avalanche on the Ben…

Wow! [#2]

contemporary issues on hypothesis testing

At Warwick U., CRiSM is sponsoring another workshop, this time on hypothesis testing next Sept. 15 and 16 (just before the Glencoe race!). Registration and poster submission are already open. Most obviously, given my current interests, I am quite excited by the prospect of taking part in this workshop (and sorry that Andrew can only take part by teleconference!).

fit for Les Calanques

Glen Coe Salomon SkyRace [sept. 16-18, 2016]

After pondering a (little) while about whether or not joining the Skyline Scotland races, I decided to register for the Ring of Steall skyrace! It is a 25km trail run starting from Kinlochleven and going over the five Munroes of the Ring of Steall facing Ben Nevis, as well as down to Glen Nevis in the middle. Not as impressive as the Glen Coe skyrace the day after, with its 52km and 4600m positive differential!

I climbed this ridge in Winter with Jérôme Accardo (twice) and Peter Green (once), in the most beautiful day I ever had when mountaineering in Scotland. The route should be easier in September with (hopefully!) no ice or snow… although one never knows!

Glencoe skyline: my dream race!

I came upon the news by mere chance: the first Salomon Glencoe skyline mountain race took place last month, on Aug. 22, in one of my favourite mountaineering spots, the Valley of Glencoe. I have hiked and climbed in this valley six or seven times, and “bagged” seven of the nine local Munroes, mostly in Winter conditions. The race includes all of them in a 53km route with a 4,256m total ascent (and descent!), with a scramble of Buachaille Etive Mor via the classic Curved Ridge route and the west-to-east traverse of the Aonach Eagach. Absolutely awesome!

The winners completed the route in 7:36 for Joe Symmons and 7:44 for Emelie Forsberg, with the last runner finishing in 14 hours. I really wish I could enter this race but the organisers screen quite thoroughly entrances based on past experience, insisting on previous mountain races, and so this must remain a dream..!

the 39 steps

I had never read this classic that inspired Hitchcock’s 39 steps (which I neither watched before).  The setting of the book is slightly different from the film: it takes place in England and Scotland a few weeks before the First  World War. German spies are trying to kill a prominent Greek politician [no connection with the current Euro-crisis intended!] and learn about cooperative plans between France and Britain. The book involves no woman character (contrary to the film, where it adds a comical if artificial level). As in Rogue Male, most of the story is about an unlikely if athletic hero getting into the way of those spies and being pursued through the countryside by those spies. Even though the hunt has some intense moments, it lacks the psychological depth of Rogue Male, while the central notion that those spies are so good that they can play other persons’ roles without being recognised is implausible to the extreme, a feature reminding me of the Blake & Mortimer cartoons which may have been inspired by this type of books. Especially The Francis Blake Affair. (Trivia: John Buchan ended up Governor General of Canada.)