Catch Up!

It has been a while since I have updated the blog as I have been away from home for a while (and still am!). Last week I headed down to North Wales to do some work for my friend and fellow MIC Rob Johnson. I headed south through some very heavy rain however a few days scrambling with clients for Rob were not too damp and we got away without waterproofs each day.

Last weekend I then caught up with Monty for a few days play! Thankfully the weather gods were on our side and we had wall to wall sunshine all weekend. It was a bit of a challenge finding crags and climbs that Monty had not done as he lived in North Wales for a while. However we had two great days climbing at Tremadog in the sun with no midges! Armed with the new guide book we found a few routes that had been cleaned recently, finding great solid rock and great friction.

After the weekend it was back to work as I meet up with Charlie to look at some navigation in preparation for her Summer ML assessment. It was then time for holidays as I collected Laura from Manchester Airport and we headed to The Lake District. Since then we have continued to have great weather and have been out on the mountain bikes as much as possible both at Grizedale and Whinlatter.

Looks like the weather is going to turn on Sunday, however that does not bother me as I am inside next week at the Tamworth Snowdome doing my BASI Level 1!

Wet - Dry - Wet

Last weeks weather was timed to perfection, it was wet last weekend then dried up on Monday to Friday which was nice as I had 5 days climbing on a learn to lead course at Glenmore Lodge. We visited Cummingston, The Pass of Ballater, Kingussie, Redhythe and Duntelchaig whicg gave us a great tour of the single pitch crags around Glenmore Lodge. The on Friday night the weather turned and it was wet (very) over the weekend but that did not bother me too much as I was again at Glenmore Lodge but this time working on a Navigation  weekend. I had a team of 7 for an introduction to navigation, they had all done very little however by the end of the weekend went away being able to use the 3 D's for their navigation in the mountains. After a great 7 days at Glenmore Lodge it was home to help Laura pack the house up (we are moving on Friday) as well as pack my own kit up as I am heading to North Wales on Wednesday for some Scrambling work, hopefully some rock climbing with Monty and then some more navigation work before some holiday time with Laura! July is as ever a busy month.

Rock Climbing in the Sun

I am at Glenmore Lodge this week running a 5 day Learn to Lead rock climbing course. On Monday it was damp to say the least around Aviemore so we headed towards the coast and spent the day in the dry and sun at Cummingston. We spent the day looking at climbing calls, rope work, abseiling and equalising anchors. Cummingston was busy with all those who had fled the rain inland!

Today with a drier forecast inland we headed to The Pass of Ballater were we looked at placing gear, building belays and self protecting an abseil. It was nice and dry all day although some of the cracks were still drying out from yesterdays rain. A good start to the course, tomorrow it is the students turn to get on the sharp end of the rope and it looks like it is going to stay dry.

Dry on Curved Ridge

I was across in Glen Coe on Friday to climb Curved Ridge with John and Rona. Both John and Rona have done a fair amount of hill walking in the past but were keen to try some harder scrambling. Curved ridge was the goal for the day and the forecast looked like it was going to be touch and go with heavy showers forecast. However as you can see from the pictures the sun was out while we were scrambling and we only had a 10min shower on the way down, a great result considering that 15 minutes after getting back to the cars the heavens opened. Rona and John did really well, copying with the technical terrain with ease making short work of the ridge.

I am off to Glenmore Lodge tomorrow for 7 days and then off down to North Wales for some work before some holiday time with Laura! 

Busy on the Bike!

The last week has been a busy 7 days even though I have not been working! I was down in the Lake District over the weekend for a stag do and some great mountain biking on the Altura Trails in the Whinlatter Forrest. We did the trails a few times from the forestry commission car park and they were awesome! The trails are man made but with quite a few tree roots playing a role as well, it was bone dry which was nice as a mixture of slate and tree roots in the wet would have made it all rather challenging! There is also a good bike shop and cafe there so a great set up for a full days biking.

