Grumpy old mountain man living in Spain
Since Dec 2022 we have been running our own Mastodon & GoToSocial servers. What a breath of fresh air the Fediverse has been. We have made many hundreds of new friends from around the world, mostly related to our mountain, tech and nature interests.
Connect with me/us on the Fediverse at:
Annual service today of my Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD). Still amazes me how a consultant can bluetooth into this, tweak settings, give me info about it's performance. Only 4 small interventions in the past year (down from 10). Still 12 years battery left too before they need to recharge me! 🤣
Down in the dumps. Life is so fickle at times. Last weekend I lost a friend, hiking pal and all round nice guy. Can't comprehend him producing his weekly YouTube video one minute and succumbing in just two days to a sudden and severe infection, pericarditis, possibly leading to sepsis/septic shock. Mid 60s. You just never know quite what's round the corner. So sad for him and his family
Practice, practice, practice
Came across this photo memory today. November 2014 - for 9 days/14 hours a day, my life was the inside of a tent. Spent most of that watching the whole 5 seasons of Breaking Bad on a 1.8" display. Expedition life eh?
This is Sooty and Sweep. Adorable. Until they ain't 🤣
Ran a short rope protection and security course for some hill walking and scrambling friends of mine today. Included improvised harnesses, Italian hitch, clove hitch, assisted hoist, anchors, rappelling, classic belay, belays, prusicks, basic rescue and more. Hopefully everyone came away more confident about having to deal with an emergency situation. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and laughs in the strong winds.
Our two aren't looking too bad for 10 & 12 years of age.
Daily dog walk through the olive groves. The slopes of the Cerro de Caballo 3009m in the Sierra Nevada rising ahead.
Really looking forward to this. On Friday I am running a short course for hiking buddies recapping how to use a rope for basic protection & security in emergency situations. Came about as a friend always carries a short rope in his pack but admitted he has absolutely no real idea how to use it. Includes: No harness? - Swiss Seat Harness Anchors Lowering on a rope Ascending using assisted hoist Ascending using prusiks Rapelling - Dulfersitz - basic - Prusik backup Protecting scrambles
Our first frosts of the winter last night but sunshine and clear skies meant an early morning hike up the Rio Lanjarón. Lots of water coming down from the Sierra Nevada. Beautiful colours
Morning dog walk. Lanjarón, Alpujarras
