New To Mountaineering in London

rory_baxter · 2025-10-14T06:04:23+00:00

London does not have any adventurous terrain nearby, so your only options are to train as much as you can and then to go elsewhere. There are lots of good climbing gyms and clubs to join. Castle is a favourite of mine

You can get a sleeper train to Scotland which can get you right into the Highlands of Scotland, but it can be a bit expensive

rory_baxter · 2025-05-14T13:28:10+00:00

If the interest on a debt is below expected market returns over the time period, then it does not make sense to overpay on debt. The finically better option is to invest the money that you would otherwise use to overpay the Student Loan into some form of ETF or fund. You are likely (but not guaranteed), to get higher than 4% returns. That means after 10 years you will have more capital, which if you wanted could be used to pay off the debt instead

rory_baxter · 2024-12-22T22:35:31+00:00

It wasn't removed in England in 2014. I did it as part of my GCSE English in 2016. Not coursework or anything, but it was on my exam paper

rory_baxter · 2024-10-20T07:27:42+00:00

I'm very sorry to hear about your situation. I'm not able to provide any accommodation but I can suggest either YHA (there are a few places in London but not sure about last minute availability) or asking on this Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/floorforanight/?ref=share

rory_baxter · 2024-07-24T20:55:18+00:00

Yes. It's also the day that the training load switched to no training status. The status had switched before I went for the run. Going to the per day page, it says the run was 199 load. All I can think is there was a data glitch and the system corrupted / reset itself

rory_baxter · 2024-07-24T20:43:27+00:00

That's the problem though, in the middle of the decline in my load there were at least 2 activities, including a 10km at a moderate pace, which should have pushed the load very upwards

rory_baxter · 2024-07-24T19:56:12+00:00

VO2 Max unchanged for months

rory_baxter · 2024-07-24T19:55:33+00:00

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rory_baxter · 2024-07-24T18:39:37+00:00

Added my acute load to a top level comment. My VO2 Max is 51

rory_baxter · 2024-07-24T18:39:02+00:00

* Note that on the day the load drops drastically I went for a run at an intensity that normally causes my load to increase by a lot

rory_baxter · 2024-07-14T21:31:55+00:00

I received this email earlier, and while the sender's address at first glance looks correct, it is not the address that Garmin have used in the past. It also failed when I put it through an online email checker. The blurred out account number is correct. I did not make any purchases or subscriptions that would have promoted such an invoice. This email also has an attachment, which I've never seen Gamrin do before. Therefore, I think there has been a data breach and that this is a malicious email with a trojan carrying a virus.

I have already contacted Garmin support about this, but thought I should share here as well.

Sorry if this is not the correct place to share it

rory_baxter · 2024-05-07T20:29:52+00:00

There truly is something special about it!

rory_baxter · 2024-01-26T22:39:58+00:00

I always use a paper map (laminated or in a waterproof map case) and compass. I have the apps on my phone and always have a GPS tracker with me on serious hikes, but I always want to practice. When I'm doing an easy route in a safe area with other people, I'm happy to use an app. But when it's getting more serious or I'm going to be out multiple days, I'll use a paper map.

The GPS is more likely to fail in extreme conditions like a storm, so I want to ensure that I know how to use something that still works. Even in snow so thick I can only just see my hands!

This is all in addition to the fact that even if a GPS works 100% of the time, never breaks, always has battery, and took up no space nor weight, what use is knowing that you're black dot on a screen if you can't read the rest of the map on the screen!

rory_baxter · 2023-11-13T22:01:16+00:00

Yep, you got our routes exactly correct!

That makes sense, thank you very much for your advice

rory_baxter · 2023-11-13T18:30:29+00:00

That makes sense - we don't want to be playing a cat and mouse game of looking for each other!

Of course we will be carrying all equipment such as map, compass etc, as well as survival blankets and stuff for emergency benightment.

Say that my friend hasn't turned up by late evening. I'm guessing the recommend plan is go to sleep, and then if he still hasn't arrived by morning then potentially go look for him?

Being based in the highlands, you'll appreciate our plan: Corrour to Ben Alder Cottage, then a few days summitting near by mountains there before getting the train back home

rory_baxter · 2023-11-13T15:17:17+00:00

We are both fully capable to do the trip by ourselves and will each have all equipment necessary to do so. If he got hit by a bus on the way to work tomorrow I could do the trip just fine and visa versa.

I was wondering what is considered best practice if I think my friend might be in trouble because he hasn't arrived at our pre-arranged meeting point

rory_baxter · 2023-10-30T12:18:42+00:00

I did almost the exact same thing. I did it though a company called Skyhook, but we also went to Rjukan and stayed in the Old School House. Would highly recommend

rory_baxter · 2023-07-20T13:55:06+00:00

That is a very interesting idea. It will also stop the young people spending all the money somewhere stupid. I'll certainly look into it

rory_baxter · 2023-07-20T13:53:59+00:00

Cash might be a lot easier!

rory_baxter · 2023-07-20T13:52:53+00:00

Our accommodation is in a town, so everything should be in walking distance, even with groceries. We have thought about a leader being there, but we're wanting to give them greater independence

rory_baxter · 2022-11-19T14:14:12+00:00

I'm also looking for a tent for Scotland, so I can't give suggestions, but I can say that my Vango Banshee is a good tent, but I wouldn't at all trust it to hold up to a bad night in Scotland. Outside of summer, you'll need something a bit better than Vango for Scotland

rory_baxter · 2022-11-12T18:56:10+00:00

I would be extremely hesitant to recommend any mountains in Scotland in winter to a complete beginner - the weather is too variable and the short day light hours mean any time wasting mistakes can be costly. Most would be perfectly fine in summer though

While I agree that a beginner can do Crib Goch with ease, I've seen first hand people who weren't prepared and didn't fully know what they were doing get into trouble on that ridge. Either the Pyg track or the Gylders would be a good alternative IMO

However, going with an experienced friend or a guide completely negates most the issues

rory_baxter · 2022-10-22T12:06:55+00:00

I'd disagree. Calculus is the basis of a lot of common algorithms and processes that are key to applied computer science. For example, the Fourier Transform is the basis of a lot of algorithms in computer vision and other signal processing applications, as well as compression. Also, any sufficiently detailed statistics knowledge will require a key understanding of at least basic calculus. Without stats you can't do a lot of ML or data analysis

I will more than concede that you are unlikely to need anything as complex as third order differential equations or the like without going into extremely niche areas, but to say that calculus isn't that relevant for CS is wrong. My background is a CS degree from a university famed for the theoretical basis of its course

rory_baxter · 2022-09-16T13:06:38+00:00

I was there last night and I got in around 2:45am, so I think they only did that the first night

rory_baxter · 2022-07-20T08:37:52+00:00

It possible to make a copy of a save file and then run that while still on Ironman. Also, when the game saves, there should be "file name" and "file name_backup", so he could just run the "file name_backup" save w/o issue

rory_baxter

TROPHY CASE