After a day recovering on Sunday (not from the biking!) it was back out on the bike again to do some final preparation for my TCL Assessment that was on Wednesday at Glenmore Lodge. I am pleased to say that I passed! We spent the day looking at leadership, navigation, bike skills, trail side repairs and emergency issues as we did a loop out towards Neathy Bridge from Glenmore and back again. A good day and it only rain heavily for the second half of the day!

It is now back to work with a day across scrambling on the west tomorrow and then back to Glenmore Lodge for a 5 day learn to lead course followed by a weekends navigation course. Fingers crossed it might stop raining!

All is well that ends well!

I have been down working around Aberfeldy over the last 4 days on a Duke of Edinburgh Silver training trip. Sunday was a foul day with non stop rain and a fairly cold and depressed group once camp was reached! I was a little gloomy myself and the forecast was predicting much the same for the next few days! However when I woke on Monday morning it was dry and then over the next 3 days it just progressively got better, till come Wednesday afternoon we were all a little pink!

My team did really well developing there navigation skills and all the other skills needed to be out in the wilderness for 4 days and 3 nights. They were also excellent company so all in all it was a great 4 days.

I now have a little time off that is going to be filled by heading south to the Lakes for a stag do and some mountain biking. Guy if you are reading this 'good luck'!

Busy at Cummingston

Martin Teaching at the top of Cummingston

  

Kirstin leading under Martin's watchful eye

I was at Cummingston yesterday with Martin, Kirstin and John. Martin is preparing for his MIA assessment and had asked for some input on his teaching rock climbing. To help with this Kirstin and John had agreed to come along and act as mock clients for the day. We spent the day climbing routes looking at teaching points, session structures, the pace of the day, teaching lead climbing and generally enjoying the dry weather.

It was busy at Cummingston with a number of other pairs out and a big group from the Scouts doing all sort of things!

I now have a few days off before heading down to Loch Tay area to work for Fettes College for a few days. Will hopefully be out on my mountain bike and climbing, however I should be doing my tax return from last year!!!

Damp on the Zig Zags



A little damp on the way down!

  After a few days at home were I managed to get out on the bike for a first time in a while with Bill I was back across to Glen Coe on Saturday for some scrambling. I was out with Steve abd Caroline, Steve is preparing for his MIA assessment and wanted some input on his scrambling and general mountain day. The forecast was to be dry in the morning and wet in the afternoon, which was spot on as at 12.30pm it started to rain and by the time I got back to the van at 5pm I was soaked! We spent on the Zig Zags looking at the use of the rope in ascent and descent on broken scrambley terrain, topics covered were short roping, ledging, short pitches, lowers and managing 2 people on the end of one rope.

Knoydart Travels

Looking back to the Corran ferry on Day 1

Glen Finnan on Day 2

River crossing on Day 3



Sourlies Bothy



I was working for Glasgow Academy last week on a Gold D of E training trip. The route started by crossing the Corran Ferry and then heading north up the loch side and along Cona Glen to camp at the end of the Glen on Day 1. Day 2 had us heading North past Glen Finnan and to a camp just North of Streap in Gleann Cuirnean. The weather was nice over the first two days with just the old shower, however this changed on day 3 with continual drizzle for the day as we headed to Glen Dessarry and down to Sourlies. By the time we got to the bothy were were all fairly damp so it was nice to use the bothy to cook and dry out in! Day for had us start early to head up and over the Mam Meadail col and down to Inverie for lunch in the Old Forge Inn. It was then a hope on a fast rib to head back to Mallaig and lift back to Corran to collect my car. A great few days through some wild areas. The team were excellent and should have no problems with their qualifying trip in the future.

ML Expedition

It was day 3 of the ML Assessment today, and day 1 of the 3 day exped! As all the team had done their training exped on the main Cairngorm plateau Jon and Mark decided to head east and start from the Lecht area with the aim of walking back to Glenmore Lodge. We headed west from the Ski Centre staying high and taking in all the summits on the broad ridge line. Each member of the team took turns at navigating and generally leading and at our lunch stop we heard a few general interest talks on the mountains. Once at 'The Eag' I said goodbye to Mark's team and started heading back to my van which was at the Lecht via a short stop to chat with Jon and his team. A great few days and good to see how other instructors structure their assessment days.

