Ukrazy Ukranians

Check out the craziness of the urban explorers in the former USSR in this BBC piece.

Ninja-cool

Probably the coolest book on climbing ever written.

On KINDLE
Kindle Japan
Kindle US 
and Kindle UK Store


NOW AVAILABLE IN SOFTBACK

and as an ebook:

Sidebar, m'lud...

Almost as old as night climbing, punting is just as Cambridge...

The bible of punting, RT Rivington's 1982 Punting: Its History and Techniques is due to be published next spring by local small publisher Oleander Press. However, three of the chapters from that tome have been brought out early in a special format just for fans of the Cambridge punting scene. The book covers the last hundred+ years of the sport in Cambridge, an exhaustive run-down of the techniques of punting for beginners and improvers, and a general history of the punt itself. Fascinating stuff. Use the coupon 'CDP' to get 10% off.

FREE all Weekend!

FREE all Weekend!

It's true - The Night Climbers of Cambridge by Whipplesnaith, the 1937 cult classic is available FREE on kindle all this weekend - 9th, 10th and 11th March 2012!

Available on the Kindle itself and on Apps for all smartphones, on readers for PCs running Linux and Windows, and on Macs too.

Download it on the UK site or the US site.

This fascinating book follows the incredibly brave/foolhardy antics of students climbing the ancient University buildings in the inter-war years. Not only did they rarely use ropes, they often climbed barefoot. Most amazing of all? They took photographs! With all the paraphernalia that entailed in the 30s! Just amazing.

 Oleander Press re-published the title a couple of years ago but is now delighted to make it available, worldwide, on the Kindle. Awesome.

Please spread the word! Many thanks :)

Whipplesnaith himself.

 Whipplesnaith - King's Chapel - c.100ft

New Tower, St John's.

"Pillars rear up at the outside corners and are joined to the Tower by an arch of sloping stone, festooned on the upper side with ornamentations that should not be trusted too far."

The Photographers' Farewell

The narrow line which separates the sublime from the ludicrous runs through time as well as space, and we have reached that line. No longer may we test ourselves up pipe and chimney; the days of early manhood become as out of date as those of the nursery, and we must say farewell.

The Lion Chimney

 "This chimney, above one of the lions at the north-east corner, is of an ideal width with vertical grooves to keep the feet (and body) from slipping sideways."

The Bridge, Trinity College

"The porter stopped on the bridge for some time, scanning the landscape with his torch, but not looking over the side of the bridge."

The Fitzilliam Chimney at the Back.

"The chimney at the back is about half-way along the west wall."

"Drain-pipe Chimney, St John's"

King's Chapel Spire

"Chapel Spire: First overhang, with clover leaf above and below.         B: Second overhang, with parapet just above.         C: Chess-board, at which point the stone becomes crumbly.         With three simultaneous grips for the rest of the way up the climb is safe."

King's Chapel, North-East Pinnacle

King's Chapel, North-East Pinnacle. Negotiating the first overhang. Note bare feet. The climber's back is dirty through having just come up the main chimney from the ground.

Dawn Ascent

 

Daylight ascent of New Tower, St John's

Triple Trinity!

I'm delighted to bring you good news, with added good news. 1st - the good news is that the 3rd Edition of The Roof-Climber's Guide to Trinity from 1960 (actually titled The Night-Climber's Guide) is now available to order. It will be published on the 11th of July. It's similar yet very different to the others and includes a whole new court - Angel - as well as Trinity's Top Ten; it's an entertaining read and includes new images, quotes etc.

The other good news is that with it come the full texts of the previous editions, including Young's appendices to the 1st! On top of that you get an introduction by Richard Williams, the author of the 3rd Edition, now living in Australia. In it he reveals the true identity of our early builderers and provides an entertaining guide to the history of this infamous and historic extreme sport.

The Omnibus is a large-scale softback and is a handsome tome indeed - head over and reserve yours now. As usual, readers of this blog get a 10% discount by using the code 'TRIO' at checkout until the day of publication.

Free Download

We've put together a fun 'taster' of just a few of the good bits from Whipplesnaith. We're in the process of making a proper walking guide of central Cambridge from the Night Climbers' perspective. All visitors to Cambridge get their map and a stolid, worthy guide to the lates and greats of the Uni. But the visitor armed with the upcoming Night Ckimbers' Guide will see behind - or rather above - the facades; they'll see the city through the eyes of our infamous nocturnal interlopers of 70 years ago. And here's an early, thrown-together, sneak peak - free for visitors to this blog. Enjoy :)

Now on Amazon's Kindle

Get it here at Amazon UK
or here for the US store

We've eventually moved into the future with ol' Whip and made him available on Amazon's Kindle. Although I'll always be a dull old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud when it comes to books, even I have to admit that the pictures come out really well on electronic devices. Oh - and the pricing is great - especially without shipping of course!

N'old Skool.

Hadn't noticed this one...

"And it is in warm salutation to this long under-reported Cambridge tradition, yet one as integral as passing the port bottle to the left, that the Oleander Press have reprinted this gem of a guide..."


A rather nice review of the Trinity guide appeared back in January; thanks guys.

At last!!

Eventually I've managed to sort some T-shirts. I know, it's only taken a couple of years... But boy are they worth the wait. I've created an online shop called 3 Seconds to Live and it's now open. The extremely popular postcard designs have been tweaked to work on the shirts - to great effect I think you'll agree. Each design is available on a number of varieties of shirt - just click on the 'Designs' tab and then the design you like to see what's available. The site will also carry other fun designs we come up with - some from Oleander books, some not. Go check it out!!!