News

This short film has been doing the rounds for the last few month but still puts me in a happy place - nice routes and perfect conditions. I hope it does the same for you. Click the title to watch the film.

I was over on Holy Island (off the coast of Anglesey) today checking out a coasteering activity on behalf of the Licensing Authority. As you can see from the photo, it was a glorious day and I reluctantly headed back to the murk and gloom of the mainland at lunch time in order to write the report.

I was joined by Andy again today for an advanced scrambling day on Tryfan. The weather forecast was for damp conditions today and boy was it damp. With the mountain in such a condition we elected to go up Little Gully and North Gully and then descend South Gully. We had a very constructive day despite the weather although it wasn't enough to soak us but it was enough to make the routes a bit tricky. We did have tantalising glimpses of blue sky a number of times but they didn't amount to anything and it drizzled just about all day. The photos are of Andy descending South Gully.

I travelled over to Shropshire today to run a National Indoor Climbing Achievement Scheme induction workshop for course directors and staff. I didn't mind travelling away from the mountains this morning as the weather was awful and made driving quite difficult. I was running the course at a large activity holiday centre with its own indoor climbing wall as well as a number of outdoor climbing towers.

I was climbing at Tremadog today with Andy who wanted to experience multi pitch climbing and stance and rope management. The weather was a lot better than the forecast suggested and the rock soon dried out to give us a glorious day on Oberon and Xmas Curry. We also had a look at abseiling in a multi pitch environment including retrievable abseils as well as backing up with a prussik. The photo is of Andy on the top pitch of Xmas Curry.

I travelled over to Ireland to run an AMI workshop in the Wicklow Mountains on Friday. I was joined by 3 AMI trainees who wanted to look at multi pitch climbing with students. We were climbing on Glendolough Crag for the day (Saturday) and managed to dodge the only heavy shower we had whilst we were having a late lunch. My thanks goes to Dave Gaughran for looking after me and making all the arrangements and to (left to right) Ciaran Kinney, Michael Crawley and Mark Dwyer for being so eager and keen. The other photo is of Quartz Gully (HS 4b)

I carried out a spot check on behalf of the Licencing Service on an activity provider who was visiting the Cadair Idris area today. All went well and the students seemed to be having a good time with the added bonus of some good weather for their Silver D of E expedition. The photo is of the Mawddach Estuary and Cadair Idris.

As I suspected, the weather was awful on Snowdon during this charity fundraising event last night. I was working for Jagged Globe as safety cover on the mountain - unfortunately it was during the night so we had to stay awake all night. I was posted to the start of the Llanberis Path but the other marshals had a pretty hard time of things with winds gusting 5o mph and heavy rain for most of the night.

I've been out and about over the last 4 days helping out on a Gold qualifying D of E. We visited areas such as Ogwen, Llyn Cowlyd, Lledr Valley, Nant Gwynant, Beddgelert, Rhyd Ddu and Llanberis. I think all the students did really well and kept their spirits high even through the horrible weather we had on Sunday. Here are some photos I took during the event: The Road over to Llyn Cowlyd. The track up to Bwlch y Rhediad Group at Bwlch Cwm Llan Golden-Ringed Dragonfly Y Garn from above Llyn Cwellyn

I was up in the Lakes over the last couple of days visiting the guys at Haglofs in Staveley. We went for a 8 mile paddle last night from Windermere almost to Ambleside in tandem sea kayaks. A big thanks goes out to Paul Vousden (from Haglofs) for sorting a very enjoyable outing. Today we ran through the Haglofs Spring/Summer range for next year which looks fantastic. We were very well looked after by Neil, Paul and Vicky who were great hosts. Many thanks. Check out all the Haglofs gear at http://www.haglofs.se/