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News updated 24,May,2004.

British mountaineer Alan Hinkes has announced that his next Challenge 8000 expedition will be to climb Dhaulagiri (8,167m), the seventh highest mountain in the world. Alan will be flying out to the Himalaya at the end of March and hopes to reach the summit during May.

Alan Hinkes is the UKs most successful extreme altitude mountaineer and is the first Briton to have climbed 12 of the 14 8,000m peaks, including many of the worlds most famous and dangerous mountains such as Everest and K2. “Challenge 8000 is Alan,s quest to be the first Briton to climb all 14 of the 8000m peaks, and one of only 12 to ever achieve this amazing feat the same number of people to have stood on the moon.

2002 saw Alan successfully summit Annapurna by a new route and record the first British ascent for over 30 years. Having managed this in a record 5 days after leaving base camp he now has only two of the 8000 metre peaks to climb, Kangchenjunga and Dhaulagiri. Both of these mountains are in the “Death Zone, an unforgiving environment where the human body rapidly deteriorates and no one can survive for more than a few days.

Alan had to abandon an attempt on Kangchenjunga last year due to contracting a severe bronchial infection during his trek into base camp, but has regained full fitness for this years expedition and aims to make a new route on Dhaulagiris south side.

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Stanage - even more Ring Ouzel news!

Latest update - including a voluntary restriction in the Cowper Stone area

The pair of ring ouzels that have failed twice in the wet sitch below the Edge (not due to climbers' activity) are now on Chippy Buttress. The BMC has agreed a voluntary restriction to cover Chippy Buttress and the Cowper Stone, this will last at least the next two weeks, with the restriction on the Cowper Stone likely to be lifted first.

Please note that dogs have been a real problem this year. Please note that the damage caused by letting a dog roam free is probably unseen by the owner as Ring Ouzels are shy birds, but they will be severely affected by this kind of disturbance.

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Mountain fire still blazing

South Wales Fire Service say they believe fires on a mountainside in the Gwent Valleys were started deliberately. Up to 70 firefighters spent the night battling a large grass fire over two square miles on the Blorenge mountain near Blaenavon. Around 50 firefighters are still at the scene and they say the blaze is not under control. Gwent Police closed a road on Sunday night after the outbreak. The A4042 between Llanover and the Pottery pub at Blaenavon was shut for more than eight hours. The road was reopened at 0710 BST on Monday bit there were three further outbreaks of fire at approximately 0830 BST. Sergeant Gareth Thomas said: "We are always happy to support the fire service whenever we can. Officers will be visiting the site throughout the day and keeping a close eye on the situation." The force's air support unit will also increase patrols in and around the area in an effort to identify any potential offenders. Sgt Thomas said if the offenders were caught they could expect to be dealt with "swiftly and severely."

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Seven summit joy for Scots woman

A Saltire has been planted on top of Mount Everest by the 51-year-old who is believed to be the oldest woman from the UK to conquer the peak. Vicky Jack, from Perthshire, reached the summit on her second attempt to scale the Nepal mountain. Last year bad weather halted her bid just 300ft from the summit. She is thought to be the first Scottish woman to scale the tallest peaks on the world's seven continents, joining a group of fewer than 100 mountaineers. She was accompanied on her climb by expedition leader Henry Todd and his wife Sue, from Kingussie, Inverness-shire. They were among 30 climbers and 29 sherpas who took advantage of a break in the weather to tackle the 29,035ft summit on Monday.

THE SEVEN SUMMITS

June 1997 - Elbrus, Europe September 1997 - Mt Kilimanjaro, Africa December 1998 - Mt Aconcagua, South America December 1999 - Vinson Massif, Antarctica May 2000 - Mt McKinley, North America August 2001 - Carstenz Pyramid, Australasia May 2004 - Mt Everest, Asia

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