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Arlen Messam

@arlen.i.guess

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Accessibility focused Rock Climbing Instructor and a Mountain Leader based in the Lake District.
Please message for any questions and enquiries.

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Another post! Back in mid February just as we lost all that snow in the lakes having already planned to do a couple of winter routes on the Helvellyn range and packed for it!

Ended up just doing the edges in just not all that fun weather with a rope and a rack and tech axes!

Thank you @lucyonarock for putting up with me and the poor Lakes weather again!

#wintermountaineering #winterclimbing #pink #helvellyn #lakedistrict by @arlen.i.guess

Still behind on posts, but this was the other week. One busy busy day down in Alum Pot and the Churns!

#caving #alumpot #yorkshiredales #underground #vertical by @arlen.i.guess

Another slightly late post, nearly caught up now. But Sharp Edge was pretty fun in Wednesday's conditions, and as a bonus, my Garmin thought I had a relaxed day!

#wintermountaineering #lakedistrict #sharpedge #blencathra #climbing by @arlen.i.guess

Rowten Pot! Another delayed post from me... Absolutely awesome bit of vertical caving and rope based acrobatics in the rigging for flyover route. Also just what an entrance for a cave!

Also image 5 is as close to the ground as we got... Turns out that a 30m rope won't rig a 40m rope length pitch

#caving #underground #explore #soggy #yorkshiredales by @arlen.i.guess

Lovely bit of horizontal caving for a changethe other week in Great Douk with @lukaskendall

#caving #explore #underground #yorkshiredales #coldwetandgrubby by @arlen.i.guess

Class day the other day down Bull Pot of the Witches with @lukaskendall, I enjoyed the squeezes, still think Luke liked them just a tiny bit.

#caving #explore #underground #climbing #waterfall by @arlen.i.guess

Another glorious day spent underground down a cold and muddy hole!
Had fun dropping 2 of the pits right by the entrance just to see where they went... Unfortunately we didn't bring enough hangers for the through bolts, but had a good 5 hours underground doing some rigging off some slightly suspect stuff...

#caving #mineexploring #exploring #rigging #lakedistrict by @arlen.i.guess

All the visibility yesterday! Lovely walk with all the views to to the really easy to find Hard Tarn, before a gentle plod up the ridge onto Nethermost Pike before heading across to Helvellyn Summit for a brew with a view, and down to Wyhthburn afterwards.

Thanks @merjumpyjames for suggesting we do this slightly more demanding walk than expected!

#helvellyn #lakedistrictwalks #wintermountaineering #yorkshiretea #snow by @arlen.i.guess

That's one way to finish and start a year!

Sunset from the top of Gimmer,
trips through the Coniston Copper Mines,
working at the top of cathedral quarry,
spending new years in a bivvy in some impressive wind,
mirror finishes on the estuary,
daft little underground trips followed by sledging back down the hill,
wandering up Bowfell without a soul in sight,
and playing with some pink axes on the side of Helvellyn!

#winter #wintermountaineering #winterclimbing #lakedistrict #lakedistrictwalks by @arlen.i.guess

January 2025 in a very very select few images having played in the snowy mountains for 21 days! Very definitely looking forward to winter again

Image 1: Helvellyn Summit

Image 2: Helm Crag Summit

Image 3: Low Pike having spent many hours wading through waist deep powder to get there, then turned back before high pike

Image 4: Bowfell Summit looking over the Scafells putting in fresh steps in fantastic snow the whole way!

Image 5: Helvellyn Summit again!

Image 6: Top of Swirral Edge having had far too much fun going over Striding Edge with Lou, then of course Helvellyn for the 3rd time...

Image 7: would you guess... Helvellyn for the 4th time! Teaching my brother how to use crampons in fantastic ground conditions

Image 8: looking at Bowfell having done Crinkle Crags with Ben

#winter #wintermountaineering #walking #snow #january #lakedistrict #adventure #bluesky #explore #mountain #mountaineering #helvellyn by @arlen.i.guess

Snow! Somehow the Lakes has received an amazing winter coat!
So here's a few photos from the past couple of days playing out in the snow with more snow days still to come...

📷1+2. Helvellyn with all the visibility the day had to offer, already a small amount of cornicing on the Helvellyn summit on day 1 of snow, I look forward to seeing it again in a few days.

📷3. Helm crag with it's amazing rocks on the top snow covered

📷4. Easdale tarn on the way down from Helm crag looking very pretty

📷5+6. Loughrigg in the snow for a time constrained run in the snow

📷7+9. Walk up to lower man from Ambleside with some gorgeous drifting formations.

📷8. First view above low Sweden Bridge in Ambleside over the most amazing cloud inversion I've seen!

#snow #ice #lakedistrict #lakedistrictwalks #walking #mountain #wintermountaineering #winter #bluesky #inversion #clouds #running #cold by @arlen.i.guess

Happy 2025 everyone!

2024 was for me a pretty epic year spent doing some pretty memorable things with some pretty awesome people. The photos aren't in any particular order...

1. Below Stob Ban back in February, during the very wet winter we had @calderfornia_dreamin

2. Abseiling off Creeping Jesus HVS at Shepherds crag in the dark back in June. 1 of many many night time abseils after poorly judging daylight.

3. Top pitch of Bilberry Buttress VS in the sun at Raven Crag in the Langdales getting slightly melty in the June heat with @spartan_mouse

4. Seconding Raindrop E1 at Black Crag in Borrowdale in the July evening sun, such an amazing place to climb!

5. Scafell Pike in the cloud during my Lake District 3000s Round in July, the only part not in the cloud was the 13 km through the Borrowdale Valley headed towards Keswick.

6. The Devils Ridge on the Ring of Steall in the Mamores on a mini solo Scotland walking trip in June, with 0 planning until I arrived.

7. A perfect pitch in the upper Esk on my Mountain Leader Assessment back in August.

8. Seconding Aardvark E2 at Gogarth North Stack and Main Cliff as my first time climbing in north Wales and first sea cliff climbing experience.

9. My first bike ride in Over 7+ years was in September, only fell off around 6 times during the 25km ride.

10. Also in September, I spent my Birthday walking and bivvying in a cave, it's a pretty awesome thing to wake up to...

#lakedistrict #climbing #bigrock #2024 #snow #adventure #cycling #walking #scotland #wales #fun by @arlen.i.guess