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Showing posts from March, 2010

Night Navigation

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I was joined by Debbie and Mike, last night, for an evening of Night Navigation in preparation for their Mountain Leader assessment. Not only was it very wet under foot but it was raining for most of the evening (with periods of heavy rain) which was good for spotting any weaknesses in our gear. I was wearing the Spitz jacket and the Argon Pants by Haglofs last night and they worked perfectly. I'm looking forward to trying out the new Haglofs Ratio Jacket and how it deals with the Snowdonia weather

A misty day on Y Garn (947m)

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Not much of a view to be had today. The weather forecast was for sunny spells and showers but I struggled to notice the gaps in the showers and it was more or less constant rain all the way up. The nicest part of the day was the lack of people. These is still quite a lot of snow still up there but its very wet.

Dinorwig Slate Quarries

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Managed to dodge the heavy showers today.

Climbing Wall Leading Award - Leicester

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I had a mega early start yesterday to travel to the Tower Climbing Wall in Leicester to take part in a workshop for providers of a new award called the Climbing Wall Leading Award. We looked at issues such as movement development, belaying and learning to fall off! The workshop was well attended with some lively discussion. A big thank you goes to Bryn Williams (Developement Officer for the Mountain Leader Training Wales) for the lift. I'm running a NICAS Induction tonight at the Beacon Climbing Centre.

Carnedd y Filiast (821m)

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A clear afternoon with fantastic views over the Carneddau and Glyderau. Plenty of snow still around (as you can see from the photo's) with the freezing level was up at about 900m today but the snow was quite soft were it had experiencing the full force of the sun.

A morning in the mist!

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I had a quick jaunt up Moel Eilio (726m) this morning with the dog but, as you can see from the photo, there were no views to be had. There was a breeze on the summit which made it feel cold but the freezing level was up at about 1000m today so not that cold compared to the last few months. I have the BBC coming round this afternoon to discuss the planned height survey of Tryfan (in June) and its possible demotion from the 3,000' club. We'll see, I wouldn't be surprised if the height went up. Up until the 80's Tryfan was 3,010' but is now 3,002' so I would be amazed if the height went down even more. It's only a number at the end of the day and it doesn't detract from the fact that it's an iconic mountain steeped in mountaineering history.

Snowdon

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The weather was so good I couldn't resist a day out on Snowdon. As soon as I dropped my youngest at Primary School I was off for a bit of soloing on Clogwyn y Garnedd and the conditions didn't disappoint - it was a stunning day. I climbed Great Gully II/III (230m) which was in Alpine condition and well worth doing as well as Right Hand Trinity which was a bit lean today which merited a grade top end III or even IV (150m) this was due to it being bashed about by many parties and the crux was passing the huge chockstone on the right on mixed ground. It was well worth it though.

SPA Training Course

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Well, what glorious weather we're having. The weather couldn't have been better to run a Single Pitch Award Training courses this weekend. I was working for Plas y Brenin with 4 students who were really keen to consolidate/learn and contribute to the course but, unfortunately, they had to put up with my croaky voice due to a bit of a cold. We went to Lion Rock (Fachen) on Saturday and the Upper Tier of Pant Ifan (Tremadog) today. The photo was taken today l to r - Pete C, Matt, Pete M and Chris.