", one of a series of adventure novels set in Arctic Canada. It was in fact these books that inspired her to make a snow den to sleep in. In the morning she said, "This is one of the best things I've ever done in my life."

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Freda boiling up a brew on the gas stove, before snuggling up in her winter gear for the night. As you can see the snow den has been built around a wooden picnic table, so there was no fear of it caving in during the night. We tried building an unsupported structure but the snow has been too light and fluffy to make sturdy bricks. Notice the special ice window at the far end. These icicles have been growing down from the gutters of the house, some of them reaching around 80cm in length.

 
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On Friday Ali and Andy went ski-mountaineering on Ben Wyvis, our local big hill (it's over 1000m high). No chairlifts, funicular railways or tows here, just a long and energetic climb up through forest and coire. It took about 3 and a half hours to the summit. The weather and snow conditions were just about perfect. At the top it was a little breezy so we peeled off the skins covering the base of our skis (these help the skis stick to the snow for the uphill) and set off down. Andy went ahead carving perfect telemark turns in the smooth wind-packed snow in the sunshine. Perfect! I followed, even managing a few decent turns on the better snow. Lower down the snow was softer and I took a few face-planters when my bindings released. A few equipment adjustments to make tomorrow. We were down in 90 minutes.

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Andy and a telemark turn
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Andy near the bottom, not letting up
 
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On Thursday we (David, Ali, Freda) went skiing on Cairngorm, about an hour's drive from Craiglea. Snow conditions in Scotland are the best for decades so we were keen to get out on the slopes and introduce Freda to the sport. Lift passes (for us all) and equipment hire for Freda however are not cheap so we plumped for a half-day. The snow was indeed very plentiful and we hardly saw a rock all day (very unusual for Scottish skiing!). Freda of course took to it immediately, and announced that skiing was now her new favourite activity (after horse riding). We'll have to encourage the girls to take up some less financially demanding sports next!

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Freda's 'complete beginner' stage lasted about 30 seconds
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Later the cloud lifted
 
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In Aberdeen Ali, Freda and Edie paid a visit to the nearest steep snow-covered slope to Fountainhall Road and had great fun sledging down the hill. Not something we do or see much in China. Later we headed down to the train station with a multitude of bags and hopped on the 1525 to Inverness. Because of the weather we left Aberdeen an hour late, but by half six we were in Inverness. This morning's local radio is inviting listeners to call in with their news and views regarding icy pavements, slushy roads and school closures due to frozen car parks and playgrounds. It seems that we live in a nation of grumblers. If I'm wearing adequate footwear (thick-soled with a reasonable tread) then I have no difficulty walking along a snowy track or pavement. Maybe I'm just lucky not to be bothered by fashion. Mum and I sat in the cinema a few evenings ago with our old ski salopettes and welly boots having dug our way out of Craiglea and into town. I wasn't going to risk getting stuck in a snowdrift with jeans and trainers on!

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Freda demonstrating her adventurous spirit.
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Well over a foot of snow up at Craiglea. Edie takes a well earned rest from sledging, snowball throwing and grovelling in the white stuff. It seems that Edie is a bit of a hot-house flower though she will drag herself out when she sees others having fun. She then gets incredibly wet and incredibly cold in a short period of time - rolling around in drifts and taking her jacket and gloves off - before retreating back indoors to curl up by the fire.