Film star!!

About 2 months ago I had a somewhat bizarre phone call from Jon Garside (BMC person and friend, and one of Andy's regular climbing partners). He wanted to know whether I would be interested in becoming a film star! The next in the series of the BMC "Essentials" series was due to be filmed and this time it was Rock Climbing. For some reason Jon thought I'd be perfect for the job alongside Trev Messiah as "the experts"!!
So obviously I decided that hanging out with Trev and Jon and Rich and Ben from Slackjaw didn't sound like too much of a hardship so said yes.

The week had been getting closer and my climbing rate didn't seem to be getting much higher but I figured I'd manage to still mostly look vaguely competent, and as the lovely people at Mountain Equipment had said I could have some shiny new kit, at least I'd be looking smart!!Thank you - loving my new Cabrera Hood jacket, been climbing in it both days and the Bastion is AMAZING - I've been jealous of Andy's for months so very happy with that! Bastion's not out in the shops yet but keep your eyes peeled. Also a thank you to Lyon Equipment for sorting me out with a new helmet and harness.
Half the film is being shot in North Wales which is where I'm writing this and then we are heading over to the Peak for some more action for the second half of the week. I must confess I was somewhat concerned that the monsoon had fully set in and we were going to be really struggling to get things done, but by some miracle - I think Jon must have sold his soul to the devil, we have been blessed with sunshine and dryness. Yesterday we headed into the Pass for some old favourites, Shadow Wall and Cemetery Gates.
Filming does involve an inordinate amount of time not moving all that quickly, and that's with Rich and Ben who are basically amazing and the help of Jn and Dave Rudkin to keep things running smoothly.

Today's mission was a wee bit more exciting - Jon had decided that it would be amazing if we could go and climb T-Rex down in Wen Zawn. A route which meant there was loads of stuff to show and discuss and film for the DVD. Now T-Rex is a route I've always kind of wanted to do, but been rather intimidated by the horror stories of slimy, greasy, off width crack climbing on the first pitch, so whilst I was happy to go and climb it there was ABSOLUTELY no way I was going first!! Over to you Trev! Luckily it was in perfect dry conditions today. After an almighty battle of squirming, thrutching, getting your helmet stuck, swearing and then laybacking at warp speed so as not to fall off I managed to arrive at the first belay, just about warm after being almost made of ice from belaying. The tides and film schedule meant no sun for us until leaving the second belay - brrrrrrr! I think Ben was highly entertained by the swearing and grunting that was coming through from my mic during the pitch but I suspect it won't make it into the film unless they get one of those bleeping things!!
Pitch 2 - also Trev's, was altogether more pleasant, lots of traversing and the crux is a kind of down step so the gear is below your feet when you make it as a second, but generally pretty nice.
Then it's a romp along the last pitch of Dream of White Horses and off to the pub for a nice dinner!!
I can safely say that I won't be doing the first pitch again anytime soon, but the other two - happily!

Off to the Roaches tomorrow, fingers crossed for some more sunshine.
DVD - out in time for Christmas apparently!
Signed copies will be available ;-)