Okay - so 80 days since my last post....

There's not much that I can really say about why it's taken me so long to get back to the keyboard - it's certainly not through lack of things to write about. I have about 5 blogs from fellow adventurers which I follow regularly, and it really annoys me when they leave big gaps between posts (although one of them hasn't blogged since September - which doesn't make me feel so bad!). It's been a bit of a hectic start to the new year and new decade - many highs and several lows. I'll try and recount a few of them to inform you as to what I've been up to.

Before Xmas, I had a cracking week climbing in Scotland with a great mate in the Cairngorms. It was great to get out on some classic winter mixed climbs in some relatively good conditions. The first day might have been a little warm (hovering at about +1C, so we ended up rather wet and cold, but the other days out were perfect. It was also just before the big dump of snow that seemed to bring most of the UK to a standstill, so their was lots of ice and minimal snow, which always makes the climbing safer and more enjoyable.

New Year was spent up in Northumberland with a group of all of my best mates, enjoying the snow (including a naked New Years snow run to see in the new decade...Brrrrr!), some tobogganingat breakneck speeds behind a Discovery, and of course a great evening on the 31st, where the theme was 'what you were wearing when the brothel was raided!' Cue a lot of very riske outfits and bad behaviour, and luckily of all our careers, the photographic evidence is under lock and key!



Despite the jovial atmosphere, the celebrations were marred with the news that a great friend, Rupert Rosedale (my climbing teacher from school, and dear friend) had been killed in an avalanche on Ben Nevis on the 30th of December.  Despite all the usual cliches of 'doing what he loved' and 'he knew the risks' (which of course are true), it still doesn't disguise the fact that this was a tragic accident and the world is a much poorer place for Rupert's passing. He inspired a generation of pupils at Marlborough College, not just to climb, but generally to enjoy life and live it to the full. It is easy to become very blase about the inherent risks of climbing and mountaineering, and it is not until something terrible like this happens to someone so close that we are reminded of our own fragility. His memorial service a couple of weeks later in Marlborough was a lovely affair, with some 1300-1400 people in attendance, reminding us all of the number of people that Rupert had a profound effect on in his life.

January started well with several great lectures all around the country. Unfortunately a couple more were cancelled at the very last minute due to the snow, but they've both since been rescheduled for other dates, which is great news. One highlight was speaking to the Met Office about the way that climate change is affecting the mountainous environments, which is a significant indicator of wider global temperature rise and a problem in itself. To be speaking to a room full of such distinguished experts was one of the more daunting events which I've done over the last few years! Lukily, the significant research that I'd done paid off, and the event was a great success! Without wanting to toot my own trumpet too much, this is what the Met Office said about my presentation:

"Inspirational, insightful, informative and fun, Jake’s youth and experience combine to provide a great perspective for an after dinner or keynote speech.  The audience at our conference thoroughly enjoyed Jakes’ speech and we received great feedback".

Always nice to know that occasionally I get things right!



I also managed to get a weeks skiing in Serre Chevalier in France whilst representing my Brigade HQ at the Army Divisional Alpine Championships. It was a great event, and having watched the Winter Olympics recently, it makes you realise just how fast and scary those downhill courses are!

February was full of lots of school events, some Army training weekends and doing lots of DIY in the new flat that I've moved into up in London. To paraphrase Ratty from Wind in the Willows, "There is nothing - absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about with power tools." My girlfriend and our newly 'swisscheese' effect flat might slightly object to that statement, and my latest phase does seem to be 'It's not perfect, but it'll do...', but jigsaws and drills are great...!

Since then, there has been the biannual trip to St James's Palace to present the DofE gold awards, a bit of advising rugby star Josh Lewesy on his Everest plans for next month, lots of TV meetings (watch this space) and a couple more lectures. I've got several more lined up over the next few weeks, a ski trip to Verbier over Easter (can't wait) and some exciting expedition plans sparking my imagination (or should that be - my imagination sparking some exciting expedition plans!).

Yet again I apologise profusely about my lack of comms, and I swear not to leave it so long until the next update.