I have a few days off before heading across to the west coast to join Glasgow Academy on a Gold Duke of Edinburgh training trip.

Steep Ground and Ropes

Classic navigation weather in the Cairngorms

I was out on day 2 of the Summer ML assessment today with Jon and his team. The aim today was to look at managing a group through steep broken ground with and without the use of a rope. It was a little damp and windy when we left the ski car park today and headed into Sneachda! After a few nav legs on the way into the corrie we headed up towards Twin Ribs with the team taking it in turns to lead the group and pick a line up on to the ridge. From here we headed up on to the Plateau with various detours off the sides of the ridge. Once on the top it was time for some more navigation before heading back down the goat track and back to the bus.

A good day out even if the weather was not great, felt cold for June! Fingers crossed it is a little warmer tomorrow.

Summer ML Assessment

I am at Glenmore Lodge till Wednesday this week shadowing a Summer ML Assessment as part of my CPD. Although I have worked on these courses before it is always in isolation and so it is great to be able to see how other instructors run assessment days.

Today I was with Mark and his group and we headed from the top ski car park towards the Allt Coire an t-Sneachda and then followed this back down towards Glenmore Lodge. On the way we looked at some navigation, burn and river crossings, emergency issues plus some environmental topics. Although a chilly day it has been dry in the Cairngorms with light winds.

Sorry no photos as I forgot my camera.

A' Chioch - Cioch Nose

Looking down to John from the top of Pitch 3

For my final day with John and Lucy we headed to Sgurr a Chaorachain and the Classic Rock route of Cioch Nose. We parked at the Bealach na Ba car park and walked down to the route, always a novel way to approach a mountain rock climb. The climbing is great with solid rock and great protection mainly in the form of nuts, it was still wet though in areas some of the cracks on pitch one and the chimney on pitch two being particularly slimy! Still we had a great day with the classic pitch 3 being a great and airy as ever. After getting to the top we carried on along the ridge with another two pitches of V Diff and then lots of scrambling to get us back to the summit and a short walk down hill to the cars.

A great way to finish of a lovely weeks climbing with Lucy and John, thanks to them for there company over the week.

I have the weekend off before heading over the Glenmore Lodge for the start of next week.

Leading at Ardheslaig

Great views out over the bay at Ardheslaig

 

Lucy leading the bottom section of Very Gneiss

 

John leading the top pitch of Encore



With the weather due to cheer up on the West coast during the morning John, Lucy and I headed over to Shieldaig on Thursday morning. It had been damp and windy over night but after a relaxed start and a coffee in the wee coffee shop in Shieldaig the sun started to come out and dry everything off. By 11am the crag at Ardheslaig was nice and dry so we headed there to build on the leading that Lucy and John had done the day before. Ardheslaig is a lovely little crag about 5mins form the road and around 35m high of solid gneiss with great friction, it has a range of routes from Diff to VS and some of the easier ones can be split into 2 pitches to create a great intro to multi pitch climbing.

Lucy and John between themlead 6 pitches with me along side to take photos and add a little help when needed. After this we had a short discussion on ropework for scrambling and how to take coils before heading around to Applecross and a lovely dinner at the pub there!

On the Sharp End

With a windy forecast for the mountains today Lucy, John and I headed to Cummingston. The plan for the day was to get them on the sharp end leading some routes. I lead a few routes for us to warm up with and as we were doing this we discussed tactics and preparing to lead routes, we then looked at some bouldering to coach some movement skills. After all of this Lucy and John had a go at leading a few routes which they did with great style.

Although windy it stayed dry until just after 4pm and we had another great day. We are going to head up towards Applecross tomorrow with the hope of doing some routes up around there.