Alpine Adventures Lake Lovers Fair Play Crevasse
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FREE Please Take A Copy Informing and entertaining George Fisher customers since 1992 Autumn 2017 | Issue 100 | GEORGEFISHER.CO.UK LAKE FAIR ALPINE CREVASSE LOVERS PLAY ADVENTURES RESCUE WIN! A new Power to Making new Get out of A PAIR OF SALOMON challenge the workers memories that hole OUTPATH PRO GTX SHOES Page 4 Page 10 Page 15 Page 26 Worth £165 (see P8) We are the bond stronger than any rope. Everything we make is designed by climbers, for climbers. Each piece is crafted by peak and crag to give you absolute protection, comfort and mobility when you really need it. WWW.RAB.EQUIPMENT 2 www.georgefisher.co.uk | 017687 72178 | Phone and website orders received before noon are delivered free overnight (if over £30 value) THE UPDATE AT 100 One hundred issues. That’s quite a milestone and, given that we print quarterly, that makes it 25 years we’ve been publishing The Update for our customers. It’s only right to acknowledge the original movers behind The Update. First, Michael and Anita Standring who owned the store and were so instrumental in driving George Fisher forward as a business. They understood that communication is the key to retaining customers, and wanted to create a lively customer publication that gave readers an insight into the store, its people and products. And so The Update was born… Then there’s the original editor Jane Renouf who steered The Update from its launch until 2007, that’s 15 years at the helm. For many years we printed The Update in a newspaper format, which required a good mix of local Keswick stories mixed in with George Fisher news, and Jane managed to get the combination just right. And so to the present day. The Update is still the only retail magazine of its type; no other outdoor retailer publishes anything like it. It forms the core of our promotional activity, so in addition to the 10,000+ paper copies that we distribute, The Update stories are also used and developed through our digital communications; online, via email and social media. GEORGE FISHER 60TH ANNIVERSARY George Fisher, a keen climber and instructor, first opened the door of his Keswick store in 1957; the first shop in England to bring mountain equipment into the country. From these humble beginnings, the shop grew to become a truly iconic ‘destination store’. Today, building on George’s legacy, the George Fisher store is renowned for offering the best in outdoor clothing and equipment to everyone from the first-time walker to the experienced mountaineer, with award-winning customer service. On Saturday 30th September we officially celebrate our anniversary and throughout the month we have asked a diverse mix of ‘Fishers Favourites’ to share their thoughts; a different person for each day of September, shining a light on our beautiful and vibrant community. Some are nationally famous, all are well known in our community and passionate about this little piece of heaven and the outdoors. Check out our website and social media for those ‘Fishers Favourites’! Some of Fishers favourites! Want to read The Update regularly? There are several options: pick up a copy in store, read it on our website, sign up for our email newsletters, or check out our social media. If you’d like to receive The Update by post, fill in and return the slip on the back page. We publish quarterly in March, June, September and December. www.georgefisher.co.uk | 017687 72178 | Phone and website orders received before noon are delivered free overnight (if over £30 value) 3 LAKE LOVERS Apparel and Footwear buyer LISA BERGERUD on her latest challenge. hose people who know me, know I like a challenge. I always have a plan, and Derwentwater; to me this is home, the Chinese bridge and boardwalk to the spit Tapproach any such plan with much gusto and enthusiasm. at High Brandlehow overlooking Skiddaw, Blencathra and Walla. I never tire of this lake, whatever the weather. Last weekend, however, tested my mental fortitude to the full. Looking at Sharp Edge, Blencathra, in the rain. Thirlmere and the trees, I love the Monkey Puzzle tree. The west side now has a new track, but I’ll miss tripping on the tree roots! I always love running back Now, to put this in context, I currently have a lovely project of touching as many down, with that view of St John’s in the Vale and Blencathra. of the waters/tarns in the Lakes as I can. We were approaching Scales Tarn at the foot of Sharp Edge, and our plan had been to