 
A few weeks ago I was a member of the judging panel for Bebo's Big Think competition which gave young people the chance to not only discuss the problems facing our country, but also come up with their own ideas about how they would try and make a change. 6 finalists came to London to present their ideas, with the 3 winners going on to give a presentation to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet at Number 10 the next day.

It was a great project to be involved in, which ultimately was all about empowering young people, and giving them the chance to have their say at the highest level. It also set a record for the youngest person to present to the Cabinet, aged only 17!





Picture courtesy of the Press Association

Just got through a photo taken at the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards Ceremony a couple of weeks ago. The Earl of Wessex was standing in for Prince Philip, and although it was the first time I'd met him, we had a good chat.  He also recognised my tie (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars), as he is the Honorary Colonel of my regiment  - The Royal Wessex Yeomanry .



Whilst I'm posting, I thought that I'd also show you my new watch from Bremont. They've updated my wrist with their newest watch, and first diver's watch - the Bremont Supermarine 500. It is a gorgeous looking watch which is not only waterproof to 500m (although tested to 1500m!), but it had an internal Faraday cage which protects the movement from any magnetic interference! It's classic black and silver styling also looks great on all occasions, whether I'm wearing Black Tie or Goretex!



http://www.bremont.com/collection_S500.php

Awards ceremonies. Wow.

On Sunday night I presented the award for best factual children's entertainment show at the children's BAFTAs at the Park Lane Hilton. As a complete outsider to these kind of events it was a fantastic evening, meeting some incredible people and having a wonderful time!

Saskia and I were picked up in a very smart new Audi A8 (Top of the range executive car), which was then at our beck and call all night (one of the many perks of being a presenter!). Martin, our excellent driver dropped us off on the Red Carpet where we then had to withstand a withering assault of camera flashes from all the photographers waiting there. After a champagne reception we were then shown to our table, where I was sitting next to Jake Humphreys - the BBC's F1 Reporter and former CBBC Star. We also had some of the staff from EA games who were sponsoring the event, and a few gaming journalists as well.

As I was presenting the third award, I was whisked behind the scenes before the show started, where there were loads of people with radios running around all over the place. The show itself being hosted by children's presenters Dick and Dom, and so I had a brief chat with them and some of the other presenters (who were all looking a little nervous!) before it all started. All of Dick and Dom's dialogue was scripted and on autocue, but the script for us presenters was pretty minimal, and so when it was my turn, I did a little adlib before announcing the nominees, which went very well, and the crew behing the scenes were very impressed with!

Once I'd announced the winner (Serious Ocean), and he'd come up to receive his BAFTA (which weighs a ton!) and done his little acceptance speech, I then had to lead him offstage. This nearly went wrong as I started ushering him towards the wrong exit, but luckily managed to recover it without too many people noticing. Trust an 'explorer' to get lost on a stage!

Once backstage we both did some interviews and had more photos taken before sneaking back into the audience. Unlike the Oscars, we hadn't had our seats filled by anonymous fillers, but as my table was right at the front of the stage, it did seem like a bit of an assault course to get back to my seat safely!

There were some great people there - Jason Issacs was sitting on the table next to us with Bernard Cribbins and Catherine Tate. Richard Hammond won best presenter, and other awards presenters included Michelle Ryan, Camilla Dallarup, Harry Potter and Twilight actors, England Rugby players, comedians to name but a few.

The awards were followed by a delicious supper and then a cracking disco, where everyone, famous or else threw decorum to the wind and danced their socks off! I think that it was close to 3am when Audi dropped us home, having had the most incredible evening.

Video @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQoexv7tROk

(I appear at about 13.50)

 

Well, it's been quite a busy couple of weeks, with several great events so far. Trawling back into my distant and hazy memory from about 10 days ago, I was a judge for the Youth Business International 'Entrepreneur of the Year Award'. I pitched up to Kensington Palace along with Deborah Meaden from Dragon's Den, Claire Young from the Apprentice and Rachel Bridge (the Enterprise Editor from the Sunday Times). We were judging the 4 international finalists, who had all won in their individual categories, and it was our (very difficult) decision to decide the overall winner. After meeting with all the finalists and discussing their businesses, we eventually (and unanimously) decided on awarding first place to Juan Ramón Nuñez from Argentina, who had started a  radio station in a very poor part of Buenos Aires and instigated a number of projects to help the local community. http://www.youthbusiness.org/resources/case-studies/juan-ramon-nunez.aspx

That evening we all went for a reception in Clarence House with The Prince of Wales, followed by supper hosted by HRH in St James's Palace. It was a wonderful evening, and a very fitting celebration of the achievements of all five individual finalists and their supporters.

