Hardwear Sessions

From time to time, our readers pitch us a story that we can't refuse. Just before Christmas, the Scottish climber Malcolm Kent offered to write a series of posts for us, detailing a season of winter climbing. Malcolm's three month (!) trip will take him across North America, and then an airplane will ferry him back to Europe for more climbing in the Alps. That is, if the weather permits, and we all know that the weather has been just a tad unreliable these days.

Along the way, Malcolm will compete at Ouray and at the Ice World Cup in Sass Fe. As a member of the British team, he'll proudly represent our neighbor across the pond at both competitions.

By Malcolm Kent, Aberdeen, Scotland

December 28, 2007

So I've cleared my desk at work, I've paid the bills with big red, bold letters on the top, I've kicked the empty cans of Tennents off my porch and into some else's and I've given the guy at the traffic lights who wouldn't let me through, the proverbial rods. Ahhhh, another brain-numbing stint in the grind is done and another climbing trip can begin. As I prepare to leave the sunshine state of Scotland's 'Riviera' coast behind again, I ponder on how I might get through the airline strikes, the fog induced flight cancellations and the 'Big Freeze' across the US and still arrive in Colorado in time?

This is gonna be no ordinary winter climbing trip either. A first for me, I'm going to be on the road for 10 weeks through January, February and March, climbing across Colorado, Canada, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. As Mr who? from where? some place called Scotland, climbs his way through a web of mixed ice routes and competitions, Mountain Hardwear will be very kindly relaying notes on my voyage of education to all those who log on. As for me, I'm going to be spending the next few hours figuring out what gear I can afford to throw out in order to get my bag to under 30 kilos. Fact... I'm gonna need a bit more time on that one.

See you at the crag...

Who on earth is Malcolm Kent?

Other known pseudonyms: Malc, Malci, Kenty... mostly people tend to call him the 'Duke.'

Mantra: 'You gotta be in it to win it... so get inolved.'

Hometown: (now) Aberdeen. Aka 'The granite city' or just 'The-deen.'

Employment: Refers to his job as geoscience, which loosely translates as being paid to sun bathe on sandy beaches in the name of training.

Years climbing:Too many as far as the bank manager is concerned. I think he's still paying off previous trips?

Climbing preference: Unlikely to ever turn anything down. Sport, trad, big wall, alpine.