traverse back under the edge to a col, then on to Bowscale Tarn. It was wet, and we could see the ridge dotted with people. I felt sick. “Haweswater; yes half of this is now The reason for this is that seven years ago, I fell from Sharp Edge. So easily done, road only, but it’s quiet and the views no matter how competent you are. I sustained multiple injuries, and I am forever grateful to the Keswick Mountain Rescue team who came out to retrieve me from are well worth it; we saw lots of deer.” the deep gully I had wedged myself into. All those men and women had to stop what they were doing to come to my rescue. They are all volunteers, they have Haweswater; yes half of this is now road only, but it’s quiet and the views are well families, jobs and lives; lives which they also must risk, lowering themselves into worth it; we saw lots of deer. The highlight was coming around a bend to a view precarious positions to rescue the unfortunate. I’m lucky I lived. I’m lucky they of the head of Mardale and trotting along the old village tracks. volunteer. By Ullswater, I had really started to enjoy my challenge. I followed the Ullswater I now choose more calculated routes. It’s not that I don’t go on ridges or Way, this marked route took me on tracks I’d never been on before. The way scrambling in gullies, it’s just that I am more mindful of consequences; I change takes you to the hills to avoid the road section of the lake. We hardly saw any plans and don’t feel regrets. people, only at the honeypots of Aira Force, Howtown and Pooley Bridge. I loved Last weekend we changed our plan, and went up Scales Fell with our backs to so much of this lake and route; it’s probably a cheat to say Gowbarrow Fell as its the edge. I didn’t look back. The run over to Bowscale Tarn on the soft boggy not technically on the lake shore but they are my rules, the track and views from ground was spectacular, and the subsequent paddle in the tranquil tarn diluted here are stunning. any feeling of sickness. We were on Buttermere and Crummock when the bluebells were out; stunning. Since visiting all the Wainwright summits last winter, a new little obsession has I’ve run many times on the back side of Buttermere, but never on its northeastern developed; running around the shore of each of the Lakes. Is that one lake, or shore. I felt ashamed that I’d never treated my children to the stone tunnel! What sixteen? Yes, Bassenthwaite is the only true Lake in the Lake District – all the a brilliant family walk, especially with the ice cream farm to finish. Be warned, others are Meres or Waters! Who would have thought I’d fall in love with a flatter, you do have to be a bog lover to enjoy the back side of Crummock. non-mountainous challenge? I really recommend it to anyone; I’ve been asked Wastwater on a Sunday afternoon, what better place? You have to concentrate which was my favourite, but they’re all beautiful. on the screes, they’re much easier traversed in the dry. At the head of the valley Our little project started with Bassenthwaite, and it was raining. The highlight we were treated to a Bob Graham Round transition and all its excitement. They must be looking back towards Keswick with Skiddaw’s mighty shoulder on our were toiling up the steep front of Yewbarrow as we headed along the rolling left. Be prepared for bogs and mud, but you could easily find yourself watching valley road. I think we were passed by a total of three cars. The lakes aren’t an osprey soar above your head and seeing otters play in the shallows. always busy. 4 www.georgefisher.co.uk | 017687 72178 | Phone and website orders received before noon are delivered free overnight (if over £30 value) Loweswater in the evening light, with the huge mound of Mellbreak standing over Grasmere and Rydal Water, simply stunning and so different to the beauties in the swooshing summer grass. the west. You can see why Wordsworth became so lyrical. Windermere, epic, it’s huge. I know we started early, but I was stunned how few Esthwaite Water, an early morning road trot up its west side, the hedges filled people we saw on this route. We chose to not run the road on the east side but with honeysuckle and fields with their stone flagged edges. We then went into to take to paths and bridleways, which significantly extended the route but we the woods and up to the tarns above Near Sawrey. The water and the lily pads, saw no-one. Well we did see one man, who thought we were lost when I said we which were the inspiration for Beatrix Potter’s Jeremy Fisher.