A couple of days later I went up to Oldham College outside Manchester to give a presentation entitled 'Mountaineering - with a Maths twist!' as part of a Mathematics study day. The highlight of the day for me was listening to one of the other lecturers, Dr Mark Lewney, who gave a very entertaining lecture on 'Rock guitar in 11 dimentions', which using his electric guitar, taught the audience all about super-string theory and that there are more than 3 dimensions!

http://www.doctorlewney.com

Last weekend, my Territorial Army Squadron celebrated one of our Battle Honours. In memory of the Officers and Soldiers of the 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars who fought at Bir El Gubi in North Africa in November 1941, we have a Sqn dinner evening andChurch service at Badminton the next day. This did necessitate the polishing of 2 sets of kit for the weekend (Blues andService Dress), but both the dinner night andthe Church service were well worth it - even Prince Charles came along to  Church on the Sunday.

On Tuesday night I was up in London at the Royal Geographical Society for the Porter's Progress Annual Lecture, this year given by Ian Parnell. Not only is it a fantastic and worthwhile charity, but I summited Everest on the same day as Ian, and so it was great to go along and support him and hear all about his other adventures. He is one of the most understated and modest, yet wonderfully amusing speakers, and as befitting a mountain photographer, wowed the whole audience with his incredible slides.

www.portersprogress.org

www.ianparnell.com

Yesterday was spent at St James's Palace presenting the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards. I think that it is the 5th time that I've been to present the awards, but every occasion is a real honour, and it it wonderful to share in the celebration of the incredible achievement that completing the Gold Level is. Rather than the Duke of Edinburgh, we had the Earl of Wessex, and I was very impressed that he recognised my tie, as although he is the Honorary Colonel of our Regiment (the Royal Wessex Yeomanry), I was wearing a Sqn tie and not a regimental one!

www.dofe.org

So, a couple of days back home now before heading back up to the big smoke for the Children's BAFTA Awards on Sunday evening and a Cabinet Office event on Monday. I've just found out that I am going to be presenting the 'Factual Award' at the event, which I am really looking forward too. Better make sure that my Dinner Jacket is in a relatively decent state!

http://www.bafta.org/awards/childrens/awards-2009,879,BA.html

Well, having had a quiet few weeks recently which has given me a chance to get cracking with my book, the next few weeks are full of exciting events.

First up, next Monday I am involved with the Prince's Youth Business International 'Entreprenuer of the Year 2009' Awards. I'm part of the judging panel with Dragon's Den's Deborah Meaden, The Sunday Times's Enterprise Editor Rachel Bridge and Apprentice finalist Claire Young. We have a short list of 4 finalists, and I think that it's going to be a very hard choice. The actual prize giving will be held at Clarence House with Prince Charles that evening.

www.youthbusiness.org

As part of 'Maths Week', I'll be giving a 'Mountaineering and Maths' based talk at Oldham Sixth Form College on the 18th, which will certainly test me and my rather hazy A-level maths memories.

On the 25th November I'll be presenting the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards at St James Palace again, which is always a great day out, meeting some fantastic people.

www.dofe.org

On the 29th I'm presenting an award at the Children's BAFTAs at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane - more info to follow!

www.bafta.org

On the 30th of November I am getting involved in the final stage of Bebo's Big Think Campaign with Tessa Jowell, Michelle Dewberry, Goldie and Ginny Lunn from the Prince's Trust. The competition offers young people the chance to play an active role in changing their communities and helping to build Britain's future. This is their chance to present ideas to a Cabinet Ministers, and tell them what they would do to tackle the issues that really matter to young people, including climate, crime and careers. For more information go to:
www.bebo.com/bigthink/

The competition closes on the 15th November, so check out the website and have your say!