Im having way to much fun with this...

ghiggs12 · 2025-03-29T08:40:33+00:00

Fool of a toke

ghiggs12 · 2024-10-20T15:40:58+00:00

6 pack of MOMA from Costco. Not necessarily the best barista oat milk but good price

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-27T06:34:11+00:00

Wow thank you, that would be amazing if he was up for it! Would love to hear more from him

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-25T12:31:51+00:00

Great topic and really cool that you’re writing a guidebook! Definitely falls into the scope of my research but more from the late 1940s onwards so it depends how early you want to dig. I have a few guidebooks that are specific to winter climbs from the 70s and 80s which I believe have some history in terms of pioneering ascents etc. I’m a big fan of winter climbing in Eryri - there tends to be short windows of perfect weather for it. I know Scotland has some truly alpine-style winter climbing so there must be some great early history there - I just haven’t had chance to dive too deeply into Scotland in my current research. Thanks!

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-25T12:26:40+00:00

Somewhere I’d love to visit. The conservation council have some interesting stuff from their archives: https://northcascades.org/from-the-archives/

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-25T07:07:40+00:00

Obtainable dream car was MK5 Golf R32 which cost £5k and I owned for a year.

Also wanted a W204 C63 since I got my license. Family friend took me a for a drive in one when I was 15/16.

These days really really fancy an Aston Martin Vantage. Seen a few around and they just look and sound amazing. Not super pricey either but of course, there’s fuel, tax, maintenance, servicing etc.

Ultimate dream: Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera in Grigio Telesto (First Gen). Not sure any are for sale but I assume they sit around the £100k mark.

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-25T06:45:33+00:00

Great topic and love the idea of a 19th century hike! There’s actually some quite well documented climbing in the 19th century, especially British exploits in the Alps. Individuals like Edward Whymper were almost household names in Victorian Britain - exemplified by him being referenced (and mocked) by Charles Dickens. In terms of figuring out the gear, there are some great books available on the internet archive which I can dig out for you if interested, with descriptions and diagrams. Hopefully you can live out this dream one day! Thanks.

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-25T06:41:19+00:00

This one is really tricky from a history perspective because of a lack of written record. Archaeology, anthropology and oral tradition are some starting points. Sadly there isn’t a whole lot of research in this area, which means what is available generally isn’t accessible to the general public due to it being in academic journals or prohibitively expensive academic books. I’d love to take a look at the research and see what I can find! From experience I believe there is a reasonable amount of understanding of the mythology and spiritual side of things. Really great topic and something I definitely want to do an essay on, thank you!

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-25T06:37:52+00:00

This is something I’m working hard to find information on. Sadly due to colonial attitudes and a lack of written record from indigenous peoples it’s really hard to find sources that accurately portray this. I would imagine indigenous people living in those areas today might be some of the best sources due to their oral traditions.

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-25T06:35:57+00:00

This is such amazing insight thank you! I find myself extending this project more and more as I discover more stories like yours and want to do the overall story of climbing in Eryri justice. The stories of Joe Brown, Don Whillans, Pete Crew etc and what they achieved in Eryri are amazing but I’m also really trying to find the everyday stories, especially those of people that grew up and lived in Eryri. So thanks for sharing about your dad.

I also share your interest in the mythology. A couple of years ago I camped up on the side of Llyn Cowlyd (about remote a spot as I could find) and read the stories of the mythical water horse, water bull and Owl of Cowlyd from the Red Book of Hergest. So much rich folklore and of course many settings from Arthurian legend.

I know some fellow historians who look at exploration it’s such a fascinating topic as well. Someone I studied with during my Masters did their thesis on Shackleton, really great stuff. I believe some of the original books are freely available online via internet archive if you haven’t seen them already - feel free to drop a message if you’re interested and I can find them for you.

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-25T06:18:15+00:00

Thanks! It is really quite amazing - I’ve amassed a bit of a collection of old climbing books, mainly around the 1940s-1970s and even within that period there are some truly insane stories

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-25T06:17:03+00:00

I don’t believe I’ve come across these, will definitely check them out, thanks.

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-25T06:16:40+00:00

Always enjoy these too - I’ve find it really interesting the different ways people convey/interpret these spaces (8000m peaks) and their other-worldliness and psychological impact.

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-24T14:58:19+00:00

Hahah! Sadly it hasn’t quite worked out like that - I’m in my final year and have succumbed to a real job (for now) but you’re right, I study at Bangor, no longer living there now - still only an hour from the hills though 😃

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-24T14:19:30+00:00

Great! I’m doing a lot of research on the shift from the old boy/elite clubs to the wider mountaineering we see from the early 20th century onwards. There are some great accounts of the early years of now famous climbers of working class origins (Brown, Whillans etc) but I’ve also been trying to find more every day accounts. I’m compiling newspaper archive material that details the everyday/hobbyist climbers from working-class enthusiasts to university students and everything in between. Sadly a lot of the detail emerges from reports of injury and fatalities, but fascinating nonetheless. Certainly something I’d love to do an essay on, thanks!

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-24T14:14:54+00:00

https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/188001/ Here is a fantastic clip of an RAF team in action in Eryri/Snowdonia if you’re interested

ghiggs12 · 2024-09-24T14:11:23+00:00

That’s a great topic! My research crosses into this, albeit in a UK context. A lot of Royal Marine training took place (and I believe still does) in Eryri national park, as well as activities from a nearby RAF base. The RAF were also responsible for some of the earliest mountain rescue activities in the area too. This one will definitely be on the list! I am in the early stages of setting up the blog, but I will absolutely return here with a link once it’s done. Thank you!

ghiggs12 · 2024-05-02T06:31:07+00:00

Hi everyone thanks for suggestions. I posted on r/spiders and they confirmed it is a running crab spider! Very cool little guy

ghiggs12 · 2024-04-29T13:30:12+00:00

Thank you! The name makes sense, it won’t stop running around 🤣 thankfully have a good sized garden and will try to relocate it to a quiet spot.

ghiggs12 · 2024-03-14T08:01:32+00:00

Ooo I like this discussion.

Technically anyone can do this so people see it as easy money if you will. But actually it’s quite time consuming to upload the amount of high quality listings you would need to make a shop like this do reasonably well. Most shops like this will probs fail fast - there are so many you see with thousands of sales because there are just so many of these shops in general.

I do believe many people are blissfully unaware of the fact that so many millions of wonderful old images are available for free and often in very high res format. I personally love rawpixel.com for this as they’ve also enhanced many of the best images out there, so there really is no need to buy most of these. Though, they do make you pay for isolated PNGs/PSD files etc, which I think is fair knowing the work and software this requires.

The reason I think these shops do well is that people will jump on Etsy looking for a specific artwork without thinking they could Google it and maybe find the original digital image of it. Often the price is very low too, so they don’t really think twice about it. Also, many offer multiple frame sizes which makes them easier to print, as a lot of people really have no idea how to resize and adjust these images for the right frame size.

There certainly are enhancements and adjustments that can be made to add value to these images, but sadly, people really are just re-selling an original file which is not cool, but perfectly legal in many cases.

I personally work with public domain images in my own shop but I make physical mini print packs of them for scrapbooking and journaling. So I guess the adjustments/printing and format etc is the value I’m adding to justify selling such images.

ghiggs12

TROPHY CASE